June 2, 2025

Call to order at 7:00 pm by President Mat. New Board member trustee Dean Wright was sworn in.

Members answering roll call, President Mat, Tom Smargiassi, Angie Niehaus, Mike Tichler, Dean Wright, Tim Martens, Jamie Melville, and Cheryl Liebenstein.

The minutes from the ting May meeting were reviewed and accepted without dissent, by Tom. Second by Angie. Motion Carried.

Tim made a motion to pay all bills as presented with add-ons. Motion second by Angie.  Motion carried

Tim made a motion to approve the treasurer report as presented. Second by Tom. Motion carried.

No transfer of funds needed.

Maintenance Report

Visitor

Coe Kempel was present to review with the board members his Coffee/Ice Cream business. Coe will have a trailer set up at Hometown Motors. This will be either walk up or they have enough room to have drive thru service. Coe inquired if he would need any permits from the village, but since he is set up on private property there are no permits required.  He is already licensed with Stephenson County and has been inspected. He would like a food grade water hookup and is willing to help pay for this. Rob and Jamie will get this ordered and installed. Coe will then be liable for small business water service charge.  Coe is hopeful to open in July and will be starting with three days per week, Friday thru Sunday.

Fran Dole was present to inform the board that she is not happy with the Memorial trees at the cemetery. Fran would like to survey the lot line and she will pay the cost. She wants a permanent lot line post put in the Northwest corner. Something is killing the trees and it may be overspray, lack of water or just a bad year to plant. Fran will be present at our July meeting to report her findings.

Zander Krolow was present to inform the board of his Eagle Scout Project and to request any donation to help with cost. Zander will be installing two benches at Hide-A-Way Park.  He is currently doing fundraising and hopes to be done in mid-July.  He noted that any left-over money will go to the Park District to plant trees along the creek bank, at the park, to help with soil erosion. Board members favor the project and it is one that the village will not have to maintain. Dean made a motion to give Zander a $500.00 donation to his Eagle Scout project.  Motion second my Mike.  Motion carried.

Tony Kempel was present to request that the board look at installing a mausoleum at the cemetery. Tony was informed that we did look at this matter and determined that we did not have enough interest to fund the cost of a mausoleum. Tony would like us to pursue the costs of a Columbarium.  These are quite small and will not require the maintenance of a mausoleum. Tony will speak with others to explore any interest in erecting one at the cemetery. Angie will check with Lena on the cost of theirs and check other sites for costs. It was suggested that we put a notice on Facebook to go to our village website to take a brief survey.  The survey will give us an idea as to how many persons would be interested in using and/or donating to have one built.

Tony also questioned whether we would be keeping the Post Office in town.  He noted that he has heard the rumors of it being eliminated. President Mat noted that the board has given seven sites for the government to look at.  Two of the sites have been eliminated. There is no plan to close the Post Office.  The current land owner does not want to renew a lease. The lease is not up until September 1, 2026. The board is continuing to work on this to find a parcel of land so they may build or a piece of land that they can drop a pre-fabricated building on.  

FINANCE/TIF FINANCE

Tim presented the Appropriations to the board. After review Tim made a motion to accept the Appropriations for fiscal year 2026.  Motion second by Tom.  Motion carried.

WATER/SEWER

We have no water or sewer projects to complete this year.  Mike noted that there are 8-9 late notices to go out this week, which will include the new fees and late charges.

STREETS/ALLEYS/LIGHTS/SIDEWALK

Dean reviewed the changes to the Sidewalk Ordinance.  He tightened up the language regarding the property owner and their responsibility to repair and/or replace damaged sidewalks. Section 11-7

Board members questioned what is a dangerous sidewalk(?). It is not possible to codify a “dangerous sidewalk.” Any sidewalk deemed to be dangerous will be looked at on a “one by one” basis.

The revision clarifies the ordinance that the property owner owns the sidewalk and that property owners need to know that expenses come with ownership.  The revision allows the board to use their discretion on the definition of “dangerous” and gives the board the ability to act as needed.

Dean made a motion to approve the 2nd reading of the revised Sidewalk Ordinance as written.  Motion second by Mike.  Motion carried.

The committee may look at programs to help qualifying individuals with replacement cost.

BUILDINGS/GROUNDS

No report

CEMETERY

Angie is looking into our ordinance for burial that would require a headstone to be erected within a specified time. Right now, we have 6-7 burials with no headstones.  Angie will check with Lena to see if they require headstones after a burial.

POLICE

Kirk is still working on the cameras for return/replace with Motorola.

We have several homes with chickens that are not registered and one home that is past due on renewal.  Tom will pass this information on to Kurt.

Motion was made by Tom at 8:02pm to go into executive session. Motion second by Tim.  Motion carried.

Motion was made by Tom at 8:12 to go to regular session. Motion second by Angie.  Motion carried.

LIQUOR

Old Business

Board members noted that Lee Pitts may have land for the Post Office. Also, there could be potential land at the maintenance building and Wolf Den Apartments. President Mat will pass these locations along to the Postal Service.  There is no discussion of the government to close the Post Office.

Mike passed along the latest information that he received regarding the Lion’s Club orchard. They are looking to plant two spots. Each spot would contain ten trees. One is on the west side of Rt 73 and the other is near the school parking lot.  Mike would like them to speak with the school before planting near the parking lot. Mike will speak with the Lion’s Club to see what their timeline is for this project.

 New Business

Mike Schiffman will be doing his Lemonade stand for the kids this summer. Check the school website for dates and locations.

Rural water is offering website services. President Mat did not get a quote from them.  Board members feel we do not need another company to run our website. Continue to have Cheryl update the site as needed.

Rob would like the mowing costs changed in our ordinance. Motion was made by Tim to increase the mowing charge for the village to mow a vacant/non-compliant home lot from $50.00 per hour to $75.00 per hour.  Motion second by Tom.  Motion carried.

Motion by Dean to go into Executive Session at 8:45pm.  Motion second by Angie.  Motion carried.

Out of Executive session at 9:00pm

The July meeting will be held on the regular 1st Monday of the month. (July 7th)

Motion to adjourn at 9:01 by Dean.  Second by Tom. Motion carried.

Attest: Cheryl Liebenstein, Village Clerk