City of Barry City Council met Feb. 6.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
Mayor Rennecker called the regular meeting of the Barry City Council to order at 7 p.m. He then led all present in the Pledge of Allegiance. All elected officials were present except Justin Puterbaugh.
Bridget Cramsey made a motion to approve the minutes from the January meeting. Marynel Corton seconded the motion. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent. Steve Schultz made a motion to approve payment of the bills and Scott Harris seconded the motion. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent.
Kaydee Rennecker a student from Western High School appeared before the Council asking for a donation for the Western After Prom. Bob Dieker made a motion to approve donation of $200 and Steve Schultz seconded the motion. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent.
Ryan Rouse from the Pike County Sheriff’s department gave the police report. He stated there were 10 traffic warnings, 1 domestic battery arrest, 2 traffic arrests, 1 misdemeanor arrest and 4 pending investigations.
Jeff Hogge gave the Public Works Director report for Robert Snyder. He said we received the extra motor for the lift station and extra soft start for the wells. The guys have started putting the batting cage together. Scott Harris asked if they are going to redo the walkway going down to the diamond, the batting cage takes care of the parking there. Mayor Rennecker said he would like to put oil & chip on it and the cage should end where the walk stops.
Jeff Hogge gave the City Administrators report. The TIF report has been submitted to the State, went to ribbon cutting ceremony for the new flower shop, got the paperwork done for IEPA wastewater permit that has to be done yearly. Also did report for workers comp, they always need to see payroll for everyone that works here. Our copier quit working today and called service repair to look at it. When he got here he did not have the parts to fix copier and called later in afternoon and said parts were on back order and said he could bring in another one and continue with service contract. Jeff said he sent a brochure of what it looked like when new but would not answer question of how many copies were run through it. He called Golden Ruler and they said they had a nice copier that had low copies for $3795.00 and has a couple of upgrades from the one that we have and could have it tomorrow. Steve Schultz made a motion for Jeff to make the best deal he can on a new copy machine and Scott Harris seconded the motion. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent.
Mayor Rennecker discussed the Pike County Animal Contract with Council. It is the same price as last year. The contract is based on population in Barry and the cost is $5212 for the year. Steve Schultz made a motion to accept the contract and Bob Dieker seconded the motion. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent. Mayor Rennecker discussed two ordinance reviews: Inoperable vehicles and Garbage & Refuse.
Inoperable vehicles: Mayor Rennecker said he has talked to Attorney Beard about inoperable vehicles and he sent an ordinance pertaining to removing vehicles and Judge Roseberry said he would enforce the ordinance if we have one. Sheriff Greenwood said that if he has an order he would also work with this. Steve Schultz discussed some changes he would like to see in the ordinance: storage fee; towing fee; administration fee; need to send certified letter to owner and police and be able to sell vehicle after 21 days. Steve said investigate what attorney is saying and go ahead and amend. Scott Harris said we will need lot of room to store them. Scott said we don’t want to put a lot of vehicles at sewer plant.
Garbage & refuge: Mayor Rennecker said the garbage ordinance from 1944 says everyone has to have a receptacle for garbage. He would like to delete that section and redefine the term receptacle to having a legal way to remove trash. Steve Schultz made a motion to accept changes in ordinance pertaining to garbage and Bob Dieker seconded the motion. Roll call taken:
Bob Dieker – yes
Scott Harris – yes
Steve Schultz – yes
Marynel Corton – yes
Justin Puterbaugh – absent
Bridget Cramsey
Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent.
Mayor Rennecker said that the owners who purchased Bow Lake Golf Course are talking about putting solar panels on 50 acres. We currently do not have a solar ordinance, but we probably should have to address certain issues, sizing, setbacks and cleaning/decommissioning after they are done. Steve Schultz said this would increase our tax base and we need to add solar farms to agriculture zoning. They want to do housing and commercial on rest of property.
Mayor Rennecker said Roseberry’s asked if City would extend Croxville Drive to the west at City’s expense. After much discussion council said they would need to see sale of lots or plans for construction before plans were made for extension. A quote was received from Griffin Signs in Time for a community entrance sign. The quote was for an 8’x4’ sign. Sign with raised letters and border with wood grain background was $2808 and recessed letters with wood grain textured face was $3240. Steve Schultz made a motion to proceed with the 8x4 sign with raised letters and border including brackets. Marynel Corton seconded the motion. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent.
Mayor Rennecker asked if council wanted to bring manager back that we had last year or look at other options. Council thought that Laura did a good job. Shawn will check and see if she is interested.
Mayor Rennecker discussed getting dirt for ball diamond at Holy Redeemer Park. The dirt on the field has a lot of rocks in it and he and Robert has talked and it could use some new dirt on it. If they got 225 tons it should be enough to cover the field plus raise it up so water goes around to the grassy areas. Shawn said he got a price from Callender’s on 225 tons of Groundhog dirt (hauled) for a cost of $3735. Bob Dieker made a motion to approve getting the dirt and Bridget Cramsey seconded the motion. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent.
Mayor Rennecker said we have had a lot of interest in people considering gaming machines. He has heard of two possible developments that are discussing doing this. They would need a class B liquor license to be able to get their state liquor license. It appears the state is offering a combination license if they already have a liquor license and we have been asked if we would do the same. Jeff Hogge said that the state is charging $25 over the regular price of license for the combination license otherwise it would cost an extra $600 for state license. Mayor Rennecker said if we do this we need to create 2 combo licenses. That way we can offer Jiffy Stop and the other business a combo license. The combo license would be for package/carry out and drink by glass/can. Scott Harris made a motion to approve and charge $500 for the combo license after the ordinance has been approved and Steve Schultz seconded the motion. Motion carried with 5 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent.
Mayor Rennecker said Apple Festival Committee asked if they could come back to City Hall on 3rd Tuesday of every month for meeting. They can use on the condition that they straighten things up when they leave.
Mayor Rennecker said that Frank Smith has a plan for Laundromat and gaming business and storage units in the Historic Business District. The storage units would require reopening alley. City needs to make sure that there is an alley before decision is made.
Mayor Rennecker discussed a horizontal concrete saw. Had some success in raising some of our concrete sidewalks downtown, but there are sections that were not able to be lifted even with the curb. He found a saw online for around $3800, cannot find one to rent. It would be nice to saw curb off to be even with sidewalk. It’s not something that would be used often.
Marynel Corton made a motion to adjourn and Bob Dieker seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
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