CHANNAHON — The Channahon Village Board this week approved contracts with village staff members who belong to the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, Public Employees Division.
The contracts are for three divisions of the union members, which are police sergeants, public works employees and administrators.
According to Village Finance Manager Bob Guess, the contract is for three years and has already been ratified by the membership. The deal is not official, however, until Village President Joe Cook signs it, and he will wait until attorneys for both the village and the union have given the documents one final review.
Trustees Judie Nash and Debbie Militello voted against board approval of the contract, explaining that they would like to see the final draft and the exact language of the contract before agreeing to it.
The contracts will be retroactive to May 1, 2012. According to Guess, the matters holding up negotiations were back pay issues and payroll processing.
SEEING THE SIGNS
Issues of village signage were also discussed at this week’s Channahon village board meeting.
Of the five signs welcoming drivers to village limits, two were taken down over the past year. One on Bluff Road was temporarily removed when work was done on a water tower. Another on U.S. 6, at the far west end of town, was taken down with the construction on Brisbin Road.
Staff recommended touching up one of the unused signs and placing it on U.S. 6 at Interstate 55, adjacent to the McDonalds on the old frontage road. It is a landscaped area now, Public Works Director Ed Dolezal explained, and it would be a good site for the welcome sign, visible to those coming off the interstate.
The other Channahon signs are located on Ford Road, Ridge Road and on U.S. 6 east of I-55.
Cook also told trustees things look good regarding another signage issue. Currently, staff explained after the meeting, a green Illinois Department of Transportation sign is being planned for placement at the off ramps of Interstate 80 onto Brisbin Road with arrows pointing toward Minooka and Morris, but not Channahon.
Cook said IDOT officials have recently been positive in conversations with him that Channahon may be able to be added to the sign.
CONSENT AGENDA
Also Monday, Trustee Nash voted against the consent agenda of the meeting, which included the village’s bills list, saying after the meeting that she was against reimbursing for the village administrator attending a recent police chiefs’ conference when Channahon’s police chief did not attend.
OTHER ACTION
The Channahon Village Board also:
• Heard the village president proclaim October the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Channahon.
• Heard from Don Gould, District 6 representative on the Will County Board, that he has placed several Channahon Township residents on this week’s county board land use committee agenda to hear their concerns about sludge-spreading.
