Chambana Sun

Village of Sidney Board of Trustees met Sept. 9.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The Sidney Village Board met on the above date for the regular monthly meeting. The meeting was opened at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. President Finn called the meeting to order. The following trustees were present: Arrasmith, Harris, Catron, Gadeken, Bickers and Schluter. Clerk Fish, Treasurer Reinhart, and Village Maintenance employee Jarin Wilsey were also present. Attorney Miller was absent.

Trustee Schluter moved that the minutes of the August 5, 2019 regular meeting of the Board of Trustees be approved. Trustee Harris seconded the motion; the motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

Zebo Zebe, local realtor, requested the board’s approval to annex a 1 acre tract off of the Kropp property located at 510 Witt Park Road. President Finn asked if there were any objections from the board members. There were no objections since it was not being rezoned. Trustee Bickers made a motion to approve with Trustee Schluter seconding the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote. Attorney Miller will draw up a letter stating that the board approved. Trustee Catron wanted to make sure that the buyer will be charged for that service and not the Village.

Anthony Bamert submitted an application for a Class A liquor license for his business, The Sidney Social Hall, LLC located at 219 South David Street. He would like to do a more upscale meeting place that would serve mainly local craft beers and local wines. He will not be serving food but may have food trucks providing food from time to time. He might also provide outdoor patio space for patrons behind the building that would be fenced off. He is also wanting to be respectful of the patrons and the times that the neighboring building, The Sidney Community Library, will be open. Gaming will be available. Trustee Schluter made the motion to approve that Liquor Commissioner Finn issue a Class A liquor license for The Sidney Social Hall, LLC. Trustee Harris seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll vote with Trustee Arrasmith abstaining from voting.

Alex Moore approached the board regarding his desire to purchase the property West of Casey’s General Store (the Tin Cup property). He is in the very early stages of planning but alluded to the fact that he might possibly need a liquor license as well and would possibly be having food catered in also. The board wished him well in his endeavor and stated that it’s too early in the planning stages for them to provide any input in this matter.

Zebo Zebe also stated that he will be putting up the property for sale located at 214 South David Street (Bues Accounting) soon if anyone is interested or knows any interested parties.

PRESIDENT FINN'S COMMENTS

President Finn reported that he and Jarin Wilsey will be meeting with Dave Traxler, village maintenance with the Village of Philo, to see about possibly contracting out his services for the Village of Sidney to continue to provide water services and complete the necessary water sampling until Illinois American Water takes over.

President Finn then asked the board members if they were familiar with ConEx storage containers. They are temporary storage containers residents can put in their yards, for example, if they are moving and need extra storage. He then asked how the Village should handle allowing them on resident’s properties. Some of the questions President Finn had were: should the resident need to obtain a permit to have one in their yard? Is it considered a structure and therefore fall under the proper ordinance for structures? Does the Village even want to allow them at all? If the Village does allow them, do we want a 30 day time limit that they can be on the property? It was decided that the Village Clerk will email all the board members of copy of the current ordinance we have in place regarding structures. They will review it and decide if a new ordinance needs to be drafted to include temporary storage containers.

President Finn then brought up a fallen tree in an alleyway that is not considered village property. Clerk Fish will draft a letter to the resident asking them to remove it.

President Finn then asked for the approval of the Village Truck Route Ordinance #2019-06 regarding the direction of the truck routes since Attorney Miller was absent. It was found to have a mistake as it stated no trucks over 50,000 pounds would be allowed on certain roads; it should have stated no trucks over 10,000 pounds would be allowed. Trustee Gadeken made a motion to approve the Village Truck Route Ordinance #2019-06 with this amendment. Trustee Catron seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.

President Finn then asked the board for approval of the Cost Sharing Agreement Between the Village of Sidney and Premier Cooperative Inc. ordinance #2019-07. Trustee Arrasmith made a motion to approve ordinance #2019-07. Trustee Gadeken seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.

President Finn then asked the board for approval of Resolution #2019-02 authorizing the Champaign County HMP Project Manager to act as a representative for the Village of Sidney regarding the Hazard Mitigation Program for Champaign County. Trustee Catron made a motion to approve resolution #2019-02. Trustee Gadeken seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.

ATTORNEY MILLER'S COMMENTS:

Attorney Miller was absent.

JARIN WILSEY’S REPORT

Village Maintenance employee Wilsey reported that there has been a lot of trash left outside of the Sidney Saloon in the mornings and that he does not believe that it is the village’s responsibility to be cleaning it up. Clerk Fish will draft a letter to them advising that they need to start cleaning up the trash or they will be fined.

FINANCE REPORT

The financial reports were read by Trustee Catron. Trustee Catron moved that the bills be paid with the addition of $85.35 to Caseys, $59.40 to the Journal Star, and $150 to Simplified Computers. Trustee Harris seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.

STREETS AND ALLEY

Trustee Gadeken reported that the new truck route signs have been ordered and will be placed accordingly. He also stated that part of the road on Wilsey Dr was raised and had issues. Village Maintenance employee Jarin Wilsey will fix it.

WATER/SEWER/UTILITY

Trustee Harris was not able to read the monthly usage reports for the water as Supervisor Bennett is no longer with us.

$28,972.53 was received in August. 143 penalty bills were sent. $29,953.16 was billed in August to 537 customers.

Trustee Harris also made a motion for the board to allow up to $5,000 to have the water lines televised and scoped to find obstructions. Trustee Catron seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.

PUBLIC PROPERTY

Trustee Arrasmith received two bids for tree removal. JT’s Tree Service was awarded the bid for the actual removal of the trees at $17,000. Little Bear Hauling was awarded the stump grinding bid at $4,470. There were no permits issued, nor a report for ESDA.

PARKS AND RECREATION

Trustee Bickers reported that the fence at Lions Club Park was completed and that the backstop for the t-ball field at the old school lot was also erected. Trustee Bickers then motioned that the board approve an additional $350 to add 20 feet of 4 foot tall fencing on the South side of the t-ball field to help protect the children. Trustee Gadeken seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.

Trustee Bickers then reported that soccer goals are coming for the old school lot. He also reported that the Philo/Sidney Ball Gun Raffle fundraiser raised $6,500.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Trustee Schluter handed out a letter from Attorney Miller regarding the Open Meetings Act and the Freedom of Information Act. He highlighted a few key points, such as, to not use personal email addresses when discussing village business. He also stated that it was against the regulations of the Open Meetings Act for three or more board members to discuss village business outside of a public meeting. Trustee Schluter reminded the board members to be cognizant of that fact.

Trustee Schluter then stated that he had posted the annual audit on the village website and that he was waiting to post about the truck routes until after this meeting.

Trustee Catron also added that there is online FOIA training at http://foia.ilattorneygeneral.net/.

Trustee Bickers moved that the board go into Executive Session pursuant to 5ILCS 120/2 (c)(1) to discuss village employees. Trustee Harris seconded the motion; motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote. The board went into Executive Session at 8:32pm.

The board came out of Executive Session at 9:13pm. It was decided that Resolution #2019-03 was to be tabled for the time being. It was also decided that additional help will be hired on an as needed basis for Village Maintenance employee Jarin Wilsey and that any work that the board needs employee Wilsey to undertake will be funneled through President Finn first.

Trustee Arrasmith motioned that the meeting be adjourned. Trustee Bickers seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote. The meeting was adjourned at 9:16pm.

http://villageofsidney.com/meeting-minutes-and-notifications/village-of-sidney-board-of-trustees-meeting-september-9-2019