Kankakee Times

City of Watseka Code Enforcement Committee met Oct. 8.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

PRESENT: Aldermen Miller, Muench, Cahoe, Marcier, Anderson, Alderwoman Rohlfs, and Mayor Allhands

ABSENT: Alderman Barragree and Alderwoman DeLahr

GUESTS: Karlee Macer and Tammy Miller with Labors Home Development Corp., Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Eric Brandt

Alderman Miller opened the meeting at 6:57 pm. There was no public comment. Karlee Macer, Executive Director and Tammy Miller, Financial Director with Labors’ Home Development Corp spoke about work force priced housing in the city. They put on a short presentation about their company. They would own, develop and manage the properties. There is a parcel of land in the city that Randy and Juanita Muller own that would work for this housing project. They stated local laborers will build the units and they will hire employees within the community with benefits. They also stated the low end of the housing units would be 38 units. They also reported they could do scattered housing sites in the city depending on the size of the lots. There will be more discussion to come.

Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Eric Brandt reported on the following properties:

IDNR Flood Mitigation: $245,525.00 was received on September 25th, of the 5 million there is $1,997,611.50 left in the grant. Total reimbursements to date is $3,337,389.

Ordinance Citations: 1 warning and 8 citations issued

Façade Grant: 117 W Walnut (Sonia Bradley) has submitted an application for the Watseka Mural on her wall. She spent $14,000 and is requesting $5,000. Alderman Cahoe makes a motion to recommend to the council to give Sonia Bradley a façade grant for $5,000 and Alderman Miller seconded. Motion carried 7-0.

327 W Park Ave: Eric stated the neighbor would like to buy the lot from the city. The city purchased this lot from the county agent and removed debris and a house trailer from the lot. The City then installed a storm sewer. The majority of the committee is in agreement to not sell the lot but Alderman Anderson stated he would like for the potential buyer to come next week and state why he would like to purchase the lot. This will be put on Public Works agenda.

Adopt E Elm St: the ARC of Iroquois County would like to pickup trash on Elm St. There was a short discussion about wearing the high vis safety vests etc. when doing this. The committee was ok with letting them clean it up.

1001 W Smith St: this property is in the process of being bought from the county agent but there are about $5700 worth of liens from the city for mowing the property and for demolition of the house. The new potential owner is asking for the city to forgo the liens. After some discussion it was decided to contact the county and Attorney Cainkar to get more information.

Mayor Allhands discussed the 4-hundred-year floods that the city has experienced in the past and the drainage work the city has done to help alleviate some of the flooding. He stated social media is not always a true source of information.

Alderman Miller makes a motion to adjourn at 7:43 pm and Alderman Muench seconded. Roll call carried 7-0.

https://www.watsekacity.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Code-enforcement-10-8-24.pdf