Village of Oblong

November 4, 2009 Minutes


The Village of Oblong Board of Trustees met in regular session on Wednesday, November 4th, 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), Freddie Clark, Mike McReynolds, Joan Knollenberg (DAR Representative), Nick Hinterscher and Eric White (Development & Municipal Initiatives, LLC).

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

2. The Regular Board Meeting minutes of October 7th, 2009, were approved with a motion by Rick C. and a second by Joe. All ayes, motion carried.

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

4. There were two water bill customers at the meeting this month.

Mike McReynolds asked for an extension on his water bill until Friday, November 6th. The Board granted his request.

Freddie Clark asked for an extension on his water bill until Thursday, November 12th. The Board granted his request.

5. Joan Knollenberg came before the Board asking that the mayor sign a Proclamation for National American Indian Heritage Month, which is the month of November. She is the chairperson for the American Indian Committee for the local DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Chapter. She gave a brief history of how this proclamation for the National American Indian Heritage month came about.

6. Nick Hinterscher came before the Board to request an extension of tavern hours with last call at 12:30 am and everybody out at 1 am for Floyd’s only on Wednesday, November 25th, before Thanksgiving. There was some discussion on this before the Board made their decision. Motion by Debi, with a second by Rick H., to allow the extension. All ayes, motion carried.

7. Before the Board voted on the two resolutions and one ordinance, Tony asked Eric White, from Development & Municipal Initiatives, LLC, to explain what the resolutions and ordinance were for and answer any questions that the Board may have. He stated that until they do the feasibility study they can not say wether or not the Village will be able to have the property put in a TIF.

8. Motion by Joe, with a second by Tony, to adopt Resolution #2009-R-7 “A Resolution Providing for a Feasibility Study on the Designation of Areas as Redevelopment Project Areas”. All ayes, motion carried.

9. Motion by Rick H., with a second by Debi, to adopt Resolution #2009-R-8 “Agreement for Technical Services and Assistance: Tax Increment Financing–Village of Oblong”. All ayes, motion carried.

10. Motion by Rick C., with a second by Tony, to adopt Ordinance #2009-O-523 “An Ordinance of the Village of Oblong, Illinois, Authorizing the Establishment of Tax Increment Financing `Interested Parties’ Registries and Adopting Registration Rules for These Registries”. All ayes, motion carried.

11. Eric talked about the possibility the Village would want to develop a Business District and how it would benefit the Village. There was discussion on this issue. It was decided that before the Board decided to develop a Business District the Board would hold a public meeting to explain how the Business District works.

12. Under Mayor’s Comments:

A. Randy stated that he felt that the Fall Follies went pretty good without the parade this year, but hopes there will be big crowds next year when the construction work on Route 33 hopefully is done and the Village can have the parade again.

B. Randy stated that with the Board’s permission he would like to form a Development Committee. The Board approved. Randy asked for three volunteers for the Development Committee. Tony, Rick H. and Rick C. volunteered for the committee. Tony stated that he was willing to be the chairperson of the committee.

C. Randy stated that there was already a water service in the area where Dollar General is planning on building but no sewer service. There were three option on how the Village could supply sewer utilities to the site. Option 1 – Septic System with a leach field for $11,000 – $15,000; Option 2 – Simple Site Lift Station with 2" line for Single pump $19,000 – $21,000 or Duplex (Two) pump $24,000 – $26,000; or Option 3 – Municipal (Commercial) Pump Station – in excess of $100,000. There was some discussion on which option to go with. Motion by Rick H., with a second by Ken, to go with option 2 with the duplex pump system and move forward with the feasibility study. All ayes, motion carried.

13. Reports of Committees:

A. Police: Joe read the monthly report. Joe mentioned that the Police Department had received a grant from Wal*Mart in the amount of $1,000. Joe mentioned that Chad had Low Light Shout tonight and had qualified. Joe stated that there would be a training session on Handling Deadly Force which Chad, Dan Cheadle and Brian Cox will be attending on November 16th in Mattoon. Joe stated that Brian Cox had completed his part-time training so he will be working more hours now.

B. Building and Park: Debi stated that the committee met at 6:15 pm tonight before the Board meeting. At the meeting they talked about what the Playground Committee wanted to do in the second phase for new playground equipment. The cost of the pieces the Playground Equipment Committee had picked is $47,000. They have sent in an application to the Mary Heath Foundation for some funding towards the second phase. Debi stated that Gary is working on the lights out at the park. Debi stated that there has been some problems with water leaking into the municipal building when it rains. The affected areas are the Mayor’s Office, Public Works Office and midway on the north wall of the Activity Center go towards the east wall. The committee wants to have someone come in and inspect the building and see if the problem can be solved. Rick C. stated that he would try to get a name of a building inspector that the bank used in Vincennes and give it to Gary.

C. Sidewalks and Lights: Rick H. stated that there is another distributor on the concrete light poles for the downtown area that may be a little less expensive. Joe stated that he had talked to a gentleman about the speaker system for the downtown area. Joe stated the gentleman had talked to the pole company and found out that there would be no problem with the mounting brackets on the poles for the speakers. Joe stated that he and Gary had done some measuring. The price for the speaker system , which includes 7 all weather speakers, 2 wireless mikes & all the specifics for a 70 volt system, would be between $8,000 and $10,000. There was some discussion about having wireless speakers also. Joe stated that he would get back in touch with the gentleman and get specifics and pricing for next month.

D. Street and Alley: Tony stated that he had nothing to report this month. Gary stated that he would like to commend Keiffer Bros. on the job they have been doing on the Route 33 Project.

E. Water and Sewer: Ken stated that the Village had received the legal description and he is now going around getting easement signatures. He stated that all but one property owner lives locally. He stated that once he has all the signatures he will take the paperwork to Shannon at Connor & Connor Inc. so that they can start on the paperwork to get the Village’s permits from the State for the jump over water line north and east that was discussion at last month’s meeting.

F. Finance: Rick C. stated that the Board would need to set Christmas Bonuses for the Employees at this meeting because the first pay in December is the week of the Board meeting. Motion by Rick C., with a second by Ken, to give $115 to the full-time employees and $85 to the part-time employees for their Christmas Bonuses. All ayes, motion carried.

Rick C. thanked Rick H. for initialing the bills and adjustment to customer accounts in the Public Works Department for the month of October. 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 November. Joe volunteered for the month of November. Rick stated that there are some interested parties in the Revolving Loan Fund. Randy stated that he would bring some guidelines to the next meeting to be approved.

14. Motion by Ken, with a second by Tony, 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.

15. There were no other items of business this month.

16. Motion by Rick C., with a second by Rick H., to adjourn the meeting at 8:44 pm. All ayes, motion carried.

Respectfully submitted

Ladora C. Boyd