Rockford Sun

City of Carlyle Finance Committee met Dec. 23.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Call to Order/Roll Call

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Jeremy Weh on Monday, December 23, 2024, at 6:45 p.m. at Case Halsted Library located at 550 6th Street, Carlyle, IL 62231. Committee members present included Jeremy Weh, John Hodapp, and Jeff Taylor. Others present included Chief Mark Pingsterhaus, Jim McClaren, Scott Diekemper, Bruce Hilmes, Brad Myers, Mayor Judy Smith, and Rita Jurgensmeyer.

Approval of Minutes

A motion was made by Alderman John Hodapp and seconded by Alderman Jeff Taylor to approve the minutes from the December 9, 2024, meeting. The motion was approved by voice vote.

Approval of Claims

Alderman Jeremy Weh made a motion to approve the claims. Alderman John Hodapp seconded the motion, and it was approved by voice vote.

Accept Imming Insurance’s Boiler & Machinery Insurance Proposal

City Administrator Brad Myers explained the annual boiler and machinery insurance proposal from Cincinnati Insurance Company through Imming Insurance. He said this is what is used if the city has issues with the generators at the power plant. It’s almost $7,000.00 higher than last year. The policy is $102,024.00. There are only five companies that have this coverage, and we only received one quote, from Cincinnati Insurance Company. Alderman Jeff Taylor made a motion to send to council the boiler and machinery insurance proposal from Cincinnati Insurance Company in the amount of $102,024.00. Alderman John Hodapp seconded the motion, and it was approved by voice vote.

Approve FY 25 Tax Levy

City Administrator Brad Myers explained the FY 25 tax levy. He said a hearing was not needed because the levy is not over the allowable 5% increase. Alderman Jeff Taylor made a motion to take to council the FY25 tax levy. The motion was seconded by Alderman John Hodapp, and it was approved by voice vote.

Discuss/Approve New Video of Christmas Lights in the Park

Mayor Judy Smith said that the video that they had made of the city park when it was lit with all the Christmas lights was around 2017. Since then, a lot of changes and additions have been made. The last time they had two different people make a video of the park. One was basically his family and a little bit of lights. They also had Travis Turley from Greenville. She said that is the video where they shut the park down and Turley walked through the park with a drone and made a video. Mayor Smith said she assumed that is who they would want to go with again because he was excellent. Kurt Sheathelm from the Electric Department called Turley and he said he could make a video this year. They could shut the park down and he could make a video with a drone, and he could hang on to it and if anything is added he could come back at the beginning of the season and edit the new items into the video. They were told it would cost between $4,000 and $5,000 to have the video made. Mayor Smith said she thinks they paid $3,500 the last time. She would like to use the video to promote the Christmas lights in the park all over southern Illinois, and not just Clinton County. Alderman John Hodapp asked where it could be viewed. Mayor Smith said it can be viewed on Facebook, it can be sent to newspapers, magazines, and TV stations. Mayor Smith said that a TV station from Indianapolis was asking for a video. The City of Carlyle is in the top ten of southern Illinois lights for Christmas. Mayor Smith said that the light donations can be used to pay for the video. She said that this past weekend they made $4,000.00 in donations. City Administrator Brad Myers said 1,280 cars went through this weekend. Mayor Smith said that she would like to get some volunteers next year to stand with K & J when they do the hot chocolate night and when Wal-Mart does their peppermint stick night. Mayor Smith said people are always trying to give the people from K & J and Wal-Mart donations and they have been collecting them and giving them to the city, but she thought it would be better if we had some of our own people to collect the donations. Mayor Smith said that she has talked to Kayla Heimann about this, and they are going to work on this for next year. Mayor Smith added that they are going to work on getting the Chamber of Commerce reinstated. If they could get this going the chamber could use the video to send to chambers in other towns and individuals asking about it. Alderman Jeff Taylor asked if the chamber is reinstated how often they would have meetings. Mayor Smith said that she is working on getting some of the businesses in town interested in running it. She said that Dan Imming has volunteered to help as well as Phyllis Wilkerson. Janet Kahre from Messiah Lutheran Preschool is very interested in helping. Alderman John Hodapp made a motion to take to council hiring Travis Turley to make a video of the park lights. Alderman Jeff Taylor seconded the motion, and it was approved by voice vote.

Unfinished Business

There was no unfinished business.

New Business

Alderman John Hodapp said he would like to see if the city could come up with some money to help Dale Fritz with the planting of trees. Mayor Smith said that Dale Fritz is putting in $10,000.00 and his sister is adding $5,000.00 to it. Mayor Smith agreed that the city should also contribute to the project. City Administrator Brad Myers thought the city could come up with $5,000.00 from the Economic Development Fund. He said he would investigate it and let them know what he finds out at the next meeting.

Any Other Comments

There were no any other comments.

Public Comments

There were no public comments.

Executive Session

The committee did not enter executive session.

Adjournment

At 6:56 p.m. a motion to adjourn was made by Alderman John Hodapp. The motion was seconded by Alderman Jeff Taylor and was approved by voice vote.

https://go.boarddocs.com/il/carlyle/Board.nsf/Public#