Rockford Sun

Village of Rockton Administration Committee met Nov. 6.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Chairman Danielson called the regular meeting of the Administration Committee to order at 5:30 pm. Members present: Mayor Peterson, Scott Danielson, Dave Winters and Justin York

Staff present: Dan Barber (5:39 pm), Tricia Diduch and Chief Hollinger

Motion by Mr. Winters, second by Mr. York to waive the reading of and approve the minutes of October 16, 2023. All ayes. Motion approved 3-0.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Josh Hendryx and Tony Ingarra from Pride Jiu-Jitsu Academy spoke to the Committee and expressed their interest in purchasing the Village’s vacant property on Hawick Street as a possible location for a new facility for their business. Mr. Hendryx provided a packet to the Committee about the business which included drawings/plans of what the building would look like. Mr. Hendryx stated that he is aware of an old railroad easement going through the property that would have to be looked into further. Mr. Hendryx and Mr. Ingarra said that they are also aware of parking issues that may occur with events that are held in Settlers Park and are open to working around that. Mayor Peterson stated that an appraisal would need to be completed on the property and that he would talk to Atty. Azeto in regards to the easement running through the property as well.

MAYOR – JOHN PETERSON

Mayor Peterson stated that the Village received a renewal notice for the National League of Cities and that it’s around $1,200 to renew the Village’s membership for a year. The Committee agreed not to renew the membership because he doesn’t feel that our membership has had much value the last few years.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT – SCOTT DANIELSON, CHAIRMAN

Mr. Danielson stated that the special events application for the Rockton Christmas Walk to be held in downtown Rockton December 1st-3rd is up for approval at the Village Board meeting on November 7, 2023. Ms. Diduch said that the only new event that has been added to the weekend is the tree lighting in Settlers Park on Friday at 6 pm. The Committee is okay with this.

PUBLIC SAFETY & LEGAL – DAVE WINTERS

Motion by Mr. Winters to approve the purchase requisition for Larry Fredericks LLC for ballistic vests and vest carriers in the amount of $2,889.50, second by Mr. York. Roll call. All ayes. Motion approved 3-0.

ADMINISTRATION – JUSTIN YORK

Mr. York provided information technology (IT) updates and stated that Garcea Technologies has made a lot of progress with the new system and removing the old system at Village Hall.

Mr. York discussed the multi-factor authentication (MFA) for the police department to access other systems from their patrol cars and Chief Holliger stated that the police officers will probably use their cell phones to do this.

Mr. York added that the Village isn’t going to do a maintenance agreement with Garcea Technologies and that he will follow up on this one more time to make sure that everyone is on the same page.

THE CHIEF– MATT HOLLINGER

Chief Hollinger advised the Committee that three officers will be done with field training this week.

PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATOR – TRICIA DIDUCH

Ms. Diduch stated that she reached out to the contact from Winnebago County in reference to grant writing assistance and that she won’t be back in the office until November 20th.

Ms. Diduch said that she received an email from Kevin Bunge, Village Engineer, and that it will cost $5,000 to complete the research for the Brownfield grant for the Sonoco property. Mr. Barber stated that the best bet is to reach out to Brownfield directly and that he will take care of this.

Ms. Diduch added that she is busy with planning for the Rockton Christmas Walk, Small business Saturday and Yeti Fest. Ms. Diduch added that the dueling pianos for the Rockton Christmas Walk is already half sold out.

EXECUTIVE SESSION

None.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS ALLOWED BY LAW

Mayor Peterson stated that he has a phone meeting scheduled with the IEPA on Wednesday at 9 am along with C.E.S. and Representative John Cabello in reference to the PFAS funding for the homes that may connect to the Village’s water and sewer systems.

ADJOURN

Motion by Mr. Winters, second by Mr. York to adjourn at 6:14 pm.

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