The first Norris City Village Meeting of the new year was lengthy, clocking in at over an hour and a half. Scott Mareing was there and has this report…
It was announced that the village earned over $130,000 in interest last year.
White County EMA Director Alan Wurst addressed the board about the village acquiring new storm sirens. Wurst is in direct contact with the National Weather Service and has access to in depth weather information. He can pinpoint where and when potential severe storms come in, as well as take the proper action. He has access to the village’s sirens and can set them off immediately. Wurst is going to speak with each town in the county about siren tones. There needs to be a different tone between a severe storm warning and a tornado warning. He said one siren needs to go south of Main Street for the schools with another siren or two north of Main Street. Wurst said that anyone can contact him on social media if they have any questions.
Mayor Skip Land said our mail system is “pathetic” because some residents have complained they have not been sent a bill. The Post Office said mail is sorted in St. Louis, but the cards have trouble going through the machine because the village is using a nine cent card for billing. It was suggested that the billing go to a stamp, an envelope and paper billing, so the difference will be between nine cents and 75 to 80 cents, so they will look into that. Some residents have asked that they receive an e-mail when their bill is sent out. The board gave the Mayor permission to move the date for charges for late payments to the end of the month from the 25th.
As far as the TIF District goes, board member Wayne McKenzie spoke on how much of the TIF money goes into repairing buildings, but no businesses occupy them. Mayor Land agreed and said he will be talking with their TIF attorney about what can be done to improve things. Two TIF requests were made. One is from Mike Ray at 110 and 112 South Division for $30,898.44. But the TIF limit is $25,000. The other is from Adam Summers for roof repairs on the building at 116 South Division. No action was taken.
Resident Gene Harrison, who has been at several board meetings to talk about his problems with Norris City having a TIF district, said he personally doesn’t think it’s been of any benefit to the community. He said many people he has talked to don’t even know Norris City has a TIF District. It was brought up that whenever a Public Hearing is held, people just don’t show up for them as there seems to be a lack of interest. Harrison then asked about the burn pile northeast of the reservoir and how it was ignited. Mayor Land said it was by a match. He also asked how many city trucks there are. The answer is eight.
Mayor Land said the village is responsible for the culvert at North Lane and is working on the problem.
Phase V bids were opened on December 17th. Of the two bidders, Wiggs Excavating was the lowest at $1,517,860 with Keifer Brothers at $1,776,976. Brown and Roberts will get back to the village when they give their review.
Mayor Land ordered a survey on 205 East 4th Street by Brown & Roberts to incorporate the buildings and that lot and not egress onto the streets. After the survey, if the board agrees, an ordinance will be drawn up to give the owners back the property they had built on.
Concerning the Playground and Ball Fields, the village will drag the ball fields and do the mowing and weed eating. The Mayor will ask the teams to do the striping.
The new JULIE regulations went into effect on January 1st.
An Ordinance Amendment on the liquor license was approved. It will change the line “you must be a village resident” to receive a license to “you must be a White County resident in conjunction with the state code.”
The village is looking into purchasing a new siren for the north side of town using TIF money and purchasing a new siren for the south side.
At 105 Park Street, concrete was poured over a neighbor’s water line and there’s been a water leak there for about a year. Her bill is about $3,000 and she’s been paying all she can to keep up. Mayor Land said they bored under the street to put a water meter in her front yard. The Mayor wants to use TIF money, probably less than $10,000, to get water into her house, and the board agreed.
A salary budget amendment is not needed.
There will be a survey for Jeff McKenzie on the Conger Street extension and a decision will be made after the survey.
There was no Animal Control report.
In the Police Report for December, there one accident report, one traffic stop, one verbal warning, and 21 calls for service.
The board adjourned at 8:38 PM. The next village board meeting will be on Monday, February 2nd at 7 PM.