Grundy Reporter

Coal City Village Board of Trustees met Sept. 10.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

https://coalcity-il.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/VB-Meeting-Minutes-09-10-2025-Web.pdf

Call meeting to Order

At 7:00pm on Wednesday, September 10, 2025, Mayor Dave Spesia called to order the regular board meeting of the Coal City Village Board in the boardroom of Village Hall. Roll call was taken with Trustee Dave Togliatti, Trustee Dan Greggain, Trustee Pam Noffsinger, Trustee Ross Bradley, Trustee Bill Mincey and Trustee CJ Lauterbur present. Also in attendance were Attorney Mark Heinle, Chief Mike Imhof and Matt Fritz, Village Administrator.

Pledge of Allegiance

All present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

Approval of Minutes

Mayor Spesia asked for comments, corrections, or questions regarding the meeting minutes from August 25, 2025. Seeing none, he entertained a motion to approve the minutes.

Motion to approve the meeting minutes was made by Trustee Lauterbur, seconded by Trustee Mincey. Motion carried with Trustee Togliatti, Trustee Greggain, Trustee Bradley, Trustee Mincey, Trustee Lauterbur voting yes. Trustee Noffsinger abstain.

Approval of Warrant List

During the discussion of the warrant list, a trustee questioned whether the village had rented inflatables for Fall Fest from two different places, noting that both Fun Bounce and Fun Ones were listed on pages 3 and 6 with the description "Fall Fest inflatable remaining balance." It was clarified that the village had always gotten the inflatables for the middle part from Fun Bounces, while the wrecking ball and other games were obtained from Fun House as well.

Another question was raised about whether the Police Department always rented golf carts, and the answer was yes.

Motion to approve the warrant list was made by Trustee Togliatti, seconded by Trustee Bradley. Motion carried with Trustee Togliatti, Trustee Greggain, Trustee Noffsinger, Trustee Bradley, Trustee Mincey, and Trustee Lauterbur voting yes.

Public Comment

None.

Ordinance 25-20 Switch Stop Sign at Intersection of E. Second Street and N. Washington Street

Village Administrator Matt Fritz explained that there had been questions concerning the neighborhood, which has many stop signs when traveling on Second Street. He noted that the focus had been on north-south means of getting from Route 113 upwards. There was a request for a stop sign at Second Street, so Chief Imhof conducted a traffic study and recommended switching the stop sign to have north-south traffic stop at the intersection of E. Second Street and N. Washington Street, instead of east-west traffic. Fritz mentioned that the change would be communicated to the neighborhood prior to implementation, as all stop signs are documented in the Village code book.

Chief Imhof added that the department had received complaints about Washington Street being like a "mini highway" with speeding vehicles. The police had been deploying a speed trailer in the area throughout the summer to collect data and increase their presence. Despite police presence during the traffic study, people were still exceeding the speed limit and rolling through stop signs going east and west. The Chief noted that residents were getting frustrated that all stop signs were on east-west streets. He believed switching the stop signs would benefit both directions by slowing northbound and southbound traffic on Washington Street while giving east-west travelers a reprieve from all the stop signs.

Motion to adopt Ordinance Number 25-20 Amending Chapter 77 of the Village Code to Switch the Stop Signage at the intersection of E. Second Street and N. Washington Streets was made by Trustee Lauterbur, seconded by Trustee Bradley. Motion carried with Trustee Togliatti, Trustee Greggain, Trustee Noffsinger, Trustee Bradley, Trustee Mincey, and Trustee Lauterbur voting yes.

Final Payment to DPS Equipment for Clarifiers Repainting

Village Administrator Matt Fritz explained that this item was on the agenda due to its size. He noted that the repainting of the clarifiers had been completed, with a savings of about $58,000 to the village through working with DPS. The project timing had been coordinated with sanitary operator schedules to minimize disruption when one of the clarifiers would be down. Fritz mentioned that beyond painting, some mechanical upgrades were also completed. The east clarifier had been previously paid for, and this payment of $73,000 was for the west clarifier.

Motion to authorize the final payment to DPS Equipment Services for $73,000 for completion of the repainting of the West clarifier was made by Trustee Bradley, seconded by Trustee Lauterbur. Motion carried with Trustee Togliatti, Trustee Greggain, Trustee Noffsinger, Trustee Bradley, Trustee Mincey, and Trustee Lauterbur voting yes.

Final Payment to Marking Specialist Corp for S. Broadway Restriping

Village Administrator Matt Fritz reported that this expense came in slightly under the bid amount, with a final payment of $70,158.54 to Marking Specialist Corp. He noted that thermoplastic paint had now been applied to South Broadway all the way south to Spring Road, which should last quite a while. Fritz mentioned that while crosswalk stampings had been in the maintenance budget, they were still in good condition and could last approximately two more years, so that work was deferred.

Motion to authorize the payment of $70,158.54 to Marking Specialists Corp. for completion of the South Broadway Re-Striping Project Completion was made by Trustee Mincey, seconded by Trustee Lauterbur. Motion carried with Trustee Togliatti, Trustee Greggain, Trustee Noffsinger, Trustee Bradley, Trustee Mincey, and Trustee Lauterbur voting yes.

Community Service Award Winner Selection

The Village Clerk distributed ballots for the Community Service Award selection. The board had narrowed down the nominees from 11 to 4 finalists.

During the discussion, Trustee Greggain questioned whether nominees should be Coal City residents, noting that two of the finalists didn't live in Coal City. Trustee Bradley responded that the award should be based on what the person does for the Village rather than residency status. It was agreed that non-residents who support the Village should be considered.

After voting, Mayor Spesia noted that the winner would not be announced publicly at this meeting because they needed to call the winner first to confirm acceptance. The award presentation was scheduled for 5:00 PM during Fall Fest, along with the car show winner announcement. This presentation will be held out front of Babe's Tap.

Report of the Mayor

Mayor Spesia thanked those who attended the public meeting on September 4th regarding the park improvement plan, noting the great discussion and valuable input.

He acknowledged that the following day, September 11th, would be a day to remember the events of that horrific day.

Mayor Spesia then asked for a moment of silence to observe the assassination of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, who was killed while giving a speech at a college in Utah. He noted that the president had issued an executive order to fly the flag at half-staff through Sunday at 6pm.

Finally, the Mayor thanked all those involved in planning Fall Fest, scheduled for that Friday and Saturday, acknowledging it was a major undertaking and expressing hope for cooperative weather.

Report of the Trustees

Trustee Lauterbur echoed the Mayor's comments about the September 4th event, noting that 20-25 people attended to provide input on projects.

Trustee Mincey reported that the paving and resurfacing work appeared to be finished, and he would ride around the next day to check cleanup work. He mentioned that the contractor did a better job with cleanup this year, and he wanted to thank Public Works for their work prepping Mary Street, which saved the village money. He also mentioned bringing one of his race cars to the Fall Fest car show, noting it had reached 230 mph in the eighth mile at a recent event in Martin, Michigan.

Trustee Togliatti asked for clarification on the car show time for Fall Fest starting at 3pm and ending at 5pm. Fritz then noted that they would be presenting the community service award and announcing the car show winner at 5pm.

Report of Village Clerk

The Village Clerk stated she would be attending Fall Fest that weekend and looked forward to seeing everyone there. She thanked the board members for their hard work and expressed enjoyment in working with them.

Report of Village Attorney

Village Attorney Mark noted that the next meeting would be the last opportunity to enact a grocery tax if the board wanted a seamless transition in terms of revenue with no gap between the end of this year and the beginning of 2026. He clarified that this wasn't the last opportunity to enact such a tax in general, but delaying beyond the next meeting would result in a lag before collection, which wouldn't begin until approximately June or July of next year.

He mentioned that the IML (Illinois Municipal League) would be meeting the following week and asked for a headcount of attendees for a dinner at an Italian restaurant in River North on Thursday night at 7:00 PM.

The attorney also reported that since the last meeting, the village had closed on the purchase of the Mazon property, where structures had previously been demolished.

Report of Village Engineer

Nothing to report.

Report of Chief of Police

Chief Imhof welcomed a new hire at the police department, Given Siegel from the Seneca area, who started at the academy the day after Labor Day.

He shared that a representative from the United States Marine Corps had presented certificates of appreciation to the police department and the city for their support of a recent event, despite having to close it down for about an hour.

The Chief also related a story about a call he received from a woman whose husband had experienced a medical issue. She called to thank the police department, but the Chief emphasized it had been a collaborative effort involving the maintenance department and two village employees who had initially stopped traffic and called 911 before police arrived. The woman had recently delivered pizzas to both the police department and to the maintenance crew in appreciation.

The Chief then provided statistics for the PROACT unit, where Officer Larson works part-time. For August, they had 14 total arrests (9 felony, 1 misdemeanor, and 4 warrant arrests) and confiscated 80.3 grams of cocaine/crack, 0.6 grams of methamphetamine, and 64.2 grams of fentanyl/heroin.

Report of Village Administrator

Village Administrator Matt Fritz thanked attendees of the September 4th meeting and mentioned they would be wrapping up with a public hearing prior to the next meeting before submitting the Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) application to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Regarding Fall Fest, he acknowledged Linda's extensive work on the event, with himself helping to shoulder some of the responsibility. He highlighted the new map and flyer that went out through the Free Press to inform residents. Fritz mentioned that the drone show approved at the last meeting would take place around 9:15 PM, requiring restricted parking behind buildings on the west side of Broadway. Notices were being distributed to apartment dwellers who live on the second floor on the west side of Broadway south of the tracks.

The administrator reported attending an E-911 advisory board meeting with the Chief, where they learned that Coal City's combined dispatch fee would be increasing due to increased activity by the police department rather than budget increases. This would impact the budget, but it also indicated that the Coal City Police Department was showing more activity compared to the rest of the county.

Fritz concluded by mentioning that new porta-potties would be brought in for the second day of Fall Fest, an improvement over the previous year.

Adjourn

At 7:32pm Mayor Spesia entertained a motion to adjourn. Motion first by Trustee Greggain, second by Trustee Togliatti with Trustee Togliatti, Trustee Greggain, Trustee Noffsinger, Trustee Bradley, Trustee Mincey and Trustee Lauterbur all voting yes

https://coalcity-il.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/VB-Meeting-Minutes-09-10-2025-Web.pdf