Half of the Crossville Village Board Meeting Tuesday evening was dedicated to public comment with four residents lodging complaints. Beverly Collins and Tammie Tesh spoke out on concerns they’ve had with regards to problems with neighbors and how they’ve been handled by Village Police Chief Mark Wheeler. Collins says Wheeler has made it the job of the residents of Crossville to investigate crimes.
We do have an issue. We’re having to take pictures or whatever and send it to him. Then, a Facebook post goes up saying if we have a complaint, do it with him, not two days later. How can we do it with him if he’s not here. I’ve went to the Sheriff’s Department and filed the complaints that he took for the housing and the Sheriff’s office has had to file my complaints because it wasn’t done. So we need an officer at night; not during the day time. The fights, underage parties, it’s all happening at night. It’s keeping us all up and we need something done about it.
Tesh described similar sentiments discussing an incident she says is ongoing with an individual that lives in an White County Housing Authority apartment she says came after her. She’s struggled to get communication and the correct steps taken and she blames Wheeler.
I’m just done with it. I’ve always loved Crossville. It’s been a quiet little town. Housing hasn’t always been that way like Pam says it was. This last couple weeks, it’s gotten back to normal and it’s been great and we want to keep it that way. We don’t want the problems. So, that’s my complaint…him not doing his job.
Village President Rick Kuykendall said he’d work with Mark on a solution.
Zack Cotton continued his plea to village leaders for assistance with a neighbor’s mailbox near or on his driveway. Without resolution, that could turn into a civil case. The continued dispute brought by resident Jordan Ambrous is now getting layered. The original complaint, lodged back in April, has devolved into the processes surrounding the complaint and other irritations which included Police Chief Mark Wheeler and his social media practices. Wheeler would respond.
The reason I deleted that page was because it says directly on there that it was not affiliated with the Village of Crossville. It was my own personal for information; that’s why I deleted that. And everything is retained. All I gotta do is hit retain.
That page, after the meeting was reactivated and the profile was updated around 8:30pm to a personal blog though the page name continues to be “Crossville, IL Police Dept.”.
In other news, village trustees approved a resolution to pursue a SEDAP grant to continue the water project. Additionally, trustees approved an ordinance seeking an IEPA loan to help seal sewer manholes. Those low interest loans can be up to $1.2 million dollars. Trustees signed off on a purchase of 10 gallons of mosquito spray at a cost of $4,585. Spraying will continue at sunset on Tuesdays and Thursdays through the end of the month. Three trees will be removed at the west end of Davenport at a cost of $1,650. Roger Siegel with Affordable Tree Service will handle the dropping of those trees. The village will take care of the lumber once trees are felled. Beyond that, he end of Hahn, currently marked with a temporary road closed sign, will get a permanent Dead End sign to prevent drivers from careening directly into a creek.
With no executive session, the board adjourned at 7:23pm.