Sangamon Sun

Village of Divernon Board of Trustees met Aug. 28.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The regular meeting of the Village of Divernon Board of Trustees was held on Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at the Divernon Village Hall. Village President Jim Copelin called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. After the Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all in attendance, Clerk Rod Molnar called roll: Jim Copelin “Here”, Craig Busch “Here”, Wayne Jones “Here”, Melissa Layton “Here”, Larry Baer “Here”, Gail Hedges “Here”, Tyler Bramley “Here”. Also, in attendance was Police Chief Jason Martin. Jeremy Rhodes was absent.

A motion was made by Busch and seconded by Baer to approve the minutes of August 14, 2019. The motion passed 6-0.

A motion was made by Jones and seconded by Layton to approve the corrected executive session minutes of August 14, 2019. The motion passed 6-0.

Baer presented the Village bills with a motion they be approved after adding an invoice from Heart Technologies for $2820.72. Hedges seconded and the motion carried 6-0.

Visitors:

Chuck Apgar was in attendance but had no business to bring before the Board.

Angela Kirby of CDS Office Technologies was in attendance to present the Board with a new phone upgrade system. The system would include seven new phones, a seven-year warranty as well as setup, programming and training for $4243.00.

Supervisor Reports:

Public Works:

Layton said the new sidewalks in front of the American Legion Hall look great. Rhodes is testing diagonal parking on the 1st Street side of the Snack Shack, but it doesn’t appear it would increase the number of parking spaces.

Police:

Chief Martin reported he has received verbal confirmation from Sangamon County that the Village can proceed with the demolition of the old IGA store. Copelin instructed Martin to get permission in writing, and then get an opinion from the Village Attorney before proceeding. Officer Wes Crowder has submitted his letter of resignation. Martin will begin advertising for a new full-time officer. Martin has a tentative date set for the joint meeting of the Boards from Auburn, Pawnee and Divernon to be September 18, 2019. The meeting will be to discuss the possibility of establishing an ordinance violation court.

Committee Reports:

Zoning, TIF, Building Permits:

Baer reported he and Hedges met with Bert Barlow on his request to have his TIF agreement amended. After reviewing his receipts, there were a few duplicates discarded. Baer recommended the additional charges above the original estimate be approved. Molnar will contact the TIF attorney about amending the agreement. The Zoning Board of Appeals will be meeting on September 10th. An item on the agenda will be to discuss rezoning the property near the truck stop from business to industrial. Dowson’s fertilizer will be submitting the request. The gyro restaurant near the truck stop is scheduled to open next week and the Snack Shack on the square will open by the end of the month.

Public Utilities, Water, Sewer and Gas:

A motion was made by Jones and seconded by Busch to approve two requests for utility adjustments. The motion carried 6-0. There has been an ongoing problem with some of Frontier Communications poles leaning. Copelin will contact them.

Finance, Personnel, GIS:

A motion was made by Baer to approve ordinance number 2019-006 regarding expense reimbursements for employees. The ordinance is required by statute. Hedges seconded and the motion passed 6-0. Baer reported that Treasurer Christine Nichols informed him that payments for the natural gas purchase by the Village must now be done by ACH payments. Nichols requested that a new account be setup just for ACH payments. The Board approved setting up a new account specifically for ACH payments. A question was asked of the status of the fraud manual that the lawyer is reviewing. Copelin will check with the attorney.

Public Safety, Health and Safety:

Layton and Martin have been working together on properties that need to be cleaned up. A motion was made by Layton to approve an Intergovernmental Agreement with Sangamon County for animal control. The Village’s cost for the last year was $103.14. Baer seconded and the motion carried 6-0. A request was received from Ann Haynes to have the children playing signs removed on State Street as the childcare business is no longer in operation on the street. Chief Martin would like the to keep the signs up. There have been reports of a number of cars running the stop signs at 1st and Brown Streets.

Public Works, Streets, Alleys and Sidewalks:

Nothing to report.

Village Communication/Building Grounds and Lights, Parks:

A lengthy discussion was held on the phone upgrade. In addition to the bid from CDS, another was received from Americall for $3796.91. It was determined to get more information from the employees on exactly what issues they are dealing with on the old system to determine what is needed before proceeding. At that time updated bids will be requested and put to a vote at a future meeting. The Village newsletter was mailed out last week. Several Board members said they had received positive feedback. There was discussion whether to make the newsletter monthly or quarterly online. The Mayor would like to leave it as quarterly and any important updates could be noted on the Village website. Heart Technologies will begin transitioning the computer system to the new network server next week. Bramley reported George Alarm recently tested the system in the Village and will need to upgrade the system to cellular. There will be an initial charge and the monthly charge will increase by $15.00 per month. When completed the Village would disable the phone line with Frontier for an overall savings. Copelin and Martin will contact George Alarm to get more information.

Old Business:

Martin reported he has had a police presence at the Jr. High School during the opening week of school.

New Business:

None.

A motion was made by Hedges to go into executive session at 8:21 to discuss personnel issues. The Board returned to regular session at 8:24 p.m.

No further action was taken.

Motion by Baer to adjourn at 8:25 p.m.

https://divernonil.com/assets/uploads/sites/219/2019/09/Minutes-8-28-2019.pdf