Financial Questions Arose During Carmi City Council Meeting

Before the board members could approve the financial report for April, Alderwoman Lacey Bradshaw had a few questions for Mayor Pollard.

“I got some questions. Just because I was looking over a few things, and I just looked at a couple of things and it kind of just caught my eye. It looks like on April 11th, we cashed in a CD for $210,754.92.”

“Moved it over to Money Marketing.”

“For operating or? What do we have in the CD right now?”

“I don’t know. You could’ve called the office, and I would’ve had that for you.”

Bradshaw continued with questions after noticing more money had been moved.

“And then, uh, there was $10,000 we got in the airport account into the General Operating Account. What was that for?”

“Same thing.”

“We’re short or?”

“Yeah. Because we still have the concert, for sure, and a couple of other bills that had to be paid. Patty used to do that all the time, is move things around like that from each department.”

Lastly, Bradshaw stated that she has been observing that the women working in the Carmi Light and Water office have been getting a significant number of hours for the past couple of months. 

“And then, I was kind of going back through the last two or three months and noticed that the girls in the office are getting an awful lot of overtime. So, is there like extra work going on? Like when you have to hire somebody?”

“No. We don’t need to hire anybody right now. We are doing extra work crunching in all the meters that we are switching over.”

“Because it’s like a lot. But, like, what time are they coming to work?”

“Well, they are staying a little over afterward.”

With the acknowledgment that over $220,000 had been moved to cover concert expenses and other bills, the financial report was approved by all members. 

Chamber Director Megan Newman spoke to the board to request a donation for the 4th of July Fireworks, which has been moved to June 29th and will start between 9:00-9:15 pm and last for approzimately 20 minutes. Newman explains to the board why.

“Unfortunately, this year we’re not able to use the same company that we used in the past. I know it’s tradition, but unfortunately, the person that we’ve had in the past is not able to get the correct permit for a proper permit in the state of Illinois. The State of Illinois is not issuing a permit to out-of-state companies, and he was from Evansville.”

The board approved a $10,000 donation to the Carmi Chamber for the Fourth of July Fireworks display.

The rest of the meeting consisted of the approval of all items on the agenda: a Mobile Home application for Chuck Hunsinger and Joan Morgan for 707 Margurite Street; payments for Water System Improvements to Brown and Roberts for the total amount of $72,259.16 and Kieffer Brothers for $55,975.60; a resolution for the closure of Main Street for the Corn Day activities starting October 11th to October 13th; West Tower repainting and repair bids; and a resolution to maintain a 6” water main under IL 14.

In closing, Alderman Jeremy Courson thanked the City of Carmi for preparing Bradshaw Park for Opening Day on May 11th.

With no executive session, the meeting adjourned.