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Wesley Township Board Minutes

May 13, 2008   

Supervisor Spears called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m.

Present were Supervisor Spears, Road Commissioner Rodawold, Clerk Vasko and Trustees, Kennedy, Stetzo, Donohue and St. Jean.

Trustee Donohue motioned to accept the minutes from the April 8, 2008 meeting.  Supervisor St. Jean seconded the motion; the motion was carried unanimously by voice vote.

Trustee Stetzo questioned what the loan bills were for.  Supervisor Spears replied that one was a payment on the building loan and the other was a loan whose interest rate had risen to 5.2%.  Trustee Kennedy pointed out that those loans were paid off without board approval, as were all the bills listed on the sheet of paper headed “May bills already paid.”  She then questioned how the money from the sale of the town hall was moved to the Road fund without board approval.  She indicated that the minutes from April do not reflect a motion to that effect.  She then questioned other board members if they remembered making a motion.  She then asked Road Commissioner Rodawold if he had told Supervisor Spears to pay those bills.  He responded he had not.  Clerk Vasko said that she remembered a day when she heard Rodawold tell Spears to pay certain bills.  Rodawold replied that he did tell Spears to pay bills associated with the construction of the new building.  Clerk Vasko said that those bills were paid without the authorization of the board.  Rodawold replied that the money from the sale of the town hall had already been approved and anything to do with the construction loan was already pre-approved.  Kennedy Trustee responded that one of the primary responsibilities of the trustees was to approve bills.  She said, “If we do nothing else we are supposed to approve the bills.” 

Trustee Kennedy said that at the town meeting the voters had asked the board to move the monies from the sale of the town hall to the road fund.  She went on to say that no motion by the board had taken place to actually move the money.  She asked Trustee St. Jean if there was a motion made and St. Jean replied there was not. 

Trustee Donahue questioned the TOIRMA bill; Rodawold replied that it was for the Road District’s insurance.  Clerk Vasko then informed the board that there was four sets of bills in front of the board, May road bills to be approved that have not been paid yet, town bills that have not been paid yet, assessor’s bills that have not been paid yet, and a list of bills that have already been paid without prior board approval.  Trustee Kennedy stated that she wanted to go on record that she was unhappy with bills coming before the board that have already been paid, and that she would seek help from the State’s Attorney’s office.

 At this point many comments from the floor were made, but they were not recognized by the Supervisor so are not included in these minutes.

Trustee Donahue requested the meeting continue and a motion to accept the Township bills of $4,480.89, was made by Donohue, motion seconded by Trustee St. Jean. Roll call vote was taken – Donohue yes, Kennedy – present, Stetzo- yes, St. Jean – yes, Spears – yes.  Motion carried.

Assessor’s bills of $35.00 were presented, it was then stated that the bill was actually a town bill that was sent to the Assessor by mistake.  Trustee Donohue made a motion to accept the bill as a town fund bill, motion seconded by Trustee Stetzo.  Roll call vote was taken – Donohue yes, Kennedy – present, Stetzo- yes, St. Jean – yes, Spears – yes.  Motion carried.

 Road Commissioner Rodawold presented bills of $12,107.60 from the road fund.  He then told the board that Mallory Schmeader and Terry Frost donated over 300 hours patching roads that they did not bill the Road District.  Trustee Donohue made a motion to accept the road bills, seconded by Supervisor St. Jean. Roll call vote was taken – Donohue – yes, Kennedy – present, Stetzo- yes, St. Jean – yes, Spears – yes.  Motion carried. 

Supervisor Spears reported that he received a check for $5,780 for the sale of the two trucks that was immediately applied to the building loan.  He said that the building loan was down to $107, 633.34, loan number 40580.  He also deposited the $144 from fines.  Trustee Kennedy questioned why that loan was paid off first and Spears explained that the loan that was paid off had jumped to 5.2% interest.  He explained that the loans that were paid off were 40601 for $8,000 and 40097 for $20,961.72.  He explained that there was a new loan 14704 for $19,700.94 for the two new trucks. So in total there are two loans out as of April 29. 

 Office manager Tennant asked why the new trucks were so cheap and Road Commissioner Rodawold explained that they were on state bids.  Spears then gave the total of $189.297.31 paid for the new building.  Trustee Kennedy then questioned the purchase of the trucks without prior approval of the board.  She said she had contacted our lawyer Robert Wisnieski and he had said that board approval was necessary for the purchase of vehicles.  Road Commissioner Rodawold replied that as long as the purchase was in the budget no prior approval was necessary.  Supervisor Spears then reported on the first real estate taxes to come in for the year.  They were $602.39 in the Town Fund, $31.78 in General Assistance, $817.15 in the Road Fund, and $330.57 split between the Equipment Fund and the Bridge Fund.  Spears then said that the future budget would need to accommodate these new expenses. 

Spears then reported the purchase by the Forest Preserve of land on Manteno Road, the old Byron property, except for the two parcels directly on Forked Creek of 140 acres.  Spears also said that two tax bills were missing as the township owns 6 pieces of property and we only received four.

Clerk Vasko then presented various correspondence that had come in during the month, including three feed backs from our website.  

Road Commissioner Rodawold then read the provisions in Township law that allow him to purchase equipment with loans without prior board approval. 

Supervisor Spears was asked who was running our website and he replied that Dennis Spears was doing it for right now.  Trustee Donahue commented that this was being down without the approval of the board.  A discussion ensued about how the website worked.  

Supervisor Spears requested that Ken Goodwin come in to do our annual audit.  Some said that he did a good job in the past, however some questioned if the process should go out for bids.  Trustee Kennedy asked if Spears would research who was doing other township’s audits.  Since the audit did not have to be done until September it was decided to see if other bids could be obtained.  Spears said he would see if he could get a few quotes for the next meeting.

Dan Jay reported on the Land Use meeting where a new Comprehensive Plan was discussed.  Exactly how to go about it was discussed and it was decided to look at other comprehensive plans and go from there.

Clerk Vasko introduced Mr. Norton who had initially complained to the Township about broadband interference from a street light near his home.  He then reported that there might be funds available to pay streetlights from the Department of Home Land Security or other sources because of our proximity to two nuclear facilities.  He said that he would work with Clerk Vasko on obtaining those resources.  Clerk Vasko asked for a verbal approval for her to work with Mr. Norton on this problem.  They did approve.

Trustee Kennedy questioned who was in charge of assigning a chair for the land used committee.  It was determined that Supervisor Spears appointed the committee and they chose their own chair.  The members of the Land Use Committee were named, Ben Galen, Mark Olsen, Dan Jay, and Dennis Spears.  There was no citizen comment. The next town meeting would be june 10th.

The public hearing for budgets would be on May 27 

 St. Jean made a motion to adjourn, Stetzo seconded.  Voice vote was taken, motion passed.  Meeting was adjourned at 8:06 p.m.

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Wesley Township Board Minutes

April 8, 2008

            Supervisor Spears called the meeting to order at 8:35 p.m.

               Present were Supervisor Spears, Road Commissioner Rodawold, Assessor Rodawold, Clerk Vasko and Trustees, Kennedy, Stetzo, Donohue and St. Jean.

Trustee Kennedy remarked that some bills to be paid by the road district were more that 30 days old.  Road Commissioner Rodawold replied that some of his employees hold on to their hours and submit them every six months or even once a year. 

Trustee Stetzo motioned to accept the minutes from the March 11, 2008 meeting and the March 25, 2008 meetings.  Supervisor Spears seconded the motion; the motion was carried unanimously by voice vote.

Supervisor Spears presented the Township bills of $270.80 with no General Assistance. Trustee Kennedy made a motion to accept the Township bills, motion seconded by Trustee Donahue  Roll call vote was taken – Donohue yes, Kennedy – yes, Stetzo- yes, St. Jean – yes, Spears – yes.  Motion carried.

Assessor’s bills of $576.00 were presented.  Trustee Kennedy made a motion to accept the Assessor’s bills, motion seconded by Trustee Donahue.  Roll call vote was taken – Donohue yes, Kennedy – yes, Stetzo- yes, St. Jean – yes, Spears – yes.  Motion carried.

Discussion was had as to how much the Sprint bill was as two bills dated the same day were received.  Trustee St. Jean looked at them and interpreted them for us.  A question from Office Manager Debbie Tennant about personal phone calls on the bill was resolved.  Road Commissioner Rodawold presented bills of $16,320.33 from the road fund.  Trustee St. Jean made a motion to accept the road bills, seconded by Supervisor Spears. Roll call vote was taken – Donohue – yes, Kennedy – no, Stetzo- yes, St. Jean – yes, Spears – yes.  Motion carried.  St. Jean asked Kennedy to initial the sheet that indicated she saw the road bills, Kennedy declined.

Supervisor Spears gave his report, he asked for approval of a bill for $200 for General Assistance claim that was paid with out board approval.  Roll call vote was taken – Donohue yes, Kennedy – yes, Stetzo- yes, St. Jean – yes, Spears – yes.  Motion carried.

Spears reported that the Will County Land Use asked him for permission for a demolition in 100-quarter section in Section 21 and he replied in the affirmative.  He reported that the county and city of Wilmington were confused about our address and he had to straighten both of them out.  He received a report from Pat McGuire about monies received.  It was to go into the audit file. He received a levy report that stated the average assessed valued was around $28,500 the average property would pay about $103 to the township and if we went up to the max it would be $285. 

He presented the town budget and the changes that need to be made to make the town budget balance.  Road Commissioner Rodawold discussed a lawsuit that is pending regarding accepting of a road.  He stated that he would not accept it unless the money offered was quite a bit over what is being offered now, as the road is not up to specs.  He said they are trying to settle out of court and TOI is representing us.  He took random road samples and determined there was a 60% failure rate.

Clerk Vasko wanted it put in the Minutes to congratulate her husband on their 37^th wedding anniversary.  All present agreed.  Trustee Kennedy wanted it put in the minutes that she caught a $18.76 and that she looked at her paperwork.

Spears reported that Illinois Funds would be a better place to put our money than the bank we use now.  The objection to removing the funds from a local bank was not valid as those banks are no longer local, but owned by foreign investors.  We would probably get about 2% more interest on our accounts.  Kennedy made a motion to table the decision until next meeting, Trustee St. Jean seconded.  Voice vote was taken, motion passed.

There was no land use report, no citizen comment.

Stetzo made a motion to adjourn, St. Jean seconded.  Voice vote was taken, motion passed. 

Meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

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