More than half the agenda items ended up tabled at Tuesday’s Grayville City Council meeting. With no executive session, it might’ve been a swift meeting, but still clocked in at just over half an hour due to discussion lingering from the previous hour and a half gathering and reports. City Attorney Jay Walden made an effort to ensure Tuesday’s meeting didn’t go off the rails.
First of all, I want everybody that’s here tonight that wasn’t at the last meeting to understand that we’re very glad to have everyone at the meeting and everybody should have an opportunity to speak. I sort of let the thing get out of hand last meeting when we were all over the place and when I looked at my watch, we had spent too much time on things that had been addressed properly. What we’re going to do this evening, not focusing on you Gerry or Freida, but for speakers, we’re glad to have you but we’re going to limit each speaker to five minutes.
The Hortons had requested to be on the agenda to discuss the animal ordinance which turned out to be a hot topic at the May 11th meeting. Gerald said he hoped the situation had been resolved though he did see a gray cat on his way to the meeting. He thanked the city and officers for their assistance and assured council that if he trapped it, he would get ahold of animal control, surrender it to them, and “do it right this time”.
Walden said there was a typographical error in the ordinance with a paragraph referring to dogs when it should refer to animals. He said making that repair would most likely be on an upcoming meeting agenda.
In commissioner reports, Don Baldwin thanked all those who help keep the cemetery a beautiful place to visit calling it one of the best in southern Illinois.
And as a veteran, I want to thank all the people who donated their time to place flags on the graves of all our fallen veterans out there and that’s just another reason why Grayville is the best place to live.
Commissioner Scott Browning gave a library board update and Commissioner Seth Schonaman gave a personal thanks for the calls, messages, and donations over the past week. Schonaman joined the Grayville Council in March. He lost his home and belongings in an overnight fire early on May 19th. A fundraiser has been organized for June 1st.
Tabled items from Tuesday’s meeting include procedures for utility shut offs, utility policies regarding landowners responsibility, and a TIF request from Bailes Pure Drop. Additionally, leaders tabled an ordinance proposal that would’ve created no parking on West Martin Street from North State to North First and also the city’s electric supply renewal rate beginning in July.
Movement Tuesday included setting of dates and times for council meetings with them remaining on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month. Mayor Travis Thompson suggested the council should meet at least a few times a year during regular business hours to provide an alternative to those who can’t make the regular meeting times. After discussion, it was agreed to hold the first meeting of each quarter at 1pm. That ordinance will still have to be ratified at the next meeting. The VFW was given approval to solicit donations for Flag Day at the 4-way on Saturday, June 13th. Council agreed to remove the sign at the Industrial Park due to it featuring incorrect information saying they’ll look at a more adaptable option to replace it. And finally, the city signed off on the Fiscal Year 2026 budget summary which showed actual expenditures outpaced actual revenue by $8,937.28 for the year ending April 30th of this year.