REGULAR MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF TAMPICO
October 20, 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. Also in attendance – Police Chief Terry Strike. Village Clerk Kathy Leathers recorded the written and digital minutes.
Mayor Hill led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Minutes of the October 3, 2015 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.
On a motion by Commissioner Vancil, second by Commissioner Maupin, a Class E liquor License was approved for Casey’s Retail Company, dba Casey’s General Store #1304, 201 S. Main St, from November 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016 for a fee of $600.00. “Yes” votes were Maupin, Hill, Meier, Vancil and Mayor Hill. The motion carried. The $600.00 fee was paid.
On a motion by Commissioner Meier, second by Commissioner Hill, a Class A liquor license was approved for the Kickback Saloon, (Bonnie Anderson), 102 N. Main St. from November 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016 for a fee of $400.00. Yes” votes were Maupin, Hill, Meier, Vancil and Mayor Hill. The motion carried. The $400.00 fee was paid.
On a motion by Commissioner Maupin, second by Commissioner Vancil, a Class A liquor license was approved for the Old Town Pub n Grub, (Julie Stees), 124 S. Main St. from November 1, 2015 to April 30, 2016 for a fee of $400.00. “Yes” votes were Yes” votes were Maupin, Hill, Meier, Vancil and Mayor Hill. The motion carried. The $400.00 fee was paid.
Resident Al Morthland asked the council where they were going to put the fire hydrant they took out at the fire station. Mayor Hill told him the fire department doesn’t need a new one. She told Morthland, they were better off filling up at the hydrant by the water tower since that line is much larger. Commissioners Hill and Meier told Morthland the fire hydrant that was removed only had a four inch main. Mayor Hill said now the hydrant won’t get hit and they will be able to move in and out a lot smoother. She said it will be more convenient.
Morthland’s next concern was the flag in Reagan Park. He told the council the flag was hanging by one rope. He told the council he had complained about the flag on Monday. Clerk Leathers advised him it was taken care of that same day. Leathers told them Dennis Electric will come soon with a bucket truck and replace the flag.
Morthland next addressed Commissioner Meier and wanted to know when he was going to dig the rock well on Lincoln Street. Mayor Hill advised Morthland the village would have to do a study on that. She told him they have been over this before. Morthland said there is nothing being done. Mayor Hill said he doesn’t know that. Morthland wanted to know how long it took to dig a hole. Mayor Hill told him you don’t just go in and dig a hole. She told him you have to have a study, and a
project if the village finds it feasible to do so.
Morthland asked the council if the guns stolen around town have been found. Commissioner Hill told him that was confidential and they could not talk about that. Morthland said nothing has ever been solved. Commissioner Hill tried to reassure Morthland that the village was safe. Morthland wanted to know why all the people that walk at night have to call the Sheriff’s department. Mayor Hill said if someone sees something going on they should call the sheriff’s department. Morthland said the Mayor just said the people in town were safe. Mayor Hill told Morthland not to twist it, there is no threat to the village. She stated you should have always have your guard up. She said she locks up her care everywhere she goes. She said that’s the world. Commissioner Hill said that’s the way it is today, it’s not like it used to be. Mayor Hill asked Morthland if he had anything else.
Resident Chris Jaques asked Mayor Hill if you need to have your property surveyed to put up a fence. Mayor Hill told her if she knows where her property ends are pretty well, typically no, because you have to be 3 feet off the property line. Mayor Hill said if you don’t know it might be safer to do so. Mayor Hill advised her Zoning Administrator, Ron Kuepker, can go down and look at it. Jaques asked if a permit was needed. Mayor Hill told her, yes. The mayor advised Kuepker does a preview, he goes down and does a sight check and then it’s presented to the council. Jaques asked the mayor if it could go up as soon as Saturday. Mayor Hill said if Kuepker approves it, the council usually goes with his recommendation. Mayor Hill said they try to be flexible on that. Mayor Hill also told Jaques, village ordinance is on online if she wanted to get a better idea.
Discussion turned to the Tampico Recreation Committee membership. There are two members who no longer take an interest in the committee and it’s baseball program. Commissioner Vancil has tried to contact one of the members and has not heard back from them. Mayor Hill said she had tried to make contact with the other and since the council has not gotten a response from either one, the council should dismiss them for lack of interest. Mayor Hill told those present several attempts to contact them and the discussion has been in the minutes so she does not think they are available to work with the committee right now. The mayor said they are welcome to come back in the future if they feel they have time but for right now the council needs to move ahead and get more things done. Mayor Hill said she likes the fact that Wendi Ketchum will take over for her late mom, Anita Elgin. Commissioner Vancil said that was his plan.
A motion was made by Commissioner Vancil, with a second by Commissioner Maupin, to dismiss Recreation Committee members, Linda Mendoza and Melissa Butts. “Yes” votes were Hill, Meier, Maupin, Vancil and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
A motion was made by Commissioner Maupin, with a second by Commissioner Vancil, to appoint Wendi Ketchum, Brad Wiemken and Don Jensen to the Tampico Recreation Committee. “Yes” votes were Hill, Meier, Maupin, Vancil and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
Mayor Hill told the council in light of the passing of Anita Elgin, long standing member of the committee, she would like the committee to look into getting a memorial out at the ball diamond for her. Mayor Hill said one of the things Elgin talked about was she liked going to Walnut where they have all the tires for the kids that were all painted up. Mayor Hill said if the committee can get them where they are not trapping mosquitoes and stuff. Mayor Hill stated if they could do something like that as well as a plaque or plant a tree or something like that in respect for the many years that others have served as well. Mayor Hill said she just thinks if they could do something like that too, she, [Elgin], would get a kick out of the kids having a place like that. Commissioner Vancil told the council that is something he was thinking about too.
Payment Request #1, O’Brien Civil Works, Inc. in the amount of $59,472.00 for the South Main Place Sewer Project was approved on a motion by Commissioner Meier and seconded by Commissioner Hill. “Yes” votes were Hill, Meier, Maupin, Vancil and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
Commissioner Vancil made a motion, with a second by Commissioner Maupin, to approve payment of $5,051.45 to Willett, Hofmann & Associates, Inc. for engineering services during the South Main Place Sewer Project. “Yes” votes were Maupin, Hill, Meier, Vancil and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
There were no building permits issued by Zoning Administrator, Ron Kuepker.
Reports of Village Officials
Commissioner Vancil advised the council, they have set in motion, as far as the Park and Rec Board, dates and times for events. Vancil said they are going to try and do the Father / Daughter Dance in January and a Chili Cook-Off. Mayor Hill advised him she put those dates on the calendar. Mayor Hill said she has been trying to work with Bridget Maupin to get special insurance coverage permits for serving beer for this event to see what that is going to cost. Mayor Hill told him that’s great, she’s glad to see stuff like that on the calendar. Mayor Hill advised she just about has the survey for the Recreaton Board completed for Vancil’s review. She advised she is also working on a proposed rental agreement for RCC rentals at the same time and that agreement is five pages long. The mayor told the council once that gets done she will bring it to them to review as well as having the village attorney look it over to make sure she has everything crossed and dotted. That way everyone has a chance to look at it before they have people start signing it when they rent.
Mayor Hill also reported the fire hydrant, Morthland had announced, in the parking lot of the fire station, has been removed. Commissioner Maupin told Mayor Hill he saw the village had paid for the excavating. Maupin asked Mayor Hill if the fire department was going to pay anything or if it was all on the village. Mayor Hill told him it’s the village’s. She also told the council it was a lot cheaper because when she pulled out an estimate done years ago to move the hydrant was $57,400.00 and removing it was in the thousands as well. Mayor Hill said it was a ridiculous amount but Tom, [Pierce], did it for hardly anything because he found a shut off and he got everything changed out for $300.00. Mayor Hill advised the pavement would not amount to that much because the asphalt company was already in the village doing other work. Commissioner Meier said it makes it a lot nicer. Mayor Hill said the hydrant isn’t really needed because the line down at the water tower is bigger.
Commissioner Hill advised the council burning is banned right now in Whiteside County Hill also told them there is no burning on Halloween night. Mayor Hill added it’s all day Halloween..
Commissioner Hill also told the council, the storm siren has gone backwards for a few days. Hill said the company sent the wrong one. He said they opened the box today and were going to put it up. Commissioner Maupin wanted to know how big the siren is. Commissioner Meier said it’s a pretty good size. Maupin asked if nobody checked that they were sending the right one. Mayor Hill said they sent a one-phase instead of a three-phase. Commissioner Hill said that is the only difference. Hill said he and Fire Chief Brian Wetzell were there when it was opened when they noticed it was a one-phase. Mayor Hill said she has the paperwork to show the village ordered a three-phase. Hill said the company representative who is helping the village agreed that if you have a generator, you must have a three-phase. Hill stated it was already sent back and on the truck and the correct one should be here within a week.
Commissioner Hill advised the council the basketball rims in the gym have been fixed. Commissioner
Maupin was happy to hear that since weekly basketball games at the RCC will start again soon.
Commissioner Hill told them he and Commissioner Meier also checked out the large fans in the gym while they had the scaffolding in place. Commissioner Maupin said at times the fans would not go fast enough to even push the grates open and they haven’t been spinning as fast as they used to do. Hill said they can see about cleaning them up and oiling them up so they will work easier. Maupin said they don’t use the fans that much until it starts to warm up in the spring. Commissioner Hill said it is nice though when people are in here doing stuff to turn at least one on. Maupin said it really cools and gets a nice breeze through this part of the building.
Commissioner Hill also reported to the council a thank you note he received from the storm warning siren company. The note said they appreciated the village’s business and if they had any questions or concerns they should not hesitate to contact them. Mayor Hill said she thought it was neat they sent an actual thank you to Commissioner Hill. Commissioner Hill said they are really nice people to work with.
Mayor Hill shared a reminder on Trick-or-Treat at the RCC. She said for the record, Shirley Lester is looking for donations. The mayor said they are going to have cookies and stuff and coffee for adults. She said they may be looking into having hot cider and hot chocolate too so anyone that wants to donate to that, they will greatly appreciate it. Mayor Hill reported it is on the village’s website and anyone can look there for information.
Clerk Leathers reported she has been keeping up to date with the Illinois Muncipal League and other clerk networks about municipal share of Illinois Funds. She said even though the state is saying the Illinois Funds are fine and everyone will get paid all their money, she is afraid that municipalities may not get those funds. She is afraid lawmakers will hold those funds hostage for more leverage in passing the state budget. Leathers told them Tampico will not get hit as hard as larger towns since the village’s portion stays under the $25,000.00 check writing cap. She said it is not the village’s fault the state will not honor it’s obligations. She said she wanted them to be aware of what may happen after the first of the year. She cautioned the council about being criticized for their use of general funds to start the daycare. Leathers said, that’s not the point, the state needs to honor it’s obligations. She said if the worst happens and the village does not receive it’s allocated funds, the council may need to consider inter-fund loans to meet it’s obligations. Mayor Hill said that is not a huge deal. Mayor Hill said getting the daycare up and running is going to be revenue coming in too. Commissioner Maupin said in his opinion, it’s another revenue source. Maupin said the money spent on the daycare isn’t too bad in the general scheme of things. Maupin said in the overall yearly budget, it is not going to show up as a lot of money. Maupin told the council he thinks the revenue and the return is going to be worth it. He asked how many years has the state been the state? Maupin said you can’t blindly go on expecting someone to take care of you so the the village has to find alternative sources. Maupin stated he is perfectly fine with justifying everything they have done. Clerk Leathers agreed but she wanted the council to be prepared.
Leathers also told the council she had heard from her contact at the Comptroller’s office and they advised her the council may have to amend a word or two in the water billing / delinquent bills portion of Village Ordinance. She advised them she will be reviewing the ordinance to make the appropriate amendments.
Leathers advised the 2014-2015 Annual Audit is finished and was picked up today. She will be working on the Treasurer’s report in an effort to get it published and filed with the County Clerk’s office. She will contact them and advise them filing of the report will be delayed. Leathers advised a copy of the State AFR, to be filed with the State Comptroller’s office and done by the auditors, has
already been forwarded to the county.
Mayor Hill advised she emailed Attorney Shirk today because way back when she and Commissioner Hill started going to the county mitigation meetings, one of the things they wanted to get was affordable insurance. She recalled an incident from about two years ago of a lady whose basement blew out after a lot of rain and there was no way she could get affordable flood insurance. Mayor Hill said there are ways they can work around that to work with Stuart, [Richter], from Whiteside County and the state of Illinois to get the verbage that allows people to have the option to get flood insurance that doesn’t cost more than their mortgage. Mayor Hill stated that way if they do have the water come in and basement floods or whatever they can get something otherwise they are stuck. She advised them there is a way to get around it so people can afford it here even though the village is far from a flood plain. She continued by saying the insurance companies are quick to say that was a flood but you cannot have flood insurance because you’re not in a flood zone. Mayor Hill said they are trying to help people save their home and not have the insurance cost as much for them.
Bills were ordered paid on a motion by Commissioner Maupin with a second by Commissioner Vancil. “Yes” votes were Maupin, Hill, Meier, Vancil, and Mayor Hill. The motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 7:34 PM. The next regular meeting of the Tampico Village Council will be Tuesday, November 3, 2015 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 no official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**
