Stronghurst Village Board 

Stronghurst Board Discusses New Garbage Provider

By: Shirley Linder, Executive Editor

On Monday, January 5th the Village of Stronghurst Board Trustees discussed the possibilities of obtaining a new garbage provider. Mayor Schaley said, “LRS is tired of me calling them and I am tired of calling them each time.” 

Mayor Schaley calls LRS whenever a complaint comes in that a street or residence has been missed. Mayor Schaley will contact the village attorney to see if the current contract can be terminated. Discussion included the possibility of no recycle pick up and also of no two city wide clean up days per year.

 Ronnie Gittings reported he had gotten his credentials for the new J.U.L.I.E. system, after going through a bunch of training sessions. If J.U.L.I.E. has a call in the area it will appear on the computer and he will need to respond, using one of two codes; 10 which means they don’t have anything in the vicinity or 20 that the vicinity has been marked. This is something they have to do or receive a $250 fine for not responding, in time, to the request.

Gittings also reported the well, which was pumping 90 gallon per minute in November is now down to 86 gallon per minute. They are purchasing water from Avon at present and so far have had no problems hauling with the cold weather.

The police report for December included: 20 hours worked; 2 hours of training; 70 miles on the squad car; and 2 service calls.

In the absence of Engineer Doug Erickson, Mayor Schaley reported on the new well from an email Erickson had sent. Since the IEPA will not give them a permit to utilize the test well, he has contacted the USDA regarding an emergency grant. This grant normally only covers $500,000 but the new federal budget it can now be up to a million dollars. Erickson has applied for a grant in the amount of $872,000.

In other business the board approved:

* December minutes

*Paying of the bills

*Reviewed the annual audit, which had no major problems

*Approved the 2026 MFT estimate

Following the executive session at December’s meeting the board voted to give full time employees $1,000  and part time employees $500 for Christmas.

Present were Mayor Brendan Schaley; Trustees, Mike Bohnenkamp, Janice Smith, Paige Torrance, Amanda VanArsdale, Mike Swisher, Nathan Harden; Employees, Ronnie Gittings, Brittany Smith, Arbry Vancil; Guests, David Knutstrom, Randy Jarvis, Dennis Day, Shirley Linder.