Grundy Reporter

Coal City Village Board of Trustees met Sept. 27.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

At 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, Mayor Dave Spesia called to order the meeting of the Coal City Village Board in the boardroom of Village Hall. Roll call-Ayes; Trustee Dave Togliatti, Trustee Dan Greggain, Trustee Tim Bradley, Trustee Sarah Beach, Trustee Bill Mincey and Mayor Spesia. Also in attendance were Matt Halloran from Chamlin Engineering, Police Chief Chris Harseim, Associate Attorney Erin Monforti and Matt Fritz, village administrator. Absent; Trustee Pamela Noffsinger.

All present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

The minutes for the regular Village Board meeting on September 13, 2023 was presented for approval. Greggain and Mincey each had amendments, which were incorporated within the draft for approval. Togliatti moved to approve the minutes with the changes, second by Mincey. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Bradley, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Noffsinger. Motion carried.

The warrant list was presented and reviewed by the Board. Spesia had a question regarding Indicom, which Fritz clarified. Mincey moved to approve the warrant list as written, second by Togliatti. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Bradley, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Noffsinger. Motion carried.

There was no public comment at this meeting.

Mayor Spesia highlighted points of a proclamation for General Federation Woman's Clubs ("GFWC”) Illinois Step up to End Hunger Day of Service.

The event will take place at the United Methodist Church as a drive through experience. Residents may donate food items and/or money during the hours of 10am to 2pm on September 30, 2023.

Mr. Fritz stated there are two Planning and Zoning Board members up for re-appointment Jill Breneman and Amanda Burns. Their appointments were not up in May as the others, so they are being re-appointed at this time with a five-year term. Bradley moved to re-appoint Jill Breneman and Amanda Burns to the Planning and Zoning Board, second by Beach. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Bradley, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Noffsinger. Motion carried.

Ordinance 23-24 a final plat amendment and variance to increase the number of driveways in Big Timber Subdivision was presented to the Board for consideration. Mr. Fritz explained that Mr. Shawn Hamilton's petition was subject to a public hearing at the meeting of the planning commission on September 18, 2023. The two items submitted for consideration and recommended unanimously to this board include; 1.) an amendment to the final plat subdivision which would provide two more buildable single family residential lots; 2.) a variance that would allow two additional entrances on Big Timber Drive. This approval will allow Big Timber Subdivision to become complete with a cul de sac to be constructed at the current dead end. Bradley moved to adopt Ordinance 23-24 granting an amendment to the final plat of subdivision with a variance allowing additional entrances onto E. Big Timber, second by Greggain. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti; Greggain; Bradley, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Noffsinger. Motion carried.

Mr. Hamilton expressed his gratitude to the board and stated this was another great example of a private and public partnership that worked out very well. A lot of time spent with meetings, which comes with local government but an overall good outcome. Hamilton thanked Fritz for his assistance and time.

Ordinance 23-25 regarding the acquisition of property at 425 S. Broadway. Fritz provided explanations and purchase contracts to the board on the property as well at 435 S. Broadway. The properties are currently being utilized as residential rentals within a C-4 district. The owner of these properties has been speaking with the village attempting to see if an agreement could be arranged. The properties have been listed and the total acquisition due to only acquiring 425 and 435 S. Broadway is than previously contemplated due to only purchasing 2 of the 3 available properties. There is one remaining property at 405 S. Broadway that has two buildings which is the old Methodist church along with the office annex behind it. The idea behind the purchase of these older homes would be to remove them so they no longer would be rented within the C-4 district.

Mr. Bradley had a prepared comment, which he read aloud to the board. Bradley has been on the board for 10 years and the properties have been offered to the village numerous times. They were originally offered for over $1 million dollars and incrementally lower since to as low as $375,000 for the entire corner. With this negotiation it has gotten the village these 2 smaller properties for $230,000; full list price which would mean that we valued the remaining property with the church at only $145,000. Unfortunately, all this deal does is make the church property more expensive for any acquisition in the future. Bradley's opinion is the board has no plans for these parcels. Bradley stated that several members had said that this property is being obtained to build a new village hall; a village hall that we can't build for another six or seven years. Yet other board members just don't want to see run down houses on Broadway. There are empty lots and closed buildings that could be commercially developed utilizing village finances and incentives, but instead the board purchased two rundown houses for more than we should pay and turn them into more empty property on Broadway. The corner of Rt. 113 and Broadway remains undeveloped, Coal City pharmacy is closed, CVS and Berkot's will soon be in competition with Jewel in Diamond, but at least the village got rid of these two houses and maybe someday will pay even more for the neighboring parcel and build a village hall. Bradley stated that this is an underutilization of taxpayer dollars and is confusing movement with progress.

Greggain moved to adopt Ordinance 23-25 allowing for the acquisition of property at 425 S. Broadway, second by Togliatti. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Beach and Mincey. Nays; Bradley. Absent; Noffsinger. Motion carried.

Greggain moved to adopt Ordinance 23-26 allowing for the acquisition of property at 435 S. Broadway, second by Togliatti. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Beach and Mincey. Nays; Bradley. Absent; Noffsinger. Motion carried.

Resolution 23-14 Special detail to assist Dresden Generating Station during the outage. Harseim explained that the police assisted at the outage last year and were again approached this year to assist from October 30, 2023 to November 17, 2023 for a 19-day outage. The time will be from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., which is the only change from last year on this agreement. We want to be good neighbors and help. The areas covered will be Dresden, Pine Bluff and Collins starting on October 30th. The police department will be reimbursed one time gas fee, pay for utilizing village squad cars and will be paid the same stipend as the county. There are hundreds of contractors going in and out and this helps with the safety of those coming in and out.

Spesia stated he appreciated this assistance. Bradley asked if the village was indemnified. Fritz and Harseim both confirmed that the village was and that will be attached to the agreement for filing.

Bradley moved to adopt Resolution 23-14 entering into an agreement with Constellation providing special police detail for their upcoming outage, second by Beach. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Bradley, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Noffsinger. Motion carried.

Mr. Halloran requested approval for final payment to D Construction on one of the contracts for general street maintenance program. The total amount came in a bit higher than the contract amount but they added a couple of street after the bids came in beneath the engineers estimate. Despite the increased quantities, this project still came within their budget with a total of $269,658.88. The other MFT project coming up should be approved by IDOT soon. Bradley moved to approve payment of 100% for the annual street & alley program to D Construction in the amount of $269,658.88, second by Beach. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Bradley, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Noffsinger. Motion carried.

Mayor Spesia extended his condolences to the family and fellow firefighters of Wilmington fire fighter paramedic David Pollack; who also served as a part time fire fighter paramedic with the Coal City Fire Department.

Spesia announced the remaining dates for "Ride Your Bike to School Day" as September 28, 2023 and October 4, 2023 and to use caution as they are moving quickly to and from school. Spesia also thanked Mrs. Beach and park board, Dan Greggain, Max Valdez for helping on the car show; Coal City staff, Matt and Linda; Public Works; Vendors; Businesses; Volunteers and Residents for making Fall Fest a success. He also congratulated Bob Davis as the 2023 Community Service Award winner, which was well deserved.

Mr. Mincey stated that Second Avenue construction should be starting in the next two weeks.

Mrs. Beach recapped some fall fest items that Spesia had covered and indicated that over-all it turned out to be a great event. Beach thanked Linda Sula for the behind the scenes work and garbage detail as well as the stellar maintenance department. Beach explained that the Coaler Business Alliance had a meeting and will be rolling out the passport program again for Small Business Saturday, more details will be coming out soon. Residents make purchases and will get a stamp in their passport and then turn those in for Chamber Gift Certificates.

Bradley, thanked Beach for her hard work during Fall Fest as well Linda, the Chief and the Fire Department. Bradley also stated that he would like to schedule a finance committee meeting the week of October 16th or the week of October 23rd. He also congratulated Ann Gill on her job at the Coal City School District.

Greggain stated that there were 77 cars at the Fall Fest and there would have been more had the weather been better.

Togliatti explained that he had relatives in from Hawaii and they had complimented on how beautiful the flower pots are on Broadway. Togliatti also stated that they are very nice and that Donna of Garden Creations does a very nice job.

Halloran reiterated that the start of Second Avenue construction will be beginning soon. Spesia asked about how long this job will take? Halloran explained that at this point, most likely into the winter and finish in the Spring of 2024 with the paving.

Harseim stated that Beach and Linda did an amazing job on the maps given to the police department showing everything going on at the Fall Fest. It was a good visual for everyone. An action plan also was set up with the fire department. Harseim stated it was nice seeing the whole village come together for the event. The police department sold almost $400.00 in t-shirts for the scholarship fund. Harseim also stated that Halloween hours for this year will be on October 31, 2023 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Fritz went over budget items through August 2023, which is 9 of 26 payrolls.

Starting with the expenditures he explained the following:

Discretionary Spending - TIF fund currently at 2% of expenditures

Revenues:

-$220,000 of that budget will go to assist the Sanitary Modernization Project and the Water Treatment Plant Expansion

-General fund currently in excess of 35% which is with less than half of the property taxes collected to date

-Fund balance in Fund #78 is currently positive at $29,075 due to the final façade improvement participant has fully repaid their entire loan

Bradley asked if there are any façade improvements left at this time. Fritz stated there are none, however there is $110,000 budgeted if a business decided to do so. Bradley thanked Fritz for creating such a successful program.

-Sanitary Sewer Improvement has $283,083 which is around the final amount to complete the project.

Fritz congratulated Gill on her new job and thanked her for the many years of preparing articles and staying after meetings for the village. Fritz also announced that Sharon Johnson, Constellation's Government Affairs representative offered a tour of the Braidwood Nuclear Station. They are putting something together and you are welcome to attend just let him know.

Bradley moved to adjourn the meeting, second by Beach. Roll-call Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Bradley, Beach, Mincey and Mayor Spesia. Nays; none. Absent; Noffsinger. Motion carried at 7:37 p.m.

https://coalcity-il.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/VB-Meeting-Minutes-Web-09-27-2023-1.pdf