Fairview Park, Town Council
Meeting Minutes for March 12, 2024
Town of Fairview Park
Minutes of the March 12th, 2024 Meeting
The Town Council held their regular meeting on Tuesday March 12th, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at the Municipal Building. The Pledge to the Flag was recited. Roll call was taken with council members Jim Hall, Larry Natalie, Tonya Cox, Larry Wilson, Jim Moore and Attorney Henry Antonini all present. A motion was made by Tonya Cox and seconded by Larry Wilson to accept the minutes of the February meeting, Special meeting and financial report. The motion carried by voice vote.
Larry announced that Nathan Rippy was the individual who got the bid on the surplus cars in the amount of $550.00 per car.
Jim Hall mentioned that another picnic table is done and is located in the park by the basketball courts and that he still has one more to build.
Joe Stewart with LIFT spoke to the board about the upcoming events for the solar eclipse at the high school, he said that LIFT had been requested by the Terre Haute Children’s Museum to be an ambassador organization for the eclipse viewing he said that after eliminating several locations and talking with the sheriff’s department, EMA and the Fairview fire department it was decided to hold the event at the high school. The viewing will be at the high school with parking at the middle school, he said he finally received the ok from the school corporation for the event and the event action plans for everything had been submitted for approval to the EMA & sheriff’s department the only thing left was getting permission to close some streets in Fairview in the area of the high school, which would be Gilbert, Davis, Fulton and the south bound lane of Lincoln St. from 11:00am to 5:30pm. Joe said he had spoken to Jon Spurr with the sheriff’s department, he works with the reserve deputies who will be helping with traffic and the fire department will be there for any medical issues, he stated that the plans that were submitted to the EMA & sheriff’s department are for getting everybody into the area which he said should not be a big problem put more for getting everyone out of the area. He said the plans show how the streets will be used to get everyone out to St. Rd 63 safely. Joe said there are five to six organizations willing to help with barricades and directing the flow of traffic out of the area, he also said that one company from western Chicago area had contacted them about forty-five busses being scheduled to come to the Clinton area for this event. Joe said that he had done some research on this and had spoken with other areas that have experienced total eclipses before such as southern Illinois in 2017 and they said it was total havoc, not during the event but after when everyone was trying to leave, he feels that our county is better prepared for this now after talking to the EMA & sheriff’s department and that all this will depend on the weather that day. Larry Natalie had a lot of questions for Joe about the plans for this event first question was about Gilbert St. since it is so narrow why and how are you going to push traffic down it, Joe said that they wasn’t going to use it for that and the street would be closed to traffic and all the other traffic will be directed to First St., Larry asked if there will be people at both ends of the street and he said yes, there will be barricades and officers manning them, he stated he has the sheriff’s department, fire departments not just Fairview’s but others in the county to help plus about forty-five other volunteers to help as long as they show up. Larry explained that the whole area is residential and there are two highly traveled streets in town that have not been mentioned what are the plans for Kibby St. and Plum St. Joe explained how it would be handled with the other streets and Larry said he is still missing the point, two busy streets have not been addressed and you can still get to the high school from other roads for example St. Rd. 71 to Geneva Hills Rd. Larry said he doesn’t feel that this has been thought through very well and more help will be needed then what they have lined up right now. Larry stated Plum & Kibby Streets go straight to the high school, coming off Geneva Hills Rd. can take you to the high school and anyone who lives around here will know how to get to the high school, he also asked why no one from the EMA or the sheriff’s department was at the meeting tonight for this, Joe explained that Sheriff Holtcamp was under the impression that this was not going to be a big event but after talking to other counties and what they are doing he understands it will be a bigger event but right now only eight reserve deputies are scheduled to work the day of the event. Larry said he is not happy with what he has heard and his biggest concern is for the residents of the town and how all this is going to affect them, he said the board needs more information and he wants to meet with the sheriff’s department, EMA director and LIFT members before the board will give any answers on shutting down any streets in the town. The board will hold a special meeting on Wednesday March 20
th at 5:00pm to have further discussion with the department heads and seek more information on all this. Joe asked if any of the department heads are unable to attend the meeting could it effect the board’s decision. Henry said someone from each of these departments should be here so it doesn’t affect the decision.
The new pastor with the Four Square Church, Mark Schimmel addressed the board about a drainage problem the church is having with its parking lot, he said the problem is now causing damage to the church’s basement, he mentioned there is a drain on the west side of the church and they need to know if this a town problem or the church’s problem. Larry said the town does not have any storm sewers in that area that he is aware of but the board would pull the minutes from the meeting when it was last discussed, Jim Moore said he thinks it’s just a hole in the ground but isn’t sure who dug it, the pastor said there is a grate over it and that’s why they thought it was the towns. Larry said he will check with Sue Crossley and the utility workers about this and get back with them about who is responsible for the drainage there.
A resident asked about the properties at the top of the hill on Third St., he said there are a couple that need cleaned up badly, Larry said the town has an ongoing problem with the burnt out property and really cannot speak on it right at the moment but the town is moving forward with getting it cleaned up
A motion was made by Tonya Cox and seconded by Larry Wilson to pay the towns claims in the amount of $14,792.88, the water department claims in the amount of $15,738.70, the wastewater claims in the amount of $37,066.25, and storm water in the amount of $4,467.66. The motion carried by voice vote.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm with a motion by Tonya Cox and seconded by Jim Hall, the motion carried by voice vote.
Attested to by:
Milisa Carty, Clerk/Treasurer
March 12th 2024
