City of West Frankfort City Council met June 13.
Here is the minutes as provided by the council:
1. Mayor Jordan Called The Meeting To Order At 7:00 P.M. Requesting A Roll Call. All Commissioners Were In Attendance, Along With The City Attorney And Deputy City Clerk.
2. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval Of The Minutes From The May 23, 2017 Regular Council Meeting. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
3. Mayor Jordan Next Asked For Approval To Pay City Bills And Payroll In The Amount Of $402,646.72. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
4. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Resolution Authorizing A Bid Letting For The Demolition Of Pin#12-19-311-024, 108 South Emma Street, West Frankfort, Il. The City Attorney Mike Riva Stated This Is A Demolition Action Against The Old El Vallarta Building On S. Emma Street Owned By Mohammad Ardehali. We Were In Court With The Fire Chief And Codes Officer We Presented Our Evidence To Judge Webb And He Agreed With Our Position And Signed And Order Allowing Us To Demolish The Building And Proceed With The Abandonment And Judicial Deed. The Mayor Stated We Are Asking For Approval To Advertise For Bids For Demolition Of This Building Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins, Roll Call Vote: Commissioners Blades And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Commissioner Chambers Abstained. Motion Carried.
5. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Ascertaining The Prevailing Rate Of Wages For Laborers, Workmen And Mechanics Employed On Public Works By The City Of West Frankfort. The Mayor Stated This Is Something That We Do Annually. We Set The Prevailing Wage That Is Required By The Law. People That Are Working And Bidding On Projects For The City Of West Frankfort Are Required To Pay Prevailing Wage And This Set’s Those Wages. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Blades, Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
6. The Next Item Was Approval Of An Ordinance Authorizing An Agreement With Glenwood Equity Llc, For A Tax Increment Financing Redevelopment Agreement And Approving Tax Increment Allocation Financing The Mayor Stated This Is For A Development Which Is Going To Be A Dollar General Store In The 1012 Area Of East Main Street Across From The Dairy Queen The Particulars Of This Agreement Are Basically The City Has Agreed On The Opening Of The Business That We Will Give The Developer $50,000.00 Of Tif Money As A One Time Payment. We Also Agreed On That Date We Will Pay Up To $50,000.00 For The Cost For Glenwood Equity To Move The Sanitary Sewer Line For The City Of West Frankfort, Cable Tv, Telephone And A Gas And Electric Line For Ameren The Cost For That Expense Would Be $100,000.00 And $50,000.00 One Time Fee. Then The Following Year And Respectively For Five Years We Will Give Them $10,000.00. This Will Come From The Tif Fund For A Total Of $150,000.00. Commissioner Blades Stated Are Our Engineers Going To Be In Charge Of Moving That Sewer? The Mayor Stated Yes, It Is Stipulated In Here That They Are To Hire Brown And Roberts As The Engineering Firm And They Will Reimburse Them For The Cost Of Engineering And Any Expense Related To That Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
7. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Construction Engineering Agreement With Brown & Roberts Regarding The East St. Louis Street Project, Mike Roberts Stated Friday Is The Letting For The East St.Louis Street Project. We Will Know More After The Letting On Friday When We Get The Bids And See How They Come In. We Are Hopeful That They Will Talk About The Start Date Once We Know What Kind Of Bids We Have. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins, Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
8. The Next Item Was Approval To Appoint A Trustee, From The City Of West Frankfort, Of The Rend Lake Conservancy District Which Term Will Expire June 30, 2021. The Mayor Stated Don Lucas Was Our Representative On This Board Mr. Lucas Has Some Health Issues And Approximately One Month Ago Mr. Lucas Resigned Stating He Is No Longer Able To Do This Task. He Has Done An Excellent Job On The Rend Lake Board For Us We Were Very Pleased With His Knowledge And Ability. We Have Talked To A Couple People About The Replacement And At This Time Would Like To Recommend Paul Lawrence To Be Our Appointment To This Board To Represent The City Of West Frankfort. This Is A Seven Member Board There Are Four Members From Franklin County And Three Members From Jefferson County. West Frankfort, Benton, The County Appoints One And Then There Is An At Large Member From Franklin County. Jefferson County, Mt Vernon Appoint One And Then There Is An At Large Member For Jefferson County So Itis Four To Three. Would Like To Recommend That We Appoint Paul Lawrence As Our Representative For The Rend Lake Board Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins, Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
9. The Next Item Was Discussion, With Possible Action, Regarding Replacing The Rear Tires On The Quint For The West Frankfort Fire Department Fire Chief Jody Allen Stated Mayor And Council As You Can See Got Three Bids For The Rear Tires. These Tires Have Been On There Since The Truck Was New In 1998 So It Has Been Twenty Years Since They Have Been Replaced. They Are Starting To Dry Rot And The Outside Edges Are Starting To Come Away From The Beads. We Service Other Communities With The Aerial So It Is On The Highway. Called Johnsons To Begin With And He Advised Me To Call Raben Tires Who Did Our Front Tires. I Also Called Best One, But I Don't Know If They Will Put The Tires On Or The Quotes Just For The Tires, I Was Told That Raben Would Be The Only Place To Put Them On. I Don't Know If You Want Me To Check With Best One To See If They Can Put The Tires On And If The Quote Includes That Will Go With Them Or If You Would Like Me To Go With Raben Tires. Commissioner Simpson Stated It Appears That Best One Has A Dismount And Mount Fee Of $20.00 Per Tire. Chief Allen Stated Asked Raben And They Stated They Would Put The Tires On The Mayor Stated Are They All Bidding The Same Tire? Chief Allen Stated No The Mayor Stated Johnsons And Raben Bids For Michelin And Best One Is Bridgestone. Ed Hammonds Stated He Worked For General Tire For Thirty Six Years In Development And Engineering And He Would Buy Michelin Without A Question It Super Exceeds Any Other Tire On The Market. The Mayor Stated Eight Michelin Tires From Raben For $4,328.00 And Johnsons Is $4,741.84. Raben Tires Does This For A Living That Is Their Job. Johnsons Works On Trucks. But They Don't Mount Tres. Commissioner Harkins Stated Would Like To Make A Motion To Go With Raben Simply Because The Quality Of The Tire. The Mayor Stated The Motion Is To Go With Raben For $4,328.00 For Eight Tires For The Aerial Ladder For The Fire Department. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
10. The Next Item Was Approval Of A Donation To The West Frankfort City Park For The July 4 Celebration To Be Paid From The Tourism Fund In The Amount Of $3,173.00. The Mayor Stated We Are Donating This Money To The Park Don't Know What They Are Going To Do With It But Have A Suspicion That They Might Be Purchasing Something That Is Up To Them And Their Liability Insurance Not Us. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried
11. The Next Item Was Approval For Payment Of An Invoice From Fisher Scientific In The Amount Of $3,803.06 Regarding Testing During The Flood For The Sewer Department. Commissioner Blades Stated We Had To Contract Out Testing When It. Flooded Out. Commissioner Blades Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
12. The Next Item Was Approval For Payment Of An Invoice From Hack Company In The Amount Of $6,358.24 For The Sewer Department. The Mayor Stated This Is An Incubator All Weather Sampler And Bundler This Is Gong To Go In The New Sewer Plant And Is A Replacement From The Old Sewer Plant. Commissioner Blades Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
13. The Next Item Was Approval For Payment Of An Invoice From Brenntag Mid-South, Inc. In The Amount Of $1,579.98 Regarding The Purchase Of Liquid Chlorine For The Sewer Department. Commissioner Blades Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Simpson. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
14. The Next Item Was Approval To Transfer Lake Lot Lease #91 From John R. Gossett And Paula Gossett To La & Bonne Wright. Commissioner Blades Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
15. The Next Item Was Approval For The Vfw To Hold Their Annual Fundraiser Roadblock On June 16, 2017 From 2:00 P.M. To 6:00 P.M. And June 17, 2017 From 8:00 A.M. To 2:00 P.M. At The Intersection Of Route 149 And Highway 37. Commissioner Chambers Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins, Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
16. Officer's Reports:
Chief Allen Read The Fire Department's Report
Chef Irwin Read The Police Department's Report.
Codes Officer, Ed Hammonds, Read The Codes Report.
17. Building And Sign Permits:
There Is One Building Permit From Jeana King Who Represents Kids Corral On South Horn Street. They Have Requested A Building Permit To Add An Additional 36 X 40 Room On The East End Of The Building This Will Be 1440 Sq Ft Which Will House And Additional Thirty Students. The Building Permit Fee Is $72.00 For An$80,000.00 Addition. Commissioner Harkins Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Chambers. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners And Mayor Jordan Voted To Approve Motion Carried.
18. Mayors Comments:
The Mayor Stated Taco Bell Is Open And Dong Very Well We Have Been Meeting With Our Economic Developer And Talking With Some People We Are Working Hard At Trying To Get This Community Afloat Want To Thank The Council For All Their Hard Work
19. Commissioner Comments:
Commissioner Harkins Stated The Police And Fire Department As You Can Tell From The Reports They Read Are Staying Busy. The Fundraiser At La Fiesta Was A Success For The Fire Department.
Commissioner Chambers Stated I Have Been Getting A Lot Of Questions From People About Keeping The Wall Attached To El Vallarta. If It Is Possible To Do Something With It Think It Would Be Good Stewards Of Our Towns History If We Did. City Attorney Mike Riva Stated You Will Have To Talk To Your Demolition Company About That Commissioner Simpson Stated We Need To Find Out How Much More It Will Cost To Save That Wall As Opposed To Just Tearing The Building Down Want To Bring Up A Request Got To Close Off Short Street To Oak Street From 5:00 To 10:00 P.M. On June 22npfor An Exercise Exhibition Event That Is Being Held By Andrea James. Think They Are Going To Exercise In The Street And I Am Okay With That Just Wanted To Make Sure No One Else Had An Issue With It. Also, I Want To Mention In The Past Two Weeks I Have Had Four People Call Me With Just Some General Questions. They Are All Local People Who Are Putting Businesses Here Working On Buying Property Or Have Already Bought Property. They Had Questions About Our Facade Improvement Grants, Sign Permits And The Space We Have Available It Has Been An Exciting Two Weeks To Have So Many People In Such A Short Time Who Are Wanting To Invest In Downtown As Well Every One Of Them Want To Have A Building From Rt 37 In That Is Good For Us To Have Progress Going In Both Directions. Its Nice To Let People Know That There Are People Who Want To Invest In Our Community.
20. Audience Questions Or Comments:
Codes Officer Ed Hammonds Stated Briefly Spoke With You Earlier This Afternoon And This Is In The Same Ball Parkas The El Vallarta Building Our Attorney Mr. Riva Has Been Able To Get A Judges Approval And He Signed An Order Of Demolition For Another Property That We Have Been Working On For The Last Four Years. This Property Sat 207 E. Manilla Street And I Ask That You Would Consider Including This With The Current Bidding For The El Vallarta Building For Demolition This Is A Brick Structure That Stretches From Manilla Street The Entire Width Of The Property 135 Feet To The Alley. It Has Been Added Onto Several Times So The Garage Sits On The Alley. The Mayor Stated We Can Get Bid Prices Without Taking Any Action We Can Include This With The Bid Request For The 108 S. Emma Street As A Separate Bid. The City Attorney Stated Yes Because There Will Be No Action Taken.
Any Updates On The Boat Dock? The Mayor Stated We Have Looked Into Getting A Floating Dock Versus A Stationary Dock.
Mr. Morris Stated One Of The Questions That I Have Is On A Comment/Quote That You Had Made In The Newspaper Mayor About At If With Morthland. We Go Around Looking At Tif's And How They Are Set Up. I Have Talked To Mike Riva And Mike Simpson And Think They Can Meet With Me If That Is Possible And Walk Me Out Because Don't Understand How The Payment Was Being Made. A Tif Fund Is Supposed To Be Used For Development And Redevelopment. I Have Questions On How That Tif Fund Is Circulating Back Through For Payments? It Seemed Like The Intended Statute Itself Would Have Been Questioned Why? Because You Are Taking Your Redevelopment Money And Paying A Loan, It's Not Going To The Intended Purpose Like Said Discussed It With Mike And I Filed A Foia Request On It Today. I Am Just Looking For Some Clarity On It. The Mayor Stated The Gazette Wrote An Excellent Article On T Which I Have On My Desk If You Would Like To Have It. Mr. Morris Stated I Am Not Saying That Tif's Aren't Economically Because It Is, Tif's Are Good. It Is An Economical Weapon You Might Say. Just Want Clarification Because A Lot Of The Ti F’s Are Different And They Are Complicated, Understand That The Mayor Stated We Don't Have Anything To Hide, That Tif Is Available To You.
Mr. Poole Stated Since Was Here Mr. Mayor And Council Members I Have Talked With The Previous Council Men Frank Browning And He Explained It And It Now Seems To Be Accentuated There Was At One Time Was Told After Moved Here In 2001 Cleveland Street Was Number 1, Number 2 Was Cherry Street And Number 3 Was Illinois Avenue Down Near The School And The Nursing Home. Somewhere Maybe New Council And New Mayor's Didn't Get All The Information. I Don't Know Frank Browning That Well So Can Lay It On Him. I Talked With The City Street Superintendent And Found Out About My Storm Sewer Situation And He Put Some Cones In The Front Of My Yard Because Of The Sinking. Since Was Told About Illinois Being Number Three Didn't Do Anything About T. Mowed My Yard With A Push Mower For Many Years And Had To Watch The Holes So Didn't Step In Them The Holes Are Still There And I Appreciate The Cones The City Put There. If And When We Would Do Illinois Ave Like You Did Cherry Street That Would Betaken Care Of Think The City Needs To Do Something About It. Was Nave Thinking It Would Be Done And It Was Dropped And No Longer Considered. Think It Needs To Be Put Back On The Agenda. There Is A School And Nursing Home Down There And The Ambulance Goes Down That Way To Take People To The Hospital From The Nursing Home There Are Trucks That Go Down With Food To Both Places And Garbage Trucks. Many People Go In And Out On Illinois Avenue Because They Can't Get Across Any Sooner From The West. There Children Who Walk Down That Street And People On Scooters. The Street Isn't Made For That It Is Dangerous. I Would Urge The City And Mayor To Put This On The Agenda For The Near Future. Commissioner Chambers Stated After You Came Last Meeting And Explained Your Issues He And I Talked About What We Could Do More Quickly To Resolve Some Of Your Personal Issues And On A Larger Scale What We Could Do To Resolve Some Of The Other Issues You Had With The Need To Get Off Of The Road To Walk, Scooter Access For Handicap Accessibility, Drainage Problems And All Of The Things You Stated Were Going On Down In Your Area Know He Is Working On Bringing Me Some Thoughts And Ideas To Fix Some Of Those Things One Piece At A Time In All Honesty There Is Not A Plan Right Now To Do A Full Revamping Like Our St.Louis Street Project. It Is A Huge Project And Has Been A Long Time In The Works: This Actually Started During The Time That Frank Browning Was The Street Commissioner This Isn't A Me Project, I Came Into This When Got Elected The First Time And Think We Are Six And A Half Almost Seven Years In On It. These Projects Take Many Years. Somewhere In Transition And Translation From Different Councils Coming Through Maybe There Was A Hope To Do That Area At One Time And Other Projects Cost Too Much Or Something Happened And It Had To Be Put On The Back Burner. Think We Can Still Achieve A Lot Of The Things That You Are Wanting Just Maybe Not All At One Time We Can Come Through And Try And Fix The Drainage Problems, Look At Some Sidewalks, Fix The Storm Sewers And The Drainage Of Your Neighbors Down The Way. Know They Have Some Pretty Significant Problems With Flooding At The Corners So We Can Fix Some Of These Things, It Might Not Be One Giant Project When We Do It. M.R. Poole Then Explained Some Of The Issues The Neighbors Are Having And What He Would Like To See Happen And Starting A Petition. Commissioner Chambers Stated They Will Look Into These Issues. Commissioner Blades Stated You Have To Get Federal Grant Money To Do What You Want To Do. You Are Talking About A Multi Million Dollar Deal. Mike Roberts From Brown & Roberts Stated I Don't Even Know If That Streets Eligible For Federal Funds. Commissioner Chambers Stated Still Think We Can Resolve A Lot Of Your Problems Ourselves In A Slower Fashion The Mayor Stated We Can Only Do What We Are Capable Of Dong With The Funds That We Have We Have Been Allocating The Funds As An As Needed Basis. We Have A Lot Of Streets In Town That Need A Lot Of Work. Commissioner Blades Stated We Have 9 Street That We Tried For Six Years To Get Sidewalks. Tara Has Worked Her Hind End Off For Six Years And We Haven't Poured The First Inch Of Concrete Yet, That's How Tough It Is. The Mayor Stated We Would Be Glad To Go Down And Look At It. Mr. Poole Stated Our Street Was Number Three On The List Now It Is No Number. The Mayor Stated I Have Been Here For Seven Years And I Have Never Heard Of A Project For Illinois Avenue Have You Ever Heard Of A Project For Illinois Avenue Mike? Mike Stated No The Mayor Stated Mike Is Our Engineer For The City. I Am Not Saying It Isn't Worthy Of A Project, But It Was Never Translated Into Our Administration, What We Got From His Administration Was The St.Louis Street Project And That Is What We Are Dong. We Will Start Working On More Projects After This One Becomes A Reality. We Will Come Up And Take A Look At It You Are Talking To The Right People Roger The Street Superintendent Is Here And Tara Is The Street Commissioner So Those Are The People You Need To Be Talking To. Police Chief Mike Irwin Stated I Did A Traffic Survey There And There Was Nobody Who Drove On That Street In A Four Hour Stretch Before And After School More Than Five Miles Per Hour Over The Speed Limit. When The Speed Limit Is 30 And They Are Dong 35 And There Are Several Cars In The Road It Gives You An Optical Illusion That It Is A Race Track And Completely Understand That. Also Understand The Fact The Five Miles Per Hour Over The Speed Limit Is Illegal With That Being Said The Majority Of The People That Drive On That Street Live On That Street. When School Goes Back In Session We Will Give It More Attention. It Is Not A Race Track Any More Than Any Other Street, It Is Just Heavily Trafficked Radar Doesn't Lie.Mr. Poole Stated Wont Take Up Any More Of Your Time But Will Be On It. Will Not St Back And Expect Something To Happen.
21. Mayor Jordan Asked For Approval To Go Into Executive Session To Discuss Contract Negotiations, Personnel And Acquisition And/Or Pending Litigation, With Possible Action. Commissioner Simpson Made A Motion To Approve, Seconded By Commissioner Harkins, Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Along With The Mayor Voted Yes. Motion Carried. The Council Went Into Executive Session At 7:55 P.M.
22. The Council Returned To Open Session At 8:39 P.M. On A Motion By Commissioner Simpson, Seconded By Commissioner Blades. Roll Call Vote: All Commissioners Along With Mayor Jordan Voted To Return To Open Session. Motion Carried
23. With No Further Business To Be Discussed, The Meeting Was Adjourned On A Motion By Commissioner Harkins At 8:40 P.M
http://www.westfrankfort-il.com/web_files/forms/June%2013,%202017.pdf
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