City okays agreement with PC

The City of Fairbury has approved an annexation agreement with the Prairie Central school district.

The agreement is to annex property where the new elementary school is going into the city limits. This was authorized during Wednesday’s regular Fairbury City Council meeting with Alderman Bill Schmidgall making the motion.

Also at the meeting, a quote to prepare easement documents for the north drainage project was tabled to see if other options are available. City Superintendent Brett Ashburn said the sooner the better for a decision to be made so they can get the pipe in.

Insurance was renewed with Illinois Municipal League Risk Management Association or IMLRMA. There is a less than four percent increase for this year which is better than the past several years. The city can save money by paying for it all at once.

In another matter, the council approved policy manual updates for the police department. Chief Chris Edwards admitted the department’s policy manual hasn’t been updated very often.

Edwards presented two options – one company which supplies the policies and the other provides a platform to upload information with officers signing off on it.

“We basically need to start from scratch,” explained Edwards.

The policy manual gives the chief and offers a clear-cut guideline of what to do in certain situations.

“Are there any special funds we can use for that?” asked Alderman Schmidgall.

“This seems more like an administration thing so I doubt it would be a restricted fund,” replied Mayor David Slagel.

The council chose to go with Lexipol for the policy manual updates.

A request from the Fairbury Area Chamber of Commerce was approved for street closures during the Dec. 5 Fairbury Christmas Parade. The streets to be blocked off include Second through Fourth along Locust Street from 9 a.m. until approximately 1 p.m.

Superintendent Ashburn updated council members on the downtown street project which has finished since the weather cooperated this fall.

“I think everybody appreciates it,” he said.

He also said the city is going to sell the old garbage truck online that they replaced with the new one.

Alderman Jon Kinate received a message from a resident about posting signs for trucks regarding excessive engine braking when coming into town.

“It’s loud and I can hear them from my house,” Kinate stated.

Ashburn said the current ordinance about noise could be re-written to include a part about engine braking. Generally, IDOT must be consulted before putting up signs such as this.

“I think there is a state statute on it but I think the sign has to be posted for us to enforce it,” explained Police Chief Edwards.

The city will look into this.

Under the consent agenda, the city approved the Oct. 7 meeting minutes, voucher invoice register listing the bills, treasurer’s cash report and overtime report.

An executive session was held for personnel matters though no action was taken afterward.