The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by Tee, River Rat News - Special For The Quill
The Oquawka Village Board held its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, February 4th.
Present were Village President Nancy Bundy, Trustees Don Rice, Shawn Lain, Tammy Bundy, Brian Collier, Scott Ray Branda Tee and Village Attorney Andy Youngquist. Village Clerk Jacqui Smith was absent.
OPEN DISCUSSION
I asked what was the best way to obtain minutes of previous meetings. I explained that I had been to Village Hall twice last week to get the minutes of a special meeting that was held on Thursday, January 23rd. I went on to say that a note had been left for the Village Clerk stating my request along with my name and phone number, but I had not been contacted. Nancy told me she would look into it.
I then asked if the public was entitled to come to Village Hall and listen to the board's recording of its meetings. Youngquist answered no, and went on to explain that closed sessions were recorded per Illinois statute and open meetings were only recorded to use as a tool to help the Village Clerk write the minutes and the recording itself was not the minutes of the meeting. Lain then asked Youngquist to clarify if the public was not allowed to hear the recording or if the village wasn't required to provide the recording. Youngquist answered the village was not required to provide the recording.
MAYOR AND STAFF REPORT
The next work session will be on February 20th. Nancy noted she will have discussion of the boat harbor, marijuana law, and flood on the agenda and asked the board if they have other items they would like to add to the agenda to please have them to her no later than the 14th.
Tee noted there are still no work session meeting minutes and that was something that must be done according to a recent audit. Tee asked if the minutes are required to be done within a certain amount of time after the meeting. Nancy replied that was correct. Tee then asked if that shouldn't be one of the Village Clerk's priorities. Nancy said she would talk to Jacqui about it.
ATTORNEY REPORT
Youngquist encouraged the board to think about and enact what they want to do regarding the new marijuana law. He said right now there are five recreational licenses in state police district 14. He went on to say in 2020 there will be seventy-five and in 2021 there will be two hundred ten available for the area. He explained somebody, at some point, is going to come into Oquawka and want to open up a cannabis dispensary. Nancy asked about points they need to consider. Youngquist answered locations to allow and if the village wants to tax it.
PARKS & RECREATION
The village received a letter stating it is currently not qualified to receive grant money because of a clerical issue. The issue is being resolved and upon resolution, the village would eligible for grants.
FIRE REPORT
Fire Chief Troy Jern was unable to attend the meeting but submitted reports for year-end 2019 and January 2020.
FLOOD COMMITTEE
Lain stated he had spoken with Paul Osmond from DNR and was told that remaining sand that was placed on the levee for the flood must be removed before any buyout or reimbursement money would be distributed. This brought up a long discussion trying to determine what sand was in question. Nancy will contact Paul Osmond for clarification on what needs to be done to be in compliance
Mick Olson provided information about a removable flood wall for the two openings in the levee. This wall would negate the need for blocking the openings with sand and sand bags. Mick stated the cost for materials would be $10,000-15,000 per opening. Various grants that would help with the cost were discussed. Mick noted one of the grants has a pre-application that is due Friday. He offered to have his office work on the application due to the impending deadline. Nancy agreed to allow his office to submit the application on the village's behalf.
OLD BUSINESS
After some discussion Lain made a motion to accept a bid for $16,875 from Precision Company to hydro-blast both pools and refinish. Second by Collier.
Rice: YES Lain: YES Bundy: YES Collier: YES Ray: YES Tee: YES
Nancy stated Northwest Restoration closed their doors and Bi State Masonry has apparently bought out their contracts. After some discussion it was decided to allow Bi State Masonry to perform the tuckpointing, at the same cost, that was previously awarded to Northwest.
Due to Illinois' rising minimum wage, the pool manager will earn $14/hr, assistant manager $12/hr, lifeguards $10/hr.
The board seemed split on a decision to vacate the fire station property in order to complete the sale to OFPD. After some discussion regarding title insurance, Youngquist stated "title insurance is not a requirement to convey property. The agreement includes a title insurance component. The title insurer that buyer has chosen to use, Attorney's Title Guarantee, would not insure over that issue. I have maintained from the very beginning that an ordinance specifically vacating that parcel of ground is not necessary to convey that parcel of ground from the Village to Fire Protection district. Attorney's Title disagrees with me and simply vacating that ground by ordinance does nothing that I don't think was going to happen anyway by other ordinances and agreements already in place." When asked by Ray Youngquist stated "It's my opinion this isn't necessary, Attorney's Title disagrees with me." Tee said it may not be necessary but this is what's going to close the deal. Lain stated there are no guarantees and he's heard that for six months. Tee stated she has talked to Donna twice this week and this is all they're waiting on. Tee stated if they vacate, OFPD would be ready to close in 7-21 days.
Lain asked Youngquist if they vacate does it get vacated to OFPD before the purchase agreement or does it get vacated to the village and then it gets signed over. Youngquist answered "No, vacating has nothing to do with ownership. Vacating is a quality. If we were selling the fire station parcel to Jones and Smith Co. I would absolutely agree that it needs to be vacated but we're not selling it to Jones and Smith Company, we're conveying it to Oquawka Fire Protection District, which, itself, is a public agency."
Tee said but it's not different in their eyes and had we vacated months ago this would have already been done. She went on to say that this is what it's going to take to for them to close this deal.
Rice brought up the special meeting, asking did we not vote to vacate after closing. Youngquist answered what you agreed to was to vacate if the closing occurred on or before January 31st.
Tee stated she was ready to vacate to get this done.
Tammy asked about closing the bank account that is designated for the Bergman Trust after the sale. Youngquist stated "The village is a beneficiary of the trust. The village doesn't have any authority on how it is governed or how it is distributed. You guys receive a check, that check goes into a bank account that you have labeled the Bergman Trust. What would happen is this village would assign any proceeds received from the Bergman Trust to the Oquawka Fire Protection District. It is up to the Bergman Trust to decide if the Oquawka Fire Protection, going forward, if the Oquawka Fire Protection District should receive any of those funds via the village. The village would simply sign an assignment that says as long as this village received funds from the Bergman Trust, the village will assign those funds to the Oquawka Fire Protection District. Period. That's all it is." Tammy asked if we do this assignment, the funds wouldn't keep coming to the village, they would go directly to OFPD? Youngquist answered that would be a determination to be made by the trustees.
Ray made a motion to adopt ordinance #899 vacating certain public grounds. Second by Tee. Rice, Lain, Bundy, Collier, Ray, Tee approved. Motion Carried.
Lain said he had made contact with Myers Tree Farm about planting some trees. He noted they have removed a number of trees, including from our parks, and would like to replace a few of those. Types of trees were discussed including a type called "Service Berry' that changes colors from red, white, and blue for Memorial Park. Motion made by Collier to spend up to $6000 at Myers Tree Farm for the planting of various trees. Second by Tee. All said "yes" in a roll-call vote, motion was approved.
The village will rehire Destinee Cornic for the pool manager position.
CLOSED SESSION
Nancy asked for a motion to go into closed session to discuss the setting of a price for sale or lease of property owned by the public body to the fire district.
Jeff Tee /River Rat News