Village of Downs Board of Trustees met Aug. 11.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
1. Mayor Mike James called the Village of Downs Board of Trustees Special Meeting to order at 7:04pm.
2. Roll Call was taken. Trustees present were Maureen Roach, Anna Milliken, Peggy Keylin, Sarah Gassaway (at 7:06pm), Brian Warfel and Toby Twyford. A quorum to do business was declared. Also present was Clerk Julie James, Treasurer Julie Bakewell and Village Attorney Dawn Wall.
3. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.
4. A Motion to Approve Agenda and Order was made by Keylin and seconded by Milliken. Approved 6-0
Discussion –
• The Lexipol policy is ready to be approved.
• There was a typo on Bakewell’s wage.
• The zoning map motion was changed to be an ordinance.
5. LED Sign Presentation – No presentation
6. Eagle Scout Project- Hunter Zachow
• Hunter’s Eagle Scout project was building new benches by the basketball court in Dooley Park.
• Hunter said the cutting and painting of lumber went well.
• His original concrete person cancelled, and he had trouble finding another contractor. This turned out to be a benefit. Modal and Scott donated their time and concrete.
• Other issues he encountered was finding suitable lumber and coordinating time with the older scouts.
• Most of his funds were raised by dog sitting.
• He did have unexpected donations from Lowes in the form of supplies
• One of the big takeaways Hunter learned was how to be a leader. On the first day he wanted to do all the work himself. This left people standing around with nothing to do.
• Zachow said it was rewarding to see the project all the way through and watch people using the benches.
• He had 22 volunteers and they put in 164 ½ hours of volunteering.
• $161 was the total project cost.
7. Events Report
• James reported the haunted house work has begun and is in full force.
• The monthly Events Committee meeting was earlier this evening.
• Committee Stephanie Adkisson asked that her emails between the Parks Trustee and herself be entered into public record and part of the minutes.
• Trustee Peggy Keylin also requested emails to be entered into public record and these minutes.
o Please see Attachment A
8. Engineer & Development Report – Mike Buzicky, MSA
1. Down Water Plant Improvement
a. IEPA Loan Manager is assembling 3 Loan Agreements for closing. MSA assisting IEPA with all documents, copies and setting of closing and bidding dates.
b. Village of Downs is on the current IEPA SRF Loan Priority list with current funding.
c. Tentative Timeline (All subject to final IEPA Loans approvals)
Bidding August - September 2022
Bid Opening October - November 2022
Awards & Contracts November/December 2022
Shop Drawing Reviews January 2023
Start Construction January/February 2023
2. Downtown Streetscape and Parking Lots design
• Buzicky said all our concept plans were sent to the County’s engineer to consider when they resurface Seminary.
• The county is going to shut down all routes to Seminary when they redo it.
• James noted the I74 exchange is going to be done in 2025. He is working with Sen. Rose on doing a roundabout. This would deter truck traffic from going through the downtown area.
• James said the County is probably going to ask us to take over Seminary St. The board needs to be thinking about what it will take to agree to take that on.
3. Downs Crossing Watermain Extension – nothing reported
4. S. Lincoln and Colleen Lane Water and Sewer Extension
• The second round of bidding starts for the sewer lift station.
5. S. Lincoln, Colleen Lane, and Hillard Court Road Projects – no progress
6. Beecher Trails Second Addition (Phase 3)
• The stuff that failed during the rolled test is being finalized and fixed.
• Once that has passed, they will be putting in roads.
7. Other Engineering or Development Updates – Mike Buzicky, MSA
• MSA working with Village and contractor (Suez) on timing, materials, procedures for water tower temporary draining, and temporary portable pressure tanks.
• Suez to provide temporary pressure tank(s) options and costs to Village.
• Late summer/early fall schedule. Discussed 2 months repaint timeline.
• Chief will contact the village FD and surrounding FD during this time. They will need to come with water tanks.
• Tentative start date is 8/29/22.
9. Mayoral Report
• TVHS asked if we would share in the cost of a demographics study. James said our 2022 census numbers are not out because they were not correct.
• Keylin said she would like more information and how much we would be able to use the study.
• Twyford asked if this report covering more than Downs. We shouldn’t have pay for the outlying towns.
• It was decided the board would like to have the demographics company do a presentation for the September meeting.
• James had a meeting of BNWRD about the one time connection at the water plant
• BNWRD has a proposal that would give us credits for money and time spent. On the surface the connection should not cost us anything.
• BNWRD may take over our red water filter as well.
• James would like the village to become members or RWA (Rural Water Association) They can map out our water system for $7/gps location.
• Janice Cuba has recommended that Michele Tocco go full-time. She would still be part-time in the billing office and then do IT work as the other part of her duties. Her salary would change depending on what role she would be doing.
• Tocco is already working on IT certifications.
10. Trustee Reports
1. Building Report
• Only pools that are year round will need to be permitted.
• We had permits for 1 storage shed and 4 new homes.
• There was 1 building permit extension.
• Game Day says their fence will be done ASAP.
• There is an issue with Mediacom. We are working with Esther at Mediacom to make sure it is not a scam.
• Gassaway said there are 2 requests of homes are wanting early occupancy. Wall says this hard to enforce. She would only recommend if we had a $50 fine/day.
• Wall says we don’t want to be in the situation where we are granting early occupancy.
• The building committee will discuss whether to go this route.
• The committee is also going to discuss what to do with remodels that are not getting permits.
2. Water and Sewer Report
• Twyford didn’t have anything else to add.
3. Police Report
• Roach sent an email to Dave Heideman at Game Day. Heideman, said the contractor for his fence should start work the week of 8/14/22.
• Bills for the police building are on the BTP. A lot of the big things are finally done.
• Floor coating and office equipment are about all that is left
• Gutter bids
o Midstate Gutters came in at $1905. But they are several months out, and their price could go up by then.
o KDL came in at $2017 and they have supplies. Roach chose this company to do the gutters.
• A building inspection will be done by Randy Jacobs, our building inspector.
• Chief reported July was a slow month which allowed them to ramp up traffic control.
• The 4th of July went well.
• The department had only one assist with county.
• Chief is working with Tocco on the website’s police safety page.
• The department is very happy with the building and look forward to using it.
• During the September meeting, Chief is looking to hire another part-time person if they pass their background checks.
• Keylin asked about the need for us to have our own forensic person. The state does this for us for free.
• Chief said they it is free; they will package it up and give it back to us. We still must go through the evidence. They are very slow and take up to 1 ½ years to get it back to us.
4. Streets Reports
• Warfel reported there is a lot of mowing and tree removal going on.
• The department did ditch repair over by the fire department.
• The ditch repair in Beecher Trails looks amazing.
• The regraded the detention basin in Beecher Trails. It was all silted in. This was seeded and seed matted today.
• Street rocking going on.
• The new F650 came in finally. The dump truck will be going to get wrapped tomorrow.
• The old F450 is going to go in and get repaired at Koenig eventually.
• Erik Bryant is going to volunteer his time to fix some sidewalks for us soon.
5. Parks, Community Center and Food Pantry Report
• Keylin would like to look at alternative surface for the road in the park.
• Hunter Zachow completed his Eagle Scout Project in Dooley Park installing two beautiful, sturdy benches next to the ball courts. They’re already being put to good use. Many thanks to Hunter, his many friends, and generous donors for this lovely and useful gift to the village. We are waiting on an estimate for a public restroom in Dooley Park.
• We’ll seek a few estimates to help establish a fundraising goal.
• Two dead trees in Dooley Park are set for removal as soon as the ground hardens enough.
• We fixed a door lock in the pavilion and are checking the bolts on the playground equipment for tightness.
• We plan on a second playground mulch delivery in September. We are ordering No Dumping and No Fishing signs for Kickapoo Park entrances and will be refurbishing the fence on Huff Street.
• Our Donuts for Dooley Fundraiser was mostly fun. We raised a little money and got the word out on the goal of adding a public restroom in Dooley Park.
• We’re making plans to improve the inside fencing in Dooley Park possibly a combination of fence poles and living plants. We’re looking into funding sources for that project.
• Parks met with Events to iron out a couple of issues concerning use of the pavilion and banner display in the park. We came to a solution for this year. Parks will put the ideas we discussed in our joint meeting into policies to avoid misunderstandings in the future.
• The Food Pantry packed and distributed 24 boxes this month. Several new people are enquiring about the Pantry so that number will rise in the coming months.
• The Pantry hasn’t had much fresh meat to distribute lately, but all that changed when they got an amazing donation from a 7th grade 4H member who raises hogs and shows them at the county fair. He decided to donate fresh ground pork and sausage from one of his hogs to the Pantry.
• The Village Market has been donating farm fresh produce from its vendors for the last couple of months. Many thanks.
• Thank you to Window World for donating and installing new windows in the Pantry.
• The Pantry is hoping to order the cooler next week.
• The door installation will happen when the cooler arrives.
• School starts soon and the Backpack Program, which provides weekend food for students, will be resuming as a joint effort between the Pantry and Tri-Valley Schools.
6. Finance and Services Report
• Milliken will host Tuesday with Trustee on 8/27/22 at The Union.
• The RMA insurance bid is coming in October.
• We will be looking for a continuance in the October meeting to pass the audit. The meeting date will be 10/20/22.
• Personnel policy changes are out on Google Drive.
• James said we need to explain the personal leave of absence policy to the employees. They are going to be confused.
• Bakewell reported the BTP reflects 6 weeks of bills.
• Theis is the last month of processing FY22 bills.
• Unique bills on the BTP
o Farnsworth bill
o Bakewell’s mileage bill for the year
o Village hall’s AC was fixed
o Contractor payments for the police building
o 2022 Ram truck
o WPC bill – We will charge this like last time.
• Bakewell will be using online pay when possible so that we can pay our bills on time.
• We will be receiving for insurance bills next month with our new employees.
• DCS sent us an annual bill for the police building’s copy machine even though we have not used it. Bakewell is contacting them to get a revision.
• All other reports are on the Google Drive.
• Auditors will be at the hall beginning the weekend going into Labor Day.
• The audit will be wrapped up by the October continued meeting.
• Bakewell and Milliken are working on an updated and revised credit card policy.
• The Federal Reserve raised the rates. She always takes this opportunity to ask Busey Bank to raise our savings rates.
• Bakewell is working with Tocco to update the finance page on the village’s website.
• We received the first distribution of $175,000 in ARPA funds from the county. distribution
• When emailing bills to Bakewell, please carbon copy Cara too. Bakewell gets a lot of emails, and this will help them to get tracked.
• James asked the trustees if they wanted to raise the salaries of Mayor, Trustees, and Clerk.
• Raises would only take affect on those who would be elected in 2023 and going forward.
• The Trustee salary was raised in 2007 to $125/meeting.
• The Mayor salary was cut in half in 2012 to $3000/year.
• The Clerk salary was changed in 2007 to $10,500/year.
• Roach noted that an increase would help offset the price of gas.
• James will look to see what other municipalities are paying.
11. Discussion
1. Other
• Zoning map changes were discussed
12. Public Comment.
• Diana Reynolds thanked the village for redoing sidewalks. She also asked about if updated streetscape plans were available. They are available at the hall and James was going to put on the website.
• Cheryl Bach submitted questions prior to the meeting. She asked if the Humvee’s insurance, maintenance and licensing was paid by the village. It is paid by the village. The village was given the Humvee through a government program. She also asked if the new LED sign was going to be stationary and needed zoning. The sign is stationary, and the village doesn’t have any zoning against stationary signs. The village market sign is also stationary.
13. A Motion to Approve Items Contained within the Consent Agenda was Gassaway and seconded by Milliken. Approved 6-0
14. A Motion to Approve Consent Agenda was made by Milliken and seconded by Warfel. Approved 6-0
1. Ordinances
a. Ordinance 2022-10 Approving the Final Plat of Beecher Trails Subdivision 2nd Addition (Phase 3)
b. Ordinance 2022-11 Approving and Adopting Amendments to the Village of Downs Policy Handbook for the Village of Downs Employees
c. Ordinance 2022-12 Authorizing and Approving the Position of Civilian Technology Forensics Investigator Within the Village of Downs, McLean County, Illinois
2. Motions
a. Motion to Approve the July 7, 2022, Village Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Minutes
b. Motion to Approve the July 7, 2022, Village Board of Trustees Executive Meeting Minutes
c. Ordinance 2022-13 Approving the amended FY22 Zoning Map of the Village of Downs
d. Motion to Approve Reappointment of Julie Bakewell as the Treasurer, Budget Officer and TIF Administrator in the Village of Downs at $30.40/ hr. for Term to Expire August 2023 effective 8/1/2022
e. Motion to Approve Purchase of Gutters and Downspouts for the Police Department from KDL Siding
f. Motion to Approve Brian Hempstead as the Part-Time Civilian Technology Forensics Investigator Within the Village of Downs at $20.81/ hr. Reporting to the Chief of Police
3. Resolutions
a. Resolution 2022-R23 Approving the Temporary Pressure Tank Agreement Between Municipal Well and Pump and the Village of Downs
b. Resolution 2022-R24 Adopting the McLean County Multi-Jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation Plan
c. Resolution 2022-R25 Authorizing and Approving the Purchase of the 2022 Dodge Ram Pickup Truck For the Village of Downs Police Department from Thomas Dodge Chrysler Jeep of Highland, INC
Discussion -
• We are purchasing the truck outright and funds are coming out of the general fund.
d. Resolution 2022-R26 Authorizing and Approving the Purchase of LED Signs from Genoptic Smart Displays
e. Resolution 2022-R27 Accepting and Approving the Bid Proposal from Water Products Company (“WPC”) for Village Sewer Materials
15. New Business
1. Ordinances
a. A motion to approve Ordinance 2022-14 Adopting and Approving Various Policies for the Village of Downs Police Department was made Roach and seconded by Gassaway. Approved 6-0
2. Motions
3. Resolutions
a. A motion to approve Resolution 2022-R28 Authorizing and Approving the Agreement between the Chad and Denise Mayes and the Village of Downs Regarding Parcel No. 29-05-300-014
Subject them accepting to them signing the agreement and the sketch plan not varying significantly from what shared with the Village was made by Gassaway and seconded by Roach. Approved 5-1 (Keylin)
Discussion
• Keylin said this is another case where the zoning board should be making the decision. This in not a good precedence we are setting.
• Wall noted we did it before with the Norman and Sutton splits.
16. Old Business - No Action was taken in Old Business
1. Motions
a. Motion to Reconvene the Village of Downs Regular Board of Trustees Meeting on ____________________ @ 7 pm at the Village Hall
2. Resolutions
a. Resolution 2022-R__ Accepting the Offer of Irrevocable Dedication from Corn Belt Energy Corporation to the Village of Downs for Acceptance of the Completed Storm Water Management Improvements and Maintenance Agreement
3. Ordinances
a. Ordinance 2022-__ Approving and Adopting Amendments to Chapter 8 - Traffic, Streets and Parking of the Village of Downs Municipal Code
b. Ordinance 2022-__ Approving and Adopting Amendments to Chapter 11 - Building of the Village of Downs Municipal Code
17. A Motion to Approve Payment of Bills was made by Gassaway and seconded by Roach. Approved 6-0 18. A Motion to Enter Executive Session for Litigation contract negotiations was made by Gassaway and seconded by Roach. Approved 5-1 (Keylin)
Discussion
• Keylin wanted to go on record for her dissent vote. She did not want to go into executive session because of the OMA act.
Mayor Mike James called the August 11, 2022, Village of Downs Board of Trustees Special Meeting back to order at 10:31pm.
Roll Call was taken. Trustees present were Maureen Roach, Anna Milliken, Peggy Keylin, Sarah Gassaway, Brian Warfel and Toby Twyford.
A quorum to do business was declared. Also present was Clerk Julie James, Treasurer Julie Bakewell and Village Attorney Dawn Wall.
19. No Action was taken on Executive Session Items.
20. Other Business
• James said we are in the process of selling green dump truck, 1979 red dump truck, 1995 2500 Chevy pickup. Streets dept will get the old police truck.
• We will put out for bids to sell those vehicles.
21. A Motion to Adjourn at 10:34pm was made by Gassaway and seconded by Roach. Approved 6-0
https://media.rainpos.com/1071/Meeting_Minutes_2022_08_11.pdf
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