MINUTES
City Council Meeting
City of Carmi
April 7, 2014
The Carmi City Council met Monday, April 7, 2014 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 March 17, 2014 Council meeting were presented. A motion was made by Alderman Lamont and seconded by Alderman Carter to approve the minutes as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard presented for Council consideration and approval Special Use Mobile Home Permit No. MH.14.01 requested by Michael and Heather Thomason for a 2013 mobile home at 1105 Stewart Street. A motion was made by Alderman Headlee and seconded by Alderman Lamont to approve the Special Use Mobile Home Permit No. MH.14.01 as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard presented for Council consideration and approval Illinois Department of Transportation Resolution for Maintenance of Streets and Highways by Municipality under Illinois Highway Code to appropriate seventy thousand ($70,000.00) of Motor Fuel Tax funds for the purpose of maintaining streets and highways. Mayor Pollard explained the funds were to repair and cleanup the ditches beside Dairy Queen to Dr. Roser’s dental practice. A motion was made by Alderman Knight and seconded by Alderman Winkleman to approve the Resolution as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard asked Police Chairman Alderman Hays to present for Council approval the retirement of Sergeant Tim Whitaker from the Carmi Police Department effective April 4, 2014. Alderman Hays read the letter of retirement to all present and noted Sgt. Whitaker had been an outstanding policeman for 24 years with the Carmi Police Department. Alderman Hays also noted that Sgt. Whitaker had worked nights and weekends for several of those 24 years of service and was ready to work a day shift job. A motion was made by Alderman Hays and seconded by Alderman Headlee to approve Sergeant Whitaker’s retirement as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard again asked Police Chairman Alderman Hays to present for Council consideration and approval the Police Department Committee to approve the Police Commission to promote two (2) officers to the rank of Sergeant. Alderman Hays explained the following; due to the retirement of Sgt. Whitaker and the promotion of Sgt. Carter to Chief of Police in June it was necessary to promote two officers to the rank of Sgt. in the police force. The need for two sergeants on the police force allows a Sgt. to be on duty at all times during a 24-hour period. A motion was made by Alderman Hays and seconded by Alderman Blake to approve the promotion of two (2) police officers to the rank of Sergeant as presented. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.”
Mayor Pollard presented Deputy Chief Jason Carter to update the Council on the results and success of Officer David Beam and Officer David Agee at police academy training. Both police officers graduated from police academy on Friday, April 4. Officer Beam graduated number one (1) and Officer Agee graduated number two (2) academically out of twenty (20) officers in their class. Officer Agee received the defensive tactics award, the top gun shooting award and the Southern Illinois Police Chiefs outstanding officer award. Deputy Chief Carter noted that the city of Carmi police force swept the podium at the awards ceremony at the Police Academy.
Mayor Pollard presented for Council discussion and approval of contractor bids for mowing and maintenance of city property. Mayor Pollard explained the following; a list of property with maps for mowing was made available to mowing contractors in the area. When they picked up the bid list they were instructed to give an itemized cost for each piece of property to be mowed, some properties are to be mowed once per week, every other week or on an as needed basis. Mayor Pollard after receiving the contractor bids itemized each one to weigh out if it were feasible to contract the mowing or higher to part-time employees to mow. If two part-time employees were hired it would cost the city approximately two thousand two hundred dollars ($2,200) per month just for mowing and looking at the bids turned in it would be cheaper to contract the mowing out. Mayor Pollard also noted that along with hiring two part-time employees the city would be out the cost of the gas and wear on the cities mowing equipment. Alderman Knight commented that the city spent approximately ten thousand dollars ($10,000) last year for repairs on mowing equipment. Alderman Headlee questioned if all contractors met specifications of the bid. Mayor Pollard answered that one of the contractors if they were to be approved the contract they would be getting insurance, some on the list do not have insurance at all and some on the list currently do have insurance. Alderman Davis questioned if the city would have to hire more help to mow the additional properties that were not on the bid list. Mayor Pollard answered there could possibly ten (10) properties not on the list; out of the ten (10) properties some are under foreclosure and those properties are sent a bill to try and get reimbursed for. Alderman Knight noted that that in the AFSCME contract it states that a manager must oversee a part-time employee which would increase the city’s cost as well. Alderman Hays questioned if the city had a contract written up yet. Mayor Pollard replied “No” he hasn’t gotten to the point of working out terms of the agreement. Alderman Lamont questioned if any other city property were to be obtained who would provide the mowing, city or contractors. Mayor Pollard replied that very few properties will be added if there was more city property such as foreclosures the city will mow the property and try to collect payment from the property owner. Alderman Lamont questioned if the city could legally turn off the utilities of a foreclosed property that had been processed through the court system to get the banks attention for repayment of the mowing services. Mayor Pollard replied that he would need to check on that. Alderman Headlee also noted that when a property is foreclosed on and the city is owed money from that property the lien for a municipality is there until the municipality is paid back. Alderman Hays questioned if the bid list would be divided up to multiple contractors or would one contractor be awarded all the properties. Mayor Pollard answered one contractor would be awarded all properties and that way there’s only one contractor responsible for the work. Alderman Winkleman questioned who the contractors were and that he only recognized two of the contractors. Mayor Pollard answered they were Pat Owen of Carmi, Darren Lingafelter from Crossville, Laramie Immel from Carmi, Larrin Keck from Carmi, Allen Excavating and Mowing Services from Crossville and Joe Zieren of Carmi. Alderman Winkleman noted that since they had just received all of the information it would be premature to make a decision at this time and he suggested the mowing be tabled until the next meeting. A motion was made by Alderman Winkleman and seconded by Alderman Carter to “table” the decision to approve a contractor for mowing and maintenance until the next council meeting. The motion to “table” carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.” Report and/or Updates from Mayor Pollard
- Mayor Pollard thanked the city crews for all the work they have completed on all the projects that have been started this spring and that Jordan Rowe of WROY/WRUL did a great job on their website displaying pictures of all the projects being worked on.
- Mayor Pollard announced that Sandra was still gathering information for the grant to repair and update the tennis courts at Bradshaw Park.
- Mayor Pollard gave notice that there would be an electronic recycling day on April 26th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. (noon) at the old Newton Wire and Cable building located on Third Street.
- Mayor Pollard notified Council members to be considering the following; the removal of No Parking signs on Fifth Street. The Mayor’s suggestion was to leave one of the No Parking signs that were in place after crossing the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks and removing the remaining two No Parking signs from the residential area to Sycamore Street. Mayor Pollard suggested for the Council to look at doing a percentage readjustment for water bills when a customer has a water leak instead of splitting the cost in half.
- Mayor Pollard read a press release to all in attendance. “See Appendix A.” Notes on the press release:
- The City of Carmi has been given possession of the Movie Theater with the default on the revolving loan by Michael J. Fox.
- The City of Carmi has approximately $35,000.00 invested in theater as to date.
- Movie Theater has had a couple of previous owners and they had a hard time staying in business, due to overhead and lack of community support.
- Mayor Pollard has made numerous attempts to find a buyer to re-open the theater.
- Mayor Pollard along with the Council members would like to retain ownership of the theater and allow it to be used for community events.
- Mayor Pollard will be asking the community to get involved in the refurbishing of the theater and return it to a stage theater.
- Mayor Pollard has been on the planning committee for Carmi’s bicentennial which will be in 2016 and would like to make the theater a memorial for the bicentennial and naming it “Carmi Bicentennial Theater.”
- Mayor Pollard noted that the City would be doing a time capsule for the bicentennial and the theater would be the ideal spot
Reports from Standing Committees
- Alderman Knight noted that the storm last week had caused a great deal of limbs to fall at Burrell Woods and the city crews are in the process of cleaning it up. The city crews are also repairing restrooms that were recently vandalized. The new playground equipment at Burrell Woods campground has been on hold as of late, due to the weather the area has been receiving.
- Alderman Hays thanked Sergeant Whitaker for his years of service to the Carmi Police Department and would be greatly missed. Alderman Hays congratulated Officer Beam and Officer Agee for their outstanding performance at Police Academy. Deputy Chief Carter updated Mayor and Council that the two new squad pickups had been received and he was coordinating with the City Mechanic Doug Smith to have all of the equipment installed.
- Alderman Headlee noted that there were storm drains at Smith Street, Seventh Street and Eighth Street that needed to be cleaned and during the storm had caused some flooding, due to being clogged. Alderman Headlee questioned if the City could oil and chip the alleys instead of graveling them that after a storm the gravel is being washed away and is a waste of taxpayer’s dollars.
Mayor Pollard noted that the Motor Fuel Tax project at Sunnybrook ditch last year has been damaged during the storm and an engineer will be here next week to assess the damage and come up with a new plan to correct the problem in the future.
Deputy Chief Carter advised Mayor and Council that the squealing over the radios has been fixed by installing some additional hardware on the antennae and they had been granted a new frequency to use. Business or Comments from Visitor None Motion made by Alderman Winkleman and seconded by Alderman Blake to adjourn. The motion carried on roll call by each alderman answering “yes.” At 6:12 p.m. council adjourned.
Brian K. Allen, City Clerk Jeff Pollard, Mayor
