City of Winchester City Council met March 2.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
The Winchester City Council held their monthly meeting at City Hall.
Mayor McIntire called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. with the following council in attendance: Ron Bell, Bill Jacquot, Terry Gregory, Sandy Long, Jeff Pittman, and City Clerk Teri Little Also, in attendance were Wanda Cody, City Treasurer; Caleb Handy, Police Chief; John Paul Coonrod, City Attorney; Greg Hillis, Benton & Associates; Carmen Ensinger, Scott County Times; Barb and Steve Hoots; RJ Paslay; Paul Cody; Robin Malloy.
Sandy Long led those attending meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Wanda Cody, City Treasurer presented bills for approval.
MOTION: Bill Jacquot moved, and Sandy Long seconded to pay the bills as presented. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
Mayor McIntire asked for any corrections for the minutes February 7, 2022 meeting.
MOTION: Sandy Long moved, and Jeff Pittman seconded to approve and dispense with the reading of the minutes of the regular February 7, 2022 meeting. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
Greg Hillis, Benton & Associates presented update on library progress. There has not been much construction done this past month due to weather so there is no payment application for February. The concrete blocks were delivered. The windows are still over 20 weeks out. Still trying to get color samples to be able to choose windows.
There is an invoice for 3 lights for the new addition from Rejuvenation. They are as close to the original as they can find. Seven were originally requested but agreed to go with 3 and add additional recessed lighting. The cost of the 3 lights is $1865.31. This is a reduced price since they are a discontinued fixture.
MOTION: Terry Gregory moved, and Jeff Pittman seconded to approve invoice from Rejuvenation for library lights in the amount of $1865.31. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
The IDNR grant request for payment for the pool renovations has to be resubmitted as the paperwork is not able to be located. Benton and Associates is taking care of that.
Trotter Construction will complete the self-leveling at the pool and this will conclude all the updates they were responsible for. It was mentioned that there was a hole in the diving end by the main drain. He will have that looked into prior to opening for the 2022 season.
Other updates to report. The second round for the non-sewered area is still not showing available to submit. They are keeping an eye on that so they are able to apply as soon as showing available.
Pressure reading has been done for the USDA PER.
The Downtown Beautification grant has been submitted and waiting on response.
RJ Paslay, Civic Group Park and Recreation wanted to advise of this year's spring fling on 06/04/2022. Last year was a success and they are wanting to continue this year. He is requesting
o the Pavilion for the weekend activities as needed. The weekend will kick off on Thursday 06/02 with the first Farmers Market and music on the Square. Friday will include Movie in the park sponsored by the Oddfellows and a bowling special at the bowling a Saturday will start off with a 5K to start at the park. This will include ride, walk or run to include all. In the afternoon will be specials offered at the Pool and to end the evening a bags tournament at the park. Sunday there will be specials at the Plum Creek Golf course and an escape room event at the library.
The Civic Group hopes to incorporate family fun and what Winchester has to offer.
Paslay reported that the additional playground equipment that had been ordered has arrived and being stored in the pavilion and will be installed once weather permits. He would like permission to check into buying and installing a mommy and me swing for the park. Council agreed for him to move forward in checking into getting one of these.
Robin Malloy, City Accountant presented the 2021 audit. She advised that the audit went well and was able to balance the cash and there were no findings. City actually made $260,000 for 2021.
She is working with Wanda on a spreadsheet to separate out monthly profit and expense that will help report amounts easily for review.
She advised that economic statements from all council members are due by 05/01/2022.
Bill Jacquot, Alderman presented the letter of resignation from Jennifer Barber from the pool board. The recommendation for her replacement is Lisa Hileman
MOTION: Bill Jacquot moved, and Terry Gregory seconded to accept Jennifer Barbers resignation and fill her spot with Lisa Hileman. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
The pool board discussed hiring for manager and it was decided to hire Lucy Phelps back for her second year as manager. It was agreed by all that she did an outstanding job for 2021 in running the pool. They are looking at not having an assistant manager this year and having a rotating schedule instead of the other staff.
There is a pool board meeting on 03/09/2022 at 6:30 pm if anyone would like to attend. They will be discussing the upcoming season.
MOTION: Bill Jacquot moved, and Ron Bell seconded to hire Lucy Phelps as Pool Manager for the 2022 year. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
Teri Little, City Clerk presented a couple samples of expense of setting up a point-of-sale system to start accepting credit/debit cards. This will be for in person, on-line or over the phone. Two options, one is from Intuit/QuickBooks, which is the system we currently use now for accounting, and the Square system. Both usage fees are pretty close to the same.
QuickBooks would be a monthly fee of $20.00 and $390.00 for the card reading machine. Each transaction would create a fee. For Invoice(online) it would be 3.30% + $0.30, swiping card in person 1.6% + $0.30 and manual (over the phone) is 3.30% + $0.30.
The Square fee would be no monthly fee and $49.00 for the card reader. Each transaction would create a fee. For Invoice(online) it would be 3.5% + $0.15, swiping card in person 2.6% + $0.10 and manual (over the phone) is 3.5% + $0.15.
The fee examples provided are for a $60.00 utility bill. For Online option it would be about a $2.28 fee, in person $1.26 and manually $2.28.
It was agreed to move forward in looking deeper into this and find the best fit for the city. Mayor McIntire stated that it may help in prompter payment and assist some customers to maybe avoid late fees and help in reducing the delinquent bills. It was agreed that the fees would have to be applied to each payment when this option is used.
Caleb Handy, Police Chief passed out his monthly report. His report is as follows: Assist EMS - 5; Assist Outside Agency (Police) - 7; Assist Fire Department/Fire Call - 1; Assist Motorist - 6; Building Alarm - 2; Domestic Disturbance - 3; Fight - 1; Golf Cart Inspection - 1; Juvenile - 1; Paper Service – 1; Prowler – 1; Speak to Officer - 17; Suicidal Subject – 1; Suspicious Person – 2; Suspicious Vehicle – 4; Theft – 1; Traffic Accidents – 2; Traffic Stops-Citations - 1; Traffic Stops-Verbal Warnings – 1; Traffic Stops-Written Warnings - 6; Vehicle Complaint - 3; Well Being Checks – 3. Total Vehicle Miles - 1113.
Chief Handy stated that Sunday March 6th would be Officer Watson's last day as he has taken a job with the White Hall Police Dept. Officer Bettis is on vacation next week and Officer Burk will be gone for military duty in TX from 03/03/22 to 04/24/22. This leaves the police department short handed and Chief Handy would like to hire another officer. This will be discussed in later closed session. He states that he has a couple part time officers that have really stepped up and are helping out.
There were no accidents to report during the bad winter weather that we had. He stated did help a few stuck motorists but that was it. Was nice to have the truck.
Still waiting on parts for the truck and the and the unmarked car. Hoping they will be in soon.
Wanda Cody, City Treasurer passed out the profit/loss statement for the month and the expenses.
Jeff Pittman, Alderman reported that there was an additional fee for the replacement of the lights in the water plant. The bid was $1000.00 but went over by $148.39. This was due to the extra time it took to move around the tanks and being 14 feet high. They also disconnected 4 outside lights.
Illinois Rural Electric came to install the 4 pole lights but ended up installing 5 - 40-watt lights as Bob Dolen stated that the 3 – 40 watt and 1 – 100-Watt light would not be adequate lighting for the tanks.
MOTION: Jeff Pittman moved, and Ron Bell seconded to approve the additional fee of $148.39 for lights that were replaced at the Water Plant by Gregory Electric. Roll call resulted in 4 yeas and one abstain. Motion carried.
Mayor Rex McIntire was happy to report that there are two new business's wanting to open in town. With this news it is requested that there be 2 new liquor licenses be approved for said business. The first business would be a golf simulation set up in the old Pitt Stop building on the square. This could pull in a new group of people to our downtown area especially for the golfers in the winter. They are wanting to be able to serve alcohol and have gaming machines. The second business would fill the old chiropractic building on the corner of Cherry and Walnut St. This would be an actual gaming place only.
In that past it was discussed that there were already plenty of gaming machines in town, however, the city needs to also look at the benefits of having these 2 new businesses in town. The city collects a monthly fee from the gaming machines already in town for last month the city took in a total of $4,241. The new business will also fill 2 empty buildings in town. It will bring more people to the city. The mayor asked the council to please think on this and vote next month.
The West Central Bass Fishing Team presented a letter to the city for a donation. The council agreed that donating to a specific team would open the window for continued request for money from other teams. The city donates to the West Central Cougar Boosters and this helps support all of the school. It was decided to forgo donation to specific teams.
Mayor McIntire had a visit from Vikki Bell and Janet Martin from Virginia IL. They were wanting to discuss how the city went about starting to rejuvenate the town. Virginia is in the state the city was at one time with the city lacking in business and growth. They stated after touring the town they were very impressed in our small town and how beautiful it is.
The city hall shop door is in need of replacement. Midwest Garage Door estimate is $540.00. Attorney Coonrod stated that this is considered routine expenditures and no need for a motion from the cancel to approve.
The toilet at the library needed replaced. Next year this will be included in the routine expenditures but the council will need to approve.
MOTION: Terry Gregory moved, and Jeff Pittman second to approve the replace toilet at library not to exceed $400.00. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
John Paul Coonrod, City Attorney presented Resolution 2022-03-01. This is for TIF General Building Improvements. This is to allow the council to approve on a case-by-case basis for non profit and non-commercial applications that fit the parameters of the program.
MOTION: Terry Gregory moved, and Jeff Pittman second to move to approve Resolution 2022
03-01 General Building Improvement Program. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
The Routine and Anticipated Expenditures Ordinance was passed out to review and will be approved in next months meeting. Please advise of any changes that are noticed. Ordinance 928 for Delinquent Utility Accounts was presented. This will include the raise in monthly late fees and the reconnect fees. Monthly late fees will be going from 10% not less than $10.00 to 25% not less than $30.00. The reconnect fee will now be $100.00 raised from $50.00. This is in hopes to lessen the delinquent and non-payment issues the city is experiencing at this time. This will go into effect on 05/01/2022.
MOTION: Terry Gregory moved, and Jeff Pittman second to move to approve Ordinance 928 for Delinquent Utility Accounts to go into effect on 05/01/2022. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried
Attorney Coonrod has placed a call to the North Cell Tower contact to verify payments and has left a message and awaiting response.
No public comments.
MOTION: Ron Bell moved, and Jeff Pittman second to move to closed session. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
MOTION: Ron Bell moved, and Jeff Pittman second to move out of closed session. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
MOTION: Bill Jacquot moved, and Jeff Pittman second to hire Nate White to the Winchester Police Department as Assistant Police Chief at $19.50 an hour. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried
MOTION: Ron Bell moved, and Sandy Long second to adjourn at 10:15 pm. Roll call resulted in all yeas. Motion carried.
http://www.winchesteril.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/March-2nd-2022-minutes.pdf
Alerts Sign-up