Cassandra Eversole-Gunter- Mayor, City of Villa Grove | Facebook
Cassandra Eversole-Gunter- Mayor, City of Villa Grove | Facebook
City of Villa Grove City Council met Sept. 22.
Here are the minutes provided by the council:
CALL TO ORDER—The City Council of the City of Villa Grove met as a Committee of the Whole session on Monday, September 22, 2025, in Council Chambers. Mayor Rasmussen called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Roll call found the following members present: Alderman Elston, Fulk, Taylor-Sanford, Clark and Hooker. Alderman Nieto was absent. City Administrator/Comptroller Athey, Clerk Osborne, Police Chief Tibbetts, CC Director Rea, and PW Director Mixell, Treasurer Swanson, and Risk Manager Endres were also present.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE -The Mayor stood and led all attendees in The Pledge of Allegiance
PUBLIC COMMENTS-No comments.
CITY ADMINISTRATOR REPORT-Jacki Athey reported the IML Conference was held in Chicago over the weekend. Overall, it was a good event and had many learning opportunities. She sent notice to the newspapers for our updated council meeting schedule changes.
DEPARTMENT HEAD REPORTS:
CPS: Director and Public Safety Coordinator Bob Rea said the first Cross Country meet was held at Richman Sports Complex this week. There were 31 runners for the Junior High meet. They ran on the nature trail and we received many compliments about the new course. The VGHS Class of 1993 donated a tree in memory of Rosemary Raeske. Junior High Girls Basketball will begin this week.
VGPD-Chief Tibbetts reported the new squad car is almost ready to be put into use. The other squad car is being worked on. Officer Champagne returned to work for full duty yesterday. The school had to have an SRO on site all week, so Chief Tibbetts was there.
PUBLIC WORKS-Director Mixell reported the generators at the Fire Department/ESC building are set up. He placed a call about the source for the diffuser. Trees for the city have been taken down but clean up work is still ongoing. There will be 5 more trees that need to be removed by the vendor due to the height of the trees.
Mayor: Mayor Rasmussen stated the Alumni Association event is moving forward with them purchasing their own liability insurance. The Alumni Association also stated they will be using a fence around the event space. Councilman Hooker suggested the council puts together specific policies about when the liability insurance is required for events. This led to another discussion that was an overview of the previous meeting’s liability discussions. The mayor contacted the Christmas Tree Lighting committee to meet about the Ice Rink rental. The amount is $5425 and we need to book them ASAP. Signs for the radar are on sale from the IML meeting through the end of September.
DISCUSSION OF BUSINESS (NON-VOTING)
1. Establish Trick-or-Treat hours-Discussion led to the council wanting longer hours. After checking with the VFW about the costume contest hours, the consensus is for hours to be from 5-8 pm Oct. 31.
2. Property condemnations-There are some properties of great concern (2 at this time) that are in such bad shape they are not inhabitable, but do have residents in them. Council discussed what can be done to assist in helping to find alternative housing for them. They are an issue for any emergency services to be on site. Suggestions are a stipend of some sort for moving assistance, investigating if TIF funds can be used for this, and also how can we proceed with this legally. Further research will continue to address this issue.
3. America250 Community participation-The DAR and other patriotic units are encouraging celebrations to commemorate the 250th founding of America in 2026. Ideas are any type of program, or event, small or large. Further discussion is needed to firm up some ideas.
4. Establishment of stipend policy for travel reimbursements-Discussions on how to institute travel reimbursement per diem rates. Main suggestion is to follow the GSA per diem rates found online. Consensus given for this.
CLOSED SESSION: No Closed Session.
ADJOURNMENT-With no further business, Alderman Elston motioned to adjourn the meeting at 6:54 pm. Alderman Fulk seconded the motion. Roll Call: Taylor-Sanford, yea, Fulk, yea, Elston, yea, Clark, yea, Hooker, yea. Motion passed.
https://villagrove.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Copy-of-2025_0922_COTW-Minutes-COMPPW.pdf