While there’s been considerable hullabaloo in other municipal gatherings as of late, Grayville drama has been mostly in whispers and rumors and those claims have taken a toll on Finance Commissioner Andi Ford. In a letter to the council and residents, Ford said she has tried to put the interests of the city and citizens first despite rumors of impropriety, embezzlement, and unethical activity. That she could take, but she says things are now being said about her personal business and an attack on her livelihood and integrity won’t be tolerated. Ford resigned from the council effective immediately Monday night. She ended the letter by urging residents to pay attention when going to the polls at the next election saying if people are trying to bring you down, it only means you are already above them. You can read her full letter below. Ford’s resignation starts a 30 day clock for an appointment to be made for her seat at the table.
Outside of that revelation, it was a relatively quiet meeting aside from resident Randy Funkhouser who addressed council asking about establishing an ordinance regarding neighbor’s trees, an issue he’s run into a handful of times.
I’ve been the victim of property damage, not by my trees, but trees from other people’s property fallen on to mine and different limbs. There was five different times in the past that I’ve had to replace damages from my property and removing the trees.
Funkhouser says his deductible has gone up over and over which he says has made it more difficult for what he sees as someone else’s problem becoming his. Under state statute, if a neighbor’s tree falls on your property, it’s your responsibility and your insurance that has to take care of the cleanup and repairs. Funkhouser wants an ordinance that will show the property owner knows and has been made aware of a problem tree so that he could potentially show negligence in an effort to keep the problem from being his.
It’s just common sense that the injured party shouldn’t have to pay for somebody else’s negligent because they’re not taking care of the trees.
City Attorney Jay Walden said he empathizes with Funkhouser, but he doesn’t see a way around it.
No, it’s what you said, Randy.
This has been, I’ve practiced this law since 1984 and it’s always been a mind bender for me. And the problem is this, what you were talking about. Let’s say we do have an ordinance that says that the landowner is responsible for maintaining their trees. It’s not going to do you any good because when you go to the insurance company, the insurance company is going to say, we don’t care what the city of Rayville ordinance says.
We didn’t receive any notice of it.
You go find your insurance agent.
That’s where the problem is.
It’s at the level, as you said, the state of Illinois and the insurance companies. I’ve been amazed by the fact that someone can have a dead tree fall over on their neighbor’s property and the neighbor has to go through their insurance company to get it repaired.
That has been something that I’ve seen the entire time I’ve been here in Grayville.
He did say he would do some looking into it and find out if there’s a method to address the issue.
In regular session, council approved an amended Fiscal Year 26 City Budget due to a clerical error. City leaders also tabled discussion on the brush dump contract and also quotes for demolition of two properties.
Council received a city engineer update from Rex Gower on the Albion/Grayville water treatment plant saying earthwork has begun on the project. He also gave updates on the wastewater treatment plant and a county highway reconstruction.
Council adjourned at 7:28pm