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Mayor of Benld announces Post Office public hearing

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Mayor Sidar, left, and Alderpeople Jim Tilashalski and Teresa Tucker laugh after Tilashalski comments about the post office.

Mayor Sidar, left, and Alderpeople Jim Tilashalski and Teresa Tucker laugh after Tilashalski comments about the post office.

Benld Mayor Gloria Sidar announced during the city’s regular city council meeting Monday evening, May 18, that the United States Post Office scheduled a public hearing for June 15 at 6 p.m. to hear the public’s input about the location, office and hours for the Benld Post Office.

The public hearing is the first step the government subsidiary has taken toward increasing the city’s lease rate for the location that was relocated to the city’s police department building in 2013. The City of Benld settled on the $1 lease rate in 2013 to keep a post office location in the city after the landowner of the post office’s former location on North Main raised the rental rate.

Residents in Benld were without a post office temporarily in 2012 and 2013 when USPS didn’t renew their lease and the current location at the Benld Police Department wasn’t ready for service. It wasn’t until fall of 2013 when the current location on Central Avenue was ready for operation.

The council renewed their lease agreement of $1 with USPS in March of 2015 with a split council decision and final approval from Mayor Sidar. In March, Sidar said she obliged to renew the lease because she is hoping for a permanent solution for the post office. The council is working with a new contact person at USPS and Sidar believes a better lease will be made in the upcoming months.

“The post office has been in touch with me,” Sidar announced Monday. “They would like to start paying [the city] some money and they need a public hearing with public input in regard to the post office and hours. After they get results from the public meeting, we will start negotiating rent prices.”

The public hearing will be held at the Benld City Hall with the city’s regular June meeting following at 7 p.m. “More people here, the better,” Alderman Bernot added.

New and Old Business

City Attorney Rick Verticchio sworn in aldermen Jim Tilashalski, ward 1; Brian Frensko, ward 2 and Peyton Bernot, ward 3 to the city council.

Citywide trash pick-up will be held on Saturday, June 13

 Mayor Sidar announced the city will be hosting a citywide trash pick-up on Saturday, June 13 and announced the Memorial Day service will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, May 26 at the Benld Cemetery. The municipal band will play and the Staunton VFW will perform the color guard duties and 21-gun salute.
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The council unanimously approved to list two properties located at the intersection of Walnut and Kentucky and the other located at the intersection of Locust and the railroad for bids. The city owns the declared surplus property and has the authority to reject any and all bids.

Committee Reports

Alderwoman Teresa Tucker asked if the council was going to open the 4th Street dump area again, but maintenance/sewer/water chairman Jim Kelly said the council still has to consider a better decision regarding the dump. Kelly explained people dumped mattresses and a number of other unwanted items when the key to the dump was checked out at the clerk’s office and It caused more work for the maintenance department.

Finance chairman Peyton Bernot reported that the appropriations are ready for review and he understood the council’s main priority was to demolish delinquent properties. “I took that into consideration and upped the budget from 2 houses to 3 houses now,” Bernot said. “We also upped the legal fees appropriation.”

Bernot continued by noting a major improvement in the gaming tax the city is receiving from the gambling machines inside the city limits. “The game tax increase from $11,000 to $21,000 in one year.”

During Jim Kelly’s report for maintenance, sewer and water, he said the permits have been signed for the sewer work for the Shehorn lift station and 2 or 3 other manholes will have to be involved with the construction.

He also added that the maintenance department has two more hydrants installed with only one more hydrant remaining. The department’s main concentration has been working on ditches. “It’s looking good,” Kelly added.

Lastly, Kelly reported bad news to the council saying the motor arm on the backhoe was damaged recently during construction and experts said it has to be replaced. He passed on prices for a new and used arm for the piece of equipment, but endorsed the used machine part of $3,400. The council unanimously approved the purchase of the used part.

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Gillespie man injured in DUI accident

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Genisio's Ford Mustang in the City of Gillespie's impound lot Tuesday morning.

A Gillespie man was taken to a local hospital after suffering injuries following a single-vehicle accident that occurred Sunday morning, October 11, after he drove off the roadway and into a deep ditch near the intersection of Route 16 and Charles Street in Gillespie.

Gillespie Police Chief Jared DePoppe reported that the police department was dispatched to the scene of the accident shortly before 3 a.m. Officers arrived to find Jonathan Genisio, 29, of Gillespie as the driver and only occupant inside the Ford Mustang vehicle.

Genisio was arrested, but give a notice to appear in court so he could seek medical treatment. He was charged with six different counts in addition to having his vehicle impounded. His charges include driving under the influence of alcohol, no insurance, improper lane usage, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, failure to notify SOS of an address change and failure to wear a seat belt.

At the time of publication on Thursday evening, the vehicle was recovered from impound and Genisio was discharged from the hospital. The extent of his injuries was unable to be released by medical personnel.

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Community News

Gillespie council discusses budget and meeting process

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Treasurer Dan Fisher addresses the council.

Treasurer Dan Fisher (right) addresses the council.

The treasurer for the City of Gillespie had a lot to say about how city officials handle their subcommittees and how city funds are spent during the city’s committee meeting held Monday evening, July 27.

Dan Fisher, the elected treasurer for Gillespie, spoke to the council for over 30 minutes about how bills are paid and more importantly, how purchases are appropriated for and planned. During the city’s board meeting held earlier this month, Fisher suggested the council move their meeting dates to coincide with how the bills are paid.

He explained that many council members bring up issues or have questions about certain bills during the council meetings, but the questions are left to be answered by the city clerk who isn’t present at the board meetings. In addition to dragging out the meetings, Fisher said the questions should be taken care of before the meeting is held.

“We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things,” Fisher told the council Monday evening. “We need to spend more time on appropriating.”

We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things

Fisher distributed a “Budget Basics” packet to board members during the committee meeting held Monday and said the council should consider implementing a purchase order system to account for all purchases. “That way when the bills come in, we can match the form up with it and everyone knows what the purchase was for and what account it comes out of,” he clarified.

Council members agreed with what Fisher had to say to them. “We need to spend a lot of time when do our appropriation and it’s going to take a lot of time from everyone, including myself,” he continued. “We need to find a way to be collective in how we do things.”

Fisher closed by adding that the council also takes too long at their regular city council meetings, which are held on the second Monday of each month. Speaking of the city’s July meeting that lasted nearly 3 hours, Fisher said the council needs to be much more “business-like”.

“We take too long at our meetings,” he closed. “It’s been proven that people lose focus after 90 minutes and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get a meeting done in 1 hour and 15 minutes.”

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City clerk Frances Smith spoke up after Fisher referred to the council’s last meeting. She prefaced her statement by saying she didn’t intend to saying anything, but continued by saying that the council’s July 13th meeting took her three days to transcribe. “It makes the clerk’s job hard – whoever it is,” she said. “There is a lot of side conversations and it’s very hard to hear on the tape.”

Ash Street Project

Alderman Steve Kluthe informed the board that he received the bid specifications back for the Ash Street Project which allows the council to advertise the specs to get an idea how much drainage project will cost.

Kluthe said the bid specifications cover everything including equal opportunity employer and prevailing wage information, but said the project could probably be handled by a local contractor. The project includes installing a culvert that will transfer the water to Cherry Street.

The council hopes the completed project will then alleviate the water that currently gets backed up north of Ash Street. “They are going to put a culvert underneath Ash Street to the north and grade the ground on the north side so the water flows to the culvert and down to the south end where there is a storm drain,” Kluthe explained.

TIF District

We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development

Fisher informed the council that the tax bills for the TIF district went out and the city can expect to receive close to $60,000. He reminded the council that even though the city made a big payment to United Community Bank last year in excess of $90,000, there will still be a payment made to UCB for their portion paid into the TIF until the TIF expires, which Fisher said is 12-14 more years.

After the city pays UCB, Fisher said the council can expect to still have somewhere north of $40,000 remaining each year. “I would like us to start to look at other projects that meet the TIF criteria that we could spend $20-$30,000 per year,” Fisher explained. “Long-range projects – projects that could last 10-12 years. We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development.”

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Elementary School News

Elementary school releases supply lists for fall

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School Supply 2

Kindergarten

  • 5 boxes CRAYOLA brand crayons (24 count)
  • 1 box CRAYOLA brand broad-line markers (classic)
  • 1 backpack
  • 1 box of water paints
  • 1 pair FISKAR brand scissors (children’s)
  • 6 large glue sticks
  • 1 small plastic school box
  • 4 pocket folders
  • 4 large erasers
  • 20 pencils (#2, lead, plain yellow)
  • 2 boxes of Kleenex
  • 2 rolls of paper towels
  • 2 containers of anti-bacterial wipes
  • 1 large box of sandwich size ZIPLOC bags (girls)
  • 1 large box of gallon ZIPLOC bags (boys)
  • 1 clipboard
  • 1 highlighter
  • 1 spiral 1-subject notebook (wide ruled)
  • Extra set of clothes to keep at school
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

First Grade

  • 1 plastic school box
  • 3 packs of pencil top erasers
  • 2 large pink erasers
  • 5 packs of Ticonderoga brand pencils
  • 2 yellow highlighters
  • 2 boxes of CRAYOLA crayons (24 count)
  • 12 Elmer’s brand glue sticks
  • 1 pair of FISKAR brand scissors
  • 1 spiral 1-subject notebook (wide ruled)
  • 2 plastic 2-pocket folders
  • 1 8ct classic CRAYOLA fine line markers
  • 2 dry erase markers
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • 2 boxes of Kleenex
  • 3 containers of Clorox Anti-Bacterial Wipes
  • 1 box of sandwich size ZIPLOC bags (girls)
  • 1 box of gallon ZIPLOC bags (boys)
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.
  • Extra set of clothes to keep at school

Second Grade

  • Handheld pencil sharpener
  • 8 large Elmer’s glue sticks
  • 1 large zippered pencil bag
  • 24 – #2 pencils
  • 1 wide ruled spiral notebook
  • 1 package wide ruled loose leaf paper
  • (2) 1” three ring binder
  • 1 pack of pencil top erasers
  • 1 pair of FISKARS brand pointed scissors
  • 1 yellow highlighter
  • 1 box broad line classic CRAYOLA markers
  • 2 boxes CRAYOLA crayons (24 count)
  • 2 plastic pocket folders
  • 1 CRAYOLA watercolor paints
  • 1 box of Kleenex
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • Large Ziploc bags
  • Sandwich size Ziploc bags
  • 2 containers of Clorox wipes
  • 1 box of CRAYOLA colored pencils
  • 2 dry erase markers
  • Extra set of clothes to leave at school
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

Third Grade

  • 1 small school box
  • 4 packages of pencils (#2, plain yellow)
  • 2 boxes CRAYOLA crayons (24 count)
  • 1 box CRAYOLA colored pencils
  • 1 highlighter
  • 1 pair pointed scissors
  • 6 ELMER glue sticks
  • 2 pocket folders
  • 3 boxes Kleenex
  • 2 containers of CLOROX wipes
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • 1 package of loose leaf paper (wide rule)
  • 2 notebooks (wide rule)
  • (2) 1” binders
  • 2 packs of pencil top erasers
  • Gallon-sized Ziploc bags (boys)
  • Sandwich-sized Ziploc bags (girls)
  • 2 packages of post-it notes
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

Fourth Grade

  • 2 packages of wide rule loose leaf paper
  • 48 pencils
  • 3 packs pencil top erasers
  • (1) 2” binder
  • 1 box 24 or 48 count CRAYOLA crayons
  • 1 pair FISKAR scissors
  • 1 box of colored pencils
  • 1 single subject notebook (wide rule)
  • 3 folders
  • 2 packages of white index cards
  • 4 highlighters
  • 4 packages of post-it notes
  • 2 boxes Kleenex
  • 1 container of Clorox wipes
  • Hand held Pencil Sharpener
  • Dividing tabs for binder
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

Fifth Grade

  • Art Box
  • Pencil Pouch
  • 36 pencils (mechanical preferred)
  • 12 pencil top erasers
  • Crayola crayons
  • Markers
  • Crayola Colored Pencils
  • Red or Blue Pen
  • Scissors
  • Clear Ruler
  • Clear Protractor
  • 1 Bottle of Elmer’s Glue or 2 Glue Sticks
  • (1) 3 Ring Binder (2 inch)
  • 2 notebooks (one subject-wide ruled)
  • 1 package of loose leaf paper (wide ruled)
  • 3 folders
  • 2 highlighters
  • 2 boxes Kleenex
  • Girls-Antibacterial Wipes
  • Boys-4 pack of post it notes
  • Hand Held Pencil Sharpener
  • Pocket Dictionary
  • Tennis shoes for P.E.

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