MONTHY MEETING DECEMBER 8, 2008
The regular monthly meeting of the Minonk Township Board of Trustees was heldDecember 8at 7 pm at Minonk City Hall. Those present were Seggerman, Janssen, Rients, Kiefer, Meyer, Baumann and Luckey. The minutes from the November meeting were read and approved.
The following bills were submitted for approval:
Road & Bridge Fund
No. / To Whom Allowed / Nature of Claim / Amount1 / Jim Baumann / Road Commissioner Expenses / $559.42
2 / Verizon / Phone Bill / $100.00
3 / Paul Steinhilber / Labor / $651.99
Total / $1,311.41
Town Fund
No. / To Whom Allowed / Nature of Claim / Amount1 / Jim Baumann / Road Commissioner Salary / $1,755.35
2 / Nationwide / Road Commissioner Retirement / $110.00
3 / Accounting Tax & Business Services / Comptroller's Report / $250.00
4 / Rich Luckey / Clerk Expenses (mileage to TOI Conf) / $115.25
Total / $2,230.60
Special Road Fund
No. / To Whom Allowed / Nature of Claim / Amount1 / Evergreen FS / Diesel Fuel / $1,005.86
2 / Valley View Industries / Hauling / $326.69
Total / $1,332.55
Cemetery Fund
No. / To Whom Allowed / Nature of Claim / Amount1 / City of Minonk / Water Bill / $50.00
2 / Burrough's Ag Services / Amine / $95.50
3 / Kelly Sauder & Rupiper / Extra Hours on Mowers / $175.00
Total / $320.50
Janssen Motioned to pay bills as presented. Second by Seggerman. Roll call vote Janssen yes, Seggerman yes, Kiefer yes, Rients yes, Meyer yes.
Supervisor then recognized members in the audience, Wayne Weber, Dave Uphoff and Larry Miles. Discussion then turned to the proposal for the cemetery website, which was submitted by Dave Uphoff, and Dave took the floor to explain his thoughts.
Dave said the proposal /project could be summed up in three phases:
- Creating a database to store cemetery records
- Enable public access viewing of records via the internet
- Allow public to update records via the internet, subject to approval by board member prior to posting
The estimated onetime costs for the proposed system would be about $1,400. The recurring costs would be about $60 per month (for website hosting and access to township computer). There would be a recurring cost of about $37 per year to renew domain name registration.
The program would cost about $5,000 to write, which includes one year of technical support. After the first year, technical support would cost about $1,000 annually, which includes updating and enhancing the software. Minonk Township would be granted a non exclusive perpetual license for use of the software.
The Board had some questions for Dave, and he went on to say he could do such things as creating a map that would show what plots are available at the current time, as well as current burial locations. Dave mentioned that most of the time would be spent creating the database to store the records and the map. Dave also mentioned that Dave Fever from El Paso has the vast majority of cemetery records available electronically, which would save a great deal of time and effort on manually entering this information. He also suggested Fever get paid something for his efforts.
It is obvious Dave has a great passion for this website as he feels the public would greatly appreciate the available information and the interactive capability.
Luckey mentioned the Board already has a laptop and a website, so some of the initial costs may be avoided. Luckey will get together with Dave to review the current site to see if it is capable of hosting a database. Meyer then thanked Dave for coming and sharing this information, and Dave left.
The Board continued with some discussion and decided to table this issue until Luckey gets together with Dave to see if the proposal can be revised.
The discussion then turned to the Levy’s. Janssen motioned to set the Town Levy at $94,400, with $53,800 being designated for the General Town Fund. Second by Kiefer. Motion passed unanimously.
Seggerman motioned to set the Road District Levy at $85,000. Second by Rients. Motion passed unanimously.
Meyer then noted the next regular monthly meeting will be January 12 at 7 pm at Minonk City Hall, and the caucus will be on January 13.
Wayne Weber then asked how a person can run as an Independent for an office. Luckey explained the process, noting that a person cannot run as Independent if he/she were nominated and defeated at the caucus. Luckey will send Weber some additional information.
Seggerman gave an update on the Food Pantry. The Food Pantry Board has sent a notice to Kathy Hamer. Basically this notices states that if she, Kathy, does not respond to the notice by December 15, she will be replaced as Chairperson for the Food Pantry.
If this happens, Esther Gauger will assume responsibilities as Chair and will seek help from a Co-Chair, yet to be determined.
Janssen then motioned to hold an annual Appreciation Dinner at a date to be determined later. Second by Seggerman. Roll call vote Janssen yes, Seggerman yes, Kiefer yes, Rients yes, Meyer yes.
There was some confusion tonight and during previous months regarding the Township’s regular meeting schedule. The Township paid for a portion of the Minonk City Hall when it was built and has a right to use it. The meeting dates are posted outside City Hall stating that the Township’s regular monthly meetings take place on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7 pm.
Janssen motioned to adjourn. Second by Seggerman. Motion carried.
Richard A Luckey
Town Clerk