McLean County Times

City of Lexington City Council met Aug. 28.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

I. Call to Order

Meeting called to order by Mayor Johansen at 7:00 pm.

II. Pledge of Allegiance

Mayor Johansen led the attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.

III. Roll Call

Council Members Present: Mayor Johansen, Clerk Roberds, Alderman Stover, Alderman Wilson, Alderman Mattingly, Alderwoman Shubert, Alderman Richard, Alderman Franklin.

Members of the public present: Peg Reynolds, Dave Prochnow, Chief Tim Edmiaston

IV. Consideration/Vote to approve the minutes of the July 14th, 2025 regular city council meeting.

Motion to approve made by Alderwoman Wilson. Seconded by Alderwoman Shubert. Motion passed unanimously.

V. Consideration/Vote to approve the paying of bills/Treasurer’s Report. Motion to approved paying of bills in the amount of $19,119.73 made by Alderman Stover. Seconded by Alderman Franklin. Motion passed unanimously.

VI. Public Input:

Dave Prochnow asked: Can you hunt within the city limits of Lexington? Code says nothing about it. People are bow hunting on Davis land all around him. He confronted them and was told there isn’t any ordinance saying they can’t. Can we look into that and possibly change the code? Seems once you are annexed in, you should have to start playing by the rules. He mentioned he had brought it up once before but nothing was done. He is not annexed into Lexington township, but he has city of Lexington property on 3 sides of him. Bow season doesn’t start till Sept 1. Alderwoman Wilson looked at current code. It states it’s illegal to discharge a firearm in city limits. But nothing about bow hunting. Dave said as the town grows, we need to do something to protect what we have and set standards now before we continue to grow. Spencer agreed this needs to be addressed and we will look into it.

VII. Old Business:

None.

VIII. New Business:

A. Discuss/Vote: Agreement to Repair & Remediate Hilltop Mobile Home Park History – 2012 when everyone was required to hook up to sewer, city gave the owner of the trailer park 10 years to hook up. In 2023 the city sent them a letter saying they had 60 days to comply. They have not. Chief Edmiaston, Officer Blair, and Mayor Johansen met with the owner of the trailer park. Owner said if he doesn’t have to hook up to sewer, he will make other repairs needed. One concern is it’s now listed for sale. Listed for sale last week for 1.6 million. It’s not worded in the draft of the agreement that it only applies to the current owner. Licensing – to his knowledge, no one has ever filled out a licensing agreement. Attorney says it’s not required. If we don’t approve the agreement and try to force him to hook up to the sewer, it would probably end up in court. Health department does 2 inspections a year. Septic system is fine. Question is piping from the trailers to the septic system. State inspected in January 2024. Several fines were imposed. Have issued some ordinance violations. Some of the trailers need some repairs and those aren’t getting done. The main issue is safety. People need to have a safe trailer to live in. We have an ordinance that regulates trailer parks. There are 14 vacant trailers. The majority of those are not inhabitable. Questions: Should we allow him to continue with septic in exchange for the owner making the repairs? By signing that agreement, are opening ourselves up to have to hound him to make the repairs for 5 years? If we give them 5 year extension on sewer, should we add that if the trailer park is sold, the agreement is null and void? County isn’t going to make them hook up to sewer. May be easier for us to make sure sewer hookup gets done than monitoring whether the repairs are getting done. It’s already been sold since the original 10 year agreement was put in place. So is that agreement already broken? People who live there have complaints but are afraid to come forward. Before next meeting, everyone review the agreement and let Spencer know your recommended changes. Motion to table until next meeting made by Alderman Franklin, Seconded by Alderman Richard. Motion passed unanimously.

B. Discuss/Vote: Approve Mobile Home Park Application, Hilltop Mobile Home Park

Motion to table till next meeting made by Alderman Franklin. Seconded by Alderman Richard. Motion passed unanimously.

C. Discuss/Vote: Ordinance No. 2025-6 Appropriations

Motion to approve Ordinance made by Alderman Stover. Seconded by Alderman Franklin. Motion passed unanimously.

IX. Committee Reports

A. Mayor’s Report Johansen

Band in city park last Friday was very good. Retailers said they had the best sales in a long time.

Talking to 2 retailers to possibly come here.

Subdivision Update – Corn Belt has started out there. Half is Ameren. Half is Corn Belt. Trying to get both together and come to a solution. May start digging foundations soon. Starting the addressing process.

Bills – Some are getting miscoded. Asked Cati to wait and do that on Monday and have all the guys sign off on the bills and code them by end of day Friday. John will follow up on the audit date.

B. Police Richard

Nothing

C. Building/Insurance Wilson

Lisa will get everyone a hard copy of the updated employee manual for review. D. Finance/TIF Stover

Nothing

E. Public Works Richard

Have to get everyone together to see where we are on the discharge project. Spencer wants to know how much cast pipe we have so we can estimate replacement costs.

X. Adjourn

Motion to adjourn made by Alderman Mattingly. Seconded by Alderwoman Shubert. Meeting adjourned at 8:51

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6434800fb878b80609076ac4/t/689f4263156cbd2b0c14ca42/1755267683300/Minutes+July+28%2C+2025.pdf