NW Illinois News

Byron Township Board met March 14.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The regular monthly meeting was called to order at 6:52 P.M. Prayer was given by Ray Dyck

Roll call was taken.

Those present were:

Trustees; Janet Harding, Ray Dyck, and Hank Ebert and Supervisor Terry Reeverts.

Road Commissioner Ron Gibson, Township Clerk Barbara Rundle, and Township Assessor Bob Goelitz.

Trustee Dave Engelbrecht was absent at the start of the meeting, he joined the meeting at 7:40pm.

Mike Lewis and Dennis Herbig were also present.

Public Comment – None for this month.

Supervisor Reeverts asked if there were any additions, deletions, or adjustments to the agenda. There was a request to remove item a under new business.

Minutes from the January 10, 2019 were discussed.

Hank Ebert made a motion to approve the minutes as presented. Janet Harding 2nd the motion, roll call was taken, and approved by all.

Zoning & Planning Committee Report – Nothing for this month. There will not be a meeting in April.

Assessor’s Report – Bob reported on the following;

• He feels there still maybe 2 PTAB appeals from one owner. There was a response submitted to PTAB from the Supervisor of Assessments regarding Brad Auker’s lots in Rose Meadows and Prairie Place from appeal in 2015. They lowered both lots considerably.

• He continues to review the assessments on most properties and is the majority of the way through the commercial properties in the township.

• He is continuing to update properties that have had activity on them.

Road Commissioner’s Report – Ron reported the following;

• Material bids will be opened tomorrow.

• There will be a pipeline safety meeting on the March 21st and a county wide meeting on the evening of March 21st. On March 19th there will be a Northwest Board meeting here at the township building.

• Winter this year has been challenging. Right now they are dealing with flooding and road closures, the culverts just aren’t handling the water.

• Looks like he will end up with a balance close to $330,000 at the end of this fiscal year going into next year before taxes come in.

• Still working on equipment. May not be going the full direction with the skid loader, still going with a skid loader but may go with another tractor to keep for mowing and pulverizing, because the cost factor will come out better in the long run. The reason for the change is because the skid loader will not travel like they need it to travel, for mowing. May hang onto the mower but will be trading off the tractor. Right now with the flooding it is too wet to get the shoulders back in and think maybe the tracks on the skid loader may help with sinking into the ground.

• Passed out a list of items that he is declaring as surplus and would like to get rid of, he would like the list entered into the minutes. Terry questioned why the 2003 Ford F150 pickup truck was on the surplus list, he thought it was supposed to be kept for transporting crew members to jobs because a 2 door truck was purchased instead of a 4 door truck and the trade in value was so low. Ron explained the truck was no longer needed for that purpose because other governmental entities, they would be working with, will be providing the help for those jobs and will have their own transportation. He also added they will be lucky to get $3,500.00 for the truck. Terry asked Ron about the trade in value being $1,200.00 when the new truck was purchased and Ron said that was the amount they offered for the trade in but would probably get more if they sold it out right. Terry brought up the fact that keeping the 2003 pickup for extra transportation was a big selling point when purchasing the 2 door truck instead of the 4 door. Ron stated; back when he bought the new truck he wanted to get rid of the old truck by trading it in but went with the majority, which wanted to go the other route. Terry said he did not think anyone had told him not to get rid of the old truck. Ron said; it was voted on and put in the annual minutes. Terry replied; we absolutely did not vote on that truck, it is not this board’s responsibility. Ron said he thought that the way it was put across at the last annual meeting that it took the board to declare the surplus and since then he has found out it does not. Terry said; he knows there was a lot of discussion about when the new truck was being purchased about keeping the old truck for transportation and if the plan was to sell the truck why was it parked outside for 6 months. Ron stated; he was under the impression he had to wait until the annual town meeting to sell it, but found out different. Terry replied; that maybe he misses understood but he thought that was why it was kept. Hank added; now that they are going a different angle with the trailer that Ron is proposing, they were going to use the new truck to haul trailers but now with the bigger trailer it will be hauled with the big trucks. Terry confirmed with Dennis about he and Clint have the type of license to drive the big trucks with the bigger trailer and he said yes they both do. Hank said; he wasn’t sure how the crew was being transported to and from jobs. Ron said; they have it worked out with the Forest Preserve and they will be providing the transportation and help for the jobs, so they don’t have a need for to provide the transportation anymore. Ron asked Dennis Herbig if he had anything to add to that. Dennis responded; “the township had not used the old pickup since he has been here, he thought the purpose was because they used to drive the equipment out to the job and then ride back to the shop in the truck, the equipment was very poorly maintained period.” Dennis continued; “they bring the equipment back to the shop every night, blow out the radiators, and grease them every day. The equipment is in fine shape now. They bring the equipment back to the shop now so don’t need the truck, the equipment isn’t sitting there and being neglected.” He went on to say; “there is a very functional group of guys here now, they all take care of everything, they all take care of their job, they all like their job, they all take care of the equipment. In his opinion it is better here than it’s ever been. They don’t need that truck.” Terry responded to Dennis he wasn’t arguing that fact, he was just saying there was a lot of discussion on keeping the truck. Dennis said; “he didn’t care about that, they don’t need truck.” Terry said he didn’t want to hear the same conversation in a year from now that a pickup truck is needed to haul people around. Dennis said; “everyone has a tool whether it is a dump truck, service truck, or piece of machinery.” Ron added they have it where everyone can drive everything now, so the truck isn’t needed for transporting.

Terry asked Ron how he is going to disperse the list of surplus equipment and Ron said he will be advertising for bids on them. He will check with some vendors to see what the items are worth and request a minimum bid for that amount. Ray asked if the portable generator was used anymore. Ron said they have two portable generators and he will be getting rid of the oldest one that is a high maintenance one. Janet asked what he would be taking bids on. Ron said he will be taking bids on the truck, New Holland tractor, and Case International but when he says bids on it some maybe on trade like the loaders maybe traded in or sold and then replaced with a new one with new tractor. Janet asked to go down the list with what will be sold with bid and what traded. See attached list. Ron said he doesn’t plan on doing anything with any of it until he knows he can get the most he can for the items. Terry asked if all this has to be approved at the Annual Town meeting and Ron said he checked with TOI and it is no longer done that way, the Road Commissioner can declare surplus equipment anytime of the year.

Ray asked what he is going to do with Mill road bridge and Ron said as soon as the weather permits they will pressure wash it, clean it out and put down Set 45, the ends will settle back down when the weather settles.

Clerk’s Report – Passed out the Statement of Economic interests. Terry said the auditor said we needed to update the minutes on the website and asked if Barb could send them to Mike so he can get them on there. Barb said she sends them to Mike every month along with everyone else. Mike said there may have been a couple months where corrections were needed; Barb responded there has not been any but will resend them to Mike.

Trustees’ Report – Ray questioned Dennis in what ways is the equipment in such bad shape. Dennis replied; “the radiators were not cleaned out, the cab filters were completely full with crap, PTOs had not been moved and were binding up, U joints on mowers were not taken care of, the trucks needed grease they should have been greased more often. Ray asked Dennis; “if he was saying Stuart had done a crappy job taking care of the equipment.” Dennis responded to Ray “you said it.” Ray asked Dennis again; “if that was what he was saying.” Dennis replied to Ray “you said it.” Ray asked the questions again and Dennis replied “I like Stuart and he is a friend of mine, but he did a piss pore job of taking care of the machinery, there you go, the long and the short of it.” Ray responded with an “ok.”

Cemetery Report – Mike reported the following;

• There was one casket burial and a couple of inquiries since we last met.

• The cemetery roads are really a mess with the seal coat. The last funeral was at poor timing for the roads and will have to see how it levels out.

• Terry reported the mowing bids will be opened on March 29th, if by chance the cemetery would need to be mowed by April 1st he would like to have a motion to approve a mowing prior to April 1st and have Backyard Wonder mow it. Ray Dyck made the motion. Hank Ebert 2nd the motion, roll call was taken and approved by all.

Correspondence/Supervisor’s Report –

• Terry would like to go through the cemetery equipment and make a surplus list of unneeded items and have it ready for the Annual Town meeting.

• He had a meeting with the emergency services director and they are predicting there could be a bigger flood around the 1st of April. Terry asked Ron what the township had for sand bags and Ron said they still have several. There was a discussion on getting better sand bags but will have to use what is on had first.

• Hank asked if there was a big flood how much it would affect the township. Ron said he and Dennis had talked with Borneman’s west of Leaf River about some cement slabs he has to use on Oak Grove so the bridge doesn’t wash out. He said he would have to think about selling them to the township and would get back to Ron, but he hasn’t heard anything yet.

• Terry asked Ron if he could get some pictures of the flooding so he can start a file for the emergency management application with FEMA.

• Terry passed around a thank you from himself for the Hairy Cow gift certificate when he had surgery.

Line Item transfers –

Town Fund – transfer $50.00 from line item 561 Dues to line item 262 – Travel Expense.

Road District – transfer $100.00 from line item 533 Legal Expense to line item 531 – Accounting Service.

Transfer $7,200.00 from line item 614 Maintenance Supplies – Roads to line item 616 Maintenance Supplies – Snow.

Transfer $3,000.00 from line item 617 – calcium to line item 655 - Gasoline.

Ray Dyck made a motion to approve line item transfer in Town Fund and Road District Fund. 

Janet Harding 2nd the motion, roll call was taken and approved by all.

The following bills were submitted for audit and approval.

Town Fund:

Regular bills $ 2,179.67

Payroll $ 10,771.37

Social Security $ 776.25

Total of Town Fund in the amount of $13,727.29.

Hank Ebert made a motion to approve the bills as submitted;

Dave Engelbrecht 2nd the motion, roll call was taken and approved by all.

Road District:

Road and Bridge Fund $ 6,779.05

Permanent Road Fund $ 17,529.73

Permanent Payroll Fund $ 18,881.43

Social Security Fund $ 1,391.48

Insurance Fund $ 102.00

Total for Road District Fund in the amount of $44,683.69.

Janet Harding made a motion to approve the bills as submitted;

Hank Ebert 2nd the motion, roll call was taken and approved by all.

New Business –

b. Spring cleanup dates at the cemetery were set for March 22 – April 8th. 

Dave Engelbrecht made a motion to approve these dates for Cemetery cleanup. Hank Ebert 2nd the motion, roll call was taken and approved by all.

c. Dave Engelbrecht made a motion to approve the Town Fund tentative budget beginning April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020. Hank Ebert 2nd the motion, roll call was taken and approved by all.

d. Dave Engelbrecht made a motion to approve the Road District Fund tentative budget beginning April 1, 2019 through March 31, 2020. Ray Dyck 2nd the motion, roll call was taken and approved by all.

e. Janet Harding made a motion to approve the agenda for the Annual Town Meeting on April 9, 2019. Dave Engelbrecht 2nd the motion, roll call was taken and approved by all.

Old Business – None for this month.

Dave Engelbrecht asked if there was any update on the transfer of the cemetery and Terry said they are still waiting on the State and attorneys.

Hank Ebert made a motion for the meeting to be adjourned.

Dave Engelbrecht 2nd motion, roll call was taken and approved by all.

Byron Township March 14, 2019 monthly meeting was Adjourned at 8:04P.M.

http://www.byroniltownship.com/Board%20Meetings/Minutes/2019-03%20Meeting%20Minutes.pdf