The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By: Mike Rodeffer, The Quill
At the regular meeting of the La Harpe City Council on Monday, July 24th, Treasurer Crystal Graves informed the council the city audit would be done on Wednesday but, there are several city documents that cannot be found and were needed for the audit.
Some of the documents missing are payroll reports, 941s, and some bank statements. After some discussion Mayor Hasten asked Alderman Ken Brown to contact previous council person Marcia Stiller and see if she could be of any help.
Lucretia McPeak informed the board she had talked with Jeff Cozadd of Western Illinois Regional Council and he had received only two applications for a housing grant. The targeted area is from A Street West to E Street all south of Main Street. To be eligible for a grant a person needs to be a homeowner and meet certain income criteria. For more information call 309-837-3941 and ask for Jeff Cozadd.
The council tabled hiring a street department employee until the next meeting. The council will still be taking applications for a street department employee until August 7th. The council will hold a joint committee meeting, August 7th, at 6 p.m. to discuss the hiring of another street employee and also to discuss appointing an ESDA director.
The council discussed three properties in town which have excess garbage on their property. Police Chief Justin Livingston has spoken with two of the owners and is still trying to contact the other owner. One property owner was given a time frame to clean up garbage or they will be fined. No other action was taken at this time.
There was a complaint about the smell coming from the open garbage dumpster at the city shed. Tim Graves had contacted the disposal company and they now have a dumpster with lids on them, that are locked down.
Tim Graves told the council that a week ago the pump at the well plant had quit working. Graves had called Flatt's Pump and Well Service from Monmouth. Some of the lower pipes had holes in them. They replaced all the piping and also had to replace the motor on the pump. Total cost came in at $7,409.55.
Graves is going to get quotes on Remote Readers for the lift stations and also get a quote for a new computer at the city shed.
Graves said they had repaired a sewer line at the city shed.
Graves also informed the council there had been no water main breaks in the last two weeks.
Police Chief Justin Livingston informed the council that Kenny Foster has completed his schooling needed to become a police officer.
Livingston is going to get quotes for updating the police radios as the current ones are not functioning properly.
ESDA liaison Max Owsley made the council aware that on August 12th at 12:00 noon there will be a table top exercise. This will be a talk through for a disaster drill. The meeting will be at the ambulance shed and he is expecting approximately 30 people.
In other business the council:
Dennis Rankin turned in his keys as temporary Water Superintendent. He had resigned a month ago and this was his last meeting. He was thanked by all the council for helping out.
The next regular city council meeting will be August 14 at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall.
Present were alderman Randy Shumaker Greg Wisslead, Brian Covert, Dave Clover, Jerry Burford, and Ken Brown, Mayor Kat Hasten, Treasurer Crystal Graves, Clerk Lucretia McPeak, and employees Dennis Rankin, Tim Graves, Monalisa Graves, Police Chief Justin Livingston and Patrolman Kenny Foster and a handful of residents.