REGULAR MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF TAMPICO
February 3, 2015
7:00 Pm
Reagan Community Center
Mayor Kristine L. Hill called the regular meeting of the Tampico Village Council to order at 7:00 PM.
Commissioners Toby Johnson, Bruce Hill, Mary Jo Sigel, Derrick Maupin and Police Chief Terry Strike were present. Village Clerk Kathy Leathers recorded the written and digital minutes.
Mayor Hill led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Minutes of the January 20, 2015 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.
Public Comment
A resident asked about getting her child enrolled in the Tiger Club after school program and if there was a waiting list. Mayor Hill told her there is a waiting list and she was welcome to fill out an application and return the completed form to the Village Clerk’s office to be forwarded to the program director.
Resident Al Morthland asked the council if the whole board hired Connie Cooper that residents are paying $600.00 for. Mayor Hill told Morthland she was approved by the board. Morthland asked if it was put out to the public to be bid on. Mayor Hill said it didn’t need to be, the ordinance for the day care is separate. Morthland said being that the people were paying for this they ought to have a right to bid on the job. Morthland continued saying the taxpayers are paying $600.00 a month for something they haven’t got yet, they have a right to bid on the job. Mayor Hill said Cooper’s qualifications speak for themselves. Morthland maintains other people should have the right to go through the process not just have one person pick them. Commissioner Maupin said one person did not pick her, the council all did. Mayor Hill said the majority picked her.
Morthland directed his next question to Commissioner Hill. Morthland said with all this bad weather we have been having, there are a lot of people driving around without their lights on. Commissioner Hill asked him during the day or night. Morthland said it did not matter if it’s cloudy and gray out, they are supposed to have their lights on, it’s the law. Mayor Hill asked Morthland if he wanted the village to pull everyone over without headlights and ticket them. Mayor Hill instructed Chief Strike to take care of it. Morthland said Commissioner Hill is Strike’s boss. Mayor Hill said she is their boss. Morthland argued it was his [Commissioner Hill’s] department. Mayor Hill said they are all her departments. Mayor Hill asked Morthland if he had anything else. Morthland replied it doesn’t do any good that is why no one is at the meeting tonight.
Clerk Leathers advised council members she had wanted to forward a copy of the sale of surplus village property ordinance draft to them, but the Wisp had been having some e-mail issues the last few days. She told them it was basically the same as the ordinance they approved when they agreed to the sale of the building at 126 S. Main. Leathers stated the ordinance has the legal description, the property is zoned B-2 and it states the council accepted the bid of $18,000.00 from the buyer at their last council meeting. Leathers advised council members to take the time to review the ordinance now. A motion was made by Commissioner Maupin, second by Commissioner Sigel to approve Ordinance No. O04-15-02-03 Authorizing the Sale of Municipally Owned Real Estate at 104 W. Market Street. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
The Council reviewed a list of persons required to file Statements of Economic Interest The state act states that members of board or commissions who function in an advisory capacity are not required to file this annual document. Members of the Tampico Zoning Board, Tampico Recreation Board and the
Tampico Historic Preservation Advisory Board are not required to file these statements. Clerk Leathers told the Council she realized those persons who filed petitions for the upcoming general election had to file the statements at that time. Leathers advised she had contacted the Whiteside County Clerk’s office and was told the statements filed with their election petitions were considered for the year 2014 so new statements will need to be completed. Leathers will forward the list to the County Clerk.
Mayor Hill asked recently arrived at the meeting Fire Chief, Brian Wetzell and Renee Wetzell, Vice President of the Tiger Cubbie Needs Assessment Administrative Board, if they had any questions or comments before the council moved on. Mayor Hill advised Chief Wetzell the emergency storm warning siren is at the next level of the grant process.
Al Morthland told the council he had a question about the building being sold. Morthland stated the word is they want to make it an apartment house. Morthland wanted to know if that was considered part of the businesses. Mayor Hill asked him who they are. Commissioner Johnson said the buyers of the old town hall. Mayor Hill told Morthland the zoning of the property is not considered as part of the zoning of Main Street. Mayor Hill advised Morthland, the council had looked into the zoning and it would be the same as the former “Earl’s” property and allowed to be residential.
Commissioner Johnson read a letter of resignation by Kyle Schindel from the Tampico Recreation Committee Board as he will be moving from the area. Schindel’s letter included a thank you to Anita Elgin, Linda Mendoza and Josh Mosher for all their help. The resignation was approved on a motion by Commissioner Johnson, second by Commissioner Hill. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried. Commissioner Johnson and Commissioner Maupin advised they have no one in mind at this time to join the committee.
Mayor Hill advised the council in light of reviewing the Day Care Board Ordinance, the council does not have to approve the Tiger Cubbie Needs Assessment Administrative Board resignation, only the members of the committee need to do so. Mayor Hill advised Mary Wendland submitted her resignation as treasurer of the TCNAAB Board. Mayor Hill advised Mrs. Wendland’s schedule is a busy one and she felt she would not be able to devote the time necessary to the TCNAAB Board. Wendland’s letter did state she would still help the board in any way she could.
Mayor Hill explained to the council how the resignation was put on the agenda without realizing that the way the Day Care Ordinance was set up, the TCNAAB is separate from a committee so they present to the council as a separate entity as well as under the village umbrella. Mayor Hill continued by saying they don’t need the council’s official approvals but they do need the council’s guidance at times. Clerk Leathers referred council members to the day care ordinance and cited the item “Vacancies”. Mayor Hill advised she will be having Connie Cooper, Day Care Administrator, come to the next Village Council meeting to present some very qualified people to step up and take the vacant postion(s). Mayor Hill said she will remain on the board since the ordinance states a village council member should be on there. Mayor Hill advised Commissioner Johnson will be submitting his resignation to the board at their next meeting in light of his busy schedule.
Mayor Hill next advised council members to refer to page 2 of the ordinance at 3.32.070. Mayor Hill said since the day care is operating on donations and such they do have an operating budget. Mayor Hill said as far as purchasing equipment for the day care, Cooper has negotiated some great prices and will be at the next meeting to discuss them herself. Mayor Hill wanted to make sure council members had the ordinance at hand so they are aware of these matters.
Reports of Village Officials
Commissioner Sigel said the guys have done a great job getting the snow off the streets considering how much the village had especially in the amount of time they did. Commission Maupin said he heard
February 3, 2015 Regular Meeting – Tampico Village Council, cont’d.
snowplowing very early on Monday morning and he did not know how they made it to town since he tried
to leave town and couldn’t get out. Commissioner Hill advised it was Tom, [Public Works Superintendent Pierce]. Mayor Hill said village plows were busy on Sunday for quite a long time and got it snapped around pretty good. Commissioner Hill was also out plowing to help the village and save money.
Commissioner Maupin reported there is a Recreation Committee meeting tomorrow night. Maupin said he and Commissioner Johnson have been working closely with Tim Hatten and Bridget Maupin, the more active members at the moment. Maupin stated the committee is trying to basically restructure everything and that’s what the meetings have been about. Maupin said they are currently not planning any big events or doing anything major, they are trying to set the ground work to continue to move forward. Mayor Hill said she liked the scheduling. She stated Commissioner Johnson shared some of that with her, the baseball scheduling and the maintenance scheduling. Mayor Hill said that is fantastic. Maupin stated it has just been and needs to be updated. Maupin told the council they are just going to try and transition, Anita, [Elgin], has done great work but she may not be able to or won’t be able to do so any longer. Maupin said they are going to try to continue on with what she, [Elgin], started. Mayor Hill said she liked that they are starting so much earlier. Maupin said that’s where the committee is at right now.
Commissioner Hill advised he and Chief Strike had gone around town and hung up notices as follows: “Attention Snowmobilers: The Whiteside County Snowbirds along with the Tampico Police Department would like to remind you, out of respect to private properties, stay on the trail or stay home.” Hill said it is putting out the word, ‘Yeah, go snowmobiling.’ Mayor Hill stated this came from Whiteside County Snowbirds. Just to be nice to residents, take the shortest route home after you have to get off the trail so you through people’s properties and such. Hill said they have been hung up in every business in town. Al Morthland stated snowmobiles were going down Main Street the other day. Mayor Hill told him that’s what the Snowbirds were saying, this is a privilege and they called Mayor and Commissioner Hill last weekend and they created the signs for them since a few of the members were going up north. Mayor Hill said Beth Etheridge, a member, wanted to be at this meeting so she asked the Mayor and Commissioner Hill to present it for the club. Mayor Hill has been told club members have caught snowmobilers in yards and in the cemetery. Members of the club stopped those riders and told them to have some respect. Mayor Hill said the village does not want to discourage riders, because the village does like having them come into town and come to village businesses. Commissioner Hill said going through people’s properties, the cemetery and every where else, then the village is going to have to say, that’s it. Commissioner Hill said we do not want to do that. Morthland said that gets people madder than anything if you got them going through people’s property. Commissioner Johnson asked what route does the village want them to take when someone is going through their yard. Mayor Hill said it’s marked. Commissioner Hill advised there is a snowmobile route that comes into town from different directions. Johnson said he meant if someone wants to make a formal complaint what is the route they should go. Johnson said he had one complaint this week about someone going through a yard. Commissioner Hill said just the alleys and other…. Mayor Hill suggested getting the tag numbers. Commissioner Maupin asked who people are to complain to. Mayor Hill told them Chief Strike. Johnson said that’s what he told the resident who asked, they should go talk with Strike. Johnson said the resident didn’t want to go too far with it since he understands what they mean to the village at this time of the year. Johnson said he thanked the resident but he reiterated that it’s their property and if it it is a nuisance, don’t hesitate. Mayor Hill said typically Chief Strike would give a warning, or Commissioner Hill or even the Whiteside County Snowbirds give warnings first, they’re not going to prosecute unless there is criminal damage or something. Commissioner Johnson said he told the resident who contacted him that the one thing a person would not want to do is block that portion of their yard without it being clearly marked.
Mayor Hill reported the village got their power back really fast during the heavy snowfall. She said ComEd’s Northern Illinois Regional Director, Dave Gross, contacted the mayor on the following morning and asked if the village had any complaints and if everything went well. Mayor Hill told him it was fantastic. ComEd had said a three hour call out and the power was back on in 45 minutes so that was incredible how quickly it moved.
Mayor Hill said she wanted to give a big shout out to Dana Fellows, former resident, and the job he does as a volunteer with the Village’s website. He does not have to post the agenda on the website because it is a volunteer running the village’s website. It is the law under the Sunshine Law / Open Meetings Act and it is listed if the website is maintained by a volunteer, not a full-time person, it does not have to be posted. The Mayor stated Fellows graciously does so to help inform the citizens in town. Mayor Hill stated for anyone to criticize or attack him for the job he is doing is basically ridiculous because he has been fantastic to this town. Mayor Hill said she just wanted to thank him publicly once again.
There were no communications.
Bills were paid on a motion by Commissioner Johnson, second by Commissioner Hill. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Maupin and Mayor Hill. Commissioner Sigel voted “No”. The motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 7:23 PM. The next regular meeting of the Tampico Village Council will be Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 7:00 PM in the Reagan Community Center located at 202 W. Second Street.
Kathy A. Leathers Kristine L. Hill
Clerk Mayor
MINUTES APPROVED THIS 17th DAY OF February, 2015
**These minutes are not official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**
