McLean County Times

Village of Heyworth Board of Trustees met May 1.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Location of Meeting: Village Hall-108 S. Buchanan St., Heyworth, IL 61745

Meeting Called To Order by Mayor Zalucha at 6:30pm.

Roll Call: A Quorum of the Village Board was present during the following roll call of Trustees taken by the Village Clerk:

Trustee Lauterberg P   Trustee Strunk P

Trustee Bertrand P       Trustee Mowery P

Trustee Girdler A          Trustee Sheppard A

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE GIVEN BY: Girls from Todd’s Neighborhood

REPORT FROM THE MAYOR:

Mayor Zalucha thanked the girls for their support and being here tonight. Geoff Dodds gave a plaque to the mayor and gave a speech. Mayor Zalucha gave a speech and told the board it has been a privilege to serve the community. Mayor Eric Moore was sworn in and took over the mayor role and thanked everyone for their support.

REPORT FROM CLERK – STACY SHOEMAKER:

Clerk Shoemaker reminded the board to complete their Statement of Economic Interest.

REPORT FROM OFFICE MANAGER-STACY SHOEMAKER:

No report.

REPORT FROM INTERIM CHIEF JONES:

Chief Jones reported to the board that everyone should have the April report.

Reported that he is making sure everyone is getting completely trained.

REPORT FROM CODE COMPLIANCE-DAVE SHAFER:

David Shafer reported there has been some grading work done at Prairie View. No updates on the playground. Additional work has been requested to address some erosion and a manhole that was recently buried. Reported year to date we have issued 28 building permits.

Reported we are targeting May 29th for a ZBA meeting previously discussed code changes.

REPORT FROM PUBLIC WORKS -DAVID SHAFER:

Water:

David Shafer reported receiving EPA approval for our Lead and Copper, the new sample sites will be used for our sampling going forward. We will be sampling schools and daycares at least once every 5 years. Reported needing to make revisions to our routine coliform sampling plan to include upstream and downstream addresses of each sample station.

Sewer:

Reported Pump #1 at the North Lift Station experienced seal failure on Sunday 4/27. We replaced the pump on Monday with spare.

Volunteer Park:

Reported we had a light pole that experienced a failure of the mounting lug.

Reported the splash pad will open soon.

Centennial Park:

Reported we are keeping an eye on the pond at Centennial Park as algae is starting to take off again. Hilton Park:

Reported Mr. Hodel has nearly completed the patching and crack sealing. He has repainted the standards and new nets and cranks are on order.

MFT & Streets:

Reported having a request from a resident for a mid-block streetlight on Newell between Newton and Pease. Reported having a sink hole at Poland and Cleveland. We have not been able to determine what is causing it. Equipment and Staffing:

Reported still interviewing for the open position.

REPORT FROM ENGINEER-DAVID SHAFER:

David Shafer discussed the inquiry from McLean County ETSB about moving the communication tower to the SW corner of Centennial Park. The board had a lot of discussion on the location of the new tower. Discussed that Dan Billington’s former fiancé would like to put a bench in at Volunteer Park in Dan’s memory. Geoff Dodds discussed the trial that will be starting with Heyworth Commercial Park and Rewarts. Discussed dredging the pond at Centennial Park.

Discussed the progress Frontier has been making.

REPORT FROM TREASURER & BUDGET OFFICER-:

None.

REPORT FROM ADMINISTRATOR-GEOFF DODDS:

Geoff Dodds reported it appears the party may no longer be interested in the ice cream shop as we were told that he wanted to either sell or rent his property now.

Reported the Lincoln Avenue Capital group for the Prairie Meadows Senior Living Apartments did file another application for approval to build the 55+ Residential PUD development the board approved in 2024. Reported reaching out to Striegel for a proposal for auditing services since our contract expired this past year. They have sent their proposal.

Reported recently received the proposed Tax Year 2024 Tax Computation report that still reflected the Bonds & Interest amount of $983,448. It makes the village look like they have far more debt than we do. Discussed the FY 26 Budget after the adoption we will go back and look for trends or discrepancies since we then have final numbers for all revenues and expenses.

Reported McLean County officials reached out since the last board meeting to let us know that they are almost ready to move forward with EV stations.

Reported contacting Dr. Taylor with the Heyworth School District and informing her that our intent was to not proceed with an application for the SRTS this year due to the reasons we discussed at the last board meeting. Reported the ZBA hearing will be on May 29th.

Reported all accidents and accident investigations were reviewed at the last Streets & Public Utilities Committee meeting, which was reported at a previous board meeting.

Reported staff have received numerous visits and calls by citizens about energy aggregations. Most of the communications are about clarification.

Geoff Dodds reviewed the action items on the agenda for tonight.

Reported on the items that will be on the next regularly scheduled board meeting agenda.

REPORT FROM ATTORNEY-GEOFF DODDS:

Geoff Dodds discussed the litigation. They will remove the village and IDOT from the suit.

Discussion on the Guardians of the Children’s bike event was great.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

None.

PARKS & INFRASTUCTURE-TRUSTEE MOWERY:

Discussed the bench for the Volunteer Park and the board is ok with it.

ED&P-TRUSTEE SHEPPARD:

Absent.

STREETS & PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE-:

OLD BUSINESS:

None.

ACTION ITEMS:

ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS & MOTIONS: 7.1-7.2

Motion (Bertrand, Strunk) to approve Regular Meeting Minutes for April 3, 2025 & April 17, 2025. All aye. [Motion Carried]

2025-23 (Bertrand, Strunk) Ordinance approving a lease agreement by and between Primient and the Village of Heyworth for a less than one month lease of 114-116 E. Main Street by the Village of Heyworth for the 2025 Hey Days Event. 4-yes. 0-no. [Motion Carried]

New Business:

None

Set schedule of meetings: Village Board Meeting on May 15th.

Informational Topics:

Chief Jones reported the new squad car will be here on Thursday.

ADJOURNMENT: Motion: (Mowery, Bertrand) All aye. [Motion Carried] 7:45pm

https://cms8.revize.com/revize/heyworthil/Minutes/Regular%20Meeting%20Minutes%205.1.25.pdf