Story courtesy of Scott Mareing for WROY/WRUL News
Many things happened at the almost two hour Norris city Village Board meeting that took place Monday night. Scott Mareing was there and has this report…
There were three TIF requests in front of the board. They approved the $5,950 request from Lisa’s Attic to repair her roof and approved $23,122.50 to repair the roof and the back wall of the building owned by Big Inch Investments. The village has a limited amount of TIF money left over, so until the fund can be sufficiently replenished, they decided to put on hold the request from Big Inch for the remainder of the funds needed for other repairs to their building, and the request from Red’s Recoil for funds for awning, roof and window repairs. Both businesses will be put at the top of their list of future TIF money requests.
The board decided not to expand the TIF District, as most of the businesses that would be in the expanded area weren’t interested.
Danny Woolsey spoke to the board members about the renewal of the village employee’s health insurance, where the deadline is June 1st. Costs will be up about 9% from last year. The board was given the choice of continuing with their current plan with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, or switching to All-State Healthlink or Health Alliance. It was decided that on Wednesday at noon, employees will be given applications to fill out from the various companies to see if the alternatives are any better. Woolsey will go over the applications with each employee. He expects to receive hard numbers from the plans in seven to ten days.
The CD with $402,000 in village money was removed from Fifth Third Bank in Evansville and transferred to Banterra Bank in Carmi.
The village will look to purchase a new lawn mower from Nobbe John Deere, as the old one is four years old and has been used a lot in that time.
The village approved a lease agreement for the ball fields with the Norris City Athletic Association (NCAA) for $700 a year for 99 years. The NCAA will work with the village attorney to draw up new agreements for the various organizations involved. Also Mayor Skip Land was authorized by the board to spend up to $10,000 for park construction, mostly for cinder blocks. And a parks and recreation group will be set up for the village, which will have its own funding.
They will look into getting a 50/50 grant to purchase 425 new water meters, as the current ones are 20 years old.
Millie Pate addressed the board about memorial planters to be displayed around the village. They will be funded through donations, which so far total $350. Planters cost from $125 to $150 each and ten spots are reserved so far. The board endorsed the idea and agreed to donate $200 to them.
The board agreed to look into purchasing ID’s for village employees.
A donation was made for the NCOE Graduation all-night drug and alcohol free party, the same amount as last year.
And the board decided to take no action to help Gary and Vicki Anderson with their flooded basement, and will not allow video gaming, clear limbs for Brandon Stone, or help Wes Hutchcraft with his problem.
It was reminded that city-wide cleanup will be from May 9th to the 13th and the city-wide rummage sale will be on May 6th and 7th.
In the police report for March, there were ten reports written, no arrests made, and one citation issued, as well as twelve 9-1-1 calls. Two candidates were interviewed for the full-time police officer position and Kody Jones was hired for the job. He will join the academy on May 4th.
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM. The next Norris City Village Board meeting will be on Monday, May 2nd at 7 PM at City Hall.
