October 9, 2026 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Live at Ogden Village Board, August 4, 2022

Ok so the blog crashed and the convo for the first 15 minutes was pretty heated. But the basic gist of the first 15 minutes is former Trustee Sonja Vickers had a petition with 79 signatures asking the board to revisit their decision to allow Ted Hartke to use the alley near his business for parking. Vickers said it’s not fair to other businesses and blocks access to a door on the mason building.

Jim Acklin is not in favor of revisiting it. He said signatures on a petition don’t mean much to him. Sue Esposito asked if he wanted 80 people to come into the board meeting and he said yes.

Acklin said he doesn’t agree with every board decision but he doesn’t go out and try to gather public support for overturning it. Esposito said she does if she feels strongly about something.

A village employee signed the petition and Vickers asked that they not hold it against him. Ben Smith found it insulting that she would think they would do that.


They are going to invite Hartke back in September to discuss it further but I honestly can’t see it changing.

The NE drainage project went to bid and the bids came back at more than a million dollars. The engineer is saying that means the companies didn’t really want to do it. Multiple companies said since it was funded by federal grant dollars they didn’t want to bother with it. They will put it out to bid again in the winter.

Beautification: Little Library is going to be put up soon. They are discussing a welcome sign.

Back to the petition. Acklin claimed residents had told him they didn’t know what they were signing but the petition clearly states: : The below legally registered voters of the Village of Ogden are petitioning the village of Ogden trustees to reverse the decision to rent two parking spots in the alley between the masonic lodge, 111 S. East Street and Ted Hartkey’s building, 109 S. East St. We believe that public street parking, which is less than eight feet from the front of Mr. Hartkey’s building is more than adequate to serve any parking needs his tenants may have. The ordinance passed was unnecessary and should be reversed.

Vickers collected signatures from July 26 to August 4.

Discussing sewer rates now. Haan is suggesting is adopting the $13 fixed feet and the $1.25 cent rate. Basically, if I remember last time the ordinance and the bills don’t match so this will make them match.

The board seems to think this is too complicated. The board keeps saying it’s a computer glitch but the Clerk is saying it is not a glitch the program is only set up for two costs but needs three or more.

They are discussing spring riders at the park. They need to be replaced.

The board has a lot of questions about things that probably could have been asked before the meeting. Like how the replacement options were chosen or how they came up with this company.

MAPPING OGDENS FUTURE CHECKING ACCOUNT TIME. They want a checking account. St. Joe did MAPPING previously and so did Homer. Is it worth the time? I guess it depends if you implement it or not. Basically, Haan doesn’t want checks made out to him because he doesn’t want to be taxed. This makes it all nice for the audit.




Banner
Related Posts

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, Aug. 24, 2021

August 24, 2021

August 24, 2021

I am here at village board. There are four people in the audience. The lawyer and Mr. Sennert doing IT....

Live at Ogden Village Board

September 5, 2019

September 5, 2019

Seven people are here for Ogden Village Board. That’s quite crowd for a night when they aren’t discussing flooding. They...

Live at Ogden Village Board, July 7, 2022

July 7, 2022

July 7, 2022

Discussing a parking lease downtown for Hartke. I got here four minutes late and they were really going at it...

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, Jan. 11, 2021

January 11, 2022

January 11, 2022

Village administrator Joe Hackney saying they need to have more cash on hand in the accounts instead of CDs because...

St. Joseph holds public meeting on Marijuana Sales within the village

August 20, 2019

August 20, 2019

We are here at the public meeting. Held at St. Joseph Middle School. It starts at 6:30 p.m. So far...

Live at St. Joseph Village Board April 12, 2022

April 12, 2022

April 12, 2022

I am here so you don’t have to be. It’s me, Debbie, Mike Sennert, Tiffany and the board. #fullhouse #notreally...

Live at Ogden Village Board, May 2, 2024

May 2, 2024

May 2, 2024

Dollar General is here to talk about what their new store layout will look like on the Pink Pig land....

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, Feb. 27, 2024

February 27, 2024

February 27, 2024

Thanks to MX Electric for sponsoring our live blogs. I am 11 minutes behind but they are going over the...

Live at Village Board, March 12, 2024

March 12, 2024

March 12, 2024

My internet here wasn’t working but we are in business now. I am at village board with approximately 20 of...

Library releases statement about TIF

April 1, 2025

April 1, 2025

The St. Joseph Township-Swearingen Memorial Library Board of Directors thought this was important information you should know about the village...

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, May 23,2023

May 23, 2023

May 23, 2023

It’s a big night. They are going to approve the sewer plant expansion and upgrade. (unless someone totally throws me...

Live at St. Joseph Village Board

April 28, 2020

April 28, 2020

We are here and zooming in. #safetyfirst Jeff Van Buskirk will be replacing Roy McCarty on the village board. They...

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, June 8 2021

June 8, 2021

June 8, 2021

I am live with my closest 20 plus friends here at St. Joseph Village Board. Jumping right into WCIA. “Due...

Brush pick-up discussion still ongoing in St. Joseph

July 1, 2019

July 1, 2019

The Village of St. Joseph is discussing having residents purchase bags from the village for brush pick-up. Village board members...

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, Jan. 23, 2024

January 23, 2024

January 23, 2024

I was just a tad late and they are discussing solar. They are getting a presentation from Keystone who builds...

Comments
Leave a Reply