Police Department collected over $800 in ordinance violations from February

DePoppe explained the police department collected over $800 in ordinance violations in February and $720 in towing and impound fees.

During a regular scheduled city council meeting on March 12, 2012, the Gillespie City Council discussed revisiting the yard sale permit after Janice Weidner made the suggestion to look over the ordinance. Weidner and Barrett suggested just going after the homes making a business out of “yard-saleing.” Majority of the aldermen were in favor of changing it because “it is not fair to 97% of the people in the community.” Mayor Hicks suggested leaving the ordinance and just see what happens when yard sale season comes.

Then when there is an issue, Hicks said the city would write an ordinance violation. “We haven’t even tested it yet,” Hicks noted. Weidner explained that there is no administration to enforce it and no one to “police” it. Weidner made a motion to resend the yard sale permit ordinance and after a second from Barrett, the council discussed it further and made note that anyone that wants to have a yard sale has to come to the city clerk’s office and fill out the paperwork.

According to Barrett, it would make more work for the girls in the office. Frank Barrett then withdrew his second, so the council could not vote on it without a second. “Let’s just spin it this summer and see how it works,” Hicks closed.

Chief of Police Jared DePoppe then explained that the police department collected over $800 in ordinance violations in February and $720 in towing and impound fees. Also from February, the ordinance officer handed out 16 self-initiated ordinances as well as one old one.

Steve Kluthe, police committee, assessed violations for animals running at large and reported that ordinance citations are not being done. Kluthe said the ordinances are going to have to be enforced rather than giving a verbal warning. He then said he would like to send DePoppe to a 40-hour police executive training course. The course would take place in April and would be no cost to the city.

Tanya Hill approached the council to see if she could have anything done with her bill due to a recent leak.

The council then heard from Donnie Shuey who is head of the water department. Shuey explained to the council that the city is losing “a lot” of money on the satellite meters. “Some of the master meters are losing us money because of their age,” Donnie explained, “One customer is a big customer and uses nearly 2 million gallons a month. That is reading on the old meter.” Hicks said the council needs to check on this issue.

The second issue brought by Donnie was the clear wells at the water plant have been leaking “forever” due to their age. One was built in the 1920’s and the other was built in the 1950’s. He explained that they have a sump pump hooked up and it cycles every half hour. The wells are 7.5 feet and hold nearly 230,000 gallons of water. To repair the issue, the wells would need to be sprayed with a liner to prevent leaks. Shuey is going to get an estimates to spray the wells and return them to the council.

Alderman Janice Weidner then explained that she contacted Carrollton about the power saving capacitors that the city was eyeing for the water and sewer plants. “They think they have done better than the projected savings,” Weidner explained, “The capacitors sound like a good thing.” George Halekso explained that over the average, the city should see a reduction. “My recommendation is to find out what they took out because they said there are eight points and only seven are listed,” George explained, “I do believe, you will be able to monitor it and see the reduction.” The power savings solution could save the city upwards toward $1,000 each month. The total cost to install the capacitors in each building is $13,625 with a 7-year warranty, so it would pay for itself after 13.3 months.

The council then heard from Dave Link, who questioned the council about the progress on the bids on Macoupin Street. Dan Fisher responded and said the city has received one more bid to fix the remaining work that needs down. He went on to say that there may be one more coming in, but the city will give the finance committee power to act once the bids are in. The remaining work that needs to be done, according to Fisher, is the well work, the dirt around the bottom of the building along with the debris behind Link’s building, and the top of the building.

The next visitor was Tim DeSherlia. Tim requested to buy property on 309 Park Avenue. Mayor Hicks explained to DeSherlia that the property is not for sale because it gives the city the right away to the creek. It also has three sewers running through the lot, which makes the lot unsellable. “Selling the property with easement to the sewer would not get you anything because you cannot build on the lot,” Hicks explained.

Tim went on to say that he does not want to build; he just wants it for himself since he has taken care of it for five years. “I want it all for myself because people drag their yard waste on the lot,” Tim said. Hicks said to notify the police when the occurrence happens again and the police will take care of the problem. The council also said they could post “no dumping” signs on the vacant lot.

Tanya Hill then approached the council about their water bill. The family did not notice they had break and it got progressively worse. Mayor Hicks said he would print out the last five months and compare them to previous months to see how much water was actually lost. From there, the council will make a decision whether to refigure the bill or not.

In new business, the council went on to declare a house on 304 Baker a public nuisance. The City Attorney will proceed with a nuisance abatement order.  After the council declared the house a nuisance, the council made a motion to donate the same amount of money as previous years to Safe Families and Post Prom.

In closing under standing committee reports, Frank Barrett reported storm damage to one of the docks at Gillespie Lake. Barrett said there would not be a temporary fix and the entire dock would need to be fixed.

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