REGULAR MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF TAMPICO
May 19, 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 Scott Meier, Mike Sigel and Derrick Maupin were present. Commissioner Toby Johnson was absent. Police Chief Terry Strike and Public Works Superintendent, Tom Pierce, were also present.
Village Clerk Kathy Leathers recorded the written and digital minutes.
Mayor Hill led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Minutes of the May 5, 2015 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.
Superintendent Pierce addressed Al Morthland’s comments from two meetings ago about flushing of the hydrants. Morthland had stated at a previous meeting that the village does not flush hydrants anymore. Pierce said that is not true. He said he worked with village engineers, Willett, Hofmann and Associates, Inc., five years ago to set up a program that keeps track of when the hydrants are flushed, what sequence they were flushed in and how long each one was flushed for. Pierce said his department keeps records of all of that. Mayor Hill thanked Pierce for clarifying the issue.
Former village commissioner Sigel told the council she had read the article in the Echo about the daycare. Sigel said she was very happy with it. She said she has always been in favor of the day care coming to this town. Sigel stated since October the village has spent $11,000.00 of the tax payers money. Sigel said school is ready to come to an end and parents are looking forward to a day care. Sigel said she hopes the permits and licenses will hopefully be coming soon. Sigel wanted to know if they will have the day care before summer is over. Mayor Hill told Sigel that is the time line they are pushing for. Sigel also wanted to know if it would be in effect for summer. Mayor Hill told Sigel they has no control over some of the agencies that they need to get the inspections and licensing and everything but their goal is to have this ready and rolling for the fall. Sigel replied but not for summer. Mayor Hill told her no, not by the time you get all the time lines with all the agencies and such. Sigel said this is when the parents need it, for summer. Mayor Hill told Sigel typically, like Helping Hands, their enrollment goes down in summer because the parents have kids that are watching them, high school kids and everything that are more able to watch them in the summer. Mayor Hill said enrollment usually goes down for most all day cares in the summer. Mayor Hill said that’s not the reason the day care won’t be open for summer. The mayor said there is just so much to do and so many agencies they need to address before they can come up and run full and licensed. Mayor Hill said it’s coming along beautifully the work they have done is fantastic. Mayor Hill stated she thinks they are coming on a good time line for all the work it takes to go into this. Sigel said she just wanted to know because people are asking if they were going to have it by the end of school. Mayor Hill said no.
Al Morthland addressed the council next. He told the council the grass on S. Benton is knee high at that house. Mayor Hill told him the police department is sending the letters out now. Morthland said the house belongs to the bank. Mayor Hill said they still get a letter and they still get fined. She said and the village would basically put a lien on it then.
Morthland next asked the council why they are letting the little ball diamond go to junk. Mayor Hill told Morthland they are working on it and it can’t be used right now because the fence is not fixed. Morthland again asked why they are letting the grass grow up in the infield. Mayor Hill told him they are trying to keep up with the mowing right now it has been pretty crazy. Superintendent Pierce stated he was told they were not going to use that diamond this year. Morthland said once you get that grass in there you can’t hardly get it out unless you spray it with Roundup and stuff. Morthland said they worked like heck to get those diamonds built and now the village is letting them go to pot. Commissioner Maupin told Morthland the village is trying to fix them this year and the village is spending a significant amount of money on getting all the fences redone. Morthland told Maupin there is $6,000.00 in the account. Mayor Hill said they are addressing these issues. Maupin said they are trying to do the best they can and they have limited resources so they are doing what they can. Morthland said all they had to do was call in the fence. Mayor Hill said they have. Maupin said they have an appointment, the diamonds are on their books to come down and fix it. Superintendent Pierce said Sterling Fence was at the ball diamonds today. Pierce said they also went to Booth Park. Maupin said they have them working on all the baseball fence.
Morthland also complained about two piles of brush in the alley behind his house. Morthland said one of them has been there for two years. Morthland said they should have been picked up when they had that thing in town to grind up the stuff. Pierce told Morthland if it was in the alley it was. Morthland argued it was, it might be four or five feet off the alley.
Morthland told the council a lady wants to know about getting more lights in town. Mayor Hill said they need to come to the village. She asked what he meant more lights in town and who’s the lady. Morthland said there are ladies that walk at night. Mayor Hill asked Morthland how many more lights and what are you talking about. Morthland said more streetlights and stuff. Mayor Hill said it’s typical to have corner street lights, she doesn’t know what he is saying. Mayor Hill told him the streetlights are in a program with ComEd and in the next ten years will get changed out to LED which will be brighter but for right now, this is what the village has had for years. She said, she went home when the streetlights came on. Another resident said walk when it is daytime. Mayor Hill said she doesn’t know how much brighter it can get, they are all rented poles and there are 38-40 lights in town.
Morthland asked if the water bill went up $5.00. Mayor Hill told him no. Morthland said about 7 or 8 people said theirs had gone up. Mayor Hill said this time of the year they may be using more. She told him there has been no increase and there is no planned increase.
Morthland also complained about too many cops in town. Morthland said the cops are driving business away from the bars downtown. He said everybody is going to Lyndon. Resident Beth Etheridge said she does not understand what they want. Etheridge said they complain if they are here and then complain when they are not.
Discussion was held about the Franchise Agreement with Mediacom. Mayor Hill said she has asked Mediacom to have the Franchise Agreement and Lease due at the same time to avoid confusion. She said the village does receive payment for the lease. On a motion by Commissioner Sigel, second by Commissioner Maupin, the ten year agreement was approved. “Yes” votes were Meier, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
Resident, Beth Etheridge wanted to know if Mediacom was going to continue trying to offer more services to the village. Mayor Hill mentioned there is a survey the village has to do for economic development grant funding and she would like to put the question about what services they would like to see in town, what can the village do better, what do you hope to see here. Commissioner Maupin
said they need to see that there is enough interest here and the sooner they will try to do something because it is a fairly high expense for them and if they are only going to get 20 customers our of the deal, it’s probably not worth the expense of them bringing services to town.
Council discussion turned to reviewing water tower maintenance costs. Commissioner Maupin said it’s basically the company that comes through and does most of the maintenance on the water tower provided the village with a list of recommendations last year. Maupin said the council put the cost into the budget this year and are going to take care of all of those recommendations. Mayor Hill said amazingly, the water tower is quite sound for its age other than these issues and fortunately the village can repair them all. Maupin said he has been told as long as the village keeps taking care of the water tower it should last as long as we need it to. Maupin said he wants to continue to make the water tower a priority since it is not something the village would have to buy right now. Mayor Hill said she appreciates Superintendent Pierce being pro-active and taking care of stuff in a timely manner. A resident asked how old the water tower is. Mayor Hill told her over a 100 years old. Pierce said it was put up in 1912. Morthland wanted to know if they have discussed putting the money up to drill a new well. Maupin told him it’s on the list of things to do but farther down the list. Mayor Hill said it’s part of what the increase is there for to set aside for when things come up like this water tower repair or possible a new well in the future. Morthland told the council the other well the village has got ain’t no good. Maupin said it’s on the list of things to do it’s just not at the top right now. A motion was made by Commissioner Maupin, second by Commissioner Meier to approve a contract with Maquire Iron, Inc. To upgrade and repair the Village water tower per guidelines set by the American Water Works Association and used by the IEPA and OSHA for their inspections. The total amount will be $37,214.00. “Yes” votes were Meier, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
A motion made by Commissioner Meier, second by Commissioner Sigel at 7:18 PM to leave the regular meeting session and go into a closed session to discuss the Appointment, Employment, Compensation, Discipline, Performance or Dismissal of Employees of the Public Body and Possible Action on Any Item Discussed in Closed Session as Allowed by 5 ILCS 120/1 and the Illinois Open Meetings Act. “Yes” votes were Meier, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill.
A motion was made by Commissioner Maupin, second by Commissioner Sigel to adjourn the closed session portion of the meeting and return to the regular meeting. “Yes” votes were Meier, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
A motion was made by Commissioner Maupin and seconded by Commissioner Sigel, to hire Colin Jaquet for part-time / as needed summer employment at the rate of $8.25 per hour. “Yes” votes were Meier, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
Building Permits issued by Zoning Administrator, Ron Kuepker, were: Shirley Pope for 106 S. Main – New Roof.
Beth Etheridge advised the council she and her husband are considering moving their fence back three feet and over to the east about three and a half, four foot. She said if they move it back it would be on their property line and to the east it would be three feet from their property line. Mayor Hill said that’s the abandoned alley, or vacated alley. Zoning Administrator, Ron Kuepker, said it’s on the property line which is also the alley line. Mayor Hill said the alley is vacated, it’s just a right of way. Etheridge said they are just considering it for right now. She said it may depend on what the cost will be among other considerations. Mayor Hill said she does not have a problem with that. Commissioner Maupin said as long as it doesn’t come back to be a problem later. Mayor Hill said the village is the neighbor. Commissioner Maupin said he doesn’t think the village would put the alley back in there. He said they have been maintaining it anyway. Mayor Hill said right, they mow the alley now. Maupin said he doesn’t see a problem with it. Mayor Hill stated that alley was never officially opened, it has been vacated, it was just right of way for utilities. Commissioner Sigel asked if there is anything that says the village needs to check with the adjoining property owner. Mayor Hill told him the village is. Sigel said he meant the next property. Mayor Hill told him they would not be close to the next property owner. Mayor Hill said it’s always a good neighbor policy to talk to them but they would be off that property line. Mayor Hill asked if they had been maintaining the alley for 30 years. Etheridge said twenty-nine. Commissioner Maupin said he does not have a problem with it and Mayor Hill agreed. Etheridge advised she would let the council know if they decide to proceed. Mayor Hill stated she is trying to get it so Ron, (Kuepker), can review and approve fence permits like he does roofs, etc. She said he takes his job seriously and he does a good job.
Al Morthland told the council, the American Legion would like to have something done with the tree in Reagan Park near the cannon. Morthland said the tree by where they put up their flags. Mayor Hill said it was trimmed but the village would trim it again. He said they would be putting up the flags Saturday morning. Mayor Hill told him the village would get it so it flies free.
Mayor Hill told those present, Memorial Day Services are at 10:00 AM starting at St. Mary Cemetery. She stated if it rains they will have the services at the Community Building. Mayor Hill reported the American Legion put out a request to any group or organization to help the Legion put up these flags, bring sledge hammers to help get the stakes in, they need help. She said members are getting older and cannot do it as well as they used to. Mayor Hill advised it is 8:00 AM Saturday and they will leave the flags up the whole weekend.
Reports from Village Officials
Mayor Hill reported the village has gotten complaints about mowers running around without mower decks, just running around in general. She said if you are helping someone, the village doesn’t have a problem with that, if you are going to mow someone’s yard. The Mayor said if you are on a mower and running around town, the police might be following you to make sure you are going to do that. Mayor Hill said it is just common courtesy. She said we have golf carts that are allowed now, if someone wants a slow moving vehicle or a golf cart, then they need to get a permit. She reported there are several individuals who are in compliance with that ordinance. Mayor Hill said people should not think just because they have a golf cart they can just take off, the village does have a policy in town that is for everyone’s safety. Morthland asked if the state okay’d crossing the highway. Mayor Hill said you can go straight across not up and down the highway.
Mayor Hill said there have also been complaints about yards. She encouraged residents to kind of go around and clean up their neighborhoods and encourage their neighbors to clean up. She said there have been a few about the parks too, but pitch in. She said if you are in the park and it bothers you, pick it up and throw it in the garbage can. The Mayor also said they have people that are doing a great job going in and weeding and doing things when they see it and they should be commended. Mayor Hill told those present there were poppies that Helen Buckley planted by the memorial at Reagan Park and for some reason they were taken out and lilies were put in. Mayor Hill explained poppies are for the blood of the soldiers. Mayor Hill said if anyone has poppies or knows who did it, it would be very nice if they would put the poppies back, the lilies can be moved somewhere else. She said they were there for a reason and someone who had a lot of passion for taking care of the flowers all of our signs and everything. Mayor Hill feels she, (Buckley), was dishonored by that. The Mayor said she does not care who did it, she doesn’t care why, it probably was not done with malice in any sense, they were trying to do something nice but they didn’t take into consideration what that symbolized and that’s what that park is for. Mayor Hill said if you have poppies, she will help plant them or if the village needs to go out and buy them they will. She said she thought if someone would want to step up and do
that it would be nice.
Commissioner Sigel had a question, the Firecracker is coming up, the Fourth of July, and some of the other towns have donated something toward that for the class. He said the Firecracker 3 on 3 and it’s for the Junior Class to raise money for After Prom. He said the other towns are donating and he wanted to check to see if the village would like to do something. Mayor Hill said the village has never been approached about it and will need to be put on the agenda.
Commissioner Maupin said he brought up the issue at the last meeting about the outside street. He said he received a letter from someone in town. Maupin said he talked to Tom, [Pierce], and he is going to get a street sweeper in for that street and that will hopefully alleviate some of the dust. Mayor Hill said they won’t be using that size of rock any more. Commissioner Maupin stated it was a one time thing.
On a motion by Commissioner Maupin, second by Commissioner Meier, to approve the appointment of Village Council members to the following departments respectively: Mayor Kristine Hill – Public Affairs; Commissioner Toby Johnson – Accounts and Finance; Commissioner Scott Meier – Public Health and Safety; Commissioner Mike Sigel – Department of Streets and Public Improvements and Commissioner Derrick Maupin – Public Property, Water, Sewer and Garbage/Recycling. “Yes” votes were Meier, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
Bills were ordered paid on a motion by Commissioner Sigel, second by Commissioner Maupin. “Yes” votes were Meier, Sigel, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 7:39 PM. The next regular meeting of the Tampico Village Council will be Tuesday, June 2, 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 ____ DAY OF ___________________, 2015
**These minutes are not official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**
