Pinckneyville Using Auction Proceeds to Pay Bills

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Pinckneyville City Council agreed to deposit $100,000 of the proceeds from the auction at the former Technicolor Universal Media Services building into the General Fund.

Finance Commissioner Auggie Kellerman said that the city has $84,590 in cash on hand and bills of $121,219, creating a deficit of $36,629.

Kellerman said that payroll costs are up $72,782 from last year, but hours are down by 600 or 1.3 percent. The increased cost is due to raises and bonuses.

The state still owes $284,626 in utility payments for the Pinckneyville Correctional Center.

"The last payment was April 20 and it wasn't a full payment," Kellerman said. "We can't cut them off, but we need to do something."

He suggested contacting Sen. Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville) and Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) to ask for help in getting payment.

Commissioner Marty Beltz pointed out that non-payment by the state is inconvenient now, causing cash flow problems. It will be even worse in the winter when gas bills are due.

In other business, the council:

-- approved additional raises of $.35 per hour for Mike Millikin and Carrie Ford and $.24 per hour for Bob Stanton. The raises are retroactive to Aug. 1. At the July 13 meeting Economic Development Coordinator Ford received a $.69 per hour raise and Utility Superintendent Millikin and Street Superintendent Stanton received $1.10 per hour each. The correction will bring the total raises to $1.04 for Ford, $1.45 for Millikin and $1.34 for Stanton.

-- approved the appointment of one full-time police officer by the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners. The board chose to offer part-time officer Jim Holder the full-time position. Commissioner Beltz said that there were several positions open. Officer Betty Harvel recently retired and replacements were not hired when Kenny Kelly was promoted to Asst. Chief and Chris Brooks resigned. The Police Department currently has six part-time officers on the payroll. By contract, the city can hire up to seven part-time officers.

-- agreed to give $2,725 from the tourism fund to the Chamber of Commerce to pay for 'Radio Disney' to entertain at Mardi Gras. Ameren donated $1,000 towards the event.

- agreed to purchase three new had-held meter readers at approximately $1,750 each and software costing $1,000. Commissioner Dave Stone said that the current hand-held devices have become obsolete. There are problems downloading information and several routes have been lost. The units are about 10 years old.

-- approved an contract with E.T. Simonds for the Brown Street project in the amount of $133,552. A grant will pay $98,000 towards the project. The balance of the funds will come from the business development fund.

-- heard from Rita Schwebel that the city needs to pass their own zoning laws. Because the city has none, residents must follow the rules established by the county's zoning ordinance. Schwebel wants to build a daycare on her property, but has been unable to reach agreement with the Zoning Board so far. Her application for a variance was tabled at the last Zoning Board meeting and will be addressed again at the Sept. 23 meeting. Kellerman said he would speak to Zoning Administrator Jeff Ashauer to see what can be done.