McLean County Times

City of Lexington City Council met May 27.

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 Spencer Johansen led the council in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Roll call was taken to find the following physically present: Mayor Johansen, Clerk Roberds, Alderman Richard, Alderman Franklin, Alderman Stover, Alderman Mattingly, Alderwoman Shubert, Alderwoman Wilson.

Members of public present: Peg Reynolds, Patty May, Pati Pease.

I. Consideration/Vote to approve the minutes of the May 12, 2025 regular and closed session meetings.

Motion made by Alderman Mattingly to approve. Seconded by Alderwoman Wilson. Open meeting notes approved unanimously. Did not vote on May 12, 2025 closed session notes as Clerk Roberds neglected to provide printed copies of the closed notes for review. Will vote on those notes at the next meeting.

II. Consideration/Vote to approve the paying of bills/Treasurer’s Report in the amount of $ 65,132.13.

Motion to approve made by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderman Franklin. Approved via unanimous vote.

III. Consideration/Vote to approve Mayor Pro Tem.

Spencer recommended John Franklin continue as Mayor Pro Tem unless John is opposed to it. He was not. Motion to approve John Franklin as Mayor Pro Tem made by Alderman Richard and seconded by Alderman Mattingly . Approved with 5 yes votes and Alderman Franklin responding “here”.

IV. Public Input: None

V. Old Business: None

VI. New Business:

A. Swearing in of Gina Roberds as City Clerk

Pati Pease swore in Gina Roberds as new City Clerk.

B. Appointment of Pati Pease as Deputy Clark

Mayor Johansen appointed Pati Pease as Deputy Clerk and thanked her for all her years of service as City Clerk.

C. Discussion only-Belcot Reserve Project

In order to move forward, Wirtz Way would need to be extended to allow for development. Need to continue Class 3 truck route to accommodate any businesses that may want to build back there. Map provided by COII was not exact. The property they are talking about is farther north, north of Wirtz. With TIF expiring soon, need to look into this soon. What’s the timeframe look like? Would need something built soon to get any TIF money back. The longer we wait, the less likely to get much back. City offer: Extend Wirtz Way. That could help draw businesses in. Would need to extend an additional 650 ft to accommodate the proposed housing development. We need the road extension regardless but would like to see them (COII) do something, i.e. purchase the land. Alderwoman Wilson asked if there are concerns with one road in and one road out? Others said that’s not uncommon in subdivisions and stated Timer Ridge as an example. Spencer will try to get some better prices for extending the road. City can put the water lines in, but when it comes to sewer, we don’t have the manpower to do that. Don’t want to be overly cautious but want to be prepared by having the road there if a business comes in and wants to build. We don’t want to wait till a business or development comes wanting to build and we have to tell them they have to wait because we don’t have the road. Need to be ready for housing growth here.

VII. Committee Reports

A. Mayor’s Report Johansen

Fri afternoon the city server was down. City Hall closed early since we had no phones or internet. Do we need a back up service for situations like this? Police have AT&T SIM cards in their squad cars that don’t rely on internet provider. So they were able to conduct business as usual. We need to think about some kind of plan if we’re out for more than a day. Hotspot maybe?

Mayor mentioned Police went to the school Tuesday and gave a presentation on bicycle and scooter safety. They did a very good job. Have seen a reduction of scooters on streets. Alderwoman Wilson commented she has received positive feedback from the public about the presentation.

Mayors meeting coming up next Monday. One item for discussion is connect Transit to rural towns. More to come on that after Monday’s meeting.

B. Police Richard

Mike, Judd, Chief will finalize budget plans soon.

C. Building/Insurance Wilson Nothing

D. Finance/TIF Stover

TIF requests to review in next meeting. Judd will have info ready for review by June 4th.

E. Public Works Richard

Held meeting with employees for evaluations. Mike spending time with Kaden and Billy to become more familiar with water and sewer. May need to make some changes on the software end to make things work more efficiently. Not set up quite like we thought it was supposed to be when it was first built. Have a few immediate changes to make in sewer. Finding out what’s critical and what can wait. Don’t have permit for discharge from the EPA yet. May need to go a little different way than the first engineer indicated.

VIII. Adjourn

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