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Vote To Be Held At Collinsville Township Town Hall April 12 On Parking Lot

By Stephanie Malench

smalench@timestribunenews.com

The Collinsville Township Board met on February 8 for their regular monthly meeting. There were no public comments.

During reports from officers and committees, Highway Commissioner Kathy Trucano-Hoelscher reported that her road crews were able to clear the roads during and after the February 2 and 3 snow storm with a crew of 10 drivers working five 12-hour shifts. Each of the trustees and Supervisor Derrick Cox said they heard nothing but compliments from residents about how quickly the roads were cleared compared to other roads in the area.

The only other trustee comment was from Ashley Stewart, who reported that AARP will be coning to the Senior Center through the general assistance program on Wednesdays and Thursdays the rest of tax season and over 50 appointments have already been made.

Cox announced that Gabby Koonce has been hired as the new Senior Center Director. Koonce has worked in various roles in the Assessor’s Office for the past nine years.

The board voted to amend the 2022 holiday calendar to include June 20 as a holiday since the state holiday Juneteenth falls on a Sunday this year.

A resolution was passed for the township to make its annual donation of $2500 for the Empty Bowl fundraiser for the Collinsville Women’s Club. The annual simply lunch fundraiser will be held this year on March 2, Ash Wednesday at the Gateway Convention Center.

The next resolution passed was in support of applying for the Madison County Resource Management Environmental grant for $15,000 to help pay for the new HVAC system on the senior center. The lowest bid for the system came in at $52,000. Cox hopes that the township will only end up having to pay $20,000.

The last vote was to retain Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith LLP on an hourly basis with no retainer to help with the union contracts that are expiring on April 1. The Township will be billed to the tenth of an hour. The firm works with other government bodies throughout the area on employment law cases.

For the Supervisor’s Comments, Cox started by addressing the public comment made at the January meeting regarding a potential open meeting act violation. Cox had Township Attorney Bill Boker explain the results of the investigation. Boker said the accusation was unfounded, because even though the email was sent to the whole board, no one replied to the email and no action was taken.

Cox went on to announce that a vote will be taken at the annual town meeting on April 12 on how the public would like the Township to move proceed with the parking lot. Cox also said that the appraisal came back higher than some claimed it would.

The next meeting will be held on March 8 at the Senior Center.

1 Comment

  1. Anonymous on March 2, 2022 at 10:49 am

    I hope the Township Board makes the information on the lot (appraisal, cost of developing the site, is there any hazardous materials on the lot, who is the developer, etc) available to the public before the April 12th.

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