Peoria Standard

Village of Peoria Heights Board of Trustees met Jan. 18.

Here is the minutes provided by the Board:

The Joint Meeting of the Boards was held at the Princeville JSHS on Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 7 pm. In the absence of Mike Harmon, President of the School Board, Darrin Cowser called the meeting to order. The Library, Village & School Board each did roll call. Those answering present from the Village of Princeville were President Troutman and Trustees Sutherland, Gilroy and Delbridge.

Library: Librarian Beth Duttlinger spoke for the Library. She provided details from the Library’s FY2017 annual report. Library facts included in the report were 27,304 people physically visited the library, the library has 336 programs offered, it has 30,586 items in their collection plus other stats were included in the report. The Library will be involved with the “Bike the Trail Library to Library”. It will involve the Dunlap, Princeville, Wyoming and Toulon libraries. Starting in January, the Library will be open until 8 pm Monday through Thursday. They have The Biggest Loser, Zumba, Yoga and Line Dancing classes. The Library Board is working on their long-range plans. The Illinois Centennial Programs will be sponsored by the Library and held at the Princeville Heritage Museum.

Village: President Jeff Troutman from the Village of Princeville was next. This past summer a portion of water main was replaced on South Cottage Grove Avenue. Since the project is complete, the Village will look into resurfacing the street in that area. Engineering is being done for the cost of redoing some of the sewer system. There were new Christmas lights this year, and new ones will be added again for the next Christmas season. The Village has a new community police officer, Chrystal Hankins. Trustee Sutherland stated the finances for the village are stable. He also gave estimated amounts of money that the School District and Library District will receive from the TIF 1 & 3 funds. Trustee Gilroy reported that the lot pricing at Aten Acres Phase 6 will be changing soon to get more lots sold. Trustee Delbridge stated that the Village is looking at new radio read meters to get meters read more accurately. Meters could be read no matter what the weather is like. President Troutman said the meter locations and past due water accounts are getting up to date. Eagle Recycling is no longer accepting plastic bags. They can’t find any one to take them. Bags can be used to put recyclables into, though. There will be electronic recycling again in the fall. Diane Smith asked about paint recycling. Paint recycling is expensive and the Village hasn’t found anyone yet to do it. Rudy Roger stated that cat litter can be put into the paint cans and then put in the garbage. Also, he said that you can put paint on cardboard, let it dry and then put the cardboard in the garbage.

School: Shannon Duling, Superintendent of the Princeville School District provided a handout with the School District’s Vision Statement. Mr. Duling stated that so far, the District has received $71,216.40 from the County Facility Sales Tax. Based on current funding, the amount will be about $200K for the year. According to their priority list, 1/2 the amount will be abated back to taxes, the lane at the grade school will be resurfaced, a new track will be constructed, parking at PGS/PJSHS will be added. The list may be reevaluated since the roof at PGS needs to be replaced. The District has applied for the Bright Futures Grant (Pre-K Program). Since there is a waiting list for the FY17/FY18 program, the grant would help add another 1⁄2 day program, and add midday transportation. A Migrant Head Start Grant would add an additional classroom and add funds for extended serving time, purchase a van and improve drainage at the building. Both programs are held at the Unit Office, and both of these programs are dependent on state approval. The Summit Learning Pilot Program will be discussed at the next school board meeting on Monday, January 22 at 6:30 pm in the PJHS Collaboration Area.

PCA: Rudy Roger, President of the Princeville Civic Association, said that the PCA headed up a flag/pole program to have new flags flying around the business areas in Princeville. Donations have been received, 40 flags & poles were purchased and the new flags flew on this fall’s Veteran’s Day. More donations are needed. Plates honoring veterans/community membrs could be added to the poles. The PCA sponsors three $500 scholarships. President Roger always encourages students to volunteer. The association is also working on Heritage Days that is held in June. President Roger commended Julie Delbridge on the work she puts into the PCA.

Comments: President Troutman said that the Village is working on lowering the speed limits on the highways coming into town. No golf carts are allowed to travel on state highways.

Meeting Date: The next meeting of the Joint Boards will be Thursday, July 19, 2018 at 7:00 pm. The Village will be in charge of the meeting, but it will be held at the Lillie Evans District Library.

Darrin Cowser led the closing of the meeting with each Board responding. Motion made by Trustee Gilroy and seconded by Trustee Delbridge to close the Princeville Village Board meeting at 7:48 pm. All ayes. No nays. Motion carried.

https://princeville.org/wp-content/uploads/Joint-Meeting-January-18-2018.pdf