Council meeting

I wanted to write when I got home from the council meeting but it was after 11:00 pm when I got home.


Highlights:
Did you know that River Street north of 20 is called North River Street, but River Street south of 20 is simply called River Street? It wouldn't be much of a problem except that we have a 18 River Street and a 18 North River Street. The previous owner of 18 River had a PO Box but now the current residents are having mail delivery problems. Kudos to the mayor for immediately checking with EMA to make sure emergency personnel know which house is which. The mailing solution? Well the council will vote on an ordinance next month to rename "River Street" south of 20 to "South River Street". I am sure that new signs will be bought once the change is approved. Unfortunately, the mail delivery problems will probably still continue to a degree.

Fourth quarter reports were approved last night and look very good. They look good because of the 1% income tax!! We have a number of projects that will be taking place this year, one of the biggest being maintenance to the water tower. Lots of things that would not be done without the income tax.

While we are improving things with the tax money, we also have to maintain equipment as well. We also have to maintain our personnel.
Let's talk about personnel. Much gets said about the village employees (that includes police) and some of it, by virtue of anonymous comments, is not favorable. I am at the village hall on an almost daily basis. I see first hand what is going on and what our people are doing. They are doing a great job. Many of them gave up health insurance several years ago when money was tight. Some of them are working for almost half of what their predecessors were and doing a much better job. You can walk into the village hall and see it first hand. Ask the mayor to show you the two boxes he carried out at the meeting last night. It was one of the coolest things I have seen done at a meeting.

So when I talk about the village being in good shape, there really are two reasons for that. The income tax and the sacrifices of our employees. They deserved the raise they got, it doesn't come close to what they have given back to us.