The Norris City Village Board met Monday night. Scott Mareing was there and has this report…
The board was originally going to approve two alley closures, but Willie Gladd, who was involved in one of them, addressed the board asking them to consider closing all of the alleys in Norris City. He said that would end any litigation and easement would be returned to the landowners. Mayor Skip Land said he had also thought about closing all the alleys, but board member Wayne McKenzie thought it wasn’t a good idea. After much discussion, the board approved Mayor Land’s request to table the alley closings until he could talk with village attorney Nathan Roland about the situation, and asked Larry Garlick and Kevin Pettijohn of the Street and Alley Committee to look into the matter as well. They will take the issue up again at the March board meeting.
Concerning tree limbs falling onto Cherry and Orchard Streets, the village can use up to $25,000 in MFT funds to trim the branches. If it would cost more, they would have to bid it out.
The village will look into modifying their cat policy, as it has become a problem because there’s no place to hold them.
The board members approved doing away with the Nepotism Ordinance and putting the issue in the board’s hands. Board member Garlick abstained.
The Overland Group was in and inspected the Wakeford property, taking samples to analyze. The process is still ongoing.
The Village is looking at splitting costs with the Township for a Warming/Cooling Center for residents during extreme temperatures. They are looking at possibly getting grant money or using TIF money for a generator to power the building.
They tabled a request from Red’s Recoil to move his TIF money from repairing the roof to getting awnings for the front of their building. He’s already spent half of his allocated monies. The village is looking into the matter.
The situation with La-D-Da is being turned over to a process server.
The village has taken in over $80,000 from their Credit Card.
The Dale water tower needs to have a pump and a valve replaced and it would cost about $16,000 to fix. Norris City provides Dale’s water and they will look at whether or not to help them pay for the work.
Brian Ray provided the board with a comparison in allocation with MFT funds between 2007 and 2023 to give people an idea how much the monies have increased. In 2023 Norris City received $49,000 in funds, compared with $30,000 in 2007. By the way, Carmi’s amount was $418,204 last year, compared with $417,274 in 2007.
In the Police Report for January, there were 15 reports written, two accident reports, two arrests made, nine traffic stops and warnings, and five citations issued, including 30 calls to Dispatch.
The board adjourned at 8:02 PM. The next village board meeting will be on March 4th at 7 PM.
