Public Works — Minutes

VILLAGE OF FRIENDSHIP PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday July 22, 2026– Page 1 The Public Works Committee meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. in the Municipal Building. In attendance were Chairman Antone Sindelar, committee members Melvin Waller, Justin Hutter; also in attendance was Public Works Director Beth Schultz, Trustee Nadine Ashworth, and Village Clerk Rebecca Reuter The agenda for the meeting was: 1} Roll Call 2} Approve meeting minutes from June 24, 2026 3} Citizen input 4} Discussion & Possible Action Regarding Multiple Nuisance Property Concerns 5} Discussion on Adams Street 6} Discussion & Possible Action on: Handicap Ramp at 106 East Second Street 7} Discussion & Possible Action on: Old Brush Truck 8} Public Works Directors Report 9} Adjournment A majority of the Village Board may be present but no Board action is contemplated. APPROVAL OF JUNE 24, 2026, MINUTES MOTION by Waller, second by Hutter to approve June 24, 2026, Public Works Minutes, motion carried. CITIZEN INPUT John Amell – Owns the discount grocery store on East Second St. He has been trying to get 2-hour parking signs there for the last year. He was told they were ordered but hasn’t heard anything more. He worked with Bob and Jerry on it the last few times he’s been here. The other issue is the handicap ramp that he is trying to get installed there. He has been waiting to hear back on what’s going to happen. Jon Roseberry – Jon handed out a booklet of what’s been going on at 600 Main St. He stated that he would outline what each page was about. The cover is just pictures of what his cameras have captured, including one person stumbling out of the parking lot of the motel at 5:00 a.m. then later throwing up on Main St. He was told by the Energy Assistants people that on that day the lady was sitting in the car shooting up with an IV in her arm, and that’s what resulted in the puking the fallowing morning. Again, that is just what he was told by the lady at Energy Assistants. The bottom photo is a picture of the arrest that took place on Monday of Sam Smith. On page 1 the first thing he would like to address is the dogs. He doesn’t know how many dogs are over at that place, but he does know that most of them do their business on his property. If you look at the map, he has highlighted the areas including the front yard at the funeral home, by the sign at Energy Assistants, between the garages, also to the house to the south of the motel, the whole yard is open session for the dogs. Page 2 lists the number of police incidents at that place since 2023. There have been 83 that are listed, but if we include the meth bust that happened on Monday that should be 84. Sam Smith was arrested Monday July 20th for methamphetamine, Possession of THC, Possession drug paraphernalia, and maintain drug traffic place. Basically, between the people doing drugs and trespassing on his property he initiated and online petition. Going back to Sam, he already has 2 outstanding court cases out there for drugs, and selling drugs and guess how much his bail was? $200.00, can you imagen. So, he doesn’t feel like much help is coming from the courts. The police have been wonderful to work with, but we can’t rely on the judges and all that stuff to help us. But you guys do have the authority to enforce basic common decency. The owner of 600 Main St. went to court today and is trying to evict Sam, but that place has been a problem in the community for the past 20 years. It only takes one bad apple to screw up the whole place. A few years ago, it was Robby, and he’s had problems. He’s the one that goes up and down Main St. screaming at people. He’s got problems. He used to be a tremendous drug user. There would be kids coming and going at all hours of the day and night, and the was 2018. Do what you will with this information, but he encourages us to act in the best interest of the Village of Friendship. Thank you. Richard Perrault – Most people know him as “Lunch Box” he lives at 600 Main St. He does agree a lot with what has been said here about the place; however, he would like it noted that even in the last 6 months we’ve had tremendous improvements. We have cleaned up a lot of the trash. Sam is going to be trespassed and evicted, and all of the people with him have also been trespassed, and we will keep an eye out for them. We are willing to work with the authorities, and anybody we can, to try and straighten the place out. He understands the reputation the place has. He hasn’t been there for very long, but he wants the same thing that everybody else wants. We want the bad element gone and we would like it to be a peaceful, cohesive place as part of the community without having to worry about anybody else’s property and safety, or our own. Sam and those people have been just as much a problem for us as they have been for everyone else. All that we request is that we are given some time to straighten it out. Nothing happens overnight. Tina Cornelius – She also lives at 600 Main St. Her boyfriend and her have been there for 18 years. Over the years they have had their ups and downs. She agrees with what was said. The nuisance of the drug use, and he has been arrested and is out of there. We do have a lot of decent people in there. A lot of us don’t have the money to live somewhere else. They are there because that is what they can afford. She just wants peace. Most of the people that live there are not troublemakers, they are just people trying to get by. She agrees with what Mr. Roseberry has said, but she feels that many of us are just trying to get along and we are not like Sam. Please just keep in mind that is our home, we don’t have any place else that we can go. She just wanted to state for the record that we’re just trying to get along and we’re trying to make it where we can live peacefully. Thank you. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday July 22, 2026– Page 2 Dan Cumins – He lives at 600 Main St. He moved from Kentucky up here to share custody of his children after his divorce with his ex-wife. I just needed to find a place to live that I could afford at the time. I was without a job and didn’t have much to my name. He really appreciates everything that Bob has done for us there. You’re always going to have bad apples wherever, but like Tina said we have to have a place to live. We can’t always choose where we live at. If someone is messing up it shouldn’t cause us our livelihood or where we live at. Most of us can’t find other places to live, we aren’t rich. We live here the best that we can. Try and get by the best that we can. Richard Perrault – asked to add one more thing. Most of us are good people. We had 2 situations where we needed to get rid of people, one was Sam and there is one other that is in the process of happening. But like he said some of us don’t have much. Some of us get by working on farms, himself included. His life fell apart a few years ago and he is trying to rebuild. He thinks that we can really get this place straightened out, get the bad apples out, and break the cycle of bad people coming in a ruining the place. Then get the outside cleaned up. Hopefully we can eventually turn the reputation around to something positive. It will be a place where people can rebuild. DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING MULTIPLE NUISANCE PROPERTY CONCERNS Hutter said he would like to start. He handed out a copy of the search warrant that was talked about earlier. He then stated more importantly this is a copy of the email on an issue that he is working on right now with the District Attorney about another problem at 510 Adams St. The District Attorney and he are already looking into it, he feels that this board should review this as a possible action moving forward if we can use those issues concerning this. That is why he has given everyone copies of this. This was reviewed by the DA. Sindelar stated that one is a good review. He was around when that one first came out. There is a fine line with that one where we can review it, but also have council review it along with us. Hutter stated that he does have 17 years of government contract and legal work, he is very good at this. And it is already to the DA. Waller wanted to go back and talk about 600 Main St. He stated that we don’t have just a drug problem there. There is one unit that has more junk out between two of those buildings, and it looks horrible. It’s not a junk yard. That is something that needs to get cleaned up. We don’t need that stuff there. That is one of our nuisance complaints. Someone from the audience stated that there have been 9 loads hauled out already and they are going to take more out, because that is one of the complaints that they have had as well. Roseberry stated that from what he has seem from being next door south at night sometimes, he sees them working hard on their pile of stuff. It consists of covering it up with metal sheets. He doesn’t think that’s even close to what the answer is. He doesn’t mean to be disrespectful, but it is junk. If you are driving by from out of town you are driving by tarps and metal sheets just to cover up junk. Schultz stated that she has been here for 16 months, and it has been like that ever since she has been here. She has sent out multiple letters asking for it to get cleaned up. It will get cleaned up a little bit, but then it’s back to square one. It’s right on Main St., so everybody sees it. Maryann Ludwig – stated that she lives in the unit that is being talked about. Her husband is going blind; he just went away. She just started cleaning it up and she took out 11 truckloads of garbage two weeks ago. She has been doing it herself. She has been taking out some every day. Schultz stated to the landowner that one thing she thinks he needs to do is get them a bigger dumpster. Because that is always heaped up and piled high with trash in front of it. She wants to know why it gets to that point? Why doesn’t he step in and do something before it gets to that point? Minigh agreed and said he would look into that. He has tried to get it cleaned up multiple times, and now we are at the point where it just needs to be done. They are cleaning it up and getting rid of it little by little. Schultz stated that this doesn’t all fall on him. We are the ones that get the complaints, she hears about it all the time. Her hands are tied to a certain extent, because all she can do is send a letter and hope that you comply with it. Minigh stated he knows people complain about the cats; they are feral cats. They have hauled out 9 of them. Now there’s more, they are having kittens. It’s just an ongoing thing. He doesn’t know what to do with them. The Humane Society won’t take them. Schultz asked about concerns regarding dogs leaving waste throughout the property next door and cats being scattered around the area. She noted that some units have been feeding the cats and said that practice should stop so the cats do not continue to gather there. Animal concerns discussed: Committee members and audience members discussed the need for residents to clean up after their dogs. They also discussed the ongoing issue with cats on the property and noted that the landowner has asked residents several times to stop feeding them. MOTION by Hutter, second by Waller to do a walkthrough of the property, discuss and make a plan in writing and send it in a letter, and get a copy of the letter to the Committee, motion carried. Schultz will meet with the landowner tomorrow July 23rd at 10:00 a.m. to walk through the property and make a list of everything that we would like to see cleaned up and include that in a letter to be sent out to landowner. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday July 22, 2026– Page 3 Schultz brought up the Friendship Hotel. The front porch is caving in . She has had multiple conversions with the property owner on the phone, and every time Schultz talks with her, she says that she has a contractor coming, or she’s waiting for a contractor to get back to her . She finally sent her out a letter. She is supposed to get ahold of Schultz as soon as she gets ahold of a contractor, but at this point she has nothing. Hutter asked if that is a historically important building? Reuter replied that it is not labeled as such. Schultz asked her the other day if she has seen it lately? But she didn’t think it looked that bad. Sindelar stated that Schultz should reach out to our state repressive for the DOT as it is so close to the roadway , and on the corner. She’s going to need to do something or we will need to check what other legal options we might have. Waller stated that he doesn’t feel like we should have to block our sidewalk off because of the crumbling front porch. Hutter said that it needs to be addressed as a safety concern, not just an ordinance concern. Schultz stated that the other property that she wanted to talk about was the East Lake ST. property . The shed has been removed. The only thing left there is the car. She talked to the property owner the other day and he’s still concerned because the car is in his brother’s name and if he hooks onto it that his brother is going to come after him. Sindelar stated that he could just call it in as an abandoned car. They would tow and impound it. Ashworth stated that a person came to her house to talk about a house on Quincy St. They have vehicles in the back and are running a salvage yard. They wanted to know if that was legal . Sometimes they block the roadways with campers and cars. Sindelar stated that running a business out of a residential area in a no-no. We can follow up on that and see what it is zoned. Schultz stated that when the Committee did the drive around, they looked at that property, but because they kept everything out back it wasn’t a huge issue. But if it starts to come out front then she can send them something. Waller stated that they really don’t keep anything there. They will maybe have it overnight, and then it gets shipped out the next day with the flatbed. So, they aren’t accumulating stuff. He’s been watching them as they are right across the street from him. Amell from the audience stated that it is cash for cars, he has a LLC on the side of his truck. The Committee agreed to review the zoning requirements, continue monitoring the property, and document any concerns with photographs. DISCUSSION ON ADAMS STREET Schultz stated that we had a pothole on Adams St. that Applegate had to come in and patch one night , then after it rained it sunk back down. That tells he r that there is something under their leaking. She had Hintz Excavating come in and dug a 30-foot hole. Went down to the sewer lines and the collar was broken and leaking on it. He fixed that, then brought in 18 yards of limestone gr avel for $6,200 . She is getting estimates for paving that this Fall , because we want to let it settle for a little bit. Waller aske where on Adams St. was it? Sindelar stated it was right off of CTY RD. J in front of the church on the corner. Waller asked why there are cones in front of the hospital? Schultz stated that those are there because their sidewalk is caving in. There is a hole down in there. All of the gravel is all washed out. She is just waiting on the concrete guy to come and look at it. He’s just been really busy. Plus, all of our storm sewers on Lake St. Hintz thought were the wrong size. The concrete is busted away from all of them. So, the water is running in there instead of the storm sewer. That’s why that is coned off, because she doesn’t want anybody on the sidewalk because she’s afraid it’s going to cave in. We just fixed the one right across the street from this one. DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION ON: HANDICAP RAMP AT 106 EAST SECOND STREET Amell stated the village came out almost a year ago. Jerry, Bob, Melvin came out and measured out for the ramp, talked to the inspector and he hadn’t heard anything back. He wants to know what way we are going to go with it. Reuter stated that it was tabled until we received a letter from the property owner stating that he was ok with us going forward with the project. We now have the property owner’s permission. So now we can start finally moving forward. Waller stated that it was tabled waiting on verification from the landowner, he remembers that now. Ashworth asked who is paying for it? Reuter stated that Amell is responsible for paying for his own ramp. The Village is responsible for paying for half of the cost of the sidewalk/curb per our ordinance. Waller said that going straight out it was going to be to close to the edge of the sidewalk. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday July 22, 2026– Page 4 Amell stated that right now it has an 8-inch step and is slanted down. He can’t get any handicap or disabled people in the building. The inspector has already been out there twice. He wants to do the 90 degree one along the building. He was fine with whatever the Village wanted to do. Amell stated that he is also still waiting on his 2-hour parking signs. The landlord gave permission to post them on the building. Schultz stated that she has never been part of that discussion. She will grab his number before he leaves, and she will set up a time with him to stop over. She will also order the 2-hour parking signs and have them put up. DISCUSSION & POSSIBLE ACTION ON: OLD BRUSH TRUCK Schultz stated that someone kicked the break chamber off it, so it’s not drivable anymore. Sindelar said that the break chamber rotted right off it. It is sitting in the back of the truck right now. Luckily it is an older style and it self-caged itself. Waller stated that we should just see what we can get for junk. Schultz called Manthey Salvage when it was still drivable and they would give $160 a ton, but she’s not sure what they will give now. Sindelar looked underneath the truck before the meeting, and it’s in bad shape. It would be his recommendation to just scrap it and get it off the road. Just have it decommissioned and not be a liability to the Village anymore. He thinks we should recommend to the Board to have Manthey Salvage come and pick it up and just scrap it and see what we can get for it. MOTION by Sindelar, second by Hutter to recommend to the Village Board to have Manthey Salvage come and pick it up for just scrap, motion carried. PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTORS REPORT Schultz stated that we had a zoom meeting with the DOT today. The DOT are planning on fixing 3.5 miles of road on Hwy 13. They plan on milling, with a 2-inch overlay. They will be replacing 2 culverts. They are looking at maybe replacing some of the guardrail . It won’t be a closed road. They will have it open to single la ne with flaggers, so there will be delays. It will start just past Moundview Dr. and go all the way to Hwy 21. They plan on starting early 2029 but might try to see if they can do it as early as March of 2028 if the schedule can work out. It is a 1-to-2- million-dollar project. This was just an informational meeting. All the driveways along the road with encroaches will be redone. All the intersections will be redone too. John Willconson came into day and was wondering if we want him to make the counterweight for the Jo hn Deer, or does anyone else have any suggestions on that? Reuter stated that for those that don’t know the John Deer had a counterweight at one time and that’s what Public Works would use when they were cleaning up Main St. When our last Public Works employee left, he took it with him, because he made it. That’s why the John Deer didn’t get used for snow removal last year on Main St. Waller stated that he knew it used to have one, and he wondered what happened to it. Schultz stated that it would cost around $500 to do it. He would take about 500 pounds of steel with some braces put across the top. Anybody could do it if they had steel. He also could put an eye or a pin on it so that if we needed to, we could put a chain on there. She doesn’t know why we would ever need to take it off. The steel would go on the arm of the blade. Waller said if you have your steel hooked up to the 3-point hitch you’re going to take it off to use the back blade. Schultz thinks that 500 pounds, you should be able to lift that with the hydraulics. The problem they had was the blade wasn’t heavy enuf, so it just skimmed over the snow. Schultz will show the Committee after the meeting so they can get an idea of what she is talking about. She has been in contact with the DNR, and they will not help with anything, they don’t have any money left to help with the retention pond at the park. She is bound and determined to get something done with that. She was also in contact with the DNR because they never finished putting riprap around the lake. They have noticed that when it rains, we are getting holes before the bridge, she’s afraid a little kid can fall into it and break a leg. She was hoping that the DNR could help with that, but they don’t have any money, all they could do was let her know what she would need a permit for. She also has a call into Land & Water with the county. She is still waiting for them to get back with her. Hutter said that if it’s just for repairs that she shouldn’t need a permit. He has just been through this. You can repair up to 300 feet and install up to 200 feet, but then you have to be in the right part of the lake. If it’s already existent and you are just trying to repair it you don’t need permits for that. Schultz doesn’t know if it is repairing it, because there is no existing rock in there right now. Hutter asked if there used to be? Was it there and it just fell down from erosion? Because then it’s a repair. She thinks we are going to have Christmas lights this year. She filled out a grant through Marquet Adams Telephone Coop. They usually will give out a $5,000 grant . She asked them for a $25,000 grant for Christmas lights. She just sent them over an estimate for the cost of 4-foot to 6-foot Christmas lights that came to $10,000, and then she told them that we would also need electricity to be added to the light poles and they told her to add that to the total cost and they will take a look at it. Sindelar stated that when we put anything on the streetlights through the Village, that will all be on the village’s liability. Because when those lights were put in, they were not spec for any additional weight, or anything hanging on them. Schultz said that she has been in contact with a lady, and she will find out if there is a weight restriction on them, because they are flimsy poles. But the decorations will be just wire and lights wrapped around them. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday July 22, 2026– Page 5 AL Arndt from the American Legion Red Cloud Post was in the audience. He asked if there is a weight restriction if we could let him know, because he was in talks with the former Village President. They had talked about getting brackets to put on the light poles and then we could post banners for the veterans from Memorial Day to Laber Day. They would really like to start doing that for their veterans. Schultz said the new truck got lettered today from TNT. It looks really sharp. She had a gentleman call her the other day wanting to know who did the maintenance on our tornado siren, and she had no idea. He is from a nonprofit and is taking care of other municipalities in Adams County. He sent over an agreement. There is no cost to the Village. The contract would be from 2026-2028. We wouldn’t pay for anything, unless we needed parts. Sindelar will check with Trustee Klicko. He was more involved with getting the sirens in place and up and running . He should know. Waller thinks that is something we should look at. Adjournment Motion by Waller, second Hutter to adjourn the meeting, motion carried. Meeting ended at 6:36 p.m. ___________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Village Clerk