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

April 21, 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. Also in attendance were Police Chief Terry Strike and Officer Brian Oostenryk.

Village Clerk Kathy Leathers recorded the written and digital minutes.

Mayor Hill led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Minutes of the March 17, 2015 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.

A fence permit for James Hadaway, 208 Glassburn Street, was approved on a motion by Commissioner Johnson, second by Commissioner Hill. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill.

After review of a renewal liquor license application from the Kickback Saloon, Bonnie Anderson, Commissioner Sigel motioned, second by Commissioner Maupin, that a Class A Liquor License No. 93-15, for the Kickback Saloon, (Bonnie Anderson), 102 N. Main Street, be approved from May 1, 2015 to October 31, 2015. The fee of $400.00 was paid. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Commissoner Sigel motioned, second by Commissioner Maupin, that a Mechanical Amusement Device License No. T-94, for the Kickback Saloon, (Bonnie Anderson), 102 N. Main Street, to operate certain amusement devices from May 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016. The fee of $50.00 was paid. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

After review of a renewal liquor license application from Old Town Pub N Grub, LLL, Julie Stees, Commissioner Hill motioned, second by Commissioner Johnson, that a Class A Liquor License No. 95-15, for the Old Town Pub N Grub, LLC, (Julie Stees), 124 S. Main Street, be approved from May 1, 2015 to October 31, 2015. The fee of $400.00 has been paid. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Commissioner Hill motioned, second by Commissioner Johnson, that a Mechanical Amusement Device License No. T-95, for the Old Town Pub N Grub, LLC, (Julie Stees), to operate certain amusement devices from May 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016. The fee of $50.00 was paid. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Tracy Keele, Manager of the local Casey’s General Store, was present to request renewal of their liquor license. Following a review of their application, Commissioner Maupin motioned, second by Commissioner Sigel, that a Class E Liquor License No. 94-15 for Casey’s Retail Company, dba Casey’s General Store #1304, 201 S. Main Street, be approved from May 1, 2015 to October 31, 2015. The fee of $600.00 has been paid. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Larry Specht, representing the Tampico Men’s Club, was present. He requested the approval of a
April 21, 2015 – Regular Meeting of the Tampico Village Council
liquor license for a beer garden to be operated by the club during Tampico Festive Days in June. Following a review of the application, Commissioner Hill motioned, second by Commissioner Johnson, that a Class C Liquor License No. 96-15, be approved for the Tampico Men’s Club, 202 S. Benton Street from June 26 through June 28, 2015. Hours of operation are: Friday – June 26, 2015 – 5:00 pm to 12:00 am; Saturday June 27, 2015 – 5:00 pm to 12:00 am; Sunday, June 28, 2015 from 1:00 pm to 10:00 pm. The fee of $5.00 was paid. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Remarks From Guests
Tirzah Renkes spoke to the council telling them she took over the annual Fishing Derby during Tampico Days. She asked the council if anyone will be organizing kids games for this year’s celebration. She stated one year the games overlapped the fishing derby and the children participating in the fishing derby could not take part in the games. Renkes said she doesn’t know if anyone has planned on organizing games. Mayor Hill told her that in their previous conversation if she is willing to step up they would appreciate it if she would organize those. Renkes said she can do that. Mayor Hill told Renkes the Church of Christ is tentatively making plans for Booth Park during that weekend but the pastor of the church wants to make sure they are not overlapping any events too. Mayor Hill said she would get a copy of the church’s event. Renkes said she would like to tie all that in together. Renkes said she did not know if there was any kind of budget for kids games or if that would just be on the organizer or what. Mayor Hill said the church will pretty much take care of their event and she should talk to Pastor Brandon Thomas about that. Mayor Hill also told Renkes she is sure there are organizations like the Lions Club, Men’s Club and possibly even the village could donate to help promote it. Renkes said she doesn’t think it would cost a whole lot. She said she was thinking along the lines of Hoopole Days, like a foot race, a penny scramble, a bike race. She said pretty simple stuff. Renkes said she could do prizes like from Oriental Trading Company and maybe a few small trophies or something like that. Renkes told the council maybe like have a cotton candy booth, a photo booth, she was thinking. Renkes asked the council if the village has a facebook page. Mayor Hill told her the village has tampicoil.com the regular web page and that is where they put the schedule every year. Mayor Hill told Renkes if she schedules anything let her know and she would put it on there and keep the list going. Mayor Hill said they could put a little announcement blurb on the front page of the web site with whatever she, [Renkes] could come with, whatever she would want to say. Mayor Hill said it could announce it for anyone who wants to be on the committee, help or have ideas to come up and get a hold of her. Mayor Hill said Renkes could be the contact person. Renkes said last year she created an event on facebook and she had a lot of response from that. She said she posted pictures. Renkes said she feels people have to be proactive and go to the website but if they just like your page on facebook sometimes you could put that feed up all the time. Mayor Hill said there are a lot of people that don’t have facebook or internet. Renkes said she would create that event. Mayor Hill said they could also link that on the village’s website. Renkes said she did not know how to go about organizing a committee, she has no problem organizing the games, but then she would have set up and break down so it would be nice if the kids were done with the fishing and move right along so if there were other people in the park getting those games going, there wouldn’t be the delay in between. Mayor Hill told Renkes she has all the contacts from past events, maybe the mayor and Renkes could work something out with that. Mayor Hill asked Recreation Board members in attendance if they were planning a baseball tournament during that time. Board member, Anita Elgin, advised Renkes she knows of someone who would be interested in helping and organizing. Elgin told Renkes to contact that person. Mayor Hill told Renkes to contact her as well saying she would help anyway that she could. Resident Beth Etheridge told Renkes maybe the businesses and groups donating to the fishing derby could donate a little more to help with the games. Larry Specht, with the Men’s Club, advised they could donate a little more since they were already donating toward the fishing derby. Renkes asked who to contact with the Lion’s Club. Mayor Hill told Renkes she would get her the whole list of the different organizations and their contacts. Business owner, Bonnie Anderson, told Renkes she would donate as well. Renkes thanked her.

Mayor Hill told Renkes she appreciated her stepping up. Elgin suggested if there will be posters made up to be sure and place one at the ball diamond so people will know what events are being planned. Mayor Hill stated all the information will need to be given to Specht so he may have posters done. Specht said he usually likes to have all the information in for printing before the end of May. Mayor Hill thanked Renkes for coming and for getting the ball rolling. Renkes said when she was young, Tampico Days was huge for kids. Renkes and Mayor Hill agreed it would be nice to go back to that, more family oriented.

Resident Al Morthland wanted to thank everyone that showed up at the meet the candidates. He said they had a good night that night. Morthland said Mona Smith did a heck of a job on interviews and stuff.

Morthland said at the Fire Department Draw Down the other night, the fire chief told him that there is not enough water pressure in any of the hydrants for this town to fight a fire with. Commissioner Johnson told Morthland that is one of the things the council is addressing. Johnson said that will be with the new system. Mayor Hill said that’s why they have the portable tanks and the water tower. Commissioner Maupin said they are equipped to do the best they can with what they have. Morthland said the village has to get them fixed, they can’t fight a fire without having any water. Maupin said this is the same story, he can’t just make five million dollars to fix the water system appear overnight. Maupin said it’s going to happen, it just takes time. Mayor Hill said they, [fire dept.] do fill at the water tower and at the fire department as well. She said that’s why they have the portable tanks as well. Larry Specht, former mayor, said the problem is the village water system is so old and the trucks they have are so new, with the pumpers and everything, they can just suck a line shut. Specht said it’s nothing against the town, it is just the way it is. Mayor Hill said they can’t magically repair everything at once. Commissioner Hill said it takes time, a lot of time. Morthland complained he, [Superintendent Pierce], doesn’t flush the hydrants anymore either. Specht told Morthland that doesn’t help.

Clerk Leathers advised the council not everyone has turned in the budget numbers for the Fiscal Year 2015-2016. As soon as she is able to get the figures down on paper and proof them she will forward the budget to council members. Leathers said Commissioner Maupin’s budget will likely change the most with the sewer repair on South Main Place, the upgrades to the West Kimball Street Lift Station and the completion of the sewer video inspections. Leathers said that will be a few more things crossed off the list of things to do and the council can move on and decide which sewer lines will need to be relined to avoid further expensive problems down the road. She said things are pretty much on schedule and the village is making progress.

Mayor Hill advised those present the village has heard nothing from Mediacom about the Franchise agreement or the Land Lease agreement.

A motion was made by Commissioner Maupin, second by Commissioner Sigel to donate $400.00 to Tampico Memorial Cemetery. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Discussion was held on the payment of $2,500.00 to Hometown Tech Solutions for the Annual Software License Agreement for Village Books accounting program. Clerk Leathers recommended the council renew that agreement. A motion was made by Commissioner Johnson, with a second by Commissioner Hill to renew the agreement. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Discussion was held on approving the cost of video inspecting 10,000 linear feet of sewer mains. The video inspection has been on the list of projects the village needs to complete in order to upgrade the Village’s infrastructure. Video inspections will allow the village to find trouble spots in the sewer lines before they become a problem. Early detection of those problems could allow the sewer line to be re-lined instead of waiting for a break down in the system that could be very costly and require excavation to repair. Commissioner Maupin told the council the proposal is for everything, for the rest of the sewer lines. The current proposal from the Illinois Water Association would cost approximately $.70 per linear foot. Commissioner Sigel asked Maupin if this will complete the whole, everywhere. Maupin told her it would complete all the video inspection of all the sewer lines in town. Maupin said it will be another thing off the list of things the village needs to do. The motion carried. Sigel asked Maupin if he had an estimate of when they would plan on doing the work. Maupin said within 60 work days of the agreement approval. Maupin said they estimate it will take 10 work days to complete. On a motion by Commissioner Maupin, second by Commissioner Sigel, approval was given for the cost of $9,340.00 to Video Inspect 10,000.00 linear feet of sewer lines at $.70 per linear foot by the Illinois Rural Water Association. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Discussion was held on approving an engineering agreement with Willett, Hofmann and Associates, Inc. for the South Main Place Sewer Project and West Kimball Lift Station Upgrade. Maupin said it is a problem waiting to happen so the village should just get it done. Mayor Hill stated it is in Maupin’s budget to do so. A motion was made by Commissioner Maupin, second by Commissioner Sigel to approve an agreement with Willett, Hofmann, and Associates, Inc. for engineering services for the South Main Place Sanitary Sewer Replacement and the West Kimball Lift Station Improvements with authorization for Mayor Hill and Village Clerk Leathers to sign the agreement. “Yes” votes were Johnson, Hill, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.

Commissioner Hill told those present he would like to see the alley behind the RCC made a one-way street mainly for the Tiger Club Program and possibly the day care too. Hill said he would like to make it a one-way from Market Street and around. Hill said that way it wouldn’t get congested and people won’t be butting heads around the corner there. Mayor Hill said a couple of speed bumps could be put in there too. Commissioner Maupin said he thought it had been one-way when he was in school. Mayor Hill said she thought people just did it as a one-way when the school was here. Commissioner Hill said he still sees a lot of people that view it that way. Mayor Hill said speed bumps should be put in to keep people from flying through there. Commissioner Hill suggested he would like to leave the “Not A Through Street” sign up there just so people don’t start using it drive through. Mayor Hill said Public Safety could have just designated it as such because it’s not really…..it’s a public safety issue. Mayor Hill said they still wanted to put it before the council so everyone is aware of it or if anyone had any suggestions or problems with it, they would have a chance to speak up.

Commissioner Hill also told the council ComEd contacted him about a month ago. He had contacted them in regard to a couple of trees in the alley behind Casey’s. Hill said they told him they were going to come down and take care of it but they told him somebody already cut it. Hill said ComEd would be here in another month or so trimming anything near their wires and clear everything out. Hill said just so everybody knows and if they see something around the wires, they should contact Village Hall so he can contact them and get it done faster.

Mayor Hill asked if everyone on the council was okay with designating the alley behind the RCC as one-way. Council members agreed.

Resident Al Morthland asked the council if the owners of the alley by the elevator have been contacted about fixing the street by the elevator. Mayor Hill told him ownership of the alley has never been determined but the village has always taken care of potholes and stuff.

Bonnie Anderson asked about property located on the alley behind her business. She advised there are trees and brush around wires that the utility cut back last year and they haven’t been back since. She advised there are no utilities at the dwelling so she hoped those would just be cleared out of there.

A building permit was issued, by Zoning Administrator, Ron Kuepker, to Art & Lydia Sage at 104 E. Kimball to replace garage doors.

Reports of Village Officials
Mayor Hill advised those present that an Electronic Recycling Day will be coming up on May 9, 2015. The Mayor asked everyone to be aware because of IEPA regulations, standard tv’s, the bigger, thicker ones and older computer monitors, will cost $.25 per pound to dispose of. The recycling company will have a scale on site to weigh the items. She said for instance for 10 pounds it would cost $2.50. Mayor Hill said it will be the resident’s responsibility to pay that but they don’t have to. The Mayor said once it is weighed and how much it is if they want to take it back home they are more than welcome to do that, residents do not have to do that once it is put on the scale. Mayor Hill advised anything that plugs in, they will take and they will be here from 9 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. There will be signs put up and on the website.

Mayor Hill stated there was a nice tribute to Amy McElhiney, who passed away, in the paper. The Mayor also said there was a mention on the opinion page about volunteerism in town and how we should remember her by stepping up and doing such things as well. Mayor Hill reported it stated in the article, which she thought was nice, Amy came from the “We” generation instead of the “Me” generation. Mayor Hill thought that was very well put.

Mayor Hill advised they had another meeting and the village is one step closer to getting the funding for the siren. She reported they met with the USDA and Sharon Pepin. Mayor Hill said
she and Commissioner Hill got all the paperwork last week. As they get more paperwork done so
the village should have the check in hand and get that project out the door too and get the siren wailing as soon as possible. Mayor Hill said they don’t have a time line because they still have to get the product and everything but everything is working smoothly. Commissioner Hill said hopefully it would be soon.

Commissioner Sigel stated she has had people come up to her and ask her since they saw the other cop car in town, when the other car is going up for auction. Commissioner Hill told Sigel as soon as they get it stripped down. Sigel said she thought it already was. Commissioner Hill said no, not completely. Al Morthland asked if they had sold the parts out of it. Hill told him they are keeping them for now and to possibly sell them if another police department needs them. Hill said some of the stuff like the cage in the older cars, will not fit in the newer models. Hill said they talked about the lighting and everything in it, if somebody else does need it they would sell it otherwise just keep it, the village could always use it.

Al Morthland brought up the subject of what he considers a missing shotgun. Morthland has been told before the gun is gone and he will not accept that fact. Morthland went so far as to swear at the council. Mayor Hill told him he was not using that language and the shotgun is gone. It’s been gone for years and the council is done talking about it. Mayor Hill said it has been gone for years and is not on the village’s inventory and hasn’t been since any of the council members have been here. Morthland still thinks it should be solved.

Mayor Hill asked if anyone else had anything. Commissioner Maupin said some residents on Washington Street complained about the street and how dusty it could be. Maupin said residents told him it was basically like living on a gravel road. Maupin said residents asked him if it was something to investigate and help that. Commissioner Sigel said Tom, [Pierce], had talked of borrowing a street sweeper from Prophetstown and cleaning it up. Commissioner Johnson asked if the village had borrowed a street sweeper in the past. Mayor Hill said not that she knew of and asked former Mayor Larry Specht if he had. Commissioner Sigel said he mentioned talking to them this year and getting it.

Communications
Clerk Leathers advised the council of a post card the village had received from ComEd about tree trimming starting soon.

Leathers also told them of correspondence from Mediacom in the form of a customer service report that is mandated by state statute. Leathers asked Commissioner Maupin to explain in more detail. Maupin read, “This report is not specific to your area and may not contain any information directly related to you.”

Leathers advised of an email she received from the Illinois Municipal League. She said she is always trying to learn new things about the specific taxes and it will take a lifetime to learn about them completely. She said the IML had a great article on property taxation that she hopes the council was able to review. She offered copies to residents if they would like them.

Commissioner Johnson told the council the village received a letter from Tori McDaniel, Director of Transportation for Whiteside County Transportation, thanking the village for their support for their grant application to IDOT.

Bills were ordered 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.

Resident Beth Etheridge asked if she needed to come to Village Hall to renew her Golf Cart / Slow Speed Vehicle sticker. Mayor Hill told Etheridge to arrange it with Terry Strike.

The meeting adjourned at 7:41 PM. The next regular meeting of the Tampico Village Council will be Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 7:00 PM at the Reagan Community Center located at 202 W. Second Street.

Kathy A. Leathers Kristine L. Hill
Clerk Mayor

MINUTES APPROVE THIS 5th DAY OF May, 2015
**These minutes are not official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**