Council Minutes 11-06-25
Harrisburg City Council
City Hall
110 E. Locust Street
Harrisburg, Il 62946
November 04, 2025
6:00 p.m.
The Harrisburg City Council met on November 04, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. at the City Hall located at 110 E. Locust Street, Harrisburg, IL.
Mayor John McPeek called the meeting to order. Mayor John McPeek presided over the meeting with Commissioners Raymond Gunning, Rupert Johnson, and Jonathan Brown answering the roll call. Commissioner Roger Angelly was absent.
Pastor Laurie Fields from the First Presbyterian Church led the group in prayer and Pledge of Allegiance.
Commissioner Raymond Gunning made the motion to approve the consent agenda.
Regular Meeting Minutes – October 16, 2025
Check Register and Warrant Report – October 2025
Brown & Roberts, Inc. - $15,000.00 - #2 Final – Unsewered Community Grant
Brown & Roberts, Inc. - $30,919.75 – 24-201-2 – IDOT Roundabout Grant
Remedy Designs, LLC - $38,000.00 – Business District
Timber Trails - $60,000.00 – Business District
Rural King - $528.07 - #283892 – TIF
Tison & Hall - $136.00 - #129482 – TIF
Tison & Hall - $28.00 - #129435 – TIF
Tison & Hall - $28.00 - #129436 – TIF
Lane Erectors - $36,712.00 - #7026 – Veterans Drive TIF
Barnett Ready Mix - $1,494.00 - #104845 – TIF
PSD Trash - $14,400.00 - #5059 – Business District
SIRP & DC - $22,500.00 - #102225 – DCEO RLF Watermain Grant
Seconded by Commissioner Rupert Johnson. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Citizen Howard Sullivan spoke to council about a traffic issue on National Street and Texas Street. The enter and exit off Texas Street is an issue and will only get worse when baseball season arrives. National Street is not wide enough for two cars. National Street needs to be widened and repaired. He believes that oil/chipping will not help. He said it needs to be completely redone.
Citizen Howard Sullivan informed the council that three more ball diamonds are being built, and National Street will not be able to manage that many cars or traffic. He asked the council to look into the issue and try to resolve it before ball season. He suggested asking the Park District to help pay for the cost of the roadway repair.
Citizen Sharon Vandenburg is upset with the animals running at large. These animals are entering her yard and make a mess. She can never seem to contact the animal control officer. Commissioner Raymond Gunning asked her to please contact central dispatch and request animal control be called. He then said that she can call him if the issue continues.
Citizen Sharon Vandenburg stated that an individual is riding a small motor bike through her neighborhood. She there are children in her neighborhood, and someone is going to get hurt. She said he runs the stop signs and is traveling at a high rate of speed. She would like someone to look into this issue.
Mayor John McPeek stated the consent order is a formality regarding the IEPA payment from the last meeting. Commissioner Jonathan Brown made the motion to approval of the City of Harrisburg acting by and through Mayor John McPeek to enter into a Consent Order in the form presented to the City Clerk in the case People of the State of Illinois acting by and through the Attorney General of the State of Illinois on behalf of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency vs. City of Harrisburg, Saline County Case No. 2025-CH___ and that the City of Harrisburg is pay to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency the sum of $8,640.00 in connection therewith. Seconded by Commissioner Raymond Gunning. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Mayor John McPeek stated the council will go into executive session to discuss property acquisition.
Mayor John McPeek presented the 2026 council meeting dates and times. Commissioner Raymond Gunning made the motion to approve the 2026 council meeting dates and times. Seconded by Commissioner Rupert Johnson. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Fire Captain Tristan Monroe came before the council to discuss an awards program for the firefighters. He presented the council with the Award SOP information. The total expense for the awards is $4,058.28. He is asking the council to help fund the upfront cost of this awards program. After the initial awards have been purchased, the firefighters will be responsible for purchasing their own badges from their clothing allowance expense. These badges are placed on their dress uniforms.
The council discussed options for this expense. After the discussion, the council agreed to pay for a portion of the expense out of council contingency and the remaining balance can be paid from the Foreign Fire fund. Commissioner Raymond Gunning made the motion to approve the fire department awards program with a portion of the funds coming from council contingency and the remaining balance to be paid out of Foreign Fire. Seconded by Commissioner Rupert Johnson. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Mayor John McPeek stated D & D Electric, LLC has submitted a TIF Façade grant. This is located at 19 E. Poplar Street. They will be replacing windows/frames, adding exterior lighting, doing some streetscape work, and repairing the roof. They have purchased three buildings on the square, but this is just for 19 E. Poplar Street. Commissioner Raymond Gunning made the motion to accept the TIF Façade grant application from D & D Electric, LLC located at 19 E. Poplar Street. Seconded by Commissioner Jonathan Brown. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Attorney Kolby Smithpeters stated that he will discuss property acquisition after executive session.
Commissioner Jonathan Brown discussed the upcoming tax levy which will be presented at the next council meeting. He presented options/money saving ideas on how to help to prevent increasing the tax levy. He is not in favor of an increase and would ask the council to review the list and come back to the next meeting with ways to cut cost.
Commissioner Raymond Gunning suggested getting rid of the ambulance provider as it is the largest expense. Commissioner Jonathan Brown is meeting with Abbott next week to look at options. He said the cuts must be made. The sales tax is down and will continue to decrease with the current state of the government. He is available to discuss options and has talked to the chiefs and superintendents. The levy will be presented at the next meeting.
Commissioner Rupert Johnson updated the council on the two streetlights being installed on Ford Street and Frank Leiberman Drive. The price went up by $125.00. The council is good with proceeding with the streetlights.
Commissioner Jonathan Brown asked if there was an update on the repair work needed to be done on Sloan/Commercial Street. Superintendent Kenny Mayhall said there are no recent updates and he has contacted them multiple times. He does not want to do any IDOT maintenance work on their territory. He would like to know exactly what the agreement reads. Jim Brown with Brown and Roberts, Inc. stated that original agreement was from the 1950’s. To get a copy of it, the mayor would need to sign a letter requesting a copy of the jurisdictional agreement with IDOT. The council agreed to let Jim Brown create a letter to the chief engineer at IDOT District 9 requesting the original jurisdictional agreement between the City of Harrisburg and Illinois Department of Transportation and Mayor John McPeek will sign the letter. Jim Brown said IDOT will have that document on microfilm.
Mayor John McPeek would like to purchase a dump truck for his department. The 2003 dump truck is no longer operational. He said there are available funds in the business district fund for this purchase. Commissioner Rupert Johnson stated there are roads that need repaired before purchasing a dump truck. He said the city should be fixing the roads. Mayor John McPeek stated he is just accepting bids to see how much one would cost. Mayor John McPeek made the motion to authorize the city clerk to advertise to purchase a dump truck. Seconded by Commissioner Raymond Gunning. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Mayor John McPeek has a dump truck that is not operational, and he would like to sell it. Repairing the truck will cost roughly $12,000.00. Mayor John McPeek made the motion to authorize the city clerk to advertise the 2003 dump truck for sale. Seconded by Commissioner Raymond Gunning. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Mayor John McPeek and Attorney Kolby Smithpeters discussed the Kratom ordinance. The ordinance will declare Kratom as a nuisance which causes chaos. The State of Illinois allows for the possession of Kratom to individuals 18 years and older. This ordinance will stop the sale of Kratom within the City of Harrisburg. Commissioner Raymond Gunning made the motion to approve Ordinance 1924 banning the sale and delivery of a public nuisance known as Kratom with the City of Harrisburg. Seconded by Commissioner Rupert Johnson. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Commissioner Raymond Gunning made the motion to go into executive session to discuss property acquisition. Seconded by Commissioner Rupert Johnson. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Adjourn: 6:38 p.m.
Reconvene: 6:49 p.m.
Mayor John McPeek made the motion to return to open session. Seconded by Commissioner Raymond Gunning. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Mayor John McPeek called the meeting to order. Mayor John McPeek presided over the meeting with Commissioners Raymond Gunning, Rupert Johnson, and Jonathan Brown answering the roll call. Commissioner Roger Angelly was absent.
Commissioner Raymond Gunning made the motion to sign the real estate purchase agreement with the First United Presbyterian Church for the Annex building in the amount of $195,000 at 21 W. Locust Street contingent upon the execution of the Provolas Redevelopment Agreement. Seconded by Commissioner Rupert Johnson. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Commissioner Rupert Johnson made the motion to adjourn. Seconded by Commissioner Jonathan Brown. A roll call vote was taken with all present voting yes. Motion carried.
Adjourn: 6:50 p.m.