Grayville leaders were outnumbered Monday night. A contingency of nearly a dozen library supporters were on hand and prepared for battle had things not gone their way. City Attorney Jay Walden lowered the temperature by falling on the sword and holding himself accountable before any discussion on the 2025/2026 Tax Levy Estimate occurred.
Thank you to all the library board members who are here. This is an issue that quite frankly was here because I created it. I’ve been city attorney since 1988 and I had always taken the position and my understanding was that with respect to the tax levy for the library that ultimately that was a city decision to be made. I had sent out an email suggesting that when Steve was here before. We had some subsequent communication on that causing me to do additional research. I had a very pleasant conversation today with attorney Phillip Lenzini who has practiced law certainly longer than me, 50 plus years, he has a vast amount of experience representing libraries, library districts, municipalities, and fire protection districts concerning tax levy issues.
At issue, the city of Grayville has been setting the tax levy for the library. The library board is supposed to ultimately have that right and responsibility. That potential spat led to some crossed wires and concerns which then led to Walden putting out a brush fire rather than fighting a 3-alarm blaze Monday night.
I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none. I’ve done this for 41 years but I do not have everything memorized. There are some things that come up; I read them a certain way and there may be three other statutes that come into play with this. And in this case, there were some things involved that I hadn’t looked at in some time. What we want to do, and I think we exchanged emails and said the same thing…we want to have a collaborative effort to work together; that’s the whole idea here. We’re not doing anything for anyone to get leverage on somebody; for anybody to help their political position moving forward; we’re working together and that’s what we’re going to do. So, I appreciate the information you provided us. Based on that, my position has changed. I think we’ll all be fine and the library does a fantastic job moving forward.
Leaders agreed to sit down with Groff Memorial Librarian Kathleen Rister and the board to hash out any other misunderstandings and to ensure they were on the same page moving forward.
Council also Monday night approved (and attempted to get on the same page with Penny Pritchett of the Grayville Beautification Committee) $1,785 to finish up the project at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery which includes a mural. There was some confusion over the city providing a $2,500 donation to the cemetery and not beautification, but with donations on the work, only $1,785 was needed to finish the work. Council said if Pritchett needs more funds for additional work, they’re open to that; she’ll need to formally request it in the future.
Other business done Monday included a change order to the Phase 2 Water Main Replacement increasing the bill $1,560. The city agreed to spend $4,120.93 to acquire property at 214 West North Street. Grayville leaders also agreed to spend $1,759.34 for a chemical pump at the sewer plant. Lastly on action items, council agreed to a new 5-year agreement with Mt. Carmel Public Utility and Consumers Gas Company for the Natural Gas pipeline. It includes a 1.5% increase.
Tabled items included that 2025/2026 Tax Levy estimate and park projects including some new playground equipment and improvements to the concession stand.
Police chief Mason Siegel went over his September report. In it, he says his department opened 8 investigations, made 5 arrests, wrote 23 citations, and handed out 5 written warnings over the month. He also noted new officer Zach Coale was doing well in field training.
Grayville City Council adjourned at 7:49pm and will next meet at 119 South Middle Street on Monday, October 27th.