Kankakee Times

Village of Herscher Board of Trustees met Sept. 5.

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 Jacob Wagner, and Andy Cotter (arrived at 7:15pm). Skip Grigas and Gayle Landeck were absent. Also present, Deputy Village Clerk Vannessa Weaver, Chief of Police Kurt Quick, Attorney Chris Bohlen, and Janet Mau from The Herscher Pilot.

Jacob Wagner moved to approve the Regular minutes of August 21, 2023; Mike Bruner seconded. All in favor; Motion carried.

Jacob Wagner moved to approve the Executive minutes of August 21, 2023; Jeremy Bauer seconded. All in favor; Motion carried.

STREETS:

Jacob Wagner let the Board know that the new sign is up just south of town.

Jacob Wagner spoke about the house that is next to the new house on Main Street, the house recently sold and the alley in the back is grass so they would like it graveled so they can get to their garage.

Jacob Wagner let the Board know that he spoke with Al Deany and Al let him know that we cannot put the new shed at the Sewer Plant running off the old well. Jacob is working on getting more quotes.

Vannessa Weaver let the Board know that we had a visit from OSHA for the Streets Department and we will need to fix things at the Quonset Shed to have it up to code. Will work on getting our Electrical Inspector out to look over all the building the Village owns.

Andy Cotter let the Board know that he has had multiple people reach out about cutting the curb at the new walking path and wanting to see if Streets could look into it.

FINANCE:

Mike Bruner presented the Accounts Payable Report totaling $94,233.92 to the Board for payment. Mike Bruner moved to accept the accounts payable as presented. Jacob Wagner seconded. Roll call taken Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-absent, and Gayle Landeck-absent. All in favor; Motion Carried.

Payroll presented totaled $20,404.36. Mike Bruner moved to accept payroll as presented, Jeremy Bauer seconded. Roll call taken Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Gayle Landeck-absent, Skip Grigas- absent and Jeremy Bauer-aye. All in favor; motion carried.

Mike Bruner added:

- The second distribution from the County for Real Estate Taxes came in at $20,319.65.

Mike Bruner let the Board know that he would like to investigate possibly moving money to the Illinois Funds as they are paying 5.50% in interest rates and the other banks are only at 0.2%. Andy Cotter said he would like to reach out to State Bank of Herscher and Midland States Bank to see if they would be better on their interest rates. The Board agreed and it was agreed that if they would come to at least 4.00% we would keep money with them.

PARKS:

Andy Cotter let the Board know that everything went really well with Labor Day.

WATER AND SEWER:

Jeremy Bauer let the Board know that Well 8 has been fixed and they are looking into getting Well 7 looked at.

Jeremy Bauer let the Board know that Maple Street has been staked out for the new water main being installed. Keith will do a flow test on Elm Street.

ORDINANCE:

Jacob Wagner moved to approve Sara Meister to Code Officer in addition to her Sergent position. Jeremy Bauer seconded. Roll call taken Jacob Wagner-aye, Mike Bruner-aye, Andy Cotter-aye, Jeremy Bauer-aye, Skip Grigas-absent, and Gayle Landeck-absent. All in favor; Motion Carried.

Jacob Wagner spoke about the house on Elm Street and the large piles of dirt out front. He said that multiple people have complained about the mess and noise that keeps happening at this location. Attorney Chris Bohlen said he will look up what can be done to put a stop to the construction at this location.

Jacob Wagner spoke about the house on Elm Street that has had multiple big trucks parked at the house. The renters have a new truck and race cars that are parked at the house. They had also been parking vehicles in the front yard. Chief Kurt Quick let the board know that tickets have been written but he was unable to deliver the tickets to this address. They will mail all tickets to the renters instead of trying to get in physical contact.

Jacob Wagner spoke about the Russian house on Oak, they had been sent letters and they letters had been returned to Village as undeliverable.

Jacob Wagner said that Gayle Landeck will mail a letter to Bonomo’s about their food trailers and that they can be parked there until the end of October.

Jacob Wagner let the Board know that he spoke to a new company about the cameras for the Village. There will be a total of 10 cameras installed throughout the Village. He will be working with the guy from the company about where to put the cameras.

POLICE:

Chief Kurt Quick stated that everything went very well with Labor Day and they didn’t have any issues.

Chief Kurt Quick let the Board know that Vannessa Weaver had spoke to him about getting an Emergency Response Plan put together. He will be reaching out to the County for help on this.

OLD BUSINESS:

President Shannon Sweeney spoke about the oil barrel that was hit while boring at the corner of Rte 115 and Main Street and that IEPA will be excavating the area on September 7.

NEW BUSINESS:

Attorney Chris Bohlen will look at the new Wind Turbine Contract and will get back to President Shannon Sweeney on his recommendations.

President Shannon Sweeney read the letter that resident Deb Weerts wrote to the Board about her concerns with the door at the Police entrance, she stated she felt like it was unsafe and would like to see it upgraded to something new secure. She said that she met with Chief Quick and was impressed with him and happy to have him as the new Chief.

OPEN TO THE FLOOR:

Nothing to report.

Motion to adjourn by Mike Bruner. Seconded by Jacob Wagner. All in favor. Motion carried

https://herscher.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bd-Minutes-September-5-2023.pdf