Village Board Meeting — Minutes

Village of Benton April 16, 2025 Board Meeting Minutes Members present: Ken Farrey, John Perkins, Jill Knight, Chuck Wartner, Joe Slater, Cal Robbins Absent members: Scott Cruse Village employees present: Sonya Silvers, Eric Mowry, Brian Hammill Others Present: Michelle Savatski, Matt Pivot The regular board meeting of the Benton Village Board was called to order by village president Ken Farrey at 6:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Benton Business Incubator Building at 244 Ridge Avenue on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. In compliance with the open meeting law, proper notice of the meeting had been posted in four public places: the Zephyr Depot, Benton State Bank, Benton Post Office, and the Benton Business Incubator Building. The minutes from the previous village board meeting were presented. Motion (Knight, Wartner) to approve the minutes from the regular village board meeting held on March 19, 2025, as presented. Voice-all ayes. Carried The minutes from the special village board meeting were presented. Motion (Perkins, Knight) to approve the minutes from the special village board meeting held on March 31, 2025, as presented. Voice-all ayes. Carried Eric Mowry and Jim Goffinet are preparing for summer and getting ready to open up the parks. Jim has been doing electric locates for the fiber installation. Sonya Silvers announced Open Book will be May 15th from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Board of Review will be May 22nd from 4:30p.m. to 6:30p.m. Brian Hammill updated the village board on the police calls for the past month. Committee Reports:  Library Board representative Jill Knight mentioned that a new library board president and secretary will need to be appointed at the May village board meeting.  Ken Farrey, John Perkins, and Sonya Silvers attended a meeting with the Benton Fire Department. New fire trucks will be needed in the future, and there will be another meeting in September to talk about prices, budgeting, and plans for funding. Matt Pivot, representative from Republic Service, was present to discuss the village recycling being picked up biweekly instead of weekly. There are only 2 municipalities that have weekly recycling pickup. Most residents are not doing weekly recycling, and Matt proposes moving it to biweekly. The village contract with Republic Service is up next year, and rates will likely increase by a few dollars per household; switching to bi-weekly pick-up will help keep the cost of the increases down. Matt will write up an offer and present it at the next village board meeting. Republic has also rolled out an app that will allow residents to track the truck, view trash and recycling schedules, and get real-time service alerts. Resolution #2025-02 authorizing the conveyance of real estate was presented to the board. This is to authorize and approve the conveyance of real estate from the Village of Benton to the Community Development Authority of the Village of Benton. Motion (Knight, Slater) to approve Resolution #2025-02 authorizing the conveyance of real estate from the Village of Benton to the Community Development Authority of the Village of Benton. Roll-all ayes. Carried Ken Farrey presented the 2025-2026 committee assignments. Motion (Knight, Robbins) to approve the 2025-2026 committee assignments as presented. Voice-all ayes. Carried. Sonya announced that Bill Bastian would be mowing for the village this summer. Laine Lawrence and Nolan Keleher will be watering flowers, cleaning parks, and doing miscellaneous work for the summer. Village of Benton April 16, 2025 Board Meeting Minutes Sonya presented an online community portal for utility billing. The portal would allow residents to get utility bills online, make payments in the portal, and view previous billings. The portal would also allow the village to upload reminders and newsletters. The mail has been becoming an increasing problem, with residents receiving utility bills late or not at all, resulting in late fees. The portal will allow the village to save money on postage and help cut down on some of the mailing issues. This would run through the current utility software with an annual cost of $1200 and a one-time set up fee of $1200. Setup and training would take 4-6 weeks. Motion (Wartner, Robbins) to allow Sonya to move forward with Civic Systems to set up the online community portal for utility billing. Voice-all ayes. Carried Pay the claims against the village. Motion (Slater, Robbins) to pay the claims against the village. Voice-all ayes. Carried The meeting was adjourned at 7:07 p.m. Motion (Robbins, Wartner) to adjourn. Voice-all ayes.