Chambana Sun

City of Hoopeston City Council met Oct. 15.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Crusinberry called to order the regular council meeting of the City of Hoopeston at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, October 15, 2019.

ROLL CALL

Clerk Lane conducted roll call. All eight council members were present as was Attorney Mockbee.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Ankenbrand moved to approve the agenda seconded by Houmes. Agenda was approved 8-0.

MINUTES OF PRIOR MEETING

Clerk Lane read minutes of the previous meeting. Houmes moved to approve seconded by Lawson. Minutes were approved as read 8-0.

PRESENTATIONS

None

PAYMENT OF BILLS

Houmes moved to approve payment of bills seconded by Florek. Bills were approved for payment by roll call vote 8-0.

REPORT OF OFFICERS

Ankenbrand reported on some positives. He mentioned that Bricks and Ivy had several promotions downtown that were well attended by out of towners as well as residents, and that the Browns are also renovating some buildings across the street and down the block from their business.

Florek reported that she was able to see an underground water leak on 7th Street which the department repaired.

Goodwine reported that our engineer Tracy would be able to find someone to write up specs for building security.

Wise had nothing to report.

Yaden stated bids for grave blankets will be opened November 5 at 10 am.

Houmes reported on information from the Committee of the Whole meeting. While there are a couple of residential properties needing demolished, it was thought that the Land Bank may be getting grants to do something with them. The property at 204 N. Market Street being a commercial building does not qualify for the Land Bank criteria. It is the consensus of council that available resources would be better spent on demo of the North Market Street property. It is owned by tax trustees so the Mayor will contact the tax trustees to see about taking ownership of the property. Houmes noted that since the city has started cleaning up some properties, he has noticed that residents seem to have stepped up and cleaned up properties. The city will continue to budget for demo of properties and will look into obtaining bids for the demo of 204 N Market.

Lawson had nothing to report.

MacElhaney had nothing to report.

PETITIONS TO COUNCIL

None

COMMUNICATIONS TO COUNCIL

Trick or Treat hours have been set by Chief Dewitt to be 5:30 to 7:00 on October 31st.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

The city’s gaming ordinance will not need to be changed. The city’s ordinance on gaming does not set a limit on the number of machines an establish can have, but states that it complies with state guidelines.

NEW BUSINESS

MAYOR COMMENTS

Mayor Crusinberry named members of the Façade Grant Committee that he would like to appoint. They are as follows: City Employee, Marta Pierce; Council member, Robin Lawson; Chamber of Commerce, Valerie Hinkle; Historical, Carol Hicks and Business Owner, Emily Brown. Houmes moved to approve the appointments seconded by Yaden. Roll call vote taken, and the appointments were approved 7-0 with Alderwoman Lawson abstaining.

A special council meeting will be held on October 29 at 6:30p.m. for the purpose of discussion on recreational Cannabis. The mayor will have the format layed out and have a sign in sheet for those wishing to speak.

Plans for construction have been received from Caseys.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Stan Steiner asked about the state’s plan to take combine the Fire and Police Pension funds. Goodwine and the mayor stated that each city will have its own line, but professionals will be handling the investments.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

None

ADJOURNMENT

Ankenbrand moved to adjourn seconded by Yaden. Council adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://cityofhoopeston.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Council-Meetin-10-15-19-2.docx&hl=en_US