Restroom Abuse at the Atwood Park Scrutinized

By DORIS ELMORE
Staff Writer

“Atwood Village employees have been dealing with restroom issues at Atwood Park for the past two weeks,” states Village President Bill Fleming at the regular meeting of the board on Monday, June 10. Fleming said the employees have spent a significant amount of time dealing with sewer issues and significant abuse of the restroom facilities during baseball games. He said the board has been working with the Youth League to help deal with the issue.

Stools have been replaced in the men’s restroom and the camera was used to shoot the sewer line all the way to the main which proved to be completely clear. Fleming said they believe things are under control, however they will continue to monitor the area before and after the games.

According to Fleming’s report, Conxxus/Metro work to install fiber optic throughout the village has been going well. A water line was damaged on Magnolia. This line was an unknown line to the village and it was damaged at no fault of Metro. A gas line was inadvertently damaged on N. Iowa during backfilling work, a gas line was damaged in the alley behind the 200 block of N. Main, but at no fault of Metro. The USIC didn’t locate the line. Also, a gas line was damaged in the alley in front of the water plant, again at no fault of Metro. It was a short live gas line left from when the previous building stood where the water plant is today. Fleming said Metro is doing a good job backfilling and cleaning up their work areas and communicating well with village employees.

Regarding outstanding ordinance violation tickets, Attorney Ken Crossman has sent out letters on June 1, 2024. People receiving the letters have until June 15 to pay the tickets. After the 15th, Barbee will contact Crossman. If tickets have not been paid, court cases will be scheduled.

Regarding a letter from Energy Harbor, Fleming said residents received a letter from this company and signed it as coming from the Village of Atwood. It explained residents can do nothing and they will purchase electricity from Energy Harbor, or they can “opt out” and purchase their power from Ameren by returning a card, calling Energy Harbor or “opt out” on their website. This is a personal choice each resident can make. Fleming would like to add to the July agenda that the village will no longer participate in the Aggregation Program. Anyone interested in hearing more discussion on this subject should attend the July meeting.

A conference call with the Illinois Attorney General took place regarding sewer plant project. Andy Hanfland with Farnsworth will send them the village time line for the sewer plant project.

The sinkhole on North Missouri was repaired.

Trustee Diane Eagan reported the Housing Committee met and Rolfe Cordts will keep the convenance (rules) in his subdivision unless someone buys all the remaining lots. Trustee Scott Harris would like to revamp the Housing Agreement to include information on the process of distributing funds. Village Trustee Ken Crossman recommended a contract with the resident who qualifies. The committee would like to distribute the information to local realtors.

The old municipal building was to be appraised on June 11 at a cost of $1,500 to the village.

Village Clerk Amanda Barbee provided information on updating the water billing software. Upgrading the current software from Locis 7 to Locis 8 would allow the village to accept credit cards, email bills and update billing information. The initial costs would include $1,000 to add modules for credit card processing and emailing bills and $2,300 for the training involved in learning the new program. The membership fee would go from $1,320 a year to $1,941. Barbee stressed the ability to accept credit cards would greatly benefit the residents. Harris made a motion to purchase the upgrades to Locis 8, seconded by Allen Kilber. The motion passed.

Expenditures for the month were reported as $18,399.10.