Village of Oblong

Minutes
January 4, 2006

The Village Board of Trustees met in regular session on January 4th, 2006, in the Farley Room of the Municipal Building.

Members Present: Mayor Randy Rich, Clerk Ladora Boyd, Trustee Rick Catt, Trustee Bonnie Finn, Trustee Rick Houdasheldt, Trustee Ken Russell, Trustee Sherry Catt, Trustee Debi Wilson and Treasurer Jan Miller.

Others Present: Public Works Superintendent Gary Lanter, Police Chief Chad Pusey, Tom Compton (Daily News) and Public Works Office Manager Dale Davis.

1. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Mayor Rich.

2. The Regular Board Meeting minutes of December 7th, 2005, were approved with a motion by Bonnie and a second by Ken. All ayes, motion carried.

3. There were no additions or deletions to the agenda this month.

4. There were no water bill customers at the meeting this month.

5. Under Mayor's Comments:

1. Randy stated that he had contacted the Board about the Telecommunications Settlement which was a percentage of what the Village had collected. There was some miscommunication from their lawyer to us and apparently with other communities. The Village has been advised by our attorney to go ahead and pay the settlement amount instead of fighting and incurring legal fees. Randy stated that the Village had paid the amount under protest. Bonnie asked some questions about the telecommunication settlement. Ken asked if this was all that the Village would need to pay to be clear of the settlement. Randy stated that he believed so.

2. Randy stated that he is wanting to appoint a committee of three, with the approval of the board, to deal with potentially dangerous building that will possibly need to be condemned. The committee would meet with Chad to look at a list of properties.

3. Randy stated that he felt there needed to be a change of wording in the chapter on manufactured homes under the definition for skirting so that it states what type of materials are appropriate to use for skirting.

6. Motion by Rick C., with a second by Rick H., to pay the bills that were on the warranty list and any utility bills, bills that will incur a late charge or reimbursements to employees, with the understanding that the check for Oblong Chamber of Commerce will be held until some question are answered for the Board. All ayes, motion carried.
7. Reports of Committees:

A Police: Rick H. stated that there will be a committee meeting Friday, January 6th at 8:15 am to discuss year-end evaluations of personnel and a couple other things. Rick stated he had received an estimate on the labor to enclose the space upstairs for the police evidence and storage room. The estimated costed was $1,100 for the labor this also includes rearranging the cloak room to make a storage area for Byron to store weekly/monthly supplies for the building. Rick stated that the materials for this would run around $700. Rick stated that he would be doing the drywall finishing. There will be a couple of training session this month. On January 13th, there will be a training session on Police Pursuit at Robinson that Chad and Kristin will be attending. On January 23rd through 27th, there will be a training session on Hazmat at Champaign that Chad will be attending. Every one had a copy of the yearly and monthly reports.

B. Buildings and Park: No report at this time.

C. Sidewalks and Lights: No report at this time. Sherry mentioned that she noticed a spot at the southeast corner of Main and Range where the sidewalk is broken up. Gary stated that he had not noticed that particular spot but would check into it. Debi stated that there are some stop signs that need to be changed.

D. Street and Alley: No report at this time. Sherry stated that she was approached about whether there was an alley by Kid’s Kingdom or not. Gary stated that there is not a through alleyway.

E. Water and Sewer: No report at this time. Gary stated that there will be a couple of training sessions coming up this month and next month. On February 21st - 23rd, there will be the Illinois Rural Water Association Annual Conference in Effingham that Gary and Travis will be attending. The cost for the conference is $110 each. On January 27th, Gary would like permission to attend, with Travis, Rick White and Jason, a breakfast meeting sponsored by JULIE in Olney. Gary stated that he would make sure to contact Ed Mehler to make sure that he would be available if Dale had someone that needed their water shut off before Gary and the guys would be back in town around 10 am. Gary mentioned that the Village had the first water leak this year.

F. Finance: No report at this time. May have a meeting later this month.

8. Under other business:

a.) Gary mentioned that the Public Works department will pick-up live Christmas trees.

b.) Sherry asked about the railroad crossing upgrades. Randy stated that the decision is in the hands of Indiana Rail Road Company.

c.) Tom Compton mentioned that he is compiling some pictures that he has taken around Crawford County last year to submit to Southern Illinois Tourism Board to be printed in a tourism magazine for Southern Illinois. Randy asked Tom what the web site address was for Crawford County Tourism. It is crawfordcountytourism.com.

d.) Bonnie mentioned that the Lake Committee had a lot of help getting the Christmas lights and decorations down Monday, January 2nd. She wanted to thank everyone.

9. Motion by Ken, with a second by Rick H., to adjourn at 7:32 pm. All ayes, motion carried.

Respectfully submitted

 

Ladora C. Boyd