Post Messenger Recorder -

The Monticello Village Board met for their regular meeting on Wednesday, March 1, 2017. The boardroom was again filled with spectators. With no public comments on the agenda, the board went into closed session right after approving the agenda and the minutes of the February 15, 2017 meeting.

Although the agenda speculated that the closed session would take approximately 20 minutes, it continued for over an hour. When the meeting returned to open session, the board approved having Rock County perform the background checks and interviews for the Police Chief position.

The board approved a cigarette license for Casey’s General Store beginning on March 14, 2017. Dan Wirth was in the audience to discuss with the board his application that would allow a beer garden at T-n-Ds. Although he said he didn’t have a problem with most of the items on the list for a beer garden, there were a couple of items that he was asking for clarification on. Following a discussion that included the possibility of sending the rules back to Committee, it was decided that since this was only a temporary license, to expire on June 30, 2017, the board would look at it again before the expiration date.

The board also approved overtime pay for Interim Police Chief Tom Erb. Earlier the Personnel Committee had denied the overtime. Trustee Tere Dunlap said that the denial was due to a misunderstanding. She said that the overtime had not been preapproved and she had been under the impression that Erb had just been shredding personal papers instead of old department papers. The board then approved the overtime.

The board approved the purchase of a new garage door opener for the police department garage. It was reported that the opener on one of the doors was outdated and that apparently there were other openers in the village that operated on the same frequency, so that at times the door would be found open.

A loan to purchase a new refuse truck was also discussed. According to the Public Works Committee minutes, the Village has $60,000 in a reserve account to replace the current refuse truck. Trustee Tere Dunlap reported that Greenwoods State Bank has offered the village a loan of $90,000 at 2.85 percent interest on a 7-year loan. With monthly payments of $1,185 (annual $14,215), the interest total for the life of the loan would be $9,514. Repayment of the loan would come from the refuse account. Any left over funds would be used to modify/convert the old refuse truck into an acceptable replacement for the 1984 GMC truck that would be retired and sold.

The board approved the schedule of E-Waste days for April 12 and April 15 (Wednesday PM and Saturday AM) during regular recycling hours. An updated fee schedule includes:

Desktop Computer (base), $5.00 each. Desktop Printers (including printers with fax, scanning and copying capabilities), $10.00 each.

TVs and Computer Monitors (CRT Tube Type): 17” or less, $15.00 each; 17”-30”, $18.00 each; 31”-60”, $25.00 each; over 61” and projection TVs, $50.00 each.

TVs, Laptops and Computer Monitors (Flat Screen): 17” or less, $5.00 each; 17”-30”, $10.00 each; 31”-60”, $15.00 each; over 61”, $35.00 each.

Computer Peripherals (including keyboards, mouse, hard drives, scanners, speakers, flash drives, external modems and other devices), $2.00 each.

Fax Machines, $10.00 each.

DVD Players, VCRs and DVRs, $5.00 each.