February 5, 2025 Meeting Minutes

Village of Bishop Hill web page: bishophillil.gov

County of Henry

State of Illinois

February 5th , 2025

The regular meeting of the Village of Bishop Hill Board was held at the Municipal Bldg. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Mike Funke at 6:00 p.m.

ROLL CALL: Mike Funke, Patrick Light, Lisa Nordstrom, Mike Keup, Jim Nolan, Sharon Wexell & Terri Wigant were all present. Ben Strand & Amanda Laub were absent.

MINUTES: Keup motioned to accept the January minutes, seconded by Nolan. Voice vote, motion carried.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Nordstrom motioned to accept the Treasurer’s Report, seconded by Nolan. Voice vote, motion carried.

PAY BILLS: Wexell said she moved the annual JULIE bill for $20.25 from the O&M Fund to the General Fund. Keup motioned to pay all bills, seconded by Light. Voice vote, motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS:

Funke said Well #2 is back in service as of January 30th . The original well pump provided during the construction phase of Well #2, was being stored in the Municipal Building. It was not the correct size, so the company replaced it with the correct pump and let us keep the original one. Whittington told Funke since no one could figure out why the pump was failing, we could put the original water pump back in Well #2 and if any problems occur, it would ruin the old pump instead of a brand new one. There was a filter that Whittington didn’t know about that was plugged, but it wouldn’t cause the kind of problem the pump was having. Peerless Well & Pump Co. installed the original pump back in Well #2. It is working correctly and is currently pumping between 160-180 gallons of water per minute. Peerless also installed a new check valve on Well #1 at no cost.

Whittington had 2 different estimates to replace the meter for well #1, it was only recording about 70% of water pumped. The first estimate was for a mag style meter with all the accessories needed plus labor, cost was $4,800-$5,000. The 2nd quote was same style pump for $5,042, but the accessories would cost extra. Then Whittington found a 3rd option, from a different vendor. The brand is called Zenner. Whittington has used these for hydrant meters, they have been reliable. The price was $1,327.63 with all the accessories, and Whittington said he would be willing to assemble it and install it for a flat fee of $650. That would bring the total to approximately $1,977.63. Whittington told Funke the parts for the Zenner meter could take 5-6 weeks to get here. The EPA requires meters to be accurate. We could get fined for being in violation. Light motioned to go with the Zenner meter and have Whittington install it for a total of $1,977.63, seconded by Nordstrom. Voice vote, motion carried.

Wexell said the O&M C.D. is ready for renewal. She could cash it in to help out with the bills or just renew it. Light asked if we could use part of the C.D. and roll the rest back into

another C.D. Wexell said we can do that. The current O&M C.D. is up to approximately $28,000. Wexell also mentioned that a new Senate Bill 0082 has been filed and, if passed, would reduce our CPA audit requirements to every four years instead of every year. This would save the village some money. The Illinois Comptroller annual report (AFR) would still be filed every year but she could do this herself.

Wigant said the sign for Bjorkland St./N. Bishop Hill St. still needs to be installed. Funke asked Cameron Meyer, our water Superintendent, if he would be interested in doing the job. Meyer said he would see which side of the road other signs are placed to know where this one should be placed. Wigant said the post looks too short. Meyer said there is a sleeve to put in the ground first, then the post fits in it.

Wigant said she met with Travis McGarry from Hein Construction in Galesburg, he is giving us an

estimate for the sidewalks in the uptown area for the T-Mobile grant. Wexell & Wigant sent the old estimates to fix the colony flagpole to Jeff Carpenter as he was interested in restoring it. He used to work for Trillium Dell restoration and still does work for the Heritage Association on restoration projects, so he is very familiar with Bishop Hill heritage and the flagpole.

NEW BUSINESS:

The representatives from Mid-Century Communications did not come to the meeting due to icy roads; they will be on the April agenda. Mid-Century wants to recognize Bishop Hill for getting Fiber Optic Internet in town.

Wigant said that Heath Jordan from IDOT called and wanted a letter from Jim Nolan, our Zoning

Officer, stating that the scheduled road work and ADA sidewalk ramps would not take away from the historical look of the Village. Wigant had previously emailed a letter of acceptance for the road work, parking lanes, and ADA ramps along with the statement that the work would not hamper the historical layout. Wigant typed up a letter for Nolan to sign, then Jordan e-mailed and said the office changed their mind and did not need the letter from Nolan. Instead, they were sending out some kind of letter to the Board, he did not elaborate on what the letter would entail.

Wexell asked the Board members if they knew of any free programs that would be similar to

QuickBooks as her 2015 desktop copy is out dated and causing trouble. The Intuit Company wants $70 a month for the cheapest online program. Wexell said this is too costly for the village to pay and will look for a different program if the problems persist.

Keup asked if we are getting mowing bids for the March meeting. Wigant said she already put an ad in the Prairie News and her son put a notice on the Galva Facebook stating that the bids needed to be in by the March 5th village meeting. The Prairie News reaches a wide area to the East of here, but she would have also liked to reached areas West of here. Wigant said the Star Courier paper is out of business, along with many other newspapers. She called the phone number for a Geneseo paper and the number was disconnected. I guess I will have to learn how to work social media to put out notices.

Wexell had the quarterly report for the USDA loan complete and ready to be signed.

There was no further business, Light motioned to adjourn, seconded by Keup. Voice vote, motion carried.