Kabat, Moeller, Irwin Take Oath of Office; Council Approves Proclamation
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By Todd Marver
tmarver@nashnews.net
At the Nashville City Council’s Thursday, May 4 meeting, new alderman Ernst Rob Irwin took the oath of office, after being elected in the April 4 election. Aldermen Shawn Kabat and Gary Moeller were re-elected in the April 4 election and also took the oath of office.
The council also recognized outgoing alderman Sue Finke. Mayor Raymond Kolweier thanked Finke for all the work she has done over the last 15.5 years on the council.
“Sue has served very diligently on the city council for 15.5 years. I thank her for her service and appreciate everything she has done,” he said.
Finke was the mayor pro-tem, so a new mayor pro-tem needed to be appointed. The council approved the mayor’s appointment of Kabat as mayor pro-tem.
The council approved a $12,000 contribution to the Nashville Chamber of Commerce. The funds will come from the hotel/motel tax.
“We have been blessed with the City of Nashville supporting the Chamber with their $12,000 contribution,” Chamber president Darlene Schomaker said.
Kabat asked Schomaker if she could get an exact price on what it could cost to run an ad in Discover Downstate Illinois’ Tourism Times newsletter. He said they could come back and talk about it in a month or two and work together as a city and chamber to run an ad in the newsletter.
The council approved a $5,000 donation for the Fourth of July Fireworks at Washington County Fairgrounds. The money will come from the gaming fund.
“The Fair Board is going to have the concession stand open. It seems to bring a lot of people in. Having it at the park, it’s not enough room. The County Fair is not going to have fireworks because they’re going to do the (Rodney Atkins and Chase Wright) concert,” said Steve Haertling, Fourth of July fireworks organizer.
The council approved a proclamation declaring May 7-13 as prevention week in Nashville. Sharon Frederking reported that she and Matt Bierman belong to the Healthy Communities Alliance, which she said tries to prevent substance use in Washington and Randolph counties, mainly in young people. The organization promotes prevention, support and recovery in the two counties.
According to the proclamation, Resident Circuit Judge Dan Emge leads a local drug court changing lives for the better. Alliance participant Hoyleton Youth and Family Services leads regular DEA drug take back events in partnership with Doerhing’s Pharmacy in Nashville promoting safe disposal of prescription medicine. The Alliance has trained and engaged over 125 middle and high school student leaders to carry out peer prevention activities including Nashville students participating in Life Savers training to provide peer support addressing life challenges in the fall of 2022. The Alliance is developing resources and supports for people in recovery including creating a Washington County resource guide. Grants have been obtained by Washington County Hospital and other local organizations to address health, mental health and substance misuse.
On behalf of the Sons of the American Legion, Bierman thanked the City of Nashville and the council for their assistance in helping with the first annual barbecue competition. He reported that close to $3,000 was raised for local veterans.
“It was a huge success. We had 19 competitors. They all had a good time. They say they want to come back next year,” he said.
The council approved the purchase of a new truck in an amount not to exceed $160,648.90. Alderman Doug Hargan reported the purchase can’t go over $160,648.90, but it could come in $4,000 to $6,000 under because some of the outfitting could run a little lower.
“We don’t have to pay for it until we take delivery. The bid is only good for another couple days at this price. After that obviously it’s going to go up some if we wait. The committee was in favor of biting the bullet here and getting it done because the way prices are skyrocketing, you’re probably looking at an extra $20,000 minimum if we wait another year,” he said.
Logan Gill, street supervisor, reported it will be a full salt and snow plow truck and will replace a 1994 orange State truck.
“They are getting to the point of falling apart on us when we take them out, so it’s time to replace them. The truck we’re getting rid of will go on auction somewhere the same as our last dump truck did. They’re saying sometime next year (we’ll get it),” he said.
The council approved summer work hours for the street and utility departments effective Tuesday, May 30 from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
“The recycling truck would be there at 6 a.m. This is pretty normal. We’ve done this for years. It has worked out so far and there haven’t been any problems with it and everybody seems to like it,” Hargan said.
The council approved authorizing repairs on the vac truck. Utility Supervisor Blaine Middleton reported there was a failure on the vac truck and it took a long time to find parts because it is old.
“They were able to find all the parts to repair it. They found some metal in the transmission part of that and they’re highly recommending to take it apart and see where the metal came from and go ahead and replace that. That’s an extra cost. We’re into it this much, so we might as well make sure that transmission is up to snuff,” he said.
Middleton gave an update on the fine screen unit project at South Lagoon.
“The inside of the building is painted. The ceiling is done. The electrical contractor started (last week),” he said.
Middleton will work with the city property and zoning committee to get quotes and proposals for replacing the utility shed roof.
“The storm we had a couple weeks ago blew some more shingles off. We’ve turned it into the insurance company. We haven’t received anything from them as of tonight. Regardless of what that comes back as, the roof still needs to be replaced,” Kolweier said.
The council approved a request from the Nashville Ladies Golf League to donate $100 to their upcoming golf tournament.
“These ladies give back. They’ve put new windows in the clubhouse of the golf course, remodeled the outdoor restrooms, bought more picnic tables for the pavilion and have done some remodeling of the clubhouse restrooms. The remodeling of the clubhouse restrooms made quite a difference to our clubhouse,” Alderman Kelly Sheridan said.
