Lawrenceville, IL City Council Meeting - June 11, 2026

[00:00:01]Thank you everybody.

[00:00:04]I'd like to call to order the city of Marsville city council meeting this time. Worship business call for prayer and pledge allegiance.

[00:00:21]>> Dear heavenly father, we thank you for the beautiful day that you've given us today. Lord, we just ask for you be with these wrecks and these local deaths, Lord, right now to these families. Lord, we just ask you lift them up. Lord, give them strength to get through these days ahead. Lord, just be with the city council tonight as we conduct this meeting. Lord, may we come in with a clear head and just be good about what we're trying to do for the city. Lord Jesus, just be with us throughout this evening. In your precious name, I pray. Amen.

[00:01:02]>> Amen.

[00:01:05]I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all here >> here green >> here >> here it's Done.

[00:01:34]>> Yes. Not here.

[00:01:36]>> Thank you, Rodney. Uh, recognition of visitors. Is there anyone that would like to address the city council tonight?

[00:01:44]>> Yes, sir. Your name.

[00:01:49]>> Just >> what I do is I ask for your name and your address.

[00:01:52]>> Ed. Okay. 56 State Street here in Lawrenville.

[00:02:00]Okay.

[00:02:02]I have a few questions. Second, but we'll do that.

[00:02:06]They'll do that.

[00:02:09]Your >> name.

[00:02:13]>> Okay. Your address, Gail.

[00:02:15]>> Why do I have to give my address?

[00:02:18]>> It's part of the It's part of the ordinance to get your name and your address.

[00:02:23]>> You never had to do it before.

[00:02:27]>> You want to give your name and your address or not? She didn't live in the city. She's a real large.

[00:02:31]>> We know.

[00:02:32]>> We know.

[00:02:39]>> Mr. Mayor, is it legal to ask for address whether it's ordinance or not?

[00:02:42]Is it legal?

[00:02:45]>> Yes, >> it is.

[00:02:47]>> It is.

[00:02:49]>> I have a legal opinion here from 2020 that says it's not. But what's the purpose of having dress in the city or they don't? That's all.

[00:02:59]She doesn't. That's all.

[00:03:02]>> Yes, sir. You're right.

[00:03:04]>> We can add >> 184 16th Street.

[00:03:16]>> Yes sir.

[00:03:18]>> Rule. Yes.

[00:03:21]I am rule.

[00:03:27]Okay.

[00:03:29]Mr. Brown speak.

[00:03:34]>> Yes.

[00:03:36]Is there an ordinance as to how high grass can grow?

[00:03:40]>> Yes.

[00:03:42]Why isn't it being enforced?

[00:03:46]Well, we why like that? We have some we have the problem is we can do this is the property for all these propert uh Harry Rice used to live. Weeds are about that high and there used to be furniture out across the sidewalk that I had to pick up and throw it up on the porch to walk by. The furniture is gone, but the weeds are still up and over on southwest corner of Sixth Street.

[00:04:34]Uh the weeds are high and they got trash all over the place and an old truck that doesn't work and the weeds are up high in several places in Orangeville.

[00:04:49]So if there is an ordinance, I still don't understand why it's allowed.

[00:04:55]We have trouble enforcing that ordinance. You're correct. Or maybe we have a hard time enforcing the ordinances because limited number of police officers have been able to to address those issues.

[00:05:06]>> So why have the ordinance if you're not going to enforce it? We'll work on that.

[00:05:10]We'll get there.

[00:05:15]>> Yeah, I'm sorry.

[00:05:20]>> I had forgot what it was. Feel free to call Mark. You can ask him a question.

[00:05:27]No.

[00:05:28]>> Oh, >> sorry.

[00:05:34]>> Yeah. You want to start?

[00:05:38]>> When we as citizens get up to address our city council, we are given a time limit of five short minutes. When our time is up, you remind us. If if we don't stop, you ask us to sit down. If we don't respond, you use your gavvel and tell us time's up. I'm okay with that. That's the rules. That's how things work, and you're doing your job.

[00:05:59]For a year now, several of us concerned citizens have been getting up to this podium asking and begging for the resignation or termination of an individual who has nearly single-handedly destroyed our city's water infrastructure and threatened the health and safety of the citizens of this fine city. How, you may ask? Quite simply, really, he either doesn't know how to do his job or he just refuses to do it. Let's see how the IEPA put it after they investigated the situation at the water facility. Gross negligence, they said, gross misconduct is so bad they had to revoke his certification.

[00:06:38]The EPA uh director's order cites many infractions which I don't have time to recite here. However, the closing statement says, quote, "Individually, any of these instances would cast serious doubt about an operator's capacity to perform required duties as a class one wastewater treatment works operator. Taken together, these facts display such an alarming level of mismanagement and indifference that the only appropriate outcome is to revoke the respondent's class one wastewater treatment work operator certification for 3 years, which is the maximum allowed by the state of Illinois.

[00:07:16]It also states, "When an operator fails to file a written response to request a hearing within the time required, all facts alleged in the complaint are deemed admitted." The respondent never filled out a written response or requested a hearing. Thus, he admitted guilty as charged.

[00:07:34]That is just a waste swap including our senior destroying some of our homes.

[00:07:38]Additionally, as we suspected, Mr. tips for lack of ability to actually work, manage, or maintain anything translates to our water department. Our relatively new city water department is showing and report from the EPA the same lack of care, procedures, maintenance, etc. that our wastewater plant is showing. When will that translate into contaminated water that threatens our citizens? My point, when is Mr. Tips's time up? When will the city say to him, "You're done.

[00:08:10]Enough is enough." When will the perverbial gavl be used? The city treasure treasurer has stated in report that Mr. Tips sword has cost the city at least $250,000 so far, and that's a conservative uh estimate, I'm sure, considering the fines and penalties that we may be paying soon because of his inepthness.

[00:08:32]With the loss of Mr. After tips certification, the city has had to hire EJ Water to come in and take over the wastewater plant. From Mr. Quick's report, it was an absolute mess and they are starting from scratch. However, for some reason, we are still paying Mr. Tips his salary and benefits. In two 2024, he received $151,000.

[00:08:54]For what exactly, I might ask? Is he getting paid a full salary for? We're paying EJ Water to do half his job.

[00:09:02]Again, I ask, when is enough enough?

[00:09:05]When is the city going to strike the gavl and say to Mr. Tipsword, "You're done." I've asked myself why many times.

[00:09:12]Why does a city fail to see the incompetency? Many of us has asked that question here at this podium. We've asked you the same question without an answer. Mr. Tipsort is not irreplaceable. None of us is. The buck stops with each of you on this council.

[00:09:27]This is your problem. You have been made aware of the issue and have refused to do anything permanent about it with the EPA, both state and federal, are forcing you to. Now, we're not making these allegations up, and none of us want to come for this, but you enforce our hand, and your stubbornness will cost us in taxes dearly. Citizens have a right to a healthful environment. The Illinois Constitution in Article 11 Section 2 empowers each person, I'm quoting, with a legal right to a healthful environment. This allows residents to take legal action against government or private parties who violate this right.

[00:10:05]End of quote. We have a right to question Mr. Tips's integrity. We have we as citizens of Lawrenceville have a constitutional right to question our city leadership's integrity because you have only chosen hesitantly to provide bandages to the city's water problems instead and get rid of the root cause of the problem, the water superintendent.

[00:10:26]How can you run a city like this? Why do you put up with this incompetence from a city worker at that price? At this price? Why do you seemingly protect Mr. Tips? What corruption are you hiding from the citizenry that would make you do these nonsensical things? Enough is enough.

[00:10:46]Thank you.

[00:11:12]According to the US EPA inspection report issued in May, Aaron Tips told federal inspectors that he was not the operator of the wastewater treatment plant until July 2nd, 2024 when he became fully certified as a class one operator. He also indicated that the city had a class one operator on staff overseeing the facility before he obtained that certification.

[00:11:30]I submitted a foyer request seeking records to identify this person and the city responded that there were no responsive records to identify such a person. The records the city did provide point in the opposite direction. Um they support the conclusion that Mr. Tips was responsible for operation of the wastewater plant after his promotion in August of 2018. An Illinois EPA inspection report of September of 2022 identifies Aaron Tipsort as the chief operator of the facility. It also lists every employee on staff at that time.

[00:11:57]None of them held an EPA certification.

[00:11:59]let alone a class one certification. Um, so we now have a serious contradictions from what he tells investigators versus what the documents support. Who should the public trust? The man whose certification was recently revoked by the Illinois EPA or the state and federal agencies investigating him or perhaps the city's documentation.

[00:12:21]Many residents no longer believe that Mr. Tipsort says the things he says because his statements have repeatedly conflicted with official records and public trust in Aaron Tipsort has been broken.

[00:12:31]For months, many of us have raised concerns about the wastewater plant. We were criticized, dismissed, and we were told we were wrong. We were right. The findings, enforcement actions, and inspection reports, and official records produced by the Illinois EPA and US EPA continue to support the concerns residents have been raising. Several several of these issues standing alone should justify termination. The time for excuses, second chances, and delays have passed. It's time to terminate Eron Tipsword's employment with the city of Lawrenceville. It's also reasonable to believe that Mr. Tips, having already been terminated, regulators may have viewed that as contrition and evidence the city was taking corrective action.

[00:13:09]Individuals familiar with the EPA enforcement agree with that assessment.

[00:13:13]I also want to address comments made by Mayor Courtourtney in communications obtained through Foya.

[00:13:18]These comments include referring to me as a mofo.

[00:13:22]I'm not going to tell you what that means.

[00:13:25]Stating that Louis has no money or influence.

[00:13:31]And suggesting I would be disappointed that tornatic weather did not cause damage in our city.

[00:13:37]those comments, including referring to me as a mofo and and that I have no money or influence. Um, no citizen should be disparaged by a mayor for asking questions, requesting records, attending meetings, or speaking during public comment. Whether you agree with me or not, I have the same right as every other citizen to seek answers from my government. If the implication is that a person's concerns matter only if they have money or influence, that is troubling because government exists to serve every resident equally, not just those with money, influence, or political connections. And while I may not have significant wealth, I do have influence. I also have facts, documents, inspection reports, and public records.

[00:14:15]The issues I have raised matter because they involve public health, regulatory compliance, city government, and the city and the people's right to know the truth. The documents and records I have referenced were not created by me. They are official government records. Whether this council or mayor like me is irrelevant. The question is whether the information contained in those records is accurate and whether the concerns they raise deserve attention. When citizens raise concerns before this council, those concerns should be evaluated on their merits and not on who raised them.

[00:14:44]I also want to thank the council on a positive note for hiring EJ Water to manage the wastewater plant. In my opinion, it's a first that is one of the best decisions this city has made during this entire fiasco. It demonstrates a willingness to address problems and move the facility toward compliance. That decision also highlights an important reality. We've been told the city needs Aaron Tipsword because of his certifications. One of those certifications is gone and the hiring of EJ Water has demonstrated that alternatives do exist. I believe it would be wise to get ahead of future enforcement by terminating Mr. Tips's employment now and evaluating contracted management services for both the wastewater plant and public water supply. Such an arrangement could provide greater expertise, stronger regulatory compliance, improve public confidence, and potentially lower cost by replacing an employee compensation with and benefits and retirement obligations with a fixed contractual expense.

[00:15:38]It would also allow the city to move forward. The citizen citizens of Lawrenceville deserve safe and professionally managed utility systems.

[00:15:44]They deserve honesty and accountability.

[00:15:45]And Mr. Mayor, the people of this town deserve your respect. Thank you.

[00:16:01]They always say redundancy is good, I guess. But uh maybe we're redundant enough, this will be uh taken care of.

[00:16:09]By the way, I'm not speaking to the council today. Only the mayor. So, Mr. Mayor, this is directed to you only. Uh you seem to be a very smart man. I'm not being sarcastic. A family man, a church grower goer. But there are some discrepancies in the leadership of as as mayor of Lawrenceville, Illinois. Things that seem to be in question. Your desire to see this community run operate within the laws of the state of Illinois. Your desire to seek out the truth, honesty, integrity. I'll get it out. By listening to ideas to improve this community by these uh citizens, whether liked or not liked, friend or foe, the community should be our top um priority. The list of discrepancies, Mr. Mayor, you have been informed of these uh for at least one year. The EPA inspections in writing concerning Aaron Tips. We keep mentioning this guy's name, but there's a reason for that. April 24th, 2025, EPA inspection of the Horns and Durant residents. August 13, 2025, 25 violations for the WWTP.

[00:17:15]Uh September 25th, 2025, the IEPA did not accept the compliance agreement. It was forwarded to the attorney general for legal actions. Aaron should should have been fired. We know that he did not send in the application for the 5-year NPDS permit due April 2025. The drinking water plant December 2025 inspection found 29 violations. But you know this cuz it was in writing. You know that uh the EPA has revoked Aaron's WWTP license as was just said twice for three years and it's something they really rarely do is what they said. The EPA uh Mr. Mayor, you are aware of all this in writing.

[00:17:56]Still, Mr. Tipsword has not been fired.

[00:17:59]Now, I understand, I really do, uh, that nepatism and cronyism is shown throughout most towns and cities in America. That's actually quite normal, but not at the cost of breaking laws, not at the cost of taxpayers. The citizens have been calling for Tipsword's termination for a year, nearly a year now, and the petition to do so is still growing. Aaron Kipsworth is still under investigation by the federal EPA criminal division. Aaron is still employed. Where is the concern for the community? It's just questions I that we need to be asking. Where is the common sense? Aaron uh is costing the taxpayers of this town a lot of money.

[00:18:38]And I don't believe Aaron would still be employed if he worked for you, Mr. Mayor, at a company you personally owned. These violations, discrepancies, fines would come out of your pocket, Mr. Mayor, not the pocket of these citizens.

[00:18:53]And as was just said, you had to hire EJ services to be here for 5 days a week, at least 4 hours a day. It seems as if your relationship with Aaron is more important to you than your responsibility to this community. It seems that way. The warning signs have been clearly seen and for and heard for over a year now. My question is uh why the blind eye? If you're keeping Aaron Tips because he knows the system better than anyone else, the evidence proves otherwise. He does not apparently know the system that well. Violation over violation and more violation. Uh Aaron Tips should no longer be allowed to be employed by this fine city of Lawrenceville, Illinois any longer. What more proof do you need? As was just asked, the citizens are waiting for you, Mr. marriage to do the right thing, not the popular vote thing. Let's do what is right to help Lawrenceville, Illinois succeed.

[00:20:02]Okay. Next item on the agenda is the minutes of the regular council meeting for city 14, 2026.

[00:20:10]have any minutes chance to review those.

[00:20:15]If there is not a need for corrections or changes, I would ask for a motion to approve the minutes of May 14th, 2026.

[00:20:28]>> I make a motion that we accept the minutes of May 14th, 2026.

[00:20:35]We have a motion. Is there a second?

[00:20:38]I'll second it.

[00:20:39]>> All in favor say I.

[00:20:40]>> I opposed.

[00:20:44]Seeing none. Motion passes. Also, uh John has made made it clear to us that we need to amend the May 8th, 2025 council meeting minutes to include that John White was installed as the city treasure. It was not in the minutes included in the minutes of May 2025.

[00:21:04]Uh this would allow Mr. wife to be able to go into living institutions and reference himself as a treasure because we have to have that document in many places to prove that he actually so I'd ask for a motion to amend the May 8th 2025 council meeting minutes to John White was installed as so move we have a motion is there a second we have a motion and a second all in favor say I >> opposed seeing none That motion passes.

[00:21:38]John, you get the treasures report. It's not agenda.

[00:21:44]So, at the last meeting, um, we talked about using some of our CDs.

[00:21:55]So, uh, three of the CDs were renewed at People State Bank. they had the best value. Uh I renewed those for 11 months. So that gets us in May, which kind of helps us get us some CDs moved to the first half of the year since all our CDs mature in the last 6 months of the year. Um two of those are cemetery.

[00:22:24]Uh one is sewer and those were renewed two at approximately $83,000 a piece. in the cemetery perpetual accounts and one in the sewer at around 66,000.

[00:22:39]So those have been renewed until next May for 3.75%.

[00:22:44]Um two CDs, one in general, 66,000 and one in sewer 66,000 were cashed in. I brought those checks to Rodney and he'll put that in the accounts that they need to go to.

[00:23:01]Any questions for John?

[00:23:05]Um, did did you not get a city report for this month?

[00:23:09]>> I didn't get one for this month.

[00:23:11]>> Is there a reason?

[00:23:13]>> I I don't usually do those. If you I can start doing them if you want me to.

[00:23:17]Rodney, >> Pardon?

[00:23:23]>> Okay, I'll handle that.

[00:23:28]Any other questions for John?

[00:23:34]Thank you.

[00:23:37]Bills of the city water requirements in May 2026.

[00:23:44]Yes, sir. I understand realize we don't have a budget approved yet.

[00:23:51]Um, you asked about the bills, right?

[00:23:53]Yes, sir. Uh I'm I'm really trying to understand these two reports and maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just not smart enough. Um got a couple questions. Uh first of all, obviously without annual annual budget, we don't have the beginning number on these charts. I understand that. But there's a percent of the budget listed that's been spent for this month. How do we arrive at that?

[00:24:21]If you look on this sheet here, You know, there's no budget listed, but yet it shows that we ser we pay we uh spend for example 7.8% of the budget last month to your budget. Can I keep >> that's based on Got it.

[00:24:39]>> Okay. I go by that.

[00:24:40]>> Okay. So then that would uh it did transfer over to the other sheet.

[00:24:46]The other sheet leaves that column blank which is okay except for the bottom. All right. Um on the parks individual uh the fixed packet that we get shows the part numbers. It shows that we spent $83,000 $72, but on the individual sheet it's 3,000 less. Am I Did I miss something there?

[00:25:13]>> No.

[00:25:14]>> I take out I take out depreciation depreciation. And I didn't maybe I missed it. Maybe it's cuz I noticed that on a couple others and and I got that.

[00:25:26]Um but even in the other two that the depreciation was figured into, the numbers still match on the two reports.

[00:25:34]It does not match on the parts.

[00:25:37]And on the parts, I don't see a line item for depreciation unless I missed it. So I would just ask that maybe look that a little bit more what's going on there because if if the appreciation's been figured in on the other two there are two other departments. Water is one of them 32,000 appreciation I think one and it's figured in in this number but it's not in the other it's not it's not in the parks um in the in the total number. Okay. Big [ __ ] up.

[00:26:12]The last thing is uh on the total on the general fund and the total if you add back in the depreciation numbers that we're talking about for the water and the other department, we're still $4,200 off between the two sheets. I I've looked at it which I only get it the day before the meeting two days before the meeting. Um suggest maybe we might look at that again and see what's going on there.

[00:26:39]Do you have any financial questions throughout the month when you're free to come in?

[00:26:43]>> Well, I did these two days before the meeting, Mr. Mayor, and I didn't have time to look at it the evening. I got it. I looked at it yesterday.

[00:26:48]>> Sure.

[00:26:49]>> So, this next week, any week, any day.

[00:26:55]>> I suggest last month, Rodney stated that he was doing this by hand.

[00:27:02]>> Yeah, he had computer. Yeah, >> there's a computer program doing this.

[00:27:06]another program just by hand.

[00:27:09]>> Oh, you didn't bring it in there by hand. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you.

[00:27:16]Is there a motion to approve the bills of the city and water department for May 2026?

[00:27:26]I'll make a motion. We have that motion.

[00:27:27]Is there a second?

[00:27:32]A second. Call please.

[00:27:36]Lord of Bland, >> yes. Page, >> yes.

[00:27:41]>> Green, >> yes.

[00:27:42]>> Going, >> yes. Bridge, >> yes.

[00:27:45]>> Done.

[00:27:45]>> Yes.

[00:27:46]>> Bird, can I hear?

[00:27:48]>> Thank you, council. Next item on the agenda is first reading the appropriation ordinance.

[00:27:55]Annual appropriation in Illinois is the legal authorization granted by the local governing body that allows government agencies to spend specific dollar amounts designated program services during a given fiscal year. This is our first reading of this ordinance. Be it or be and ordained by the city council of the city of Lville, Illinois said that the said several sums of money are hereby appropriated for monies received to be received by said city of LSville from any and all sources and same are recapitulated as follows.

[00:28:31]General corporation purposes 2,87,525 jobs. Police pension fund 225,000.

[00:28:40]Public works, streets and alleys 754,500.

[00:28:44]Collection and disposing of garbage 335,000.

[00:28:47]Street lighting 98,250.

[00:28:50]Sewer department 95,735.50.

[00:28:55]Water department 1,229,350,000.

[00:28:59]Liability and workman's comp insurance 200,000. Auditing 38 $39,800 contingency 350,000 land payment 2,000 civil defense zero grand total 6,947,160.50 uh that is a first reading which is an increase of 1.07 from last year. We don't come close to spending those monies.

[00:29:29]So just for that first reading we don't have to take any action that's just public correct you will have public hearing for those okay next item on the agenda is the US EPA sewage treatment inspection.

[00:29:49]Uh I think I did send my email copies of the report. Also part of the report was a larger document that included numerous photographs which were not included because it's too big to send the EPA did come to Marsville.

[00:30:14]Russ was a part of that discussion and they were here from March 10th to March 13th of 2026 in their findings.

[00:30:27]They found 29 items of concern. Among those were discharge without permit. We are now in the draft revision review phase of that permit. The NAVS permit operator certification. The port states facility may not have been under the supervision of a certified class one operator between 2018 and July 2024.

[00:30:53]City does not dispute this. Uh we found several instances of overflow events, basement backups.

[00:31:01]uh during a heavy rain event. They uh found that the city had reported 44 SSOs between April 5th of 2025 and May 1st, 2026, but no records have been submitted to the EPA inspection team for the SSOs occurring prior to April 5, 2025.

[00:31:20]We didn't have uh we had some numeric exceedences. Uh we were building a new plant. We were dealing with that. Lawrence Quick is trying to get biomass built into the plant as quickly as he can. Uh operation maintenance of Mars sewer treatment plant. Uh we need to have several new meters and maintenance on the headworks.

[00:31:46]We've got a permit to put a new bar straight in. We got that permit. It's going to be built. The primary clarifier is working.

[00:31:58]You need the south striper is being repaired now. It was online. The north striper has been repaired and is in service. Uh we need several new meters and uh sludge lagoon sludge blanket equalization bacon basin and the outfall are all noted for either meters or gauge valves or problems there. Uh it has some lift station issues that we need to address.

[00:32:29]uh sem will be addressed by HMG combined sewer system. We don't believe we have a combined sewer system. Last concerns EJ will remedy 471 26. EJ is providing training for that. They asked about the Texico refinery and all connections to the EPA super fun site have been cut and sealed. Uh there were questions about party line sewer systems and we're working on an ordinance and enforcement of that. Uh influent monitoring uh we ordered a new uh machine for that monitoring from Tracy Electric uh outflow monitoring. We are purchasing a meter for that.

[00:33:15]Need to get some fluent limitations and monitoring. We don't have a meter but we will be getting a meter for that. Uh coronation activities will be addressed.

[00:33:24]Uh DMRs were not on time. Uh all will be remedied by standard procedures, training and land improvements by EJ.

[00:33:32]Exceedance of design maximum flow through the sewer treatment plant. Uh we're not sure about that. Uh reporting non-compliance of everything went black.

[00:33:42]There was a statement in there that there was no non-compliance on that event. We do not believe. Uh there are some issues with bypasses. We discussing that document. Uh the EPA noted that on March 11th the bypass event utilization basin uh was not discharged from the river went to the basin was not bypass.

[00:34:02]Uh missing records were requested.

[00:34:04]Sheets lost will be improved. All testing and monitoring will be completed documented moving forward by EJ bio monitoring records holding types of compliance samples. Nutrient assessment reduction plans will be handled by HMG.

[00:34:21]The semianual fluid monitoring report will be handled by uh EJ water phosphorous discharge optimization plan.

[00:34:31]We're doing a new plan and this goes on.

[00:34:35]We asked for some annual fiscal documents. Rodney's in the process of providing that. So it's a long list. Uh to respond any questions.

[00:34:48]>> Is this um report online on our 32 page?

[00:34:52]>> I don't know if John put that online.

[00:34:54]You can put it online.

[00:34:57]>> Yeah, I'd like to see that online. Do that.

[00:35:00]>> I have a couple questions about the report. Yes, sir. On page two, Mr. tips are reported to the inspectors that uh there was a class one operator on staff uh between appeared between 2018 to 2024 >> on page report that last bottom last paragraph >> says he was uh became superintendent 2018 at that time >> yes time he superintendent at the other class three and Mr. Titer indicated there was a class one operator on staff overseeing the sewer treatment plant. Do you know who that person was? There was no one. There was no one that I'm okay.

[00:35:47]Um I think it's notable that uh the FICA cola form sample was in excess of the allowed uh levels by 4,900%.

[00:35:59]I think people should be aware of that.

[00:36:01]What page you want?

[00:36:03]>> The chart page 18.

[00:36:08]Okay.

[00:36:10]Um, again, that's why I think the report should be online for people to see. Um, Mr. Tster lost his license to run the wastewater treatment plant. Has his pay been adjusted accordingly?

[00:36:22]>> Yes. Yes, >> it has been.

[00:36:25]>> May 20th. That was the effective it was to back then.

[00:36:29]>> Yes.

[00:36:29]>> Yes.

[00:36:30]>> Yeah. Not prior to that may Yeah. Okay.

[00:36:33]Good. Um the uh one second here.

[00:36:52]Um the federal EPA were here on the 9th of this month. Two days ago. Is that right? Was it yesterday?

[00:37:07]Tuesday night. Yes.

[00:37:09]>> They had sent I'm sorry. For the water, >> right? For the water for the I should have said that. You're right. This was not for the sewer plant. They sent a list of items that they wanted to to review when they got here. Do you know if we were able able to provide them with all of that list?

[00:37:28]I can't say for sure, but I believe that it was.

[00:37:33]>> Okay. Um, don't know for sure though.

[00:37:38]>> I can't say 100%.

[00:37:40]>> Okay. Um, was was anyone from the EPA or the attorney general's office here the week prior?

[00:37:50]Earlier in the week?

[00:37:52]>> I didn't before meeting. Okay.

[00:37:54]>> Okay. That I just heard the grape vine.

[00:37:56]this I have the document for him but I'm just curious if that what I heard was accurate or not. Um that's all I have on the report. I just again did he says there was someone a class one and you just confirmed that there was no no one.

[00:38:14]All right. Thank you.

[00:38:18]Okay.

[00:38:20]Straight now department request for Mark Griggs does a lot of asked him if he needed any equipment. He said he would like another 72 in mower.

[00:38:34]Think he mowed over 40 yards plus the high school plus the sewer plant area. So he would like to get a new mower. Looks like be more got that. It's a Route One Powers Sports. It's Kawasaki 72NZ Master 6000.

[00:39:03]Listed at 23,110.

[00:39:05]We used to 16,8730.

[00:39:10]I don't know if that's a good deal or a bad deal.

[00:39:14]Push.

[00:39:15]>> Didn't you know if he compared it with anything?

[00:39:19]>> Well, I think he looked around. That's what he he wanted. Yeah.

[00:39:25]You know how many we have?

[00:39:29]>> Third 72 in one.

[00:39:41]>> Okay.

[00:39:43]>> I think I think that's accurate.

[00:39:45]>> Okay.

[00:39:51]So ask for a motion to purchase the same new Z master 6000 Kawasaki FX 31 horsepower my ride motor with a price of $16,870 30 cents from Rap One Powers Sports.

[00:40:08]Is there a motion to that effect?

[00:40:11]So move a motion. Is there a second?

[00:40:14]Second. Have a second. Roll call vote, please.

[00:40:19]I hear pugman.

[00:40:21]>> Yes.

[00:40:21]>> Hedge.

[00:40:22]>> Yes.

[00:40:23]>> Green.

[00:40:24]>> Yes.

[00:40:24]>> Coin.

[00:40:25]>> Yes.

[00:40:26]>> Bridge.

[00:40:26]>> Yes.

[00:40:28]>> Yes.

[00:40:29]>> I hear the street committee man. Yeah, >> reviewed the work list that Mark gave us.

[00:40:53]We got 27 summer workers that are stationed here at the park, cemetery, street alley, sewer plant, water plant.

[00:41:08]uh they vary working hours at 16, 24, 32 depending on their experience and age and we're getting a lot of work out of them. They're learning how to work in hot weather doing a lot of stuff. Some some of these people that work for us we can turn loose. Some need a little more supervision, but everybody's doing a good job.

[00:41:30]Mark Griggs uh some of paint curves to repair roads with black do repair roads concrete alleys and trim hop uh signs that repair and change and paint handicap all over town paint crosswalks around town uh catch basin repairs cleaning tree trimming city hall mowing cleaning gutters tree trimming mow and weed as the yards come up put in new sidewalks and pick and brush. So that's what he does.

[00:42:03]He gave us a list of sidewalks he's got on his list. I think we've seen that sidewalk patches that gave us road repairs. Springfield Avenue, they've been working on Lexington. You may have seen some of that. And then Fifth and J.

[00:42:18]just that he knows of you know resurface roads on the back page we're looking at 12 street and Charles that's essentially that area in front of BFW Locust Lane corner to George that's about where Mrs. Lat around the corner back to George Street and then Lexington between 19th and that's around Casey State Bank that will require milling. So that list is forwarded to Eric Meford. He's going to manage that. Ask council for input.

[00:42:58]So there any questions?

[00:43:05]Okay.

[00:43:07]that we'll move on. Talk about board boundaries. Uh Mr. Brumley made us aware of this issue some time ago in January.

[00:43:19]You'd like to address this a little bit.

[00:43:20]Ed kind you always. Yes, sir. Yes. Well, uh I I've thought a lot about this and I just I hope that you just put me on a committee with you guys. Uh I' I'd love to give you insight. I have done some more research with uh a few other cities how their city councils work and only has no wards. It's just you know six people I think is what's on and Mount Carmel only has four if I remember right and they have no wards. It's four people could live four houses right in a row.

[00:43:51]I'm not proposing that. I don't think it'd be a good idea. I do like that you're separated but I would like the balance to be more even. Logical. It's not logical. It's just continuing to get worse because Ward 3 is everything west of 15th and north of Cedar and gosh the like I said the Riverrun Estates Lincoln Heights wasn't even in Ward 3 when it was originally put together 120 years ago. So it's just it just needs to be addressed. Think about it. I I would like to go to Will Gibson and find out when everyone's uh position is up for re-election. Set it set it beyond that.

[00:44:29]you know, 20 uh 2030 or whatever that be. That would make sense. Um consider u maybe putting two wards together. I think ward uh one and four or two and four uh put those together. It's only 41% of uh the whole city whereas uh ward ward 3 is uh 44% or something. I forgot.

[00:44:54]But it it there's some creative things you could think about. Maybe just redraw a line, start all over, find out where everybody is. You could do that. But, uh, I I would love to be your legs and and, uh, do some research more on it, find out what other cities do, but, uh, I just want it to be logical because it's totally illogical today.

[00:45:13]>> Yeah. I do have a question. Um, the percentages you mentioned.

[00:45:18]>> Mhm. That's voters.

[00:45:19]>> Of voters. Yeah. Yeah. Voters. Has anyone done any any research on population?

[00:45:24]Um, I just went to Will Gibson and asked how many voters are in that ward. That's the information you have. And that was effective in what, December, January.

[00:45:34]But, um, nevertheless, that's a good point because it would change if you got a bunch of kids that are coming up here to become voters.

[00:45:41]>> Did you provide us with this >> uh fact sheet?

[00:45:45]>> I don't think that and I >> Yeah, that's what I had. Yes. Yeah.

[00:45:50]>> Yeah. Yeah. is in there. It does talk about population.

[00:45:54]>> Yeah, that's a good point because >> I contrary to what you might think, I would agree that it probably needs to be restructured.

[00:46:00]>> Yeah. Well, even if like say drew new lines down a different street and restructured it totally. That would be really pretty hard. But >> based on population >> Yeah. Uh and that's a good point about population. But registered voters registered voters.

[00:46:15]>> That's registered voters. Yeah.

[00:46:17]>> Yeah. This the numbers you gave are registered voters. I'm suggesting if you restructure it needs to be done on if we restructure it should be done on public.

[00:46:25]>> Sure. Give it some thought and like I'll be happy to serve on a committee if you need me to run.

[00:46:31]I'll refer those to the proper committee. I'm sorry to 123 section 81.

[00:46:44]Essentially that is part of the city council meeting where council people want to address the council state their name their address and give them 5 minutes to talk to ask >> yeah I've had a couple excuse me a couple uh you did ask that a couple months ago once and to my memory that's the first time it's ever been done since I've been on the council and some uh citizens asked me why that was done and I I didn't have an answer for them. Uh so I started doing some research on it and then the following month you did not ask so I thought maybe you weren't going to ask again and then you did tonight. I had no idea you're going to ask but you're going to ask tonight. Um one thing that I could come up with and again I'm I'm not obviously a legal professional but I can find some things online. Uh there's a September 4th of 2014 uh uh opinion by Lisa Maddie, attorney general at the time, and it addresses that that exact thing.

[00:47:56]And um I'll read some of the some of the findings of that findings and conclusions.

[00:48:06]Um, prior to the findings and conclusions is a paragraph that says, "Requiring a member of the public to provide his or her complete address prior to speaking may have a chilling effect on individuals who wish to speak at public meetings. Therefore, we conclude that requiring speakers to state their home address prior to uh addressing public bodies violates section 2.06G of the Open Meetings Act.

[00:48:33]even if such a rule is established by the recording body like we have. Then you go on to the findings and conclusions section.

[00:48:42]Um they're referring to a specific person here in item eight that says the village attorney advised the mayor that Miss Hughes should be allowed to address the board without providing her complete home address. Mrs. Huge Hughes however did finally state her full address.

[00:49:02]Number nine, the attorney general concludes the that the board violated 2.06G of the Open Meetings Act when it stated that Miss Hughes must provide her complete home address for the record before addressing the board. Although this requirement was not an established and recorded rule of that particular village, it was not in their ordinances.

[00:49:23]They were just telling people they had to give the address. Further, even if the board had established it and and recorded such a rule, the rule would violate the open meetings act because it is not reasonably related to promoting meeting order or decorum or ensuring that other speakers have an opportunity to address the public body. Um, this opinion shall be considered a final decision of an administrative agency for the purposes of administrative review under the administrative review law. And then it cites the law. Um, I think that I don't know why we need to know someone's address before they speak. Um, so I have uh I asked the mayor to put this on the agenda which is in our ordinances under 1- 2-13 of the uh of article 2. Have you all did y'all have a copy of that or not?

[00:50:24]No, but it's on the agenda 1-2-13 public comment request. Any person not a member of the city council may address city council with regard to items of proposed business under the following rules. He or she may rise if if not physically impaired and state his or her name and address for the record. And it goes on to talk about the five minutes.

[00:50:51]I'm proposing to take out the address part of this requirement.

[00:50:58]Will you all refer that request to the proper committee which should be legislative since it have to be a change in the ordinance can't and maybe I'm wrong and Mr. Neil said that it is legal to ask. I I question that but >> well the only thing if I can interrupt you just a minute. The only thing I could say about that is it would involve people that are citizens of our town rather than have somebody that's not a citizen having the opportunity to speak when they really don't have any position.

[00:51:33]>> Uh no, anyone from from anywhere could come speak for us.

[00:51:37]>> I don't think failed will and I don't think we need to pay attention to it as far as I'm concerned. They don't live in our city.

[00:51:45]I don't think we need to worry about it.

[00:51:47]Well, I'm not disputing, you know, what you think about that. I'm saying they still have a legal right to come and speak to the council. Uh, and I don't believe that requiring their uh to give their address is a I don't think it's proper and b I don't think it's legal.

[00:52:07]Any other comment on this?

[00:52:10]I will refer this to the proper committee and we will address it in future time. Next item on the agenda is time sheets, accounting, electronic payroll discussion. Finance committee met in court. Ron was there. Don was out of town. Jim was busy. Uh John was there. Uh three of us. Yeah. you.

[00:52:37]Uh we're just trying to figure out how to record the time and how to take that time and uh write checks accurately. We don't want burden or huge unnecessary.

[00:52:59]So there's no real recommendation on that.

[00:53:05]No, I I I don't um from from the the information in the packet and and just so you guys know, you know, the the departments seem to be gaining another whole third of what if if they're paid their regular 2 week regular 80 hours. Not the police. the police is different the way they're maintained and their schedules and it is different. But I guess I'm just going to tell you that if all the people are paid their regular 80 hours in each department, we're paying another third of that in overtime every two weeks. Wow. That's what I I I'm not sure why.

[00:53:59]I I don't quite understand that. I did talk to some other treasures and some other neighboring towns. They've had those issues before, but they had to tighten their belt on letting people work extra hours because it was just it it wasn't beneficial to their callers to do that.

[00:54:22]So, if the job could wait till the next day, they they pretty much make their supervisors aware of that.

[00:54:32]I understand that some departments we not able to do that.

[00:54:38]Some departments we've not been able to do that. Some we had >> I understand.

[00:54:43]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:54:45]But but every every department has been like that. So I I I just think that the time card system like like we talked about will be real beneficial in trying to curb that a little bit. What we also know is that the uh labor union has said they want to add some type of input into that. So, >> right. And I I I suppose it's a working condition. So, they they have to negotiate. Yeah. And I understand that too. Yeah.

[00:55:16]>> So, is that why we're not doing this?

[00:55:18]That's the first I heard that it's a working condition. We're going to negotiate using time talks. Is that is that the position? Well, it is one issue that the in the labor management meeting that they said they would do it. They want to have input into what we do, how we do it.

[00:55:35]>> You have to bargain.

[00:55:36]>> Do you know of any employer that goes to an employee and asks how do you want us to take your time? How do you want us to monitor your time? That doesn't even sound logical.

[00:55:47]>> We're not asking them how we want to do the time. We're saying there's going to be a change in the procedure. They get the chance to do input. It's part of collective bargaining. They have that right.

[00:55:56]>> You know that?

[00:55:57]>> No, I don't know that taking your monitoring your time is collective bargaining. How do I know that? Well, don't don't say that I know something when that's not true. First of all, and second of all, where is it written that it's a collective bargaining issue on how we track their time? Do you see that in writing anywhere?

[00:56:16]>> Anything that's a change in what they're doing is a collective bargain.

[00:56:20]>> That's nothing. That's not change in what they're doing to track their time.

[00:56:24]machines right now. They're doing time clocks right now.

[00:56:27]>> No, >> that's not a change in their work.

[00:56:29]>> That's a change.

[00:56:30]>> That's not a change. That's not a change in how they're working. That's a change in how we are monitoring their time.

[00:56:36]>> So the mayor I just don't get this clear.

[00:56:39]>> It's not.

[00:56:42]>> Well, just answer me straight out. Is that why we haven't done this so far?

[00:56:46]>> That's not why because we don't know what we're going to do for time clock yet. But we talked about this last year >> and we voted it down >> and we talked about it >> again and voted down >> and we voted last month to bring options to the council.

[00:57:01]>> We did not.

[00:57:02]>> When do you think those options will be brought forth and are you waiting for input from the union to do that?

[00:57:08]>> Waiting. Well, first of all, we didn't have a quorum of people there.

[00:57:11]>> Yeah, I heard I heard that part. I understand. Yeah.

[00:57:15]>> Okay. going forward. Can we have can we have some options next month and vote on a timekeeping system next month? I do not know that. You know, John, >> you know, I I did look under the is it ask me and some of the other the the the joining counties are still doing time sheets by employees. Some, not all.

[00:57:45]What are >> I I got hold of Mount Carmel Army Robinson their saloon time sheets.

[00:57:50]>> Yes.

[00:57:50]>> The thing that they a little further than that.

[00:57:53]>> Go ahead. Yeah. The thing that they had they they've had problems with this.

[00:57:58]>> We're not the only ones that think that this might be an issue.

[00:58:01]>> The the thing that they did was they trained their supervisors much better on you. You can't just if if you're on a job and you're not the supervisor, you can't just keep working unless you ask that. You have to get permission that day.

[00:58:24]What you mean? Yeah.

[00:58:27]I'm not saying that that's the way it is now, guys. I'm just saying that's what these other communities did to help with that. Now, if you're on a emergency water line or anything like that, that's a different story. And that's what the mayor is talking.

[00:58:41]>> Okay. I'm talking about if if you're not aware of the time and you're mowing or weed eating and all of a sudden it's been 10 hours there. There's got to be a little bit better system than that.

[00:58:55]>> I mean, because you're going to go back and you're going to look, okay, I came in at 8 and it's and I don't know what the lunch hours are here. I I have no idea if they get paid or they don't. I don't know. Do That's a good question.

[00:59:07]And do you do they get paid lunch or >> Some go through, some don't. Some don't.

[00:59:11]>> Some go through it.

[00:59:12]>> Is it up to the individual?

[00:59:13]>> No.

[00:59:14]>> Oh, it's not.

[00:59:15]>> Because of what you're doing.

[00:59:18]Is it a supervisor call or is it up to the individual?

[00:59:24]>> It is a supervisor's call, but right now all I'm speaking for is the water department.

[00:59:34]We are dealing with the sewer plant.

[00:59:36]Mars has us doing stuff we got to get done and then also we have to get our water stuff done.

[00:59:46]So So what you're talking about I'm not talking about you. You guys are in a special thing right now. That's why I said the police are different too. They they have to help and be called and and I understand that. Then there's always vacation times and things like that. All I'm saying is these other communities had the same issue on the general workforce that did mowing, painting work, >> routine work, routine work. Any routine work was the supervisors were taught to better handle trying to keep their main workers on 40hour work. That's right.

[01:00:26]>> Yeah.

[01:00:28]We're we're kind of doing a for that now because we're spending an extra 30% every two week pay period.

[01:00:38]Well, and something that was voted that we did vote to do is have employees put their time in and out on the card. And I brought that up, I think it was last month, and I was kind of ridiculed for only asking for Mr. Tips.

[01:00:55]So we asked for others um >> what do you mean >> other uh >> who asked >> doesn't matter who but through the foyer request we have >> request the foyer request came from who >> does that matter >> yes >> how does it matter >> how would you get how would you get this >> once it's foyer request is public information >> okay do gotcha it's not going to work I can get it from whomever I do want to get it from >> okay so we have uh parttime time work at the pool. I'm not going to name names, just not the point of the thing here.

[01:01:32]Um, both the pool and the army are using totally different time sheets than the rest of the employees are. Um, I've got one sheet, two sheets, three sheets, no in-n-out time. Zero in and out time.

[01:01:51]one of them, the supervisor apparently is the employee as well and signed it themselves as the employee and the supervisor. I I just don't think that's, you know, that's wise to operate that way. So, there's those. Then last month we talked about uh Mr. I will mention Mr. tensioner because specifically last month we talked about him putting his in and-out time on Saturdays and Sundays and you indicated that would that would happen. Um it's not happening still not happening. I don't know how he's calculating his time. Uh if you do the math on this time, uh for example, here's one the actual hours show 9 hours, but when the math what he wrote down was 10.

[01:02:50]And I understand there's that that thing he's doing at home each night where he's getting some overtime for, but that should be written in here and not. So, you got six, you got a list an in-n-out time on a Friday of 9 hours, but he writes down 10 hours.

[01:03:09]Here's another one that's 9.16 hours with in-n-out time, but it's listed at 12 hours.

[01:03:16]Every Saturday and Sunday, there's no in-n-out time.

[01:03:21]Um, so I don't understand how why why why aren't we doing what was voted up, Mr. Mayor. I mean, you're a supervisor.

[01:03:31]I have to say that same document.

[01:03:33]>> I did this last month. I mean, I brought it up last month. I keep bringing it up and and you're not here. If you want to see it here, I don't want this back, but you're welcome to. I mean, >> all you got to do is look at this time sheet right there every Saturday, Sunday. Go in and out of time.

[01:03:52]I have to see it.

[01:03:58]>> Yeah. Uh I'd like to keep time frame on when we can get some options on time costs. We voted that last month. I understand you didn't have a quorum this month.

[01:04:15]That's up to the committee what how the committee arrives at work and what they learned and how they were proceeding the information they gathered. Is the council going to make this decision or you do you intend to wait until contract negotiations? Council can make the decision.

[01:04:31]>> Okay.

[01:04:34]I'd like to see that happen soon. I mean I I keep bringing up the proof. It's right here. This is just a sample, too.

[01:04:40]Okay. I didn't pull everybody's time sheet, but uh you got people signing as their own supervisor and the math ain't ain't mathing out here.

[01:04:52]And maybe it's legit. Maybe that maybe he did work 10 hours, but don't put 9 hours as a time frame.

[01:05:01]That's all I have. Thank you. Next item.

[01:05:04]consider monetary donation to Destiny Rescue to fight the child traff.

[01:05:12]There was a a gentleman by the name of John Couch. He and his wife were in music ministry here in Lawrenceville.

[01:05:20]They lived here in Lawrenceville. He was going to be here, but he had um he had some he had a uh church camp that some instructors didn't show up, so he had to stay there. And then he had someone else lined up and they had a family emergency. I was hoping they would be here to speak. Uh his group, this is the the the man and woman here in Martinsville is the simply Jesus.

[01:05:47]There's another group with the name of One Cause and One Cause has a nonprofit of One Cause Mission. These these groups all donate money to Destiny Rescue which fights child trafficking and u uh sex and slave trafficking.

[01:06:10]>> They're doing a uh a benefit out here at Central Christian, I think Saturday. So, I would encourage anyone uh that wants to hear some some Christian music and support this cause to go >> 6 p.m. 6 p.m.

[01:06:26]>> 6 Yeah, they start at 6:00. You can find it on find them under one of those names on the internet. Anyway, um I was going to ask for a $500 donation to this cause uh for this John Couch. So, I'd like to make a motion to do that. If anyone want to second it, we can vote on it. If not, I've at least made the motion.

[01:06:50]I'll >> second.

[01:06:51]>> The amount will be 500.

[01:06:54]Motion and a second.

[01:07:01]Oakland.

[01:07:02]>> Yes.

[01:07:04]>> What about here? Head.

[01:07:06]>> No.

[01:07:08]>> Green.

[01:07:09]>> Yes.

[01:07:11]>> No.

[01:07:12]>> F.

[01:07:13]>> Yes.

[01:07:15]>> Gun.

[01:07:16]>> Yes.

[01:07:17]>> Blue right here.

[01:07:21]Those are pass.

[01:07:22]>> Thank you, council.

[01:07:24]>> I'll pass that on to Mr. Okay. Um I believe a group may have tickets too if someone wants to reach out online.

[01:07:37]Next item on the agenda is side by side discussion possible ordinance adoption given this information last month. What we are considering is the inclusion of commonly called side by side off-road vehicles to be included to the ordinance that already existed. Those vehicles will have to be looked over and checked by the police to ensure that they meet the requirements as defined in the golf cart recreational fire definition. We have to have many similar and same items that are commemorated 29 2493 which is the horn brakes, brake lights, turn signals, etc. Talk to the chief.

[01:08:34]I told me I think it's a good thing. I haven't had any issues with the golf course. I will say if you guys pass it, I need to get at least a month so I can get all the stuff that I need to move forward cuz I'm sure as well, but they need to do anywhere they have all the stuff for us. driving side to side cuz there's a lot of park out there and we got to keep them out of our parks and that's what we have a hard time now there's a lot of working at it may not seem like we are there just only so much we can do that states but I agree with I think we should do okay I'd like to ask the chief a question first of all you said you're not having any issues with >> golfers. No. Mountain. We've had I've had some calls about people in the state.

[01:09:29]And what people need to understand is there's two different types of golfers.

[01:09:32]Yeah. There's the kind of slowmoving vehicle that registered them with plate and they have a little bit more room than the people get. So there's some of that adversity, but under that >> So they're crossing properly. They're not actually on state.

[01:09:48]>> Correct. Yeah.

[01:09:51]by their definition they believe they're not. So but for the most part we have had no issues whatsoever. Everybody's been very grateful.

[01:10:03]The second question I have a lot of people feel like if they and I know y'all can't be everywhere at once. I understand that. But a lot of people feel like if they call the police about these other vehicles, either the standing uh scooters, I guess you call them, or I've seen people riding around town on mini bikes where their knees are hitting the ground almost. If they call you guys, you guys will absolutely there. That's going to be have to be a totally different discussion. That is going to have to be set down. I've seen a couple good ones from Russ and I want to see how they do with bill essentially if you violate their laws. There's many scooters they go after the parent because they're not taking care of and they charge $500.

[01:10:52]>> Do we have that be a very tough road?

[01:10:57]Yes, there's they're taking pretty good hits on the bikes and all that stuff is coming up in 27. That's what changed a lot statewide, right?

[01:11:06]>> Huh?

[01:11:06]>> That's what changed statewide, isn't it?

[01:11:08]>> Yes.

[01:11:08]>> Yeah, that's statewide. That's the option.

[01:11:10]>> Do we do you have the option of writing a uh citation uh for the other? Now, >> as far as to my knowledge, no. There's nothing in our main except the fact, you know, if you read the state law, it can be on sidewalks, but there again, do you want to get in the street? We don't even >> there there is no wind in this. I can't say get a helmet cuz most these kids will grab a helmet they have around the house. Then they can't see at all.

[01:11:41]>> I they got earphones on. They can't hear. I mean there there is nothing good about this.

[01:11:46]>> If you find a underage child driving one of these motorized vehicles down 15th Street, Route One, >> you will absolutely pull them over. Do you have the option of writing any kind of citation to their children? coming to their parents at all or >> not to my honesty.

[01:12:03]>> So easy to change our business.

[01:12:05]>> I do not know that.

[01:12:06]>> It would have to be an organiz and make it work.

[01:12:12]>> Yeah, >> cuz us talking to the kids go out.

[01:12:16]>> Yeah, they'll do it right there in front another street doing the same thing.

[01:12:26]You have a chance to review this ordinance?

[01:12:40]1625.

[01:12:44]Okay. I'll ask for a motion for ordinance number 1625, ordinance amending chapter 24, article 9 of the revised code ordinance of the city of Lawrenceville, Illinois to permit and regulate the operation of recreational off Highway.

[01:13:03]Motion.

[01:13:03]>> We have a motion. Is there a second?

[01:13:06]>> A second.

[01:13:07]>> We have a second. This an ordinance will be a roll call.

[01:13:15]>> I hear Brooklyn.

[01:13:16]>> Yes.

[01:13:17]>> Had yes.

[01:13:19]>> Green.

[01:13:21]>> No.

[01:13:23]>> Yes.

[01:13:26]>> No.

[01:13:27]>> Gun. No, I vote. I'll vote. Yes.

[01:13:35]Motion pass.

[01:13:36]>> As I said tomorrow, we'll have to deal with it to get the information.

[01:13:50]>> Hey, Jim. Maybe I should have said this personally to you, but I seen on Facebook where Jordan post a seventh.

[01:13:59]>> That's the law we have.

[01:14:01]>> Okay. Have Have we posted it?

[01:14:03]>> I have not posted that in the attention, but >> it's going to change by the time it gets to where it needs to be.

[01:14:10]>> Okay.

[01:14:10]>> But the scooters and stuff aren't really in there the way they should be.

[01:14:14]>> Whereas we need to take a stiffer step because the state's just going to pass them.

[01:14:19]>> Okay.

[01:14:20]>> And we put orders in place that says, "Okay, we want this, but then we're doing this." Okay.

[01:14:25]>> So, that's going to be up to us as a city.

[01:14:27]>> Okay. Like you said something about the sidewalks. So, so they're not really supposed to be riding on the >> sidewalk.

[01:14:35]I mean, I mean, I seen I seen one coming down by the hospital today and he was, you know, it was an adult and he was on the sidewalk and everything else. I personally rather have a little kid on the sidewalk than in the road, but you know, but you know. Okay. Thank you.

[01:14:55]discussing the back truck. Uh ground equipment will be able to be here next week with another truck. It will be the truck that we originally looked at 375.

[01:15:08]Uh we're going to have to make a decision on one of these pretty soon.

[01:15:12]Got another guy came in today. He had uh I wasn't here but he left some information regarding backtrack blower trash pump back.

[01:15:27]So the trucks are out there. We're just going to have to make a decision for this.

[01:15:34]Mike, you got anything on that? We need a blower. We need a trash, which I don't care if it's new or used.

[01:15:44]Just got to make sure the used that we don't get it and then something breaks down and we have to put $200,000 to fix that.

[01:15:57]You buy something used, something go wrong.

[01:16:03]That's all I got on that.

[01:16:07]the trucks. I'll give you come take a look at it.

[01:16:12]Jire as I went included I know the big discussion is cr or I did make sure it is enforced all the people or all the places in town that sold it. I made sure everything was in frame and we offer tr again. I can't go in and tell you all these different medicinal things they say is so I can't guarantee I can tell you it's just crazy and we won't and they were all free but most of them said that's not so that is what it is we can't if they have a limit license we have a little bit more grasp but other than that we can write citation letter to The decision says we will site every time but again all right anything before I get to my actual my thing we we got a a letter packet from a lady that uh short letter about the feral cat problem.

[01:17:33]She was She couldn't be here apparently.

[01:17:35]I don't know this person. I just got the letter. Did everybody get that?

[01:17:39]>> Look, are we doing anything about that?

[01:17:41]Are we able to do anything about that?

[01:17:44]>> That's another one. Every time we set out and I can't catch them, what do we do with them?

[01:17:52]>> I mean, we can't just we can't exchange.

[01:17:55]>> Yeah, I know that's something there's no place nobody else can take.

[01:17:59]>> When Mr. Stevens was on the council, he used to We talk about this nontop.

[01:18:04]>> There's just nothing good.

[01:18:07]>> They don't have any room down there. I know this is full. I think other towns to be honest are just taking down the couch. That's not doing anything.

[01:18:16]>> All you're doing is >> there is there is an organization that is trying to catch them and get them fixed, but they're still here. But you know, so if you want to donate any money for this organization, I can't think I know um I know um Angie Tracy is one of them and yeah, can't think of the other girl's name, but I know they will, you know, get them but and trap them and and get them fixed, but you still have the cats around to do the damage. So, but at least they won't be able to produce.

[01:18:55]>> And I just wanted this lady that took the time to write this letter to know that >> that we rather than um I guess we'll discuss >> discuss.

[01:19:08]Okay. Uh yeah.

[01:19:11]Um Mr. Mayor, can can you citizens here tonight talk about Mr. Tiff. Can you tell them, tell us why he is still on the payroll after all these EPA investigations and EPA findings of wrongdoing?

[01:19:29]I don't want to talk about employment and public. So, um, has he received any sort of discipline?

[01:19:39]That's private matter. That would be public information discipline of employee. I for request an employes disciplineary record last year with public information if they're employed by the city. Uh Mr. Mayor, do you have any issue with any member of the council consulting with any representative of EJ Water on a one-on-one basis?

[01:20:05]>> No. Okay. Have you considered them running having them run our water department? I had EJ Water come in and do an overview of all.

[01:20:16]They were not prepared to give us a bid.

[01:20:19]My understanding is well uh they could give a bid under certain circumstances and we haven't met those circumstances apparently. So they can give a bid even if it meant that they hire Mr. That's okay, right? That's all. Okay.

[01:20:44]Um, yeah, my understanding is they are short staff, but if we wanted them and it meant them hiring another individual that they would do that, but uh they would not do that under certain circumstances. And I think you probably know what those circumstances are.

[01:21:04]Not while Mr. Titcher is still in charge.

[01:21:10]That's to discuss the performance. You still need to still for your request for information and I can ask whatever I want whether he answers it or not. Yeah, that's why uh that's whenever you're going to discipline, you're discussing what form of discipline to take someone to take on.

[01:21:32]Um first of all, Mr. Gamble and those who have participated in our efforts to um you know follow this EPA thing through um keep tabs on it and keep a line sh a light shined on it. I want to publicly thank all of you for your countless hours of uh your own time that you spent researching these issues and advocating for a better Lawrenceville. I know that it's difficult. Believe me, I know it's difficult to speak up when one sees evidence of mismanagement, cover up, gaslighting, corruption, nepotism, cronyism, and political favoritism.

[01:22:11]I know that many of you have experienced public and private harassment, defamation, and even death threats and stalking for what you are doing to try to improve our community. Mhm. Lies have been told about many of you and circulated throughout the community to the extent that longtime friendships have been lost. But I encourage you to continue to have your voices heard because if good people like you don't stand up to the powers of be, nothing will change.

[01:22:39]Remember that many of your detractors, they're simply frightened of losing their influence with those powers of be.

[01:22:47]Others are simply misinformed and choose not to become form become informed. And others are just vengeful and spiteful.

[01:22:56]Your willingness to take on city hall has inspired me to become a better council member and to take my responsibilities to the citizens of Larsville more seriously. I encourage more people to speak out. I encourage the city council and the mayor to do better. Do better to represent all community members, even those you may not like. Listen to their concerns. Look past their person. Look past the personal differences you may have with them. Public service requires us to look beyond those differences, those personal differences, and focus on what is best for the community as a whole. And I want to thank Mr. Campbell for recording and publishing these meetings with his own personal equipment and resources. I still believe that the city should be doing that uh instead of a private resident, but thank you for what you're doing. Uh maybe some point in the future it'll happen. Um but for now, thank you for what else?

[01:23:59]Mr. D, anything? Nothing at this time.

[01:24:02]Mr. D?

[01:24:03]>> No. Reg?

[01:24:05]>> No.

[01:24:06]>> Mr. Hedge?

[01:24:08]Uh yeah, I got one thing. Um I'm new to this as y'all know probably this is my third month I think maybe. Um I had my first person in my ward come to me the other day about enforcing some ordinances and I found out today that we got our hands tied behind our back.

[01:24:32]If we issue a fine to somebody or say it works out to be a $50 fine, it takes $500 to process that fine through the courts.

[01:24:42]So, it cost us 10 times just to enforce that code violation.

[01:24:48]Uh so, I suggest we have a committee to solve this problem.

[01:24:53]the violators are out there knowing that they're not going to get a hard ticket because it's going to cost us 10 times the amount to process through the court.

[01:25:05]Uh so my only suggestion is that we need to have committee and sit down and increase the fines.

[01:25:12]Some of them seriously increase because our town looks like [ __ ] It looks terrible. Yards not mold holes and roofs all over the place. I could write 40 code violations to my board right now.

[01:25:26]It's terrible.

[01:25:28]And so the council and the courts have got our hands tied behind the back. We got to we'll enforce these low priority, low prices. We pay a portion to enforce it. So we need to solve this issue.

[01:25:42]That's all I have. Thank you.

[01:25:50]Mr. Neil, could you speak a little bit about fines, court system, and how that stuff works?

[01:26:00]How deal with people that you get violations to?

[01:26:05]>> Well, I haven't handled any recent violations, but none brought to me. Most of it I think Jim you can speak to this is over the counter. That is to say, we have a we have an administrative uh process whereby if a person has issued a violation ticket, then they can come to city hall and pay the fine $50 and if it's paid here like an over- theounter uh matter, then there's not formal legal proceedings brought. In the event that they do not do that, then the ticket would be brought to my attention and we would file a formal ordinance violation.

[01:26:48]So once that's done, the person has to appear in court and enter a plea of guilty or not guilty to the ordinance and then it's up to the court to assess a fine which under our code can be a minimum of $75 up to I think $750. Now, we're statutoilially limited on how much we can uh penalize someone monetarily. And of course, with an ordinance, there is no you can't put someone in jail for that.

[01:27:18]It's strictly a monetary. So, but as far as uh the cost, the person who is actually taken through the court system on the ordinance violation has to pay the actual fine that the court assesses in addition to whatever court costs. of the court costs do not include the attorney fees. Port costs are those fees that are charged through the court system. So, for example, a $75 fine imposed by the court on an ordinance violation might generate 80 or $90 in court cost, but that does not cover the time that you would pay me or the city attorney to go to court to appear on that.

[01:28:03]We cannot recover that. That's just part of the city's cost in enforcing its laws.

[01:28:10]>> So, >> so you cannot you cannot amend your ordinance to say that the violator is going to be assessed attorney fees.

[01:28:17]Can't do that.

[01:28:19]>> But would it be accurate to say that we could have our officers go citations immediately?

[01:28:26]>> Oh, yeah. It used to be, you know, before we had this over the counter system, you know, you routinely uh every Thursday was dog day or high grass day, you know, but that doesn't necessarily solve the problem.

[01:28:40]>> We need to look at the manual. We need to all sit down and go because that's not what I was saying.

[01:28:46]>> I will tell you just from my experience at this, you can go forward, you can take them in. Um most of these people are impoverished.

[01:28:57]uh they will be assessed a fine, the minimum fine. They'll be given 30 days to pay. Uh they won't pay. You take them back to court and the judge will ask him, "Why haven't you paid?" He says, "I don't have any money." The judge will look at me and say, "What do you want to do?"

[01:29:19]>> Okay. I mean, I'm giving you the practical cost.

[01:29:24]is costing eventually you might get something but it's as Jim has said on some other matters it's it's a hard nut to crack in the practicality of you're not going to get them in jail most of them don't have anything and so you know yeah we can take them to court but if you think that's going to clean up your neighborhood you got another thing Um, one thing I have a few things. Uh, we will be having a Fourth of July party orth July the parade starting line up at 5:00.

[01:30:14]Parade starts at 6:00 and then be followed by a tailgate and the fireworks start. It'll be on July 3rd Friday.

[01:30:23]uh Chamber of Commerce is kind of spearheading this and we are going to be assisting with that. Like to thank all the city workers for all the work they've been doing. It's been extremely hot. Yeah, >> our pool is pretty vibrant right now.

[01:30:39]The uh on Wednesday nights we have a DJ or band of some kind, a free swim. We're getting a sponsor of some kind. They'll pay for the band. doesn't have a free swim. Uh we don't really make any money, but we have a lot of activity and we make our money on concession stand. But for the most part, uh it's a service that is enjoyable by a lot of people, having a lot of fun. Uh beginning Monday the 15th, Bryant Jenkins will be employed at the Armory.

[01:31:12]He will be working with unit 20 to have a youth program that will be open from 9 to 12. That'll be Monday through Saturday. So, if kids want to go over there, Brian Jenkins will be there trying to teach fundamentals. Probably start with basketball, but it's open to boys and girls. Uh, so we look forward to seeing how we can do the fabric last year with Brent Cochran. Brand didn't want to do it this year because his wife and I are expecting a baby and he's more interested in that than he is with kids in the gym. So other than that, I would just let people know that our next meeting is July 9th, 2026.

[01:31:55]Before that, we will have some discussion on the time sheets, time records, try to work on that, work with Mr. Hedges, trying to some problems Mr. Manette brought up and hopefully have some things to talk about at this meeting.

[01:32:13]With that said, I'd ask for a motion to motion. Have a motion. Is there a second? Second. All favor say I.