Illinois Valley Times

Village of Ladd Village Board met Jan. 23

Here are the agenda provided by the board:

The Ladd Village Board met in regular session on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at the Ladd Village Hall at 121 N. Main Avenue. Village President, Frank Cattani called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm and led the pledge of allegiance to the American flag.  

Roll Call: Present: Trustees Dave Margherio, Jan Martin, Dan Nelson, Brad Nicholson, Andy Ruggerio, Molly Thrasher (6) 

In attendance: Village Clerk Rhonda Bezely, Police Chief Jacob Frund, Engineer Adam Ossola, Atty. Pat Barry Thrasher motioned/Nicholson second to accept the January 9, 2024, regular meeting minutes as presented. 

Ayes: Margherio, Martin, Nelson, Nicholson, Ruggerio, Thrasher - Motion carried 6-0 

Ruggerio motioned/Nelson second to authorize payment of the bills in the amount of $123,438.82 Ayes: Margherio, Martin, Nelson, Nicholson, Ruggerio, Thrasher - Motion carried 6-0 

Margherio motioned/Martin second to accept the Treasurer's Report for December 2023. Ayes: Margherio, Martin, Nelson, Nicholson, Ruggerio, Thrasher - Motion carried 6-0 

Correspondence: Dawn Cousar from Ladd Post Office called to thank Andy and Mario for helping her with snow removal at the Post Office. A letter of thanks was read from Sue Atkinson for the garage sale maps we provide annually.  

Public Comment: Linda Nicholson read a heartfelt letter she wrote regarding any changes being made to the Veteran’s Memorial Monument. Discussion ensued following reading of her letter. The council agreed to give Linda’s recommendation a try. We will move the POW/MIA Flag under the American Flag and then place the new Space Force Flag on the far right pole where the POW/MIA Flag was located. Ruggerio is concerned the flags may tangle. It was agreed that we would try this. Then a State of Illinois Flag will be ordered and placed under the American Flag at the Ladd Community Center. The council will observe the flags to make note of any issues with moving these specific flags. This will cost taxpayers only the price of 2 flags. This replaces the previous decisions made regarding adding 2 flag poles by the Army Tank in Veteran’s Park. Ruggerio also stated that the Village could fly Linda’s brother's American funeral flag that she donated to the Village on the Monument for Memorial Day weekend. Linda was extremely thankful for this gesture.  

Committee Reports: None 

Engineer’s Report: None 

Superintendent’s Report: Not in attendance 

Village President Cattani complimented the great job with snow removal. Cattani reported the 1987 Tandem’s radiator bracket broke and it’s been leaking pretty badly. They looked into replacing the  radiator or having the current one re-cored which will be approximately $1,500.00 less. Cattani told Englehaupt to get it in to be re-cored. Looking at the weather this is a good time to get this repair made. Nelson questioned if the cost to re-core the radiator includes a new bracket and Cattani felt it  would. Kittilson will be doing the work. 

Cattani then explained the furnace issues at the Water Treatment Plant. Englehaupt had Kettman’s provide a price for replacing the furnace due to the last 3 years' repairs being around $1,800.00. The current furnace is a 2005 Lennox and needs the burner assembly replaced which would cost upwards of $400.00. The cost to install a York 95% efficient furnace is $3,950.00. The existing furnace is currently working but Englehaupt is concerned it will go out again and he needs the council's ok to replace it when that happens. The new furnace will be approved with the bills when it happens. Nicholson mentioned the 4 furnaces over at the Community Center being available for use once we start renovations. Timing is the issue with this suggestion. 

Police Chief: Chief Frund reported on information received from Bureau County regarding end-of-the year totals on traffic stops, etc. Frund shared these with the council to show that the police department is out patrolling and taking care of things. The numbers have consistently increased and more so since installation of the Flock Cameras. The other 3 Flock Cameras are expected to be installed sometime in February.  

Building Inspector: Not in attendance 

Village Attorney: None 

Unfinished Business - Community Center Renovation to New Village Hall: Trustee Martin expressed her dissatisfaction with the council wanting to remove the employee bathroom. Discussion ensued  and this will be looked into further. The $40,000.00 line item for the bathroom is a bit skewed. This figure includes all miscellaneous plumbing changes needed for the entire building’s renovation. Ossola continues to get numbers for the council for the entire renovation.  

New Business - New Alert System for Village Residents: Bezely researched several options to replace the BCR Alerts that ended 12/31/23. She created a spreadsheet highlighting the pros and cons of two possible systems that would allow Ladd residents to receive messages about important situations happening in the Village of Ladd. Discussion ensued with detailed information for the council. It was determined that OnSolve/Code Red is the best system to invest in. OnSolve/Code Red allows  residents to be contacted via landline, text message, email, work phone, work fax, work email, or  through the free app. You can pick 1 way or all ways to be contacted. The Village Clerk’s personnel  will contact residents to verify their desired mode of contact, the language they prefer, and which types  of messages desired i.e. emergency only or Ladd events and emergency just to give a couple of  examples. Obtaining this information will take a while but we would like all residents to be connected to this system for health and safety reasons, and also to help if there is a water main break and a boil  order is necessary. Any message will show as the Village of Ladd/Code Red. Chief Frund stated this  system will be used by the police department also to alert residents about any possible situations in  Ladd. It will also be utilized to contact employees regarding open enrollments, insurance meetings,  etc. Several groups can be created which will be wonderful. Several logins will be provided with only 1 administrator. This will allow many departments to utilize it. Bezely also checked into an App. This is costly and still doesn’t work for our older population or people who don’t care for technology.  

Nicholson motioned/Nelson second to Accept the Proposal from OnSolve for a 1st-year subscription and implementation fee of $2,050.48 and then year 2 & 3 annual fee of $1,625.48 for Alert Services for 1263 people.  

Ayes: Margherio, Martin, Nelson, Nicholson, Ruggerio, Thrasher - Motion carried 6-0 

New Business – Hoerr Construction Quote for cleaning & televising village sewer lines: President  Cattani discussed the quote from Hoerr Construction for 2024 cleaning and televising areas of the Village of Ladd. The council has been very pleased with Hoerr and how they’ve cut through multiple roots that have restricted the village sewers for years. The entire town has been done once by Hoerr  over the past 6 years and they will be starting the process over again. The council feels this has been a great improvement for the residents with sewer issues during heavy rains. Thrasher motioned/Nelson second To Accept the Proposal from Hoerr Construction to Clean and Televise Areas of Sewer Lines in the Village of Ladd for $23,515.00 in 2024. Ayes: Margherio, Martin, Nelson, Nicholson, Ruggerio, Thrasher - Motion carried 6-0 

New Business – Bureau County Tourism: There is no fee to advertise in this Tourism Book. Bezely asked if the council knew of any additional events going on in the Village in 2024. Bezely will list the same events as last year with updated information and dates. The council agreed.  

Announcements: The Village received notice of funding for the DCEO grant for Main Ave. Sidewalks  so this should be happening sometime. Bezely was reimbursed for her MCI Institute & Academy Class $600 and this was put back in the general fund. Bezely asked when reservations for the Ladd Community Center should be stopped due to the council moving forward with renovation for the new  Village Hall. There is a September wedding reception booked and Bezely wanted direction so people could be contacted as soon as possible. After asking Ossola the council felt we are just in the planning stage; therefore we can continue through 2024 with reservations. Ron Larsen, owner of Ladd Lanes passed away and a donation to St Jude was made in his name by the Village of Ladd. The quarterly  Selfie with Chris P Chicken winner will end. It was a great Village event for over a year! Liquor  Licenses are due 1/31/2024 and most holders have paid already. Bezely will contact anyone who  has not paid by Monday 1/29/2024 with a friendly reminder. Utility Liens on past-due accounts were  discussed. It was decided that anyone past due $1,000.00 or more would have a utility lien filed on  their property and Attorney fees would be the homeowner's responsibility and not the taxpayers. Atty.  Pat Barry will determine what amount needs to be added to cover filing the lien and release of the lien  upon payment of the past due balance. All past-due accounts that receive a disconnect notice will  be made aware of this change. Atty. Barry will create a new ordinance outlining the $1,000.00 past due threshold and new fees being put into effect in the new ordinance. This will be placed on the next  agenda. Trustee Margherio mentioned the Fiberoptic Broadband survey that has been put on the Facebook page and the Village website didn’t work for him on his iPad. Bezely tried both modalities and they worked for her so perhaps something is not allowing his Ipad to open the survey. It was mentioned that having a paper survey may be a better option. Margherio mentioned having office  hours with coffee and donuts would attract people to the clerk's office to be helped. Bezely stated  the residents must be on their home wifi while doing the survey. We will see how we can help  residents reply so Ladd gets the necessary numbers of interested residents to move forward with bringing Fiberoptic Broadband to Ladd. Bezely mentioned BC Supervisor of Assessments is going to  be at the Ladd Village Hall on April 4th to help people fill out their circuit breaker tax exemption paperwork which is due in August 2024.  

Ladd Convenience opened and we will be setting up a Grand Opening/Ribbon Cutting soon.  

Thrasher motioned/Margherio second to adjourn. 

Ayes: Margherio, Martin, Nelson, Nicholson, Ruggerio, Thrasher - Motion carried 6-0 

The meeting adjourned at 7:37 pm

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