The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by: Shirley Linder, Quill Editor
The Stronghurst Village Board announced Monday night at their regular meeting that Barry Dowell had received first place in the Christmas Light decorating contest. Albert Renken received 2nd place and Charles Vaughn 3rd place. The judging was done by Chief Smith and deputies.
Ronnie Gittings reported that the water meter software was installed on the village computer and it took a couple of trial runs to get all the bugs out it. However, on December 27th they read the meters and uploaded it on the computer and everything worked fine, with the estimated time of about 2 hours.
The board voted to have Ronnie Gittings and Mike Nelson insulate the east side of city hall and also to build some shelves for Clerk Nortrup to store records on. The estimated cost of the project was $628.
The board approved selling sewer packets for $5 for a year's supply until February 28, 2011.
Due to operational and administrative needs, Arbry Vancil was appointed by Chief Gary Smith to serve as the police department's Deputy Chief.
Following a meeting of Mayor Eric Chockley, Michael Bohnenkamp, Principal Jeff Nichols, and Superintendent Ralph Grimm, Deputy Vancil was asked to conduct a watch of the traffic flow at West Central Middle School. The watch consisted of undercover patrol and uniform patrol. According to Vancil during uniform patrol there were very few violations but, undercover patrol was a different story. Violations included children not in car seats, parking in no parking zone, not stopping at crosswalks while children were present (including buses), not stopping at stop sign, and cell phone use while in the school zone.
The results will be sent to Nichols and Grimm and the village board and police department will continue to monitor the situation for the safety of our children.
A 7:51 p.m. the board entered executive session for police department operation, coming back into open session at 8:19 p.m. A vote was taken to give Chief Deputy Vancil a $1 an hour raise, making his wages now $13 per hour.
Lawrence Neff filled in for Mayor Eric Chockley who was not present.
Present: Trustees Lawrence Neff, Michael Bohnenkamp, Leota Caldwell, Chris Cook, Angela Myers, and David Vancil; Clerk/Treasurer Lou Ann Nortrup; Employees, Ronnie Gittings, Mike Nelson, Chief Gary Smith, Deputy Arbry Vancil; Guests, David Knutstrom, Paula Clark, Deb Hale, Tony Anderson, Clair Palmer, Shirley Linder.
The next meeting will be held on Monday, February 7, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the City Hall.