Peoria Standard

Village of Swansea Board of Trustees met May 19.

Here is the agenda provided by the board:

Attendees: Board President Jeff Parker, Treasurer John Walter, Village Clerk Gloria J. Collier, Village Administrator Ben Schloesser, Trustee Brian McGuire, Trustee Sherman Pochek, Trustee Matt Lanter, Trustee Natalie Jablonski, Trustee Brian Thouvenot, Trustee Cary Lewis V, Police Chief Matthew Blomberg, Chief Doug Little, Director of Public Works Rick Tucker, and Building and Zoning Director Dan Thomas

I. Call to Order

II. Pledge Allegiance to the Flag

III. Roll Call

IV. Approval of Minutes - May 5, 2025

Board President Parker:

Before we get started tonight with the approval of the minutes, I'd like to call for a moment of silence for well-wishes and prayers for the Fairview officers. Fairview had quite an incident the other night. Three officers were shot. One was shot through the arm, through and through. One was shot in the back, but his vest saved his life. The other girl with Fairview was shot in the mouth and the face. She's in critical but stable condition and will be suffering many operations to get better. Let's all stand and have a moment of silence and well wishes and prayers for those folks.

1. Board President Parker: Approval of Board Minutes & Committee Minutes

Village Clerk Gloria J. Collier:

I would like to table the approval of minutes. I apologize. There are some corrections that I would like to make.

V. Acceptance of Minutes - Board President Parker: Any objections to that?

Motion to Forward: Made by Trustee Lanter, second by Trustee McGuire.

Trustee Votes: All ayes

VI. Mayor's Announcements/Correspondence

1. Board President Jeff Parker read Proclamation Village of Swansea St. Clair County, Illinois

May 19, 2025, to former Mayor Mike Leopold.

Former Mayor Mike Leopold:

Normally, I have a lot of comments, but I really don't have much to say. This is above and beyond. I am very honored to have 'The Leopold Loop'. So, thank you. I wish I could say more, but I don't want to start crying. So, thank you. I'm so impressed with this. It's very nice. Thank you all. I had great pleasure working with all of you. You were all great people. So, thank you.

Board President Jeff Parker:

Again, Mayor, congratulations. Everything is so deserved.

VII. Village Attorney/Village Administrator-Announcements/Comment

1. Department Head Reports

a. Public Works/Sewer Department

Trustee McGuire: I have nothing further than my written report that I've submitted. Thank you.

b. Police Department Monthly Stats

Police Chief Blomberg:

I would like to add a few comments about the Fairview incident. I am sure everybody knew about it, but what you don't know is, about a month ago, your officers arrested that guy for a Belleville armed robbery. It makes it hard to sleep at night knowing this stuff is going on around here. Knowing that our guys are out there every night doing the best that they can with who knows what they're coming across. So, I just wanted to express to you how much I really appreciate the board's support in our mission and what we do and how we do it. That will continue. But I just wanted you to be aware that we came in contact with them. That guy that could have been us just as much as it was Fairview.

Additionally, you might not be aware there was a stabbing in Belleville over the weekend. That gentleman was being transported in a car that drove through Swansea that saw one of our Officers and stopped. He was pleading for his life, for somebody to help him, because he had blood pouring out everywhere. Our officers stabilized that gentleman until the EMS got there and got him to the hospital. He is alive today because of their efforts. So, I'm very proud of that incident.

Currently staffing wise, just to keep you up to speed where we're at, the Sergeant retired, so we are short an officer on the street. We will be promoting Jason Frank from detective-to-Detective Sergeant, and then Sergeant Reuter will be going back to patrol. We have two that just started the police academy today to replace people that left earlier in the year. We're still one short, and we're looking at lateral hires. That's not going very well at this time. We have a couple that have come in, but I'd really like to get a bigger candidate pool for that. Some of you know we will have another officer leaving here, probably within a couple weeks. We were anticipating a couple months, but it's probably weeks now. She's moving back to where she's from, so I don't begrudge her for that. I'm going to be coming back to you requesting that we get moving on trying to replace her as well, prior to even if she leaves. If we must go the academy route, there's a good chance we won't see that replacement until next summer, or next fall. That's just how long everything takes because the police academies are offered at 16 weeks, and then our field training program is 14 weeks. It's a very long process. Hopefully we can find laterals, which speeds up significantly. But like I said, it's not going so well with that.

Lastly, I just want to let you know that some of you are aware of and participated in our Top golf tournament. Our first one, led by Officer Voelker, did a phenomenal job. We did this years ago, probably 20 years ago, and we raised like $3,000. He did this and raised almost 13,000. So, it was a very successful event. We have some charities that we've earmarked some money for and then we have some seed money to continue this fundraiser for us. So, I just wanted to bring that to your attention. Everybody else who volunteered, they did fantastic work.

I've heard great things about it. So those are the things from the police department. Unless you have something that you'd like to ask me about.

Trustee Jablonski:

Chief, the officer that assisted the individual until the EMS arrived, did they qualify for a lifesaving award?

Chief Blomberg:

So, I will be bringing that to the board at the next meeting. It was just submitted to me today, so I will have it in an upcoming board meeting. It will be Sergeant Erin Huff and Officer Derek Schackmann.

Trustee Jablonski:

As someone who's received that award. I know how much it means to the individual.

Chief Blomberg:

Not surprisingly, Sergeant Huff is the one who does all our First Aid CPR, and stuff. So, she's spot on withthat.

Trustee McGuire: You want to explain to them a little bit of the process too, for the sergeants, since your list is exhausted.

Chief Blomberg:

We have some new police commissioners, which we're meeting with on Wednesday to bring them up to speed on the rules on how we do our eligibility testing for new officers, and our promotional testing from officer to Sergeant. So, our processes, our eligibility list has one name left on it. So that is a consideration. Our lateral list has expired. So, with the commissioners I will have to try to generate a lateral list of applications and then do an interview with them and see if there's somebody that we want to bring on board.

It's a little bit easier process than eligibility, which by state law requires us to develop this list, and it lasts for two years, as long as it doesn't get exhausted. With the lateral list, there's more flexibility to it. With the sergeants list, that's a three-year list. We're down to our last two names. The one individual that's still at the top declined it. Jason Frank has accepted it, which is a great fit, because he's already a detective. He's going to be the detective sergeant. As you know, he just came back from five weeks of training with a secret service down in Hoover, and that's like the third or fourth time he's done that. So, he's high-speed digital forensics and latest investigative techniques. So, it's a good fit, and then we can get Sergeant Reuter experience back on the road to help with the younger officers and stuff like that. So that's kind of where we're at, and it's kind of convoluted. A lot of things must come in play for the whole process, but I hope to come back soon with more information for you.

Trustee McGuire: I just wanted some of the newer trustees to understand how that all works.

C. Fire Department Monthly Stats

Fire Department: Chief Little

Thirty-two (32) calls for the month of April, which is a little bit of a relief compared to the previous month of March. So, about half of March, but that's fine. Six personnel per call, so it is still a little short on that, but this board's approval of hiring some new members. We are hopefully getting them through our probationary program and getting them into a more stable of training for that. I hope that all these probationary members will continue to assist the residents at their time of need. I hope that we continue to prove the training to make them more professional with the department itself. Other than that, that's all I have.

Village Administrator Ben:

If I can add to that quickly, just again for new trustees. We have in the last eight years since I've been here had real difficulty bringing new individuals into the fire department, marketing ourselves, and getting people through the process. Since Doug has taken over, the increase and the rate of gaining new firemen has been exponential. So, he's doing a really, really great job. So, thank you, Doug, and it doesn't go unnoticed. Great job.

d. Building and Zoning Department

Building and Zoning Department - Dan Thomas

We're still doing our thing, both the inspector and the code enforcement officer doing an excellent job. She's churning out various violations for a litany of concerns constantly. Like I said earlier, it is the season for the grass, the weed, the trees and those types of complaints. So, in the three weeks since the last report, 37 properties notified for tall grass needing to be mowed. Sometimes the resident does it. Other times our public works department does it. That's been working great so far. So, we're taking care of the tall grass and weeds. I can say that confidently. Just other general updates, you'll see the total of the building permits and the code cases open and closed, showing that we're constantly producing work. In addition to that, the two ordinances proposed tonight, the CVS redevelopment agreements administration recommendation in progress is still the 2021, building code updates. So that's in the works, kind of a long process, but still in the works.

In addition to the vacant building registry, I'll continue to provide every second meeting of the month. I will also start working on just a general problem property list. I'll go around and identify generally dilapidated properties that we have plenty of, and kind of compiling a different list, and how we're going to address those. So, separate to the vacant building thing, but presumably vacant, nonetheless. They're going to be addressed.

Trustee Lewis: Asked the status on Twenty Bracket Street with tall grass and weeds.

Building & Zoning Director Dan: To my knowledge, that was quickly done after we were notified.

Trustee Lewis: Do we know who owns that property?

Building & Zoning Director Dan: I can't spit it out right now, but I can look into tomorrow and get an answer to you.

VIII. Treasurer's Report

Treasurer John Walter:

As of April 30, 2025, Fund number one General had a balance of $7,435,315.35 cents. Fund three, ARPA had a balance $198,514.03, Fund six to Motor Fuel had a balance of $1,407,599.78, Fund 11, Rural King district had a balance of $235,475.07, Fund 12, 159 Bowl business district had a balance of $1,756,938.69, Fund 13, 2501 Redevelopment had a balance of $197.66, Fund 14, which is TIF number one, balance $1,907,060.27, Fund 15, which is TIF number two, had a balance of $265,605.11, Fund 21, which is sewer operation, maintenance, and a balance of $737,126.17, Fund 22, Sewer Capital Replacement fund at a balance of $7,567,326.53, Fund 25, which are Sewage Reserve Fund, had a balance of $736,199.71, Fund 97 the Capital Fund had a balance of $1,547.43, Fund. 99 the Capital and Maintenance Fund had a balance of $2,652,330.08, for a total of all funds of $24,901,235.88

Motion to Forward: Made by Trustee Lanter, second by Trustee Lewis.

Trustee Votes: All ayes

IX. Public Comment

X. Board President Parker:

Before I do public comment, I'm going to make a quick announcement. We've adopted the Roberts Rules of Order, and it's been that way for quite a while. One thing that I'll be putting out is we're going to start with a protocol under Robert's Rules and have a time limit on speeches from the public. I've looked and called around to many other villages and cities about that, and they all do it. It's not to counter anybody's ability to talk. It's something that expedites the meetings to continue and forward. It gives everybody a chance. It gives some people who have come in the past and tried to dominate the meeting that there's a limit. We are doing a dry run practice right now. We are recording our meetings at the moment, but we will be going live stream with these as soon as we get all the hiccups out of that, so the public will be able to come. Now the public, we will not take statements from the public via that. If somebody in public wants to come and have three minutes and submit a written proposal, they will be able to do that, but they have got to come to the meeting to do that. If we take it over the internet, we pretty much determine that we'll be here forever. We don't really know who we're talking to. I just wanted to get that out there. That's how we will be handling things. Again, it's not to silence voices. It is to let more voices have something to say, and we will make sure that they get addressed.

So, under public comment, Nichols Development. I know you wanted to say something. You have three minutes, sir.

Public Comment:

Jacob Nichols:

My name is Jacob Nichols, the owner of Nichols development group. On November 22, 2024, you guys hired me to demolish 425 Timber Ridge. I didn't get the agreement signed until January 14th, 2025, almost two months. It took two months for you guys to sign it. Me and the former director had different agreements we made in November.

You guys set up an agreement on November the 20th of 2024. You guys signed the agreement on January 14, 2025. When you guys signed the initial agreement, you didn't put a deadline for this agreement. Now, when I fully demolished the property, one of your employees came to the site and was talking about a deadline. We never created a deadline. There was never a deadline. The only thing that you guys presented to me was issued January 22, 2025, and they got an expiration date, 7/22/2025. We never officially created a deadline. I could have easily created a deadline with anybody from the Village of Swansea. So, I'm at the point where one of your personnel is telling me I can't finish the job. I'm 95% complete.

The reason why I'm here is that I want to get compensated. It's just one or two days left; it's probably a couple of hours left. It's just a matter of me putting the dumps in there, putting the rest of the garbage în the can, and that's it, but it's $8,900 due. I need my money. I need to get compensated. Like I say, you guys all got this permit. You see what the expiration day is. If anybody from the Village of Swansea would have wanted it done earlier, it should have been presented on the expiration date when they signed the contract between us. If they wanted a deadline, they should have put it on there. It was never a deadline created. Therefore, I would like you guys to allow me to complete my job, so I can get compensated.

Board President Parker:

All right, duly noted, sir, being as this is part of litigation right now, we can't speak about it, but we will have someone make contact with you, and we'll go from there. But as far as any kind of comments right now, I can't give you any because it's in litigation.

Nichols: I understand litigation, but if the village of Swansea is going back and forth with the lawyer, you guys have equal right to talk to the lawyer and tell him what's really going on. Because at this point, I don't believe the right person was talking to the lawyer. Because if the right person that was talking to the lawyer when this was presented, there's no deadline on the agreement.

Board President Parker:

So, I'm sure that our attorney has everything he needs to have. He's had conversations with our village administrator, and we're going to leave it at that for the village attorney to handle this. We're not going to speak about anything to you right now, because it is part of litigation. I hope you understand that.

Nichols:

How can I, or how can we come to an agreement where it's me, you the lawyers, so I can get compensated. I understand that you don't want to make a comment based on the litigation, but I need to get compensated.

I just don't do business in Swansea. I do business in 5000 cities, 50 states. Nichols building group is a board of education and Board of Elections, a state election certified company. We just don't do local. We do International. Okay? I don't come to your city to play games. I have come to your city to conduct business, sir.

When you look at the bids, everybody else's, the numbers are high. They 20k 30k, to 40,000. I'm knocking down buildings for you guys for $8,900. It's chomp change. I understand how you operate. That's why when I come to a city, I do a good job. I do quality performance work for a small fraction of the price. It's not about the money. It's about me helping you, me coming to your city to get stuff done for you. Okay? That's all I have got to say. I wish you guys the best. You got a board, a trustee, and an administrator. But I wish you guys can come to an agreement where you can sit down and talk to this lawyer, your attorney, and allow me to finish this simple task.

Board President Parker: We will be in contact with you after we have discussions with the attorney. Thank you.

XI. Report of Committees

A. Personnel Committee - Comments

1. Request to Hire - POC FF - Thomas Sandage

Motion to Forward: Made by Trustee Jablonski for request to hire paid on call firefighter Thomas Sandage, at the starting wage of $15 per call for training attendance. I'd like to make a motion to approve this.

Roll Call - Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

2. Request to Hire - POC FF - Vincent Scott

Motion to Forward: Made by Trustee Jablonski, for request to hire a pay on call firefighter Vincent Scott at starting wage, $15 per call or training. Attendant, I'd like to make a motion to approve this.

Roll Call - Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

Board President Parker: The next three items we're going to place on hold and bringing those back. (Execution Session - Employee contracts)

B. Finance Committee Report

1. Approval of Bills - Trustee Lanter: I will make a motion to pay the bills in the amount of $341,388.07 and have the funds drawn from the proper accounts.

Roll Call: Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

2. General Fund Analysis - Nothing

C. Judiciary Committee - Nothing

D. Community & Economic Development

Trustee Lanter: I will make a motion to read resolution, 1-2678, by title, only. Res. No. 1-2678 A Resolution Approving A Route 159/Boul Ave Business District Redevelopment Agreement Between Jarvis Companies And The Village Of Swansea, Illinois For Site Improvements At 1600, 1604, And 1610 North Illinois Street Roll Call: Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

2. Trustee Lanter: I will make a motion to read ordinance 1988 by title only. Ord. No. 1988 An Ordinance Renaming A Section Within Chapter 91 Of The Swansea Code Of Ordinances And Establishing Definitions And Regulations Within That Section Regarding Grass, Trees, Vegetation, And Weeds*

Roll Call: Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

3. Trustee Lanter: I will make a motion to read resolution 1-2679, by title, only.

Res. No. 1-2679 A Resolution Approving A Redevelopment Agreement Between The Village Of Swansea And 1803 JAI GANESHA RE LLLC For The Site At 1803 N Illinois Roll Call: Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

4. Trustee Lanter: I will make a motion to read resolution, 1-2680, by title only.

Res. No. 1-2680 A Resolution Approving The Planned Business Submittal For Jennings Station Phase 1 In Accordance With The Zoning Regulations Of The Village Of Swansea*- (Hard copies of the Jennings Station Phase 1 packet will be provided at the meeting)

Roll Call: Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

5. Trustee Lanter: I make a motion to read resolution 1-2681, by title only.

Res. No. 1-2681 An Inducement Resolution To Triple Lakes Farm, LLC For The Redevelopment Of Property Located In The Village Of Swansea, Illinois Roll Call: Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

6. Trustee Lanter: I make a motion to read resolution 1-2682, by title only.

Res. No. 1-2682 A Resolution Supporting An Application For A Metro East Parks And Recreation District (MEPRD) Grant For A Community-Wide Parks And Open Space Framework Master Plan With A Focus On Clinton Hills Conservation Park*

Roll Call: Village Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

E. Public Safety Committee

F. Public Works Committee

Trustee McGuire - I make a motion to read resolution 1-2683 by title only.

1. Res. No. 1-2683 A Resolution Authorizing The Purchase Of A New SCAG TIGER CAT II At A Price Of $10,451.22, From Erb Turf & Utility Equipment, Inc., 1500 Boul Avenue, Swansea, IL 62226

Roll Call: Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

Trustee McGuire - I make a motion to read resolution 1-2684 by title only.

2. Res. No. 1-2684 A Resolution Authorizing The Purchase Of A New SCAG JACKAL At A

Price of $34,787.22, From Erb Turf & Utility Equipment, Inc., 1500 Boul Avenue, Swansea, IL 62226

Roll Call: Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

3. Trustee McGuire - I make a motion to read resolution 1-2685 by title only.

Res. No. 1-2685 A Resolution Authorizing The Purchase Of A New SCAG WINDSTORM BLOWER At A Price Of $11,192.22, From Erb Turf & Utility Equipment, Inc., 1500 Boul Avenue, Swansea, IL 62226

Roll Call: Village Clerk Gloria Collier

Trustee Votes: All ayes

G. Cultural Committee - Nothing

H. Swansea Report Committee - Nothing

XII. Old Business

XIII. Village Administrator Ben:

I've got a few things for my report. First thing you should all have in your village email I sent today a copy of the newly elected comprehensive guide for newly elected officials that IML puts together every year. They just came out with the guide for this cycle. It's in the form of a PDF. I recommend all trustees read it, even if you are not a new trustee. It's valuable information in there. If you have any questions or want to discuss anything further, please don't hesitate to reach out.

I want to make the board aware the state budget forecast has been downgraded slightly, from about 55.4 billion to about 54.9 billion. Currently, IMLS analysis does not show any reduction to the current LDGF, as the local government distributed fund shared revenues for communities like Swansea. So currently that does not represent a downgrade in the revenues that we will see. But

I just want to make you guys aware of that fact, IML is always fine to make sure those aren't touched or decreased. So, keep you updated if we hear anything else on that.

We've talked a bit about crime free housing legislation being forthcoming. Crime free housing prohibition legislation is now passed in the Senate. IML thinks it's kind of a toss up at this moment whether that passes both houses or not, but as we kind of discussed the value of us proceeding and kind of re implementing our old program. We're kind of hitting the brakes at the moment, because it may be prohibited a statewide level anyway. Keep you updated on that.

We had a local road funding opportunity come up. So last minute, I think $400 million was allocated. We got in contact with our congressman, Jay Hoffman, who is incredibly helpful to us. He is the Assistant majority leader. So, he's a very valuable ally for projects like these. He made the recommendation that we make an application for the realignment of Homewood and grinding roads. If you will recall, that is already on IDots capital project list currently, but it might not get done for five or six years. There's no guarantee on the time list. Jay recommended we go ahead and put in an application for these local funds for that project as well. We'll attack it from both sides.

When he makes that recommendation, usually, that's the right way to go. Conferred with the mayor, so working with TWM to have that application. And it was announced at the end of last week, and it's due June 1. So quick turnaround. Luckily, we are, you know, we keep ready projects on the shelf, usually, so we can have a quick turnaround for opportunities like this. The mayor has asked me to start working with Christina on a job description, potentially for a new position related to economic development, maybe communications marketing. We'll fine tune that as we move forward. But work has begun on that, and we have a bid opening tomorrow morning for three storm water culvert projects we've budgeted for this year. Hopefully they'll be budgeted appropriately for all three, but we'll see. So those will be open tomorrow, and hopefully we'll be awarding all three of those at the next meeting in June.

We will also be bringing back the pavement management program contract that we kind of passed on last meeting, and Jeff rice will come to speak at that meeting as well. Make sure that everybody's familiar with him in what they do with the village and pavement management program specifically.

XIV. New Business

Trustee McGuire: I have something. So, when I was going through the minutes Nowhere did I see where we hired Chris as a paid-on call firefighter. So technically, I don't know how that all works.

Village Administrator Ben: That issue has been raised. I took that question, and I took it to legal, and our General Counsel agrees that a formal hiring decision was not made. So, by his estimation, he is not officially hired by the village. So, we just got advice back from Council last week. So, I think we will probably send correspondence to him, and he can formally put in his application to be a paid-on call.

XV. Announcements

XVI. Adjournment:

Motion Forward: Made by Trustee McGurie, second by Trustee Jablonski.

Trustee Votes: All ayes

Meeting Adjourned at 8:34 p.m.

https://www.swanseail.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_05192025-109