Village of Franklin Board of Trustees Met March 2.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
Mayor Paul Turpin called the regular monthly meeting of the Village of Franklin Board of Trustees to order at 7:00 pm in the town hall. Trustees present in Village Hall were Abby Flynn, Wyatt Smith, Nicole Fromme, and Amanda Ahlers. Trustee Tami Thompson was present via Zoom.
Guest, Kathy Poole visited the Board of Trustees to ask if there was an ordinance regarding where you can build fences on property lines. Mayor Turpin said the Village does not have an ordinance. Kathy said the county has one that is 2 feet off of the property line. Mayor Turpin wasn't sure if the county covered us or not but will check.
Treasurer Susan Smith presented the Treasurer's Report for February. Municipal lost some money due to large payments going out. Gas came back a little after being negative. $650 of the liquor license was reimbursed. Sewer made a loan payment of $27,000 and water is also doing fine. The Village received the first rent check from the Verizon cell tower. Wyatt Smith made a motion to accept the Treasurers Report for February. Nicole Fromme seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, Tami Thompson-present, Nicole Fromme-yes, and Amanda Ahlers-yes. The motion was carried. Lauren Anders made a motion to accept the Bills Paid and to be Paid. Abby Flynn seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, Tami Thompson present, Nicole Fromme-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, and Abby Flynn-yes. The motion was carried.
Clerk Ashley Turpin presented the trustees with minutes from February. Nicole Fromme made a motion to approve the minutes from February. Amanda Ahlers seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Lauren Anders-present, Tami Thompson-yes, Nicole Fromme-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, and Wyatt Smith-yes. The motion was carried.
Andy Fairless presented his utility supervisor report. The new Christmas lights ordered in January are in. The court hearing on 3/1 for the property on West Street was pushed back due to last minute progress being made. The OB violations had their hearings. The first four wheeler rider paid in full and the other four wheeler rider was a no show and is a default judgment. Andy said there were two water main breaks last week. One of them involved a cast iron pipe that was probably installed in the 1940's. Mayor Turpin said we'll eventually have to look into replacing it. Andy said the freeze did not do the damage, but the quick thaw did. It took 5 hours for the crew to fix. Then on Tuesday there was a second water main break on Reinbach that was broke in 3 places and also an old cast iron pipe. The guys began at 3 pm and didn't finish until 12:30 am. There were 17 people on a boil order and one resident was without water for the evening but restored by 9:30 am the following morning. He also received quotes for insulation in the maintenance building from Envirofoam and Prairie Insulation. Andy went through each of the quotes and discussed the pricing and what was included. He also said there are some big
holes on the roads so he ordered more rock and sand to fill them in. It will be charges to MFT. Lastly, they are working on the cell tower and the areas surrounding it is tore up from the equipment. They did agree to fix anything before leaving. Mayor Turpin asked Andy to have Josh Atkins out to see what damage was done to his crops because they agreed to pay for those damages as well. The only things they have left to do are the cables and fencing.
Buildings, Roads, and Drainage - Trustee Nicole Fromme received a complaint from a resident regarding ruts in his year from a couple of years ago. Andy will take care of them when it warms up.
Finance/Payroll - There is nothing to report at this time.
Insurance - There is nothing to report at this time.
Personnel - There is nothing to report at this time.
Utility Reconnect - The committee met last month and decided to hold off until June to begin charging the reconnect fees. Amanda Ahlers will let Reitha know.
Utilities - The Utilities Committee met last month to discuss the rental situation brought to the board. If the board decides to work a deal with someone to help them pay their bill and then the resident leaves, the owner becomes responsible. The deposits should be raised to help protect the property owners. It will be difficult for tenants moving into town, but must happen to help eliminate some of the issues. They have not been raised in years. The committee decided on raising water to $150 and sewer to $150. The committee also agreed that there will be no extended credits to renters without the owners approval.
In addition, the meters were read today and yesterday. They had to extend into two days of readings due to Andy being in court yesterday. Mayor Turpin said on Friday it was discussed what we would do with the bill. It is estimated at $238,000. There will be 2 line items on the bill. The bill will also show the typical $4 O&M versus the $2 discounted O&M for those who want to pay the February bill in full, immediately. Trustees asked what would happen if a resident does not pay on the February bill. Mayor Turpin said there is an ordinance against that and their gas would be shut off and eventually a lien could be put on the property. A letter will be sent with the bill to help explain things. There is still a chance that the Village could be reimbursed for the extreme charges, in which then the Village would reimburse anything paid by the customers. However that could be a long and slow process so the Village must be proactive with only having 3 years to pay the loan off.
Nicole Fromme said a residents December bill was $85 and normally around $300 for gas. Mayor Turpin will have Reitha check it to see what happened.
Andy Fairless reported on the property legal action during the Utility Supervisor Report.
Mayor Turpin said the Panhandle Municipal Defense case is on hold until March 26th and then the judge will make the decision, but it could still go another year if appeals are made.
Andy Fairless provided the board with quotes regarding insulation for the maintenance building. Wyatt Smith made a motion to accept the EnviroFoam quote for $3,275.00. Tami
Thompson seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Tami Thompson-yes, Nicole Fromme-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, and Lauren Anders-yes. The motion was carried.
The Village has not received the IDOT MFT Expenditures at this time.
Clerk, Ashley Turpin said Wesley Kohler has not started yet, but he'll be getting it going soon. It will be more ADA compliant and user friendly.
The cell tower is almost complete and then they will begin any repairs needed.
Community State Bank sent a thank you to the Village for choosing them to help with credit cards. The Village can use a webpage or they can provide a machine. Reitha feels the machine would be better.
Tami Thompson made a motion to approve the new rental deposit rates. Amanda Ahlers seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Nicole Fromme-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, and Tami Thompson-yes. The motion was carried.
Tami Thompson made a motion to approve the utility rate plan. Nicole Fromme seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, Tami Thompson-yes, and Nicole Fromme-yes. The motion was carried.
ICC does not require the Village to have record of all gas contacts, however the board would like to move forward with trying to set up a mass communication service again. Hopefully this time the Village will have a better response. Tami Thompson might have a spreadsheet still of who signed up previously. Ashley Turpin will ask who the school uses.
Wyatt Smith made a motion to adjourn. Nicole Fromme seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, Tami Thompson yes, Nicole Fromme-yes, and Amanda Ahlers-yes. The meeting adjourned at 8:04 pm.
http://www.franklinillinois.net/assets/21-3%20Minutes%20March%2021.pdf
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