January 18, 2026 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Live at VIllage Board July 26, 2022

Rachael Schott and fourth grader Lana Schott are here to discuss a downtown Christmas tree.

Lana is presenting her idea to the village board.

“The reason I am here is I think it would be good for the town to have a Christmas Tree. I think it would bring a lot of joy and happiness. Everyone in the community would have Christmas cheer and if someone did not have a Christmas tree they would still have one. We would need a lot of community support.”

Lana said she would fundraise and ask people to donate for the tree.

Tami said she would like to thank Lana for bringing her idea to the board.

“We have been tossing around the idea of a Christmas tree,” Tami said. “I think it’s an awesome idea and I would love a Christmas tree. I like your idea very, very much.”

Old business it’s appropriation ordinance time. An appropriation is what you can spend not what you have to spend.

First item- proposal 202 East Lincoln Street. The village will take bids for the Boy Scout building but do not have to accept any of them, ect. Aug. 1- Sept. 7 at noon is the timeline for them to accept bids.

Tami wants different Christmas decorations. Not the lights on the poles anymore. Basically, she wants it to look like an awesome Hallmark movie and really pull people into town for the holiday shopping season. #makeithappen

Also, shout out to MX Electric for sponsoring our live blogs.

She loves the idea of a downtown tree. #YayLANA!
I think this could totally be a winter wonderland type thing. #makeithappen.

The board has decided to go the Hallmark downtown Christmas route. This is going to be spectacular.

Soccer agreement discussion time. Terri pointing out that the school didn’t provide a schedule and Tami is saying the summer practices are not “official” school-sanctioned practices. #ihsarules.

Jim Page saying the IHSA allows coach contact hours.

Approved the contract. Reminder- the school is totally happy with the agreement.

OPEN MEETINGS ACT TRAINING: I live for this. Basically, three trustees can’t meet at a restaurant and talk about village business but two can.

Basically, he’s telling them don’t do shady stuff so people don’t sue them. Don’t talk in a group text, a group email, a group facebook message, a group at a restaurant, ect.

Public Business should be done in public- to sum it up.

Code enforcement discussion. They are looking at ways to enforce code violations. Joe saying he thought the board wanted him to handle code violations in a way that is more personable, ect.

Joe saying if he gets more hardcore there is only so far the staff can take it before it has to go to court. #costly #butwewanttheyardsmowed and #itisntagarbagedump

Max Painter saying maybe it is time for the village to be a little harder. “We need to follow the statutes we put in place,” Painter said.

Wagner says if people are working on their yards that is one thing but if they are ignoring the village that is different

Joe wants to be vague with the ordinance violators which I understand. No need to embarrass anyone but I am betting you could FOIA it. If anyone cared enough to do that.

They are holding off on planting trees due to the drought and heat. They don’t want to plant them and then they die.

Discussing the 150th plans.

Tami saying that the village is not selling the boy scout building for the money. It is a liability issue and the village has paid a lot of money over the years to maintain the property. #Historycheck #roymccartybroughtthisupyearsago

Wagner brought up how a resident asked about electric trucks on the roads.

Meeting is over.

But Tami is celebrating Joe being here a year! #thanksJOE

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