Village of Oblong
Minutes
September 1st, 2021
5 PM

The Village of Oblong Board of Trustees met in regular session on Wednesday, September 1st, 2021, in the Activity Center of the Municipal Building.

Members Present: Mayor Teresa Fielder, Clerk Ladora Boyd, Trustee Angie Fear, Trustee Jay Haines, Trustee Dave Hasty, Trustee Bill Burke, Trustee Keith Waldrop, Trustee Jeron Harris and Treasurer Jan Miller,
Others Present: Public Works Superintendent Gary Lanter, Police Chief Chad Pusey, Kevin Gangloff and Angie Downing (Daily News).

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 August 4th, 2021, were approved with a motion by Jeron and a second by Keith. All ayes, motion carried.

There was one addition to the agenda this month. Kevin Gangloff came to the meeting to ask what he needed to do with the property located at 201 South Taylor Street. He stated that he is planning to fix up the House for a rental property and where the garage/shed is as possible storage units. Teresa stated that there was no deadline and thanked him for coming in and letting the Board know what plans he had for the property. The Board understood that due to the high cost of lumber right now; he would only be working on clean-up and weed control. Teresa will follow up with Resa Shaner (CCDA) to see if any grant opportunities exist for new businesses.

There were no Delinquent Water Bill customers at the meeting this month. Gary stated that a water customer was supposed to be present, but did not come.

Jeron stated that the Finance Committee met with Jodi Truitt, from Kemper CPA, to go over the Fiscal Year 2021 Audit. The Village received a clean audit.

Motion by Bill, with a second by Jay, to adopt Ordinance #2021-O-622 “Tax Levy Ordinance”. Roll call vote as follows: Angie-aye, Jay-aye, Dave-aye, Bill-aye, Keith-aye, Jeron-aye; motion carried.

Motion by Dave, with a second by Jeron, to adopt Ordinance #2021-O-623 “An Ordinance Amending Chapter 22 Entitled ‘Mandated Policies’ of the Revised Code of Ordinances for the Village of Oblong, Illinois”. All ayes, motion carried.

Motion by Jay, with a second by Angie, to adopt Ordinance #2021-O-624 “An Ordinance Amending Chapter 11 Entitled ‘Employee Policies’ of the Revised Code of Ordinances for the Village of Oblong, Illinois”. All ayes, motion carried.

Motion by Jeron, with a second by Dave, to adopt Ordinance #2021-O-625 “An Ordinance Amending Chapter 3 Entitled ‘Animals’ of the Revised Code of Ordinances for the Village of Oblong, Illinois”. All ayes, motion carried. Teresa mentioned that she will meet with the 4-H concerning this ordinance changes.

Teresa stated that the Shriners would like the 4-way stop on September 18th from 8am to 11am. The Board granted their request.

Mayor’s Comments:
Teresa mentioned that the Fall Clean-up will be Tuesday, September 21st. She will post on her Mayor’s page what will and will not be picked-up by Republic.
Teresa stated that the last correspondence that she had received from Greater Wabash Regional Planning was mid-August stating that funding from the Community Development Block Grant Funds is on schedule.
Teresa stated that she would like to Thank all those who came out to help mulch the playground areas at the Park. She also mentioned that Kody Maus, from Maus Oil, made a donation because they were unable to come help this year.
Teresa stated that she had received four (4) TIF Grant Applications they are as follows: 1. Henpeck Mercantile for roof repair (estimated cost of $4,048.52)
2. Nick and Chris Hinterscher (Floyd’s Place/Mildred’s) for replacement of awning (estimated cost of $8,049.66)
3. Randy and Andrea Rich (120 South Range Street) for replacement of awning (estimated cost of $8,04966)
4. Jan Miller (Ida Mae) tuck pointing (estimated cost of $6,500).
Motion by Bill, with a second by Jeron, to give each applicant the maximum of $3,500 from the TIF Grant Fund. Four (4) ayes, one abstained; motion carried.
Teresa wanted to remind everyone that October 22nd is OPH Homecoming (Oblong) and October 29th will be Trick or Treat for Oblong.

8. Reports of Committees:
Police: Jay stated that he will let Chad handle the report. Chad stated that he had been contacted by Rob Sparks about a program for the 20th Anniversary of 9/11. Chad stated that the body cams are in that were purchased with the grant money from Mary Heath.
Building & Park: Keith mentioned that the disc golf is up and going. Keith that the mural on the west side of Ida Mae located at 112 West Main Street is finished and that the painter should be back in a couple of weeks to start on the new mural on the east side of Harmon’s Building. Keith stated that the new garage door should be deliver any day; Gary said it should be here next week. Keith mentioned possibly in the future having a mural dedicated to local veterans painted on the east side of the Napa Building. He is still waiting on cost estimates from the Amish for a shelter and design changes to the meeting table in the Farley Room. Keith stated that the Boy Scouts will be staining the Mini Park Fence on Saturday, September 4th.
Sidewalks & Lights: Gary stated that the replacement pole for the damaged light pole located in the 100 block of West Main Street has been ordered.
Street & Alley: Angie stated that the field work for the South Range Street Project has been completed. There is paperwork to be completed yet for the South Range Street Project. Gary stated that there has been work done to hopefully help with the drainage problem on North Washington Street.
Water & Sewer: Dave stated that he had nothing to report this month.
Finance: Jeron stated that the advertisement for an administrative assistant yielded four candidates. The Committee met on August 25th and interviewed two of the candidates and met again on August 26th to interviewed the other two candidates. Jeron stated that the Committee met on August 30th to make their decision on which candidate to recommend for the Administrative Assistant’s position. The Committee recommended hiring Cassie Hill for the position. Motion by Bill, with a second by Jeron, to hire Cassie Hill as the Administrative Assistant. All ayes, motion carried. Jeron stated that she will probably start September 7th, training with Dale Davis, Public Works Office Manager.
Treasurer’s Report: Jan stated that everyone had a copy of the monthly reports. Clerk’s Report: There was nothing reported this month.
Development: Bill stated that there were three options the Village could do to acquire the property located at 103 West Illinois Street. Option 1 would be to pay the amount provided to the Village by the county ($23,525.54); Option2 have the Village Attorney work on acquiring the property for the Village (estimated cost of $6,000 or more) and Option 3 would be to wait until October or November of 2022 and submit a seal bid for the property. Bill suggested to go with Option 3 and revisit this in mid-2022.
Bill brought up about the Village possibly making an offer to purchase the unsold ground in Park Meadow Subdivision. He had some suggestions for the Board to think about on what could be done with the unsold lots in Park Meadow.
Ad-Hoc (Beautification/Ordinance) Committee: The next Ad-hoc meeting will be September 29th at 3:30 pm.

9. Motion by Jay, second by Jeron, 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. All ayes; motion carried.

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

11. Motion by Jeron, second by Angie, to adjourn the meeting at 6:07 pm. Five (5) ayes, one (1) nay; motion carried.

Respectfully submitted

Ladora Boyd
Clerk