The Village Board approved a fee structure for fire inspection of commercial property within the village.
It is a program that was requested by the local file inspector and will require the owners of commercial property to have their property re-inspected, following a violation of a fire code.
The fire inspector will visit the property once a year according to what was mentioned at the board meeting Monday evening, January 13th. If the Fire Inspector finds a deficiency that needs to be corrected, the building owner is informed and given a certain amount of time to correct the violation. When the fire inspector returns and finds that the violation has not been corrected then any other inspection will create a re-inspection fee. The first re-inspection is free, but the second is $50.00 and builds to $300, if the violation is not corrected.
During the meeting the board did not discuss if there had been problems with property owners not coming into compliance with fire codes or how many times the fire inspector had to return to local commercial property for re-inspection.
Village Clerk/Treasurer, Darlene Lee reported to the board that the Town of New Haven had passed a similar resolution recently. Village President Gib Krueger noted that the money raised from these fees would go to the fire department.
Dollar General
Both Krueger and Erick Evenson of MSA Professional Services spoke about Dollar General building a store along Highway 79 on the north side of the village. Krueger noted that he had talked to company representatives and Evenson informed the board, “that Dollar General was finishing up site plans and should have details for the board at next month’s meeting.”
Later in the meeting the Village board approved hiring MSA to design the water and sewer extension to serve the new store, with Evenson telling the board that they would need a public hearing and zoning change
Bidding could take place by April, Evenson informed the board.
Evenson also noted about the few things that needed yet to be done on the Main Street improvement project and that they could be done in the spring. He also informed the board that the contractor that is working to raze the old feed mill should start this week with asbestos removal. The board had discussed using steel beams from the old feed mill to construct a batting cage at Pafko Park, but later agreed to go with new metal.
Man arrested with stolen wallet
During his report to the board, Police Chief Greg Lamkin reported that he had arrested a man on a traffic violation. The man had apparently been in custody, but had recently been released, but Lamkin found a wallet on the man that had been reported stolen from Social Services the day before. The man was taken to jail, but the Chief noted that he was back on the street.
In his report Lamkin informed the board that his department had answered 1490 calls for service during 2019, an increase of 21 percent from 2018 and a 42 percent increase over 2017.
He also noted to the board that his budget ended with a $23,000 balance and he told the board, “that once the audit is complete, he will request that these funds be designated for the police squad/capital fund.
Lamkin also explained the department’s participation in the Shop with a Cop program and that the US Department of Justice has reopened the COPS Hiring Program grant. It will fund new police officers for specific programs including School Resource Officers. “It’s a three year grant and funds 75 percent of the cost,” Lamkin told the board.
In other business the board turned down bids for a fire suppression system for the kitchen at the Village Hall. Krueger then said that the matter was about what the village is going to do with that kitchen, would be on the agenda for next month.
Hired Taber Law Firm to work on re-doing the Village’s Code of Ordinance book.
Approved allowing the Police department to sell two unused pistols.
On a four to three vote the board approved for the village to clear snow from all sidewalks that are part of the Safe Routes to School sidewalks. The board will review this policy for next season.
Because of an Assessor’s error in the TIF district the village had some $61,000 more in their budget than was known last fall when it was put together, but the board found a way to use those funds.
And, finally they approved installing stop signs at the Cenex Driveways with the new extension of Charlotte Street.
