Stronghurst Village Board 

Stronghurst Board Working on Property Cleanup

By Shirley Linder, Executive Quill Editor

At the Village of Stronghurst meeting held on Monday, April 6th, Zoning Committee Chairman Janice Smith presented the board with a list of properties that needed to be cleaned up. She suggested perhaps they should concentrate on one or two in the beginning. 

While their attorney was not present to give advice it was discussed that these ordinances, along with listed fines per day, if violated, are in the book and need to be enforced. Mayor Brendan Schaley said to give the list to Police Chief Arbry Vancil. 

Vancil needs to take pictures of the violations and make a case for each so if the attorney needs to go to court she has substantial evidence.

Ronnie Gittings reported he had complaints of brown water, so the hydrants have all been flushed, which has taken care of the matter.

He also reported they had a plugged culvert on Elizabeth Street that was in danger of flooding a house. 

Two pumps were put in the pit to pump the water out and the fire department came and flushed the culvert out to solve the problem.

Gittings said they have hauled three loads of water each day for four days the last two weeks.  There is a broken hydrant at Oquawka so the water is being hauled from Avon. The well is pumping approximately only 78-79 gallons per minute which is not enough to keep up. 

He said they would be hauling Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Mayor Schaley said they also needed to haul on Wednesday and keep the black storage tank full and also have the tanker full in case it is needed, especially over the weekend. That would keep 16,000 gallons of water extra.

Police report for March included 15.5 hours worked; 30 miles on squad car; 1 uniform traffic ticket; 3 service calls; 20 business checks.

It was reported that the village has received the USDA grant money for the new well. However, the IEPA has not approved the construction permit so bidding cannot be let quite yet.

The board had discussed purchasing a new tractor at last month’s meeting. Mayor Schaley and Nathan Harden had checked with several dealers and had only received one response back. 

It was from Painters in Monmouth, who had agreed to give the village $10,000 trade in on a new one. On a motion by Mike Bohnenkamp and seconded by Janice Smith the board approved the purchase of the tractor for $25,000 with leeway to add more options. Motion passed unanimously.

Gittings expressed his appreciation to the Stronghurst Booster Club and others who trimmed bushes and helped clean the park recently.

In other business the board:

*Passed the minutes, bills, and the financial report of minus $3,761.17

*Agreed to look into larger, more noticeable signs for the village park

*Heard the contract for LRS has not been cancelled as of yet

The board entered executive session at approximately 6:40 for the purpose of employee compensation. Following closed session it was voted to give Ronnie Gittings, Jeff Nichols, and Brittany Smith a dollar an hour raise. The next meeting will be held on Monday, May 4th at 6:00 p.m.

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