Village of Franklin Board of Trustees met April 5.
Here are 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, Lauren Anders, Vickie Adkins, and Amanda Ahlers. Trustee Sarah Carter was absent.
Tony Moore from Republic, attended the meeting to discuss the current bid for sanitation services. He also wanted to reach out regarding some of the issues the area has experienced from the company change over.
Treasurer Susan Smith presented the Treasurer's Report for March. Susan discussed each businesses profits & losses, current balances, year-to-date balances and check details. Lauren Anders made a motion to accept the Treasurers Report for March. Amanda Ahlers seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, Vickie Adkins-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, and Abby Flynn-yes. The motion was carried. Abby Flynn made a motion to accept the Bills Paid and to be Paid for March. Vickie Adkins seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Vickie Adkins-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, and Lauren Anders-yes. The motion was carried.
Clerk Ashley Turpin presented the trustees with minutes from March. Wyatt Smith made a motion to approve the minutes from March. Vickie Adkins seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Lauren Anders-yes, Vickie Adkins-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, and Wyatt Smith-yes. The motion was carried.
Andy Fairless presented the Utility Supervisor Report. Slabjackers will come on April 14th at 9 am. They’ll begin working at the intersection of Wyatts and Main before working down Wyatts. They will skip the section in front of the Legion, as the Legion may want to change the front to be handicap accessible. Andy said the pressure increase and leak survey is complete for the gas lines from Panhandle. The Village will receive a bill of $4,287.00. He also received a bid for the gas valve replacements, which came in at $6,120.00. Andy and Nick will have the holes pre-dug and will help with the process. Out of five companies, only one followed through with giving the Village a bid for the roof. Three companies were not interested, and one will not return the Village’s phone calls. The bid from Black Hawk Roofing was $45,000.00 if everything under the existing roof was in good shape. The board members gave Andy some other names of businesses to check with. Greenworks gave Andy their bid for installing the 2 concrete pads and laying the new mulch at the park playground. The bid was $2,500.00. Andy and Nick will remove the existing benches. Rob Hohimer from Coy’s Fire Equipment talked with Andy about checking the existing fire extinguishers the Village has, and possibly replacing some and adding new ones. Andy said the colorimeter he and Nick are using has a lot of room for errors. It is a tool they use daily and is crucial to their job. Andy found a new one that is portable and has a calibration system with it. The cost for the whole package is $704.44. Andy attended a gas meeting with GUA and IMGA recently. There are grants available for upgrading gas systems.
The board and Andy discussed what types of things the grants could be used for that the Village of Franklin might benefit from. Andy also mentioned that during his gas training, he was chosen as the supervisor in the mock emergencies and was commended for his exceptional job handling the situations presented. Andy said this year half of the town will have a leak survey and next year the other half will be surveyed. He told the board the gas mapping system bid came to $4,500.00 up front. It will be an extra $500.00 for mapping, and another $500.00 for Julie but those are included in the up-front cost. The system populates all of the necessary paperwork immediately which would save Andy and Nick from going between the Village office and the site. The annual fee is $2,600.00 but the training is free. The cost of a tablet is $1,300.00 for the 128GB and First Net through AT&T is $35.00 per month. Lastly, the burned trailer on 104 is disconnected from everything and Andy is contemplating if the Village wants to sell the Dixie Chopper mower.
Buildings, Roads, and Drainage – Trustee Vickie Adkins said she put a work order in for the streets to be patched and she’s noticed Nick and Andy have started. Wyatt Smith said Main Street is getting back to it’s original state prior to the work that was done to it last year. Mayor Turpin and the trustees discussed having Morgan County patch the holes with their asphalt spray patcher and then possibly oil and chip again. Vickie Adkins added that Dahman Road is bad. Lauren Anders said there is a sidewalk on Prairie that needs some repairs as it is full of mud right now.
Finance/Payroll – There is nothing new to report from this committee.
Insurance – There is nothing new to report from this committee.
Personnel – Vickie Adkins made a motion to go into closed session to discuss personnel. The board entered into closed session at 7:56 pm and re-entered into open session at 8:10 pm.
Utility Reconnect – Abby Flynn informed the board that two residents were started on payment plans recently.
Utilities – Mayor Turpin gave an update on the IMGA board meeting. There was discussion regarding the municipal gas prepayment plan which in summary is similar to a bond for municipalities. It could earn the Village approximately $7,000.00. IMGA is going to try to do these in the future and the Village could participate. Also, the board discussed the gas charges. The prices have increased by more than $2.00. The board discussed changing the gas meter charge from $12.50 to $5.00 to offset the increase. The meter charge used to include 1 dekatherm and now will only be there meter charge. Mayor Turpin talked about transferring sewer funds to gas. Each year the sewer pays back the gas company money borrowed to build the sewer system with the surcharge. Wyatt Smith made a motion to transfer the sewer funds to gas. Vickie Adkins seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, and Vickie Adkins-yes. The motion was carried.
Abby Flynn made a motion to accept the park bench install bid. Wyatt Smith seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Lauren Anders-yes, Vickie Adkins-yes, Amanda Ahlers yes, Abby Flynn-yes, and Wyatt Smith-yes. The motion was carried.
The board discussed the bids and issues with the roof at the Village Hall and office space next door. Trustees mentioned possibly needing to look into buying another building or building in the future. The costs of the currently location are getting to be a lot and with some of the old features like masonry and a flat roof, it’s been hard to find people who want to work on it.
Wyatt Smith made a motion to accept the GIS Mapping Software and associated equipment bid for up to $8,400.00. Amanda Ahlers seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Vickie Adkins-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, and Lauren Anders-yes. The motion was carried.
Mayor Turpin explained what the attorney said would be acceptable or unacceptable for trustees to attend meetings virtually. Essentially stating there was no valid reason for the current board to probably use it. Therefore, the up keep costs were too expensive and would not be of much benefit. The board will not move forward with virtual meetings at this time.
The board discussed the trash survey results, ordinances and bids. Abby asked Tony Moore from Republic if he knew the prices for dumpsters. He did not, but would ask his sales team. Wyatt Smith said he had six residents reach out to him and are against the ordinance. Wyatt is also against it as a resident. Lauren Anders had one resident reach out and express they did not want an ordinance. Mayor Turpin said there were over 260 letters sent out. The results were the following: 33 responded no to an ordinance, 31 want to stay with Republic, 13 were neutral responses stating they want the cheapest, some responses expressed their concerns for the Village taking on the billing, if there would be recycling, etc. Trash Queen received five votes and GFL received 1. Mayor Turpin expressed that he did not feel there were enough responses to do anything different at this time because there is too much unknown with the hundreds who did not respond. Trustees agree it would add work and stress to Reitha and LeAnn. Mayor Turpin clarified that the ordinance would require every resident to have a trash service. Current residents could opt out of the company that the Village accepted a bid for, but if they moved to a different location or someone new moved into that residence, they would be required to use the company the Village offered and only that company. Some of the issues that several are experiencing with Republic were discussed with Tony Moore. Tony said he would get positive reviews for Mayor Turpin from other townships and also start working directly with the employees who run this route to help improve the overall performance.
Mayor Turpin stated there is a gentleman in Waverly named Dustin Chapman that would like to clean up the burned trailer on 104 and use the materials as scraps. Mr. Chapman provided the board with a proposal. Amanda Ahlers made a motion to accept Dustin Chapman’s proposal with a 45-day stipulation. Lauren Anders seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, Vickie Adkins-yes, and Amanda Ahlers-yes. The motion was carried.
The last three contracts for aggregation were higher than Ameren. The Village is going to take a year off from the aggregation client agreement and can look into it again in the future. Wyatt Smith made a motion to not sign the aggregation client agreement extension. Vickie Adkins seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, Vickie Adkins-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, and Abby Flynn-yes. The motion was carried.
Abby Flynn made a motion to have Coy’s Fire Equipment come out and have the 4 extinguishers checked, including the fees and have Coy’s check to see how many fire extinguishers we need per OSHEA. Amanda Ahlers seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Lauren Anders-yes, Vickie Adkins-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, and Wyatt Smith-yes. The motion was carried.
Vickie Adkins made a motion to accept the gas valve bid of $6,120.00. Abby Flynn seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Vickie Adkins-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, and Lauren Anders-yes. The motion was carried.
Wyatt Smith made a motion to purchase the Hach Colorimeter for $704.44. Lauren Anders seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Amanda Ahlers-yes, Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, and Vickie Adkins-yes. The motion was carried.
Lauren Anders made a motion to keep the closed session minutes closed. Amanda Ahlers seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Abby Flynn-yes, Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, Vickie Adkins-yes, and Amanda Ahlers-yes. The motion was carried.
Mayor Turpin added that the trustees should think about the Village farm ground that is rented out. Last year the Verizon tower was placed on the ground and a driveway was added. Technically some of the acreage was lost for those two things. The renter paid the amount in full. Trustees should think about reimbursing the renter for some of the acreage. It will be discussed next month.
Wyatt Smith made a motion to adjourn. Lauren Anders seconded the motion. The voting was as follows: Wyatt Smith-yes, Lauren Anders-yes, Vickie Adkins-yes, Amanda Ahlers-yes, and Abby Flynn-yes. The meeting adjourned at 9:19 pm.
https://www.franklinillinois.net/documents/386/22-4_Minutes_April_5.pdf
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