July 3, 2024 Meeting Minutes

    Village of Bishop Hill

   County of Henry

    State of Illinois

     July 3rd, 2024

The regular meeting of the Bishop Hill Village 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, Ben Strand, Mike Keup, Jim Nolan, Sharon Wexell & Terri Wigant were all present. Amanda Laub was absent.

MINUTES; Nordstrom motioned to accept the Village minutes, seconded by Nolan. Voice vote, motion carried. 

TREASURER’S REPORT; Strand motioned to accept the Treasurer’s Report, seconded by Nordstrom. Voice vote, motion carried. Wexell also noted that she put $1 in the Grant Fund to keep it active.

PAY BILLS;  Light motioned to pay bills, seconded by Nolan. Voice vote, motion carried. 

Funke went to new business so Todd DeDecker and Cathy Nelson didn’t have to stay for the whole meeting if they didn’t want to.

Todd DeDecker was representing the Bishop Hill Old Settlers Assoc. He was asking permission to close Christina St. from N. Bishop Hill St. to Erickson St. for food trucks for the Abba concert July 13th. He also talked about where the handicapped parking would be and no parking on the streets by the Fire Station. DeDecker said they were expecting 1,000-1,500 people, it is a very popular concert. Light motioned to let DeDecker close Christina St. and the streets by the Fire Station, seconded by Nordstrom. Voice vote, motion carried.

Cathy Nelson, resident and owner of H. Wyatt Mercantile, wanted to ask the Board what they thought about bringing fireworks back to Bishop Hill. She and several  other people raised $15,000 for the Honor Flight this year in honor of Linda Spring, who passed away this March. Spring started the annual Honor Flight fund raiser event in Bishop Hill many years ago. Nelson said that many of the businesses were very involved with this year’s Honor Flight event. So, Nelson and the other volunteers talked about bringing back the fireworks and combining it with the Honor Flight fundraiser around July 4th holiday, because the current date just does not work, too many other events are going on. Moving it to the July 4th week would help raise more money for the Honor Flight and help all the businesses. Funke said the subject had been brought up to the Board not too long ago and Wexell had said that the fireworks could possibly be set off on her farm ground, but there would have to be a liability waiver. Nelson said there would have to be fundraisers to buy the fireworks. Funke said that Ron Spiegel, a farmer outside of town, was licensed to purchase the fireworks and set them off the. He had raised between $40 and $50,000 for the fireworks, but that was years ago. Nelson also asked if the fire department would be available when the fireworks were being set-off. Strand said he thought if the department knows the date ahead of time, they could be available. She wanted to know if the fireworks were something the Board would allow and should she pursue getting information about the fireworks. The Board agreed, yes, gather information and see what the cost would be. The Board thanked DeDecker and Nelson, for coming to the meeting. They both left the meeting when they were finished. 

OLD BUSINESS;

Sidewalks have not been started yet, so Funke called Aaron Kewish, from Galva, who pours sidewalks. Kewish said he does not pour stamped concrete. Wigant said she could call Valerie Currier, owner of Krans Kafe, and ask who is doing her patio. Wexell said she would like to stick with Darren Frank because if we go with someone else now, the price will be higher. Funke said he did call IDOT about the letter Strand & Nolan received about IDOT putting in ADA sidewalks. Funke said that IDOT wasn’t doing anything until 2028. Strand and Funke will schedule a meeting with IDOT about the ADA sidewalks and also about who is supposed to take care of the road aprons.

Funke said we still have old water services on the new water main and we still have old water mains. Do we want to jump water services off the old main so we can finish putting in new water lines? Also, down on the far end of East Main there is only a flush hydrant and it doesn’t work very well. If there was a fire down there, the fire department would have to run from the fire hydrant up by Erickson St. so there should be a fire hydrant installed down by the cemetery. The new mains are 6” plastic pipes and we have #6 spurs that need to be done. We need to make a plan on how many we want to do at a time and where to start, and we don’t want any dead-end services. Light said we should run the new mains first. The Board agreed with Light. We have to have an IEPA permit and a licensed plumber when we start the process. The cost will be over $10,000 so we will get a quote from Cameron Meyer/Josh Curry and Ratliff.

Funke asked Strand about the plan for road maintenance, Strand said there will be a whole lot of patching done, Strand will be starting the patching job soon.

The weed and junk problem was tabled. After sending several Weed & Junk Ordinance letters to #2 different residents, with little to no clean-up being done,  the Board will revisit how to deal with the problem later. Morrison did get a fence up part way around his pool. 

Sharon Wexell said her granddaughter Kate Wexell, sent Sharon a link for the new Village webpage, although Kate is still developing the page. Light clicked on the link said it looked good so far, except for the picture of a leaking faucet for the water department. Light would like to see a different picture. The fee for the webpage will be $17 or $18 per month.

Last month Wigant presented prices from Eagle Enterprises for a spring clean-up day. The Board wondered if it would be worth $950 for #2, 30-yard roll-off dumpsters manned or $1,225 for curbside pick-up on a Saturday only. Nordstrom and Wigant said people already throw their things in the dumpsters or just leave items on the ground. After the July meeting Light sent out a survey on the Village text alert asking their opinion about spring clean-up day. Light said he received 21 texts back, with 13 people wanting clean-up day and 8 residents that said no to a clean-up day. The Board tabled the subject until next spring.

Funke received  a call from Shaun at Canvus, they upcycle wind turbines. Mortenson wants to donate 6  benches and picnic tables to the Village. If Bishop Hill doesn’t accept the donations, Mortenson will donate to a different town. Strand motioned to accept the donations, seconded by Light. Voice vote, motion carried. Funke said he asked the Heritage and they would like a picnic table by the Dairy Bldg. Shaun said they will pour a concrete pad and have a forklift to place the items. Funke wanted the Board members to look around town and see where would be good places to put benches and picnic tables. We also need to ask the shop owners if they would be interested in having one, but the Village would be the owners of the items.

Funke said he talked to Shane Kaiser, who is an arborist, about the arborvitae trees  in the cemetery, as of this meeting Kaiser has not replied to Funke with any information. Wigant said the trees just need to come down, they are over 150 years old, they are hazardous to people walking through them, to the headstones, and vehicles driving or parking there. Ron Modesto, the man that usually cuts down the Village trees, suggested taking them down and having a renewal with direct descendants planting new trees. Cameron Myer said he could take them down and grind the stumps down deep and then spread dirt over top then plant the new trees. At a different time, the suggestion had been made to take down a few at a time, Wexell thought it would be better to get them all done at once and then replant. Nordstrom motioned to take them all down at once and then do the renewal planting, Light seconded the motion. Voice vote, motion carried. 

NEW BUSINESS;

The Certified Water Operator contract was on the agenda, Wigant called Dalton Whittington and he said his contract wasn’t done until December 2024, but he did say his price will increase, he did not say how much. 

Wigant said the old town hall rental contract is ending August 1st 2024. The Board said to renew his contract for #2 years at the same price, $250 per month minus $50 for cleaning the bathroom, total $200 per month for rent plus he pays $55 for water.  Wigant will bring the new contract to Jeff Goard to sign.  

Wigant said she had a call from Christine Swemline from Cambridge, IL., she is our Illinois State Liquor Control Supervisor. Swemline was doing a liquor inspection at one of our stores. Swemline called to tell Wigant that the Village needs to have our class of liquor sales printed on the Liquor License. Wigant told Swemline that she had followed the same protocol from the last Clerk and Wigant had been doing this for over 10 years and had never heard from any State Supervisor before. Subsequently Wigant emailed Swemline our current Liquor Ordinance and starting next year will have the class information printed on the license. So, this brought up the subject of BYOB (bring your own booze), Wigant was told that the owner of Bishop Hill Creative Commons was letting people bring their own drinks to the music events they have. Swemline said it is a gray area, but the Village should have a permit for BYOB.  Wexell said she had gone to a conference in Lexington Illinois, there was a man there from the Illinois Liquor Control office. He said people serving the liquor need to have a Basset license, (Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Education and Training), it lasts for 3 years and a list of those people should be on the Village Liquor application.  Wexell said someone at the conference did ask about BYOB, he said currently there is not any law for that, but it may be a liability for the Village if someone got hurt. So, Wigant called Massie, the Village lawyer, and he would look into it. Wexell would email the Liquor Control person and ask more questions. More than likely, we will probably have an amendment to the Liquor Ordinance for BYOB next month just to make sure the Village is not liable for anything.

Wigant said that Massie will send Morrison another letter regarding the money he owes the Village for not completing the Certified Water Operator license and the bill he has never given for his last year of being the Water Superintendent for the Village. Morrison said he doesn’t owe the Village any money.  

A resident in town on S. Bishop Hill St. put up a temporary black picket-like metal fence to keep her dog in the yard. Someone complained that it wasn’t historical. Funke and Nolan looked at the ordinances and could not find anything that said a person cannot have a metal fence and nothing about what a fine would cost. Funke talked to the woman and told her what he found and Nolan gave her a  permit. Wigant said the Steeple Bldg. has black wrought iron on the walk out upstairs on the South side and there is fancy wrought iron fencing in the cemetery. Keup said the Village had a blacksmith shop. 

Nolan had an amendment to the Historical Review Board Ordinance. He said it would simplify things for him and the resident to get a permit. Light motioned to accept the amendment, seconded by Keup. Voice vote, motion carried. After looking at the amendment better, Wexell said she thought the whole ordinance needs to be rewritten. She will take it home and review it. 

Previously the Board talked about the Signage Ordinance. Pat Fosberg, a sign maker, told Wigant that it is difficult to make signs for businesses with the 1’x8’ or 2’x4’ limitations. The sign should be proportionate in size to the building it is being placed on. Fosberg said her recommendation for the signage ordinance would be to have no size listed. Store owners have to go to the historical board anyway to ask about what kind of sign they would like to  have, they may as well show a drawing of what they want. If the historical board denies the sign, then they would appeal to the Village Board. Funke asked if the Board wanted to change the language on the Sign Ordinance. Keup said to table the signage ordinance until next month when we have time to review it.

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