McLean County Times

City of Chenoa City Council met June 25.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

The Chenoa City Council met in regular session on June 25, 2024 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. Mayor Shane, Commissioners Pickett, Myers, Lopeman, Hernandez, Attorney Mann and City Clerk Rhoades were in attendance. Treasurer Rowold was absent.

#5686 Commissioners Pickett and Myers moved and seconded the Motion that the Minutes of the Executive Session of June 11, 2024 be approved. That the bills and payrolls be allowed, and orders on the Treasurer be drawn in payment of same. The roll call vote was affirmative.

#5687Commissioners Lopeman and Herndanez moved and seconded the Motion to Approve the Agreement with Panther Grove 2 Regarding Wind Turbines. The roll call vote was Mayor Shane, Commissioners Lopeman and Hernandez affirmative and Commissioners Myers and Pickett negative.

#5688 Commissioners Lopeman and Herndanez moved and seconded the Motion that the council do now adjourn. The roll call vote was affirmative including Commissioner Lopeman.

IN OTHER BUSINESS BEFORE THE COUNCIL:

Discuss and Vote on an Agreement with Panther Grove 2 Regarding Wind Turbines Mayor Shane said they asked to raise the amount per wind tower by $1,000, which they approved. They agreed to add language in that a separate agreement needs to be made if there is anything to develop outside of the current area. Mayor Shane said the wind farm will still happen outside of that area with or without the City. The City would be able to have a small profit if they allow this and does not see why they would not accept the agreement for the money.

Presentation by Cenergy

Mayor Shane said Illinois likes these companies, especially renewable companies, to put money towards improving communities. ESP Solar is anticipating an award of an Illinois Shine grant for a project and would like the City to apply for it as we have an agreement with them currently for a solar farm. ESP Solar plans to donate $180,000 to the City for projects. This grant can be used for parks and pools along with water infrastructure low-income subsidies. He said he would get more details and something for the council for the next meeting.

Discuss and Vote on Contract with Ideal Environmental for Services at 317 Franklin Street Commissioner Lopeman said the City owns this house and garage along the city maintenance shed. They would like to tear it down but was to get an asbestos test done first. It does have asbestos which does need to be abated before they can tear the house down. This agreement would be for helping get the bidding done for the abatement and can also have someone on site to be sure the work is being done by the plan and proticalls. The State has to be notified 10 days prior to demolition. He feels the City does not know enough about asbestos to handle this on their own. He thinks the fines from the State are higher than the cost for this company to do it. Mayor Shane asked how long it would take and how much it would cost for the abatement. Commissioner Lopeman said they would not give a timeframe or the cost yet. There is no asbestos in the garage so they will be keeping that and redoing some of it to make it the salt shed. They plan to look into this a little more and work with them on some of the details.

Chenoa Revitalization Committee Proposing Community Improvements

Nancy Todd asked to come back to this at another time.

Chenoa EDC Proposing a Centralized Committee

Sarah Micheals said Bob Carls from the City of Pontiac, a 40 year retired City Administrator, went to their meeting last week. He explained the importance of Route 66 to the City of Chenoa. Most towns have to have marketing, promotions and public relations to get people coming through. He said in a year and a half they will be coming no matter what, so we need to be prepared. He gave them suggestions on how to continue building on the branding of Route 66. They then went on to discuss a Chenoa Centralized Committee which would be like a think tank. This would just be an opportunity for the community to sit down and share their ideas about collaborations and cohesiveness within the community. This idea came from the Illions Main Street Conferences. She brought this idea a couple years back but which was just not the right time for it and feels now is the right time. Mayor Shane said he thinks this is a good idea and would like to move forward with this.

Discuss Chenoa Park Plan to be Implemented into the Comprehensive Plan Sarah Micheals said she would also like to move forward with the Gant Nancy Todd presented a few weeks ago. This grant would pay for a landscape architect to come in and put a plan together for the entire town. This would create cohesiveness for all of the ideas together. This could also be used in the Comprehensive plan. She spoke with Gwen Crawford who confirmed TIF funding could be used to take the services from this grant and create a master plan. They have been working on this for a couple months and have spoken with Farnsworth who is an Engineering Firm that has a division for this. They do feel the need to move forward with this rather soon so they do not miss any opportunities. The EDC is recommending using the TIF funding to pay for the architect.

Comments from the Floor

Melissa Cooper said the Chenoa Shop-N-Go is now CARE Charities wish stands for Chenoa Antidrug and Alcohol Resistance Event for Kids because that is what they are about. They are asking permission to do the donation buckets on the 6th at the 4-way stop. July 27 they are going to have a carnival for the kids at the park. The council had no issues or concerns with either event. It was brought up that they should be sure that CARE is not going to cause problems and get cease and disease orders as CARE is probably copyrighted.

Tonette with the Finish Line asked permission to allow drinks to be taken out of the bar on July 3. Mayory Shane said she will just need to get a special liquor license. The council had no questions or concerns.

Chief Cornwall said he applied for an IDOT grant for $10,000 to participate in speed enforcement through federal funds through IDOT and he got it. They pay the salary up to $10,000 from July 9 through July 31 for traffic enforcement. He said this is his press release which is required for the grant.

Attorney's Comments

Attorney Mann said he spoke with Zoning regarding the metal siding on buildings. The Zoning Board recommended removing that section of the code but he suggested looking at other communities' zoning code for siding. He said it is up to the council if they want to move forward and strike this from the code or if it should go back to Zoning to discuss options to allow metal siding with restrictions. The council agreed to send this back to the Zoning Board.

Treasurer’s Comments

Absent

Commissioner’s Comments

Commissioner Myers None

Commissioner Pickett None

Commissioner Hernandez None

Commissioner Lopeman put his 4th of July hat on and asked permission to drive around asking for donations. He said they have been working on picking up brush from the storm and hopes to be done by the end of the week. They will be getting ready for the 4th next week and will be short on manpower.

Mayor Shane said they need to plan a town meeting for a discussion regarding the water improvement plan. After discussing with the council they decided to have the meeting Sunday, July 28 at 3:00 pm at the football field. They are going to find out if they can use the school gym in case of rain. They have been making progress on the old Brumm building by putting a new roof on. He went to a conference this past weekend that had some good speakers. One of the topics was speaking with difficult people. He also met someone that is looking for restoration projects in small towns. Spencer Johnasen who is the president of the McLean County Mayors Association is writing a letter to the Prairie Central school board expressing the importance of the school in Chenoa.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

https://www.chenoail.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif6431/f/minutes/6_25_24.pdf