The Sidney Village Board met on the above date for the regular monthly meeting.
The meeting was opened at 7:00 p.m. with the Pledge of Allegiance. President Finn
called the meeting to order. The following trustees were present: Arrasmith, Harris,
Catron, Gadeken, Bickers and Schluter. Clerk Fish, Treasurer Reinhart, Attorney Miller
and Village Maintenance employee Jarin Wilsey were also present.
Trustee Schluter moved that the minutes of the September 9th, 2019 regular and
closed sessions of the Board of Trustees meeting be approved with the change being
made that Trustee Arrasmith was not abstaining from voting on the Sidney Social Club,
LLC liquor license, but that he was absent on an emergency call. Trustee Arrasmith
seconded the motion; the motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

Mike Roy from the Sidney Improvement Group discussed plans for the holiday
season. There will be a community Christmas tree lighting, the American Legion will be
doing a chili supper, and they will be offering free hayrack rides this year instead of horse
carriage rides on the evening of Friday, December 6 th . Breakfast with Santa will be on
Saturday morning, December 7 th at the Sidney United Church. They are still trying to
finalize plans for a shop at home event on Saturday, December 7 th in downtown Sidney.
Trustee Harris stated that he has had questions asked about having a community
recycling program. President Finn had stated that they had offered this in the past and
residents did not use it as it was intended. It was concluded that it would not be a good
idea to offer it again.

PRESIDENT FINNS COMMENTS

President Finn stated that the residents that had been sent letters to clean up their
properties were slowly cleaning them up so Attorney Miller will just let them sit for now.
Trustee Schluter made a motion to set this years Halloween trick or treating hours
from 5-8pm. Trustee Bickers seconded the motion. The motion passed with all ayes on a
roll call vote.
The board then discussed when the fall limb pickup dates would be. It was
decided that it would be the first week of November; the 4 th -8 th .
President Finn then asked resident Jim Henry to discuss his plans to erect ConEx
storage containers on his property. Mr. Henry explained to the board what ConEx
containers are and then showed pictures of various finished products using the containers.
He stated that he would eventually be constructing his to use as a garage. There is
nothing currently in our ordinance that states that they are not allowed. The board had a
very lengthy discussion as to whether or not these should be allowed on resident’s
properties. They concluded that they do not want to allow ConEx storage containers.
Attorney Miller will work on amending the current ordinance to further describe what
constitutes a permanent structure, making sure the correct verbiage details that they will
not be allowed.
President Finn then stated that village maintenance worker Jarin Wilsey will need
his own debit card and be added as a signer to the General Fund account #40584. The
board decided that the debit card will have a $500 daily limit.

ATTORNEY MILLERS COMMENTS:

Attorney Miller did not have any comments.

JARIN WILSEY’S REPORT

Village maintenance employee Wilsey reported that the planter in front of the post
office that was broken by accident has been taken care of.
Matt White from Illinois American Water was present to discuss and answer
questions regarding contracting with them to handle meter readings, water sampling, and
any maintenance issues until the final sale goes through. Trustee Catron made a motion
to approve the contract with Illinois American Water. Trustee Bickers seconded the
motion. The motion passed with all ayes following a roll call vote.
Village maintenance employee Wilsey then told the board he would like to rent a
boom mower for a few days to clear the weeds around the creek. The board stated that
was fine.

FINANCE REPORT

The financial reports were read by Trustee Catron. Trustee Catron moved that the
bills be paid with the addition of $980 to Schoonover Sewer Service, $1716 to Royal
Bookkeeping Service and $40.30 to the Journal. Trustee Harris seconded the motion.
The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.
It was then reported that the audit went well for the previous fiscal year with no
complications.
Trustee Catron then made a motion to increase the Trustee discretionary spending
limit to $2,500 monthly adding that all receipts will need to be presented to the board.
Trustee Bickers seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call
vote.
Trustee Catron then asked Clerk Fish and village maintenance employee Wilsey
to report on what they learned at the IML Conference. Village maintenance employee
Wilsey stated that he learned a lot about code enforcement. Clerk Fish stated that she had
learned a lot regarding FOIA and had also completed her FOIA and OMA training
through the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. She also stated that all of the board
members will also need to complete their OMA training through the Illinois Attorney
General’s website and passed out information regarding how to do that.
Trustee Catron then discussed the plans for the new village hall. They looked
correct. President Finn stated that he would like to make sure that the new building has a
generator system and if possible, an enclosed bus stop for school children.

President Finn then stated that he would be replacing Trustee Catron with Trustee
Gadeken on the village hall committee due to other commitments of Trustee Catron.

STREETS AND ALLEY

Trustee Gadeken reported that he and village maintenance employee Wilsey will
be straightening crooked street signs around town and also replacing broken street signs.

WATER/SEWER/UTILITY

Trustee Harris was not able to read the monthly usage reports since we have no
one who is licensed to do so.
$32,780.44 was received in September. 167 penalty bills were sent. $31,632.17
was billed in September to 534 customers.
It was decided that Clerk Fish will wait a few days past the due date for the bills
before sending out the penalty bills so that she receives everything from the bank before
doing so.
Trustee Harris reported that Schoonover Sewer Service could not provide the
services that they originally stated they could and they also did not inform village
maintenance employee Wilsey when they came to empty the septic tanks downtown so he
will be finding a new provider for those services.
Trustee Harris also made a motion for the board to allow up to $10,000 to clean
out the catch basins around the village. Trustee Gadeken seconded the motion. The
motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.

PUBLIC PROPERTY

Trustee Arrasmith made a motion to approve a new contract with ESDA. He
stated that there were no changes to it from the previous year. Trustee Schluter seconded
the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote.
Trustee Arrasmith then stated that there was one fence permit issued for $50 for a
resident on White street.

PARKS AND RECREATION

Trustee Bickers reported that there were signs inside the concession stand that will
need to be put up at Witt Park once the fence is repaired.
He also stated that he would like a tree removed at Witt Park to be placed on next
month’s agenda.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Trustee Schluter did not have any comments.

NEW AND OLD BUSINESS
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President Finn stated that he will be replacing light bulbs in the village’s marquis
sign.
Trustee Arrasmith motioned that the meeting be adjourned. Trustee Schluter
seconded the motion. The motion carried with all ayes on a roll call vote. The meeting
was adjourned at 8:40pm.