MINUTES
City Council Meeting
City of Carmi
November 4, 2013
The Carmi City Council met Monday, November 4, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Room of the Municipal Building, 225 East Main Street, Carmi, Illinois.
Prior to opening the council meeting, Mayor Pollard asked Alderman Steve Winkleman to give the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Mayor Pollard presided with the following aldermen present: Steve Winkleman, Mark W. Blake, Keith Davis, Kenny Carter, Mike Knight, Doug Hays, Jack Lamont and Sheila Jo Headlee.
Minutes for the October 21, 2013 council meeting were presented. A motion was made by Alderman Hays and seconded by Alderman Headlee to approve the minutes as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard introduced Ordinance No. 1471, an ordinance regulating traffic flow on the days that the public schools are in session within the City of Carmi, and rescinding ordinance number’s 882 and 883. Mayor Pollard explained that after the discussion at last month’s meeting about seventh street becoming a one-way, Clerk Brian Allen pulled all the ordinances that were one-way streets at public schools and it was decided that the old ordinances needed to be updated to match the new ordinance for seventh street. Mayor Pollard then explained that he had received a phone call pertaining to the times of the one-way streets; the teachers at Pre-K felt that more time was needed than the times that were discussed in the previous meeting, due to the teachers arriving early and staying after school hours. The new Ordinance No. 1471 would set times for one-way streets in public school zones from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and set fines for violating the ordinance not less than $50.00 nor more than $100.00 for each offense. Alderman Knight questioned how many times would the new ordinance run in the newspaper. Clerk Allen and Chief of Police Randy Hamblin responded that it would run one (1) time in the legal section and the public would be allowed a thirty (30) day grace period before fines would be imposed. Mayor Pollard suggested running a second notice on the front page of the newspaper advising the public of the new ordinance. Alderman Headlee inquired how long it would be before the new signs were to be put up. Mayor Pollard responded that the signs would be put up in the next thirty (30) days. A motion by Alderman Knight and seconded by Alderman Hays to approve Ordinance No. 1471 as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
City of Carmi Chief of Police Randy Hamblin advised the Mayor and Council of his intent to retire. Chief Hamblin addressed the Mayor and Council with the following words:
I would like to officially advise you of my intent to retire from my position as Chief of the Carmi Police Department. After careful consideration, and due to personal issues, my last date of employment is to be June 6, 2014. It has been my honor to serve this community as the Chief of Police and my privilege to supervise my fellow Officers. I will continue to perform my duties and I will do all I can to train my successor. It is my intention to work toward making this transition as smooth as possible for the City, and the Police Department.
A motion by Alderman Hays and seconded by Alderman Blake to accept Chief of Police Randy Hamblin’s intent to retire as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard asked Council for authorization for the Police Commission to hire full time personnel. Alderman Hays explained that the city has been utilizing part time Police Officers, and needed to hire a Police Officer to replace Officer Sawyer Nichols. It would be in the best interest of the city and Police Department to hire two (2) full time Police Officers at the same time. The two (2) new Police Officers could attend Police Academy together in January 2014 and be completed in April 2014, share expenses incurred for the academy, which would save the city money and be less burdensome on the department while Chief Hamblin is training his successor as Chief. Alderman Headlee explained the need to hire two (2) additional Officers; if the next Chief of Police is promoted from within the department that Officer will have to come out of rotation and on to the day shift to be trained and there still needs to be an Officer hired to replace Officer Nichols, that would be leaving the department with two Officers short for rotation and considering vacation time being used in the summer months. Chief Hamblin agreed that the new Officers would be trained prior to his retirement and would leave the next Chief of Police in a “good” situation. Alderman Lamont inquired who the two (2) new Officers were to be considered by the Police Commission. Alderman Headlee responded they were David Beam and David Agee and were currently part time Officers for the department. Alderman Lamont questioned; since they were already part time Officers would they still be under a probationary period. Alderman Hays responded that “yes” they would be for one (1) year from the date of being hired as full time Officers. Alderman Winkleman commented that using the part time officers seemed to be working out, so why would we not consider continuing to use them as part time. Alderman Headlee answered that you have to hire a part time Officer within a six (6) month time period to full time status or the city would lose any reimbursement from the state. Chief Hamblin agreed and commented that both of the part time Officers have already turned down job offers from other Police Departments and that if council kept them at part time they would probably lose them as candidates to those other Police Departments. Alderman Hays agreed and noted that the city ordinance states that the Police department is to have nine (9) full time Police Officers. Alderman Davis questioned if they were to hire the Two (2) new Officers would there be a need to have additional part time Officers. Alderman Hays commented that it would still be beneficial at times to have part time Officers and the Police Commission eligibility list expires in July 2014 and there would need to be a re-test for more candidates. Braden Willis of the Police Commission noted that both candidates were very competent and doing a great job. Chief Hamblin noted that the city has already purchased their equipment for them as part time Officers and that traditionally the months they would be in Police Academy are the Police Departments slower months. A motion by Alderman Hays and seconded by Alderman Headlee to approve the Police Commission to hire two (2) full time Police Officers as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard asked Council to review and approve a revolving loan application for Amber Giagnoni of Joyful Start Children’s Center LLC. WEDG Director Sandra Irvine presented the following information about the loan to the Council:
- Loan application for $60,000 from the revolving loan fund.
- Business name change from Red Caboose Daycare to Joyful Start Children’s Center, LLC.
- $10,000 of the loan will be used for working capital.
- $50,000 of the loan to be used for building improvements and upgrades.
- A portion of the $50,000 will be used as a down payment to purchase the building and property from Rod Matsel Properties in January 2014 with additional loan assistance from People’s Bank.
- The loan to Maranda Seibers to purchase the Red Caboose Daycare from the revolving loan fund will be paid off with the loan to Amber Giagnoni.
Alderman Davis questioned what equipment and upgrades Mrs. Giagnoni would be doing with the loan. Mrs. Giagnoni replied that a portion of the loan would go to the down payment to purchase the property; she would be updating the playground equipment, due to the age of the building she would be updating the flooring and interior. Alderman Winkleman questioned if the former loan to Maranda Seibers of the Red Caboose Daycare would be paid off with this loan. WEDG Director Irvine responded that since Mrs. Giagnoni was purchasing the actual daycare business from Mrs. Seibers with the loan, that Mrs. Seibers would be able to pay her loan back to the revolving loan fund. Mrs. Giagnoni gave the following information to the Council:
- She has a background in Child Care as a Director.
- She started as part time at Red Caboose Daycare and was asked to take over as Director.
- She implemented the name change from Red Caboose to Joyful Start Children’s Center, LLC.
- Joyful Start Children’s center is a Christian based child care program.
- Joyful Start is licensed for seventy (70) children
- Has brought enrollment from thirty-nine (39) children to seventy-three (63) children since her involvement.
- There currently is a waiting list of forty (40) children to be enrolled.
A motion by Alderman Winkleman and seconded by Alderman Carter to approve the loan to Mrs. Amber Giagnoni from the revolving loan fund as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Report and/or Updates from Mayor Pollard
- City crews were still cleaning out ditches and repairing sidewalks.
- The Christmas decorations will be put up throughout the city in the next few weeks.
- Preparation is being made to the grounds at Burrell Woods Park for the installation of the new playground equipment.
- The electronic recycling day in October was a success and he would like to see it continue on a rotation every six (6) months.
- Mayor Pollard notified the Council that when he took office as Mayor he would not blame the past administration, but nor would he take the blame for something that he had no control over. As an alderman, he and four other aldermen were opposed to buying the generator from Mascoutah and recently received bills for the bond project at the light plant that should have been paid out of the electric bond account. Currently there is not enough money left in the electric bond account to cover these bills, so in the next few meetings he will be presenting the bills to be paid. The former mayor evidently did not allow for all these expenses on all the various projects. When he took office there was $30,000 left in the electric bond account. The bills recently received for the light plant total $379,000. Mayor Pollard assured the Council that the money was available to pay the bills from the light plant, but he was saddened that money would be taken from other projects that were being planned and it would throw the budget out of balance.
Alderman Headlee questioned; the bond money projects were allotted a budget and that money for those projects was spent on other projects. Mayor Pollard responded that there were a couple of additional projects paid out of the bond money and he is not insinuating that the money was spent inappropriately for the guidelines of the bond, it was just spent on other projects within the guidelines of the bond and not on what it was budgeted for. There were several bills from Fairbanks Morse combined in the generator for the light plant, which included the generator, shipping, rebuilding of the light plant floor and converters. Alderman Lamont questioned how the generator was performing. Alderman Davis noted that it was performing “fine.”
Reports from Standing Committees
Alderman Knight acknowledged that the electronic recycling day was a success and he would also like to see it be put on a rotating schedule every six (6) months.
Alderman Hays thanked Chief Randy Hamblin for his twenty-nine years of service to the community of Carmi and said it had been a pleasure to work with him or the past four (4) years.
Business or Comments from Visitor
None
Motion by Alderman Headlee and seconded by Alderman Carter to go into closed session for the purpose of discussing personnel and property issues with no action to follow. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
At 6:02 p.m. council went into closed session.
Motion Made by Alderman Winkleman and seconded by Alderman Blake to return to open session and adjourn. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
At 7:33 p.m. council adjourned.
Brian K. Allen, City Clerk
Jeff Pollard, Mayor