The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By: Shirley Linder, Quill Editor
At the Village of Stronghurst board meeting held, Tuesday, September 3rd, the trustees voted on a "No Smoking' ordinance for the village park. This ordinance includes all smoking, including smoke vaporizers or anything of the kind.
The ordinance will follow state laws prohibiting smoking in public and no smoking will be allowed with 15 foot of the park.
The meeting was opened by Mayor Brendan Schaley leading in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Lori Hamilton, representing the Stronghurst Booster Club had three requests for the board:
1. Permission to put a tractor or sign in the tri-angle park on the highway for Fall Festival day;
2. Have the spray park open on Fall Festival day; and
3. Have the board provide toilets and hand wash stations at a cost of $250 for the day. The trustees gave approval for all three requests.
Tim Teslicka, MTC representative informed the board the village has been divided into three sections for laying fiber optic lines, which they are moving ahead with.
Ronnie Gittings said, MTC will begin doing 3 or 4 blocks of South Street from Division Street back to the highway on both sides. They will go down the streets then down the alleys.
Gittings reported Automatic Systems would be coming to address the problem with the meter not calibrating correctly at the water plant. Also the new water tower has been inspected inside and all was in compliance.
The board voted to pre-approve to begin the process of getting a permit to replace 400 foot of water main, which would include a fire hydrant, on North Logan Street.
The cost of materials will be approximately $5,000 and the village employees will do the installing. Getting engineer's drawings and EPA approval will probably take 3 to 4 months so they will wait until next spring to do the actual work.
The board approved purchasing a chorine detection system at the cost of $2700 for the water plant.
They also approved purchasing a digital scale for the water plant at a cost of $3825.
Clerk Hollie Allen and Mayor Brendan Schaley are working on a grant that would help with replacing water mains in the village.
Police report for August included: 111 hours worked; 620 miles on squad car; 2 traffic stops; 2 verbal warnings; 1 state police assist; 2 arrests; 22 business courtesy checks.
Mayor Schaley said, " January 1st when recreational marijuana becomes a legal thing it is potentially possible someone in town going to put a dispensary upon Main Street or Broadway so there are several villages large and small out there that are passing ordinances that are going to restrict those kind of things. I'm just throwing it out there to see if we are wanting to do something."
Attorney Wallace said the village has a lot of flexibility as to what they want to allow or and not allow.
The strictest being not to allow using (except on private property), dispensaries, growing, and pot lounges, etc.
Following discussion it was decided to have the attorney send a rough draft they could use as a guide and it was tabled until next month.
Also on the agenda was a food and beverage tax, which is something that will have to be placed on a ballot for the public to vote on.
Schaley said if people think it is being done to limit business or somehow discourage the restaurants from making money they are wrong because he has talked to both owners of the restaurants and they are wondering why it has taken them so long for the village to get their part.
This is another item trustees will need to discuss and decide on what will be taxed and how much and so no decisions were made.
In other business:
Present at the meeting were:
Mayor Brendan Schaley; Trustees, Mike Swisher, David Vancil, Shane Reed, Randy Jarvis, Jerry Nortrup, Mike Bohnenkamp; Employees, Ronnie Gittings, Hollie Allen, Arbry Vancil, Attorney Mariah Wallace; Guests, Virginia Ross, Lori Hamilton, Tim Teslicka, Jean Crotts, Angela Myers, Shirley Linder.
The next meeting will be held on Monday, October 7th, at 6 p.m.