Hush Bullet, Inc. to Ink Technicolor Purchase

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ Economic Development Coordinator Carrie Ford said she hopes to have a signed agreement from Hush Bullet, Inc. to purchase the TUMS building by the end of the day on Tuesday. She added that she has had multiple inquiries about job applications for Hush Bullet, Inc. She spoke with managers at the company and was told that the company would release employment information after they have settled into the former CD/DVD manufacturing plant.

Ford also said that a piece of equipment that did not sell at the June 11 auction was sold for $20,000. The total amount of the sale then reached $406,667.

Commissioner Auggie Kellerman was given permission to place the proceeds of the auction in an interest-bearing account, provided that the funds would be available for emergencies.

Kellerman said he hopes to set the funds aside to pay the initial gas bill this winter. Last year the bill from the gas company came before the city's utility bills for the month had been sent. It caused a cash-flow problem.

The consistently late payments from the state for the Pinckneyville Correctional Center's utility bills contribute to the cash-flow problems, as well. The PCC currently owes $240,747, of that $197,979 is overdue. The last payment was received on April 20.

Kellerman gave the Treasurer's Report, saying that the payroll numbers are up $62,029 or 8.5 percent from last year though hours have decreased by 169 or .04 percent.

He added that after the bills are paid, the city will have $11,000 left.

"We have to tighten our belts," Kellerman said. "I had family visit from Michigan who said that it looks better here than in their home state. The unemployment rate for the whole state of Michigan is higher than the unemployment rate in Perry County. It could be worse."

Other City Council Action

-- placed on file for public inspection an agreement for professional services with Gary Fulton P.E. for work on utility easements. The city wants to negotiate utility easements on the west end of Water Street just past the point where IDOT plans to build the four-lane interchange of Route 13/127. Mayor Joe Holder said that negotiating the easements with residents in the area before they sell to IDOT is in the best interest of the city. If the city has to get easements from IDOT, the agreement will not favor the city. Any utility lines that would have to be moved would be paid for by the city. If the easements with property owners are in place before they sell to IDOT,then any utility lines that have to be moved in the future would be paid for by IDOT. Holder said that the engineering work will be paid for through the Business Redevelopment fund. Fulton said the first step will be a survey. Topography will determine where sewer lines run and water lines will run parallel to them.

-- extended the agreement with Kellerman Construction for work on the city parking lot on the west side of the McDaniels Furniture building for another 30 days. Wet weather has delayed the project several times. The project is nearly complete, but rain is predicted again this week.

-- approved a change order extending the water main project for Cooper B-Line to loop the 10" line around to hook into the city's 12" high pressure line. The loop will allow for more breaks, which can isolate problems when the occur while continuing service to the factory and nearby residential customers when repairs must be done. The project, awarded to Red Dot Construction, came in under bid. The state has allowed the city to use the remaining grant funds to extend the project. The council also approved increasing the contract price for the Fulton Group to oversee the project by $5,400 to $25,900.

-- approved a bid from E.T. Simonds for work on the Brown Street improvements as part of the south side shopping center project. Their bid was $133,552, which is over the budget for the project. Acceptance of the bid is contingent upon removing $16,000 worth of work and approval from Rural Development. The project will still be about $5,000 over budget. The $16,000 covers work at three intersections that will instead be done by city crews. Fulton said that the main reason for the cost increase was a jump in the price of asphalt to $158 per ton. Projects bid earlier this summer quoted price of $118 per ton for asphalt. A contract with E.T. Simonds for improvements on Snowy Owl Road was also placed on file. That bid did not exceed the project budget.

-- approved a participation agreement between IDOT and the Pinckneyville/Du Quoin Airport and the cities of Pinckneyville and Du Quoin for a 10-unit T-hangar project. A federal grant for $900,000 will be administered through the state. The local share of the project is 5 percent or $45,000. Both Pinckneyville and Du Quoin have agreed to pay $22,500 in lieu of their regular $5,000 annual payments for the next five years. The agreement was amended to allow the state to pay up to 2.5 percent of the building construction costs, if possible. The cities would not contribute any more than the agreed-upon $22,500 each.

-- placed on file a three-year agreement with Emling and Hoffman P.C. to complete both the annual city audit and the annual TIF audit in 2009, 2010 and 2011 at a cost of $12,600 for the city audit and $3,000 for the TIF audit each year.

-- heard from City Attorney Roger Seibert that a hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 6 at which the city will ask for authorization to clear away debris at a property on Laurel Street at the owner's expense. The city has had an order directing the property owner to clear away the debris for several years, but it has never been done. Mayor Holder said at the July 13 meeting that he would solicit bids from waste hauling companies.

-- accepted the resignation of Harlan Yeager from the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners and appointed Kevin Hicks to fill the remainder of his unexpired term.

-- authorized Mayor Holder to send a letter to the Perry County Board acknowledging the appointment of Wilbur Englehardt and Tibretta Reiman to the Southwestern Illinois Tourism Bureau. The city joined the bureau, but the bylaws currently require all representatives to be appointed by a County Board. Reiman said the tourism bureau plans to look into changing the bylaws to allow the city to directly appoint their representatives. Pinckneyville is the first city to join on its own. The rest of the members are counties.