East Central Reporter

Village of Arthur Board of Trustees met July 21.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

A regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of Arthur, Illinois was held on Monday, July 21, 2025, in the Village Board Room. Village President Rod Randall called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Roll call was answered by Trustees Matt Bernius, Mike Hilgenberg, Isai Gutierrez, Kurt Hall, Lamar Miller and Christy Bernius. Also present were Police Chief Elliott Tinnon and Village Attorney Kenneth Crossman.

Public Comment

• None

Consent Agenda

• C Miller made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda including:

1. Approval of June 18, 2025 Farnsworth Group Regional Water Meeting Minutes.

2. Approval of July 7, 2025 Board of Trustees Regular Meeting Minutes.

• M Bernius seconded. All Trustees voted YEA.

Approval of Expenditures

Reports

• M Hilgenberg made a motion to approve expenditures in the amount of $57,614.66. M Bernius seconded. All Trustees voted YEA.

• Trustee - K Hall thanked Grant Corum and public works for getting all of the hydrants all flushed. Also, the recent culvert replacement.

• Police Chief Elliott Tinnon - Reviewed the monthly report. Also it was reported that the starter went out yesterday on the 2021 car and is currently being repaired. Fair is coming up as well and preparations are being made.

• Public Works - R Randall reviewed the activity log briefly as Grant and 2 other Public Works employees are currently on vacation.

• Comptroller Report - R Randall reviewed the Treasurer's Report for June noting that the auditors will be coming August 14-25, 2025. Also, town-wide clean-up is scheduled for September 13, 2025.

Unfinished Business

• None

New Business

• Discussion and action on Solar on Earth Community Solar Program. Leo Vecchiarello presented his program, Solar On Earth and described how it works. This program works with the Illinois Shines program to bring energy credits to utility bills for subscribers. There are two programs available to the Village, one applying 15% in credits to the Village Ameren bills and the other applying 20% in credits. The 20% program does have more requirements to meet eligibility requirements, but the 15% program would be easily available for the Village. M Hilgenberg made a motion to proceed further with the non- binding agreement for Mr. Vecchiarello to go forward with applying for 20% savings if the Village of Arthur qualifies and the 15% if not. L Miller seconded. All Trustees voted YEA.

• Discussion and action on proposal from Herschberger Concrete for replacing the intersection of Logan Street and Ash Street in the amount of $15,150.00. M Bernius mentioned that this only includes labor. M Bernius made a motion to accept the proposal. M Hilgenberg seconded. All Trustees voted YEA

• Discussion and action on Resolution 07-21A-2025: A Resolution adopting a Return-to- Work Policy as required by the IMLRMA. C Miller made a motion to adopt Resolution 07-21A-2025 as proposed. I Guterriez seconded. All Trustees voted YEA

• Discussion and action on Ordinance 07-21A-2025: An Ordinance Implementing a Municipal Grocery Retailers' Occupation Tax and a Municipal Grocery Service Occupation Tax for the Village of Arthur, County of Douglas, State of Illinois. R Randall has discussed this Ordinance with the local grocery store to make sure that they are aware of this Ordinance as well. R Randall would like to see about the Village making this revenue available to Economic Development to help boost the economy locally. C Miller made a motion to adopt the Ordinance as proposed. L Miller seconded. All Trustees voted YEA.

• Discussion and Action on Village attendance at the IML Annual Conference in Chicago on September 18-20, 2025. The Village does get one free admission into the program. R Randall mentioned that it might be better for the newer Trustees to go, however it may be better for them to go after they have been on the board for a while. Erica Carter has expressed interest in going if no one else is as there are some TIF programs being presented that she would like to attend. M Bernius made a motion for Erica Carter to attend the IML Annual Conference. K Hall seconded. All Trustees voted YEA.

General Discussion

• President Rod Randall – America 250 Illinois Community Program - Discussed what the requirements are in order to participate in the commemoration of the 250th signing of the Declaration of Independence. A Resolution would need to be passed in order to become an America 250 Illinois community in order to participate and be listed with the state as a community participating. One of the requirements is that we have an event in which this program would be listed with the state as part of the America 250 Illinois program. The Trustees expressed interest in participating.

• Received the $220,000 check from American Tower. R Randall requested the authority to deposit the funds into a CD. The Trustees expressed approval.

• R Randall would like to put on the back of the next water bill a note regarding the Simply Arthur email list to help promote local events, programs, sales and promotions that are going on throughout the community. The Trustees expressed approval.

• M Hilgenberg - wondered if the small produce seller on Vine Street has a permit or not. Discussion was held last year regarding the same issue. There are no firm requirements for what they are doing.

• Discussion regarding the local homeless issue.

Adjourn

I Guterriez made a motion to adjourn. L Miller seconded. All Trustees voted YEA. President Randall adjourned the meeting at 7:52 pm.

https://arthur-il.gov/file/1107/07-21-25%20Meeting%20Minutes.pdf