McLean County Times

City of Lexington City Council met July 22.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

The regular meeting of the Lexington City Council was called to order at 7:00 P. M. by Mayor Spencer Johansen in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.

Mayor Johansen led the council in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Roll call was taken to find the following physically present: Mayor Johansen, Alderman Mattingly, Alderwoman Wilson, Alderman Stover, Alderman Little, and Alderman Franklin with Alderman Richard absent. Members of the staff and public present were: Ann Leake and Brian Graves with Analytical Brewery.

It was moved by Alderwoman Wilson and seconded by Alderman Mattingly to approve the minutes of the July 8, 2024 regular session meeting. Motion carried unanimously.

It was moved by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderman Franklin to approve the Treasurer’s Report and paying of the bills in the amount of $46,141.14. Motion carried unanimously.

Public Input: Ann Leake requested approval of an 8 foot fence on her property. According to the Zoning Ordinance 6 feet is the limit. She was advised to write a letter to the Zoning Board of Appeals and they will set up a meeting to make a decision on her request.

Brian Graves from Analytical Brewing wanted to tell the council about a project that they wanted to do for opportunities of off premises events to help Lexington become a destination community. The popularity of the events that Lexington offers bring a lot of people to town and they would like to host an off site event in the City Park in order to utilize the new gazebo that has been refurbished. They would like to do a concert with Dan Hubbard or another entertainer such as the one they had this weekend who was amazing. Those types of musicians along with a bag tournament in the evening, he feels will bring a lot of people to town. They will string some lights and bring some alcohol from their brewery to showcase what they sell.

They will get an Illinois Liquor Permit costing $150 for one day which enables them to sell beer off premises. Under that permit the amount of beer to one individual is restricted. They keep track by using a wristband and check IDs thru the wristbands before each sale. They will be the organizers of the event and are not looking for assistance from the city. They will give the city a certificate of insurance. The event will need approval from Mayor Johansen as head of the Liquor Commission.

If this is successful they would like to do this once a month concert in the park. These events are very popular. Normal has something like it and it is very successful.

The question was asked if they sold alcohol at the event in Normal? They were asked to serve wine but they can only serve what they make.

They would bring their event kit and have pours from cans and three beers on draft. This would be a controlled event. They are not looking to turn it into a crazy event.

The question was asked if they are looking to close the street? They are not necessarily wanting to close the street. People can park and walk to the park.

They are looking for families and drinking age. No difference than the events they have in their beer garden. You would need an ID to be able to buy alcohol. They will be serving 12-15 oz. beers.

They are thinking of having a food truck and people can bring food from Kemp’s, Uncle Viat’s and the Shake Shack. They can bring their lawn chairs and enjoy the music. This allows us to promote things within the community. People can come out and see what is happening in Lexington.

The question was asked how many people are we talking about? It is hard to say with Dan Hubbard. He is a big draw. It is not a big city wide event the artist would expect maybe 100 people. Not really large numbers. Dan would bring in more. Other events people are aware of and word would get out.

It was felt that with the size of the park and the number of people coming in a better fit might be the Park District. It has more space and a lot more parking.

The question was asked how late they are planning to run and if the neighbors would enjoy the event?

Mayor Johansen mentioned that a few years ago the Chamber of Commerce had a big band Under the Stars event and all of the neighbors signed off on it. They had a bar set up and served wine. They had a big band set up and the neighbors loved it. The date concerns him. The new park equipment is due to be shipped in mid August. It will be a mess up there until they get it all installed and he is not sure when that will be. He also noted that it will cost the city money to have extra police patrols for that time.

He also did not want to single out the Brewery but the food trucks that were there over the weekend left the garbage bins running over today. We don’t require food trucks to register at city hall but we need to have our guys take care of it. Some of the things to take up with future food trucks is it is not our guys responsibility to clean up after them. We had a lot of that after the Red Carpet.

Brian does not have any problem with emptying the trash out from the trash can in front of the brewery.

Mayor Johansen thinks that when the food trucks come they shouldn’t just bag their garbage up and leave it for them.

Brian remarked that he was out of garbage bags that fit those cans. Mayor Johansen is willing to give him more bags.

The question was asked: what hours was he thinking for the event? He was thinking about music at 6-9 P.M. or 7-9 P.M. They can be flexible and a bag tournament during the day. Their beers run $6-7 apiece.

Brian is not expecting an answer tonight. He just wanted to get a dialog started. These are just ideas. If August doesn’t work, we can do something in September or October. He wants to have a concert series.

Alderwoman Wilson likes the idea and would like to see the businesses stay open maybe 3-9 P.M. Have people walking the streets, people from other small towns coming in and bringing their lawn chairs.

Mayor Johansen is leaning towards September because of the new playground equipment.

Another thought was to close the streets around the park and have three food trucks come in. People could sit in the street rather than walk on the grass. There is parking nearby. Marketing of the event could include where parking is.

Food trucks and music is sort of what we want Lexington to look like. If it is family driven it would go well. We need to address the parking, garbage and talk to the neighbors. They need to stay in the park with their alcohol.

Brian is going to put together something in a little more detail about what the day would look like. They think maybe a day in September would work better than a day in August.

Mayor Johansen will talk with the garbage company to bring some extra totes up and arrange to have them emptied on Monday.

Old Business:

Discussion Review of Ordinance 2024-2: Amending Chapter 23 of the Lexington City Code for the Purpose of Adding a New Article VII Pertaining to the Registration of Vacant and Foreclosed Properties

Mayor Johansen wanted to know if the council wanted to put a committee together to come up with a plan on how to address these properties. We need to decide how we are going to move forward. We need to get a list of addresses so a letter can be mailed to the owners of the properties with a copy of the ordinance telling them they need to register their property with City Hall. When they do this we can ask them what their plans are for the building. We already have an ordinance for property that is in disrepair but we have had zero luck with people telling us what they plan to do with the property. For foreclosures we only have a P. O. Box listed for the owners and no information on the owners. We have property that needs to be cleaned up such as the property next to Chuck Wright’s.

If we don’t have a committee to get them to register we won’t be able to notify them when something needs to be done to their property. We can send them a registered letter telling them it needs to be torn down, cleaned up or something happened to it. Contact may be enough to make them clean it up, force them to get a handle on some of the buildings in town.

If they don’t register their buildings we will need to dig a little further into who owns the property. Maybe checking with Kathy Michael. We are not the only small town with these problems. When a parcel is sold for back taxes there is no information given by the county except a phone number, a name and the parcel that the subdivision is in. When the property at Timber Ridge was trying to be sold to us we had to come up with the address and the PIN numbers.

Something needs to be done with the side of Dennis’s building and Jolly’s building. There have been some bricks falling off of the brewery as well. Something needs to be done with the house behind the brewery also, as it is a health and safety issue. They need to go through the attorney with this issue as it is unsafe and could fall down at any time. We would have the cost of tearing it down but we could put a lien on it.

Mayor Johansen is asking everyone to drive their wards to see what empty houses are in their wards. There are not many. There is one on Vermillion Street, Fred’s house, Jolly’s building and the Oasis owned by Terry Worth.

The question was asked why he did not want to sell that? As Rt. 66 gets more popular the property will get more valuable.

Everyone makes a list and gives it to Nicole and she can look up the PIN numbers. Alderwoman Wilson volunteered to be on a committee to help with this. Look at the ordinance that passed and see how it ties into the building codes. It will give us a handle on it so next spring we are ready to go.

New Business:

Approval of Ordinance 2024-6: Appropriation

Motion was made by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderwoman Wilson to approve Ordinance 2024-6: Appropriation. Motion carried unanimously.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Mayor’s Report: Mayor Johansen reported on the following:

He has had a report of a seven year old driving a golf cart on Main Street. Mayor Johansen had also observed the same person driving the day before going down Spencer Street and into the subdivision. One of the Lexington Officers was sent to talk with the owner of the cart. He feels we need to write up complaint forms when we see something of this nature. Another council member had seen someone driving a cart with a baby in their arms. The golf cart ordinance gives them the authority to pull their permit when violations occur. They have also been seen driving carts down Main Street. It was suggested to get the cart number and write up a complaint.

ATV rules are different from golf carts. You can take your ATV to Casey’s but not your golf cart. ATVs are considered farm exempt.

It was felt that we should start handing out tickets for golf cart violations. Letting a seven year old drive the golf cart is just like letting a seven year old drive your car.

He had a talk with Brian Hoggins and voiced his disapproval that nothing has been done on the hardware store. He assured Mayor Johansen that they would be starting in September and work non stop on it.

The Coffee Hound has a bunch of debris around their property, so they have been gutting the inside of their building. They hope to have the drive thru open by August but may be later than that.

He, Alderman Franklin, Carey Davis and the developer had a meeting today and he is satisfied with the direction the subdivision is going.

The city has been short-handed with Kaden gone to camp and Bill in Florida. He went out last week and helped out on water mains. He feels we need to seriously look at hiring some more help. Judson was an excellent help this summer. They do not have a good pool of people to call on for help.

He is going to clean up the Ollie and Dorothy Myers Trail. He has purchased a walk behind weed eater that he will use to clear out the weeds. When the trail was done in 2004 the city signed an agreement with the Park District giving them full authority for maintenance etc. out there. Then came along the Trail Committee. The city took over mowing, the Park District has nothing to do with it any more and we do not have the manpower to keep up with it. The Trail Committee meets once in a while and comes up with stuff for the city to do. He is going to weedeat it and clean it up, then meet with the Park District. The contract says they are to maintain it. If they want out of the contract that is fine. Chris Sweet with the age of their people, they cannot do some of the things any more. With the expansion and connection of the trail between Towanda and Lexington it will become too much work. We will need to see about hiring someone.

We also need to put in next year's budget money for Memory Lane Billboards. They need to be redone. He walks out there and they are all overgrown. This fall they will cut everything back. He wants to look at some billboards and Burma Shave Signs. In 2026 they will get a lot of attention and ours have fallen into disrepair. He doesn't know the cost to repair a billboard but we need to show some interest on our part and clean them up.

Police: None

Building/Insurance Alderman Franklin reported that Dan Leake is almost finished with the dry storage building.

Mayor Johansen has asked Alderman Franklin to get a copy of what each employee was paying for health insurance.

Finance /TIF Alderman Stover is finished with the appropriation.

Public Works None

There being no further business, a motion was made by Alderman Franklin to adjourn at 8:08 P.M. Motion carried by unanimous voice vote.

https://www.lexingtonil.gov/city-agenda-minutes