Sangamon Sun

Village of Pawnee Board of Trustees met Aug. 12.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

Call to Order:

President Clarke called the meeting to order to 7:00pm.

Roll Call:

Village Clerk, Devona Martin called roll 

Trustees in attendance: Todd Richeson, Cara Burnley, Patrick Murphy, David Skinner, Troy Squires 

Trustees Absent: Phillip Thompson 

Also in attendance: Attorney Don Cravens, Treasurer Kelly Thein, Candy Kramer with the Pawnee Post, Chief Jan Bowsher, Gary Eby, State Representative Mike Murphy, Jeff Jarrett, Jason Martin with Village of Divernon, Chris Pearson, Kim Jackson, Sharon Leskovisek, Ruth Bernardi, Chad Leskovisek, Amy Cook

Visitor's Recognition/Comments:

President Clarke thanked State Representative Mike Murphy for the shred event this past Saturday. State Representative also advised he will have an event on September 14, 2019 from 11am - 12:30pm at the Library where anyone can ask questions. 

State Representative Mike Murphy presented the Village of Pawnee with a certificate of recognition for being the safest town in Illinois and one of the safest towns in the country. President Clarke and Chief Bowsher accepted the certificate. 

Discussed Reese Langheim property. Attorney Cravens advised that an IEPA permit is needed to dump concrete because it was a quarry site. Reese Langheim does not have a permit. No one has heard from him. Our attorney will set a hearing. The residents asked where we are at now. Attorney Cravens advised that court is the next step. The residents advised the Board that the weeds are approximately 6' tall. The grass isn't terrible. Attorney Cravens advised we will seek an injunction to mow the property and to clean it up. He will also need to obtain a permit before he dumps any more. The Village charges $250 for the initial clean up and then $100/hr per person from there on out. Chief Bowsher will call him and ask him if he's going to mow it. We don't want to put a lien on it because then we would subsequently own it. The Village does not want to own the property. Our ordinances do allow for clean fill. Chris Pierson asked if the only ordinance he has broken is not mowing the grass. A prior board allowed him to dump there. Candy Kramer advised that he was told at the time, no type of building could ever be built on there. President Clarke advised that this really is a civil matter. This is between the residents and Reese Langheim. All we can do is address the weeds. We cannot do anything with the mosquitoes. Chief Bowsher will talk to him about the weeds and if it doesn't get done, the Village will do it and bill him. Our injunction was filed 2 months ago. Attorney Cravens will call tomorrow. Attorney Cravens advised that if the neighbors want to hire their own attorney and file suit against Reese Langheim, they can do that. Chief Bowsher advised that this is a civil matter and not a criminal matter. They will need to sue Reese themselves.

Jason Martin appeared before the Board. He is working on setting up an ordinance court. Leland Grove has been doing ordinance court for several years. He is now trying to implement this in Divernon. Ordinance violations include such things as tinted windows and loud mufflers. They write an ordinance violation instead of a state violation. He has talked to Auburn and they are interested. There will be a meeting set up with attorney Sorling Northrup to discuss the specifics on how ordinance court would work and logistics. He advised this is just in the beginning stages and would like to see if Pawnee would be interested. It would cut down on expenses if the local municipalities come together and have 1 ordinance court. He advised that if someone doesn't mow their yard, idrop is used like a collection agency and it comes out of their taxes at the end of the year. They take a % out but he isn't sure of the amount. President Clarke advised We currently use idrop. As a whole, we would have same violation codes. In Leland Grove, they have several hearing officials. Again, this is just in the. beginning stages. If you don't have the volume, you are still incurring the fees. You would have to have enough ordinance violations in order to recoup the monies. He will let the board know when a date/time is set for the meeting. 

Nat Seize with appeared before the Board to discuss the Lions Club Country Fair. It is set for September 21, 2019 from 11:30am - 5pm. He just wanted to make sure they can utilize the square from 7am - 8pm. Last year, we gave monetary donation of $200. Consensus was we will go ahead and donate another $200.00. He advised they would also like to do movie night at North Park on September 13th and October 11th. Consensus was to allow.

Clerk's Report:

Minutes of July 22, 2019 were presented for review and approval Motion made by Trustee Skinner to approve the minutes of July 22, 2019 as presented 

Second made by Trustee Richeson 

Roll Call Vote Taken: Richeson-yes, Burnley-present, Murphy-yes, Skinner-yes, Squires-yes 

Motion Carried: (5-0) 

Personnel & Finance Committee Report: Committee Chair, Trustee Skinner

Trustee Skinner advised that at the last meeting, we approved the bills to be paid with no amount. The amount was $54,118.74. Trustee Skinner advised that for this past 10 days, the total is $47,372.87

Motion made by Trustee Skinner to approve the bills payable in the amount of $47,372.87 

Second made by Trustee Squires 

Roll Call Vote Taken: Richeson-yes, Burnley-yes, Murphy-yes, Skinner-yes, Squires-yes

Motion Carried: (5-0) 

Gas and Water Committee Report: Committee Chair, Trustee Squires

Trustee Squires advised for the month of July, there were 7 shut offs and all are back on.

Trustee Squires advised that Andy has sent letters to everyone on Washington Street for the upcoming project. They are hoping to start the end of September. 

Gary Eby discussed the metal dumpster out at the plant. When they leave the gates open, people come in and dump. Consensus was that Gary will call Allied to see if they can dump it and in lue of charging, they can keep the dumpster.

Streets, Alley and Sidewalk Committee Report: Committee Chair, Trustee Murphy

Trustee Murphy advised that there are delays from the State of Illinois on the oil and chip. We were going to do 13th street in conjunction with that. He is suggesting that since we already have the money and it is in terrible shape, we should move forward with that. We have a conditional offer from Dune Company, that they could start the end of September. Then we do the other oil and chip, once those bids come in. President Clarke and Treasurer Thein have an appointment with Motor Fuel at 8am on August 21. Treasurer Thein was audited about 3 times last year. They are having a meeting to sit down to determine why she keeps getting audited. President Clarke advised that he spoke with other towns, and he thinks we should take the motor fuel every year and put the monies towards the salary of our street department. They are going to ask about it at the meeting. Then when we get to the oil and chip, we get our own bids and have it done. Treasurer Thein gets audited by both calendar year and fiscal year.

Police Committee Report: Committee Chair, President Clarke

Tabled

Sewers and Parks: Committee Chair, Trustee Thompson

Gary Eby advised there is one more pump they are waiting on. It is the $20,000 pump. He also advised we have ordered the handicap swing and it takes about 6-8wks to get in.

Zoning Committee Report: Committee Chair, Trustee Burnley

None

Bargaining Committee: Committee Chair, President Clarke

Energy: Committee Chair, Trustee Burnley

Infrastructure: Committee Chair, Trustee Richeson

Trustee Richeson discussed the camera bid. This would be outside the building pointing at the drop box for those that say they paid their bill and are not. He has found a camera that actually comes with 2 cameras. It will record continuously for $350. Labor is per hour at $80/hour. It should take about 2 hours for setup and training. They are a 1TB. It would take approximately 1.5 mos to loop over itself. He thought 1 camera at the end of the hall and the other camera outside pointed at the drop box. 

Motion made by Trustee Murphy to approve the cameras not to exceed $1000 Second made by Trustee Burnley Roll Call Vote Taken: Richeson-yes, Burnley-yes, Murphy-yes, Skinner-yes, Squires-yes Motion Carried: (5-0)

Unfinished Business:

none

New Business:

Trustee Murphy presented Ordinance 19-17- An Ordinance Authorizing a Stop Sign at the Intersection of 6th and Sherman 

Motion made by Trustee Murphy to approve Ordinance 19-17 - An Ordinance Authorizing a Stop Sign at the Intersection of bht and Sherman Second made by Trustee Squires 

Roll Call Vote Taken: Richeson-yes, Burnley-yes, Murphy-yes, Skinner-yes, Squires-yes 

Motion Carried: (5-0) 

President Clarke advised that with the legalization of marijuana with the State of Illinois, municipalities are deciding whether or not they want to a marijuana. Trustee Squires asked Attorney Cravens what some of the pro and cons were of other municipalities. He advised that the main pro was that people are going to do it anyway, so they might as well make money off of it. Cons were police and safety. Chief Bowsher advised she is concerned with people trying to break into the business. President Clarke advised there are already 3 bars on the square. Any new businesses will be on the square. It is already saturated. We would be getting businesses like Penny Lane, etc. President Clarke advised he is also going to impose the largest fine possible on anyone smoking it in public. Chief Browsher advised she would like to keep our current ordinance but change the age to under 21. 

Motion made by Trustee Squires to accept Ordinance 19-16 - An Ordinance Amending the Municipal Code of the Village of Pawnee By the Addition of Chapter 12-2-1 ET SEQ. Prohibiting Cannabis Business Establishments, Second made by Trustee Murphy 

Roll Call Vote Taken: Richeson-yes, Burnley-yes, Murphy-yes, Skinner-yes, Squires-yes Motion Carried: (5-0) 

Discussed the retirement community. Mr. Neihaus met with Andy Lee. They will not be going down 13th street with the storm sewer. He asked if we were going to bore through the hill and take it to the creek. He would like to run their line to ours and then help us pay for ours. Bert Barlow doesn't care what is done as long as it gets put back the way it is now so he can farm it. Consensus was to proceed with setting up a meeting with the Barlows.

Motion to Adjourn:

Motion made by Trustee Murphy to adjourn 

Second made by Trustee Skinner 

Roll Call Vote Taken: Richeson-yes, Burnley-yes, Murphy-yes, Skinner-yes, Squires-yes 

Motion Carried: (5-0)

Meeting adjourned at 8:18pm 

http://www.pawneeil.net/uploads/2/4/2/7/24273585/august_12_2019_board_minutes.pdf