Sangamon Sun

City of Athens City Council met April 8.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

Mayor Dowell welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 7pm at Athens City Hall. He thanked everyone for coming to the meeting. All stood, and Alderman Nichols led the pledge. Clerk Cindy McFarland called roll. Present were Aldermen: Chris Basso, Larry Buhr, Ron Canterbury, Tom Croft Sr., Tom Herman, and Butch Nichols. Also, in attendance were Linda Wasilewski, Joe Crowe, Gary Richardson, Rex Kieffer, Ryan Seifert, Ryne Crowe, Ellie Stuhmer, Derrick Fritz, Michael Lockwood, and Hayley Yoakum.

The presentation of the 2019-2020 Budget to the council was first on the agenda. The Mayor thanked Sergeant Derrick Fritz, Office Manager Nicole McCormick and all the department heads for diligently working to put the budget together. The Mayor went on to say that after much deliberation and sleepless nights, it was determined that an increase in the water rates was necessary. Alderman Nichols had considered a 5% increase but 3% should cover our shortage since we have cut our spending on our phone plan and chemical usage at the water plant. The Mayor said that our water quality has improved and we are not out of bounds on our spending. However, we are out of bounds on our income. We have not had a water rate increase since 2015 and many other cities have a 3% increase every year. The Mayor said that he is open to any ideas, public opinion, or questions. We will need to have a special meeting, likely the week of April 22, to go over the budget and vote on the water rate increase.

The police and the streets and alleys reports were provided to the council. Motion made by Alderman Buhr, seconded by Alderman Herman, to approve the police, treasurers', water and wastewater, streets and alleys, cemetery, fleet maintenance, and office manager's reports.

Ayes: Basso, Buhr, Canterbury, Croft, Herman, and Nichols. Motion passed.

Motion made by Alderman Canterbury, seconded by Alderman Nichols, to approve the March council meeting minutes and the payment of the March bills. All ayes. Motion passed.

Motion made by Alderman Buhr, seconded by Alderman Herman, to approve the donation of $250 to the Athens Municipal Library's 2019 Summer Reading Program to be paid from the gaming fund. All ayes. Motion passed.

Motion made by Alderman Buhr, seconded by Alderman Basso, to approve the contract proposal from Dixon's for maintenance on the city HVAC systems for $1605 yearly to be paid from the gaming fund. All ayes. Motion passed.

Next was the raffle drawing for the weather radio. A member of the audience drew the name of Rachel Lance as winner.

The Mayor asked the council if they had anything else to discuss or if there were any public comments. There were none and the Mayor asked for a motion to adjourn to a short executive session. Motion made by Alderman Buhr, seconded by Alderman Canterbury to adjourn to executive session at 7:28pm.

The council returned from executive session at 7:41pm. The Mayor asked if there was anything else and Linda Wasilewski said that she had an issue she wanted to present to the council.

Linda said that the Cemetery board would like Tom Croft to continue as a member of the board even though he would no longer be on the city council. The council agreed that Tom should remain on the cemetery board. Next Linda said that she would like the cemetery board members to be paid. Pay was discussed and the council agreed that $20 per meeting paid from the Cemetery fund would be on a future agenda to vote.

Mayor Dowell thanked everyone and asked for a motion to adjourn. Motion made by Alderman Buhr, seconded by Alderman Canterbury, to adjourn at 7:48pm.

https://www.athensil.com/documents/75/April_8_minutes.pdf