McHenry Times

Village McCullom Lake met Jan. 14.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

President Shepit called the meeting to order at 7:05 P.M.

Pledge of Allegiance

Roll Call: By the Village Clerk, Sherri L. Messina

Present: President Shepit, Attorney Shaw: Trustees Bogacz, Fritz, Given, Matthesius, Mazurek, Walter.

Minutes: Trustee Matthesius made a motion to approve the minutes; seconded by Trustee Fritz. Voice vote: Bogacz, Fritz, Given, Matthesius, Mazurek, Walter=ayes. All in favor, motion carried.

Bills: Trustee Bogacz made a motion to pay the bills; seconded by Trustee Matthesius. Voice vote: Bogacz, Fritz, Given, Matthesius, Mazurek, Walter=ayes. All in favor, motion carried.

Police: President Shepit brought up that the police patches are 20 years old and we need to order new ones and the design that you have in front of you will be the new style. The Chief will order them in bulk because it’s cheaper to order them that way. The board was in agreement that it was a very nice design.

Audience: Cindy’s Self-harming program TWLOHA (to write love on her arms) is going national and their new campaign is called Between the Bells, it is a school program where staff is being educated along with parents in the community on mental health issues and have valuable need to know resources.

The program rolled out the beginning of this year.

The Youth Group has its Human Race coming up and it is the tenth year anniversary of this race. She believes the teens will be racing for rescued animals and she will have Lori add it to the Village newsletter.

Lori – There has been a problem with inoperable vehicles within the Village and there have been a lot of complaints. She has sent out fifteen (15) letters on January 7, 2020 and residents have until February 7th, 2020 to remove or store the vehicles in a building. Some residents have already inquired about an extension on the February deadline. Chief Beatty suggested a sixty (60) day extension with a written signed agreement. Residents would have to get a Village sticker for the vehicle and sign an agreement letter. If there is no response they would be ticketed once a month and then weekly if the vehicle has not been removed. It was suggested that maybe do it on a case by case basis and that the extension would only be granted if they get their Village sticker and sign an agreement. The extension would be limited to only one (1) extension. Attorney Shaw stated that the Village is within its right to enter the property have the vehicle towed at the owner’s expense after the extension is up or if there has been no response to the letter. Inoperable vehicles create an attractive nuisance for children; they create a place for rodents and vermin to infest, it’s unattractive and hurts property values. The resident would have to request an extension and it would be contingent upon them getting a sticker and sign an agreement. Right now Attorney Shaw and the Police department are not in agreement of what constitutes an inoperable vehicle though there is plenty of authority out there to guide us to know what is operable. The question is has it been abandoned and the problem is, is that we can’t tell whether these vehicles are operable or not. Trustee Walter stated that they wouldn’t be considered abandoned if the residents were buying stickers for them. Attorney Shaw agreed with Trustee Walter. Attorney Shaw stated that part of the ordinance is so that you don’t have a car in pieces in your driveway. The intent wasn’t that you park a car and it doesn’t move for a week so let’s tow it, so there’s a difference there. President Shepit added that if they don’t respond to the letter then they will be fined after that.

City of McHenry raised the sewer bill in 2017 and the increase was not passed on to our residents. Trustee Bogacz suggests sending out an E-blast that on April 1st, 2020 that the sewer bill will be increased. Lori will get with Treasurer Brandt on what the increase will be. There have been more residents who have been hooking up to the sewers that were previously not hooked up. Nabiha Asim was in the audience, she is a reporter with the Northwest Herald.

New Business: Action to keep Executive Session meeting minutes closed to the Public – Trustee Matthesius made a motion the keep the Executive Session meeting minutes closed; seconded by Trustee Bogacz. Voice vote: N=Bogacz, Fritz, Given, Matthesius, Mazurek, Walter=ayes. All in favor, motion carried.

Destruction of Verbatim Recordings of Executive Session minutes 18 months and older that there are approved minutes for – Trustee Walter made a motion of the Destruction of Verbatim Recordings of Executive Session minutes 18 months and older that there are approved minutes for; seconded by Trustee Given. Voice vote: Bogacz, Fritz, Given, Matthesius, Mazurek, Walter=ayes. All in favor, motion carried.

Approve Ordinance Regulating the use of Storage Containers – Trustee Bogacz feels there should be specific fines added to this Ordinance – Attorney Shaw is in agreement and suggests passing this Ordinance and he will do an amendment to it and ratify it at the next meeting to include the fines. Trustee Matthesius made a motion to approve Ordinance #525 An Ordinance Regulating the Use of Storage Containers; seconded by Trustee Bogacz. Voice vote: Bogacz, Fritz, Given, Matthesius, Mazurek, Walter=ayes. All in favor, motion carried.

Amend Ordinance #284, #152 Parking on Grass from $40.00 to $75.00 – Attorney Shaw read off how he would like it to read. The first offense for any violation of stopping, standing or parking of a motor vehicle within the Village shall be subject to a fine of $75.00. Each subsequent offense committed with the same vehicle shall be not less than $75.00 and shall not exceed $100.00. After five (5) parking offenses with the same vehicle the fine shall be a minimum of $150.00 not to exceed $750.00 per day. Each day the violation occurs will constitute a new violation. Point being is, we are trying to deter it and it’s the same people doing the same thing and the $40.00 wasn’t doing it. Trustee Bogacz wants to make sure that if someone is having a party and people are parked on the side of the street for about three (3) hours that they are not going to be ticketed for it. Attorney Shaw added that this doesn’t just address grass issues, this addresses offenses of violations of our current stopping, standing and parking ordinance in general. Trustee Bogacz made a motion to approve the ordinance as stated and read by Attorney Shaw; seconded by Trustee Mazurek. Voice vote: Bogacz, Fritz, Given, Matthesius, Mazurek, Walter=ayes. All in favor, motion carried.

Discussion: Trustee Bogacz brought up that on November 12, 2019 Chantel Amador had come before the board and asked to have Autism signs put up in front of their home. The board suggested that Chantel come back with any material in regards to the benefits of these signs and present it to the board so that we could have good discussions about this and Trustee Bogacz would like it noted that as of today’s date January 14, 2020 no such information has been brought forward to the board by Mrs. Amador. Trustee Bogacz would like this to be in the minutes because of the way the board was being hollered at for not putting up the signs. So we asked Mrs. Amador for more information so that we could make a decision based on data instead of feelings and we haven’t received any of that and that as a board this subject has not been dropped and that the board has discussed it further. The board had presented its data about the signs and Mrs. Amador was asked to please bring back her information and present it to the board so that we could have a committee put together to make a decision concerning this matter but that information hasn’t been brought forward yet. Trustee Matthesius has brought up that there are properties being used as boat storage and this person went though and brought up this Blight Ordinance where you couldn’t park campers in the Village, or you couldn’t do this, that or the other and that particular person now has two (2) pontoon boats on the property along with other boats and cars. There is no driveway per say it’s all grassy area and it is truly an eyesore in the community and there are also other homes as well with some of these same issues.

Trustee Fritz brought up Froggie’s 24th Annual Ice Fishing Derby is set for February 1st, 2020 at 5:30 A.M. if there is ice. If there is no ice the party will still be held at the Village Hall from 12:00 to 3:00 P.M. at the Village Hall. The next Neighbors Helping Neighbors meeting will be February 4th, 2020 at 7:00 P.M. at the Knoll.

Trustee Bogacz made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:50 P.M.; seconded by Trustee Walter. Voice vote: Bogacz, Fritz, Given, Matthesius, Mazurek, Walter=ayes. All in favor, motion carried.

The next board meeting will be January 28, 2020 at 7:00 P.M. at the Village Hall.

Marilyn Shepit Sherri L. Messina Village President Village Clerk

https://voml.org/sites/default/files/JANUARY%2014%2C%202020%20MEETING%20MINUTES.pdf