The Village of Oblong Board of Trustees met in regular session on Wednesday, March 6th, 2013, in the Farley Room of the Municipal Building.

Members Present: Mayor Randy Rich, Clerk Ladora Boyd, Trustee Joe Campanella, Trustee Rick Houdasheldt, Trustee Ken Russell, Trustee Tony Madlem, Trustee Debi Wilson and Treasurer Jan Miller.
Absent: Trustee Rick Catt.

Others Present: Police Chief Chad Pusey, Public Works Superintendent Gary Lanter, Tom Compton (Daily News), Chris Forde (WTYE/WTAY), and Part-time Patrol Officer Dan Cheadle.

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

2. The Regular Board Meeting minutes of February 6th, 2013 were approved with a motion by Tony and a second by Rick H. Five (5) 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. Tony stated that he had talked with John Stone, from Connor & Connor. Tony stated that they have not received approval for the North Range Street Project plans from IDOT. Tony stated that the bid letting will hopefully still be in early spring.

6. Mayor’s Comments:
Randy mentioned that the Village has a couple of contract renewals coming up. The Village’s contract with MidAmerican Energy for the Village’s electric supply will expire in May. The Village’s contract for trash collection will expire in June. The Village will be seeking bids for both contracts.

Randy stated that one of the Village’s Revolving Loan applicant have filed bankruptcy.

7. Reports of Committees:

Police: Joe read the monthly report for February, 2013. Joe stated that there will be Tactical Officer training March 18th thru 20th in Charleston. Joe mentioned that Junior Police Academy will start March 14th at 5:30 pm. Chad stated that there are already 42 students signed up. There will be a committee meeting on March 20th at 6 pm to go over the budget.

Building and Park: Debi stated that Gary would like to go ahead and purchase a floor stripper machine for the building. There is $1,500 in the budget for this purchase, but the price is $2,000 until the end of the month. The Board gave the okay for the purchase. The leak, on the south side of the municipal building, is possibly due to a sealing of the masonry work. On the north side, there are some cracks in the mortaring, so that will need to be repaired.

Sidewalks and Lights: Rick H. stated that there was nothing to report this month.

Street and Alley: Tony mentioned that Harmon’s want to install a drive-up window for the pharmacy department on the north side of their building. They want to use the alley behind their business for this purpose. Tony suggested that the Village should make the alley a one-way from east to west. Randy stated that he would contact the Village attorney to see what the Village will need to do.

Water and Sewer: Ken stated that there was nothing to report for this month.

Finance: Randy stated that the committee will have a meeting on March 25th at 3pm or 5 pm to go over the entire budget for FY 2014. Ladora stated that Jan and she will be attending the SECICTA Meeting on March 7th in Effingham.

G. Development: Tony stated that Crawford Memorial Hospital has purchase some acreage to build a clinic west of the Dollar General Store.

8. Motion by Rick H., with a second by Ken, 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. Five (5) ayes, motion carried.

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

10. Motion by Tony, with a second by Debi, to adjourn the meeting at 7:21 pm. Five (5) ayes, motion carried.

Respectfully submitted

Ladora C. Boyd