City of Mount Carmel City Council met Dec. 12.
Here is the minutes provided by the council:
Mayor Judge brought the City Council meeting to order.
Present on Roll Call: Mayor Joe Judge Commissioners – Tom Meeks, Eric Ikemire Justin Dulgar Susan Zimmerman
Also, Present: City Administrative Assistant Ryan Turner, City Attorney Derek McCullough
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Mayor Judge requested a motion to approve the minutes of the last council meeting.
Commissioner Ikemire motioned and Commissioner Zimmerman seconded to approve the minutes of the meeting held on November 28, 2022. All present voted by roll vote. Commissioner Meeks, Ikemire, Dulgar and Zimmerman voted Aye.
MAYOR’S COMMENTS
Mayor Judge welcomed newly appointed City Attorney Derek McCullough to the council meeting.
Mayor Judge stated bids were accepted for the vacant lot at 318 W. Second Street. Mayor Judge opened and read the bids as follows; Kevin Schuh - $301.00, Charles David Acree - $901.00, Jared Sayge - $511.00, Ryan Weir - $5100.50. The council voted to accept the bid from Ryan Weir.
Mayor Judge reported he recently attended the Illinois Municipal League meeting in Chicago on December 2nd and 3rd Mayor Judge gave an overview of the meeting and stated one mandate he is outspoken on is the Public Safety Storage for the police officer worn body camera as this could be very expensive for the city. Mayor Judge reported the IML is also hopeful next month’s lame duck General Assembly will restore the local government distribution fund (LGDF), which would then increase the distributed monies back to the orginal ten percent.
Mayor Judge reminded residents who are interested in the Small House Improvement Program that the deadline is December 16th.
Mayor Judge thanked everyone for their condolences on the passing of his father.
Mayor Judge stated the pool advisory committee is meeting later this week to view renderings of potential new pools and stated he added the following four youth members to the committee; Tobias Fullop, Bailey Andrews, Talon Rafferty and Emery Turner, for their input on possible features to the pool that the community might like.
Mayor Judge reported on December 20th a special meeting will be held for the second reading of the city’s tax levy, as of now the levy is balanced, however, the city is waiting on fire and police pension information from the State of Illinois.
Mayor Judge stated the city has applied for a $40,000.00 lead service line grant, which will help the city pay for the IEPA required lead service line inventory of all water systems and is hopeful in January the city will be successful in receiving those monies.
Mayor Judge reminded this Saturday, December 17th is the book give away at the city swimming pool parking lot.
Mayor Judge wished everyone a Merry Christmas.
COMMISSIONER REPORTS:
COMMISSIONER TOM MEEKS – STREETS, CEMETERIES AND PARKS
Commissioner Meeks reported, in the past two weeks, the street department assisted with the leaf pick-up; completed a concrete pour on Erin Drive; continued cleaning storm sewer intakes; installed and removed the barricades for the Christmas Parade; took several trucks to the safety lane for inspection; and assisted with a water leak.
COMMISSIONER ERIC IKEMIRE – FINANCE AND SENIOR CITIZENS
Statement of Receipts and Expenditures – See attached agenda with financials.
Commissioner Ikemire reported, over the last two weeks, receipts in the general fund totaled $182,2669.00 and expenditures totaled $181,938.00.
Commissioner Ikemire noted City Administrative Assistant Turner along with Mayor Judge have been assisting with the Senior Citizens Center in working through some financial issues and stated their assistance is very much appreciated.
COMMISSIONER JUSTIN DULGAR – WATER AND SEWER
Commissioner Dulgar reported Franklin Frazier’s training at the water treatment plant is ongoing as he will take over for Bill Miller, who is retiring; the Oak Street booster pumps have been rebuilt and are back in service; construction on the new water treatment plant continues.
Commissioner Dulgar stated new cylinders for the sludge press at the wastewater plant have been ordered; a sewer camera was purchased with AARP funds for the sewer system; C&C Pumps and Kieffer Brothers Construction removed the jet mixer from the digestor so C&C Pumps could replace the bad seal.
Commissioner Dulgar reported the water maintenance department has been busy performing their standard maintenance along with cleaning out the sewer mains with the jet truck on a routine basis
COMMISSIONER SUSAN ZIMMERMAN – FIRE, HEALTH & SAFETY, GARBAGE, CITY HALL AND CIVIL DEFENSE
Commissioner Zimmerman reported, during the last two weeks, the fire department responded to several calls; assisted with medical calls; responded to several unintentional fire alarms; and escorted Santa into Mount Carmel for the Christmas Parade.
Commissioner Zimmerman thanked the Plassman’s, the Banks’ and the Armstrong’s for their Christmas lights displays and the collection of money for the Shop with a Cop/Fireman/EMS Program, which will be held this Saturday, December 17th. Commissioner Zimmerman thanked Mike Harris for having Auntie Anne’s Pretzels come to Mount Carmel with those proceeds being donated to the Shop with a Cop/Fireman/EMS event as well. Commissioner Zimmerman thanked everyone who donated to the program as it is very rewarding to take the kids Christmas shopping.
CITY ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT – RYAN TURNER
City Administrative Assistant Turner stated Ordinance 2081 and Ordinance 2082 are new ordinances adapted to clean up the city’s books as they were originally resolutions. City Administrative Assistant Turner stated Ordinance 2081 deals with no parking areas and Ordinance 2082 pertains to stop signs, both were originally adapted by resolution, however for proper enforcement they should be ordinances.
City Administrative Assistant Turner reported this meeting constitutes the first reading of the 2023 Tax Levy and reiterated the numbers not yet available are the levies that deal with the police/fireman pensions as the state has taken over that pension system. City Administrative Assistant Turner stated those numbers should be available next Tuesday and is anticipating a slight increase in the pension fund.
City Administrative Assistant Turner stated at this time, with the upcoming city election, the council has the ability to give themselves a pay raise and/or adapt a liquor control pay. After a brief discussion, the council decided to not implement a pay increase.
CITY ATTORNEY – DEREK MCCULLOUGH
City Attorney McCullough stated he is looking forward to working with the city and has already met with Public Works Director Gidcumb and City Administrative Assistant Turner regarding a few issues.
AIRPORT MANAGER – PARIS PENNINGTON
Airport Manager Pennington absent.
POLICE CHIEF – MIKE MCWILLIAMS
Police Chief McWilliams introduced Officer Ashton Walker, who recently graduated from the Southwestern Illinois Police Academy on Friday and Aston started his training today with Sergeant Price.
Police Chief McWilliams stated he has had the opportunity to help Mark Seaton and Elijah Hadra on the Shop with the Cop/Fireman Program and he thanked the community for all the donations as it is very humbling to see all the resources that are donated.
FIRE CHIEF – FRANCES SPETH
Fire Chief Speth also thanked everyone who has helped over the years to make the Shop with the Cop/Fireman event such a great success.
PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR – MIKE GIDCUMB
Public Works Director Gidcumb reported he has been busy with all the yearly permits as well as code violations and he will give that report at the beginning of next year.
BUSINESS MOTIONS
Commissioner Ikemire motioned and Commissioner Meeks seconded to accept the bid of $5001.50 by Ryan Weir for the sale of 318 W. Second Street. All present voted by roll call vote. Commissioners Meeks, Ikemire, Dulgar and Zimmerman voted Aye.
Commissioner Zimmerman motioned and Commissioner Ikemire seconded to approve Ordinance 2081 – no parking areas done by resolution. Waive second reading. All present voted by roll call vote. Commissioners Meeks, Ikemire, Dulgar and Zimmerman voted Aye.
Commissioner Meeks motioned and Commissioner Ikemire seconded to approve Ordinance 2082 – stop signs be adapted by ordinance. Waive second reading. All present voted by roll call vote. Commissioners Meeks, Ikemire, Dulgar and Zimmerman voted Aye.
Commissioner Ikemire motioned and Commissioner Zimmerman seconded to approve the Consent Agenda. The consent agenda contained approval of the paying of all bills bearing the proper signatures. All present voted by roll call vote. Commissioners Meeks, Ikemire, Dulgar and Zimmerman voted Aye.
Commissioner Meeks motioned and Commissioner Ikemire seconded to adjourn the meeting. All present voted Aye by voice vote.
Meeting adjourned at 5:26 pm
https://www.cityofmtcarmel.com/sites/default/files/fileattachments/city_council/meeting/11531/12-12-22_minutes.pdf
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