REGULAR MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF TAMPICO
May 21, 2024, 7:00 PM
Reagan Community Center
Mayor Bruce Peltier called the Regular Meeting of the Tampico Village Council to order at 7:00PM.
Commissioners Sherry Coleman, Susan Dean, Jim Coleman and Tammy Kendell were present. Chief Strike and Village Public Works Superintendent, Tyler Chriest, were also present. Village Clerk, Jamie McIntire, was present and recorded the written and audio minutes.
Mayor Peltier led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Minutes of the May 7, 2024 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.
Reports of Village Officials
Chief Strike reported that there is a gentleman and his wife, Johnson is their last name, they have a trailer next to the Kick Back Saloon. He was to come in tonight. They are living in it, but they’re not. Chief Strike said since he didn’t come in tonight, I’m ok with pushing to get them out of there. Mayor Peltier said he did call me today and said he’s driving truck in Wisconsin, so he wasn’t able to make it in. His wife was planning to attend but she’s disabled and with the storm coming, there was a chance she wasn’t going to make it. Mayor Peltier said he told him that’s he’s currently working on getting a loan to replace the current trailer with a nicer model. He was wondering if they could have an exception to stay in their camper while the loan process takes place. Mayor Peltier said he told Johnson that it all depends on how long it’ll take. Maybe we can allow 30 days but it’s not going to be you can live in your camper for 2 years while the process takes place. Resident Deb TerBush added that she thought there was an ordinance stating that you could not move a trailer to be replaced with another trailer. Commissioner Dean said they can pull one out and put one in. You can’t put one in a spot that there wasn’t already a trailer sitting in that location. So say if they pulled a trailer out, then 2 years later they wanted to put another trailer there. That you cannot do. Commissioner Dean stated that this discussion has been had in the past. Mayor Peltier said he will look over the ordinance to see what it says, but I was under the same understanding as what Commissioner Dean said. It’s one thing to pull one out and replace it right away, but if you pull one out and leave it empty for a long period of time, you cannot replace it. Mayor Peltier said he will double check everything and go from there. Mayor Peltier said that was what was proposed to him, but if it actually happens. We’ll just have to play it by ear and see what happens. Commissioner Kendell said we need to check the ordinance then let him know. Mayor Peltier said I told him it would have to go off what the ordinance says. Dean asked what is the timeline we’re going to give him to live in the camper. Mayor Peltier said I wouldn’t go longer than 30 days. Kendell said they should know within 30 days if they’re going to get a bank loan, then they’ll know what the status is of the situation. Superintendent Chriest said it’ll take more than 30 days to get a new trailer in there. Dean said they could address that step once they know if they received the loan. Kendell said we would need to see proof they received the loan and then talk about their next step. Dean said then we can revisit how long they can stay in the camper at that point. The Mayor and Council agreed. Mayor Peltier said it sounds like he’s trying to put something nicer there, so I would hate to discourage that. If we can give them the exception for a little while and see how it goes. Kendell said it would be nice to have something nicer there. Resident Bonnie Anderson said I’ve heard 4 different stories from him. Commissioner J. Coleman said we’ll put 30 days on it and the Mayor will talk to him about that.
Mayor Peltier advised that a contract was signed for the Municipal Aggregation for energy costs with MC Squared for a 2-year contract (24 months) at 7.65 cents per kWh. It’s considerably less than going through ComEd. The life of that contract we’ll have a savings around $90,000 with this program. Commissioner Kendell said it’s worth it to work with Rock River Energy. The Mayor and Council agreed.
Remarks from Guests
Mayor Peltier advised that Robert Zais was on the agenda to speak but was unable to make it to the meeting in regard to the memorial at the park. There is a cement pad that we spoke about previously. It’s in between 2 trees at Booth Park and I think it’s a good place for it. It’s big enough to be able to be pressured washed and there should be paint left over from the bathrooms that we could epoxy it and maybe to red, white and black paint chips for the Panther colors. We could have 4 nameplates for each spot of the picnic table. Mayor Peltier said that’s what Zais was thinking about doing. At the next meeting we could approve it. Commissioner Kendell said yes, let them use that pad as long as that bench can’t be destroyed. Mayor Peltier said Zais would like a concrete picnic table. The Council agreed.
Tara Walters was on the agenda for updates on the Tampico Days event but was unable to make it. Mayor Peltier said he’ll follow up with Walters.
Unfinished Business
Next was to discuss Police Chief and Part-Time Officer Wages. Mayor Peltier said he’d like to move that to the end so they can go into closed session.
Next the Council discussed selling the lot by the Tampico Township Building to the Tampico Township. Mayor Peltier advised that he spoke with County, and they said it’s going to be quite the process because the area they want isn’t parceled off to be a lot. It would have to be surveyed and the lot would have to be assessed for property tax reasons and then we’d have to come up with a price for them to purchase it. They are already using it. Mayor Peltier spoke with Larry Specht and what they want is to put up a salt shed similar to what the Village just did. Mayor Peltier said he also spoke with Superintendent Chriest about letting them use ours and splitting the cost of salt and sand, depending on what they use. Or instead of selling, we could make a lease agreement. Commissioner J. Coleman said it’s just a sliver of land.
Derek Humphrey with Midwest Disposal said they are currently looking for land to lease to store some equipment. He wanted to let the Mayor and Council know incase they were interested and had a spot they could lease. Mayor Peltier asked if the equipment would have to be indoors and Humphrey said no, it could sit outside.
Next was an update on the Lead Service Line Inventory. Clerk McIntire advised that notices were mailed out to residents that still need to complete the survey on May 13th. It was in with their Annual Newsletter and marked in red on the envelope and said that there was important information inside. There have been a few people that have contacted the office since the mailing went out to get it taken care of. Clerk McIntire said hopefully MO-ST is also receiving phone calls. Clerk McIntire advised that she has reached out to the MO-ST office with any that were taken care of in the Village office. Mayor Peltier advised that he’s going to ask MO-ST for an updated list before every meeting. The Village has until September to complete the inventory.
New Business
The first topic under new business was to approve closing Route 172 (Main Street) for Tampico Days Activities from 9:00AM Friday, July 19, 2024 until 6:00PM Sunday, July 21, 2024. A motion to approve was made by Commissioner J. Coleman, second by Commissioner Kendell. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
Next the Council discussed the trailers located in the back alley of the Reagan Community Center/Village Hall. Mayor Peltier advised that Travis Denning reached out about possibly starting a business in Tampico and asked if there was any property for sale. Mayor Peltier and Superintendent Chriest showed Denning the lot where the trailers are located. In the mist of that conversation, there was also a discussion about getting rid of some of the trailers. Mayor Peltier advised that the older ones are in better shape than the newer ones on the end and 2 of them are currently empty. Mayor Peltier thought the Village could possibly compile everything into 2 trailers and getting rid of the 2 that are not in good shape. It might also help getting rid of them and the cat situation since they like to go under the trailers. Commissioner Kendell asked if the Village would scrap them or put them out for bid to scrap or sell. Mayor Peltier answered any way we can
get rid of them. Whatever is the best option. Kendell said I don’t know. I’m having a hard enough time trying to find people to scrap trailers at my office. Kendell said I guess we could go out for bid and see if anyone would want to buy them. Mayor Peltier said we could start there and if no one wants them we could see what the next option is.
Next there was a motion from Commissioner S. Coleman, second by Commissioner Dean, to approve canceling the June 4, 2024 Regular Village Meeting. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried. The next Regular Village Meeting will be held on June 18, 2024 unless and issue presents itself to where there will need to be a Special Meeting scheduled.
Last under new business was to approve the Village of Tampico Residential Waste Collection Contract with Midwest Disposal, LLC for a 5-year contract starting July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2029. A motion to approve was made by Commissioner J. Coleman, second by Commissioner Kendell. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
Building Permits
Building Permits approved by Zoning Administrator, Tyler Chriest, was 401 E. Market St. – Garage Door.
Communications
Clerk McIntire advised that John Taets (Tampico American Legion) stopped in the office with information requesting volunteers to help assist with placing flags for the Memorial Day weekend. Help would be needed Sunday, May 26th at 6:00AM to place the flags at both cemeteries, then Monday, May 27th at 3:00PM you can meet at the Village garage to pick up the flags and put them away for the year. Clerk McIntire advised that there is information about it in the Tampico Village Hall office.
Mayor Peltier advised that he did stop at Whiteside County to talk about the Sigel property and the alley situation. They said it wouldn’t be a big deal to abandon that alley. Mayor Peltier also asked about the tree and what would happen if the alley was abandoned before anything happened with the tree. They said if the Village feels the tree is in good condition, nothing needs to be done with it.
Mayor Peltier also reported that he met with Bonnie Anderson (Kickback Saloon) a few days ago regarding the sidewalk located at the Kickback Saloon. It’s not in good shape. Anderson gave Mayor Peltier a paper from 2013 from Willett and Hofmann showing they were planning to replace that sidewalk at one time. The paper states that Willett and Hofmann Association has been actively engaged to develop plans for a letting intending to repair or replace sidewalks at the intersection of Market Street and Main Street. A particular interest is the Northwest quadrant of the intersection adjacent to the Kickback Saloon. To date the topographic survey has been completed and design planning has started. It is the intent to start the project letting in fall of 2013. Commissioner Kendell said you’ll have to call Willett and Hofmann to see if the Village planned to do this project using MFT funds. Anderson said this letter was sent to her insurance company because they said the sidewalk needed to be fixed. Anderson stated that she was told the money would be available in September of 2013 but every month it was never done. Kendell said we need to find out if it was State money or MFT money or how they planned on doing it. Anderson said she also has a letter that states the Village will be responsible for any accidents caused by the sidewalk but hasn’t found that letter yet. There was some blacktop cut out of the sidewalk right by the door and replaced with new blacktop and leveled but it’s bad again. Mayor Peltier said we’ll look into that and hopefully get it fixed. The Village can possibly budget for it next fiscal year. Mayor Peltier will reach out to Geoffrey Smith to figure out the situation.
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Bills were ordered paid on a motion by Commissioner Kendell, second by Commissioner J. Coleman. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
Mayor Peltier asked for a motion to go into closed session to discuss officer wages.
A motion was made by Commissioner J. Coleman, second by Commissioner Dean at 7:24 PM, to leave the
Regular Meeting 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 S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
A motion was made by Commissioner J. Coleman, second by Commissioner Kendell at 7:31 PM to leave the Closed Session portion of the meeting and return to the Regular Open Meeting. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
The meeting adjourned at 7:32 PM. The next Regular Meeting of the Tampico Village Council is Scheduled for Tuesday, June 18, 2024 at 7:00 PM in the Reagan Community Center located at 202 W. Second Street.
Jamie M. McIntire
Clerk
Bruce Peltier
Mayor
MINUTES APPROVED THIS 18th DAY OF June, 2024
**These minutes are not official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**
