Illinois Valley Times

Coal City Village Board met June 25

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

At 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, Mayor Dave Spesia called to order the regular board meeting of the Coal City Village Board in the boardroom of the Village Hall. Roll call - Trustees Dave Togliatti, Dan Greggain, Pam Noffsinger, Ross Bradley, Bill Mincey and CJ Lauterbur. Also in attendance were attorney Mark Heinle, Ryan Hansen from Chamlin Engineering, Chief Mike Imhof, and Matt Fritz, village administrator. 

All present recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 

The meeting minutes from the public hearing on June 11, 2025 were presented. Lauterbur moved to approve the public hearing minutes as written, second by Mincey. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Bradley, Mincey, Lauterbur and Mayor Spesia. Nays; none. Abstain; Greggain and Noffsinger. Absent; none. Motion carried. 

The meeting minutes from the regular meeting on June 11, 2025 were presented. Bradley moved to approve the regular meeting minutes as written, second by Lauterbur. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Bradley, Mincey, Lauterbur and Mayor Spesia. Nays; none. Abstain; Greggain and Noffsinger. Absent; none. Motion carried. 

The warrant list was presented and Fritz explained an addition was made from an insurance claim for $12,646.24 to repair the body of a public works truck that was damaged. Greggain moved to approve the warrant list with the addition of $12,646.24 to repair a public works truck, second by Bradley. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Bradley, Mincey, Lauterbur and Mayor Spesia. 

Ms. Madyson Togliatti at 440 N. Irving Street, Coal City, IL was present at the meeting and wanted to address the board to appeal a code violation on behalf of resident Ralph Brooks. Ms. Togliatti stated Brooks received a couple of violations regarding his garden in his back yard and the alleged operations of it. Mayor Spesia reiterated that Ms. Togliatti was there on behalf of another resident at 110 N. First Avenue, Coal City, IL. Fritz stated there has been a violation notice and no fines have been issued at this point. Fritz explained the violation is for something that is not allowed per the land use code and could turn into a fine if there is no action taken and then adjudication hearing if the fine isn't paid. 

Fritz was asked to explain to the board the details of this violation. Fritz explained there is a business utilization within a residential district. That business use within a residential district with multiple items happening to include signage, which is not allowed in a residential district. This is what incorporated codes are about, the separating of utilization of property. Fritz indicated the village spoke with the tenant Mr. Brooks multiple times and understood what was happening and attempted to persuade and get utilization that would fit into a neighborhood utilization. That is not what is happening this year, there is signage, a detached structure within the corner side yard which is not allowed within village codes. Fritz thinks they are appealing because there are people that know Brooks and they want to see his passion project move forward. However, here is the problem when you try to fit a retail business use within a residential district. Ms. Togliatti indicated she did not necessarily categorize selling vegetables as a retail business; there are many state laws that allow that to occur within Illinois. Agricultural laws, horticulture and she believes they trump any municipal law and the price of the items are between $1 to $5 and doesn't think this is much different than people who are also running businesses out of their home at low costs and doesn't believe it can be compared to a retail business. 

Heinle explained he is not familiar with this situation, but did believe Togliatti was referencing the My Garden Act, which was enacted a year ago. Heinle explained the Act doesn't speak to selling on properties but it does indicate you can't forbid people from growing produce or vegetables on your own property regardless of what the zoning code says. It also does not speak on structures or greenhouses or whatever might be going on, but one is allowed to have a garden and the village can't say that you can not. That is a garden for personal consumption and you can even sell but that doesn't mean you can sell on that particular property. Heinle indicated he can take a look into this as he is not familiar with this situation. Heinle also indicated some communities allow home occupation in a residential district which Fritz stated that Coal City does, however, it doesn't give card blanche for example to run a trucking business out of your home- it is usually for small scale operations. Heinle expressed he didn't know how any of this applies to this situation as he is unaware of the circumstances and will connect with Fritz later on issue. Heinle proceeded to go over the proper procedure of code violations, which would be to send out a violation letter with a non-fine warning and is very common. Once this has been sent the owner of the property has a certain amount of time to come to compliance and if they do not, it could escalate into a fine. If the fine is not paid, it will go to an adjudication hearing which is held by a hearing officer at the village hall and one can plead your case. From here if there is a loss you can appeal to the Circuit Court and so on. Due to court fees, it is probably in the best interest to meet with the village and work something out. 

Ms. Togliatti indicated that the individual who came to speak with Brooks made it difficult to understand and didn't specify what he needed to do. Ms. Togliatti stated that what was discussed this evening made sense. Mayor Spesia explained the village will engage Heinle and get his input and will have the building inspector, Kyle Watson follow up with them. If that doesn't work they are more than welcome to come back again or contact the Mayor directly and he will meet with them, Watson and Fritz to discuss this issue. There was no other public comment at this time. 

Mayor Spesia moved onto the appointment of Kayla Melvin as the village clerk. Lexi Baxter, the elected village clerk recently resigned her position and took a job with the Coal City police Department. Spesia congratulated Baxter for her dedicated service and wished her every success in her future endeavours. Spesia proceeded to introduce Melvin and share her past and present achievements. 

Mayor Spesia recommended that Kayla Melvin be appointed as village clerk to the board. Heinle wanted to note that Baxter had two more years remaining on her term as clerk so this appointment would fill the seat for those two years at which point the seat would go back up for election. Spesia then entertained to approve the appointment of Kayla Melvin to the position of village clerk for the remainder of the 2023 election term. Greggain moved to accept the appointment of Melvin, second by Togliatti. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Bradley, Mincey and Lauterbur. Nays; none. Absent; none. Motion carried. Mayor Spesia swore in Melvin and the meeting continued.

Melvin took a seat at the dais with the board and thanked the Mayor and Trustees for placing their trust and confidence in her. Melvin also announced the continued appointment of Linda Sula as deputy clerk. Mincey moved to accept Clerk Melvin's continued appointment of deputy clerk, Linda Sula, second by Lauterbur. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Bradley, Mincey and Lauterbur. Nays; none. Absent; none. Motion carried. 

Ordinance 25-14 Vacation of remaining right of ways and alleyways adjacent to 190 E. Oak Street. Fritz explained since back in 2017 the village has been working on cleaning up this block south of Church Street, east of Kankakee and north of east Oak. There was a major project of the Assumption Church expanding within that space and they had a detached parking lot that was to the south that fronts Oak Street, which complicated what the rights of way and alleys were within that block. With this effort it made a lot of sense to clean up what was never going to become the actual reserve rights of way and alleyways there. 

Togliatti moved to adopt Ordinance 25-14 vacating and conveying portions of rights of way adjacent to 190 E. Oak Street, second by Greggain. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Bradley, Mincey and Lauterbur. Nays; none. Absent; none. Motion carried. 

Ordinance 25-15 extension of lease for 55 W. Maple Street. Fritz explained this was an item discussed at budget time that would allow the village to lease the property for one more year at the current rate without any increase. The documentation has been prepared and the boards approval will allow the village to enter into one more term for $1, 800 per month lease amount. This building is utilized as a building department annex as well as holds park equipment and some documentation as well. Mincey, moved to adopt Ordinance 25-15 entering into a lease extension for the utilization of 55 W. Maple building, second by Togliatti. Roll Call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Bradley, Mincey and Lauterbur. Nays; none. Absent; none. Motion carried. 

Mayor Spesia thanked Melvin for taking on the position of village clerk and thanked Sula for continuing her services as deputy clerk. Spesia mentioned the flags on Broadway looked great and wished everyone a Happy Independence Day. 

Trustee Lauterbur congratulated the new village clerk and thanked her for the time she spent on the Park Board. 

Trustee Mincey welcomed and congratulated Clerk Melvin and thanked Sula for staying on as the deputy clerk. Mincey was happy to see the water tower project moving along. He also thanked Darrell Olson, maintenance director and the maintenance department for all that they continue to do. 

Trustee Bradley congratulated Clerk Melvin. 

Trustee Noffsinger updated the board on the Festival and Events Committee meeting. Noffsinger explained they are moving forward with the July 26th "Back to School Bash" event which will be from 11am - 2pm on south Broadway and Campbell Park. This is a free event for the community with a bike rodeo, petting zoo, food and more. Noffsinger thanked all those that have donated for the event and the volunteers. Noffsinger told Melvin she sat in the village clerk seat for years and was there to assist her with anything she needed. 

Trustee Greggain welcomed and congratulated Clerk Melvin. 

Trustee Togliatti welcomed Clerk Melvin. 

Deputy Clerk, Linda Sula welcomed Clerk Melvin. 

Attorney Heinle explained to the board there is a rise of first amendment audits, or individuals interested in government transparency are out to provoke a reaction by government employees and then post it online. Heinle explained the individuals will come in recording during the work day to ask questions or request something and hope that the employee will ask/tell them to stop recording them. It is their 1st amendment right to record government employees doing their job in public areas. The whole goal is to have someone mess up and lose their cool and violate their rights and then post the video on the internet to embarrass the village and give it unwelcome attention. Heinle also indicated mass FOIA requests are also coming out to different municipalities and should be taken care of. Trustee Noffsinger asked Heinle if the individuals are required to identify themselves. Heinle responded that they do not need to identify themselves and this includes FOIA's. Also, during public meetings, although common practice, people do not have to give their names or addresses if they don't want to. There is no violation to ask someone, however, they do not have to give this information. 

Hansen updated the board on some upcoming projects. The street maintenance program will be bid on July 8, 2025. The water tower is under construction and a barrier has been put up while they prep the tower for paint; we are hopeful this will be complete within 60 days. Hansen welcomed Melvin as the new village clerk. 

Chief Imhof welcomed the new clerk Melvin. Imhof updated the board on the BNSF repairs coming up and will let them know as he learns of any changes as they occur. Fritz asked if he thought they would be doing First Avenue repairs at the same time as the rest; Imhof indicated that was BNSFs plan. Togliatti also asked when they would be fixing the area on Broadway. Imhof explained the officers have been working very hard and have been diligent. In the passed week he attested to the police department taking a potential stolen gun out of a vehicle this week from a simple violation of registration. They found a loaded 22 round AR-15 style rifle that had been tampered with. Kudos to the officers that were on this call. 

Fritz went over information for a new Veterans Banner Program which the staff has been discussing. There was an application presented which was a consolidation of information from a few different communities. The concept is to honor our veterans with this flag purchase and display them around Veterans Day. The cost of the banners are $150.00 and once everything has been approved we can roll this out to the residents. Mayor Spesia was happy about this program and requested the board to have any comments or questions directed to Fritz by the end of the day Friday, June 27, 2025. Fritz also explained we had the annual meeting with ComEd regarding power transmission, power supply for our area. It looks like ComEd is coming through with more power expansion for our industrial customers. There was also lengthy explanation regarding what getting 345 KV regional electrical lines looks like as far as large user in the future and what is entailed in the process. Fritz has a meeting next week with Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to get updates and possibly discuss more on the Route 113 corridor. He will also be attending the Will County Governmental League meeting. 

Greggain moved to adjourn the meeting, second by Mincey. Roll call-Ayes; Togliatti, Greggain, Noffsinger, Bradley, Mincey, Lauterbur and Spesia. Nays; none. Meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Motion carried.

https://coalcity-il.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/VB-Meeting-Minutes-06-25-2025-Web.pdf