Sangamon Sun

Village Board of Pleasant Plains met May 26.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The Village Board of Pleasant Plains met in a special village board meeting at 7:00 p.m., at the Pleasant Plains Community Club to begin Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Discussions. Acting President Craig Held called the meeting to order and roll call was recorded:

Mike Huber present Wayne Heideman present William Riggins, Jr present Scott Flanigan present Tim Robinson present Mike Long present

Acting President Craig Held declared a quorum present.

Staff Present: Craig Held, Acting Village President

Judy Reiser, Village Clerk Brett Keyes, Treasurer

Visitor(s): N/A

The Pledge of Allegiance

Treasurer Keyes presented a document showing positions and salaries from surrounding areas. This was reviewed by the board for comparison.

Treasurer Keyes discussed the question regarding the allocation of grant funds the Village will receive over a five-year period from the Rebuild Illinois fund of around $52-53,000. These funds must be used on bondable projects that have a useful life greater than thirteen years, etc. This money could be possibly be used in demoing the old water tower or spending it on the park.

Trustee Flanigan and Trustee Robinson has applied for a grant funds thru Representative Murphy’s office, to be applied updating the park, possible new metal fence, etc. They are still waiting to hear when the grant has been funded. Current budget projection on the park will remain on this line item and can be adjusted later.

There was also a question on the high amount spent on the line item of water repairs & maintenance. This was higher this year due to the purchase of the new mower.

One of the things requested by the Street Department was a new salt spreader. The board is aware our current spreader is not adequate. Anticipated cost is around $4,000. We will check through CMS first, however the money will be put into roads and maintenance but can be adjusted later.

Treasurer Keyes did remind the Board if we need to do adjustments in the future, we can amend the appropriation.

Per the Board’s request Chief Kesselring presented the need for an additional $9,300 to cover extra night sift hours. Which the Board agreed upon.

Bill Mowder had previously requested $1,000 to go towards the cost of the fireworks this year. The Board agreed if there are, in fact fireworks are not cancelled due to the pandemic, they could possibly pay $500 towards the cost.

Salaries were reviewed. It was agreed all salaries will be increased by 3%. After water/sewer licenses are obtained and the contract labor is no longer needed then an additional increase for the Public Works Commissioner will be negotiated.

Voting of final FY21 will be at our next Board Meeting scheduled for June 9th.

The Board reviewed the bids from accounting firms Sikich, Pehlman & Dold, and Eck, Schafer & Punke to provide auditing services for fiscal year ending April 30, 2020. Trustee Scott Flanigan said it is always good to get different options for auditing services. Question arose why the last few years the final charges for services increased over the bid. The additional charges “Professional Services”, is in assisting the treasurer with different accounting practices. Even though we have had the same company for several years we have not had the same personnel from that company. Brett will ask at what point are we getting charged the extra over and above the audit. After much discussion there was a motion by Trustee Scott Flanigan to accept the bid from Pehlman & Dold. The motion was seconded by Trustee Tim Robinson.

Ayes Tim Robinson, Bill Riggins, Jr., Wayne Heideman, Mike Huber, Scott Flanigan, Mike Long Nays: N/A 

Abstain: N/A 

Absent: N/A 

President Held declared the motion carried by a roll call vote.

Trustee Bill Riggins, Jr. inquired if we need to do a resolution identifying the 1% infrastructure being dedicated for the water tower. Mayor Held will check with Max Middendorf and or Carl on this.

Trustee Bill Riggins, Jr. suggested Lori come in to answer phoned, etc., while we are trying to get the information together for the water tower grant applications. All were in favor.

There being no further business, Trustee Mike Long made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was second by Trustee Scott Flanigan. President Craig Held declared the meeting adjourned by a unanimous aye vote at 8:04 p.m.

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/15vW9bTVBXW_3ASvTYFbrSEnglHZmTJUB