REGULAR MEETING OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL OF THE VILLAGE OF TAMPICO
August 4, 2026, 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.
Village Chief of Police, Terry Strike, and Village Superintendent, Tyler Chriest, were 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 21, 2026 Regular Meeting were approved as presented.
Reports of Village Officials
Superintendent Chriest started by thanking the IMPACT Program and its volunteers who did some community service hours in the Village.
Chriest advised that he spoke with a representative with Lectronics who provides burglar alarm services for the Village. There have been some issues with the Frontier communication lines. A cell dialer was priced out at $395.00 and then it would be an additional $47.00 a month. Chriest said we currently pay roughly $30.00 a month for the phone line so it would be an increase of approximately $17.00 a month if we went this route. We could use an internet dialer out at the wastewater facility because we do have the internet there, but we’d have to do some type of cell dialer at the water plant or get the Frontier issues straightened around.
Chriest also reported that he received a call from a member of IDOT stating they’ve been in town doing some surveying and right now, they’re trying to put together a project where they would address some sidewalk issues. It would be companied with a resurface project, but none of the funds have been approved so this is a project that would most likely be several years down the road. Mayor Peltier asked if this would be along Main Street. Chriest replied yes.
Mayor Peltier asked if the Lectronis situation is something that needs to be taken care of quickly. Chriest replied that the alarm does sound, but there’s issues with the communication with the police department because of that telephone line. Chriest said we do have internet service at the wastewater plant. Mayor Peltier asked if we could get the same internet service at the water treatment plant too. Chriest said we could. I’ll check into that. Commissioner Dean said that would be an easier solution, wouldn’t it? Mayor Peltier asked either way, would we have to purchase a dialer? Chriest said if we got internet at the water treatment plant, no. We could run it through the internet. Mayor Peltier said lets check both and see what it would cost us to get the internet there.
Chief Strike reported that all the paperwork has been mailed to Larry Harrell and the fines will start for him on September 2nd.
Chief Strike also reported that he’s not heard back from Beverly Adamson, so she’ll receive two fines tomorrow and after speaking with the Mayor, we’ll turn this over to the Village attorney. Mayor Peltier advised that he also has a letter drafted to give to her as well. It outlines the ordinance and where we are in the process since she hasn’t reached out to you. Chief Strike said he just received another complaint about her, so he’ll have to follow up on that tomorrow as well. Commissioner Kendell asked if he’s talking about her pool situation. Chief Strike said yes. Mayor Peltier said it’s gotten to the point that if she’s not going to do anything, we’ll have to talk to the attorney and let him know that we’re going to abate the issue ourselves. We need to get that liner out. Chief Strike said she won’t come to the door when I knock on it. She needs to take care of her yard too because it’s a mess. Commissioner Dean said she needs to take care of the liner and all the buckets she has sitting there. Chief Strike said we need to take care of the bees. The Mayor has talked to the DNR about the bees. Mayor Peltier said I called them again today. He said he’s the only one who does what he does and he hopes to get there next week. She has like a box there, but any beehive is supposed to be permitted through the DNR.
Resident Rick Dean commented that he read that if you have a hive within a Village, you’re supposed to have bird netting above them so they can fly 6 feet above the ground.
Resident Riley Scanlan commented that I think you can go through the Illinois Department of Agriculture for the bee situation. The bees don’t really bother me, I just want to get the pool liner out of there because the water is bad. Mayor Peltier said she did drain it, but she didn’t take the liner out so every time it rains, it’s still holding water. Scanlan said I can see that there’s still water in there because it’s been a while since she’s drained it. The muck on the side of the pool attracts wasps. One day we came home and there were like 50 wasps. We couldn’t even get in our back door because it was so bad. I just want to know where we’re at with the liner situation. Commissioner Dean said we’re doing what we have to do and following the proper legal steps, so it’s taken care of correctly. Scanlan said I’m just trying to get on the same page. Commissioner Kendell said that’s where we’re at. Her timeline was up today for that liner, right? Chief Strike said June 26th is when this process began, so she’s had plenty of time. Mayor Peltier advised that initially, we just asked her to drain it and didn’t fine her, but since she didn’t take the liner out it didn’t resolve the issue. Chief Strike added she won’t even respond to me now when I try to reach out to her. Mayor Peltier informed Scanlan that he’ll keep in contact with him as well so he’s aware of where the Village is at with the situation.
A motion was made by Commissioner S. Coleman, second by Commissioner Dean, to approve a fence permit for 305 E. Market St. – T. Frank. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
Remarks from Guests
Mayor Peltier said he’d like to come back to Riley Scanlan. I know we’ve already discussed the situation but just wanted to know if you had anything else to add. Scanlan replied I just wanted to get on the same page. Commissioner Kendell said we’re on your side. Scanlan said I know. The liner is a big thing. That pool can stay there but the liner needs to come out. Kendell said plus the buckets. Anything that’s going to hold water when it rains. Mayor Peltier said I did review the ordinance and all of that is clearly stated in the ordinance. It says that anything that can hold stagnant water needs to be abated. Commissioner Dean said and she’s aware of it. Mayor Peltier said and so is the Health Department. Since the Health Department is County, they want inside Village limits to be handled within the Village. They just follow up on the situation. They have called and asked for the status on the pool.
Resident Stephanie Christensen was on the agenda to discuss Short Term Rentals. Christensen said she pulled up the ordinance for Tampico and what I’m actually doing is a little different. It’s not a short-term rental. What I would like to do is a transient, or a bed and breakfast. I’ve done a lot of research on it, and I would like to share just a few remarks. About a year ago, my family visited and we took a Reagan tour at the museum and the First National Bank, the Woods family, they also built the house that I live in, which is the Nicely home. I noticed that the trim in the bank perfectly matches all the trim throughout my house and I had just got done refinishing my house so that all the hardwood floors have been restored and the trim is painted. It’s a very beautiful home. Everything has been redone and restored back to the historic look. I got the idea at that time of doing a bed and breakfast or some kind of over night stay in Tampico and to work with the Historical Society to have a place so when people come and visit the museum and then also go to the Reagan Museum, but I didn’t think it was the right time then because of my family situation. I have been transitioning to living in Tampico full-time and my son just graduated high school who lives in Dixon. It just wasn’t the right time but now, I’m a schoolteacher and I do work full-time as a schoolteacher, but I would like to go forward on this. I have gone to some of the Historical Museum meetings, and I’ve also talked to the Reagan Museum, and they would like to get rid of Nicely stuff that’s in the museum. Young America has actually taken over the museum, and I’ve contacted Young America and talked to them about maybe they could let me use some of the Nicely stuff if this goes forward. I’d like to decorate the inside of the home to reflect the Nicely stuff and I’ve talked about setting up some kind of thing to show the museum because they have a lot of Nicely stuff in the museum. I think that would be a nice tie because Young America is funding the museum and it’s getting plenty of funding and plenty of foot traffic there. I think linking those together and letting people see both and see the tie into the whole community. I think it would be a nice added thing and that would be the market I’d look for is to tie into the museum and sometimes local people here need a place for like a relative to stay. A resident just had a 60th anniversary and they had to have people stay in Rock Falls. Just things like that where local people could have a place to stay overnight.
Christensen went on and said just to go over the requirements, the ordinance for Tampico, Whiteside County requires that Tampico will get this petition first that I have to fill out. Tampico does in its ordinance allow for bed and breakfast of a transient nature, but not for a short-term rental. I would be doing a transient. I already looked into insurance, and I already got a food handlers license but basically, Whiteside County would have to look at my property to make sure it complies, which I’ve already read everything on that. They would also have to do a fire safety inspection with smoke alarms and all the stuff there like fire extinguishers. I have this to fill out that I need to turn into you guys to see if you’ll approve it. If you do approve it, it will be great, but if not, there would be a hearing process. I intend on getting that to you. I also reached out to Kris who is the only one in Sterling/Rock Falls/Dixon area who has a bed and breakfast. It turns out that my property insurance carrier who would give me coverage for the bed and breakfast also covers her bed and breakfast. I’ve reached out to her, and she is willing to help me. She gave me the information for her website, and I already got a quote for them and they’re willing to set my website for me. She’s been running hers successfully for 7 years. She has a very nice establishment. It’s absolutely beautiful. So that’s my plan is to go that route.
Mayor Peltier said I’ll tell you that I’m not very versed with this because I’ve never dealt with it before. I’ll definitely have some research that I’ll need to do as well. When will you turn in your application or petition? Christensen said I’m going to turn it in this week, but I’ve got the 50 ILCS 820 on bed and breakfast, this is the Illinois law, and it goes over what’s required of you. I’ve got my food handling and what’s required of me there. I have the guest resources that I would need to provide which is like towels and stuff. Then I have the fire safety inspection portion, insurance requirements of me and the taxes. I’ve got that there for you. I also have a copy of the special use petitioners instructions which is the process with Whiteside County. This is how I do it, then it goes to you. This is the law that needs to be followed. The fire inspection would probably have to be handled here. I’ll give you all the information you need. Commissioner Kendell said I like the idea of this because it ties back the heritage of the town and it’s not an Air B&B where anybody is staying for whatever particular reason. Christensen said and it’s transient which means if someone came that’s not welcomed, you can remove them. Also, I would have to, by law, be required to be staying on the premises overnight. Mayor Peltier said thank you and we’ll add this under new business on the next meeting agenda. That will give us time to review everything, make whatever calls we need to and go from there.
Unfinished Business
The Mayor and Council began to review/discuss opening a bank loan with PNB for DCEO out of pocket expenses. Clerk McIntire advised that she spoke with a loan officer at People’s National Bank of Kewanee, and he said that we could use the MFT savings account as collateral since it currently has over $100,000.00 in that account. The interest rate for the loan would be based off the rate we currently get for that account, which is .15%. It would be 2% above that rate, making the interest rate for the loan 2.15%. The term of the loan would be for 1 year with the option to extend which then we would have to pay the interest based on the balance as of that date. Clerk McIntire said that Mr. Shirk said if we do get a loan through the bank, he would have to draft an ordinance for it for you to approve. Mayor Peltier said if we decide to go that route, how long is the process before the loan is approved? I don’t want to get the loan for a year, then by the time we go out for bid it doesn’t get done this year, then we’re into next summer and we’re past that year mark. Even if this is something we’d like to do, I’d like to wait until we know a project date. Clerk McIntire said I spoke with Dan Pepin, and he asked if we have to go out for bid or if we can just get a few quotes. We were told that since we’re a non-home rule municipality we don’t have to go out for bids. If we want to get a couple quotes and we know a company that we’ve worked with in the past and want to work with them, there would just have to be a motion to waive bids and accept the bid amount from whatever company you choose, and it must have 4 out of 5 votes to do it that way. We don’t have to go out for bid if you want to do it that way. I don’t think it would take the bank long to put the loan together if you wanted to wait until we knew more on project dates, but I can double check with the loan officer. Mayor Peltier said so we just need to get some quotes to move forward. Clerk McIntire said yes. Pepin said he will help us with moving forward once he knows if we just want to go the route of getting a few quotes. Commissioner Kendell asked if we have an estimate of what we think it’ll cost? Mayor Peltier said we did but I don’t have it with me. Superintendent Chriest said it’s a few years old. Mayor Peltier said the quote for the portion in front of the post office was right around $80,000.00 and the sidewalk portion was right around $20,000.00. But that was 2 years ago. Chriest said he can reach out to Mike and ask him to refresh it with some newer numbers. The project will be the same, but that number might be eaten up by the post office project, minus the sidewalk. Commissioner Dean said if you reach out to him with the newer numbers, we could have a special meeting. Chriest said I do feel like with some of our projects, the engineers estimate is usually slightly higher than the project cost. Mayor Peltier said the resolution came from when we were considering adding the project to an MFT project. I used that resolution we already had and sent it. Kendell asked would we have to use contractors with prevailing wage? I’m just assuming we’ll have to. Mayor Peltier said at the very least, we got the details on the loan. We’ll figure out if we want to go the bid route or just get a couple of quotes, then we’ll know when we want to take the loan out. Clerk McIntire said would you like to avoid the bid process and get quotes, because I can let Pepin know if that’s what you want to do. Kendell said if you go out for bid it just takes up more time. Chriest said I honestly think it might be too late this year. Mayor Peltier said since the project is on Main Street along 172, I’m assuming we’ll need State permits as well. The contractor will take care of that, but it might also take some time to get those. Clerk McIntire said I’ll reach out to the loan officer about the timing of the loan. Chriest asked do you want me to reach out to people for quotes or will you guys handle that? Mayor Peltier said I’ll talk to you about that after the meeting and we can get a game plan together.
New Business
The Mayor and Council began to review/discuss Tampico Area Role-Playing Game Club at RCC. Mayor Peltier advised that Mike Bornsheuer put together a flier for everyone to review. Mayor Peltier said I think it’s a cool idea that gives the kids something to do. The Commissioner’s agreed. Clerk McIntire said I put together a rental agreement for the club that shows the Village will waive the fees and everything that goes along with renting the space for Bornsheuer to review and sign. Mayor Peltier asked when the club will begin. Bornsheuer said it will begin Thursday, August 13th and run from 4:30PM to 7:30PM. The fliers will be posted around town and on Facebook. Bornsheuer said I know the Village will not be liable for the club. Can I tell those involved that they are liable for any potential damage, or is that on me? Clerk McIntire said you would be the one liable since you’re the one running the activity. The agreement you sign states that. Bornsheuer said ok. I also reached out to Tim Stickle about the pizza he offered, but he said he won’t be able to do that right now, so we probably won’t have any food right now. I will let them know they can bring their own drinks. Clerk McIntire said this will be held in the gym. Commissioner Kendell said please no scooters or roller skates or anything of that nature. Clerk McIntire said we do have signs posted everywhere stating that, but not everyone always follows those rules. Mayor Peltier said I don’t foresee there being problems, but do you have a waiver for the participants to sign? Bornsheuer said no. I’ve decided this to be eligible for years 8 and up and the younger ones, I’ll ask the parents to stay and if there are any issues, those causing them will be asked to leave. Mayor Peltier said we can always adjust it as need be. Bornsheuer said I do have the right to tell those causing problems to leave. The Mayor and Council agreed. Kendell said I wish you all the luck because this went over very well in Milledgeville. A motion to approve was made by Commissioner Dean, second by Commissioner S. Coleman. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried. This club will be held every Thursday other than holidays or if something unforeseen comes up.
Last under new business was to review/discuss/approve the resignation of Village of Tampico Part-Time Police Officer, Brian Oostenryk. Clerk McIntire provided Oostenryk’s resignation letter to the Mayor and Council to review. A motion to approve the resignation effective August 4, 2026, was made by Commissioner S. Coleman, second by Commissioner Kendell. “Yes” votes were S. Coleman, Dean, J. Coleman, Kendell and Mayor Peltier. The motion carried.
Building Permits
Building Permits approved by Zoning Administrator, Tyler Chriest, were 307 E. Kimball St. – Garage Door (2), 201 W. Market St. – Garage Roof, 212 S. Benton St. – Roofing/Gutters, 206 S. Benton St. – Deck, 308 W. Kimball St. – Siding/Roofing/Gutters, 306 E. Third St. – Tool Shed and 211 Canal St. – Deck/Roof Repairs.
Communications
There were no communications to report at this time.
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 7:34PM. The next Regular Meeting of the Tampico Village Council is scheduled for Tuesday, August 18, 2026 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 18th DAY OF August, 2026
**These minutes are not official until signed, dated and sealed by the Village Clerk**
