MINUTES
PALESTINE VILLAGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING
June 4, 2020

Palestine Board of Trustees met on June 4, 2020, Trustees answering the roll call were J.R. Dunlap, Twilla Davis, Brian Nethery, Tim McDaniel, Mary Michael and Gene Purcell.

Staff Members present: Chief Besing, Shirley Adams, Village Clerk, Patricia Schofield, Mayor’s Consultant, Stacey Myers, Utility Clerk, Kathy Clark, DPW Superintendent and David Miller, DPW.

Visitors present:  Jessica Sisil, Principal at Palestine Grade School, Jim Snyder, Lamara Schulz, Tammy Duffield, Margaret Wilson and Tom Osborne (Robinson Daily News).

Meeting called to order by Mayor Byrley.

The meeting began with all present reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Minutes were taken by the Village Clerk.

The Minutes of May 7, 2020, were accepted as presented. 

OLD BUSINESS:
1) LED Sign Update – J.R. Dunlap.   The posts are scheduled to be set on Tuesday, June 9.  Within two weeks it should be complete.

2)  Bridge repair/replacement update.  Changing Jurisdiction; transaction has to be through IDOT.

3)  Report on Spring Clean-up day, held on May 13, 2020.   Overall it went pretty well.  The main complaint was that they made a mess on some streets and our DPW had to clean glass off some of those streets. Republic was not able to get to everyone in just one day and had to come back the next day to finish up.

NEW BUSINESS:  
1)  Discuss and approve the 2020-2021 Annual Appropriations Ordinance.  Mary Michael made a motion to approve the Annual Appropriation Ordinance #2020-O-03.  J.R. Dunlap seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

2)  Discuss and approve the Palestine Chamber of Commerce request to have the Labor Day Parade on Monday, September 7, 2020 –See copy of letter attached.    Brian Nethery moved to approve the Labor Day Parade on Monday, Sept. 7th.  Gene Purcell seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

3)  Request from Representative from Palestine Community Unit School District to use the Village Pavilion for the Grade School and High School Graduation Services on June 27.   They presented a request in writing with their plan for social distancing.  They would like us to close Main Street from Harrison Street to Grand Prairie Street and Harrison Street from Main Street to Lincoln Street. A parade for the graduates will follow the ceremonies. Their request was approved by consensus.

4)  Reminder:  Final bid dates for the Good Energy rates should be held during the week of June 8-12.  Our discussion/approval will be held during our July 2nd Board Meeting.

5) Final Discussion/Approval of the request from Tom Woodward, Jr. /Kathy Gonzalez.  The pros and cons were discussed.  If approved, there would have to be rules and regulations to consider and each applicant would have to be approved on a case to case request. After further discussion, Gene Purcell made a motion that the Village create an ordinance to allow for chickens in the city limits.  Brian Nethery seconded motion.  Motion did not pass; J.R. Dunlap, Tim McDaniel, Brian Nethery, and Gene Purcell voted nay.  Mary Michael voted yea and Twilla Davis abstained.  

6)  Formal approval of April 21, 2020, for Wabash Communications to Extend a fiber-optic line in the Village of Palestine to the Palestine High School and School Unit building. J.R. Dunlap moved that we approve the Wabash Communications request.  Tim McDaniel seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

7) Formal approval of May 15, 2020, Phone Poll regarding BACK TO BUSINESS” plan for the Village of Palestine – Majority vote – 5-15-20.  Brian Nethery moved to formally approve the “Back to Business” Plan for the Village of Palestine.  Gene Purcell seconded motion. Motion carried with five aye votes and one nay vote by Mary Michael. 

8)  Formal approval of June 1, 2020, Phone Poll regarding Purchase of a “HOT BOX”-a sealing machine for the Village Streets.  Mary Michael moved that we approve the purchase of a “hot box” sealing machine. Twilla Davis seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

9)  Discussion and approval of Ordinance No. 2020-O-04 – Amending Chapter 34 – Liquor – to change the Nano-Brewery to Brew-Pub.  Gene Purcell made a motion that we approve Ordinance 2020-O-04 to change the verbiage from Nano-Brewery to Brew-Pub.  Brian Nethery seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.

DPW REPORT:  Kathy Clark.  
The repair of the creek bank, the removal of a log jam and 2 trees from the lagoon side of the creek is complete.  The estimate of time and materials was met.

The DPW feel fairly sure they have nailed down the problem area on W. Grand Prairie’s flooding.  It was along West Grand Prairie, not the creek, as first thought.

The mosquito sprayer was tested today and they will begin the spraying schedule next week.

They have a concrete/street to fix coming up and raising a manhole to grade in an alley.

POLICE REPORT:  Chief of Police, Jeff Besing. The Police Dept. Statistics for the month of May were handed out.

Officer McGinness completed his academy training today and took his state certification test. He is now a fully certified Illinois Law Enforcement Officer.  What should have been a 14 week process turned into a 21 week process.  He and Chief Besing will work together for another week and then he will be on his own.  Chief Besing has complete confidence in his ability professionally and in interacting with the public.

The Chief goes to court tomorrow seeking to seize a 2013 Harley Davidson Heritage Solf tail motorcycle worth appx. $10,000, from the DUI arrest he made on May 23rd.  The deciding factor will be the loan balance on the motorcycle after he subpoenas the bank for payoff.

We renewed 24 golf cart/side x side vehicles last Saturday.  Pat, Stacey, Jake and the Chief worked together to get the inspections/paperwork done in a timely manner. We will be doing another renewal process on Wednesday, June 6th from 4-6 pm. Stacey said we have appx 141 total golf cart/side x side registrations in the Village.

PIONEER ROOM/COMMUNITY FACILITY –  JUNE  - TWILLA DAVIS

FYI:  FALL CLEAN-UP DAYS – OCTOBER 28TH (as of now).

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Budget Committee:  Shirley Adams, Chairman.  May financials were given to Trustees.  No date has been set for our annual financial audit.

Bldg Regulations, Permits, Maintenance: Harry Gene Purcell, Chairman. There were two permits issued last month.

Employee Relations Committee: Harry Gene Purcell, Chairman. 

FOIA Officers:  Shirley Adams, Chairman.  Complete.

Ordinance Committee: Pat Schofield.  

Streets, Sidewalks, Alleys Committee: Tim McDaniel, Chairman.  Still waiting on Dave to be available. 

Sewer/Lagoon Committee: Brian Nethery, Chairman.  

Other Business:
The State of Illinois has implemented a “Rebuild Illinois Bond Fund”.   Our Motor Fuel Tax Fund will receive $90,222.48 within the next three years to be spent by 2025. We will receive two allotments per year for three years). The first allotment was for $15,037.08.   This is specifically for our MFT maintenance expenditures.  We will have to amend our Resolution to include the monies. 

Gene Purcell asked if the Fire Dept. could do some fire training at our ‘dump site’.  They would clean the site up after training.  The consensus was to approve the request. 

With no further business to discuss J.R. Dunlap moved to adjourn. Tim McDaniel seconded motion. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:45 pm.

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  	   PRESIDENT					      CLERK