Village of Oblong
Minutes
August 4, 2021
5 pm

The Village of Oblong Board of Trustees met in regular session on Wednesday, August 4th, 2021, in the Farley Room of the Municipal Building.

Members Present: Mayor Teresa Fielder, Clerk Ladora Boyd, Trustee Angie Fear, Trustee Jay Haines, Trustee Dave Hasty, Trustee Bill Burke (arrived at 5:35 pm), Trustee Keith Waldrop, Trustee Jeron Harris (arrived at 5:10pm) and Treasurer Jan Miller,
Others Present: Public Works Superintendent Gary Lanter, Police Chief Chad Pusey, Debbie Parker (Girl Scouts) and Jerry Snider.

The meeting was called to order at 5 pm by Mayor Teresa Fielder with everyone standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

The Regular Board Meeting Minutes of July 7th, 2021, were approved with a motion by Dave and a second by Jay. Four (4) ayes, motion carried.

There was one addition to the agenda this month. Jerry Snider came to the meeting to ask what was going to be done about the flooding during a rainstorm. Mr. Snider lives in the 200 block of North Washington Street. Gary stated that there are plans to have the drainage ditches in that end of town cleaned out. The ditches have overgrowth of vegetation.

There were no Delinquent Water Bill customers at the meeting this month.

Motion by Keith, with a second by Angie, to accept the estimate from Tarr Construction for $4,151.01 to install walls in the Police Department for a soundproof interview room. Four (4) ayes, motion carried.

Debbie Parker, from Girl Scout Troop 2216, came before the Board to present a Project for the Troop’s Silver Award. The girls are eighth graders that want to build a GaGa Pit in the Park. The pit would be built where the four horseshoe pits were. There will be no cost to the Village for the construction of the pit. Motion by Keith, with a second by Angie, to allow the Girl Scout Troop 2216 to construct the GaGa Pit. Four (4) ayes, motion carried.

Motion by Jay, with a second by Dave, to adopt Resolution #2021-R-4 “Homecoming Parade Permit”. Five (5) ayes, motion carried.

The Board agreed to have “Trick or Treat Night” for Oblong will be October 29th from 5 to 8 pm and only at houses with porchlights turned on.

Mayor’s Comments:
Teresa mentioned that the Antique Tractor and Engine Show will be August 13th, 14th and 15th.
Teresa mentioned that the final required Public Notice for the request to release public funds was published on July 31st. Around August 18th, the Crawford County Board will submit a request to Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity for the release of Community Development Block Grant Funds. All this to obtain funding for Sewer Lagoon Dredge.
Teresa stated that Chad had received a letter from Alliance Against Impaired Motorist (AAIM) acknowledging the Police Department work on keeping impaired drivers off the streets.
Teresa mentioned that the Village had received information about the Norman T. Richards Memorial Golf outing. It will be September 25th. Teresa stated that she would put the information on the bulletin board for anybody who would be interested in participating.
Teresa stated that the Village is starting to have a cat population problem again. Teresa stated that she will be looking into what can be done to help lower the cat population problem.

8. Reports of Committees:

Police: Jay stated that he will let Chad handle the report. Chad stated that the Committee met last night (8/3/2021) and interview a candidate to hire part-time. The Committee recommended to the Board to hire Officer Shali Greathouse as a Part-time Officer. Motion by Jay, with second by Jeron, to hire Officer Shali Greathouse as a new Part-time Officer for the Village of Oblong. Five (5) ayes, motion carried. Chad mentioned that there had been some damage done at the Park and Casey’s on Monday. The damage was to electrical boxes and a window broke in the old oilfield museum building. Chad has arrested the individual responsible for the damage.

Building & Park: Keith stated that the new garage door will be deliver in a couple of weeks. Keith mentioned that the painter has started painting the flag mural on the westside of the building located at 112 West Main Street. Keith also mentioned that there is a need for more shelters out at the Park. Have asked the Amish for a cost estimate.
Sidewalks & Lights: There was no report this month.
Street & Alley: Angie stated that there is still engineering work to be done for the South Range Street Project. Gary stated that there is a drainage ditch that needs some maintenance. It is located in the 400 block of East Main Street.

Water & Sewer: Dave stated that the employees of the Public Works have done a good job of keeping an eye on the High/Low water readings, which helps the customers from having a high bill due to a leak. Gary mentioned that they had a bad water leak on South Adams Street; which was fixed by noon. Boil order for those customers affected,

Finance: Jeron stated that there has been some discussion about changing the hiring requirements for Village employees. It was also decided to advertise for an administrative assistant so that when the office employees take vacation time or need to be gone there is someone trained to fill-in. Motion by Dave, with a second by Bill, to advertised that the Village of Oblong is seeking resumes for an administrative assistant to work approximately 30 hours a week and the resumes due back to the Village Clerks Office by August 19th at 4 pm. All ayes, motion carried. Interviews will probably be the week of August 23rd.
Jeron also brought up that Kemper Technology has proposed to install a remote monitoring/management tool on the server and workstations. The cost would be $20/month for the server and $5/month per workstation. This is due to the surge in Windows vulnerabilities. This program would make it so that Kemper could take care of any vulnerability problems remotely. Motion by Bill, with a second by Jeron, to purchase and install the Huntress program at cost of $70/month (Remote Monitoring and Management). All ayes, motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: There was nothing reported this month. Clerk’s Report: There was nothing reported this month.
Development: Bill explained what it could possible cost the Village to acquire property located at 103 West Illinois Street (legal fee, back taxes & penalties). Motion by Jeron, with a second by Bill, to table this matter until the next Village Board Meeting (September 1st). All ayes, motion carried.
Ad-Hoc (Beautification/Ordinance) Committee:
1. July’s “Hometown Pride Award” winner was Janice Baker.
2. Teresa stated that there have been five (5) TIF Grant applications picked up.
3. The next Ad-hoc meeting will be August 25th at 3:30 pm.

9. Motion by Jay, second by Dave, to pay the bills that were on the warranty list and any utility bills, bills that will incur a late charge or reimbursements to employees. Five (5) ayes; one (1) nay; motion carried.

10. There were no other items of business this month.

11. Motion by Jeron, second by Angie, to adjourn the meeting at 6:09 pm. Five (5) ayes, one (1) nay; motion carried.

Respectfully submitted

 

Ladora Boyd
Clerk