Late Payments Result in Tamaroa Layoffs
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Village of Tamaroa has not received a payment of any kind from the State of Illinois since October. At the present time, the state is behind $114,000.
As of Wednesday evening, there was $10,919 in the general fund. Treasurer Margaret Lee did not attend the meeting and board members were not sure exactly how much money was in other accounts or exactly what the total of the bills due this month would be. However, they did know that a $10,000 payment on the town's backhoe is due this month and the payroll for the week is expected to be about $2,250.
Mayor Curtis Stube said that the last payment to Du Quoin for water was $17,000 and took most of the funds in the water account.
"The treasurer said we're 'right on the edge,'" Stube said.
The board opted to allow Lee to use funds from the $300,000 Canadian National Railroad settlement to pay this month's bills. The money will be repaid as soon as the state payments are received.
The board also opted to lay off two full-time village employees for 30 days, but continue to pay their health insurance during that time. The expected savings for the 30-day layoff is $7,000.
The board is hoping to be able to call the two employees back to work at that time. In the meantime, the part-time employee will read meters and do the regular work.
The board agreed that the layoff would end if an emergency occurred, such as a broken water line that would require more than one worker.
Supervisor Butch Hunter warned the village that there are several items that need attention. The village recently purchased a new salt spreader, but is out of salt.
Hunter said he was told to curtail spending so when a tire on the dump truck went out, he replaced it with a tire from his personal log truck and then added a second tire from his truck for balance.
"The blue truck tire slipped a belt and has to be replaced," Hunter told the board. "The bad news is I don't have one to fit it."
Hunter said he also needs about 300 ton of rock to shore up the bank at the lagoon.
Hunter said he was approached by someone from Du Bois about helping them in case of emergencies. Du Bois does not own a backhoe and would be willing to pay for the use of Tamaroa's backhoe and labor costs.
City Attorney Matt Foster said there would need to be a written agreement with DuBois. Hunter said he would direct his contact in Du Bois to contact Stube.
Joyce Mazzarella brought several problems to the board's attention. The first is that the Village of St. Johns relies on Tamaroa employees to shut off the water for people who have not paid their sewer bill. Tamaroa recoups some of their costs for the service if the individuals are also behind on their water payments. Out-of-town customers must pay a $50 reconnect fee and in-town customers a $30 reconnect fee. The problem is that customers who are behind only on their sewer payments pay the reconnect fee to St. Johns. Tamaroa does not receive a portion of it.
Mazzarella said she is not sure if there is a written agreement with St. Johns or if the agreement was only verbal.
Foster said he would contact St. Johns' attorney to determine if there was a written agreement. The board will can take action at the next meeting to charge a reconnect fee for those who are behind only on sewer payments.
Mazzarella also brought to the board's attention that there is $6,000 owed in unpaid water bills. Foster said he needs the information on each bill and the board can then decide whether it is worth it to place a lien to recoup the money.
One of the bills is owed by Village Trustee Lisa Haycraft. She purchased the old Pittman property in 2006. At that time, the board agreed to waive the $600 lien for a sewer bill to allow Haycraft to get the title to the property. Haycraft and the board then agreed at the March 2006 meeting that she had to clean the property and if the property were completely clean and the house razed in that time, the $600 sewer bill would be waived. If not, Haycraft would pay the sewer bill plus interest. At a later meeting, the original agreement was rescinded and a two-year timeline was agreed upon. Haycraft had until May 28, 2008 to clean the property. It is unclear whether the new agreement required the house on the property to be razed of if cleaning up the property was enough. It was also unclear whether the interest rate was to be 6 percent or 9 percent.
Haycraft said she thought the house had to be torn down. She agreed to pay the sewer bill of $652 and 9 percent interest of $109 for a total of $762. She said she would pay the bill at the end of the month. The board agreed.
Mazzarella said that there was a complaint about the property on the answering machine. The complaint said the house is a hazard. Haycraft agreed that it needs to come down. She said the house still has a live gas line. She has contacted Ameren about disconnecting it, but cannot do tear the house down until the line is disconnected.
"We won't have to take any action as long as there is some effort on your part," Stube said.
In other business, the board:
changed the date of the chicken and dumpling dinner from Feb. 21 to March 7. The annual Wurstmart in Du Bois is held on Feb. 21. They did not want to compete. Proceeds from the dinner will be used to put on the annual Tractor Pull. Haycraft reported that she has sold several half-page ads and collected some prizes for the raffle. She will continue selling ads through March or mid-April to allow enough time to print the program books for the Tractor Pull, which will be held on June 13. Haycraft handed over $175 to be added to the Tractor Pull fund, which has $2,646 in it. The board was surprised by the amount in the account. The profit from last year's pull was less than $75. Hunter said he has been doing small jobs and recycling scrap metal for some time. The proceeds have been put into the Tractor Pull account.
heard from Stube that one of the easements for the water project was not filed before the Juhl property was sold. The new property owners do not want to grant the village the easement. The easement is not necessary for the project, but is a convenience. The easement affects only 200 feet of the water line. Stube said he would approach the owner of the property across the road about an easement. A letter for interim financing was sent to five area banks. Stube is hoping to receive information on the rates and terms for each bank by Feb. 17. The board also discussed inclusion of the 204 Water District. Stube brought to the board's attention the payment method 204 customers are using and the 800 number that was set up for emergency calls. He asked the board to weigh the pros and cons of keeping the 204 Water District account at Murphy Wall bank for customer convenience.
tabled discussion of the police department until the next meeting. At the present time, Tamaroa cannot afford a police officer. The village has received four applications for part-time police officer.
agreed to allow the annual Easter Egg Hunt to be held at the Community Center on March 28 free of charge. Organizers may use the facilities March 27 and 28.
directed Foster to prepare an ordinance raising the fines for ordinance violations from $25 - $500 to $50 - $750. Foster said raising the fines is no problem, but getting the tickets for violations written will be nearly impossible without a police officer.
appointed Board Secretary Cheryl Pelker as the village's Freedom of Information officer.
agreed to discuss adopting town-wide trash service at the next meeting. Trustees Nelson Knapp and Kirk Pestka were asked to bring more information to the March meeting.