Kankakee Times

Village of Herscher Board of Trustees met Aug. 21.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Village President Shannon Sweeney called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. The following Trustees were present: Jeremy Bauer, Mike Bruner, Gayle Landeck, Andy Cotter, Jacob Wagner, and Skip Grigas. Also present, Police Chief Kurt Quick, Deputy Village Clerk Vannessa Weaver, Attorney Chris Bohlen, Public Works Superintendent Keith Witheft and Janet Mau from the Herscher Pilot.

Mike Bruner moved to approve the Regular minutes of August 7, 2023; Skip Grigas seconded. Andy Cotter abstained. 4-0-1 Motion carried.

Mike Bruner moved to approve the Executive minutes of August 7, 2023; Jacob Wagner seconded. Andy Cotter abstained. 4-0-1 Motion carried.

STREETS:

Jacob Wagner moved to approve the MFT Disbursement to Andrews Engineering for $5,600.00 for preliminary engineering. Skip Grigas second. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-aye, and Gayle Landeck-aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

Jacob Wagner let the board know that he is ordering new tires for the dump truck. They got a quote from Country Chevy in the amount of $2060.00.

HMA Overlay Bids, one from Kankakee Valley Construction Co in the amount of $103,066.00 and one from Universal Asphalt & Excavating, Inc in the amount of $156,288.00. Jacob Wagner moves to approve Kankakee Valley Construction Co. Gayle Landeck seconded. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-aye, and Gayle Landeck-aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

President Shannon Sweeney asked Jacob what was going on with getting lights for downtown. Jacob let the Board know he looked into getting lights hung downtown for Christmas and was told it couldn’t be done.

Jacob Wagner let the Board know the new sign will be installed by Labor Day.

FINANCE:

Mike Bruner presented the Accounts Payable Report totaling $57,949.37 to the Board for payment. Mike Bruner moved to accept the accounts payable as presented. Skip Grigas seconded. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-aye, and Gayle Landeck-aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

Mike Bruner moved to approve the Payroll Report totaling $17,363.05 to the Board for payment. Skip Grigas seconded. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas aye, and Gayle Landeck-aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

Mike Bruner added:

- The Personal Property Replacement Tax is in at $3,856.81

- The 1% Non-Home Rule Sales Tax is in from May at $12,363.36

- The Telecom Tax is in from May in the amount of $1,027.69

- The Local Share of Income Tax collected in July is in at $15,022.82

- The Local Share of the State Use Tax is in from May in the amount of $4,602.78.

- The Local Share of Cannabis Use Tax collected in July is in at $205.56

- The Local Share of Video Gaming Tax collected in July is in at $2,191.70

PARKS:

Andy Cotter let the Board know that the second part of the walking path will be done by the end of the week.

Andy Cotter let the Board know that everything for Labor Day at the parks are ready to go and they will be getting another dumpster.

WATER AND SEWER:

Jeremy Bauer let the Board know that the old water tower had it’s inspection and everything is good. He said he would like to look into what it will cost to get it up and running again to sell it.

Jeremy Bauer let the Board know that Well 8 is getting worked on the next day.

ORDINANCE:

Gayle Landeck motioned to waive the first reading and suspend rules for the new Parking Sign Ordinance 23-13. Jacob Wagner seconded. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-aye, and Gayle Landeck-aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

Gayle Landeck moved to approve the final passage of Parking Sign Ordinance 23-13. Mike Bruner seconded. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-aye, and Gayle Landeck-aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

POLICE:

Skip Grigas spoke to the Board about hiring 2 part time officers and 1 full time officer.

Skip Gigas let the Board know that the Police Department got a Polaris Ranger donated from the Herscher First Responders Golf Outing. Chief Quick let the Board know that the Golf Outing wanted to buy something for the department not just give the money raised at the Outing. Chief Quick stated that the Police Department used $2,440.00 of last year's donations to cover the remaining amount of Polaris.

President Shannon Sweeney let the Board know that he spoke with Buckingham’s Mayor about the Police covering them as well and is asking that Buckingham pays $40,000 a year for coverage. Buckingham isn’t sure they can come up with this amount of money and will get back to us.

OLD BUSINESS:

President Shannon Sweeney told the Board that he had spoke to someone at Surf Internet and they (Surf) had spoke with the EPA about the oil spill at the Leiser building and the EPA will be sending all the information to the Illinois Land Management. President Shannon Sweeney said he will be meeting with someone from Surf about getting fiber optic internet in Herscher.

NEW BUSINESS:

Mike Bruner motioned to approve donation to the Kiwanis Club in the amount of $50. Skip Grigas seconded. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-aye, and Gayle Landeck-aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

President Shannon Sweeney said that the new sidewalk policy went into place, the new policy will add that not only are sidewalks installed before a home can sell but also be up to code.

President Shannon Sweeney said that Courtyard Estates would like to do an event at the new Dog Park.

President Shannon Sweeney said someone had contacted him about doing a fireworks show at the Herscher Christian Church, the fireworks were donated from Union Hill. They would need to get approval from the Board to do this along with finding a spot to do it.

OPEN TO THE FLOOR:

Nothing to report

EXECUTIVE SESSION:

Jacob Wagner made a motion to enter Executive Session (7:47 pm) to discuss appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the Village of Herscher and Potential Litigations. Mike Bruner seconded. Roll call taken Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-absent, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Gayle Landeck-aye, and Skip Grigas-aye. All in favor; motion carried.

Jacob Wagner motioned to exit executive session at 8:46 p.m. Jeremy Bauer seconded. All in favor motion carried.

Skip Grigas motioned to approve the hiring of Trevor Berns as a new part time officer. Jacob Wagner seconded. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-aye, and Gayle Landeck-aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

Skip Grigas motioned to approve the hiring of Paul Berge as a new full-time officer. Jeremy Bauer seconded. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-aye, and Gayle Landeck-aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

Mike Bruner motioned to approve $24.00 an hour for part time officers. Jeremy Bauer seconded. Roll call taken: Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-aye, and Gayle Landeck aye. All in favor; Motion Carried.

Motion to adjourn by Jeremy Bauer. Skip Grigas Seconded. All in favor. Motion carried.

https://herscher.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bd-Minutes-August-21-2023.pdf