Pecatonica Village Board holds rare early meeting

By Chris Johnson

News Correspondent

A time change threw things off slightly during the most recent meeting of the Pecatonica Village Board. With a schedule that typically features a 6 p.m. start, a look at the Village’s audit spurred the earlier get together moment. Village Attorney Doug Henry apologized for being unaware of the meeting time change as he arrived shortly before media representatives made their appearance.

An issue with a business working with the Village’s Public Works Department continues to surface. According to reports work was supposed to be done. The work hasn’t been done yet and time is ticking.

Visu-Sewer is a business that makes it its business to poke its nose into the Village’s underbelly, with a look at various lengths of water main with a digital camera. A contract was set up to have work done and there have been some delays. Henry said there is paperwork on file.

“A contract was signed by them obligating them to have work done. The Village Engineer has been working with them, try to get a reasonable date of action. They had said they would be here sometime in mid-November.”

The Village Board met and said the plan was unacceptable.

There is a fee for non-action. A contract means something has been established and the Village has the right to take action. That could include legal action if a new plan isn’t put in place. The agreement, according to Henry, is costly to Visu-Sewer if things don’t get done.

“It is $475 a day,” he said.

Henry said the Village has power to take action.

“We can invoke the fee. We could eliminate the fee or we could come up with a new plan. We could go with the second lowest bidder. Quite frankly if we go to our second vender, by the time we got a contract done it would be later than where we currently are.”

Trustee Bill Smull expressed his displeasure with the service provider following an earlier mistake that saw digging done where it didn’t need to be done.

“This relates to when they had a mess up. I did a little more homework and it was their fault. In my eyes we move to the next bidder. My opinion is we tell them goodbye and move on to the next bidder.”

The Board will send a letter to the service provider with expressed terms.

In other action, discussion continued on the proposed TIF District, as the effort continues to bring Dollar General to the Village. Village President Dan Barber said he and many others recently got together to talk about the TIF.

“We held a meeting. We invited all the taxing bodies. We will continue to hold meetings.”

A Public Hearing could also be in the works, Barber explained.

Some of the recent discussion had been focused on the impact on residences in the proposed TIF, which would run from the south side of Pecatonica High School, west on Seventh Street and down Main Street, a distance off the center of the Highway. Barber said it’s an add-on to something existing.

“We will put everything together into one TIF District. This will include the TIF that is already in place in some of those areas. Even residences could see a benefit from TIF dollars.”

Henry said that could mean facelifts, of sorts. Nobody is going to have to leave the area being considered for the TIF, even though it is for business development and growth usually.

“Right now there is no plan to move anyone from their houses or tear any houses down. We selected the finding that precludes us from doing that. We were found eligible under two different scenarios.”

As an example, Henry explained, “If you are eligible as a Conservation District, it’s always going to be available. Residents could benefit and we can assist business owners with things like facades along Main Street.”

Paperwork has been placed on file at the Village Clerk’s Office for residents who may have questions about the “soon-to-be-enhanced” TIF District.

The Pecatonica Village Board meets regularly on the third Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. The Pecatonica Committee of the Whole, with all Trustees acting in the capacity of Committee Member meets on the first Thursday of each month. The next Committee of the Whole meeting will be held next Thursday, Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. There will be a Special Village Board meeting held following completion of the Committee Meeting next week.