Illinois Valley Times

City of Marseilles City Council met July 2

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

The City Council of the City of Marseilles met in the City Chamber of City Hall at the hour of 6:00 P.M. on July 2, 2025

Pledge of Allegiance was said.

Roll call showed the following present: Mayor Hollenbeck, Commissioner Kaminski, Small, Scheib, and Buckingham. Absent: None.

Moved by Commissioner Kaminski seconded by Commissioner Small that the minutes from the Council meeting of June 18, 2025, be approved as displayed and placed on file. Ayes: Commissioner Kaminski, Small, Buckingham, and Mayor Hollenbeck. Nays: Commissioner Scheib. Commissioner Scheib made a statement, he said is cleared with his personal attorney. He said he wanted to explain his concern about the minutes being read and the timing of the minutes as compared to the mayor's recap. Whether it is called as council minute for the city e-news, he said it should be noted that it is sent through city resources and negatively. He said on June 20, the mayor mentions a city official behind all the FOIA requests by implication that’s him. He said his concerns about the meetings to get multiple bids and overspending are bona fide. He said he did not release that document. He said he requested an investigation into the release of that document. He said the investigation was not provided. He said he waits almost two weeks to get the minutes of a meeting while the mayor uses city resources to give biased recap of the meeting with no vote, or opportunity to review.

Resident Denise Parini asked if a city ordinance can be adopted allowing donations at the memorial Wall. She said on the purchase agreement for 200 Riverfront Drive the assignment and assumption page; there is a lease. She said if the freedom run board is the lessee, that would mean that they're allowed to have the donation boxes on the property, because they're leasing that land. She asked for the donation boxes to be put back at that wall. Denise asked if a list of Ordinances requires people to solicit. She said if the city is not allowing donations the city needs to be careful because that can infringe of first amendment rights. She said she can’t find where the city is getting at least 3 bids from companies trying to bid for work. She asked the council to consider adopting an ordinance that would require any change order over $20,000 more than the initial bid, that bid would have to be voted on by the council.

Scott Damnjanovic Ford said he doesn’t come to Illinois for any other reason, but for the mayor. He said Mike Etscheid has been getting paid to help take his home and other homes since 2023. He said he talked to Commissioner Small and Commissioner Kaminski the last time he was at a council meeting and let them know he is going to fade away and move to Arizona. He said a random person sent him a video of the mayor talking about him. He said someone asked him for the video of 9/4/2024 he said to ask the city for the video. Scott stated he has the link to the video dated 9/4/2024 from a FOIA request that Cantlin Law supplied some time ago. Scott said he created a fake e-mail and asked for the same video he possessed, and he was told the record did not exist. Scott said then 2 days later he requested the same video again, he was told that record does not exist. Scott e-mailed the YouTube link which was provided by the city attorneys. He said without the link you cannot view the video. He said today the site is listed private and the page is down. Scott said he received an e-mail from Cantlin law that said the IT person took the YouTube site down then turned it back on, upon turning back on, several videos were sent to an unpublished page. He said 3 videos are missing from the YouTube page. He said one video is when Mark Rice was kicked out of the meeting. He said the second video was when he brought up the lawsuit regarding the mayor and clerk. He said the third video, is when the mayor said scott was not allowed to speak if he was going to bring up city personal. He said the page is back up, but no videos are posted. Scott said the city is lying on FOIA’s. He asked 9 questions, does the city have an official website where videos of meetings are posted? If so, who maintains the site or channel? Where are the minutes posted online and who posts them? Does the city maintain multiple sites? Was the 8/24/24 and 9/4/24 publicly posted? If not, why? Are there any rules for the city’s Facebook page. Did the mayor decline Scott to speak at the 9/4/2024 council meeting? Where does the mayor live stream, personally or as mayor? Are city funds used on websites and YouTube page? Scott said the mayor is blaming him for FOIA costs. He said all it takes to fill a FOIA request is go to a computer and ask for an e-mail. He said he FOIA Amanda Hart’s emails and received a response saying there are no e-mails. He said he was paid very well by constellation but will not keep coming to the meetings. Commissioner Schieb asked Scott if the mayor banned him from a site. Scott said he was blocked from a page online. Scott said that he and others are suing Mayor Hollenbeck, Lesley Hart, and the City of Marseilles. Scott said Lesley Hart is the one who gave him HR documents. City Clerk Lesley Hart said she did not give any records to Scott.

Melissa Tooley Pointer said she was forced to sell her home in Timber’s Edge to Constellation. She said that Lesley Hart is a liar after handing out a FOIA response from the city clerk, Lesley Hart, to the council members. Melissa asked corporation council, Christina Cantlin, if she sent 9/4/2024 video link to Scott Damnjanovic. Christina said she sent an e-mail response to Scott Damnjanovic regarding the videos of the August and September 2024 council meeting. Melissa said Scott forwarded the e-mails from Christina to her providing links to the videos. Christina Cantlin explained that Scott Damnjanovic submitted a FOIA, he requested 2 videos in 2024. She said at the time of the request the city clerk provided what was available to her. Christina said the clerk is not an IT specialist, this is not her responsibility. She said the city clerk provided what she had available to her at the time of the request from Scott Damnjanovic. Christina said the IT person, Amanda Hart, Marketing consultant, made a change and when she made a change there were a handful of videos that were marked unpublished. Christina said the city clerk did not know the videos existed when the FOIA request came in, once the videos were found she was notified, and the links were supplied to the requestors.

Denise Parini asked if the city would be able to pay the police payroll wages for Freedom Run out of the Middle East fund. Commissioner Kaminski said that money is for maintenance and upkeep on the Wall. Denise asked if the tax exemption for 200 Riverfront Drive was completed. Christina Cantlin said she is waiting for documents to be received, once the petition is received, she can officially file exemption.

Moved by Commissioner Kaminski seconded by Commissioner Buckingham that the accounts payable for the last half of June in the amount of $447,253.54 be approved and a warrant be drawn on the City Treasury for the said amount. Ayes: Commissioner Kaminski, Small, Buckingham, and Mayor Hollenbeck. Nays: Commissioner Scheib. Commissioner Scheib asked if there are multiple bids for the bathroom at Broadway Park. City Engineer Mike Etscheid said since there is already a contract with Connley Construction it wouldn’t make sense to have 2 contractors working against one another. However, it is the council’s decision to move forward with the proposed change order from Connley. Denise Parini asked why the city doesn’t allow the bathroom to be built instead of a prefabricated bathroom. She said she has investigated pricing and to build it is much cheaper than buying a prefab bathroom.

Moved by Commissioner Kaminski seconded by Commissioner Small that the payroll for the last half of June in the amount of $98,764.21 be approved and a warrant be drawn on the City Treasury for said amount. Ayes: Commissioner Kaminski, Small, Buckingham, and Mayor Hollenbeck. Nays: None. Abstain: Commissioner Scheib.

Moved by Commissioner Kaminski seconded by Commissioner Buckingham that the operating budget for fiscal year 2025-2026 be approved. Ayes: Commissioner Kaminski, Small, Buckingham, and Mayor Hollenbeck. Nays: Commissioner Schieb.

Commissioner Kaminski thanked the fun days committee for all their hard work.

Commissioner Small thanked the fun days committee. She reminded everyone with the 4th of July coming up fireworks are not legal. The fireman’s car show is coming up July 19, 2025.

Commissioner Scheib said there is a six-inch matter on Lincoln Street. He said he is moving forward with Lincoln Street repairs. He asked to change the format of the meeting, allowing for public comment at the end of the meeting. Commissioner Small said she would vote no on the matter. Small said she wants to allow for comment at the beginning of the meeting before the council votes on an agenda item.

Commissioner Buckingham said he’d like to keep the agenda the way it is with the public comments at the beginning of the meeting. He announced that Jeff Laitila, Ryan Owens, and Jason Beldon passed their Class B water license. He thanked the Fun Days committee for all their hard work. He said there is so much negativity going on at these council meetings. He said the foia’s are costing the City of Marseilles taxpayers a lot of money. He asked why the city stopped recording videos of the council meeting. Mayor Hollenbeck said it’s not required to record the meetings.

Moved by Mayor Hollenbeck seconded by Commissioner Small that Resolution 2025-10, a resolution appointing director and co-directors be adopted. Ayes: Commissioner Kaminski, Small, Scheib, Buckingham, and Mayor Hollenbeck. Nays: None.

Moved by Hollenbeck seconded by Commissioner Kaminski that Resolution 2025-11, a resolution expanding the scope of legal services provided by KGG, LLC be adopted. Christina Cantlin said given the large volume of FOIA, one firm can’t handle all the city work and the FOIA requests. The Cantlin recommendation is to move forward with expanding their scope of legal services with KGG, LLC. Commissioner Kaminski said all FOIA expenses come out of Mayor’s legal line item. Christina Cantlin said the city is incurring a significant amount of cost regarding FOIA. She also explained the process of the FOIA and exemptions per FOIA. Commissioner Scheib said the ruling to release certain documents has not been done in open or closed sessions. Christina Cantlin said that if the council were to do that they would be in session for a very long time. Ayes: Commissioner Kaminski, Small, Buckingham, and Mayor Hollenbeck. Nays: Commissioner Scheib.

Moved by Commissioner Small seconded by Commissioner Buckingham that the City Council adjourns Ayes: Commissioner Kaminski, Small, Buckingham, and Mayor Hollenbeck. Nays: Commissioner Scheib.

https://www.cityofmarseilles.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Minutes-7-2-25.doc.pdf