East Central Reporter

City of Villa Grove City Council met April 1.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

CALL TO ORDER—ROLL CALL-The City Council of the City of Villa Grove met in the regular Committee of the Whole session on April 1, 2024, in Council Chambers. The original meeting date was supposed to be March 25, 2024, but there were not enough present for a quorum, so the meeting was moved to April 1. Mayor Eversole-Gunter called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m. Roll call found the following members present: Alderman Blaney, Johnson, Nieto, Pangburn, Cheely and Hooker. City Administrator Athey, Clerk Osborne, PD Chief Rea, PW Director Mixell and CCPS Director Surowka were also present.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE -The Mayor stood and led all attendees in The Pledge of Allegiance.

PUBLIC COMMENTS-Bruce Allen spoke and said he will be running for Mayor in the next election. He also extended his thanks to the hard work of the current council and mayor for all that has been accomplished since they were elected. Council thanked him for his comments.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT-Jacki Athey stated: Budget numbers have made a timeline change. The Budget meeting will now be Thurs. 4/11/24 at 6 pm at ZFL Center. Public hearing will be held at 5:30 pm, directly before the April 22 meeting for the regular council meeting, with the council meeting following directly at 6 pm. It is important to have all members present for both meetings. The office has been processing credit card payments and is developing a report for those. Moran Ec. Dev. states that Emily is almost done with analysis of data and demographics report for the TIF. We hope to have that soon. We have spoken with Berns-Clancy Engineering to let them know we want to hire them to plat the north side development. Jim Crane, Douglas County engineer, suggested having Jake Wolf’s ERA group do the layout of the roads at Pheasant Pointe and the new subdivision. The Country Club will also be added to the liquor licensing renewals in April since they are now within city limits. Working with Waste Management to set the clean up days date.

DEPARTMENT REPORTS-Public Works: Director Mixell: ILAW is back in town fixing items from the installations last year that were left undone such as patching yards and roads. The storage shed got moved at Richman Park. Been resetting street signs. The ballfields are mowed and the bathrooms will be opened next week. Spring pick-up of leaves will occur April 8-19.

Police Department: Chief Rea: Continuing work on the ordinance violations and we will be going to court on Thursday, for the North Pine Street violation. All other things are going well.

Community Center: Bethany reported the Open House on March 17 was a big success. They have gotten a total of 112 annual memberships, 91 monthly, and 15 daily passes. Hoping to see that increase each week. The Concession stand will open soon. Spring sports are starting. Mayor Eversole-Gunter requests that Flag Football be brought back to Villa Grove. Bethany will research it. She also is looking into having vending machines available for when concessions are not open, which is a large part of the day/evening.

MAYORAL REPORT-The Mayor reports the rodeo will be held on Friday night of Ag Days-one night only. They will work in cooperation with the Ag Days committee. We will be using South Plains Rodeo Co. Next week a video of the community center will be done for use for marketing spots to be bought for advertising on radio and television, and other places. The McCoy neighborhood items are done from the construction company from last year who ran the pipes.

BUSINESS

1. Review of Front/Harrison Street Bridge bid results-Consensus has been reached for the bridge project. Marc Mixell is in communication with Jim Crane to be ready for the project. There will be work that will have to be done by our Public Works Department.

2. Consensus to pay Broeren Russo Builders Inc Pay Req 21-Consensus given for this payment.

3. Consensus to purchase a portable pitching mound for the 5th-6th grade ball teams. Consensus given.

4. Asphalt quote review for Harrison Street property-quote for paving the lot around the ZFL and City Hall building. We have much higher usage there and this will prevent further damage to the lot and avoid gravel issues. Consensus given to proceed.

5. Asphalt engineering quote review for Richman Park/Community Center Parking-Consensus given to this quote also. It will keep many problems from surfacing if we have a paved lot from the beginning.

6. Electric quotes for ballfield wiring/lighting repairs-these will be obtained as well as putting a master switch to avoid safety issues with the lights.

CLOSED SESSION: No closed session.

ADJOURNMENT-With no further business, Alderman Hooker motioned to adjourn the meeting at 7:21 p.m. Alderman Cheely seconded the motion. Roll Call: Alderman Blaney, yea, Johnson, yea, Nieto, yea, Pangburn, yea, Cheely, yea, Hooker, yea. Motion carried.

https://villagrove.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Copy-of-2024_0401_COTW-Minutes-comp-pw.pdf