The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By: Shirley Linder, Quill Editor
Winners of the annual Christmas lighting contest were revealed at the regular meeting of the Village of Stronghurst held on January 7th. The following were announced:
1st place: Barry Dowell-$100.
2nd place: Jeff & Julie Myers-$50. 3rd place: Lucas Deverell-$25.
The contest was judged by the Village Clerk Hollie Allen.
Police report for December included: 114.5 hours worked; 680 miles squad car miles; 1 traffic stop; 1 count assist; 3 ambulance assist; 3 warrant arrests; and 26 business courtesy checks. Police Chief Arbry Vancil reported the squad car had been repaired due to a broken part. Also that they were unable to get the body cam working so a representative will be coming to help with the set up.
In the financial report given by Mike Bohnenkamp it was reported they had paid $21,000 toward the water tower and $6,000 for workers compensation, otherwise they would have shown a $3,000 profit for the month.
Doug Erickson of Benton & Associates, Inc. from Macomb was present to introduce himself. He had worked with Clerk Hollie Allen on the "Safe Routes to School" grant the board recently applied for. He touched on the topics of grant money for water projects, but when asked if there were grants for downtown sidewalks and improvements he said no.
He said they would not know if the village received the applied for grant until spring.
David Vancil said they needed to budget money for sidewalk repair from Fishers on and in front of the Quill office. Shane Reed said there is only $15,000 budgeted for sidewalks and that would not be nearly enough for the project. Following more discussion, Schaley and Reed decided to talk with Jeff Nichols and get his opinion on the project.
In other business the board:
The board entered executive session for pending litigation.
Mayor Brendan Schaley said that Maguire Iron was not taking his phone calls and the village was not going to do anything at this time regarding the contract.
Present were: Mayor Brendan Schaley; Trustees, Mike Bohnenkamp, Jerry Nortrup, Shane Reed, David Vancil, Bruce Caldwell, and Amanda Kane;
Employees, Clerk Hollie Allen, Ronnie Gittings, Arbry Vancil, Attorney Bill Rasmussen; Guests, Rev. David Vidler, Virginia Ross, Mike Swisher, Doug Erickson and Shirley Linder.
The board is scheduled again for Monday, February 4, at 7:00 p.m..