Carbondale Reporter

Village of De Soto Board of Trustees met Jan. 21.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

President John Evans called the second regular monthly meeting of the De Soto Village Board of Trustees to order at 7:00 P.M. Village Clerk Paula Parks was present to record the minutes.

Present: John Evans          Tony Rushing

Brian Gleason                    Paulette Johnson

Jennifer Morgan                Cristy Desormeaux

Absent: Eric Schuler

Motion made by Paulette Johnson, seconded by Cristy Desormeaux, to dispense with the reading of the minutes of the previous meeting and to approve them. Motion carried.

Motion made by Brian Gleason, seconded by Tony Rushing, to approve the December revenue report. Motion carried.

Motion made by Tony Rushing, seconded by Cristy Desormeaux, to pay the list of bills as presented. Upon roll call vote: Tony Rushing – Yes; Brian Gleason – Yes; Paulette Johnson – Yes; Jennifer Morgan – Yes; Cristy Desormeaux – Yes. Motion carried.

Darlene Bludworth was not present to discuss her high water bill.

Leroy Miles requested a status of the driveway into his business off of Highway 51. Trustee Tony Rushing said that he was waiting to hear from Blankinship for the cost of the project. Mr. Miles was to complete the application process, which he had not done. Mr. Rushing will contact Harold Sheffer of Blankinship for clarification and get back to Mr. Miles.

Village Clerk Paula Parks reported that Pay Estimate #3 in the amount of $67,878.24, approved at the January 6 board meeting, should not have been approved. The amount was incorrect and the engineers and Wiggs Excavating Inc. had not signed off on the document.

Motion made by Tony Rushing, seconded by Jennifer Morgan, to rescind the motion from the January 6 meeting to approve Pay Estimate #3 in the amount of $67,878.24. Upon roll call vote: Tony Rushing – Yes; Brian Gleason – Yes; Paulette Johnson – Yes; Jennifer Morgan – Yes; Cristy Desormeaux – Yes. Motion carried.

Motion made by Tony Rushing, seconded by Cristy Desormeaux, to approve Pay Estimate #3 in the amount of $68,356.12 to pay Wiggs Excavating Inc. for work completed on the Phase III Watermain Replacements project. Upon roll call vote: Tony Rushing – Yes; Brian Gleason – Yes; Paulette Johnson – Yes; Jennifer Morgan – Yes; Cristy Desormeaux – Yes. Motion carried.

Motion made by Tony Rushing, seconded by Brian Gleason, to approve Change Order No 3 reducing the contract price for the Phase III Watermain Replacements project by $825.00. Upon roll call vote: Tony Rushing – Yes; Brian Gleason – Yes; Paulette Johnson – Yes; Jennifer Morgan – Yes; Cristy Desormeaux – Yes. Motion carried.

Motion made by Tony Rushing, seconded by Brian Gleason, to approve Invoice No 20338 from J. T. Blankinship Inc. in the amount of $21,526.85 for services performed for the Phase III Watermain Replacements project. Upon roll call vote: Tony Rushing – Yes; Brian Gleason – Yes; Paulette Johnson – Yes; Jennifer Morgan – Yes; Cristy Desormeaux – Yes. Motion carried.

Leroy Miles expressed his appreciation to Tony Rushing for his diligent, above-and-beyond work with the Phase III Watermain Replacements project.

Motion made by Jennifer Morgan, seconded by Cristy Desormeaux, to approve the three-year contract with Emling and Hoffman PC for annual audit services with a tiered rate of first year $10,900.00; second year $11,000.00; and third year $11,100.00. Upon roll call vote: Tony Rushing – Yes; Brian Gleason – Yes; Paulette Johnson – Yes; Jennifer Morgan – Yes; Cristy Desormeaux – Yes. Motion carried.

Motion made by Brian Gleason, seconded by Cristy Desormeaux, to renew the intergovernmental call handling agreement with Jackson County 911. Upon roll call vote: Tony Rushing – Yes; Brian Gleason – Yes; Paulette Johnson – Yes; Jennifer Morgan – Yes; Cristy Desormeaux – Yes. Motion carried.

Trustee Tony Rushing reported that Fire Chief Chris Shelton does not have time to repair the secondary siren that is used for the noon whistle. Police Chief Ben Doan will contact Walker Communications about getting the siren repaired.

Director of Public Works David Griffin and Trustee Tony Rushing met with Amanda Tinsley of J. T Blankinship Inc. to discuss a Phase IV Watermain Replacements project and other projects that could be combined with it for an IEPA loan. The Phase IV project would replace the watermain from Washington St. to Oak St., which would require boring under the railroad. The other projects are upgrading and extending the watermain on Smith Drive and extending the 4” waterline on Reed Station Road to 101 Williams Road.

Trustee Rushing informed the Board he and Mrs. Tinsley had discussed the Village’s water loss over the past few years and problems with estimating the readings. There is an automated water meter reading system called Radio Read that transmits the information to the office. This technology would save the time and expense of trips to each physical location to read a meter. Another advantage is that billing can be based on near real-time consumption rather than on estimates based on past or predicted consumption. This timely information coupled with analysis could help the Village and customers better control water consumption and detect leaks. The initial set up would be costly because all water meters would have to be replaced with a Radio Meter and the system would have to be set up at the village hall. However, the system would pay for itself over 10 or 15 years because of the savings of water loss and manual meter reading. Mrs. Tinsley is calculating the cost. She said debt forgiveness would be available on an IEPA loan for installing the system.

Trustee Brian Gleason asked if the Village could look into a program that would enable utilities customers to pay their bills online. Treasure Dana Smith said it might be difficult to use such a program because the utility bills are separated into three accounts, and the online payment would have to go into a single account. The Village will look into it.

Motion made by Jennifer Morgan, seconded by Tony Rushing, to allow the Jackson County Board to use the village hall as a polling place for the Primary Election to be held on March 17, 2020 and the General Election to be held on November 3, 2020 and to waive the fee. Upon roll call vote: Tony Rushing – Yes; Brian Gleason – Yes; Paulette Johnson – Yes; Jennifer Morgan – Yes; Cristy – Yes. Motion carried.

Trustee Cristy Desormeaux reported that she had spoken with Scott Stokes at the Illinois Department of Transportation about the crossing situation on Highway 51 to/from the municipal parking lot. Mr. Stokes said the Village should already have a permit to stripe the crosswalk. He also said the signage was already there. The Village can install a flashing yellow light at the Village’s expense. Jana Fann could not find the permit on file so Mr. Stokes is getting a new one that will permit the Village to stripe crosswalks on Highway 51. Board members commented that the crossing sign on the west side of the highway is not easily visible because of the restaurant awning. Trustee Desormeaux will call Mr. Stokes to ask if the Village can change the position of the sign.

The next village board meeting will be held Monday, February 3 at 7 PM at the village hall.

Motion made by Paulette Johnson, seconded by Brian Gleason, to adjourn at 8:16 PM. Motion carried.

https://villageofdesoto.com/uploads/1/2/5/0/125085618/minutes_1-21-20.pdf