Village of Oblong

December 2009 Draft Minutes


The Village of Oblong Board of Trustees met in regular session on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009, in the Farley Room of the Municipal Building.

Members Mayor Randy Rich, Clerk Ladora Boyd, Trustee Rick Catt, Trustee Joe Campanella,

Present: Trustee Rick Houdasheldt, Trustee Ken Russell, Trustee Tony Madlem, Trustee Debi Wilson and Treasurer Jan Miller.

Others Police Chief Chad Pusey, Public Works Superintendent Gary Lanter, Tom Compton

Present: (Daily News), Nick Hinterscher and Steve Myers.

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

2. The Regular Board Meeting minutes of November 4th, 2009, with the changing of the name of the TIF Committee to Development Committee were approved with a motion by Joe and a second by Tony. All ayes, motion carried.

3. There was one addition to the agenda this month. Randy added to the Reports of Committees letter “G” for the Development Committee.

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

5. Nick Hinterscher came before the Board to request an extension of tavern hours with last call at 1 am and everybody out at 1:30 am for New Year’s Eve. Nick stated that he would make a donation of $30 towards the cost of an extra officer on duty to offset the cost. Motion by Rick C., with a second by Rick H., to allow the extension. All ayes, motion carried.

6. Under Mayor’s Comments:

A. Randy stated that the Village had received a letter from MediaCom. The letter stated that there will be some changes to the local cable television lineup effective on or about December 14th, 2009.

B. Randy stated that the Christmas lights and decorations out at the Park look nice and he wanted to commend the Christmas at the Park group for a good job.

7. Reports of Committees:

A. Police: Joe read the monthly report for November. Joe mentioned that Chad had several felony arrests in November. No training this month. The department is still participating in the Click or Ticket Campaign.

B. Building and Park: Debi stated that the committee had a meeting earlier this evening to discuss the leaks in the municipal building. Gary met with the building inspector who found one of the problems, which is that there is moisture under the flashing. The flashing and seal will need to be replaced, this will probably not be done until next spring due to the weather.

C. Sidewalks and Lights: Rick H. stated that there are more sidewalks than there was last month. He stated that the construction work on Route 33 is progressing right along. Rick mentioned that the complete specs for the new street lights has not been received yet. Rick said that the specs should be in soon so that the Village can get the poles ordered. Joe stated that he had contacted the gentleman about going wireless instead of the wired speaker systems. Joe stated that it would be cheaper to go wireless, but the speakers would be horn instead of box. The cost of the wireless system is around $9,000. There was some discussion on the speaker system. Joe stated that the Chamber of Commerce is willing to give a donation towards the cost of the speaker system.

D. Street and Alley: Tony stated that he had nothing to report this month. Tony mentioned that if it snows, would need to make sure that people did not park on the street so it would be easier to plow.

E. Water and Sewer: Ken stated that he had received all the right of ways from the property owners and had taken them over to Shannon at Connor & Connor. Randy stated that he had signed off on some letters, to start on the next step, today. Ken mentioned that there will be a Census Informational Meeting at the Village Hall on December 7th, at 12 pm (Noon).

F. Finance: Rick C. stated that Jan and Ladora would like to attend the SECICTA Meeting on December 10th, in Charleston. The topic is the new FOIA rules. The Board granted the request. Rick C. thanked Joe for initialing the bills and adjustment to customer accounts in the Public Works Department for the month of November. Rick C. asked for a volunteer to initial the bills and the adjustment to customer accounts in the Public Works Department for the month of December. Debi volunteered for the month of December. Rick stated that there are two applications pending for the Revolving Loan Fund.

G. Development: Tony stated that he had talked to Eric White (DMI), the people that are working on the TIF project. There has been a representative from DMI in town getting information from Jan and property information from the county. Letters to notify the taxing districts have been mailed out. The interested parties registry will be published in the newspaper pretty soon. Eric stated that he will need to meet with the committee in the near future to discussion the feasibility study. Randy stated that he had been in contact with Pat Boehler, from Westmore Equities. They needed the Village to send a letter stating that the Village will provide water and sewer to the Dollar General property. Randy stated that he had Ladora type up a letter and had signed it. He wants Gary to look it over and then will mail it out.

8. Motion by Rick H., with a second by Rick C., 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.

9. There was some other items of business this month.

A. The first item was Steve Myers speaking to the Board about an elderly woman being mauled to death by a pit bull in Flora. He wanted to know what the ordinances/laws that the Village had to prevent this from happening here in Oblong. There was some discussion on this matter. There was a suggestion made that Randy speak with the Village Attorney to see if there are more laws/ ordinances the Village could put into effect.

B. Tom Compton stated that he had been to a training session on the new FOIA rules. He said he would be will to answer questions that the Board might have on this subject.

C. The second item was the addition of Ken to the Development Committee. Randy appointed Ken to the committee with the approval of the Board.

10. Motion by Rick C., with a second by Rick H., to adjourn the meeting at 7:39 pm. All ayes, motion carried.

Respectfully submitted

Ladora C. Boyd