Meeting Minutes: May 16, 2023
Council called to order by Mayor – Amy Joseph on May 16, 2023
at 7:30 pm.
Invocation – Ron Searight
Pledge of Allegiance
Those present: Marcas Heitkamp, Ron Searight, Luke Stephenson,
Rick Shindeldecker, Mary Beougher, Chris Heitkamp.
Also attending: Ross Finke, Robbie Peel, Marge Gehle, Srgt Stetler,
Chief May, Francis Schaffner and Erin Gardner of the Daily Standard.
Motion Searight. Second M Heitkamp to accept the agenda as orders of the day
Shindeldecker called for the question. Searight = y, M Heitkamp = y, Shindeldecker = y, Stephenson = y, Beougher = y, Heitkamp = y. Passed 6 yes.
Motion Heitkamp. Second M Heitkamp to accept the minutes from the May 2, 2023 council meeting as presented. Beougher called for the question. Heitkamp = y, M Heitkamp = y, Beougher = y, Searight = y, Stephenson = y, Shindeldecker = y. Passed 6 yes.
Visitors to Address Council:
* Note deadline for council agenda the Friday before council at 4 pm. *
*** time limit 5 minutes ***
Mayor’s Report and Correspondence:
Received and reviewed Mayors Court pay in and bank statement.
Community Announcements and events:
Monday – May 29th – Village office closed for Memorial Day
Friday / Saturday June 16/ 17 – Rockford Community Days / Art Festival
Car Show, “Cooler” Quarter Auction. Magician, Parade, Food, Rides,
Fireworks — Kids – Special guests include Rubble from Paw Patrol, Dino Reggie the T-Rex and Kevin the Pterodactyl 😊
Village Administrator’s Report – Aaron Temple –
OPWC – we have qualified for grant funds in the amount of $500,000 plus some loan options if needed for the Franklin St. project.
Update WWTP – we are reducing odors with the new process. We will continue to monitor.
Ground work has started for the New Water Tower – hopefully they can get back on the original schedule. (site location – former trailer park)
Sale of the building beside the office has been completed. The new owner is Jason Rollins with Rockford Cabinets.
Time has expired for the Wildfire Bar – property left after fire has been condemned / letters sent and we have not received any contact/or information as to clean up status. Therefore, the Village will take care of the problem and assess the costs to the property taxes. Demo of what is left may start this week.
Previous home that was condemned has come into compliance and is looking very nice – new windows, doors, roof – they will be looking to getting water services in the next couple of weeks. We like the improvements and they are doing a great job.
Mailing 15 lawn maintenance notices this week. Property owners will have 7 days to come into compliance. We do not have time to mow all these properties, but we will if we have to. We will not send additional letters to these 15 properties.
Reminder — we appreciate those that are mowing consistently but also remember all trimming needs to be kept up also.
Committee Reports
Finance Committee: Ron Searight – President
Motion Beougher. Second Stephenson to pay the bills as presented – $113,079.47. M Heitkamp called for the question. Beougher = y, Stephenson = y, M Heitkamp = y, Searight = y, Shindeldecker = y, Heitkamp = y. Passed 6 yes.
Motion Stephenson to accept the Mayors Court pay in for $113. Second Beougher. Heitkamp called for the question. Stephenson = y, Beougher = y, Heitkamp = y, M Heitkamp = y, Searight = y, Shindeldecker = y. Passed 6 yes.
Preliminary budget to County Auditor – by July 15th.
Financial audit from the State is beginning – Years 2021/2022- will be receiving some emails / questions – please reply in a timely manner.
Quarterly transfer to Front St. Fund – added to agenda so we remember to note the amount of transfer and where the funds are coming from each quarter.
Service Committee: Mary Beougher –
May 16th – Public Meeting #2 – was held this evening at 7 pm
Brice from Access Engineering gave an excellent report and the status of surveys. We had almost 100 completed. This gives our application for additional grant funds a very good chance to get funded. Thank you to the residents who participated in the survey. Greatly appreciated and all comments are being reviewed.
Still trying to work with Vantage on the gazebo / bridge updates.
Safety Committee: Chris Heitkamp
Held a Safety meeting last week to review applications submitted and pay rates for new Police Chief — if all gets approved with the Security Resource Officer position at Parkway. Interviews to be held last week of May. Will be getting some interview questions ready.
Took a tour of the Water plant – gave overview of process and safety measures along with EPA checklist. Impressive process.
Also took a tour with Blair at the Sewer Plant – Blair did a really good job showing the processes and safety measures that are taken in the pits. You can really tell that Blair takes pride what he does and he has great understanding of the systems.
Was very impressed with both tours. Good job !
Economic Development Committee: Rick Shindeldecker
The next RADC Committee meeting will be held on Monday – May 22nd at 7pm at the Rockford Library. Everyone that attended the community meeting is invited back to this meeting as we process all the information and make plans to move forward.
Public Utilities Committee: Luke Stephenson –
Rules Committee: Marcas Heitkamp
Employee Handbook – Nepotism 2.9
Current:
The members of the immediate family of current Village employees shall be ineligible for full-time or permanent part-time employment by the Village.
For the purpose of this section, immediate family shall be defined as
Parents
Grandparents
Children
Grandchildren
Spouse
Siblings; or
Any other person related to the employee by blood or marriage and residing in the same household.
Suggested Revision:
The fundamental goal of the management plan is to mitigate actual and perceived favoritism and conflicts of interest and loyalty by establishing appropriate processes for employment and financial decisions.
It is the goal of the village to avoid creating or maintaining circumstances in which the appearance or possibility of favoritism, conflicts or management disruptions exist. The village may allow existing personal relationships to be maintained or employ individuals with personal relationships to current employees under the following circumstances:
For the purpose of this section, immediate family shall be defined as
Parents
Grandparents
Children
Grandchildren
Spouse
Siblings; or
Any other person related to the employee by blood or marriage and residing in the same household.
No village employee may make, participate in, or attempt to influence employment or other business decisions involving a relative or pressure or cause others to do so. Therefore, there can be no direct reporting or supervisory relationship between relatives, and all “employment decisions” must be made by others. If an individual is to be assigned to a position that is under the supervision or control of a relative who has or may have a direct effect on the individual’s progress or performance, or an individual is to be assigned to a position with the same immediate supervisor as a relative, a management plan must be devised and approved by the village council.
A management plan is also required when an individual already assigned to a position becomes a relative of a supervisor, subordinate, or someone who works for the same immediate supervisor.
Motion Searight. Second Shindeldecker to approve the proposed updates to the Employee Handbook. Heitkamp called for the question. Searight = y, Shindeldecker = y, Heitkamp = y, M Heitkamp = y, Stephenson = y, Beougher = y. Passed 6 yes.
Old Business:
2023 is an Election Year — Mayor and 2 council seats. If interested pick up petitions at the Board of Election with information on how to file to be on the ballot in November. Deadline – August 9th at 4 pm.
Numerous complaints on Oak and Race Streets of loose gravel. – Needs cleaned up as these are main roadways to the park.
New Business:
Discussed –1st meeting in July falls on July 4th – Holiday. Council agreed that this meeting should be canceled. We will need to have the preliminary budget approved at the June 20th meeting since we would not meet again before the July 15th meeting.
Meeting adjourned 7:48 pm
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Mayor Fiscal officer
