The Village of Weston Council

May 4, 2015

The Open Forum Meeting was held at the Weston Fire Hall, located at 20761 Taylor Street. The Mayor was not in attendance, so Council President Shad Kendall called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. This was followed by the pledge of allegiance.

A roll call of the council members was taken: Mrs. Danelle Langley, Mrs. Tammy McClellan, Mr. Jeremy Schroeder, Mr. Shad Kendall, Mr. Gregory Stevens, and Mrs. Dawn Blandy were all present.

The minutes from the previous meeting (4/20/15) were then reviewed and approved as read.

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The Fiscal Officer presented the payment register (chk #’s 46578-46598, totaling $17,857.58) for council’s review. Mr. Kendall moved to pay the bills, Mr. J Schroeder seconded, all were in favor; passed.

The April Financial Reports were previously emailed out for council’s review. No questions were presented. Mr. J Schroeder made a motion to approve the reports, seconded by Mrs. McClellan, all were in favor.

It was announced that there will be a meeting at the courthouse on 5/5/15 at 5:30pm, at which the CDBG grant applications will be reviewed. Mr. Kendall gave those in attendance a brief explanation of the CDBG program. Sarah, Shad, and Jeremy plan to attend tomorrow’s meeting.

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Tom Bamburowski was in attendance, and was presented with a plaque to commemerate his retirement and thank him for serving as Village Solicitor for over 35 years.

Mr. Bamburowski was also asked about the right-of-way for certain properties, and the rules relating to the Village being allowed to require that sidewalks be put within it. He will research this for some clarification.

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Council/ Committee Business:

Mrs. Langley reported that she met with Julie from Poggemeyer to work on a plan for the streets. Once something is written up, she will present it to the committee and council.

Mrs. McClellan asked who plants the flowers at the town entrance signs. Mr. T Schroeder stated that he’s already talked to the staff at the flower shop, and they plan to look at what we already have before making recommendations of what’s needed. After that, he can take care of getting those items put in.

Mr. J Schroeder reported that the committee is close to being ready to present the master plan to council. He noted that lots of new trees will need to be planted. They will meet again on the 27th at 6:30pm. Mr. Kendall explained those in attendance how we’ve gone about the process to start developing the old school property, and stated that anyone is welcome to attend these meetings (and all others) to provide input.

Mr. Stevens- He reported on the 4/28/15 Safety meeting: The EMS has had 107 runs to date, and the Fire Dept has had 53 (which have been mostly EMS assists); both squads are being used frequently and simultaneously, and some maintenances is being done on both; they recently held an open layperson CPR class at the station and would like to do more like it; the Fire Dept should have automatic mutual aid in place with Milton Township by 6/1/15; and a car was recently donated for a jaws-of-life demonstration.

He voiced concern over the chickens on Taylor Street, which he recently saw in the middle of the road. He asked that a letter be sent to the owners of the chickens.

He then talked about the ongoing issue of 4-wheelers on Center Street, which has recently gotten worse. They’re allowed to operate these on private property, and those presenting the problem have been given permission by the property owner (Larry). Therefore, when the Sheriff has been called (due to noise, exhaust, and overall disturbance), there isn’t much they can do. Roger Finkenbiner stated that these individuals have gotten bolder and are “taunting” him since they know that action can’t be taken; therefore, he’s trying to file a harassment case. Council has been asked to remedy the problem, and would like to look into the passage of an official noise ordinance.

He asked the Solicitor about adding a section to our door-to-door solicitation application requiring them to obtain a LEADS check from the Sheriff. This should be fine. He also asked if we could make the requirements more stringent than those in the OBC, specifically for sex offenders. Mr. Bamburowski stated that we can alter sections of the code, but can’t generally make the requirements stricter than what they already are.

He also brought up the need for a tree trimming/maintenance plan, since a lady was recently killed by a tree that fell in Washington Twp. He asked that we assess the trees, look for hazards, and see which present a potential risk.

Mr s. Blandy reported that the Cemetery Board will meet next on 5/7/15 at 6pm. Shellen Stevens will be filling the open seat (previously held by Jenny Helberg).

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OPEN FORUM

Visitors: The following individuals were in attendance--- Barb and Calvin Squire; Francis Kohler; Randy and Ann Tolles; Ron Merrill; Joe Pemberton (from Suburban Natural Gas); Kathy Heyman; Harold and Jessie Kendall; Ray and Vera DeWitt; Sharon Biggins; Dale Furbee; and Roger Finkenbiner.

· Barb Squire asked if anything could be done about kids riding small scooters that are hard to see. She lives in the senior side of Lawndale, and has talked to the owner about this; however, nothing came of it. She suggested having them attach a flag to the scooters. There isn’t any action that council can officially take, since the area is considered private property.

· Vera DeWitt made note of a couple properties near her that have lots of junk and a few junk cars lying around. She was told that we can send them a notice for the cars as long as they don’t have current license plates. She also mentioned that there are some cars that race up and down Sycamore around noon and 4:30 every day. Mrs. McClellan stated that she works with these individuals and she has already spoken to them about it. She has given their info to the Sheriff’s Dept previously. She told Mrs. DeWitt that she would talk to them again.

· Ron Merrill stated that he received a letter stating that he will have to install sidewalks in 2 years. He didn’t have a problem with this, but wanted to make sure we were actually going to go through with it this time. He received a letter a few years ago, and nothing ended up being done. He was assured that we were indeed moving forward, but stated he wasn’t going to put his in until he saw other people moving on it too.

· Dale Furbee had also received the notice about putting in a sidewalk. He asked about how much it would cost and what his options were for payment. Mr. Kendall and the Fiscal Officer explained the 1 year and 5 year assessment process, which does not require the payment of interest. K & K recently gave us a cost estimate of $7-8/per square foot, which would be just over $2,000 for a regular property with 66 feet of frontage.

· Kathy Heyman asked that the Sidewalk Committee respectfully take another look at the need for walks on the southeast end of Locust Street. They would only lead to the ditch, and there’s very little traffic down there that doesn’t go to the park (which is on the other side). She also pointed out that it will be difficult to get her walk clean in the winter, since there’s no wind break and there’s always large drifts.

· Frank Kohler suggested a change to the speed limit on Taylor Street. He presented some research in relation to breaking speeding habits. He also asked when we could expect the yards to be put back to normal that have been torn up by the NWWSD. We will contact them and see how much longer this should take.

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No further business was brought before council. Mr. Stevens reminded everyone that every meeting is open to the public and that we greatly appreciate and encourage attendance.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:10pm.

Sarah Schroeder, Shad Kendall,

Fiscal Officer Council President