Village Board — Minutes

Village of Benton March 16, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes Members present: Gary McCrea, Chuck Wartner, Katey Neis, Kenneth Farrey Absent members: Cal Robbins, Terry Sheffer, Jill Knight Village employees present: Tasha Blindert, Eric Mowry Others Present: David Ralph, Joy McQuade (via Zoom) The regular board meeting of the Benton Village Board was called to order by Village President, Gary McCrea, at 6:29 p.m. in the conference room of the Benton Business Incubator Building at 244 Ridge Avenue on Wednesday, March 16, 2022. 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. Motion (Wartner, Farrey) to approve the minutes from the regular village board meeting held on February 16, 2022. Voice-all ayes. Carried Motion (Neis, Wartner) to approve the minutes from the special village board meeting held on March 1, 2022. Voice-all ayes. Carried. Motion (Farrey, Neis) to approve the minutes from the special village board meeting held on March 8, 2022. Voice-all ayes. Carried. Joy McQuade from Lafayette County Housing Authority joined via Zoom to discuss the offer proposed to purchase 150 Whaley Court. Ms. McQuade stated the Housing Authority Board voted unanimously to accept the offer of $20,000. They are very pleased with the offer. Lafayette County will pay $10,000 down and the other $10,000 after zoning has been completed to Planned Unit Development (PUD) district. The developer is creating a video that will overview the project; Joy will provide that to the Village Board once she receives it. Building is projected to begin early 2023, once funding and grants are approved. Motion (Farrey, Wartner) to approve the offer of $20,000, to be paid as a $10,000 down payment and $10,000 once zoning is completed. Roll-all ayes. Carried. Eric gave a report on the condition of the street sweeper. In the last week, he had found that there was water in the oil. Eric spoke with Sloan’s, and they estimated repairs could cost $8,000-10,000. Majority of that estimate would be labor, as it involves taking out the motor. Eric got in contact with the dealer where our street sweeper was purchased and got pricing on other used sweepers that they currently have available; the used sweepers ranged from 1998 to 2009 and newer, and in price from $30,000 to over $105,000. Gary suggested checking in with Windy Hill Repair, as they might be a more reasonable cost to have it repaired. Eric reported that availability of materials for the Arbor Street subdivision was hard to predict. One of the factors is quoting costs, as many vendors cannot provide pricing in long term with such fluctuation in the market. Gary inquired about replacing the water lines near the water tower. Eric stated that Ryan is actively looking into possibly rerouting the water in this area, and will provide further detail when available. Pay rates for summer help will be discussed at the April board meeting, so as to include more members of the board. At this time, Bill McCauley and Jimmy Haas are the only help confirmed. The need for Village of Benton March 16, 2022 Board Meeting Minutes help will be assessed by how busy the full-time workers are with other projects. Jimmy has asked to only work about 20 hours per week this summer. Committee Reports:  Gary asked for the boards thoughts on Drew Stoutenborough’s property. Drew was given a property maintenance warning from Brian Hammill due to the deterioration of a shed/garage on his property. There is an existing concrete pad, which Drew would like to rebuild on. The board agreed that Drew would need a variance approved in order to do so.  Gary was in contact with Howard Marklein’s office in regard to the tree on Lutes’ property that is in the right-away. Marklein stated he would have the DOT get in contact with Gary for further discussion.  Gary notified the board that Viola Roling’s property is now for sale. The Village is not making any offer on it. Gary spoke with Ted Kearn about some property that Kearn and Dan Kelleher had recently swapped. Kearn would like to inquire about purchasing the right-away from the Village, as Kern’s son intends to build a house there in the future. This will be discussed further at the April board meeting. Chuck reported that the pickleball courts are in need of some maintenance and repair. He also would potentially like to see the current tennis court repurposed as a ‘new’ pickleball court. Chuck discussed future ideas for Swift Park and courts, including expanding it to the west and pushing the courts westward. Tasha and Gary informed the board of the upcoming dates for brush and leaf pick-up, supervised burning, and hydrant flushing. The claims against the Village were presented for payment. Motion (Wartner, Neis) to pay the claims against the Village. Roll-all ayes. Carried Meeting adjourned at 7:04 p.m. Motion (Farrey, Neis) to adjourn. Voice-all ayes. Carried