Arthur Village Board votes to purchase new electric speed limit signs

Simply Arthur and Association of Commerce launch new website

By ARIANA R. CHERRY
Staff Writer

At the opening of the Arthur Village Board on Monday, July 20, Mayor Rod Randal announced that the Arthur Cheese Festival had been officially canceled this year after speaking with Stephanie Wierman. They hope to postpone and bring it back during the 2021 Labor Day weekend. It would have been the festival’s 48th year.

With the Cheese Festival being canceled and COVID19 bringing some difficulty with events, the Arthur Fire Department will not be holding their annual pancake breakfast. As an alternate fundraiser though, they will be selling boxes of uncooked sausage. Pre-orders will be taken.

Comptroller Erica Carter reported that the current expenditures were $52,283.54 and the balance in the checkbook at the end of June was $3,041,999.47.

Christy Miller announced that Simply Arthur along with the Association of Commerce launched a new website. The old one was made up of a business directory and calendar of events. The new site has been created for those who may be considering visiting or relocating to Arthur. It can be visited at http://www.ArthurIL.us.

The Village Board approved a loan disbursement from the IEPA for the sanitary lining project in the amount of $27,591.84.

Police Chief Michael Goodman reported that a Douglas County officer responded to a heroin overdose incident recently. The department was able to get to the individual in time and transfer them to the hospital by ambulance.

Goodman also spoke to the board about electronic speed limit signs. He informed board members that he researched some of the ones that Bement used in their area. Goodman said that five different quotes were received. The one that the village was interested in was small enough to be mounted under current speed limit signs and be seen up to 600 feet away. The cost was $2,216 from NPH Industries.

Time clock policies were discussed among members of the board. Some of the issues included employees not wanting to put the app on their phones, how to handle time issues for employees who were on call, the police department receiving after-hour calls and city employees responding to emergency situations. Presently, the policies on the time-clocks don’t allow for specific situations, although it was noted, that some of these could be overridden by a department supervisor. It was decided that current policies need to be re-written and then brought to the board for approval and vote. The supervisors would hold a special work session to discuss the policies to be re-written.

Oye’s Hardware’s bid of $24,689 was awarded for interior plumbing and fixtures at the new WWTP Building.

The board approved to purchase a replacement pump for the Dogwood Lift Station in the amount of $8,841 from Vadevanter Engineering. There had been previous problems with the current pump during the winter season.

There was no discussion or updates on current COVID19 situations at this time.