REGULAR MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF TAMPICO

February 17, 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 and Derrick Maupin were present. Police Chief Terry Strike was present and Village Clerk, Kathy Leathers, recorded the written and digital minutes.

Mayor Hill led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Minutes of the February 3, 2015 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.

Public Comment
Resident Dave Fox appeared before the council to discuss his concerns with snowmobiles in village limits. Fox told the council he has had snowmobiles going through his yard that have almost hit the fire hydrant and an ornamental tree. Fox said it’s hard to report incidents like this because by the time police are contacted the snowmobilers are gone and residents have no way of recognizing who they are. Mayor Hill told Fox the Whiteside County Snow Birds, the local snowmobile club, has the same concerns that were brought up at the last village council meeting. Mayor Hill said the snowmobile club asked for the village’s help in putting up signs and getting the word out that snowmobile riders have to be more respectful because it is a privilege. Fox is concerned that if someone were to get hurt on his property they could sue him even though they were doing something illegal on his property. Commissioner Hill told Fox the village put up signs in every…the post office, the bank, the bars, everywhere in town to let the snowmobilers know to try and stay on the trail and take the shortest route home so they are not going through people’s properties and so forth. Commissioner Hill said the village is trying to get them under control so hopefully the signs will help a little bit. Mayor Hill told those present, the club is not afraid to stop their own or other people because they don’t want to lose the privilege either. Fox said the snowmobile club members are responsible people and they are not the ones he has trouble with. Fox said they had somebody come through probably 2:00 – 2:30 in the morning like it was the Indy 500, woke them up and everything. Fox said he is not being judgmental toward all snowmobilers, but obviously a few that make things bad. Fox said he still wonders what they are doing out at that time of the day. Fox said his issue is stuff keeps happening and there is really no way to enforce it. Mayor Hill said he is still reporting that someone has been violating a trust that the village has tried to instill and let people snowmobile into the town. Mayor Hill said the village wants them for the businesses and stuff, they need to have places to stop and not everybody drinks on them. Mayor Hill said it’s just like motorcycles; there are a few that ruin it for the good ones that really respect having the recreation. Mayor Hill told Fox the village did not want to see his property damaged or anything else. Mayor Hill said the only thing to do is stay on it and stay vigilante and stay together on it, talk to the police or anyone else, your neighbor, just keep a watch going and try to avoid this happening. Mayor Hill said it’s not right. Fox said far be it from him to judge the whole group, he doesn’t do that because he knows there are a lot of respectable users, he just really has a problem with this. Mayor Hill said the council may have to restrict it unless the rider can prove they live on that street. Mayor Hill said the village may have to look into that for next year, have the trails, but have proof positive if you are off the trail or channel in to direct routes to home. Mayor Hill said the village does have a golf cart ordinance maybe they should do that to make sure they do live on that route and that would stop other people from using that route. Mayor Hill said the village would look into more options like that and work with the snowmobile club. Kickback Saloon owner, Bonnie Anderson asked if there had been a lot of complaints. Mayor Hill told her yes. Mayor Hill said if we stay more vigilante and maybe revisit the routes the village is offering and how we approach it so they are not going down your street unless they live on it. Mayor Hill stated the village could try to channel it a little more and have it a little more restricted once they get in to the town limits. Mayor Hill said it couldn’t hurt to look at it and work with the snowmobile club.

Fox told the council he appreciated whatever they could do. Mayor Hill stated hopefully, the snow is done and we don’t have to worry about it for a while. Commissioner Johnson stated he always makes this suggestion, but it sounds like Fox is looking for an answer and at this time the council is not ready to make a decision on it, especially just banning it altogether. Johnson said the council is not ready to do that at all. Johnson told Fox that what helps is if Fox wanted to go out and get petitions and let us know that the community as a whole would like more restrictions rather than the council trying to decide right now to restrict based on a couple complaints. Mayor Hill said no, it could be revisited over the summer, see what kinds of needs would balance out both and not rush into anything, plan for next winter. Commissioner Maupin said it is a small town and if you do enough digging, someone is going to know who that was and where that snowmobile track was going eventually. Commissioner Maupin stated you just have enough people talk to each other so we can figure this stuff out, who’s been causing problems. Mayor Hill said it is good revenue for the town when they come into Casey’s, come into the restaurant, the Kickback and stuff, it is a good thing. Commissioner Hill suggested Fox could maybe put little orange flags around the tree on his property like he sees in other towns such as going in to Rock Falls. Hill said they should not be going very fast and should be going down the alley to the trail and to their house and that’s it and they should be on the trail going to the Pub or the restaurant or wherever they’re going and get right back on the trail or go right back out of town or directly to their house from the trail at the closest point off the trail to their house. Commissioner Hill said we’re not going to be able to control everybody, that’s never going to be possible. Mayor Hill told Fox she thinks it’s something the village can adjust and try to do a little bit better. Mr. Fox told the council he has always said over the years, he does not want to be the problem but part of the solution. Mayor Hill told Fox she appreciated that.

Fire Chief, Brian Wetzell, asked how the grant situation was about the water system since Willett, Hofmann and Associates is here. Wetzell wanted to know if there was anything in the works. Mayor Hill told him Matt Hansen, from the engineering firm would be coming up next on the agenda. Wetzell said he was wondering about the possibility of moving the fire hydrant at the station and see what that would cost. Wetzell said he would like to figure something out to where the fire department could offset some of the cost, if they could help the town there and they could work together somehow. Mayor Hill told Wetzell the village has crunched the numbers on that before. Wetzell said he would like to get something figured out with that, something in the spring or summer. Wetzell said the fire department is going to put some new parking spots in for handicap accessible and some other stuff so he would like to get something set up there and what would be that aspect of it. Mayor Hill said the council could revisit the issue. Wetzell said it had been 3-4 years since he had been to a meeting and he hadn’t heard anything on how the grants were coming. Mayor Hill told him with the new governor the village has to wait for the next round. The mayor told Wetzell those projects are shovel ready so that’s a good thing. Wetzell asked the mayor about the Safe Routes to School grant, did the village not get any of that money? Mayor Hill said not this last round. She told Wetzell that doesn’t mean the village is not eligible for the next round. Mayor Hill told him the village can always reapply. Wetzell said he was just curious he hadn’t seen any sidewalks getting fixed or anything. Mayor Hill said right, the village wants to get those ramps and everything too. Mayor Hill said it does help that the plans are in place when these things come up and see what points the village maybe lacked here or there and to help get the village over the edge so the village gets the grant.

Once again, Al Morthland asked Commissioner Hill why the white police car was sitting in Prophetstown. Hill told Morthland because that’s where it sits and it wouldn’t be there much longer since it would be stripped down and sold. Morthland had to know who would be doing that. Hill said he and Chief Strike.

Next on the agenda, Village Engineer, Matt Hansen, with Willett, Hofmann and Associates, Inc. Hansen passed out copies of cost figures for sewer system improvements and he told those present he had met with Commissioner Maupin, Tom Pierce and Mayor Hill in January. Hansen said the village had applied for a grant for some sewer work, some televising work and some rehab work at the other lift station
down on Kimball Street. Hansen said the village was unsuccessful in getting the grant last year and they met to see how they should proceed going forward. The first page of his handout is a summary of where they are at as far as completing some of the waste water treatment plant and sanitary sewer improvements they wanted to look at. Hansen said the two big items that were the major deficiencies, the treatment plant aeration and the Market Street lift station were completed obviously with the grant and an IEPA loan and forgiveness of principal. Following that, Hansen, said the village put in for a grant and were unsuccessful. Hansen reported they had talked about trying to strengthen the application maybe pulling out the two smaller components which were the lift station rehab work and the sewer on South Main Place and just reapply for another, reapply for the grant and just make it a sewer lining and rehabilitation grant application through DCEO this year. Hansen also told the Council, Tom [Pierce] has been working on doing sewer cleaning and televising. Hansen said he put in the report from 2011-2014, (a color coded map of the village), half the sewers in town have been cleaned and televised at a little over 8800 ft. of sewer that have been televised to date. Hansen said those are the ones they were looking at, obviously in the grant application if they do want to reapply to line some of the old clay sewer lines that are in generally poor condition and obviously with the higher ground water table that are taking on ground water that should be kept out of the sanitary sewer system. Hansen reported what they should talk about is whether the village wants to proceed just with those two smaller projects with local funds and take them out of the grant application and possibly reapply for sewer lining work with the DCEO grant application. Hansen directed those present to an outline of the actual cost estimate if the village just wants to do the sewer replacement on South Main Place and then the Kimball Street lift station rehab. Hansen said the total project cost for that would be $118,000.00 for both projects and basically what the village would be doing is replacing a small, undersized sewer line that serves about 4-5 different residences on South Main Place with an 8 inch sewer with a manhole at the end. Hansen said right now there are just some clean-outs and it’s really kind of a maintenance issue for Tom [Pierce]. Hansen said the Kimball Street lift station, the lift station structure with this one as opposed to the Market Street lift station is actually in good condition, the pumps are in good condition, but the wet wall flat top is really deteriorating and the controls for the lift station are the original controls from the 1980’s when the treatment plant was built. Hansen reported they want to get the controls to match the control panel and alarm system at the Market Street lift station. Hansen said this will give more reliability as far as the operation of the lift station as well.

Hansen said he and Commissioner Maupin talked about the water supply issues and went through in detail the water system report. The focus of the previous major EPA violations was on the sewer side specifically the treatment plant. There was a violation notice from the EPA that had to be addressed. Hansen said the village tackled that issue and this project and possibly if the village is successful with the grant, be able to do some sewer lining that would get the village close to having the waste water treatment plant and sewer collection system back up to where they want it to be. Hansen told them the next step up is to tackle some of the water issues. Hansen said from a cost stand point, the water issues, even though the major violations were on the waste water side, the actual cost to do the waste water improvements were really kind of less than the water system improvements. For the water system improvements they will have to be creative and try to find grant funds and whatever they can do to keep that cost down…it’s obviously a project that will need to be phased in over time. Hansen said quite frankly it could be quite a while to be complete. Hansen told the council he and Maupin had talked about it because of where the water / sewer rates are currently at to kind of pay for some of these improvements. Hansen said they are talking about using not only DCEO but Rural Development grant and loan funds for some of the water system improvements. With Rural Development the village can get 75% of the project costs in grant funds. Hansen stated there is a cap if the project gets too big, the village is only going to max out any grant amount the village can get. Hansen said one advantage with that program, looking at the advantage as far as keeping rates down is their loan program goes out 40 years. He said with the water system improvements the village is looking at, usually he doesn’t advocate his clients borrowing money for 40 years, in this case, some of the improvements the village is going to be doing, namely the distribution system, replacing mains will probably be the top priority. The water mains and hydrants, things like that, are going to have a useful life past 40 years. Hansen said with the village’s current system, some of the mains have been in place since the water tower was built in 19…. Mayor Hill said the quadrant shut-offs should be done too. Maupin said the village should pick an area of town and start in one area and move around.

Maupin said that way they are fixing one area at a time. Hansen told the council the village has a lot of 4 inch mains and even though you have hydrants on those 4 inch mains, technically by today’s standards, you can’t even put a standard fire hydrant on a 4 inch line. Chief Wetzell said the village can’t support that. Wetzell said they have checked in the last month and it takes 12 minutes to fill a tanker and that’s with 80% of the hydrants. Wetzell said everyone’s insurance is higher because of that and he just wanted to know how the stuff was coming. Hansen said part of the distribution system combined with the village tower and well supply, part of it is fire protection for the community and part of it with the hydrants is just general maintenance. Hansen said most communities go out twice a year and flush hydrants. He said Tampico is no different from other communities who go out and want to turn over the water in their systems so they have hydrants they go out and open to turn over the water in the line. Hansen stated they use the velocity of the water moving through the lines to clean them up a little bit. Hansen said the problem Tom, [Pierce] has is with the water tower height, generally speaking is on the low side for static pressure. Hansen reported it is well within EPA guidelines, but the village is in the 50-55 psi range with most communities running 60-70 psi. Hansen said the amount of flow the village will get running one of the hydrants will be function of pressure in the system and also the size of the main. Hansen said the village’s problem is a little bit of both. Hansen told the council even if they wanted to build something bigger and higher, he would not do that until the village’s issues have been resolved because it would cause mains to break left and right. Hansen said he had told Maupin the village needs to tackle the distribution system first, work away at that slowly and build in one larger, larger being at least an 8 inch line, that can re-enforce the system and basically get rid of all the 4 inch lines and then a lot of the other streets will have 6 inch water mains. Hansen said the village should see a dramatic difference in what kind of fire flow the village could get to different parts of the system. Hansen said with that, the village should be able to flush and clean the system like they would really like to do. Mayor Hill said the council is working with what they inherited. Maupin said the council can only do so much. He said the money on this is just astronomical. Maupin stated it seems like it’s just water lines but that’s the most expensive part of all the projects the village needs to do. Maupin said it’s something that is not feasible to go out and start tomorrow. Maupin said he thinks the majority of the people understand that. Maupin stated the council is trying to do the best it can and the council is telling the public that is their plan and that’s what the council is going to do. Local business owner, Bonnie Anderson, asked if the village is on schedule with the original plan. Hansen told her he really doesn’t know if they had it in the original report if there was a schedule they were working off of. Anderson told Hansen yes, they did, they had a time frame. Hansen said he thought part of it was where the village could get funding. Mayor Hill said the village had a target date, the other projects she thought what they had, the lift station and everything, the village did have a time line and the village has hit all those. Hansen said with the treatment plant the village did have a definitive time line only because the EPA was forcing them to have a time line, since the village was under a violation notice. Anderson said six years ago the village had a report and there was a time line. Anderson said everything depends on the weather and all that and grants and everything else. Anderson said what she is asking is it was over a ten year plan, is she right, a ten year plan in getting all of this done. Mayor Hill said the village has a basic list of priorities. Hansen said he would have to pull the report to actually see if the village had a start and end date. Anderson said what she is asking, the village was supposed to do this first and then this first and then on down the line until the village got it all done. Anderson said it was dependent on getting grants and all that but the village had a time line not a specific date, but a time line for all this to be done. Anderson asked with not getting grants and stuff, is the village behind, is the village running right in line with the time line. Anderson said at one time it was stated that if the village didn’t get it done within this time, it would wind up costing the village more. Hansen told her every year the village doesn’t get something done, like anything, it doesn’t get cheaper to do stuff. Anderson asked if the village is getting things done. Hansen said as far as what the village has completed to date, he is pretty happy with what they have gotten done. Hansen said if the village gets these two projects done, and if the village is successful in getting the grants for the rest, for some of the sewer lining, he really thinks, unless something is found in the system that hasn’t been addressed, he thinks the sewer system and the treatment plant should be in a good situation for the next probably 30 – 40 years. Mayor Hill said she thinks the village is checking things off. Maupin said even with not getting the grant last fall, the village is not really behind since the project work wouldn’t have started until this year. Anderson said that’s all she is asking. Maupin said he never saw the original time frame but as far as he knows, the village is not behind because they didn’t get the grant, because the work would not have started until this year. Maupin said the
village is still looking at the possibility of starting this work, this year just not with grant money. Anderson said that what she was asking. Anderson told Maupin he was not around when this all started, and don’t get her wrong, she’s not going there, she is just asking if we are still in line with what the village had planned. Mayor Hill said yes, she thinks the village is chipping along as they had hoped. Anderson said that’s all she was asking, where the village is. Hansen said he didn’t bring the handout on the water system, but he thinks, the village is probably, he’s guessing that with this project, what the village spent at the treatment plant and the Market Street lift station, then if the village is successful in getting grants funds for the sewer lining and stuff. Hansen said as far as total dollars of the project, if the village gets all that accomplished, he is guessing the village will probably be at one million, to one point two million that has been reinvested in the waste water treatment plant and the sewer system. Hansen said a lot of that fortunately has been paid for with grants and forgiveness of loans with the EPA and part of it is repayment of some debt, but on the water side, the total dollar amount for improvements on the water system is close to six million dollars. Hansen said that is only because the cost to rehabilitate the water distribution system, which is a large portion of that, is a lot more costly than the village going in and doing sewer rehabilitation by lining. The lining work is not something the village has to dig up and excavate and disturb things where the water distribution is. Hansen said Maupin realizes that the next thing on the list and it’s one of those things the village is going to have to get really creative and try to break that project into multiple parts to maximize as much grant funding that the village can get and it might be from long, low interest loans through rural development to get done. Anderson said the grants have tightened up since the village originally started this. Maupin said he really does think things will slow down when the village gets to the water side just out of necessity because of the money. Maupin said the village may be doing a project every year but the grants scope for everything is just not going to be as big as it has been. Mayor Hill asked if anyone else had anything with Hansen. Mayor Hill thanked Hansen for coming to the meeting..

Mayor Hill discussed the franchise agreement/land lease with Mediacom. She said Mediacom did not get her the template today like they were hoping, so the matter will be tabled until the next meeting and she believes Mediacom is willing to come out here and answer any questions, too. Mayor Hill said Mediacom is looking to buy into fiber optics and then they won’t even need the little building and satellite up there. The Mayor said Mediacom is trying very hard to get in here. She said they would like to get in here and talk and address any questions people may have. The Mayor said they are working really hard but they have a template so the village stays on track with the franchise agreement. Mayor Hill stated the lease agreement is good until 2019 but she wants to get the franchise the same year so the village is not trying to figure out which one is done and which one is still rolling. Mayor Hill said they have an option out if they get into the fiber optic and that will be great for the town. Mayor Hill told the council Mediacom wanted to know how many people she thought they could get and she said probably a whole lot because they are getting tired of sweeping snow off their dishes. She stated that’s why the council has to table that until she can get the template and be able to talk to them.

Next on the agenda, Mayor Hill introduced, Day Care Administrator, Connie Cooper, to speak on the Tiger Cubbies Needs Assessment Administrative Board, (TCNAAB). Cooper began by thanking the council for inviting her to the meeting. Cooper said first off, she thinks the day care is a great idea and it’s a privilege for her and the community if this does take off. Cooper told them it is starting off right now with needs assessment to determine if there is a need in our community here and can we bring a viable business into the community here for the village. Cooper told the council, moving forward with that thought process, they are running through the beginning processes of it. Cooper stated everyone probably wonders why she is here and why is the village paying her an income. Cooper said it started off with their board, and she is happy to say she sees three board members in attendance tonite and they have just recruited two more since some members have had to step off. Cooper said this is very exciting and these are people who are dedicated to making this project go ahead. Cooper reported as they go forward it is beginning with educating the board on DCFS regulations and all the standards. Cooper said that with that comes the great State of Illinois which also has them into the accelerated program. Cooper stated she could get all these websites to those who would like to dive a little deeper and understand some of these regulatory bodies. Cooper told them there is DCFS, the Whiteside County Health Department, the Fire Marshal and the ISBE which is the Illinois State Board of Education for the food program. She said many of those revenue so as they move forward, the day care is probably going to have some families that are subsidized and that gets to be little scary as everybody is hearing about all the subsidies and the lack of funding. Cooper said every year, 22 years is my experience with CGH Helping Hands day care, she was the director there, every year they did run through listening to the news and these coming on. Cooper said in her 22 years of experience, there was never a day that they were not reimbursed for their subsidy families. Cooper said she thinks it is very important to know, it’s a very scary topic as is heard every year, there is always talk of not having enough money. She stated she would love to think the State of Illinois is not going to pull out on our children or our elderly as they move forward. Cooper said it is one of those bridges that are crossed every year. Cooper reported when they first started out, she is writing all the policies and procedures and would welcome anyone to please dive into the DCFS standards to see what that holds. Cooper said it is a lot of footwork. Cooper said it is all doable and along with that comes the program administrative scale, which is another state regulatory guideline that is used for all daycare. Cooper said she would copy those and leave all the information in the Village Clerk’s office. Cooper said if anyone would like to thumb through them and become more familiar, they will have a better understanding of what it takes to run a business as a child care facility. Cooper said they do have a fiscal budget written as they do move forward, if everyone jumps on board with this. Cooper reported their hopeful start up date they are looking at is May 1st. Cooper said there is a lot of footwork going on here. Cooper stated August 1st could also be a tentative date and the reason she is putting that out there is because they also have to look at this facility because this is where they are looking to house child care. Cooper stated she knows there is already an after school program here so that gives her a more hopeful thought process as looking forward she doesn’t believe they would jeopardize the well being of those children so she knows they are on the right path. Cooper then told the council of one of the board members coming forward that she recruited is Sheila Schultz. Schultz is a retiree, who Cooper has worked closely with for over 15 years, she was the head of the DCFS representatives in the Whiteside County area that serves Sterling. Cooper said Schultz retired two years ago and is quite an asset. Cooper stated at this point in time, she did not want to bring a lot of paperwork, she wanted to know what the village council’s and the community out there needs. Cooper said it is nice to see the friendly face of someone who she did care for their children. Cooper said when she has been at Village Hall she has seen other familiar faces of children she has served. Cooper told the council she is a resident of the Prophetstown area right now and she has been in this business for over 30 years. Cooper then asked those present if there were any questions or if there was anything they would like to know. She said if she does not know the answer, she will definitely find that answer and deliver it to the board. Cooper was asked by a Al Morthland how many children it would take to make it payable. She told the resident right now she has written the budget with 20. Cooper said that number is what you would normally serve in a classroom. She said it’s a 1/10 ratio, two teachers, twenty students for a Pre-K classroom. She advised they are starting out with only one classroom. She reported she did the proposed budget with 15 children, not really knowing what the needs of the community or the surrounding community would be. Cooper said it should work out to about a $36,000.00 profit with 15 children. She said in her 22 years, she has not ever ran without a full classroom and she used to run a facility licensed for 75. Cooper said once the business is up and running, in her experience, word of mouth, reputation and doing things by the book. She said that seems to grow quite a business. Cooper said as the village moves forward with that the village would get accredited or what she would call it is a quality of circles in the State of Illinois. Cooper said at that point in time when you move forward with a quality center, the state reimburses you at a higher per diem for those children. From working with CGH she can honestly say that just a 10% increase after being quality rated brought in an extra $50,000.00 dollars for them with 75% of their children as subsidy. Cooper stated she would venture to think in this community around here and the Prophetstown, Erie communities, (some of whom she had previously served), that we would have a pretty high subsidy enrollment. Morthland then asked how much a parent would have to pay for their child to be in it. Cooper told him a parent that was working above the guidelines of income would be $155.00 per week. Cooper said most families do not and what would they would have to be is a co-pay and that’s a monthly co-pay anywhere from $13.00 to $230.00 per month and then the state reimburses the program for the rest. Another member of the audience, who was a past client at CGH, told them she was subsidy and paid around a $100.00 per month. Cooper said that’s $25.00 a week and an average for care is about $32-38 per day for care for a child, around $3.58 per hour. Cooper said that is with breakfast, lunch and a snack provided and qualified staff. Cooper told them that sometimes people do have to make choices and leave their children in places we wish not to leave them and she and the board were hoping for this community that they could make that a little bit different. Cooper also asked if everyone was familiar with Head Start Programs, the Early Bird Programs, maybe other early intervention programs. Cooper stated a lot of times those are half day programs and families scramble for grandma to pick up those children halfway through the day or what have you. The Board would also like to take that responsibility off those loved ones we expect to do that and sometimes have no other choice but to have them do that. Cooper said that is another reason they would like to bring this into the community because we have those programs also around here. Mayor Hill said the village does have homes in town that people would like to buy but they won’t because their children have no place to be. Commissioner Sigel asked Cooper how close they are to being licensed. Cooper told her it takes a process because you have to be licensed and that’s why she would like people to get familiar with the DCFS regulations. She said it has a section in there that is the applications and permits that lays out all that has to be done. Cooper said it starts with bringing the Fire Marshal in, getting the equipment and materials that are necessary, hiring qualified staff. She said it’s not something that is done in a month. She said there is too much legality, because it truly has the governing bodies of DCFS, the health department and the fire marshal and now the State of Illinois because every child care facility is now in the quality of circles. Cooper said it used to be you could be licensed and perhaps not really up to snuff. She said that is no longer happening for our children which is a great thing. Mayor Hill told the council Cooper has taken several day cares out of the red. Cooper said she worked for CGH for two years as a teacher and they were in a $75,000.00 deficit when they asked her to step in. She said they were able to turn the deficit around that fiscal year and never ran at a deficit again for 20 years running. Mayor Hill told Cooper what the village pays her for the time, she can cut through more red tape than anyone else in a fraction of the time. Cooper said she definitely knows what she is doing and it’s not going to happen in a month, but the ball is rolling. Cooper told the council she is writing diligently, they are getting things done that way and there are things that will need to be done to the building as well, such as a working stove to cook on, an adequate stove. Cooper said there are things they know they have to do. She said most things are little things but they need to be done.

Commissioner Sigel told Cooper she understood they have had donations put in. Sigel said she already knows Cooper has already spent $3,300.00 on salary and she would like to know how much of that donation is left. Cooper said that is one of the things she was asking earlier. Cooper said when she came into the game she did not have all of the numbers. Cooper said she would put that together and get it to Sigel. Cooper said there have also been some smaller donations but every donation is wonderful and even small donations of articles of equipment. She said things don’t have to be bright, shiny and new, just in good condition and able to be utilized. Cooper said that’s where they’ve come a long way, too, because the classroom is pretty well equipped right now. Cooper said they do have to purchase a few things, some mandated by the state, but she thinks they will be able to come up with what is needed. Cindy Slock, President of the TCNAA Board stated all of those things need to be in place before they even call DCFS to come in. Slock said they are not even going to be looked at until those things are all in place. Mayor Hill said it’s like if you buy a rental property, you have to do things to get it up to snuff before you can think rent it. The mayor said, sometimes you have to spend money to make money. Cooper said quite honestly that is so true. Cooper said you have to have an investment, if we didn’t have to have an investment, everybody would be doing it. Cooper stated, once you have that investment you are looking at quite a long stint of profit. Cooper said it will be a non-profit organization, but with that all said, you have a $30,000.00 bank coming in every year and that’s after you pay. Business owner, Bonnie Anderson, told Cooper by the same token she is not talking about a private individual business. Anderson said Cooper is talking about a tax payer funded city really. Mayor Hill and Cooper said yes, a not for profit. Anderson said they have to answer to the public. Cooper said absolutely, there are no secrets in her business transactions, there never have been even in 22 years with CGH and there definitely wouldn’t be any here at the village. Cooper said she thinks that’s how you get that commitment from the village. Anderson thinks it is highly unusual for a city to enter into a day care business. Mayor Hill said yes, but it has been admired by many communities that we would actually step up and do this for our people. Cooper stated CGH is community owned also, a community owned business, so that’s who she answered to as well, the board at CGH and the city and the chamber. Cooper said she is pretty open-book, any and all transactions are out there for any one to know. Cooper said to her, that’s how you run a good day care, it’s all about the children, quality care. Cooper said
she likes to think we can keep some of our children in this community here because we are all going to get older and if you don’t have some good buy in by your children you won’t have much of a village left either. Mayor Hill said like Commissioner Maupin has said, we want to make this a town where criminals don’t want to live, too. Commissioner Maupin said you have to make it a place where good people want to live. Commissioner Hill said they would come here and buy a place to live instead of renting a place then moving out. . Maupin said you just have to have things in town that good people want to take part in.Cooper said personally, she always wanted to keep her children closer to home. She said if she was working and out of town that is where her family was at so if someone had to go get “little Susan” because she was ill, Cooper always had grandma back up. Someone close, someone she trusted. Cooper said it’s just not a good feeling for a parent. Mayor Hill said she didn’t like to travel with her kids with the snow and stuff, she wanted them to stay here in town. Cooper is confident and hopeful that this project really does take off. Cooper feels it will be an asset for this community and the surrounding community. Slock told the council, from personal experience, she thinks it is a privilege to have Connie on board with us. She also said all of them, as a board that are in place now, know that it takes time. Slock said she thought they all have the mind set that if they are going to do something we need to do it correctly and she knows that that’s the only way Connie is going to have it. Slock told the council she thinks that’s so important too, that when the doors are open it’s a place people are going to want their kids, it’s not just any place in the middle of nowhere, it’s going to be quality. Slock said on the flip side, as a parent, she is excited at what it is going to bring, her own child would not be going to Tampico to school if she didn’t have day care here. Slock said she is not sure how many others are out there, but she would be putting her child in this day care when it is up and running which means one more child in our school system. Mayor Hill said that would keep our grade school here much longer too if we have the kids coming through here and not having to leave town. Al Morthland asked if it would be open seven days a week. Mayor Hill told him no and Cooper told him five days a week, Monday through Friday. Morthland asked what about the people that work on the weekends. Cooper told him she thinks that has always been a hardship but through her experience and when it comes to dollars and cents, the day care has to make sense. Cooper said you physically cannot run a child care facility for four children if that’s the weekend care that is needed. Cooper said if there was care for twenty that was needed that might be a mind set to look at. Cooper said through her experience even through CGH, they never could fit that bill, even with the hospital running 24/7, they still could never make that financially make sense. She said it was quite a money loss so that is why it was not done at CGH. Mayor Hill stated there are more people available on the weekends that you can take your children to. Cooper said the hospital’s doors never closed and they still could not make that run on the weekends. She said they tried, it was one of those things. Cooper stated you always putting out customer satisfaction surveys, you are always trying to get their input because without the parents and the families, there is no business. She those are our go-to-people for the answers when they have questions like that. Slock told them currently they have out 300 surveys, 295 surveys out in Tampico, Prophetstown, Lyndon because they were hoping to serve our community here in Tampico but also our school district to see if there is any need. Slock said currently there is day care already in Prophetstown and Lyndon but they are full. An audience member asked what age group. Cooper said all ages, there is no discriminating but right now they are going to start out with one classroom because they first want to see where they are going with this. Cooper said it will be Pre-K, 3-6 yrs of age. Cooper said a reason for doing that too is she knows the early intervention classrooms, like Head Start program, they are full, so with that being said, those are only half day programs. Cooper said she doesn’t know where the rest of these children are going but she would like to think a good portion of those parents are employed, but those children are going somewhere and at this point in time she doesn’t know where they are going but if they had an option. Cooper said being at CGH all those years, she received many phone calls, unfortunately I even received them from the surrounding area, from parents that would cry to get in at CGH for various reasons. Cooper said she would love to be able to give a quality center around here. Cooper said starting out with one classroom and doing the Pre-K and maybe after that doing for a 2 yr old program if that’s where a need is and eventually taking it on down to 6 weeks to 6 years. Cooper said that’s what she is used to serving. Slock told the council that is also included in the survey even though they are not looking to start, they still want to have the feelers out there, how many people in the area have that need as well. Mayor Hill said it is important for people to return those surveys or contact Connie directly. Al Morthland asked if they would do 3-11 too. He was told no, 6:30 in the morning until 5:30 at night. Cooper said it was a great question because at CGH they thought for sure they would pull a
second shift and they could never fill that slot. One of the other things that they asked in their surveys because it is always good to know, who is looking into getting into the education field. Copper stated she has her associates in early ed and her bachelor’s in business, but she is wondering if they could promote employment in our area, maybe help promote teachers. Cooper said there are a lot of thought processes out there and she has been around this area for a while and she is a small town girl. She said her heart is in a small town and she is hoping to help promote this village and hopefully we can get a few more things running around here and keep our families here. Mayor Hill said it will also help the Tiger Program so it doesn’t fail either, there would be teachers to back up Mrs. Wendland if she can’t be here. The mayor said there will be a lot more versatility for taking care of our kids here and keeping them safe. Cooper thinks this is the board’s first ditch effort at trying to bring another business into the community. Mayor Hill said it is a very positive thing. There were no other questions. Cooper said she will leave a copy in the office for the council members or anyone who wished to look at it, the DCFS regulations, she wants people to know what the certain programs are. One of which you must meet those guidelines on an administrative scale and the higher you meet those needs the more quality facility you have. Cooper said that is very important to her and also a better understanding for the community if any one is interested. Mayor Hill thanked her and the rest of the board.

Mayor Hill stated Commissioner Johnson had something to add to the day care. Johnson said a while back he had mentioned tweeting on social media to Michael Reagan and his foundation which led to a few e-mails to a few members of his foundation and what it came down to is, the money they receive at their foundation is used to support Reagan’s legacy but they have certain things that that means, the Reagan Libary for instance. Johnson said they weren’t willing to send money but they are definitely willing to send merchandise or items for the board to donate, auction or sell. Johnson said for right now they have committed to send some items, but it is still in talks about what those will be. Johnson you don’t want to be pushy, you want to be grateful. He said when that stuff gets here he will let everyone know. Mayor Hill said she thinks it is awesome the Reagan Foundation sees what we are still trying to do to keep this town alive, producing more presidents. The mayor thanked Commissioner Johnson for doing that.

Clerk Leathers told the council about correspondence from Whiteside County Public Transportation requesting a donation in the amount of $308.70, the amount of deficit they will have in serving the village of Tampico. She said if they council was willing to do that, she would need a motion and a second. Mayor Hill said and that service too also helps with the day care and the parents that can get to the school from here if they don’t have a car, they get to have a future if they have a place to take their kids. On a motion by Commissioner Hill, second by Commissioner Johnson, approval was given to make a donation to Whiteside County Public Tranportation in the amount of $308.70. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Clerk Leathers said in addition to their request for a donation, the public transportation system is seeking grant funding from different sources, such as the Department of Transportation. Leathers told them all they are asking for along with the donation is a letter of support. It was agreed Commissioner Johnson would sign the letter of support as head of accounts and finance.

Next on the agenda was a copy of a letter from the Attorney General’s office. Mayor Hill handed out copies to council members and others that wanted them. Mayor Hill said the village received this correspondence from the attorney general’s office. The mayor said there was a complaint filed for violating the Open Meetings Act against the council. Mayor Hill is also named in the letter and suggested Leathers read the letter out loud so everyone is aware so if anyone has any questions by anyone, hopefully this will answer questions if any one else felt the mayor has been in violation.

Leathers read: The letter was addressed to Mrs. Susan Frank, a resident of Tampico, who filed the allegations with the Attorney General, and reads as follows:

“Pursuant to section 3.5(a) of the Open Meetings Act (“OMA”) (5 ILCS 120/3.5(a) (West 2012), the Public Access Bureau has received your Request for Review alleging possible violations of the OMA by the
Tampico Village Council (“Council”). Our review of the information you have furnished, however, provides no basis for the Public Access Counselor to conclude that the Council has violated OMA. Accordingly, we determine that no further action is warranted as to this matter.

Section 3.5(a) of OMA provides that a ‘person who believes that a violation of this Act by a public body has occurred may file a request for review with the Public Access Counselor established in the Office of the Attorney General not later than 60 days after the alleged violation. The request for review must *** include a summary of the facts supporting the allegation’.

Your request for review raised three allegations against the Council. First, you allege that the Council’s Policy for Rules of Public Comment, adopted January 6, 2015, violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Public Access Counselor’s authority is limited to resolving ‘disputes involving a potential violation of the OMA or the Freedeom of Information Act[(“FOIA”)] (15ILCS 205/7(c)(3) (West 2012). Because the Public Access Counselor does not have authority to review whether a public body’s actions complied with laws other than OMA or FOIA, this office cannot review your allegation of a constitutional violation. For future reference, please note that if you believe that the Council applies or enforces its rules governing public comment in a manner that violates a person’s right to address the Council under section 2.06(g) of OMA (5 ILCS 120/2.06(g) (West 2012)), you may file a Request for Review with this office.

Second, you allege that the Mayor did not read the Policy for Rules of Public Comment out loud before the Council voted to accept those rules. Section 2(e) of OMA (5 ILCS 140/2(e) (West 2013 Supp.), as amended by Public Acts 98-756, effective January 1, 2015) provides that ‘[final action shall be preceded by a public recital of the nature of the matter being considered and other information that will inform the public of the business being conducted.’ Your Request for Review does not allege that the Council failed to provide such a public recital, and the Attorney General has previously concluded that section 2(e) of OMA does not require a public body to read aloud in its entirety every document coming before it for action to adequately inform the public of the business being conducted. See Ill. Att’y Gen. PUb. Acc. OP. NO. 14-001, issued April 10, 2014, at 7. Accordingly, the Council’s alleged failure to verbally recite the Policy for Rules of Public Comment in its entirety before voting on that policy did not violate OMA.

Third, you allege that the votes to adopt a new Policy for Rules of Public Comment may not have been properly on the agenda for the Council’s January 6, 2015, meeting. Section 2.02(c) of OMA (5ILCS 140/2.02(c) (West 2013 Supp.)) provides, in pertinent part, ‘[a]ny agenda required under this Section shall set forth the general subject matter of any resolution or ordinance that will be the subject of final action at the meeting.’ In accordance with that provision, the agenda item ‘Review/Discuss/Approve Changes to Policy for Rules of Public Comment’ for the January 6, 2015, Council meeting clearly identifies the general subject matter of the public comment policy that was discussed and approved.

Because your Request for Review does not set forth facts from which we could conclude that the Council violated OMA, this office concludes that no further action is warranted. This letter serves to close this matter. Please contact me at (312) 814-5201 or the Chicago address listed on the first page of this letter if you have any questions. Very truly yours, Edie Steinberg, Assistant Attorney General, Public Access Bureau.”

Mayor Hill stated this is to allow everyone to be aware there is no intent by this board to ever do anything illegal or immoral. Mayor Hill said the public has a right to file a complaint any time they wish. There were no questions asked on the matter.

Reports of Village Officials
Commissioner Johnson advised basketball is going strong as usual. Recreation Board has been meeting with pretty good attendance and moving forward with baseball as early as they can.

Communications
Clerk Leathers told the council of an increase in the testing fees for the waste water treatment plant. Test, Inc. out of Peru, IL does the testing and the clerk will let the council know as soon as she is notified what the increase will be.
Clerk Leathers advised the village received a thank you note from Dana Nelson, Whiteside County Clerk, for allowing them to use the RCC as the polling place for the next consolidated election coming up on April 7, 2015.

Mayor Hill said it is also meeting night for the village council so to avoid any conflict or possible electioneering or anything else. Mayor Hill told the council they should probably vote to postpone that meeting or cancel it, or reschedule, however the council would like to do it. She said she does not think it is proper to be in the building where they are voting since several of the council are running and she doesn’t want to get into a violation issue so she thinks it best if they were not here. Leathers reported she had asked the county clerk that question and was told as long as the meeting is in a different room, there are not violating anything but she agrees with the Mayor and that way everyone would be above reproach.

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.

Commissioner Johnson was asked if there would be a Father/Daughter Dance sponsored by the Recreation Board this year. Johnson told her they have been restructuring with the committee and they are focusing on getting the baseball going. Mayor Hill said there have been requests for the dance. Commissioner Maupin said a couple members of that committee have been preoccupied at the moment. Mayor Hill congratulated Maupin, a new daddy. Maupin said they have lost some of their volunteer base for the next couple months.

The meeting adjourned at 8:17 PM. The next regular meeting of the Tampico Village Council will be Tuesday, March 3, 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 3rd DAY OF March, 2015

**These minutes are not official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**