The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.


No More Caucuses For Village Of Stronghurst

by: Shirley Linder, Quill Editor

The Village of Stronghurst board members voted Monday evening to abolish holding caucuses for those running for the village board. Those wishing to run will be required to get a form from the city clerk, 9 signatures, and register with the Henderson County Clerk. This will eliminate having to be nominated and bringing a group to a caucus. Only three villages, Stronghurst, Lomax, and Raritan, held caucuses this year.

Sara Nimrick and Linda Clifton attended the board meeting to issue an invitation to everyone to attend a sesquicentennial organizational meeting being held on Wednesday, February 16th at 5:00 p.m. at the Senior Citizen Center.

Amanda Kane inquired who was responsible for clearing the driveway at the fire station and the ambulance building and was told the village takes care of it.

Ronnie Gittings reported that it took the back hoe to clear some of the streets which they could not get the city trucks through during the snow storm. On Thursday instead of snow they were faced with the problem of a pump going bad at the pump house and had to spend the day replacing it. They were fortunate enough to have a another pump and pipe on hand making the replacement go fast enough that the village did not have to have a boil order and the village was not without water.

The board voted to get another pump and more pipe, up to $3,000, ordered from Plate Services so they will again be prepared in the future.

Gittings asked the board about having city hall re-wired from 3 phase into 1 phase, which could save $100 per month in electricity. On a motion by Chris Cook, seconded by Angela Myers the board voted to have Plate Service upgrade the breaker box and convert the building to 110.

Gittings also reported one of the village trucks was in a fender bender during the blizzard Tuesday evening. The truck was not damaged and the van has been repaired, with the insurance covering the cost.

Chief Gary Smith reported in light of recent events within the community, very soon he will begin working on a "Community Response Plan" addressing natural and man-made emergencies based on the NIMS model. He will be enlisting the help from the fire department, EMS, County Emergency Management Coordinator and other community sources including the Village Public Services.

Beginning this month, the police department's monthly summary report will be posted on the department's web site. During the recent snow storm, the web site was updated with the NWS warnings and hazardous conditions.

In other business:

Those present included: Mayor Eric Chockley; Trustees, Michael Bohnenkamp, Lawrence Neff, Chris Cook, Angela Myers, David Vancil, and Leota Caldwell; Employees Ronnie Gittings, Mike Nelson, Chief Gary Smith; Guests, Linda Clifton, Sara Nimrick, Clair Palmer, Braeden Vancil, Tony Anderson, Deb Hale, Amanda Kane and Shirley Linder.

The next board meeting will be held Monday, March 7 at 7 p.m. at the City Hall.