Village of Oblong
July 11, 2007
The Village Board of Trustees met in regular session on July 11th, 2007, in the Farley Room of the Municipal Building.
Member Present: Mayor Randy Rich, Clerk Ladora Boyd, Trustee Rick Catt, Trustee Joe Campanella, Trustee Rick Houdasheldt, Trustee Ken Russell, Trustee Tony Madlem, Trustee Debi Wilson and Treasurer Jan Miller.
Others Present: Police Chief Chad Pusey, Public Works Superintendent Gary Lanter Kristina Peters (Robinson Daily News), Rhonda Clark, Crawford County Sheriff Todd Liston, Sherry Catt, Lamark Edwards and Charlotte Cannon (Oblong Gem).
1. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Mayor Rich.
2. The Regular Board Meeting minutes of June 6th, 2007, were approved with a motion by Debi and a second by Rick C. All ayes, motion carried.
3. There were two additions to the agenda this month. First addition to the agenda was Lamark Edwards. He is interested in bringing a business to town. The business is a free standing concession stand. The business would sell shaved ice, ice cream, flavored coffee and hot dogs. He feels that this would be a good thing to have in the community. The location that Mr. Edwards is interested in is on South Adams Street just south of the Rusty Nail Hardware Store. There was some discussion on this issue. The Board informed Mr. Edwards that the property would have to be put up for bid.. Randy stated that the Village needs to look into how the bid ad has to run before bids can be opened. Motion by Rick H., with a second by Debi, to give the Finance Committee the authority to open the bids and award the successful bid.
Second addition to the agenda was Sherry Catt (Chairperson of the Playground Equipment Committee). She wanted to update the Board on the progress of the committee. Sherry stated that the committee has received $20,000 from the Mary Heath Foundation and that the committee is going to have a cook-out on July 27th from 11 am to 12:30 pm. Sherry stated that she has asked Joe Campanella to serve on the Playground Equipment Committee since he is the Chairperson for Building/Park Committee. Sherry stated that Joe accepted.
4. There were no water bill customers at the meeting this month.
5. Rhonda Clark came before the board asking for a stop sign on the corner of West Missouri Street and South Jackson Street just for eastbound traffic. This request is due to an incident of a little girl getting hit in front of the Kids Kingdom Daycare Center. There was some discussion on this issue. Gary suggested maybe trying some safety cones with flashing lights or signs. The board felt that this would be something to try and see how it works. Chad stated that he would come down and help set the cones out.
6. Sheriff Liston came before the board to explain Reserve 911 System (Reserve 911 is the name of the company out of Indianapolis that has developed the system). Marathon helped in the purchase of Reverse 911. The system is a community interactive warning system. The system will notify residence and business of emergencies (tornados, chemical spills and etc.) and instructions as to what to do. Reverse 911 System will not replace the warning sirens. Sheriff Liston stated that the system should be operational by September 1st. There were some questions asked.. Also with this system, it will do Senior Citizen Wellness checks.
7. Rick C. stated that the Finance Committee had a meeting at 6 pm tonight with Brian Bradbury from Kemper CPA. Rick stated that the Village was given a clean audit report. Rick stated that if there were any questions that the Finance Committee would try to answer them or that Kemper would be willing to answer them.
8. Motion by Tony, with a second by Joe, to accept the Motor Fuel Bids for this year’s street maintenance. All ayes, motion carried.
9. Under Mayor’s Comments : 1. Randy stated that he and some of the Revolving Loan committee members met with Dan Jansen (USDA Rural Development) about the Village getting the ok for the grant in the amount of $99,000 for the Oblong Revolving Loan Fund. The Village is to contribute $25,000 towards the Fund also. Randy stated that there will need to be another meeting later on this month to look over guidelines for the revolving loan application. Once the guidelines are written, they will need to be approved by USDA.
2. Randy stated that he felt that the Village needs to look into possibly spraying for mosquitoes this year due to the amount of rain.
3. Randy stated that Chad has made some changes to the open burning code. Chad stated that he changed the hours to 6 am to 6 pm and add Section “G” which is as follows: “Cooking and campfires will be permitted with the exception that the owner of the property notifies the police or fire department. There will be no set time limit for cooking or campfires provided that permission has been granted to the property owner by the Fire Chief or Chief of Police”. Randy stated that the ordinance will be voted on at the next meeting.
10. Reports of Committees:
A. Police: Rick H. stated that Chad is back from ILEAS training in Alabama. Rick stated that everyone had a copy of the monthly report and a July schedule. Rick stated that Chad would like to attend IL Tactual Officers Association Twentieth Annual Training Conference in November; it is limited to first come, first served. It will be a three (3) day conference in Oakbrooks, Illinois, for a cost of $265. The Board granted the request. Chad mentioned that the Fair would be going on the last of this month.
B. Building and Park: Joe mentioned again about the cook-out for the Playground Equipment fundraisers on July 27th, from 11am to 12:30 pm. Joe asked Gary if the large fountain had been fixed yet. Gary stated that the cost to repair the large fountain is $2,700. A new fountain would cost between $4800 to $5200. There was some discussion. Gary stated that there would be a 3 yr warranty on the parts for the repair. Gary, also mentioned that the Lake Committee is willing to pay $1000 of the cost of repairs. Motion by Ken, with a second by Rick H., to pay the $1700 of the cost of repairs. All ayes, motion carried. Jan stated that she had sent in all the information for the matching funds grant that was due July 1st. The Village should know either October, November or December if we get it. There will be flyers put up all over town about the cook-out.
C. Sidewalks and Lights: Debi stated that she had nothing to report at this time. Gary stated that there have been some small sidewalk project repairs completed. There are still some street lights that need to be fixed by Ameren.
D. Street and Alley: Tony stated that he attended the MFT Bid letting. Tony mentioned that he had spoken with Andy Yoder and David Stutesman about parking for the Amish Buggies, but has not heard back yet. The Amish would prefer parking on the north side of Route 33. Gary stated that Diana Plummer asked if the Village would donate the paint for the Panther Paws on South Range Street. The board granted the request.
E. Water and Sewer: Ken stated that he had nothing to report at this time. Gary stated that there was a booster pump down at this time. It will cost around $600 to repair. Rick H. asked if Gary had heard whither or not Mike Munson had received his money for supplies that he has purchased for the project for Robinson-Palestine Water Commission/Oblong Water Department. Gary stated that he had not heard one way or the other.
F. Finance: Rick C. asked for a volunteer to initial the bills for the month of July. Tony volunteered to come in to look over the bills for the month of July and initial them.
11. 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. All ayes, motion carried.
12. There was no other business this month.
13. Motion by Debi, with a second by Ken, to adjourn at 8:11 pm. All ayes, motion carried.
Respectfully submitted
Ladora C. Boyd
2007 Meeting
Dates