Village Board — Minutes

VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – April 7th, 2025, PAGE 1 The Friendship Village Board meeting was called to order followed by the Pledge of Allegiance by all present. President Tony Sindelar called the meeting to order and roll call was taken. Present were Trustees Brad Oberbeck, Ernie Klicko, Jerry Sonnenberg , Melvin Waller, Bob Berry, Jason Pierce and President Sindelar. Also present were Attorney Joseph Hasler, Public Works Director Beth Shultz , Clerk/Treasurer Sandy Shawback, and Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Rebecca Reuter. APPROVAL OF MINUTES MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve March 3rd, 2025, Village Board minutes, motion carried. TREASURER REPORT General Water Sewer January 1, 2025, Balance 247,887.38 489,015.53 117,416.69 January Receipts 25,262.56 104,942.30 79,091.24 January Disbursements 115,530.72 259,927.82 175,120.61 January Balance 1/31/2025 157,619.22 334,030.01 21,387.32 February 1, 2025, Balance 157,619.22 334,030.01 21,387.32 February Receipts 121,868.15 6,264.62 3,483.59 February Disbursements 52,539.22 19,989.19 10,251.94 February Balance 2/28/2024 226,948.15 320,305.44 14,618.97 LGIP #1 TIF $1,047,154.41 – LGIP #9 ARPA $ 0.45 – Capital Project Checking $33, 948.13 - Building Fund $ 70,000.00 – Money Market $1,64 6.91 – CDBG Working Fund $13,857.48 - LGIP #6 Park/Beach $ 44,238.16 – Tax Checking $134,423.45 – TIF Checking $ 95.00 -Street Equipment Fund $ 87,725.00 – Court Order Proceeds $3,808.03 – Water LGIP #3 Special Redemption Fund $238,999.02 - LGIP #4 Water Replacement Fund $3 83,200.06 – LGIP #8 Water Debt Reserve Fund $77,691.42 – Sewer LGIP#2 Special Redemption Fund $98,983.52 - LGIP#5 Sewer Replacement Fund $ 54,716.40 – LGIP#7 Sewer Debt Reserve Fund $63,166.65 MOTION by Klicko, second by Sonnenberg to approve treasurer report, motion carried. PAYING OF BILLS MOTION by Klicko, second by Oberbeck to approve March vouchers 27582-27620 in the amount of $143,906.90, motion carried. CITIZEN INPUT Nadine Ashworth - Ashworth came to ask for a donation for the fireworks. She keeps saying that this is going to be her last year, and this year really might be. The cost goes up every year. She has been thankful for the years that we have donated to her. She really appreciates it. She’s hoping we will consider donating again this year. Some day she’s going to have to let it go, and it’s going to be really hard to do because she knows how much everyone seems to enjoy it. When that time comes then the City, Village and Towns will have to come together if they want to keep having it going. This will be on the agenda to be discussed in May. ROPORT FROM COUNTY REPRESENTATIVE RICK PEASE Pease stated that two of the biggest things recently is the Village should’ve gotten their money from our reconciliation from the property taxes with interest. The other thing that is coming up is they’re trying to figure out a better way to have a humane officer, or dog catcher. The sheriff’s department has handled it very well, but it’s really not their duty. He thinks the county is going to try to see if they can hire someone part time to do it. They have some ideas, they are hoping to go to the Town’s Association meeting for some direction. There’s a lot of towns that say they’re not going to pay into this. They are hoping to up the cost of the dog license, and that would help pay for it. It’s all new, but they are working hard to figure it all out. The last thing he’s going to get a little personal. About 5 years ago Roberta Sindelar and Tony caught him at a restaurant and said, “How come you don’t come to the Village Board meeting?” He said why would I go; I sit on a thousand boards why would he go to another one? She said “That’s where all your people are. You need to know what’s going on!” That is probably the best thing anyone has said to him. He tries to come to most of them. He has missed some of them but for the most part he’s here. And that’s because of these two. One thing has always remained the same, Tony! Tony has been here as a regular board member and then took a leadership spot here. He's done an outstanding job for the Village for many, many years. He thinks we should recognize that. It’s hard to give up a Monday here, or a meeting there, or I’m going to represent the Village over here at this meeting. He’s done an outstanding job, and we should recognize that at some point. If I was one of the Board members and I had a question he would be the first person I would VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – April 7th, 2025, PAGE 2 call because he has been around the block here and knows everything. So Tony, thank you for your service. DISCUSSION & ACTION TO UPDATE BANK INFORMATION Reuter stated that because we have a new president coming in, and a president going out we will need to have new signature cards made up. With our new treasurer Sandy, we knew this was going to happen, so we held off on putting her name on the banking information so that we wouldn’t have to switch it around more than once. What we are looking for is for approval to take Sindelar off the accounts and put Sonnenberg and Sandy on the accounts. And then add Sandy and myself to the credit card. MOTION by Berry, second by Klicko to approve updating the bank information, motion carried. Berry also added that our other accounts should be updated as well. Reuter will take care of that. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON BUYING A TRUCK FOR PUBLIC WORKS Pierce stated that the Committee is currently looking. Schultz found one last week that they decided to pass on because it wasn’t really what they were looking for. They aren’t sure if they want a big one or a smaller one. We are at the point where we need several vehicles right now. They are trying to have Schultz look at everything and decide what we need. He will discuss trucks more in the Public Works report. UPDATE ONEAST LAKE STREET PROPERTY Hasler stated that the update is that our building inspector from general engineering heard back from the property owner who returned a document saying that she would consent to an inspection for the purpose of making further deliberations on what the Village is going to do. Hasler was in contact with him this morning, he has not yet finalized a date for that inspection. Hasler thinks that we are going to press him and her to get that date scheduled and the inspection done in a timely manner, so that if she doesn’t follow through on her commitment, we would then petition the Adams County Circuit Court for an inspection warrant. That would give us the authority to go on the property without her consent or cooperation. Based on the inherent right we have to inspect properties to determent whether or not they pose a threat to health safety and welfare to both the occupant and the neighborhood as well. Hasler’s recommendation is going to be that he contacts the building inspector and tell him that we have to have an inspection scheduled and conducted within a very short window so that if she doesn’t comply, we’re in a position to get the inspection completed again in a very short window. He’d like to be able to say that we would be in a position to have a report, and a recommendation based on an inspection between now and the meeting in May, but he doesn’t know if 30 days is too fast. He would certainly believe we could get it done within 60 days by the June meeting. The key is to just keep making sure that the process is moving forward, and he believes it is. We took the step of ordering title insurance. We have a letter report of title stating that she is the owner by virtue of a conveyance. There are a number of judgments on the property, plus taxes on the property for tax years 2024 and 2023 are delinquent. Looking at what the taxes are helps to give you a value of the property. We’re moving forward, just not as fast as anybody would like. But we are making progress. PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE REPORT Pierce stated that under citizen input they discussed that a few of our streetlights are out. The committee talked about vehicles and the plow trucks. What they did decide is that the yellow plow truck, every year the plow keeps falling off, multiple times a year. It’s because of the way it’s attached to the truck. Waller and Berry have a lot of experience with plow trucks, and they suggested contacting the county and looking at a different kind of hitch and refitting it. Waller had some new information; he did some measurements and took a closer look, and he thinks he found the problem. There is just enough slack in the hitch that can be repaired by shimming on one side of the latch that can be fixed. Theres a bracket on the right side that protects the pin, what’s happening is that crop will slide sideways enough to that bracket is hitting that, and that’s what breaks the latch, and it breaks loose. You can see where it’s hitting it. That needs to just get cut and brought out about 2 inches, so it doesn’t hit that pin. He thinks that would eliminate the problem. He talked to Eral Fenner and asked him about it, if he knew anything about that? He stated that the Village was supposed to bring that over last year or the year before, but they never did. He was willing to fix it. We have a local person who can fix it. Pierce stated that the red plow truck is out of service. It’s not going to be on the road anymore. The same with the dually . It has a bad rearend and a cracked frame and is out of service. Our brush truck has been in disrepair for years and we can’t get parts for it. The Committee was discussing what route they want to go. What they need to replace. Even the Ford pickup that t hey use for driving and getting around the Village the transmission slips, and we’ve had that rebuilt multiple VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – April 7th, 2025, PAGE 3 times. The Village is in need of multiple vehicles. The Committee is trying to decide what they want to go with. They might go with a smaller truck so that they can get another truck too. Or they might try to find one that can do multiple things, they’re unsure. The Committee met with Schultz for the first time. Her first official meeting. One of the concerns is she wasn’t able to find the list that had all of the meters that still need to be changed, that was missing. She has since found that, and got letters sent out saying let us replace your meter or your water is being shut off. Hopefully we will be able to get them replaced. The Committee discussed the fence violation on Raymond Street. Their recommendation is they want to get the property surveyed and proceed with having the fence removed. The Committee discussed the signage they want to use when they remove the buoys at the beach when they bring in the weed harvester. They want to get signs to say that the beach will be closed tomorrow 7-12, or something along those lines. Then have Schultz put the sign out the day before, and remove the sign afterwards. They got a quote from Grifith to remove some trees . The Committee’s recommendation is to have the trees removed. They keep losing limbs during storms and are dead. There are 2 on the south side of Moundview Drive, and trim 2 on 3rd Street. During the next Public Works meeting they plan on going down to the beach and picking out a spot for the kayaks, discuss crack filling and striping and painting of the curbs on Highway 13. There was a discussion on how many properties the Village owns. Reuter will get them that information for their meeting. Reuter stated that just for them to keep in mind that all Village owned propert ies have leans on them, and all money made on the selling of each property will go towards paying off the water and sewer loan with the USDA. FIRE DISTRICT REPORT Klicko stated that last month there were 9 calls, 1 structure and 1 at the landfill. Their new toolbox is coming. They are still working on a bunch of SOPs. The new fire chief is big on having SOPs, and that’s helping moral quit a bit. They are looking at the heat in the Strongs Prairie station . Every time it gets cold people are surprised at the amount of their fuel bill. They are going to do some weather stripping and fix the doors. After much discussion they’re going to move to sell the ladder truck, it’s a little big for around here. They started an auxiliary checking account from the room tax they received from Strongs Prairie. They are buying 10 more sets of trail gear with the 2% money that comes from the insurance companies. They carried a big balance in that account for many years under the 2 previous chiefs and now they are spending it on equipment. They bought a new UTV with money from the fireman. The old UTV they’re keeping, and getting a new skid unite for it so they can use it for wild fires. The next Fire District meeting is on April 8th. AMBULANCE COMMITTEE REPORT Sindelar stated that the next meeting is April 23 rd at 6:00 P.M. at the Adams Town Hall. At that meeting the board there will go through the normal proceedings, but then also at that time is when they go through and elect officers. So, for that part the newly elected president should try and be there to represent the Village. FRIENDSHIP LAKE DISTRICT REPORT Sonnenberg stated that they are having a meeting this week on April 10 th to go over something’s that they’ve been discussing over the winter slowdown. One of the big things is they have agreed to assist with the gravel at the beach. He will report on Thursday that we’ve already got our plan scheduled to meet and discuss it, and then he’ll let them know what we come up with. They still have a few of their raffle tickets left that they are selling . The proce eds are going to go toward equipment. They will probably meet in May. When our new Board meets in May we will figure out who the new Village representative will be. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON OPERATOR’S LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve operator’s license for Gail Hentges, John Woynilko and Kerry Coker, motion carried. DISCUSSION & ACTION ON PROVISIONAL OPERATOR’S LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve provisional operator’s license for Nicole Gulrud, Jean Bartz, Deanne Rieqe and Angela Kossman, motion carried. VILLAGE BOARD MEETING – April 7th, 2025, PAGE 4 DISCUSSION & ACTION ON TEMPORYARY ALCOHOL BEVERAGE LICENSE MOTION by Berry, second by Pierce to approve Temporary Class B Retailer’s license for Glassic Dee-Sign, Main Street Mercantile, Books on Main and Solsikke Soap, motion carried. CORRESPONDENCE The Village received a letter stating that LRS was bought out by GFL Solis Waste Midwest LLC as of Marsh 1, 2025. They are keeping us as a customer and plan on honoring our contract. Everything will remain the same. The Village received a card from the Adams County Humane Society thanking us for the use of the Village Hall for their Vaccination and Microchip clinic. SET AGENDA ITEMS FOR MAY 5th MEETING Discussion and action on donations to the Ashworth Family Fireworks show MOTION by Klicko, second by Berry for the newly elected members to take their oaths of office as required by statute. That the newly elected officers’ term will begin on April 15 th, 2025. There will be a special meeting on April 28 th, 2025, and the items on th at agenda will be to go over the applications for Public Works, and to pass a resolution to directing the new Village President to recommend a person to fill his unexpired term. Then that recommendation would be considered when the Board meets on the 1st Monday in May, motion carried. Before closing the meeting Sindelar thanked the Village Board for all their time and service that they put into ever ything. He tha nked Oberbeck for his service on the Board , he ’s brought a lot of discussion. He helped the Board to get out of their comfort zone at times, he greatly appreciates that part of it. Being no further business to come before the board, MOTION by Sonnenberg, second by Sindelar to adjourn, motion carried. Meeting ended at 6:51 __________________________________________ Rebecca Reuter Deputy Clerk