Macon Reporter

Village of Harristown Board of Trustees met Feb. 27.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

The Village of Harristown Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting on January 27, 2025 at 185 N. Kembark St, Harristown, IL. Trustees Kevin Vessels, Les Jenkins, Jay Trusner, Kurt Terry, Jeff Eller, April Bogan, Financial clerk Teresa Acree, Budget Officer Rick Laskowski, Attorney Joshua Dubbelde, Clerk Penny Allen and Mayor Evelyn Deverell were present. The meeting was called to order at 6:32 pm, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Adopt Meeting Agenda

Requested to move the Engineer report up in the agenda, under the mayor updates. Motion by Trustee Vessel to adopt the meeting agenda and move up Engineer to the visitor section. Trustee Jenkins 2nd. Approved 6-0.

Visitors

Teresa Acree-she stated she has an issue with the ordinance the Board is trying to pass; limiting the voice of the village residents to 3 minutes to speak at a Board meeting. Also it states, visitor can only speak during a 30 minute time frame, if they don’t speak at this time, they do not get to speak. She believes they should not be limited; residents have rights.

Jeremy Richardson- bought property in Harristown, 5480 Union School Road. The property currently has liens from the village on it. He asked if the Village would consider waiving the liens? Trustee Bogan questioned if he was planning on living there, renting it out or selling the property? Mr. Richardson stated he will be rehabilitating this but not sure yet. Mayor said the liens are for water and some ordinance violations.

Mayor Updates

SVI-thank you note received for the donation for skating

Park-distributed an update on Park progress

Mayor met last Thursday with Jonathan Williams, who is with Baniski, and asked of any needs we may have. Mayor asked him about grants/loans for community funding. March 14 is the deadline for congress to pass

Engineer

NPDES-NPDES elimination submitted.. EJ water approved agreement.

MFT-Need to approve supplemental resolution of $22,065.06 from MFT funds (additional culverts) Attorney stated this is not on the agenda and if taking action on this, it needs to be on the agenda. Cannot spend any MFT until resolution is signed. After signed, MFT audit can be done. Tabled until next months’ meeting

Dennis Paul purchased parcels in the village. Parcel #1, 06-11-13.102.007 off Western. Commercial development He will need a road for this. He asked if the village would be willing to decommission the old water tower and he could use that. Mayor stated this is not a solution; she will tell Mr. Paul he will have to figure out a way for his road.

Parcel #2 06-11-14-278-009, in village. Wants to make a housing development. Village does not do development. Seth stated DCO does not offer a lot of money for developers. Village would have to be the applicant. TIF funds is an option. Approximately 14 years left on TIF. Mayor will tell Mr. Paul that nothing can be done at this time. He needs to bring to the board more information on what he wants to do. Seth said the best route would be for the village to purchase the property. Trustee Trusner stated the village is not in development business. If this gentleman wants property development, it should be up to him. Mayor said the Village could buy the property and then sell the lots. She will tell Mr. Paul he needs to come up with better plans.

Mayor questioned Seth about solar at the sewer plant. Seth said no but the blowers are more energy efficient.

Meter replacement-Seth asked what does the village want to do since we are not sure of the million dollars we were going to get? Mayor questioned if leasing water meters was an option? Seth said some villages do this. The goal was to replace everything, including the meter pit. Mayor asked the Board to think about this. Seth said the goal is to replace meter and line to house. Mayor said we are still loosing water; have not found cause. Trustee Jenkins stated some meters have been replaced and consumption for the residents have shown more usage. Mayor suggested the water and sewer committee meet before the next meeting. Seth said the EPA funding is the best loan we will get, 1.8% max interest. Trustee Trusner agrees a committee meeting needs to be held. He will get with Jonathon Closs for him to give them ideas on what will be needed. Let Seth know when this is scheduled and he will try and attend the meeting; Wednesday, Thursday or Friday’s work best for him.

Need to get price for meters

Approval of Minutes

Need to change Board meeting dates for February and March to the 24th for each month, they were passed incorrectly at last meeting. Motion by Trustee Vessels to approve the minutes from regular board meeting 12/16/2024 with above update. Trustee Jenkins 2nd. Approved 6-0.

Treasurer Report

Treasurer Acree discussed. TIF fund will go back up-will take a couple of months.

Checks to Approve

Attorney $ 1,190

Macon County recycling $ 1,808.76

Morgan dist $ 1,292.50

General Code $ 2,181

IEPA $ 37,212.78

Ferguson $ 3,850

Total $ 47,535.04

Trustee Trusner questioned the charge by the attorney on 12/04. What was that for? Attorney said he will look and let him know. Motion by Trustee Vessels to approve report and pay additional above listed bills. Trustee Eller 2nd. Approved 6-0.

Budget Officers Report

BO Laskowski discussed. Mayor stated she is expecting a $60,0000 check from the state; holding $15,000 until park is completed. Motion by Trustee Trusner to approve report. Trustee Terry 2nd. Approved 6-0

Public Works

Mr. Closs not present. Report distributed.

Old Business

Ordinance Board meeting visitor policy – -Attorney said in past it was 5 minutes per speaker. If it is an important issue, should let everyone speak. Mayor stated at the solar meeting, people kept bringing up the same topic/issue. Attorney said it is still best to let everyone speak. Trustee Trusner questioned what was wrong with current policy? Attorney said we need a better policy; more uniform. Trustee Eller suggested to use the 5 minute time limit as a guideline; we have not stopped any visitor from talking. Ordinance shows limit of 30 minutes for entire visitor session. Mayor questioned if this was for all meetings ? Attorney said yes. Trustee Vessels thinks 5 minutes, 30 min limit public comment is ok. Can always change as needed at the meeting. Trustee Trusner said if a resident shows up to speak, we should not limit them. Trustee Jenkins said could announce at the meeting the time limit and public comments change. Mayor said page 2, change to 5 minutes, can grant additional 3 minutes if interrupted. Visitors to sign on sheet instead of visitor card. When it is turn for person to speak, they need to say their name and address.

New Business

Discuss possible future property development-Village needs a 5 year plan

Ordinance adopting and enacting code of ordinances-Motion by Trustee Vessels to approve ordinance adopting and enacting a code of ordinances for the Village of Harristown. Trustee Terry 2nd. Roll call: Trustee Eller, yes; Trustee Trusner, yes; Trustee Jenkins, yes; Trustee Terry, yes; Trustee Bogan, yes; Trustee Vessels, yes. Approved 6-0.

Land for race track-not officially sold yet. Trustee Trusner said the person that owns the land received a promise to purchase. He told them they need to contact us, the Village. This property is in the Sangamon Valley School district so the school would benefit.

Property in front of pharmaceutical-Decatur has not requested any annexation yet. The Board does not want to pursue involuntary annexation.

Request for extension of TIF agreement by Indus Capital for growery-Krishna was present and discussed. Things that have caused delay are out of their control. They had to wait for state approval. Received approval from state and waiting on final bid. Hope to start within the next month. This will be built in 3 phases. Phase 1- June 2025; Phase 2 and Phase 3, no time line yet, thinking early 2026

The village will only receive property tax; the cultivation tax is 7% but village does not receive any of this. Trustee Trusner questioned why the property is not taken care of. Krishna said no reason but the way it was engineered does not make it easy for lawnmowers; had to get specialized equipment. Krishna said the fencing is still in the plan. Trustee Terry questioned if someone is already set up for construction. Krishna stated yes, looking at a generator also; gas line substation. Mayor questioned the progress of the sale of the other lots. He said there has not been much interest so far. Mayor asked if he knew what approximate water usage would be. He is estimated around 30,0000 gallon a month. He would start with 10-12 employees to start up and then add as needed. Mayor said we need from Indus actual cost of road etc so Moran can put in TIF file. Mayor asked the Board if they want to extend, amend or do a new TIF agreement? Trustee Trusner questioned how can this be extended since TIF expired January 23, 2025? Attorney and Moran said it can be extended if decide to do that. Attorney suggests a short extension. Trustee Trusner said there has not been much communication. He asked Krishna if he has been in communication with Mayor. He said he has but not much communication. The state permits have been issued. Trustee Trusner has concerns that Krishna is not following his commitments. Krishna stated when he wanted to come into the village, he wanted to be involved. We have had things and no involvements. Had a bus at his facility a couple times which was not allowed; Krishna said he was not aware that was not allowed. Trustee Trusner suggested to redo TIF agreement; eliminate 2nd dispensary. Need to lower the amount giving back on TIF. This is a huge piece of property that we are not going to get much money from. Trustee Terry thinks extend it as long as there is progress. Motion by Trustee Terry to extend TIF construction agreement deadline with Indus, for growery, to August 31, 2025. Trustee Vessels 2nd. Roll call: Trustee Eller, yes; Trustee Trusner, no; Trustee Jenkins, yes; Trustee Terry, yes; Trustee Bogan, yes; Trustee Vessels, yes. Approved 5-1. Treasurer Acree needs to know about the tax payment.

Harristown signs- Mayor stated she wants to remove the Harristown One and Only signs. State said ok to remove but must apply with them for new replacement signs. Mayor asked the Board if we want to replace them? Tabled

2025 Fireworks-Mayor discussed J&N Displays. Do we still want to do this? We have $22,000 in budget. Board request to do this as normal. The festival will be held June 28, 2025. Trustee Jenkins stated Niantic will be helping with activities also. Mayor will email J&N back and tell them fireworks will be June 28 and spend the same amount as last year.

Personnel Committee

Trustee Trusner discussed meeting held on 1/22/2025. Discussion was held on overtime policy. Committee discussed change policy if the employee is sent home to pay their regular hours that day. Change to read any emergencies, after normal working hours (0700-1530) then would be overtime.

Timecards were discussed. Currently policy says overtime must be approved by mayor. There are 3 set of eyes on them now; Jonathan, Teresa and Misty; don’t think they need mayor approval also. Trustee Eller said work schedule is 40 hours, if called back in, count as overtime. Everyone should always have to punch in. He does not believe they should ever be sent home early and told to come back later. Trustee Bogan suggested to look into federal laws on how to pay hourly employees. Trustee Vessels doesn’t want it to look like we are punishing Jonathan for planning ahead. Mayor doesn’t understand why there needs to be a timecard and an electronic spreadsheet. Currently employee signs time card, Jonathon signs and Mayor signs it. Trustee Vessels believes should still have Mayor signature since she know what is going on. A committee meeting should be held to revamp policy and then send to the Attorney to look at.

Public Works Committee Nothing to report.

Finance Committee Nothing to report..

Ordinance

5462 Cantrell St – Resident Rose Ross called Trustee Trusner and said complaints of dogs, trash, no building permits. Mayor said we did not realize this was in village. Does Board want letters sent to them about ordinance violations? Trustee Bogan said they have horses also. Board wants a letter sent to them letting them know they are in the village and let them know possible violations.

Business Economic & Community Nothing to report

5480 Union School Road. Trustee Bogan said she use to help the lady cleaning it out. Mr. Richardson said he can currently only do so much outside due to the weather. Mayor will get lien amount and list of issues. Mr. Richardson’s phone# is 217 450 1708, email jeremyrichardosn281@gmail.com. Tabled until next meeting

Attorney-nothing to report

Motion by Trustee Vessels to enter closed session. Trustee Jenkins 2nd. Approved 6-0.

Enter closed session at 9:20 pm.

Back to regular session at 10:19 pm

Nothing in closed session to discuss in open session.

Motion by Trustee Vessels to adjourn. Trustee Jenkins 2nd. Approved 6-0.

Meeting adjourned at 10:20 pm

https://villageofharristown.com/documents/231/VOH_01-27-2025.docx