The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Village Hires New Lawyer

By: Shirley Linder, Quill Editor

Bill Rasmussen of Capps, Ancelet, Clark & Rasmussen of Carthage was hired as the village attorney at the Stronghurst monthly meeting June 4th. Voting was Brendan Schaley-yes; Deb Hale-yes; Amanda Kane-yes; and David Vancil-yes, Tony Anderson-No; Trustee Mike Bohnenkamp served as pro tem in absence of Mayor Eric Chockley.

Mr. Rasmussen grew in up La Harpe and has been involved in municipal work for Warsaw and Lomax in the past. The monthly fee will be $600 and will include Mr. Rasmussen attending each of the board meetings and answering a variety of questions. Should there be court appearances and disputes there will be an extra charge of $150/hour. Both the board and Mr. Rasmussen agreed there was no need for a contract.

Mike Bohnenkamp as chairman of the Police Department committee said the police department was willing to split the cost of attorney with the village.

Brendan Schaley said the police department is looking to make some changes and will need legal guidance.

Dave Schaab, marketing manager for Waste Management was present to thank the board for going with the 96 gallon carts now in use for recycling as well as to explain about recycling.

Schaab said there was a glitch or two the first week of pick up and he is trying to get to the bottom of them. He said there was word going around unless the containers were 1/2 full they would not be picked up. He said this is not true, as they want all the recycleables they can get.

Mr. Schaab said there is much more that can be recycled now than in past. For example bottles are not required to have the caps removed, envelopes with windows, more plastics etc.

He briefly explained how everything is loaded onto a conveyor belt which now is equipped electronically to sort cans, plastic, paper, and cardboard. What's left on the conveyor belt is manually sorted. There has been a 35% increase in weight of recyclables since carts have been put into use.

Police report for the month of May included: 161 hours worked; 1288 mileage; 10 traffic stops; 3 verbal warnings; 2 written tickets; 7 uniform traffic tickets; 1 notice to appear; 6 service calls; 2 agency assists; and 18 business courtesy checks.

In other business heard:

• from Sara Nimrick and Linda Clifton on the upcoming 125th celebration. They handed out an event schedule and also thanked the board for the things they have done.
• from Harold Shrum that he had been asked to remove the trees he recently planted. The issue was tabled until the next meeting.
• The board is in the process of adopting a tree ordinance stating trees cannot not be planted less than 33' from the center of street and nothing can be planted on the outside of the sidewalk.
• Paid Illinois Rural Water Dues in the amount of $282.80.
• Need to get 3 bids in order to install air conditioning in the city hall.
• the school had asked the village workers to dig at the newly constructed concession stand at the school. The board agreed they could do that if the contractor is on the site at the time.
• Tabled talk on a safe until more than Farm King is checked.
• Gave a $100 donation to Jim Blender for the 125th fire works
• Will receive $1396.36 from the insurance company for the roof on city hall that was damaged by storms. After the shingles are replaced they will receive $759.74 more

Present was: Trustees, Mike Bohnenkamp, pro tem, Brendan Schaley, Deb Hale, Amanda Kane, Tony Anderson, David Vancil; Employees, Lou Ann Nortrup, Ronnie Gittings, Mike Nelson, Lynn Hoyt; Guests, Bill Rasmussen, David Schaab, Doug Hale, Sara Nimrick, Linda Clifton, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Shrum, and Shirley Linder.

The next meeting will be Monday, July 2 at 7 p.m.