Southern Illinois News

City of Metropolis City Council met July 8.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

The regular meeting of the City Council, City of Metropolis, Illinois was held at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, July 8th, 2024, in Council Chambers of City Hall at 106 West 5th Street, Metropolis, Illinois. Upon roll call the following Council members were present: Alderwoman Michele Longworth, Alderman Jeremy Holley, Al Wagner, Dylan Chambers, Chuck Short, Darryl Neill, Corporate Counsel Andrew Leonard, Mayor Don Canada, City Clerk Jan Adams and concerned citizens of Metropolis. Aldermen Brian Anderson and Chad Lewis were absent. ROLL CALL:

Anderson Absent Longworth Present Chambers Present Neill Present Holley Present Short Present Lewis Absent Wagner Present

Moved by Alderman Darryl Neill and second by Alderman Dylan Chambers Alderman to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held meeting on 6-24- 2024 as presented.

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

CITIZENS REQUEST:

Susan Howell representing Project Hope and Sandra Greenwall, a committee member, came to request road closure for the Fast and Furriest Car Cruise-In fund raiser for Project Hope Humane Society. The event is on September 14th from 5-9 pm on Market Street. Project Hope Humane Society is a no-kill animal shelter, incorporated as a 501 © 3, making any donation tax-deductible. There is no state or federal funding and relies on donations from supporters. They invite you to become a sponsor of the event offering various levels of sponsorship that range from $50-$500. Sandra noted there are several people that have committed to showing their cars for the event. There will be a DJ, door prizes and a photographer for pictures around the Superman Statue!

Kasey Prescott read the following statement and asked the council to consider her request. She felt lowering the speed limit and installation of speed bumps would ultimately reduce and/or solve the issues.

Mayor Canada, Elected City Officials:

I have been a constituent of this community all my adult life as well as a public servant as a state employee who is currently assigned to Massac County as a Parole Agent. I live here and I serve this community in a professional capacity with the goal of public safety and recidivism reduction.

I come before you today to express my concerns in regard to the safety of my family and fellow residents in the neighborhood of Lindsey addition. I live at 1903 Speckman street, which is a heavily trafficked area not only in motor vehicles, but golf carts, side by side, cyclists, as well as foot traffic. My street is the main segway leading into Lindsey addition and is approximately 30 yards long from stop sign to stop sign intersecting at both ends with only left or right turns being possible with no posted speed limit sign. There is ONE speed limit sign within the area of Lindsey Addition at the corner of Oak and Baker, which is listed at 20 MPH and is facing south at the rear of neighborhood. Since the start of summer, traffic, motorized and otherwise, has increased substantially. My home is equipped with video surveillance cameras with multiple views of the street at both ends. Over the course of the last several weeks while outside on my property I have noticed an uptick in the willful, blatant disregard for not only the stop signs leading into and out of Lindsey addition, but motorist traveling at high rates of speed in front of my home, which again, is approximately 30 yards long. On May 27th I sent a video of a vehicle blatantly disregarding the stop sign at Speckman and 20th street to the Metropolis Police Department Facebook page along with a request to increase patrol and traffic enforcement in the area. Although I did not receive a reply, I am confident and hopeful that my request was received and acted upon. Two and a half weeks later on June 15th while my family was preparing for bed, and my dogs were outside in their fence for their last potty break, we heard extremely loud tires squealing, followed by a loud “Boom!” and subsequent additional tires squealing. Upon investigating, we found that approximately 25 feet of our fence had been destroyed and although our dogs were unharmed physically, they were clearly in distress from the incident. Upon reviewing my camera footage, a Dodge “Hellcat” Charger is seen turning left onto Speckman from 19th street at a high rate of speed, losing control, and crashing into my property, narrowly missing my animals, home, and brand-new vehicle. Additional camera angles clearly showed the vehicle purposefully leaving the scene at a high rate of speed, willfully and blatantly disregarding the stop sign on Speckman and 20th and speeding off until no longer in view. Police were called and I interacted solely with Sgt Davis on my property and was informed that Officer Wright was conducting his investigation on Lindsey Drive. I advised Sgt Davis that I had video footage of the incident, and he instructed me to send it to Officer Wright via email to jwright@metropolisil.gov. I immediately sent 2 videos of different angles showing the incident. I was also advised by Sgt Davis to send an estimate of the damage to jwright@metropolisil.gov of which I did on June 20th with a reply from Officer Wright stating “it was added to the report and will be forwarded to the States Attorney”. On 7/2/2024 I obtained a copy of the police report in regard to the incident. The narrative of the incident, from my perspective, was nothing short of lackadaisical. The officer failed to include in the narrative that video footage was obtained, let alone reviewed, and the damage cost was also left out of the narrative after he advised that it was added and forwarded to the States Attorney. On this same date, I contacted the Massac County States Attorney’s office and inquired if the video footage and damage report was submitted by the police department to their office for review. The states attorney’s office advised that they had not received any video evidence, or damage report from the police department for the case number. The states attorney’s office provided an email address for me to forward that information on to them for filing in the case number, of which I did. Since 6/15/2024, I have sent several videos to the Police Department of motorist willfully and blatantly disregarding the stop signs at 20th and Speckman, as well as videos of motorist driving way too fast in the 30 yards it takes to get from stop sign to stop sign in front of my home. I’m sure Chief Massey is sick of me sending them, and I understand that policing, for the most part, is reactive. Especially traffic enforcement. The ones that do the “slow and go” are not part of my grievance here today. More times than not, it is the continued complete disregard for the stop signs in the area. It is my understanding that Speed bumps cannot be placed where the posted speed limit is 30 MPH or above, and if the speed is not posted, which it is not on my block, that it is 30 MPH. So, I come before you today to petition the city with 2 requests. 1.) Lower the speed limit on the 1900 block of Speckman to 15 MPH and install speed bumps on that block. There is absolutely no reason why anyone should be driving over 15 miles per hour in a subdivision, and with the main segway to that subdivision being the 30-yard 1900 block of Speckman, I respectfully ask that our elected officials consider reducing the speed limit there. I would like to reference the area of Metropolis Street and 15th where the speed limit was lowered to 15 and speed bumps were installed near the ball parks. It can be done. Hundreds of vehicles travel this block daily with the sole purpose of entering and exiting Lindsey Subdivision and the speed allowed should reflect that. I implore you tonight upon your travel home to drive up North Avenue onto 19th street, take a right turn off 19th street and onto Speckman and attempt to get to 30 MPH in the 30-35 yards it takes before the stop sign and then ask yourself “is 30 MPH an appropriate speed?” 2.) Is that additional training be provided to the police department in the area of report writing and distribution, ensuring that all aspects of the incidents that police respond to are documented completely and accurately for review by the States Attorney’s office.

I would like to end by saying that since this incident on 6/15/2024, I have seen an uptick in patrol in the area, and for the first time in my 16 years of living in my home, saw someone pulled over in the neighborhood. This does not go unnoticed, and I appreciate the extra effort by the police department.

Thank you

Chief Masse asked to respond. He stated the speed limit in the Lindsey/Oak subdivision is 30 mph. Both Alderman Short and Chief Masse verified the lowest posted speed can be 20 mph in a city. Masse explained the reason the 15 mph signs located on 15th Street at the small t-ball fields was to appease the former mayor. We can always put it out there but can’t enforce it. The state law says you can’t run radar within 1500 feet of a speed limit change. We are patrolling the area more, but they see us sitting there and reduce speed. If we happen to be driving in that area and see them driving through the stop sign is about the only way we can catch them.

MAYOR’S REPORT:

Moved by Alderman Jeremy Holley and second by Alderman Dylan Chambers to accept Carl Johnson’s resignation from the Metropolis Public Library Board

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

Moved by Alderman Jeremy Holley and second by Alderman Dylan Chambers to accept Theo Wells to a 1-year term to the Library Board to the Metropolis Public Library Board

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

Moved by Alderman Al Wagner and second by Alderman Dylan Chambers to accept Katie Parker to a 3-year term to the Library Board to the Metropolis Public Library Board

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

Moved by Alderwoman Michele Longworth and second by Alderman Dylan Chambers to accept Reappointment of Rhonda James to a 3-year term to the Library Board to the Metropolis Public Library Board

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Absent Short Yea Lewis Yea Wagner Yea

Moved by Alderman Jermey Holley and second by Alderman Al Wagner to accept reappointment of Pam Tyson to a 3-year term to the Library Board to the Metropolis Public Library Board

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

Moved by Alderwoman Michele Longworth and second by Alderman Al Wagner to approve road closure for Project Hope Car Cruise from the Superman Statue to 8th Street from 5-9 pm on September 14th, 2024

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

Moved by Alderman Chuck Short and second by Alderman Dylan Chambers to approve partial payment to Brown & Roberts, Inc. in the amount of $6,750.00 to replace existing T-Hanger with a 6-Unit T-Hanger Building

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

Moved by Alderman Al Wagner and second by Alderman Dylan Chambers to approve the purchase of a Chlorine Analyzer from HACH in the amount of $10,042.00 to replace the old and obsolete one per IEPA requirement MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

CORPORATE COUNSEL:

Moved by Alderman Dylan Chambers and second by Alderman Al Wagner to seek bid for the sale of 112 East 21st Street

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

FINANCIAL REPORT:

Moved by Alderman Dylan Chambers and second by Alderman Jeremy Holley to approve the Finance Report be received and approved and that the orders be drawn on the Treasurer for the different amounts mentioned therein and that the Mayor and the City Clerk be authorized to make necessary arrangements for payment of current Salaries, Payroll and Contract bills. MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

Moved by Alderman Jeremy Holley and second by Alderman Dylan Chambers to approve the Finance Report be received and approved and that the orders be drawn on the Treasurer for the different amounts mentioned therein and that the Mayor and the City Clerk be authorized to make necessary arrangements for payment of miscellaneous bills.

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

Moved by Alderwoman Michele Longworth and seconded by Alderman Jeremy Holley to adjourn. 7:20

MOTION CARRIED:

Anderson Absent Longworth Yea Chambers Yea Neill Yea Holley Yea Short Yea Lewis Absent Wagner Yea

After the meeting adjourned a business owner inquired about parking on Market Street. What is the procedure to change the parallel parking to angle parking and side streets nearby. There are several things to take into consideration before those changes can be made. Others had questions on the subject and were told we will have to take the matter to a Water, Light & Street Committee meeting for discussion before anything is brought to the consideration of the council.

https://metropolisil.keeforcecloud.com/jobrouter/index.php?cmd=PublicStart&ps=4277dc75346c705d399cb48119d516cf&username=webuser