Trick or Treat night is set for October 31st, 2019 between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM, with a bad weather date of November 1, 2019. (Questions call 783-8478.)
UNOFFICIAL Minutes of the City Council September 17th Meeting
1. CALL TO ORDER: Mark Bolander, Mayor
Mayor Mark Bolander called the meeting to order.
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE led by Alderman Eric Blake. Pledge of allegiance to the flag was led by Alderman Eric Blake.
3. ROLL CALL: Rosetta York, City Clerk Physically present: Gayle Glumac, David Brown, Larry Brooks, Robert Reisner, Eric Blake and Marlene Harris (arrived at 6:07 PM)
Absent: None
Also present: Attorney Max Tedford, Treasurer Melissa Brooks and Clerk Rosetta York
4. ADOPT OR AMEND AGENDA:
Motion was made by Reisner, seconded by Glumac, to adopt the proposed agenda.
Ayes: Glumac, Brown, Brooks, Reisner, Blake
Nays: None
5. APPROVAL OF REGULAR MINUTES of September 3, 2019: Motion was made by Brown, seconded by Reisner, to approve the minutes of the September 3, 2019 meeting of the Newton City Council.
Ayes: Brown, Brooks, Reisner, Blake, Glumac
Nays: None
Motion was made by Brown, seconded by Brooks, to table #6 Approval of Bills & Accounts Payable until Alderman Harris arrives.
Ayes: Brooks, Reisner, Blake, Glumac, Brown
Nays: None
6. APPROVAL OF BILLS & ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
#6 on agenda was passed after the public comment #7. Alderman Harris had reviewed pre-paids and payable and was delayed 7 minutes to the Council Meeting.
Alderman Harris reviewed the pre-paids in the amount of $237,283.66. Harris reviewed the bills and accounts payable earlier today, and made a motion to approve the pre-paids and authorize payment of the bills and accounts payable in the amount of $331,908.12.
Brooks seconded the motion.
Ayes: Reisner, Blake, Harris, Glumac, Brown, Brooks
Nays: None
7. PUBLIC COMMENTS/COMMUNICATIONS: Officer Britton and Dano
Officer Britton: There will be a mini trial for K9 officers next month in Charleston, IL.
They had a training exercise today in Charleston with 14 other K9s. The exercises practiced were car searches, traffic stops, suspect search, building search and drug search. It was a good training session.
Officer Britton fielded questions. The answers: He and Dano get called out about 2 times a month.
Dano’s age is 7 years. His work life expectancy is 9-10 years; his life expectancy is 10-13 years.
He is not sure how the new cannabis laws will affect Dano’s drug searches. The courts need to apply the law to really know the law’s enforcement process. One thing is Dano cannot be 100% untrained on cannabis.
8. OLD BUSINESS:
a. Consider and act on Pay Estimate #2 and Final due Hanfland Painting Contractors in the amount of $5,825.00, for work on the South Tower Painting project.
Motion was made by Brooks, seconded by Harris, to authorize Pay Estimate #2 and Final due Hanfland Painting Contractors in the amount of $5,825.00, for work on the South Water Tower Painting project.
Ayes: Blake, Harris, Glumac, Brown, Brooks, Reisner
Nays: None
9. NEW BUSINESS:
a. Consider and act on approving Halloween Trick or Treat Night for October 31, 2019 between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM, with a bad weather date of November 1, 2019. (Questions call 783-8478.)
Motion was made by Harris, seconded by Glumac, to approve Halloween Trick or Treat Night for October 31, 2019 between 5:00 PM and 8:00 PM, with a bad weather date of November 1, 2019. (Questions call 783-8478.)
Ayes: Harris, Glumac, Brown, Brooks, Reisner, Blake
Nays: None
b. Consider and act on providing flu shots for all part-time and full-time city employees.
Motion was made by Reisner, seconded by Brown, to authorize providing flu shots for all part-time and full-time city employees.
Ayes: Glumac, Brown, Brooks, Reisner, Blake, Harris
Nays: None
c. Consider and act on authorizing Newton Police Department to hire SCIRP&DC (South Central Illinois Regional Planning & Development Commission) to seek grant funding for
new satellite radio communication devices.
Motion was made by Brown, seconded by Glumac, to authorize Newton Police Department to hire SCIRP&DC (South Central Illinois Regional Planning & Development Commission) to seek grant funding for new satellite radio communication devices.
Ayes: Brown, Brooks, Reisner, Blake, Harris, Glumac
Nays: None
10. COMMITTEE REPORTS OR COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE REPORTS: Street (all departments) Committee Meeting August 12, 2019
Reisner—Street (all departments) Committee Meeting September 9, 2019: Discussed parking cars and parking lots. Meeting adjourned at 3:00 PM.
The council discussed the corvette parking and crowd management for that night.
11. STATEMENTS:
Council Members:
Harris: Gave the Payment and Billing Adjustment Report to the Council.
Blake: No comment
Reisner: Good Fall Festival, parade was good.
Brooks: Discussed broken curbing in front of the US Post Office. He asked questions about
the City’s insurance liability when someone’s vehicle is damaged by the curb. The new Water Department truck has been delivered to Effingham.
Brown: If you have any more questions about the satellite radios, he will try to answer. The Park and Cemetery Department will be purchasing 6 tires for their dump truck soon with a purchase order. He, Brad and Cheryl will be doing an end of 2019 season review of the pool soon. Concession selling prices have not changed for a few years and wholesale prices have increased, so there needs to be a retail price increase for next year. They are not sure at this
time how the new minimum wage laws will affect the pool employee wages.
Glumac: Fall Festival was a complete success. The Westside had the beer tent. They did an excellent job. The City provided picnic tables and the Fairground did also. The lunch crowd on
Saturday was very busy. The Free Methodist Church gave away over 1000 bottles waters.
Everyone thought that was great idea. There were 40 plus floats in the parade.
City Attorney: No comment
City Treasurer: She attended the SECICTA (South East Central Illinois Clerk & Treasurer
Association) last Thursday. Their topic of discussion was the 2020 US Census. The City’s main responsibility is to educate the citizens on the importance of the completion of the census.
She, Larry Brooks and Marlene Harris will be attending the Snedeker Insurance Conference.
City Clerk: No comment
Mayor:
• Coal to solar: Brad Watson, Vistra’s Communication Director, met with several groups from the county to discuss Vistra’s plans of coal to solar energy generation. They are
closing 4 Vistra power plants at the end of 2019. One more plant will close in 2022.
Three plant will remain open until 2025, but will be transitioning from coal to solar generation. This is pending IEPA’s acceptance of Vistra’s proposal for the transition.
The transition makes since, because the distribution transmission infrastructure is already in place. Vistra may generate with coal and solar or with only solar. These
discussions on the future Vistra power plants are possibilities, not guarantees at this time.
• The new logo banners on the light poles look good. The future banners could be a little wider.
• The Council had Jasper Clothiers make polo shirts with the new logo. Alderman Brooks modeled his shirt. The Mayor thanked Alderman Brown and Jerry Rubsam for their work designing and selecting the shirts.
• A resident of Xander’s Addition has approached him about putting sidewalks in that addition. He ask Robert to add it to the next Street Committee Meeting.
• He has received a call from another village about how the City of Newton was going to handle the new Illinois Cannabis laws. He thinks there should be a public hearing for citizens to voice their concerns. There are options for counties and municipalities to deal with dispensaries and growing facilities, but local governments must follow Illinois
Law on allowing people to have a certain amount of cannabis in air tight containers.
• Mayor: If citizens of Newton have questions about something pertaining to the City or Council, I wish they would just come to City Hall and ask questions. We will answer them as best we can. We have FOIA requests coming in. (Note: A PAC action was also filed with the Attorney General.) It is as if they are trying to get a “Got You” moment. The City officials are not knowing trying to hide anything or deceive the public. This is costing the City’s citizens money. The council discussed the details.
• He would like to have the City do a sidewalk on Wilson St. by the New Dollar General.
He has one quote and ask the aldermen to get quotes or names of people who could be asked for other quotes.
• TIF application from Meyer Funeral Home for concrete work on the west side of the funeral home for $2,500 on $8,000 plus project. Asked for consensus to let Jason Meyer know if it is ok to proceed with the contractor. We will formally approve it on October 1, 2019 city council meeting. Jason Meyer is concerned if he delays he will
lose the contractor. There was a consensus to allow Meyer to proceed.
12. NEXT REGULAR MEETING: Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at 6:00 PM
SCHEDULED COMMITTEE MEETINGS: Personnel Committee Meeting on October 8, 2019 at 5:30 PM
13. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Litigation, potential litigation and sale of real estate
Motion was made by Harris, seconded by Blake, to go out of open session and into closed session to discuss litigation, potential litigation and sale of real estate pursuant
to the exceptions section of the Open Meetings Act pertaining to those areas of discussion.
Ayes: Brooks, Reisner, Blake, Harris, Glumac, Brown
Nays: None
Open session suspended at 7:18 PM
Motion was made by Brown, seconded by Harris, to go out of closed session and back into open session.
Ayes: Reisner, Blake, Harris, Glumac, Brown, Brooks
Nays: None
Open session resumed at 7:44 PM.
Mayor Bolander announced that during closed session the council discussed litigation, potential litigation and sale of real estate
Discussed the City logo on south side of the square and when it was paid in the Payable and Pre-paids on August 20, 2019 meeting.
14. ADJOURNMENT
Motion was made by Harris, seconded by Brown, to adjourn the meeting.
Ayes: Blake, Harris, Glumac, Brown, Brooks, Reisner
Nays: None
Meeting adjourned at 7:58 PM.
Submitted by Rosetta M. York
