Chambana Sun

Village of Mahomet Board of Trustees Study Session met June 18

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

1. CALL TO ORDER: Widener called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM

2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

3. ROLL CALL: Mohr called the roll, Trustees Colravy, Tompkins, Harpst, Preston, Oliger and Metzger are all present. Additionally, Sean Widener – Village President, Patrick Brown – Village Administrator, Joe Chamley – Village Attorney, Carole Tempel – Director of Finance, Eric Crowley – Transportation/Water/Wastewater Director, Mike Metzler – Chief of Police, and Dawn Mohr – Village Clerk are all present.

4. PUBLIC COMMENT: Bud Parkhill, a local businessman is present and addresses the board about a new business he has in town. Lifted and Lowered Gold Carts. Mr. Parkhill provides the Board with a pamphlet on the slow-moving vehicles. He would like the Board to consider adopting an ordinance allowing these vehicles to be used within the Village. He states that they are 100% street legal, can be titled and plated. That the vehicles are used in multiple surrounding communities in Champaign County and beyond. The business has taken off and they have sold numerous vehicles to customers outside of Mahomet. He states that a lot of communities register the vehicles for a fee annually and that the requirement to drive them include, must have a valid drivers license, no children allowed to drive, no driving on the highways etc. These vehicles go 25 mph and can be tuned to go as fast as 35 mph. He adds that he had a tent at the Soda Festival and there was a lot of interest from residents with them asking if Mahomet would allow them in the future. Mr. Parkhill takes questions. Trustee Tompkins asks if Mr. Parkhills office has sold any of these vehicles and completed the paperwork to license and title the. Parkhill responds that he has not and is waiting on the “powers that be” to assign an address to the property so he can get a dealers license. He adds that right now they could do it from Missouri, the home office of the company. Harpst asks if he has done any licensing as of yet. Parkhill answers no they haven’t had to do it for the sales thus far. Parkhill thanks the Board for their time. Harpst praises Mr. Parkhill for his entrepreneurial spirit. No other public comment is presented.

6. ORDINANCES, RESOLUTIONS AND OTHER ACTIONS:

A. FINANCE:

1. Bill List-Tempel briefly goes over the bill list highlighting 2 items, the payment to the City of Champaign to renew METCAD and a bond payment that is due. Widener asks if there are any questions or comments, none are presented. Widener calls for a motion to move the bill list to the consent agenda. Tompkins moved and Oliger seconded. Mohr called the roll. ALL VOTES YES 6-0. The bill list is moved to the consent agenda.

2. Treasurer’s Report Tempel presents an overview on the report and payments that have been received. She also states that the first installment of the property taxes have been received and she has requested the report that is to accompany the payment. She did not receive a response and has submitted a FOIA request for the information. Widener asked if the Village saw an increase in the interest rate. Tempel responds that she received information last year but has not as of yet this year and will contact the bank to obtain the information. Widener asks if there are any questions or comments, none are presented. Widener called for a motion to move the report to the consent agenda. Preston moved and Oliger seconded. Mohr called the roll, ALL VOTES YES 6-0. The report is moved to the consent agenda.

B. TRANSPORTATION:

1. A Resolution Awarding the Purchase of a John Deere 410P Backhoe from Martin Equipment of Illinois in the Amount of $126,223.43. Crowley states that the backhoe they are seeking to purchase is very similar to the current backhoe with the exception that it has a “thumb” on the claw which would be beneficial with the types of loads they work with periodically. He states that after the trade in the amount falls below the budgeted amount. The current backhoe doesn’t have any major problems and the new one is the most up to date model. Oliger asks Crowley if the current backhoe doesn’t have any problems, why would we consider replacing it. Crowley explained that it is on track with the vehicle replacement policy and he would like to trade now while the old vehicle isn’t experiencing any problems. He states that he stretched out the replacement by 2 years. Brown adds that the policy is in place so the Village doesn’t end up in the same situation as they did in the past. Where they had to borrow $800k to update vehicles. Oliger clarified that the current backhoe was eligible for replacement 2 years ago. Crowley answered yes it has been extended. Widener calls for a motion to move the resolution to the consent agenda. Harpst moved and Tompkins seconded. Mohr called the roll, ALL VOTES YES 6-0. The resolution was moved to the consent agenda.

7. ADMINISTRATORS REPORT:

A. Departmental Reports:

1. Park & Recreation: Brown briefly goes over the report. Metzger questioned what fixtures needed repaired. Brown stated he wasn’t sure. Mohr spoke up and said there were 2 features that had a design flaw and was repaired by the parks maintenance team.

2. Community Development Brown briefly went over the number of permits and stated they were up from last month.

8. MAYOR’S REPORT: Widener acknowledged that he was absent last week and asked the trustees if they still had questions about the downtown project. Preston spoke up and expressed concern that the communication was lacking from what she has gathered from a business owner. Brown answered that the business in question had representatives at all the meetings that led up to the street being closed and if anything, Hedrick overshares. Preston asked if future updates could be bullet points instead of paragraph form. Widener added that the project deadlines have not changed, that it doesn’t matter that the project changed the order in which completion would be done. That the contract is still in force, and nothing has changed in that.

A. June 2024 Board Meeting Calendar

1. June 25, 2024, Board of Trustees Meeting 6:00 PM

9. NEW BUSINESS: Preston asked Brown if there was anything that could be done in reference to the increased amount of power surges. Brown stated that he would reach out to his contact and see what if anything can be done. Tompkins asked for an update on the aggregation program the Village participates in with Ameren. Brown explained that as of right now the Energy Harbor contract is higher than Ameren’s rates however, Ameren will be changing their rates after they meet in July. That historically, Ameren raised the rates in the summer.

10. ADJOURNMENT: Widener calls for a motion to adjourn the study session, Preston moved and Metzger seconded. Mohr called the roll, ALL VOTES YES. The study session adjourned at 6:42 PM

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