GREEN GARDEN TOWNSHIP REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 8, 2021
The regular meeting was called to order by Supervisor Murday at 7:00 p.m. with the ability to connect via conference call. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Roll Call In attendance were Trustees Standish, Dietz, Wagner, Newton, Supervisor Murday, Assessor Bushong, Clerk Coffey, and Commissioner Hilliard left before meeting started to clear roads. There was a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held January 11, 2021 as submitted by Trustee Wagner with a second by Trustee Newton. Voice vote: Motion carried.
PLANNING COMMISSION –
Murday: Nothing currently, nothing for February & March. Will speak of Land Use issues in Trustee’s Report. Schultz: Did Planning Commission have prior notice of selling marijuana next to school here? Murday: PC & Township did not receive notice. Marijuana is not sold there, they sell appliances used to smoke it, not a dispensary. They sell oils & soil to grow it but no marijauna. I visited the establishment, owner states no intention to become a dispensary. They are a “Vape Store”. Murday called County, Land Use confirmed it is appropriately zoned & no business license needed, also asked about proximity to school. Land Use didn’t even know they were there. Land Use referred us to Executive Office, Dietz to follow up in his report. Schultz: Type of people using will be trouble. Agenda Change
ASSESSOR’S REPORT – On-going, standard Assessor task/projects
● Appraiser, Real Estate, attorney, County & resident requests.
● Visited new construction sites to apply assessed values as soon as occupancy is complete
● Data entry into PAMS system: property record card information, sales, permits, appeals, photos, exemption paperwork, correspondence, new construction drawings & inquiries into PAMS
● Setup local networking with PAMS so both laptops can access the same PAMS database. Data Entry assistant is now able to work concurrently with the Assessor (more efficient)
● Submitted April 2021 – March 2022 budget to Board for review & questions ahead of time.
Answered budget questions from both Trustees Newton & Dietz. Assessment Values published in local papers
● Each year, Will County SOA office publishes each township’s assessed values, which is a statutory requirement for the County. ➢ Green Garden Township AV’s have always been published in the Farmer’s Weekly. ➢ Due to Covid & lack of advertisements, Farmer’s Weekly publication is no longer printing the number of papers & are no longer mailing out the papers as they have done in the past. Only those with paid subscriptions will continue to receive this publication. There are limited locations around Will County where residents can pick up a copy of the paper. Farmers Weekly plans on developing a website where residents can access their published information in the future. Discussion regarding the Peotone Vedette & areas it serves. Also discussed was Will County using other publications, not serving our area. Murday: Let’s find out from Chris Russell the Vedette’s reach. M. Coffey: Vedette serves the Peotone School District area & should be our main publication. You can live in Florida & receive the Vedette. Wagner: We advertise the Vedette as our Township paper. Newton: Land Use to start in March placing legal notices in the Vedette. Murday: Whatever publication Land Use was using was not serving eastern Will Co. Planning Com. & Township always used Vedette. Coffey: Will Co. Treasurer’s Office uses Vedette for certain publications. Bushong: I’ll go back & discuss with SOA. Covid-19 considerations change tax payments
● Will County board voted to change the tax payments from 2 payments (typically June & September) per year to 4 payments (June, August, September & November). At this time this Covid-19 relief will only apply to the 2021 collection period.
● While this change in collection options may be welcomed by many taxpayers, our taxing bodies will also be affected since some disbursements may be delayed. Soft Appeal – now open until May 15, 2021
● If a Green Garden Twp. taxpayer feels their assessment value is not accurate, they can file a soft appeal by simply completing the form posted on the GGT website. Complete instructions are also posted. This provides the taxpayer an easy method of working with the Township Assessor directly in determining whether or not their assessed value should be changed. Additional copies are available in the back of the Town Hall. New home construction permit increase in GGT over 10 years
● New home construction permits have increased roughly 10 times over the last 10 years, although the Assessor office staff has remained the same.
● Similar increases have also occurred with all construction permits (pole buildings, home additions, detached garages, etc).
● New construction takes a considerable amount of time & resources for the Assessor’s office to effectively assess & maintain. This is in addition to all of the other tasks which the Assessor’s office is responsible for. 21,737 square foot home being built in GGT
● One of the largest homes in GGT is under construction in Five Oaks subdivision. Building cost is estiemated at 2.5 million & is designed by Savarino Design Construction. A couple informational opportunities
● For the board, TOI is offering a 4 hour class on “The Township Budget Process” on February 25th. You can sign up on the TOI website.
● For all residents, “Moving Will County” through Land Use is offering a virtual public workshop on February 24th at 6pm. For more information, go to movingwillcounty.org. Murday: Thanks Jane for all her work. Agenda Change (Murday: Apologizes, skipped Highway report)
HIGHWAY COMMISSIONER’S REPORT – Commissioner Hilliard out with his crew clearing roads, Trustee Wagner reads report. Past Operations
● Pothole repair
● Inventory street signs throughout township
● Remodeled bathroom
● Restocked salt supply
● 5 snow events – Jan 30, 31 – 12.7” total for 2020-2021 26.4”
● Replace 2’ section off exhaust pipe
● Replaced heated mirror
● Completed OSHA 300A report for Road District
● Picked up large amount of debris near Scheer Rd ➢ Please report any illegal dumping Present Operations
● Remodeling office
● Employee handbook
● Repairing trucks from snow plowing work ➢ Wing bolts x 3 Future Operations
● Restock salt supply
● Hard surface roads planned for 2021 ➢ Pauling from Whispering Prairie to Rt 45 ➢ 104th north of Pauling quarter mile ➢ Prairie Schooner & Wagon Wheel rds are scheduled to be repaved with letting on April 21st and deadline of completion June 31st. (Illinois First Dollars) ➢ Replace cross culvert on 80th Ave south of Dralle Rd. (spring 2021)
● 104th south of Manhattan-Monee ➢ Working to increase shoulder & decrease slope of ditch with Will County Engineers Murday: Hilliard & crew have done an incredible job clearing roads
TRUSTEE’S REPORT – Murday: Moving forward to become active Township body, responsive to residents. Trustee Newton – Social services / Website:
● Website through TOI (cheapest when we started) no bells or whistles. Working on cleaning up what we have. Archive tab has old minutes & agendas. Currents are easily accessible.
● Added Will County Covid information to website, please contact me with any suggestions for the website.
● Helping Hands Food Pantry asked to be put on website, they serve Peotone School District residents (including GGT) if you reside in the School District, Helping Hands is available to you. They have been doing for a few years, also provide backpacks for school aged children up to 8th grade with school supplies requested by teachers.
● Jackson Creek Church is another food pantry located in GGT, you go & pick up (did not see residency requirements). Left a message for them after viewing their website (have not heard back yet).
● County giving each Twp $10,000 for food pantry, separate & apart from other “Cares Act” expense reimbursements. My thought, split money in half, $5,000 to each food pantry. Murday: No decision needs to be made before 3-31-21. Asks if anyone knows of another food pantry. Resident responds: That is Church we donate to. Murday: Federal Government provided money on county level, county earmarked $10,000 for Twp. We can direct it, they have also told us it does not have to be used for just food, may be used to defer other costs. Direct money best we can for those in GGT. Striggow: Perishables? Murday: All types, county wants receipts to show for people in need. Trustee Wagner – Finances / Budgets:
● Starting budget process, printed this year’s Levy & last year’s expenses. I’ll hand these off to you to peruse over the next month. Murday: Mandated by statute to have budget done by end of June. Asked Bill to prepare template for open discussions, gather input from residents. Also, on agenda we put “vote” on Assessor Budget tonight, we will not be doing that. Reread the statute, no need for us to vote tonight, requires Assessor present to board (which she did this evening). Her budget subsumed into Twp budget. Assessor Budget will be voted on in March. Bill & I met for discussion, Assessor to start process, if there is a dispute between Assessor & Board of what Assessor budget should be, either party can seek intervention by judge or court. Leaving time for guidance given by court/judge. By time we are passing Twp budget, Assessor budget would be finalized.
Trustee Standish – Public Safety/Town Hall:
● Don & I met with Jeffrey Ryba ( Braniff Communication) regarding tornado sirens. Monee uses, talked to TJ, he budgets $3,500 a yr for each siren. Spoke with Jeff about cost & maintenance. Cost is $23,049 per unit installed, and figures we need 5 with overlapping from other communities. Distance heard is 1 ½ miles. Placement of units discussed.
● Called Christina at IDOT they said they are putting turn lanes in at this intersection (Center & Manhattan-Monee). They are to get in touch with Twp in next 2 months, wanted to start project by year’s end. Said this building is Historical Landmark, told her if road widened it would take parking off 1 side, she said with the Historical Building we may get grant, doesn’t cost Twp if Historical Building needs to be moved, done by grant.
● Sirens would have to go on other side of street not to interfere with moving Town Hall
● Price prohibited at $120,000 or so. Jeff to see if we can get grants for sirens. Wait to hear from IDOT & Jeff. Murday: $130,000 of our budget is not something that could be done, we get a hold of our Representative Anthony DeLuca & Federal Reps where to find funding for this. Public safety main concern. Jeff to provide map where Monee, Manhattan, University Park & Frankfort sirens are & where they bleed into GG. He will help find funding, but our Reps are going to want to talk to us. 18-24 month project before you see anything. Nothing done until we find out how many needed & funding. We have materials, welcome sharing for those interested. Flanagan: Single source provider or go for bid? Murday: Depending on funding, government might have requirements. Have to find cost before shopping around. Murday: Activation of the sirens now are through Will County within new Sheriff’s Office. We are responsible for maintenance, so there is cost. Wagner: Do we know how much we would need to budget annually? Standish: Monee budgets $3,500 per siren, but only uses $1,500. Murday: Solar is more expensive. Power to the units also needs to be looked at. Proximity to school may be an advantage. Murday: (Land Use) Contacted Land Use regarding our entitlement to know what is going on in our Twp. I registered to receive the Land Use subcommittee & County Board agendas. Still think Co should reach out to us. Land Use agenda 150 pages, asked Ralph to peruse Land Use & Co Board agendas to look for anything relating to GGT. Trustee Dietz – Land Use:
● 7608 W Monee-Manhattan Rd resident of 24 acre parcel zoned A-1 running a concrete pumper cleaning business out of his pole building, at all hours. Neighbors have complained to Will County Code Enforcement and he has been cited many times & was being taken to court by Will County. Recently, WC has passed the new A-1 amendment adding an I-1 with a Special Use Permit to the mix & the resident’s lawyers are in the process of trying to get this. As of February nothing has happened. Four subdivisions affected as well as 50 ton trucks down our roads approved for 8 ton, in spring 5 ton. There was an accident, County close to putting him in University Park until all of this came about. Still trying for Special Use Permit. Murday: Ralph referring to last meeting regarding A-1 to I-1 with Special Use. County Board approved in Dec. Industrial usage on Ag zoned, wanted to remain Ag zone with SUP. Appears this individual is attempting. We may revisit, still address & stay on top of.
● 9208 W Stuenkel Rd resident of 5.71 acres zoned A-1 and have permits to build a house & barn on the property. The house 4 bedroom, 4.25 bath & 3 car garage-extended. The barn has 2 large overhead doors designed for Ag equipment. The complainant says the resident will store semis for other than Ag use in the barn. If this turns out to be the case Code Enforcement will need to be informed & they will take the appropriate action. Murday: County said owner not doing anything now, but if used for improper purposes, notify them & Code Enforcement will get involved. Wagner: How did they not make him rezone to get building permit? Dietz: Who knows. Wagner: They should have made him rezone before permit.
● 9255 W Stuenkel Rd. resident of two 5 acre parcels zoned E-2 that were permitted by Will County to be combined into 1 PIN#, so they now have one 10 acre parcel zoned E-2. The property has 1 existing home & are in phase 1 of building a private/personal horse barn & riding arena. The complainant is concerned about an over abundance of horses on the property. According to Will County’s new updated ordinance under E-2, they are entitled to 1 horse per animal/unit. Somewhere between 5 and 8 because of the existing house (approx).
● 24129 S Center Rd. resident of 10.42 acres is having flooding issues on the southwest corner of his property where a 5 foot culvert pipe goes west under Center Rd. As it exits Center Rd., it goes into a culvert filled with vegetation & should continue in a southwesterly direction under the 24018 S Center Rd. driveway of a pole barn. The owner of this pole barn has installed a 16” culvert pipe & raised it 3 feet and expanded his driveway footprint with much gravel shavings, so the water is trapped in this location. Center Rd is a County road, so Code Enforcement was notified 1-19-21 all emails were forwarded.
● Dralle Rd & 104th Ave property, dumping of yard waste. Sheriff will not stop trucks, and will not use scales. Tim Anderson of Will County & Jim Hilliard are aware. Murday: Discussed before, did they till into farm? Have they done this? Dietz: Still there. Striggow: I have some info on this, go through Department of Natural Resources, that body has a meeting on Wednesday. I have a form request needing to be filled out by Road Commissioner, requesting particular problem here. I have the form, maybe take a look at & write something up tonight. I’ll make sure it gets to the right people.
● 26924 S 88th Ave. resident have 6.12 acres zoned residential. They have a neighbor who has been playing loud music in his pole barn for a year and a half. They have called Sheriff 5 times on the record & had incidents 41 times. They have met the neighbor in the street (due to covid) with a Sheriff’s Deputy as mediator, to resolve this to no avail. I contacted Code Enforcement at the end of January to investigate.
● 9504 W Manhattan-Monee Rd. leased space to Illinois Grow Supply. If this is a dispensary, according to the ordinance it cannot be located within 1000 feet of the property line of a pre-existing school. Illinois Grow Supply’s business is located 331 feet from the school. I contacted Robin Tyda at Will County, and I’m waiting for a reply. Murday: We’ll continue to push.
Prepare ourselves for anything to come about regarding growers due to Ag area. Thanks all Trustees for all their work. Striggow: Two concerns, regarding Vape Store on Christensen property, remember when they wanted to put a “Carry-out Pizza” place, that was denied because of next to a grade school. Now we could sneak a store in here doing whatever they do. Another surprising part, family member of building owner is on the School Board. When they objected to Enrico’s Pizza trying to get in. Totally wrong.
SUPERVISOR’S REPORT
● Penny Massat (for years did books for Road District & Township) has decided to move on. In process of moving bookkeeping functions, need to talk with Hilliard. Suggests his secretary of 25 yrs (Clerk for Planning Commission), my thought for replacing Penny. Would be paid hourly.
● Accountant has asked that we find someone else to handle our accounting. There is a firm I have used for last 10 yrs., professionally & personally. They have met & spoke with Steve Weber (current accountant) to see if we can’t get things going, we are behind in filing with state. This is second accounting firm to tell us to seek help elsewhere. I would like to use a firm I know & trust. They will make a proposal to be discussed at next meeting. Want it known changes happening with accounting functions. 2021 to have everything at keystroke, monthly financial reports done by accountants so Trustees can see exactly where things are. Schultz: The woman that works for you & you’re Supervisor, is that conflict of interest? Murday: No, no financial gain, not related to me. No different than anybody off street. I know I can trust her. Penny’s ways of doing things are not current, need somebody to fix this. In time, if Board not happy, then we’ll change. No conflict. Newton: Are we going to vote on her? Murday: No, she would be budgeted in, like Penny. Newton: Interview her? Murday: If people want to, they may. Newton: Want to make sure we follow protocol. Striggow: Thought you were going to be hands on coming in? Thought those were duties of the Supervisor, Treasurer of Twp., anybody can delegate someone to do. Thought you were gonna do, maybe I misunderstood or misread. Still think Supervisor ought to be doing books. Think the Duties & Responsibilities state that’s your job. Murday: Ultimately it is, if Supervisor role is to collect bills, pay them, & not delegate, I disagree. Buck stops at Supervisor’s desk, but to think you don’t have someone to do that for you…Striggow: Not sure Twp. should pay that. Flanagan: Take money from Supervisors wages if he’s not going to do work he’s supposed to do. You just got a $2,000 raise, a raise in Supervisor’s fee, so if you’re going to subcontract the services, why doesn’t that come out of that line item? Why is there more money being spent for accounting services than only other service to County? How much do we spend for accounting services in Twp? Murday: Not sure what was budgeted for last year, wasn’t part of that process. It was $1,500 for a 4 year term going forward, not some annual increase. $12,000, so $1,000 a month (Supervisor salary). In past month spent 60 hours doing Supervisor work. Tell me if you’re getting your bang for the buck. You are. The prior budgets had budgeted amounts for bookkeeping, this is not some new budgeted amount. This has been there & it will be less than what it was before, not an additional strain. I will counter with not an additional expense. People will say you’re making $12,000 a year, I want people to understand, I’m not doing this for the money. I do this because I care
about the Twp. Don’t insult me by saying this $12,000 is some largesse being given to me, when you don’t know what a Supervisor does. When you know, then you can say something. As for bookkeeping, yes, I said I would be hands on. Hands on to me doesn’t mean writing checks, means I know where it’s coming in from & where it’s going from. Buck stops at my desk. Something wrong, I assume responsibility. I don’t take that to mean, I’m doing administrative work. Wagner: Any other Corporation, CFO, & Treasurer are not the ones who write the checks & take receipts. Someone else does bookkeeping. Striggow: We’re not a corporation. Wagner: Difference between CFO, treasurer & bookkeeping, he’s hiring someone to do bookkeeping for him. Flanagan: If it makes it more accurate & more professional, I agree to subcontract. Point being made, 2 time divorcee (accounting firms) not always partner the problem, second CPA firm terminating relationship with us. Is this a good time to stop and have full financial audit & managerial audit before going forward, not making mistake with 3rd wife? Is it time to stop, get full audit by a firm that’s not going to be ongoing firm we use next? That would be money well spent, have to figure out not only financial audit but managerial audit, as to why we are being asked to leave as clients of a firm. Murday: My first, not 2 time divorcee (newly appointed), still married to whom we do business with. New firm isn’t going to take until they get their arms around it. They will perform audit you speak of because they won’t take anything until they know it’s solid,or they won’t take. They will get all our books & make sure we are where we should be. Someone I know & trust, bookkeeping also someone I know & trust. Nothing that happens behind closed doors, all checks written seen by every Trustee. Everybody sees everything. If there is an issue, someone may raise. Not bringing in someone I don’t know. Flanagan: Point I was making, should there be additional service at this time for managerial/financial audit? New firms don’t automatically do an audit just to take on new clients, that doesn’t happen. To say it does, that is just false. Is this the time for the Board to stop & reflect as to why have we been asked 2 times to find someone else? Is there something internal we need to change? If no, great. If yes, than address the changes. Seems to be a good time to have someone check our managerial & financial practices, tell us everything is ok. We got fired twice, but it’s ok we got it sorted, third guy going to fix all. Wagner: Who does that? Flanagan: Any accounting firm will provide service, but you have to contact them specifically for that. They don’t automatically audit a new client. You have to ask for. Wagner: Do you have someone in mind for Twp government? Flanagan: Nobody in mind, not speaking for someone with specific interests other than the townships. Supervisor would have to seek out (named 2 acct. firm examples). Wagner: Can’t help but think that’s what Don is doing. We know there’s a problem, 2 accountants have fired us. Flanagan: Do we know what the problem is? Wagner: Isn’t that what Don’s working towards? Murday: We’re making the change, clearly an issue. We’re bringing in somebody who’s going to look at everything, common sense business. Flanagan: Accounting firms do not automatically audit every new client. Murday: This firm is. Flanagan: So, that’s an additional contract? Dietz: Did firm give specific reason for leaving? Murday: My guess, we are not big enough for work we’re asking them to do. Dietz: They haven’t told us specifically? Murday: What they’re doing, is not doing our work as quickly as we need them to, effectively telling us, go elsewhere. By those actions, we say, time to move on. When they say “We’re not doing your work” what option do you have? Dietz: Makes good sense to deal with people you know & trust, with accountability &
openness. I agree with Supervisor. Murday: Able to have them come in for questions. If there are problems, they are professionally obligated to tell us. As for bookkeeping, I’m not going to be grabbing checks & writing to people, I’m not doing it. Nor do I think it’s in my job description, will delegate to someone I know & trust. Markedly cheaper than what we had in past. Save money, get automated, get where we need to be. Move forward with new firm, all new, “changing of the guard.” Bushong: Cost of new firm? Murday: Not with the firm yet. My assistant is $25 an hour, 8-10 hours, don’t know, she may work for Road District as well. If factored in, 50% of what we’ve been paying in past. New people, automated, & save money. Standish: Nobody looking over our shoulder, Nolan said after last audit everything was right. Nothing wrong, nothing to hide, all out in front now. Dietz: Weber the auditor, you guys give him the figures, he only gets what in this case Nolan gives him, he’s only given what you want him to have. Murday: Weber subcontracts out to accountants, hires accountants to do the work & signs off on the audit. Dietz: Did Nolan just give him all the figures, assume they’re right? Murday: Assume he gave them what they would need. Whatever they gave him in past, is what they had. Looking at someone fresh to look where we are & where we need to go. Dietz: Conflict concerns, maybe a good time to call our Twp attorney and let him decide if there’s conflict, you’re bringing in both parties. I’m trusting my reputation on yours. Wagner: Accountant doesn’t do audit, funnelled to someone else, accountant will file AFR & do all annual stuff for us. Dietz: To Cherie’s point, we don’t vote, we are relying on Don’s expertise, knowing all these people. We could interview them, but you’d (Don) have to recuse yourself, you brought it, you can’t vote on it. Let’s say there’s a tie, who decides? Murday: I don’t know why I couldn’t vote? Dietz: Because you’re bringing them in. Murday: Anytime anyone goes into an organization, elected or not, they bring in people they know & trust. If they don’t perform that’s when you can say “I don’t think we should do this”. There’s a level of trust, checks & balances that exist. Budget time, monies being spent and monthly you see what they do, you see the checks & monies going forth, you sign a voucher. We can discuss & bring them in, no problem with that. Do we interview Road District employees? No. NEW BUSINESS – Correspondence with Will County Land Use Notification
● Wagner: County Board to address issue, maybe pass ordinance that they have to (if townships want) to notify township of Special Use Permits, Zoning changes, & Variances. In regards to Special Use Permits & Zoning changes it is their policy, but not an ordinance. Need to address with County Board members, if a township is willing to hear these cases, an ordinance ought to provide us that right. Newton: Contact Moustis & Ogalla. Murday: We would like notification to us if an issue arises concerning property within our boundaries. Put together something formally & get to County. If those are the recipients it needs to go to, then so be it. I’m more than willing to prepare for Board to review.
Wifi/Internet for Town Hall
● Murday: Also leads into, (b-CARES relief Reimbursement in Old Business) Covid $10,000 reimbursement receipts needed to be submitted by Jan. 27th. Jane incurred about $1,600-$1,700 reimbursement submitted. County encouraged us to put it to use. As a township, I purchased a Twp. computer, printer, monitor, & laptop for bookkeeper (Kim or someone else). All expenses already reimbursed by County. Wifi also would have been covered. XL Broadband cannot provide, signal blockage (not an option) Comcast proposal (haven’t looked at yet) $115 to get service to here, about $130 monthly for service. We’ll still try for CARES Act reimbursement if able. Thought a year’s worth would be covered. Still in the works.
OLD BUSINESS – Vote on Assessor’s Budget (No vote, discussed in Trustees Report under Trustee Wagner) Assessor Bushong presents brief discussion regarding budget.
● Assessor Bushong: Last year budgeted $43,000 for software, staff, continuing education, etc. As of today used a little over 40% of that, partially due to Covid. Budget established, but not able to attend a lot of continued education (cancelled), will have to take more this coming year. Desperately need staff, we are not at same point as 15 years ago. Board has deemed “part-time” job. I cannot keep up with workload. 50-60 hrs. a week,especially during appeals. Hesitant with budget due to Covid, no way of knowing. Desperate to hire someone, I work out of my home & can’t have people there. I would prefer an office, someone 25-30 hrs. a week, data entry, of course I would help, let me do assessing. Worked it all out (for budget), shooting for $63,000 with anticipation of accruing more costs if hiring, I have provisions for them. Certainly won’t spend if not needed. This year is almost over, only spent 40%. But if I need things, like another laptop or class, I have to have ability to buy it. Assessor’s Office is the revenue job for the Twp., frankly the least funded. Needs to be looked at seriously. Any questions? Striggow: Wouldn’t laptop be under “Cares?” Bushong: I was the one that started that with Covid CARES. Murday: $1688 was reimbursed to her. We did a good job of exhausting money there, we needed to act & I acted. Wagner: Currently have 2 laptops, network computer, & printer. Bushong: The $100 printer I was initially given is dying, I need a printer, a special scanner (compatible with PAMS). I’m using some of my own personal stuff at home. A lot has to do with where Assessor’s office is going to be. Wagner: How many homes a year need to be assessed? Bushong: Not sure what you’re asking, we have some 3,000 some odd parcels. Wagner: New homes? For first time. Bushong: Increases every year, just homes, no commercial or other structures, 20-22 homes every year, increasing yearly. Takes a long time to go out there, drawings, measurements, put in system, all programs. We are extremely behind in field checks, majority of our properties haven’t been field checked in 15-20 years. Those are to be done every 4 years. Wagner: How many properties total? Bushong: Over 3,000, tremendous task. Resident asks: What is a field check? Bushong: Make sure measurements correct, look for other structures, maybe cement driveway, other things to make sure everyone is assessed fairly. Murday: In March, fresher more focused look at Jane’s budget & questions as well. Wagner: You may need to lower, our Levy is only at $32,000 I think. Striggow: What did County charge us when we had to use them? Bushong: A little less than $30,000, but they didn’t do everything. No measurements, drawings, or photographs, I’m still backtracking there. Use of Town Hall
● Murday: Bottom line, Town Hall is filthy & we need to do something. It needs to be used by people in this community. Needs cleaning, bathrooms taken care of. Want residents to understand this is their building & they should be able to use. I was asked if girl scouts could meet there? We are going to open back up for people to use. We will get someone to clean, fix bathrooms & first change locks. Make it a place where people want to come. Dietz: Handicap accessible? Needs work, is it worth it? Murday: We’ll figure it out, see what state has planned with the road. Striggow: No one maintains? Murday: No. Striggow: I know someone. Wagner: Someone who has done in past? Striggow: Yes. Murday: Apologizes for time & thanks the Board for their hard work & willingness to be proactive. There was a motion to adjourn the meeting by Trustee Dietz with a second by Trustee Standish. Meeting adjourned at 9:02 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Coffey, Clerk