Village of Somonauk Board of Trustees met Feb. 13.
Here is the minutes as provided by the Board:
Village President Grandgeorge called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Attending
Trustees: Conley, Eade, McMillen and Merrill.
MOTION:
Trustee Conley moved to approve the minutes for the January 11, 2017 regular
board meeting. Eade seconded the motion and the following Trustees voted: Conley-yes,
Eade-yes, McMillen, Grandgeorge-yes Merrill – abstain, Grandgeorge- yes.
Motion Passed
BILLS:
Morphey presented the bills ending February 13, 2017 with a total of $29,942.50.
Morphey reported it was a small bill run.
Motion:
Trustee Conley moved to approve the bill list in the amount of $29,942.50. Trustee Eade
seconded the motion and the following Trustees voted: Trustees voted: Conley-yes, Eadeyes,
McMillen, Grandgeorge-yes and Merrill-yes.
Motion Passed
Reports of Officers:
Police:
Chief Smith was absent. Grandgeorge asked the board to review the reports.
Grandgeorge asked if there were any questions. Eade asked if the PD had had any
problems at the schools since the school had changed their drop off. Grandgeorge stated
there was always a certain amount of traffic but he had not noticed issues lately. Chief
was going to talk to the school about picking up kids at school.
Water & Sewer
Eipers reported he read meters this month and the NPDS permit was due and HR Green is
in the process of getting this ready. The permit is to run the sewer plant and to be
disinfectant. Eade asked if the hand held was repaired. Eipers reported yes, he had to get
a new reader and then he had to re-read the meters.
Street & Alleys:
Wasson reported he was out of cold patch as he has been patching the streets. He is
working on the street program. Morphey and Wasson had attended a meeting with the
county hoping to be able to partner with them in chipping some of our roads. The county
explained the Gov. Beverage was in too bad of shape but he was exploring a new product
that is a spray patch. They spray and then cover with gravel and is ready. It will extend
the road for about 3 years. Gov. Beverage is about ½ mile and then there is a section on
North St. that will need to be done. He will have prices later.
Reports of Committees:
Water & Sewer
Eade addressed the HR Green agreement. Morphey explained that Grandgeorge had
appointed HR Green the Village engineers, so this was just a formality. The price they
have listed is for the NPDES report.
Motion:
Eade moved to pay HR GREEN $1950.00 to prepare the NPDES application for the
EPA. Conley seconded the motion and the following Trustees voted Conley-yes, Eadeyes,
McMillen, and Merrill-yes.
Motion passed
Grandgeorge asked Barb Tuttle who was in the audience if she would like to address the
board with some concerns. This would be a good place since they were water & sewer
issues. Her complaint was that she had called in and requested a final bill on her house in
the Village as her grandson was purchasing it from her. Her bill was $31.12: $10.00 sur
charge and $21.12 for 2 units of water and sewer from 7/29/16 to 9/8/16. Her grandson’s
was $60.44: $10.00 for surcharge, $50.44 for a minimum charge (3 units). 9/8/16 to
10/31/16. Mrs. Tuttle feels it should be the same, she feels the Village is double dipping
and they are being over charged. Morphey explained the ordinance reads: that every
quarter the each user is charged a MINIMUM of 3 units each user is also charged $10.00
surcharge (the surcharge goes to pay off the water tower). The Village tries to be
sympatric when they know no one has been in the house or apartment and charges them
usage instead of the minimum. This is what happened. Both bills should have been
$60.44. Mrs. Tuttle made the statement that if four people move in we charge them the
same. Morphey said ’Yes’ we could that is what is in the ordinance, but we do not
usually do that. Mrs. Tittle also commented that her Grandson had not received his bill
and we called him a couple of days before the water were to be turned off. She wanted to
know why we didn’t call him before. Morphey stated she does not remember getting her
grandson’s bill back. If they would have gotten it back and we had a number they would
have called. Mrs. Tuttle also stated that the utility clerk told her they even charge
someone the minimum if they move in with only 2 weeks until read. Morphey told her
she did not hear that and it is not the village policy to do that. Grandgeorge stated that a
lot was being said and the one person who dealt with the situation was not here to answer
anything. He announced he would call the utility clerk in the morning and talk to her to
hear her side of the story. Merrill commented that the only thing Mrs. Tuttle had to
question then was the late charge on her grandson’s bill. Everything else was explained.
Morphey will let the board know the outcome of the conversation with the utility clerk.
Finance:
Verizon:
Morphey reported Verizon contract was enclosed and all our questions had been
answered at this time except the Fiber questions. Verizon did remove the one paragraph
saying we would give them an easement so they could hook up to fiber. Morphey asked
if they would make a motion to accept the agreement but with the Attorney’s approval.
Merrill asked several questions about the fiber. Who were they getting it from, how were
they going to use it. Etc. It was decided that with all the questions we were not ready to
approve the agreement. The insurance questions were answered and we have copies of
the updated surveys.
Laws & Ordinances:
Village Right of Way: Grandgeorge stated that he had concerns about several rights of
ways around the Village. It appears that some of the residents do not take care of their
right of way. There are some that a nothing but mud holes they continue to park in and
several are actually breaking down the road, causing distress to Village roads.
He has the Village Attorney looking into this to see if there is anything that can be done.
Conley stated he felt the Village couldn’t require the residents to care for the right of
ways. They are technically Village property even though the residents care for the
property. It might be opening a can of worms. Eade stated that the city of Sandwich
ended up having to mow a lot of right of way. We will wait until we hear from the
attorney.
Employee Relations:
Executive session – personnel. Grandgeorge announced this would be addressed at the
end of the meeting with no action being taken.
Streets & Alleys:
Drainage on Magnuson Ln. -In one of the past rains Grandgeorge had noticed on
Magnuson Lane that there was still an area that was flooding. It seemed that some of the
culverts were either collapsed or plugged. He asked Wasson if he would take an
assessment and perhaps get some quotes and ideas how to correct this. Morphey
presented two quotes. In looking at the quotes it was discussed that the quotes were not
apples to apples. It was then discussed the need to look for any old plats of the
subdivision and see it the original elevations were on the documents. And then discuss it
with our engineer to estimate the cost. Eipers and Morphey will look in the old files to
see if they can find anything on Magnuson Ln.
Building & Grounds:
Permanent Soccer goals: Grandgeorge presented three quotes for permanent soccer
goals. His intention is to have soccer goals year around. He was hoping to use the funds
from Summer Fest. Morphey stated that she had not received the cost of blacktopping the
park entrance of the path, but felt there would be enough money to cover the goals.
Motion:
Merrill moved to purchase two portable goals from Pevo Sports not to accede $2475.00.
Eade seconded the motion and the following Trustees voted: Eade -yes Conley-yes,
McMillen-yes, and Merrill-yes.
Motion passed
Mary Jane Turney asked to address the board. She commented on the school pick-up on
LaSalle St. She has been down in that area and it is very congested. She stated the police
have only gotten out once and directed traffic and the officer was not pleasant, it was not
the chief. She reiterated that a child is going to get hit as they dart in between the cars.
Grandgeorge will have conversation with the school.
Mrs. Turney also mentioned she had been looking for an apartment and had gone to the
old hotel to look at one. She had looked at one that was being painted. She said upon
leaving she felt very ill. After a time she went to the Doctor and he asked if she had been
exposed to mold. She stated there was mold on the walls at the hotel where the lobby
originally was located. She reported she had called Dave Baker (owner of record) and he
told her he was not the owner. There were also leaks coming from the upstairs where
there was once a place where they made meth.
Morphey stated she would call the DeKalb County Health Department and see if there is
anything they could help with and report to the board.
Motion:
At 7:43pm Merrill moved to go into executive session for personnel with no action being
taken. Eade seconded the motion and the following Trustees voted: Eade -yes Conleyyes,
McMillen-yes, and Merrill-yes.
Motion Passed
Motion:
Merrill moved to come out of executive session at 8:12pm with no action being taken.
Eade seconded the motion and the following Trustees voted: Eade -yes Conley-yes,
McMillen-yes, and Merrill-yes.
Motion Passed
Other Business
None
Adjournment
Conley moved to adjourn at 8:13pm. Eade seconded the motion and the following
Trustees voted: Eade -yes Conley-yes, McMillen-yes, and Merrill-yes..
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