CARRIER MILLS—Except for an announcement in support of their village fire department, the first village board meeting of the year in Carrier Mills was a lot of routine business.
At the meeting, held January 14, Mayor Louis Shaw took a moment during announcements to make a statement in support of the Carrier Mills Fire Department. Shaw stated that in news media, there had recently been some disparaging statements or comments made about the Carrier Mills Fire Department. Shaw stated that Carrier Mills is a volunteer fire department, and therefore will take longer to respond, as they do not have firemen on duty 24/7. Also, Carrier Mills is a considerable distance from other communities, such as Harrisburg; therefore response time will be further delayed. Regardless, Shaw said he feels that Carrier Mills is as good as any other department out there in terms of quality of service. It’s unclear what media, exactly, he was referring to, as Disclosure has seen nothing but positive input about Carrier Mills’ fire helping cover for fires out of Harrisburg city limits (see related story)…but he apparently thought it was important enough to speak out about it, whatever media outlet was indicated.
TIF and grants
In Unfinished Business, the matter of a new TIF District was up for a vote. The full Board was not present, as several members had the flu, so the matter of approving the TIF was to be tabled for a later meeting. That didn’t put the matter to rest, however, as board member Tracy Felty wished to have the approval of the board to proceed in having the TIF paperwork drawn up at that time, and have it ready for approval of the proposed district at the next meeting. The Board voted yes, with the exception of Bill Jensik. The motion passed.
In an extension of the Proposed TIF, a loan was up for approval from the Saline County Industrial Development Committee to fund the TIF District. The Board voted to have the Village Attorney draw up an agreement to accept the loan, with the exception of Jensik. The motion passed.
The Village has received a CDAP Public Infrastructure Grant to use in repairing and improving the Villages sewer system. Due to a technical error, a resolution was unable to be approved at the previous meeting, but was now being placed for approval by the board for the use of the CDAP funding. The Board voted in favor of using the CDAP funding, and to proceed with the third phase of the program, which consists of the actual construction. The Board approved the resolution.
Bulldog’s sleight-of-hand
In New Business, Bill Hansen, who represented Bulldog Systems, came before the Board to ask for the Village’s business. Hansen stated that Republic Services, who are a corporate company out of Jackson County, had bought all of the independent haulers in the area out. With this consideration, Hansen asked for the Village to take on Bulldog as their trash hauling service provider. Hansen stated that Bulldog wanted all of SIDCO’s business, as Republic Services would have no part in any public cleanup programs whereas Bulldog would.
Shaw told Hansen that Republic had made a bid at the same rate the Village had been paying, which was $77 dollars, and asked if Bulldog would price-match. Bulldog stated that they would, and that their service would be more beneficial to the area, as they would haul to the local landfill. This, Hansen explained, would maintain local jobs. He also stated that Republic had taken all of the local employees and moved them to Marion, and therefore had taken Saline County money to Williamson County.
Shaw told Hansen that since the full Board was not present, he wished to table the matter until it could be discussed.
Hansen persisted that they should be cautious to not let their contract roll over into another 3-year contract. He was informed that the Village did not have a contract. He continued to say that other companies had a contract policy, and then other citizens spoke up, saying they had not been asked to sign a contract. The matter was tabled, and the meeting continued.
Finished off with the usual stuff
Committee Reports started with the police report, as other committee heads were absent. The police had received 55 calls since the last meeting, and had made several warrant arrests. In total, over 3,000 miles had been traveled in patrol between all the cars. Also, a new intern had joined the Carrier Mills police force.
In Finance, only the usual Transfer of funds were made.
In Land and Building, money had been donated to landscape and maintain the Municipal Building. The parking lot was covered with cigarette butts, so the committee had chosen to spend part of those funds on new cigarette receptacles. The committee asked for permission to submit that purchase to the donated funds, and the motion was passed.
The approval of the consent agenda was set before the Board, and the Consent Agenda passed.
The meeting was adjourned until the regularly scheduled meeting in February.