The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By: Shirley Linder, Quill Editor
At the Village of Stronghurst board meeting on Monday, June 6th, Mayor Gary Root recommended Tom Crotts as a trustee to fill the vacancy left by the late Jim Spiker. On a motion by Amanda Kane, seconded by Mike Bohenkamp the trustees voted to accept Crotts and Clerk Lou Ann Nortrup swore him in.
David Knutstom came before the board with some questions concerning the possible development of some land, which is in the city limits and owned by his father, Richard Knutstrom. Robert Corzatt is interested in putting a business on part of the land and looking to the future Knutstrom would like to have the land used for a possible housing addition. His main concern at this time is zoning and clarification that the land is not going to be governed by residential vs commercial but can be intermixed.
A lengthy discussion followed on possible placements of streets, water lines, sewer line, etc. Knutstrom said he will be having the land surveyed and then will come back to the board with more definite plans in regards to the business.
Robert Corzatt, who owns Frontline Genetics, is interested in building a 70' wide by 120-150' long building for storing seed. At present his business is located in Monmouth but they are looking to expand. Eventually they would like to include some office space within the building, as well as a possible conference room. The board approved a motion to work with the new business.
Steve Haring of MSA Professional Services gave the board an update on the new water tower. MSA and the village are waiting for IEPA to approve the construction permit amendment and time extension. Once the construction permit is approved, the village may move forward with obtaining the deed for the elevated tank property.
They are hoping the permit will arrive soon and the bidding process and bid letting could be done in August, with construction starting in October.
Haring had prepared several paint schemes for the board's consideration. Some were blue and white and some were red and white.
Ronnie Gittings reported the changing of the median filter at the pump house on June 6th had gone well. They started at 2:30 a.m. and had the tower filled and back washed by 7:30 a.m. They began the exchange at 8 a.m. and were done by 2 p.m., with backwashing and disinfecting yet to do. Gittings was not happy with the chemical numbers so was going to disinfect again on Tuesday, the 7th.
Gittings also reported on 9 trees in town that need to be taken down and 8 of those are ash trees. He had received 2 bids and was waiting on the 3rd one. He asked the trustees to take a look at each tree and decide which, or how many should be cut, as they were all large and would probably run around $1,000 each to remove.
The police report for May included: 150 hours worked; 829 squad car mileage; 10 traffic stops; 3 verbal warnings; 6 written warnings; 18 uniform traffic tickets; 7 service calls; 2 county and state agency assists; 1 ambulance agency assist; 2 arrests (1 warrant-1 criminal); 24 business checks.
In other business:
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. until the next regular meeting which will be held on Tuesday, July 5th at 7:00 p.m. Note change of date due to July 4th holiday.
Present were: Mayor Gary Root; Trustees, Betty Waterman, Tommy Crotts, David Vancil, Brendan Schaley (7:15 p.m.), Amanda Kane, Mike Bohnenkamp; Employees, Lou Ann Nortrup, Ronnie Gittings (7:10 p.m.), Danny Moore; Guests, Randy Jarvis, Yvonne Knapp, Robert Corzatt, Mark Sturgeon, Ben Hawk, Jean Crotts, Steve Haring, Shirley Linder
Clerk Lou Ann Nortrup swears Tom Crotts onto the Village of Stronghurst Board of Trustees.