REGULAR MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF TAMPICO
October 6, 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 Bruce Hill, Scott Meier, Phalen Vancil and Derrick Maupin were present. Police Chief Terry Strike was 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 September 15, 2015 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.
Resident Bill VanLanduit asked the council what he would need to do for permission for his wife to ride a three-seater 4×4 in town. He said she has one of those electric scooters. Mayor Hill asked him if he meant like an ATV or Quad or what. Van Landuit told them it was like a “gator”. Mayor Hill told him village ordinance doesn’t not allow that because it is over 1200 cc. Commissioner Hill asked VanLanduit if he knew how many cc’s it had. VanLanduit said the vehicle is on order. Mayor Hill advised VanLanduit, the village attorney, doesn’t really want the liability for the village to have anything faster than a golf cart. VanLanduit asked what liability? He said it won’t go any faster than a golf cart. Mayor Hill said if it is under and it qualifies….VanLanduit said 25 mph is the top speed on it. Commissioner Hill told VanLanduit, he and Chief Strike would need to take a look at when he gets it to see if it qualifies. Mayor Hill asked VanLanduit if he had the order papers for Commissioner Hill and Strike to review before he gets it. Mayor Hill told VanLanduit when he does get the vehicle, he should contact Commissioner Hill and Chief Strike to see if it’s within the parameters of what the ordinance says and to see if it meets all the requirements.
VanLanduit also advised there are weeds growing along Main Street between the street and curbing especially around the old restaurant building. Commissioner Hill told him that building has recently changed hands and the new owners will take care of it. Mayor Hill told those present a new resident who lives in one of the downtown buildings has been volunteering his time to take care of things like this. Mayor Hill also assured VanLanduit it would be taken care of.
Resident Al Morthland was present to complain to Commissioner Meier about an alley near the Methodist Church that needs a tree trimmed up. Morthland said there is brush that has been laying there for three months. Morthland also complained about a tree in that alley that need to be taken out before somebody gets killed. Commissioner Meier told him he would check into it. Mayor Hill said they will look into it and see if the village can take it out.
VanLanduit then asked if the city still mowed vacant lots. He said there is one near him that has very tall grass. Mayor Hill said at times when the village has the manpower to do it. She said the village usually fines the people and puts a lien up. VanLanduit said it’s the county’s and they haven’t mowed it. Mayor Hill said if it’s the county’s, the village can’t do anything with it. VanLanduit said he is sure the county owns it and they’re trying to sell it for back taxes. Mayor Hill asked Chief Strike to check into it.
Morthland next complained about department police flying through town without their sirens on to let people know they are coming. Chief Strike said he did come through town the previous night for a domestic call, a 911 call. Strike told Morthland, the police do not have to have their sirens on. Morthland said if
they ran over somebody…Strike said he was not going to run over somebody. Morthland said it’s funny that Strike is on Facebook about three different times. Mayor Hill and Commissioner Hill told Morthland they do not worry about Facebook.
A fence permit was approved for Veronica Jones, 312 N. Main Street, with a motion by Commissioner Vancil, second by Commissioner Maupin. “Yes” votes were Maupin, Hill, Meier, Vancil and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
The next item for discussion was Halloween Trick-or-Treat hours. Mayor Hill stated she had talked to a couple people about changing up the hours for a start time of 5:00 PM instead of 4:30 PM. Mayor Hill said she had talked to Shirley Lester, who is going to have “Treat-or-Treat” here in the RCC. Mayor Hill reported anyone who wishes to bring in a chair or decorate a table or whatever is welcome to come here. Mayor Hill told the council, Lester already sent flyers out to the school. Mayor Hill said basically, it starts at 4:30 this year because that’s what the flyer said. Mayor Hill hopes to shorten up the time a little bit for next year. Mayor Hill urges the public to participate in this. They will have cookies and hot chocolate for the parents and the kids. Mayor Hill stated if someone wanted to just donate candy to help if someone is not going to hand out candy. Mayor Hill said it is nice that we have a safe place for them to go. Mayor Hill advised people can still hand out candy on their porches too, but this is another option especially if the weather is bad. If anyone has any questions they may contact village hall or Shirley Lester. The Council approved Trick-or-Treat hours to be on Saturday, October 31, from 4:30 PM to 7:00 PM.
Mayor Hill moved the discussion to the Tampico Recreation Committee Status and Membership. Commissioner Vancil advised the council he had come up with a new board and he has talked with some of the old members of the committee and several have said they do not wish to be on the Committee anymore so he would like to replace them. He said that’s what several members of the audience were here for. Vancil said he wanted everyone to see the new faces so they can be voted on. Mayor Hill told him that would be done at the next meeting. She told him the council needs to have the other resignations in place and then the council can accept others at the next meeting. Mayor Hill asked Vancil which members were coming off the committee and then going on. Vancil said for the new members, he has Brad Wiemkin, Don Jensen and Wendy Ketchum. Vancil told the council, Wendy will actually be taking over for her mother, Anita Elgin. Vancil said Bridgett Maupin and Josh Mosher are still on the committee. Mayor Hill told Vancil it looks like he has a really good crew starting out. Vancil said he tried to pick people that have already been on the board and ones that are involved with activities around here. He said he wanted to keep it local. Mayor Hill reminded them it’s not just the ball diamond, it’s the other parks and activities, too. Vancil said they have already discussed that. Mayor Hill said there are a lot of fun things they can do. She thought the “Daddy Date Night” was a big success and there are those who really want that back. Mayor Hill advised him the council will put everyone in place. Mayor Hill told those interested in the committee who attended tonight, they don’t have to be present at the meeting for this they can be here, but they don’t have to. She told them she appreciated their coming to the meeting tonight and asked if anyone had anything to say or things they would like to see happen. Mayor Hill thanked them for coming.
On a motion by Commissioner Meier, second by Commissioner Hill, approval was given for a resolution authorizing the use of Motor Fuel Tax Funds in the amount of $9,654.89 for seal coating services. “Yes” votes were Maupin, Hill, Meier, Vancil and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
Commissioner Vancil gave an update on the South Main Place sewer project. He reported the new sewer line is in, all houses have been hooked up to it and the street has been cored out, rocked and is ready for blacktopping. He advised it will be done at the same time East Third Street is done. Vancil also reported on the West Kimball Street Lift Station Project. He said the lid has been installed on the East side and the lid for the west side is being built.
A building permit was issued by Zoning Administrator, Ron Kuepker, to Bonnie Anderson, 405 E. Market,
for a garage addition.
Reports of Village Officials
Commissioner Hill told the council he talked to the company for the new storm warning siren and they are supposed to be here on Friday to put up the new siren. He said that’s all going forward. Hill advised the J.U.L.I.E. notice had been done.
Mayor Hill reported every year the Blackhawk Hills Regional Council does an economic review. She said it reports on how employment is going up and down in the area, Enterprise Zones and things like that. She said is it pretty interesting to look through. She will leave the information in the clerk’s office for anyone to look at.
Mayor Hill read a Thank You letter from Tampico Memorial Cemetery for the Village donation to them and village crews for helping them remove their waste pile.
Mayor Hill told the council she has started something new, Text Alerts. She said she got on Sauk Valley News. She said it is something they have had for a while for notices for the schools and the weather. She said you can go to the website and choose the alerts you want to receive. She told them the only town she had noticed on there was Dixon. She said she asked those at Sauk Valley News why can’t Tampico have a box so if there is a boil order or such, the village can send out a mass text to people who are signed up. She advised she set it up so the Mayor and Village Clerk can send text alerts as needed. She asked the council to urge everyone to sign up because everyone is always saying they don’t get to hear stuff, like the boil orders, and serious information. She said it’s not going to be the “Brat Fest” was Saturday at 2:00. Mayor Hill advised the village is not going to bombard them with stuff like that, for one something will be missed, and another, people won’t sign up if their phones are going off every 5 minutes. She said you might not get a text for months and then you might have several, maybe a it’s snow emergency or maybe it’s to start running your water because of the weather and such. Mayor Hill said she urges everyone to get on Sauk News, if needed we have the link, and there are information sheets at Village Hall you can follow along and get on there, too. Mayor Hill asked them to spread the word, it’s something Commissioner Maupin has been trying to push for. Mayor Hill said she happened to see it and went and did it on his behalf.
Commissioner Hill told them it might need to be mentioned before they go any further when the siren is up and it is in running order, there is going to be a monthly test so it will be going off once a month just to test it. Mayor Hill advised Whiteside County is actually going to be the ones controlling it and it will have natural gas back up as well. Mayor Hill said they, [Whiteside County], will know when to send it out rather than hit the page and have those seconds of relay waiting for someone to go in. Commissioner Hill said the village can actually go in and set it off themselves if needed. Mayor Hill advised those present it will sound within a mile radius from the fire station so it will be well into the country as well. Commissioner Hill advised you will hear it and it’s going to be a really nice one. Mayor Hill agreed and said the village will probably get complaints it’s too loud.
Mayor Hill also reported the village has been lucky to have Whiteside County Transportation in the area. She said she sees them leaving town with people every single day. The mayor said they are having their second annual “Toast to Transit” on October 24th up at the Barn on Prophet Rd and RT 30. She said it’s pretty much open to the public and anyone who wants to can stop in and donate. They have a silent auction, appetizers, raffles, wine and if anyone wants to help support them, it would be wonderful.
Commissioner Hill told the council he and Mayor Hill went to the last County Mitigation meeting and actually got a little award for attending all the meetings to help with grants for the Village of Tampico. Mayor Hill noted they are waiting for FEMA approval and then the village will be in for more funding for generators and emergency equipment, etc. Commissioner Hill and Mayor Hill agreed they placed the Village in line with much needed assistance under this opportunity. Mayor Hill said part of the mitigation for Whiteside County was they had to pay 25% of the cost of this whole study but nothing came out of the pocket of anyone in Whiteside County because the required percentage of county officials participated in several of the meetings. Mayor Hill
advised the county met the requirement with several other towns and agencies and it was very interesting. Mayor Hill reported they have papers and information if anyone wants to sit down and go over some of it with them. She said they did a really great job and it’s really going to benefit the town and save us money. Commissioner Hill stated it saved Whiteside County money too by their attendance. Mayor Hill said it will benefit emergency services all the way around.
Mayor Hill reported on the “Brat Fest”. She said it was fantastic. She advised the 50/50 was $510.00 and they made over $800.00 and now with the pot they have from other donations, they will be able to get the plaques for possibly most of the thirteen buildings downtown. Mayor Hill said they can then move on to replacing the banners. She said the Reagan Trail is no longer supporting the village’s banners so they will have to buy their own. Mayor Hill advised some of the money may go to that if there is any left over and then as far as building up the account to do the mural restorations as needed through the years and things like that. She said it was fantastic, turnout was phenomenal and she hopes next year it will be even bigger. Mayor Hill thanked those who supported them, they made their goal and it was a great event for the village.
Morthland asked the Mayor who the new township assessor was. Mayor Hill told him that would need to come from Greg Forward. Clerk Leathers told everyone township assessors have to have certain kinds of training and she said is sounds like several townships are using one such person who has completed the training.
Mayor Hill told everyone the daycare is doing great. She said they are waiting on a couple more things and then they would have their license. Mayor Hill advised they are coming up with another small list of items they will need like kitchen stuff and things. Mayor Hill said they have a Facebook page now and they can get that list up there. She told them if there is something around your house you would like to donate, it would be greatly appreciated.
Bills were ordered paid on a motion by Commissioner Maupin with a second by Commissioner Vancil. “Yes” votes were Hill, Meier, Vancil, Maupin and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 7:26 PM. The next regular meeting of the Tampico Village Council will be Tuesday, October 20, 2015 at 7:00 PM in the Reagan Community Center located at 202 W. Second Street.
Kathy A. Leathers
Clerk
Kristine L. Hill
Mayor
MINUTES APPROVED THIS 20th DAY OF OCTOBER, 2015
**These minutes are not official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**
