Village Board — Minutes

Village of Benton July 19, 2023 Board Meeting Minutes Members present: Scott Cruse, John Perkins, Jill Knight, Kenneth Farrey, Chuck Wartner, Joe Slater, Cal Robbins Absent members: Village employees present: Sonya Silvers, Jared Roling, Brian Hammill Others Present: Dan Wackershauser The regular board meeting of the Benton Village Board was called to order by Village President Scott Cruse at 6:30 p.m. in the conference room of the Benton Business Incubator Building at 244 Ridge Avenue on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. 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 (Robbins, Farrey) to approve the minutes from the regular Village Board meeting held on June 21, 2023 with corrections. Voice-all ayes. Carried Sonya Silvers received a letter from Hazel Green EMS about the purchasing of a new ambulance that will cost around $250,000. Benton is responsible for 23%, which is about $57,500.00. There is no set time line when this purchase will be made or the payment will be due. Another lot sold in the subdivision in late June, leaving only one lot left for sale. Jared Roling stated well #1 will be installed next week. The Chopper Pump will be installed by William Reid at the end of August. He received a few different quotes and they were all in line with the one we received from William Reid. The plan is to get the Chopper Pump installed and do annual maintenance. The pump is only used around 8-12 hours a month. The wrong sampler was ordered by the company and they have corrected the issue and we should have the new one in about 3 weeks. A camera was placed from Hwy 11 to manhole #4 and there were a few issues found with broken sewer piping and a manhole causing inflow and inflowtration. Jared is waiting on quotes to figure out the best solution to the problem. Chief Hammill has been using the new radar equipment to enforce speeding in problem areas. He assisted with the Driver’s Ed program at the school. The police committee has been working on a different policing schedule. Scott Cruse has talked to Keith Dalsing about the water main project and a list of possible grants were received from Vierbicher. Scott has spoken to Kurt Muchow at Vierbicher. They are looking at loans and grants for the whole Main Street water main project. If the numbers are not feasible the project will be reduced in size. Data from previous water main breaks and cost will need to be collected from the Village to move forward with the next steps in financing the project. John has received estimated numbers to complete the section for County J to the end. Materials estimated at $97,000, Installation estimated at $113,000-162,000, rock and stone estimated at $26,000. This does not included blacktop. Committee Reports:  The Finance committee just received the final audit reports and will go over and present at next month’s meeting.  The Park committee reported that Eric is reaching out to Felderman’s to get a schedule for tree removal. Lori Droessler Real Estate has donated $1,000 to the BCDC Park. This will be used for the basketball hoop and to purchase a tree. Lori has made several donations to the Village and the parks.  The Personnel committee is working on the police contract to make it similar to the employee policy manual, while following the rules of ACT 10. Village of Benton July 19, 2023 Board Meeting Minutes Scott announced that the Swindler’s Ridge Museum building has been taken down. Eric Mowry has filled in the large hole with black dirk and fundraising banners will be placed in the empty space. Benton Waterworks quality water report for 2022 was presented to the board. Jared stated everything tested good. Jared has taken three of his required certification test and will not know the results for a month. He will have five more that need to be taken. Sonya, Abby Haas, and Michelle Savatski submitted the USDA loan application today. Operator Licenses were presented for approval Motion (Perkins, Wartner) to approve 2023-2024 Operator Licenses for: Gayle Wilson, Alivia Carius, Lora Carius, Randy Wiegman, Alyssa Stodola, Angela Stiglitz, Laura Walker. Roll-all ayes. Carried Pay the claims against the Village. Motion (Wartner, Knight) to pay the claims against the Village. Roll-all ayes. Carried Meeting adjourned at 7:06 p.m. Motion (Farrey, Robins) to adjourn. Voice-all ayes. Carried