REGULAR MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF TAMPICO

July 15, 2025, 7:00 PM
Reagan Community Center

Mayor Bruce Peltier called the Regular Meeting of the Tampico Village Council to order at 7:00PM.

Commissioners Sherry Coleman, Susan Dean, Jim Coleman and Tammy Kendell were present. Chief Strike was also present. Village Clerk, Jamie McIntire, was present and recorded the written and audio minutes.

Mayor Peltier led those present in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Minutes of the July 1, 2025 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.

Reports of Village Officials
Mayor Peltier advised that Superintend Chriest provided an itemized estimate for the possible purchase of generators for the lift stations. Mayor Peltier said this was placed in the budget, but we also have to go off of what the account has for funding. Clerk McIntire said the Village just received the first payment from property taxes and will receive a few more as the months go on, so the accounts look pretty good right now. Commissioner Dean asked we did budget for this purchase? Mayor Peltier said yes. I’m not sure if we want to purchase both at once or spread it out and do one now and one later. Clerk McIntire said she can look at the line items that were budgeted for that purchase and let the Mayor and Council know where that all stands at the next meeting. Commissioner Dean said it would be a good purchase. Mayor Peltier said it’s one of those things where you’ll only have to use it so much, but when you do need it, it will make a huge difference.

Remarks from Guests
Beverly Adamson was on the agenda to discuss building plans, but she did not attend the meeting. There were no remarks from guests.

Unfinished Business
The Council began to discuss / approve how to handle gWorks situation. Mayor Peltier said he’s been communicating with gWorks, and communication has been very limited. Mayor Peltier would email them, and it would be 3 to 4 weeks before he’d receive a response, and the only reason they responded is because another email was sent. Clerk McIntire advised that gWorks reimbursed the Village $3,350.00 which was about half of what the onboarding fee cost. They got through maybe half of the onboarding process, so that’s why they reimbursed that amount. They also charged us for the annual subscription, which was a little over $5,000 and we never got to the point where we could use the program. They have not been willing to entertain refunding that amount. Mayor Peltier said they’ve even been reluctant to respond to my emails. Mayor Peltier asked the Council if they feel we should get the Village’s attorney involved or just cut our loss and make a better business bureau complaint, which either way I want to do that. Commissioner Dean said we should definitely have the attorney contact them. Commissioner Kendell said that’s a lot of money to pay for a program we’ll never use. Mayor Peltier said we weren’t even to the point where we were remotely close to using it. I don’t see how they still want us to pay an annual subscription fee. Kendell said we should pass it to Shirk and have him draft a letter to them telling them this is the way it’s going to be. Clerk McIntire said just playing devils advocate with the situation, even though it was very shady how they had their contract presented to us, there is a part in the contract that could possibly deter us from receiving more of a refund. My only worry is if we get Mr. Shirk involved, will the cost of that takeaway from the money we were refunded. Kendell said but in reality, we should have another $5,000 coming back to us. Clerk McIntire said I agree. Dean said let’s reach out to Mr. Shirk and ask how much it is to draft a letter of intent to go after them. That should be the cheaper option and sometimes that’s all it takes. Mayor Peltier
said I’ll work on the better business bureau complaint. Commissioner S. Coleman said I’ve heard other communities having the same problems with this company. Mayor Peltier said it was 6 months when they only got through half of the onboarding process and that’s when we said that’s enough. Dean said let’s reach out to Mr. Shirk and go from there.

New Business
A motion was made by Commissioner Dean, second by Commissioner S. Coleman, to approve a lease agreement renewal for RCC Room Rental #2 with Lawrence Batten Trucking LLC for 2 years starting August 1, 2025 and ending July 31, 2027 at $150.00 a month. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.

Next on the agenda was to review / discuss / approve Resolution NO.R02-25-07-15 a Resolution of the Village of Tampico, Illinois Adopting the Debt Management Policy. Clerk McIntire said this was discussed at the last meeting. It’s something our auditors suggest we have in place. Mr. Shirk put this resolution together and it was reviewed by the auditors with their approval. A motion to approve the resolution was made by Commissioner Kendell, second by Commissioner J. Coleman. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.

Last under new business was to discuss / approve hiring part-time police. Commissioner S. Coleman said Chief Strike and I have discussed that we probably won’t get anybody for $20.00 an hour or even $25.00 or $30.00 an hour. But we thought we could put it out there and see if someone is interested. We’re not sure what else to do. Chief Strike is shorthanded, and we have a lot of business to take care of around here. Commissioner J. Coleman asked if Will is still on board. Chief Strike said he can only help about 3 to 4 days a month because he went to Morrison. He helps when he can but when they have overtime over there, it’s a lot more money. Commissioner Dean asked when was the last time we did a wage evaluation of what the police officers are making? Mayor Peltier said we didn’t do a wage evaluation, but we just did their raises. Dean said I’m aware of that but ever so often we should get ahold of surrounding towns that are similar to us. Commissioner Kendell said Lyndon can’t even do it. They can’t even afford it, so County covers them. Mayor Peltier said yes, they elected to go to Whiteside County. Kendell said there’s no way at $30.00 to $35.00 an hour that we could do that. J. Coleman asked if Lyndon has any trouble with Whiteside covering. Chief Strike said they do an hour and a half in the morning and an hour and a half at night, and if 911 calls come in, they have to respond to that. J. Coleman said but that community is paying for that service, right? Mayor Peltier said yes. I can talk to Tyler Scott but from what I understood that coverage gets pretty pricey. Mayor Peltier said I’ll call Tyler and ask him. Chief Strike said County charges Lyndon around $50,000 for coverage. J. Coleman said I thought it was closer to $60,000 but I’m not sure. Mayor Peltier said we can put the ad out there and see what happens. Clerk McIntire said she could contact Around Ptown and ask how much it would be to run an ad with them. Clerk McIntire said she found an ad from a few years back when the Village was trying to find part-time police help, but I wasn’t sure what the PTI certified meant. Chief Strike said they have to go to State and pass a routine test, just like when going into the military. Dean said physical training. Chief Strike said we had 5 applications in Prophetstown and 2 didn’t make it. We had 1 that didn’t show and 1 that we’re sending to the academy in August. Chief Strike said Rock Falls is half down with their police department. J. Coleman said and Whiteside is still short. Chief Strike said no one wants to be a cop anymore. J. Coleman said why would you want to be. Dean said absolutely. Kendell asked if County is coming over this weekend to help with Tampico Days? Chief Strike said Oosty is coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday to help and I have the Police Chief from Prophetstown coming to help Saturday night. Will is also going to cover Thursday night. Kendell said unless someone has a magical solution, I don’t know what else we can do. Kendell asked what does Walnut have for a police department? Chief Strike said I’m not sure. I don’t even know who the Chief is. I think the only department that’s full is Fulton. Morrison is down 1 and Erie is trying to work with Albany. Dean said I’d be interested to see what Walnut has. Village resident, Bonnie Anderson, said the Men’s Club used to have to pay half, then the Village paid half, for the Mounted Police for Tampico Days. It might be something the festival committee should look into. Dean said that might be something to look into for the future. It might be worth looking into asking Walnut if there’s someone who would want to pick up a few hours here. Clerk McIntire said she can show this ad to Chief Strike then make copies for everyone to review at the next meeting.

Village resident, Deb TerBush, said Prophetstown posted back in May, they posted what they’re doing. They’re doing part-time employees level one was $21.00 an hour. That was back in May, and they haven’t posted since then. That was in the Prophetstown Echo. Chief Strike said they just went to $24.00 and $25.00 an hour and $30.00 for liable transfer. Mayor Peltier said we’ll work on that and get some more information. I’ll also contact Tyler Scott in Lyndon to see how that’s working.

Building Permits
Building Permits approved by Zoning Administrator, Tyler Chriest, were 208 S. Fremont St. – Roof, 215 S. Benton St. – Roof, 300 N. Lincoln St. – Deck Boards and 106 W. Glassburn St. – Roof.

Communications
Clerk McIntire said I’m part of a Municipal Clerks email chain where clerks from all over ask each other questions, and recently it was asked what other communities charge for deposits on utility accounts. The majority of responses said they charge $100 for both homeowners and renters. We currently charge $40 for homeowners and $75 for renters. Our minimum utility bill is $91.72. If we’re left with a balance when they move, that deposit does not cover that cost. It’s usually not a problem with homeowners, but it happens quite a bit with renters. Then it’s up to the owner of the property to take care of that final bill. Clerk McIntire said I wasn’t sure if you’d be interested in increasing either of those deposit fees. Commissioner Dean said the deposit fee should be what one month’s service is. Clerk McIntire said there was an additional topic with this email that really stuck out to me. There was a community that said they charge individuals when they receive a red tag notice for being past due on their utility payment. They charge a $25 fee every time someone receives a red tag notice. We have on average 50-60 red tags a month. Mayor Peltier said I believe when we discussed it in the office the other day, we spend right around $500 a year on red tag door hangers. Commissioner Kendell said I don’t know why we don’t charge them for the red tags because you have Tyler’s time to hang all of them and then his time to shut the utilities off. Clerk McIntire said you also have Jennifer’s time to hand write on all these red tags every month. Dean asked would we have to give them a 30-day notice that they’ll start being charged for red tags? Mayor Peltier asked when a person receives a red tag, how late are they? Clerk McIntire said they’re over a month behind. We do give them time between when they receive their red tag to the shut off date to pay that past due balance before being shut off. If their service is shut off, they have to pay their balance in full plus a $50 shut off fee before having their service reconnected, and we have 3 business days from the time of payment before we have to reconnect their service. Tyler is pretty good about getting them reconnected once they pay, as long as he’s not in the middle of something. Mayor Peltier said to place this topic on the agenda for the next meeting to review the deposits and delinquency status for utilities, then we can decide what we want the deposit to be and the red tag fee. Kendell said this might save you from having to red tag, period. Clerk McIntire said that’s what we’re hoping. Kendell said if people see they now have to pay for a red tag…Mayor Peltier said some people have said when I get a red tag, I look at that as my bill. Clerk McIntire said one person even told Tyler don’t worry, this is job security for you. Dean said if they have to start paying for that red tag, they might think twice about that. Clerk McIntire said I’m assuming this will require an update on the ordinance, so I will wait to reach out to Mr. Shirk until you decide what you want to charge for both the deposits and the red tag fees.

Commissioner Kendell said before we go to bills, what’s going on with Margaret Glassburn’s old house on the edge of town? Chief Strike said they were evicted on Friday, and I talked to Don Amery today. His attorney is sending them a letter, and it sounds like they’ll get 30 days. They’re also going to be getting letters from us for the brush, the trailer, the golfcart and all that junk by the garage. I’ll send it to them and Don Amery. Kendell said because in reality, if they don’t do anything about it, it falls back on the homeowner. Commissioner J. Coleman said and the fines. Chief Strike said correct. Kendell said that’s the first house you see when you come into this town. Chief Strike said I talked to them a little bit on Saturday, and I’ve done this job for a long time. I’ve never seen anything like this. Kendell said as long as Don understands that if they don’t get things moving, the fines fall on him. Chief Strike said he and I talked for half an hour this morning. He notified them last Friday that they’re done and he met with his attorney today and it’ll be however long it takes the attorney to get them evicted. Commissioner S. Coleman asked if he’s paid anything in fines. Chief Strike said they’re in court with 2 of them right now. J. Coleman asked if they pay on their utility bill. Clerk McIntire said they’re current right now but have a bill due at the end of this month. They’re not past due. S. Coleman asked if any fines have been paid. Clerk McIntire said I have not seen any fines been paid. Chief Strike said he’s just now going to start getting fines. We can also get him on the property maintenance code with violations through that. There are all kinds of different codes through that, like having to have a fence around your pool. Commissioner Dean said and not a pallet fence. Kendell said if we don’t start taking the steps to get really serious about it, we’re never going to get this cleaned up. Like the abandoned house by me, that guy lives in New York. Are we maintaining that property? Chief Strike said yes. He made an agreement to pay $600 for us to mow it and I sent him a bill, but we haven’t received anything. Kendell said we have to start doing something. Chief Strike said a lot of these properties, they jump it from owner to owner. The Abell house is on its third owner. The one by Randy and Anna is owned by somebody out of Florida. The one by Bonnie is owned by somebody out of Aurora, but they have been cleaning and mowing at that property. Bonnie Anderson said they come every 2 weeks and mow and have cleaned the house out. There’s still work there to be done. Kendell said when we start sending out letters, especially to like the person in New York, it needs to be a certified letter, so we have their signature on it. Then if we choose to take the next step, we’ve covered step one of proof that they’ve received the letter. S. Coleman said we have 6 places here in town that need taken care of. Dean said I get that it takes time to get a project completed, but you have to show movement and show that you’re doing something. Bonnie Anderson said the house by me, they’re finishing up another one in Mt. Carroll then they’re really going to start working on the one by me. Kendell said as long as we see movement. We know it doesn’t happen overnight. Bonnie Anderson said someone needs to look at Bev Adamsons house on Market Street. It’s trash. The garage and driveway are packed with garbage and looks worse than any of her rentals. Chief Strike said I took pictures of that one today and she’ll be getting letters tomorrow. She’ll have 7 days to clean that up. S. Coleman said let’s start doing certified letters. Chief Strike said the fines are from $100 then you go up to $300 then you’re up to $750. We can start it at $300 if you want. Dean said absolutely. Kendell said I don’t know how many more times we have to ask politely, and they tell us one thing then nothing gets moved. S. Coleman said same for the guy on Main Street with the old Chriest Garage. The guys got that all clean up. Chief Strike said we sent him $400 in fines, $300 for cleaning up and $100 for gas. He’s in Sterling. Kendell said start sending them certified. Charge them for it being certified and if we take them to court, they have to pay the attorney fees. Chief Strike said a few that haven’t paid have had vehicles towed because we can do that. Mayor Peltier said we have discussed hiring another lawyer for the Bev situation since we can’t use Shirk. Matt Cole did reach out to me and said he couldn’t help with the 107 W. Market because they just recently represented Bev on something else. He did give me a contact for somebody else and Chief Strike said there’s someone in Fulton we can reach out to. Kendell said I also asked Courtney Kennedy out of Dixon if her company would be interested. Mayor Peltier said that’s who Matt Cole recommended. There will be more to follow on this after more phone calls are made.

Bills were ordered paid on a motion by Commissioner Kendell, second by Commissioner J. Coleman. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 7:32 PM. The next Regular Meeting of the Tampico Village Council is Scheduled for Tuesday, August 5, 2025 at 7:00 PM in the Reagan Community Center located at 202 W. Second Street.

Jamie M. McIntire
Clerk
Bruce Peltier
Mayor

MINUTES APPROVED THIS 5th DAY OF August, 2025

**These minutes are not official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**