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NOKOMIS — Grants were among the business items the Nokomis City Council discussed at its December 7 meeting.
One grant on the docket was for the business district grant for Bernardini’s, 116 W. Front. A previous grant for the building was approved for $9,000 and was already awarded. The new application related to additional unrelated work on the building and will bring tax revenue to the city.
The contractor has damaged the sidewalk in front of the building during the work covered in the previous grant application. The new grant was approved, contingent on the contractor signing an agreement with the city to repair the sidewalk. The total amount on the two grants will not exceed $25,000.
Another grant application submitted by Joseph Clavin was discussed. The work on the project involving the grant has already been completed. Further discussion and action will be determined at the next meeting.
The city has applied for a downtown grant. The council will hear more details as they become available next month.
The streets department is hanging more lights downtown, which were donated by Camren’s Causes.
Nokomis monthly financials
The city received $83,211.77 in revenues from various sources, which include the following:
- Illinois Department of Revenue – MFT Renewal for November: $4,337.38
- Illinois Department of Revenue – MFT Allotment for November: $4,413.30
- Illinois Department of Revenue – Personal Property Replacement Tax: $1,268.97
- Illinois Department of Revenue – Business District Tax: $6,609.32
- Illinois Department of Revenue – 1% Sales Tax: $20,197.32
- Other revenues: $46,484.48
Bills in the amount of $35,811.84 were authorized to be paid.
New business
Proposals for the renovation project at City Hall were tabled until the next meeting.
The council is awaiting on the cost of subdividing the city property near the water treatment plant.
Joe Cervi will begin with the removal of the trailer located at 511 1/2 S. Spruce.
The council approved the purchase of control panels for the generators located at the wastewater plant and City Hall. When the construction at the wastewater plant is complete, the control panel will be moved to the water treatment plant.
A letter was received from the Nokomis-Witt Area Ambulance Service requesting a letter of recommendation to appoint Joletta Hill to represent the City of Nokomis on the board. The letter was approved and will be drafted.
There was discussion but no action on upgrading the Civic Systems community portal. The reasoning for the tabling is that the council needs more information on the cost and the current cost of the program the city is currently utilizing.
The proposed upgrade would allow for more automatic data entry compared to the current system, which requires a lot of manual data entry. It would also provide more spreadsheets to better assist in calculating the budget.
The council approved the purchase of a new printer/copier at a cost of $5,165. The printer the city uses is 12 years old and parts are no longer available to facilitate repairs.
The council also approved a consent order executed by Mayor Dylan Goldsmith for violations recorded by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency in the amount of $5,500.
The city will now have a part-time office assistant at City Hall. Madison Musser will be hired to work four days a week in the city clerk’s office.
The next meeting will be Monday, December 23 in the city council chambers. Present were Mayor Goldsmith, Commissioners Michael Glenn, Lou Stauder, Tisha Morris, and Scott Arkebauer, City Clerk Rachel Cassidy, and City Attorney Chris Sherer.
This article was updated before publication with correct information. We were going off of first-hand knowledge that the trailer at 511 1/2 S. Spruce had not been demolished as of the 11 a.m. draft of this article. As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, it had become apparent that the trailer had been demolished.
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