Bohle leaves as Chrisman city operator
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The Chrisman City Council held their rescheduled meeting on Monday, June 27th.
Members of the Chrisman Athletic Booster Club were in attendance to inquire about having a fundraiser on August 27th. Members just wanted to get the go ahead from the City for the event. The fundraiser would consist of a ride through town on side by sides, car, any type of transportation those participating would like to use.
Each stop on the ride will have a putt-putt golf hole. Each team will be made up of four and will cost either $20 or $25 per person. At the end of the ride, a meal would be provided. The Booster Club provides scholarships for students at the end of the year as well as put money towards sports activities at the schools that may need financial assistance.
One of the projects the Booster Club has its sights on is the Junior High Gym floor as it needs some replacements. The Baseball Program is another activity they would like to help. Since baseball started up again last year, the Boosters do not have anything to go towards it.
Everyone participating in the ride will be required to sign a waiver and will possibly have to show proof of insurance on the vehicle they will be using in the ride. Time for the event will start around one o’clock and run until five or six o’clock.
With no objections, the event was approved.
Dan Moore, President of the Chrisman Area Community Club was in attendance. Moore mentioned that he was approached by Cheri Oates, Librarian at the Chrisman Public Library to see if the sidewalk could be fixed. “It’s in front of the library where the weeds are growing through the cracks,” Moore said.
The sidewalk caused a problem a couple of years ago when a patron going into the library had fallen. Commissioner Thad Crispin took notes and said that he would look into it.
Moore also wanted to know if the City would be taking care of the dead tree that is in City Park before the Sesquicentennial. “It depends on if the tree trimmers can. I’ve got it in my budget for tree trimming,” Crispin said. “There’s a few that I need taken down. Just like everybody, they’re booked solid”
Moore mentioned that the Chrisman Fire Department said that if the city wasn’t able to take the tree down that they would volunteer to take it down. The question of the stumps being ground down were met with denial. “What if someone volunteered to do it?” Moore asked. Crispin stated that he didn’t have a problem with it as long as no one gets hurt.
Moore said that he would be providing a list to Commissioner Bryan Haddix of all the volunteers that will be given to the insurance company. Though a volunteer for the stump grinding has not been found, Dan stated that he would be on the lookout for one.
Haddix told the council that he had found a CAT Excavator for rent that will be able to take the stumps out. Rent for the excavator is $2,700 per week. “I have several projects,” Haddix said. “It’s either $1,000 a day or $2,700 a week.”
The city would also be responsible for sixteen percent of the insurance in case the equipment happens to break while they are in possession of it.
Haddix wants to clean up the railroad ditch and the creek to Centennial Park, along with many other things. The excavator will come with the equipment necessary to clean up all of the brushwork that needs done, along with the three tree stumps.
The sidewalk by Neal EMS was busted out and Haddix told owner Jeremy Neal to provide a place for his employees to put their cigarettes out.
“If you could find some kind of pot for your employees to put their cigarette butts in,” Haddix said. “I literally raked up two shovel scoops full walking up the curb. I’m not saying they did it all, but they are there.”
Haddix said that even a coffee can with sand in it would help with the mess. Neal stated that he would get something for the employees. “They contributed to it (the mess),” Neal said.
No progress has been made on the purchase of the Real Estate on Jackson Street. A lean can be filed so the property can not be sold, but the city can not foreclose on the property with the service lean they have for mowing the property.
The city can either have the lean changed or provide the back taxes, which comes to a little over $800 and just buy the property outright. The city made the decision to put a bid in on the property located at 407 East Jackson for $819.00
The city has noticed that just about everyday the street department has picked up brush. Commissioner Haddix proposed going back to what the city had in place around ten years ago – picking up on one side of the highway one week and the other side of the highway the following week.
“We’re having a lot of problems with this,” Haddix said.
Mayor Owen suggested brush be picked up once a week on Mondays. One Monday will be the east side of highway, then the following Monday the west side of the highway. This will help alleviate the time that it takes employees to pick up a large amount of brush as well as do other aspects of their job.
The City of Chrisman is now looking for a new Sewer/Water employee after Erik Bohle handed in his two weeks notice and took a job elsewhere. “His last day was Friday,” Haddix said.
Haddix spent the day going through older applications, eventually picking out three that he likes and called a couple of candidates. “They’re supposed to be coming in tomorrow (Tuesday) at eleven a.m and two o’clock to see if it’s something they’re interested in,” Haddix said.
With the Sesquicentennial coming up, plans are being made to repaint the lines on the roads and curbs as well as the fire hydrants. “We need to get the square looking good,” Mayor Owen said.
Commissioner Crispin recently received a quote for the repairing of the sidewalks. All of the sidewalks on the square and around the park were included in the quote. The quote came to $9,000 for the square. The square will be torn up and re-poured. The sidewalks in the park comes to $3,500. An additional $200 will be charged in case ADA pads are needed.
A motion was made to approve the construction, though a time frame was not set in stone. The job will try to be completed in one day and be done in between other jobs.
Commissioner Haddix stated that people had approached him about volunteering to help the city out. With volunteers, not city employees, Haddix had to speak with Brooke Knight of Knight Insurance about what the rules were for volunteers. “It’s ok to have volunteers, we just need to have their names on a volunteer list up here,” Haddix said. The councilmen approved the use of a volunteer list.
Also approved at the meeting were claims in the amount of $68,363.35 and two trees are to be planted on the square. A building permit was granted for 712 East Monroe and Ali Prisecaru was hired as summer help for the city at minimum wage pay.
