McLean County Times

Village of Hudson Board of Trustees met June 1.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

ROLL CALL

Present (in person)

Mayor Dave Brutlag

Trustee Joe Boyd

Trustee Kathy Brooks

Trustee Steve King

Trustee Lynne Norris

Via Zoom

Trustee Phil Morris

Village Clerk Allison Brutlag

CONSENT AGENDA

“All matters listed under CONSENT AGENDA are considered to be routine and non-controversial by the Village Board and will be enacted by one motion and one roll call vote. There will be no separate discussion on these items. If discussion is desired by a Citizen or Trustee, the item will be removed from the Consent Agenda and discussed immediately after approval of the Consent Agenda.”

Items for the consent agenda are:

a. Approval of open minutes from the May 4, 2021 board meeting

b. Financial statement and payment of bills for May

Dave asked if there were any questions on the minutes or treasurer’s report; there were none.

A MOTION WAS MADE BY JOE BOYD TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA FOR MAY. SECONDED BY KATHY BROOKS. ALL YEA- MOTION PASSED.

VILLAGE PRESIDENT: Dave Brutlag

Swear in staff

Allison swore in Mark Kotte as the new police chief and Phil Morris as a trustee.

Covid 19 status

Dave reported the CDC has stated that people who are fully vaccinated no longer need to wear masks. They recommend that social distancing remains in place for groups. The Covid counts continue to improve. Illinois is on track to go to Phase 5 on June 11th which means Illinois will be 100% open.

Dave said that RFQ’s were sent to 6 different businesses. Five definitely want to participate. He would like 3 people to go through all of the RFQ’s to make a selection to the full board. A grid/scoring sheet is started. We probably want to do interviews with the final 2 or 3 companies. Kathy, Joe and Steve will be reviewing the RFQ’s. RFQ responses are expected to be returned the middle of the month.

5 Year Plan status

Dave said we need to talk about any TIF funding that we need for engineering work to start. There are a couple of other things in process with the main one being the sidewalk to Dollar General. Kathy will talk about this. Denny and Dave met with Mr. Gildersleeve about some ground he has.

ARP Money- waiting on state requirements- will get first half in June

Dave shared that we will be receiving phase 1 of ARP money this month. There are 4 or 5 categories in which we could spend the money but there isn’t a lot of specific information yet. Dave is hoping the state will give us additional guidance. We still haven’t been reimbursed for the first round of CARES money. Dave isn’t sure if the second round of CARES money will ever materialize.

Transfer from full time help to part time help for Parks, Streets, and Water Dave stated we will need to make some budget modifications with the change in staff. We will be having more part time help. Dave would like to transfer money from full time to part time. Kathy said she doesn’t see an issue with transferring those funds. Right now, we will just transfer the money to line items evenly so nothing will be transferred between departments. Sara stated the tricky part right now is with Tyler working between departments. She asked if we want part time hours broken down by department. Sara said water has to be separate but the rest could go together. Steve said the line item could be in Denny’s since he is running it and Denny said he is OK with that. Dave shared that Denny has started working on a to do list and there are over 30 items on it.

A MOTION WAS MADE BY LYNNE NORRIS TO TRANSFER $17,300 OF SALARY FROM PARKS TO PARKS TEMPORARY PERSONNEL SERVICES AND $25,000 FROM WATER SALARIES TO WATER TEMPORARY PERSONNEL SERVICES. SECONDED BY JOE BOYD. ALL YEA- MOTION PASSED.

AC at water house went out on Saturday- thanks to Phil for coordinating resolution Dave thanked Phil for coordinating this and taking care of it.

Park sign identifying Veterans Park- also Hubble House

Steve got a quote back this afternoon for a sign for Veterans Park (as well as for Friendship Park). The signs would be 24 in. x 30 in. high. The total cost would be $240 (with installation being done by the village) from Great Display Company. These signs would last 7-10 years before there would be any fade. Dave said we have money in the budget for the signs. If the board is in agreement, we will get the signs ordered. The board agreed to go ahead and purchase the signs. Steve will send the sign information to the History Club in case they want to get a sign for the Hubble House.

WATER, PUBLIC PROPERTY, STREET AND ZONING: Denny Engel Denny Engel gave reports for each department.

Water

The lead copper results came back. There were only 2 sites that had traceable copper but it wasn’t over the threshold limit. There was no lead. There was a water plant inspection and survey from IEPA. Denny thanked Sara for her help getting the paperwork filled out. He had a phone interview with the inspector from IEPA. The inspector was happy with most everything. There were a few things we don’t have that they want us to get. Denny said he needs to work with Joe and maybe the water committee to get a timeframe for policies and procedures. There is state mandated testing we will have to do which means we have to purchase some equipment. IEPA wants a timeline on when we get this stuff implemented. Joe has the report and if others want it to, let Denny know.

Denny, Joe, and Dave met with Fire Chief Jeff Thomas to talk about the fire hydrant situation at the church. We wanted to make sure everyone is on the same page. The meeting went well.

Water usage was 3.41 million/110,000 a day. This is the lowest we’ve had per day in quite some time . There is one more possible leak to explore from IRWA.

Denny reported there have been a lot of JULIE locates. While there for the locates, Denny also checks meter pits and shutoff valves. Carol is keeping track of this information in a spreadsheet.

Parks

The zero turn mower went down and we are still waiting on a part to come in. It will cost between $1000-$1200 to get it repaired. In the meantime, Jeff Emmert has let us use the township zero turn mower. Denny has met with Steve to work on a project list. Last week, a crack seal was put on the basketball court at Veterans Park. Logan, a new part time employee, has started to help.

Streets

Since it has been busy in parks and water, Denny said he hasn’t done as much work in streets. Some tile cleaning with a jetting company will be done this week. Limb pick up will be Monday but Denny is hoping to try to pick some up this week.

Zoning

Denny said that there have been permits issued. He went to the planning commission meeting and there was good conversation about the 5 year plan.

Dave complimented Denny with doing a great job and getting things done.

VILLAGE MARSHALL: Police Chief Dale Sparks

Police Chief Dale Sparks said that Mark will be starting in a week. Mark will have training to do. Roof work has been done at the police department and there is a new table in the conference room. The old one was moved to the water house. There have been quite a few complaints on animals (barking and no leashes).

CIVIL DEFENSE DIRECTOR: Fire Chief Jeff Thomas

The civil defense director was absent. The sirens went off at 10:00 today.

CITIZENS HEARING

Pam Kuchenmeister stated this is the first board meeting she has ever been to and is very impressed. She thanked everyone for their work for the village. Ms. Kuchenmeister gave some background stories on solicitors going door to door. She shared that some solicitors have been rather aggressive. One company had a drone that would fly over houses without homeowner permission. She is concerned with privacy as well as this company didn’t follow the procedures for getting registered. Late last week, there was a pest control van in the area. The solicitors wouldn’t take no for an answer. Ms. Kuchemeister said some residents said they were aggressive while others said they were fine. Her proposal was for no solicitation on holidays, no one from out of state allowed as well as having specific hours. Dale stated we can’t adopt a no soliciting policy. Dave asked if we have hours on the solicitation ordinance. It is currently set at daylight hours. Holidays have never been an issue. A permit is $50 per week and a background check is done as well. Dale said if someone is found soliciting without a permit and they are a legitimate company, they will pay the fee. Steve asked if they have to carry the card and Dale reported they are required to wear the card. Dale also posts it on the Hudson Police Facebook page. He will share their picture, the vehicle they are driving and the license plate number. Dave will talk to Pat about these questions. Kathy will pull the ordinance on this and will have some sort of proposal to share.

REPORTS OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES

Finance, Budget, Contracts and Employees Department: Trustee Lynne Norris Discuss and vote on an ordinance to adopt the official spending policy for the village of Hudson

Trustee Lynne Norris asked if there was any discussion on this ordinance. Dave said it is a good proposal.

A MOTION WAS MADE BY LYNNE NORRIS TO APPROVE ORDINANCE #1352 (AN ORDINANCE TO ADOPT THE OFFICIAL SPENDING POLICY FOR THE VILLAGE OF HUDSON). SECONDED BY KATHY BROOKS. ALL YEA MOTION PASSED.

Discuss and vote on purchasing siding for the Unit 5 garage

Lynne said the siding for the Unit 5 garage would take 90 days to arrive after it is ordered. September would be a good time for Unit 5 maintenance to install the siding. The total will be $3,091.58. Kathy asked what would happen if Unit 5 says they can’t do it after all. Lynne will find out if we can cancel the order if needed. Lynne said once Unit 5 approves it then we can get it ordered.

A MOTION WAS MADE BY LYNNE NORRIS TO APPROVE THE PURCHASE OF SIDING ($3,091.58) FOR THE UNIT 5 GARAGE DEPENDENT ON UNIT 5’S CONFIRMATION AND CONTINGENT UPON UNIT 5 TO DO THE WORK. IT WILL BE SUBMITTED AS A TIF EXPENSE. SECONDED BY JOE BOYD. ALL YEA- MOTION PASSED.

The roof for the Unit 5 garage has a $1000 deductible. Once it is done, insurance will give us more. The approximate cost is $5700. This will be put on the agenda for next meeting.

Street Department: Trustee Phil Morris

Trustee Phil Morris had no report.

Pat McGrath joined the meeting via Zoom. Pat answered questions about what we can do with the solicitation policy. He said we can’t ban solicitation but we can license and regulate it. Dave asked if we can set hours and make it not allowed on holidays and Pat said yes to both. However, we can’t limit out of state businesses. Pat stated a lot of communities have to apply days before starting as well as having background checks done. Having a set registration requirement will sometimes weed out the fly by the night types of organizations. Dave asked if we have a time period build in. Dale said it could take up to a week after they apply to get the background check done, but we don’t have a specific time period written in the ordinance. Lynne asked about drones for the use of solicitation. He answered that drones present a related but different set of complications. The village would have some authority to regulate the use of drones with any purpose within the village and that would be reasonable. If we chose to ban it, we could. Dave said after the hail storm, a lot of inspections were done using drones. But some of the drones were being sent over homes without the homeowner's approval. A clause could be added stating drones can’t be used without the homeowner's approval. We currently don’t have any wording about drones in our ordinance.

Ordinance and Zoning Department: Trustee Kathy Brooks

Planning Commission report to board

Trustee Kathy Brooks stated the Planning Commission had a meeting on May 24th. Richard Bland reported on the planning commission meeting. They discussed items pertinent to phase 1 in the 5 year plan. The sidewalk to Dollar General was discussed and the concern on how long it has taken. A timeline for the sidewalk was given to the planning commission. Richard asked who the official trustee was for sewer. A trustee or group to take on sewer hasn’t been decided. Dave said a decision will be made next month. Phase 2 of the 5 year plan was sent to the board. Richard stated if anyone on the board has any questions or comments between now and the next meeting, to let them know so they can address it at the July meeting.

Dave said that some of the items listed in the parks area are already on Denny’s to do list. He asked if there were specifics with the landscaping, trees and plants. The planning commission’s thought was to focus on one park every year. Every 3 years, each park would get a face lift, if needed. This would keep the parks refreshed.

The civil defense bunker was discussed. It isn’t a dead issue but we found out the roof of the bunker and the wall of the water house are intertwined. Dave said we need to proceed with caution with whatever we are going to do. Richard stated it is a concern that needs to be kept on the plan as we move forward.

Dave asked about an item about the size issues with water lines. Richard said he had a discussion with Denny and it is especially a concern in old town. When repairing items, we might want to focus on not just fixing the problem but also look to the future and upgrade, make sure it meets code, etc.

Richard would like the board to be able to approve phase 2 at the July meeting. Joe asked what that meant since he isn’t sure if we budgeted for some of this stuff. Richard said the plan is what we want to do in the future and they are items the planning commission sees as a need for village improvement. It doesn’t mean it would be in the budget right now. Richard stated there are people who are willing to volunteer to do certain work within the village. This will be looked into. Dave thanked the planning commission for their work. The next step is to present phase 2 at the July meeting.

Kathy said census information won’t be released until September 2021.

Discuss and vote on sidewalk to Dollar General

Denny has submitted the engineering quote. For surveying and engineering the cost would be $11,500. Approximately $7400 would come out of TIF and $4000 would come out of the budget. The first step we need to do is to get the right away found and surveyed. Once we have that, we need an engineer to design a layout so the county can review that. The county will want to approve that plan before construction can start. Once that is complete, construction can start.

Joe asked if we are telling the county what side of the road we want the sidewalk on or if they will advise us. Denny said when he met with the assistant county engineer, he suggested we put it on the north side of the road. Casey's sidewalk will tie into it. The suggestion was for the intersection to be at the top of the hill at Shiner St. Steve asked if we are looking at being able to have golf carts use the sidewalk. Dave said we are trying to get the sidewalk in first and he isn’t sure what it would take to do a golf cart path. We aren’t sure if we can do both the sidewalk and address golf carts. Denny said the county highway department says no golf carts allowed in the right away. They will allow golf carts to cross. Dale has a few ideas for golf carts but he doesn’t expect anything to happen soon. Dave will approach the township about their ground possibly being used.

A MOTION WAS MADE BY KATHY BROOKS TO APPROVE SURVEYING AND ENGINEERING COSTS FOR THE SIDEWALK FROM CASEY’S TO DOLLAR GENERAL. SECONDED BY LYNNE NORRIS. ALL YEA- MOTION PASSED.

Discuss and vote on starting wage for part-time employees ($15.00)

This was talked about and approved at the April 19th work session.

Discuss maximum hours for part-time employees (IL Municipal Fund 1,000 max?) Kathy shared a concern about if a part time worker works over 1000 hours a year, then we have to pay into the Illinois Municipal Fund. Sara said she tracks the hours and it typically isn’t an issue.

Discuss resident volunteers for small village projects (put screen door on water house, paint, etc.)

Kathy said we will table this discussion for now. She asked Pat how we would go about having volunteers do some village projects and if there would be any kind of liability issues. Pat said for the most part, we can have them do any type of project (with the exception of activities considered high risk- climbing ladders, using a chainsaw, etc.) Our liability insurance would cover it if a volunteer was injured. Pat doesn’t think we would need to ask or require volunteers to sign a waiver. Sara will send an email from our insurance to Kathy that will help answer her questions. Kathy suggested maybe we put it on the website. Steve asked if there will be a list of what the volunteers could do. Kathy said it would be items low on the priority scale. Pat will get us information about an app we might be able to use for volunteers to sign up with.

Discuss and vote on hydrant replacement (estimate $3,860)

Kathy would like to discuss the hydrant replacement and isn’t sure if we would need to vote on it. She said she thinks we need to put in a new hydrant by the church but doesn’t think it is in the budget. Joe said this is a complicated discussion. When pumping water for a fire, you have to know where to pump it from. They could pump the tower dry if running any hoses regardless of what fire hydrant is used. Fire Chief Jeff Thomas said he wouldn’t suggest a new hydrant be put in. Joe said we should go with what he says. Denny said all the hydrants haven’t been flushed. Some were replaced a few years ago. There might be a hydrant or two that needs replaced. He believes we have something in the budget fur hydrant replacement. Denny’s thoughts are we hold off on purchasing a new hydrant until they check the rest of the town’s hydrants. Kathy appreciates the discussion.

Police Department:

Dave said he is looking forward to working with Mark as police chief. Mark stated he is working on setting up training for recertification. He is also going to start working on policies and procedures to adapt to the new state laws.

Water Department: Trustee Joe Boyd

Trustee Joe Boyd thanked Denny for his work concerning the water loss. The IEPA came in and gave us a non compliance advisory with things that need to be done. A written reply is required within 45 days. We need to come up with some budget numbers.

Public Property: Trustee Steve King

Trustee Steve King went around to all the parks with Denny. The ball fields and parks need some maintenance done. He isn’t sure what is budgeted. The bigger things included power washing and painting the tables, painting the posts on the shelter, and the railroad ties around the play equipment. Steve asked if we can go ahead and work on the parks. Dave asked if any of the items are already on Denny’s work list. Most of them are. Sara can sit down with Steve and talk about budget numbers. The police department has 3 surveillance cameras. Steve asked if we wanted to look at putting surveillance cameras up at the ballpark. Dave said we can use the cameras without internet but we would get better use out of the cameras with internet. There currently isn’t internet at the ballpark. Dale said Frontier provides service for the police department and we could use it there. We will get some pricing quotes as to what it will cost to get internet at the ballpark.

Steve asked if we run a park and rec program from the village and if we get any revenue. The only revenue we got was when we rented the field to BNGSA. The total revenue was between $200-$240/year. All expenses are on the village. Steve asked if we want to continue to cover the expenses or do we want to try to recoup some of that. Joe said we probably don’t want to charge local teams, but to consider billing out of town teams. Dave stated if the village wanted to take over the organization of the leagues, the Lion’s Club would be willing to let us. Lynne suggested we look at how other communities of our size run their parks and rec programs. Dave would be glad to email other mayors to see how their towns conduct their parks and rec. Steve will get some information from El Paso.

Liquor Commissioner: Mayor Dave Brutlag

There was no report.

As a follow up from last month’s meeting about parking at the ballpark, Dave suggested the trustees take a look at parking on Tuesday nights. It is busy and congested 4-6 nights a year and Dave doesn’t want to spend tons of money for 4-6 nights a year. Dave said at the last mayor’s meeting, they discussed sharing resources between towns. One of the towns has a lift truck that might come in handy when we put up Christmas lights. This will be talked about more in future meetings.

Dave asked Joe to talk to the water committee about finding a backup for Denny on water responsibilities.

A MOTION WAS MADE BY KATHY BROOKS TO MOVE INTO CLOSED SESSION TO DISCUSS PAY AND TIME OFF FOR MARK KOTTE. SECONDED BY STEVE KING. ALL YEA- MOTION PASSED.

Once back into open session, roll call was taken. Pat McGrath was also in attendance via Zoom.

A MOTION WAS MADE BY STEVE KING TO HIRE MARK KOTTE AS POLICE CHIEF AT $32.21/HOUR AND PROVIDE AN INITIAL 10 DAYS OF VACATION. SECONDED BY KATHY BROOKS. ALL YEA- MOTION PASSED.

Dave asked the trustees to think about a situation that came up. An employee asked about working from a remote location but then withdrew the request. If an employee can still log 4-8 hours a day, do we allow that option or not. We may want to put something in the personnel manual. Dave said he wants to think about this and the board will discuss it further at a later date.

THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS, A MOTION WAS MADE AT 9:56 P.M. BY JOE BOYD TO ADJOURN THE MEETING. SECONDED BY LYNNE NORRIS. ALL YEA- MOTION PASSED.

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