Illinois Valley Times

Coal City Village Board met Feb. 28.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

At 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, Mayor Dave Spesia called to order the meeting of the Coal City Village Board in the boardroom at Village Hall. Roll call-Ayes; Trustees Dave Togliatti, Dan Greggain, Pamela Noffsinger, Sarah Beach and Bill Mincey. Also in attendance was Mark Heinle, village attorney, Ryan Hansen from Chamlin Engineering, Police Chief Chris Harseim and Matt Fritz, village administrator. Absent; Trustee Tim Bradley. 

All present recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 

The regular meeting minutes of February 14, 2024 was presented. Greggain moved to approve the minutes with a change as noted, second by Beach. Roll call-Ayes; Trustees Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Trustee Bradley. Motion carried. 

The warrant list was presented. Greggain moved to approve the warrant list as written, second by Togliatti. Roll call-Ayes; Trustees Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Trustee Bradley. Motion carried. 

There was no public comment at this meeting. 

Ordinance 24-04, approval of amendments to the Code of Ordinances to Limit Tobacco Sales was presented by Matt Fritz. Fritz explained the amendment went before the Planning & Zoning Board at a public hearing on February 19, 2024. The amendment explained within commercial areas dedicated to Tobacco Sale shops there would be a moratorium until mid-October 2024. The hope is to study this subject and decide whether this should be a permitting process for the future just like alcohol sales has a conditional use. Included in the ordinance are new definitions which update products related to tobacco, such as vape sales. A moratorium will be created for now and will be looked at in the future of how it should look in the zoning code prior to coming back with any additional text amendment in October. Beach asked for clarification that with this ordinance the village could not allow the location of new Tobacco stores at this time to which Fritz stated, that was correct. Heinle clarified this will give the board due consideration of this study which will be helpful in the future. The ordinance will not affect the businesses whom currently sell tobacco products incidentally, e.g. Berkot's, gas stations. It is for places that are primarily smoke shops which their sales are 60% or more and display area exceeding 10%. Noffsinger asked if this would affect any business that sells cigarette, to which Fritz stated no. Beach moved to adopt Ordinance 24-04 defining Tobacco Shops and establishing a temporary zoning moratorium on new Tobacco Shops, second by Mincey. Roll call-Ayes; Trustees Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Beach and Mincey. Nays; None. Absent; Bradley. Motion carried. 

Fritz explained the Planning & Zoning Board reviewed the zoning map and there were no changes for 2024. Beach moved to adopt the 2024 Annual Zoning Map, second by Greggain. Roll call-Ayes; Trustees Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Trustee Bradley. Motion carried. 

Fritz explained the project amount has already been approved, however usually for status when disbursements will happen is something for which Fritz likes to keep the board informed. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) hadn't made any of the disbursements to village accounts to pay vendors, however this has finally happened causing disbursements 1-3 to be presented. Fritz explained he will keep tracking where the total project is and disbursed a handout which indicated currently 11.4% total of expenditures and how much of each category is expended. Mayor Spesia inquired whether the 11.4% is the total spent is equating 11.4% of the project complete. Hansen confirmed this and stated the funds are currently for the raw well improvement and knowing that no money has been disbursed for the water treatment plant yet. Hansen also stated the raw well portion went really well and the chemical analysis of the water is currently being completed. Beach moved to authorize the payment of vendors with proceeds provided from the IEPA for completion of 11.4% of total water treatment expansion project, second by Greggain. Roll call-Ayes; Trustees Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Trustee Bradley. Motion carried. 

Chief Harseim explained during the budget meeting with Fritz in January they discussed the addition of a new squad car. Harseim reached out to D'Orazio Ford like he has in the past and was told he could go in and order a car but may not be able to get anything done until after May. Harseim also went to Sutton Ford in Matteson, IL and cars are currently available at $47, 870 but with the state purchase price it came to $41, 323 which is a lot cheaper than the last one. Although it doesn't have the normal ready for the road package, the police department can make it work. Harseim stated that he called to get the village's Ford FIN number renewed which allows the village to purchase items at the Illinois state contract pricing. Harseim asked Fritz if he could set a car aside and also called D'Orazio back to see if they could price match. D'Orazio indicated they may be able to purchase the car from Sutton Ford and then sell it to the village. Harseim explained that if he could get the car purchased or scheduled to purchase he could get the equipment ordered for the vehicle and installed not too far into May. Harseim also indicated the police department still has three License Plate Readers (LPR) that will go on this car. Harseim stated the police department previously installed similar readers on another vehicle and since December 2023 they have had over 29 arrests. Noffsinger asked if a car would be taken out of the fleet in order to add this one. Harseim stated that yes this would replace the other vehicle and it would be sold. Togliatti moved to authorize the administrator and Police Chief to acquire a replacement squad car for the police department for a price not to exceed $41, 323 with an additional $1,000 for the total licensing and registration required by the State of Illinois, second by Greggain. Roll call-Ayes; Trustees Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Trustee Bradley. Motion carried. 

Mayor Spesia congratulated the Coaler wrestlers on another outstanding season. Mayor also stated that since July of 2023 he has been in contact with Comcast in regards to removing the dilapidated utility poles in Coal City that have been around town for a long time. Currently, 16 have been removed and there are 52 remaining. The government affairs representative at Comcast has been very responsive and the Mayor is looking forward to getting the other 52 poles taken down and clean up Coal City. Mayor also stated he and Fritz attended a meeting at the Will County Governmental League as well as met with Representative Jason Bunting in the last couple of weeks, which a HB 1634 is coming, where the State of Illinois is considering adopting the same standards as California for emissions. This, in part, would mean diesel vehicles 2010 and older would not be allowed to be registered. This could present many problems. 

Beach reported that the Park Board has been commencing to work on the North Park revitalization rehab.

Togliatti inquired about the total number of smoke shops within the immediate area. 

Hansen reported he will report back soon on the results of the well samples. The Second Avenue project is substantially complete on the utility side and just waiting for the weather to break so they can do all of the restoration work. The water treatment plant should be starting at any time. There is not a specific date as to when they will be breaking ground. Mayor asked how long the results of the water testing would take, which Hansen indicated he was not sure of the time but would get that information. 

Chief Harseim explained he received a retirement letter from Sergeant Jason Clark stating that he will be retiring as of Monday, March 11, 2024 after 25 years of service. Clark will be taking another position somewhere else and the police department wish him well as he has done a lot of good work over 25 years. The board discussed the openings in the police department and Harseim indicated that they will have two spots in May, backgrounds are done and Chief is in the process of making sure they are still eligible and send them for their polygraph. There is time to do this which makes the process easier. 

Mayor Spesia wished Sergeant Clark the best and thanked him for his 25 years of service. 

Fritz explained that he sent out the last finance update and went over the expenditures as well as the fund balances. Fritz also indicated that the Fund 52 (Garbage) has a fund balance of $32,619 which has been reducing this year due to the high utility rate increase that we had last year, it was decided to keep the garbage rate flat and utilize fund balance even though with the contract price that we knew that was something we were going to cut into. There will be a garbage rate increase coming. 

Fritz also reported that an email had gone out to the board regarding the Community Mapping that is starting. Fritz asked the board to clear their calendars on the dates that were suggested. There will be five Tuesdays in a row beginning April 23, 2024. 

Fritz explained to the board that he and Mayor Spesia attended a meeting where numerous Mayors throughout Representative Bunting's area were present. At the meeting, discussion regarding unfunded mandating examples were given. The impacts of Governor Pritzker's address to the State was also reviewed. There was discussion about eliminating the grocery tax, which for the Village of Coal City is a large amount as the village takes in about $750,000 a year in total sales tax with about $120,000 in grocery tax. It was communicated that this would not be good for our community. 

Beach moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:36 p.m., second by Greggain. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Beach and Mincey. Nays; none. Absent; Bradley. Motion carried. 

https://coalcity-il.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/VB-Meeting-Minutes-02-28-2024-Web.pdf