More than two dozen concerned citizens showed up to weigh in on recent changes at the Mill Shoals Community Center during the January 4th Village Board Meeting. Residents and citizens of neighboring communities said that the Bare family running the Community Center was a positive for the community and questioned why changes had to be made. According to the minutes from the gathering, some in attendance frowned upon the changes proclaiming that Mill Shoals now has nothing at all. Dana Bare chimed in with a list of efforts and events they’ve held at the Center over the years, emphasizing that no one was turned away from coming in or renting the building. Trustee Young asked Mr. Bare why he left in the first place and did not ask for a new agreement. Bare responded stating that once he heard that rent would change from $100 a month to $100 a day, he felt he had no choice but to pack up and get out. President Gray then reiterated that no rate had been set at this time, and the building would not be for rent in the future. Public comments were closed with no resolution to the situation.
Engineer Haley Ing informed the board that an EPA grant for $30,000 was approved for the Village. President Gray and the other members of the Mill Shoals board approved Horner and Shifrin’s offer to handle the required work for the ILEPA regarding line service inventories and GIS Mapping, which are expected to be a mandated statute in the coming year. The total cost will not exceed $37,118.70.
Morgan Doggett with Drew Lane Consultants attended and explained that the Village was awarded a $30,000 grant from the Illinois EPA Lead Service Line Inventory Grant Program in December. The Village will use this grant to meet required regulations for the Illinois EPA regarding the inventory and accounting of all water service lines in the Village limits.
Doggett elaborated that the USDA is reviewing the USDA Emergency Community Water Assistance Grant application and that an application for the Walmart Local Community Grant Program will be submitted for the Village Police Car in March when the program reopens.
Village Attorney Jonathan Turpin was present and reviewed Officer Titzer’s 6-month contract renewal. The proposed contract runs from January 1 to June 30 of this year, and Officer Titzer is expected to sign upon his review of the contract.
Clerk Tullis informed the members that he has contacted the ITSB since November and believes he is getting nowhere with the agency. Attorney Turpin offered to contact the ITSB to get communication so the Village could start a police department and get Officer Titzer out on patrol.
Up next was Village Treasurer James Murphy, who discussed that the W2s and the 1099 forms would be out in the coming days.
Trustee West reported in old business that the Robbins Alignment was repairing the front-end issues with the police car. Once the repairs are fixed, the police car will be in good shape.
Lastly, a Key Control Box approval for all the town’s keys was completed thanks to Clerk Tullis stating a need for it.
The next Mill Shoals meeting will be on Thursday, February 6, at 7 pm.
