July 8, 2025 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Live at St. Joseph Village Board, Sept. 12, 2023

I am here so you don’t have to be. You can also watch on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZTvOv74EG4Sag_LrRDdcQ


Dan Davis and Jim Wagner aren’t here tonight. Everyone else is.

The board is taking a moment of silence for Easton Wilsey.

Before the meeting tonight. Here is some light reading for the evening.
https://www.stjosephrecord.com/2023/09/11/process-for-filling-vacant-trustee-position-up-to-the-mayor/

https://www.stjosephrecord.com/2023/09/12/village-purchases-25-acres-of-land-near-sewer-plant/

They are going to start doing a consent agenda which means they approve bills, investments, and treasurer report all together. Lots of people do that.

Tami saying the village does the best it can to be transparent and that is why the agenda packets are now online.

Brandon Moore is here again to discuss the storage units they want to build at the boat graveyard.
He found a different location. They found 5 acres on Rt. 150 to meet the needs of the community, his words, not mine.

It will require a special use permit. Art has some concerns with traffic.

Rusty Shaffer is here from the fire department and he agrees with safety concerns with the entryway, ect.

The board members who are present said they are fine with the location along Rt. 150.

“I think the location is far better than what we talked about previously with you,” Tami Fruhling-Voges said.

The site is located directly north of Meier Baseball Field between Salt Fork Paintball and Pioneer Hi-bred international. The current owner will subdivide 5 acres. They entrance will align with power lines, ect.

Owen Yohnka is here discussing his Eagle Scout project. He wants to build a burn pit at the sports complex for American Flag disposal. #Yayboyscouts

Discussing hiring TIF consultants. I will have a story on the TIF tomorrow btw. The first step is Joe tomorrow will talk to the consultants and get a schedule. The first meeting will be with the school superintendents after that. They approved the TIF consultants.

BREAKING IMPORTANT NEWS: They are returning to the traditional pole Christmas decorations. #thepeoplehavespoken Here is the agreement for the Christmas decorations. They will cost up to $3,000.

Max giving the mayor a little bit of a hard time about the decorations from last year. #changeisgood #unlessitschristmasdecorationsiguess

The Christmas Parade for the Women’s Club is submitting their special use permit.

They are buying a truck because a village truck was in an accident and totaled. No one was injured.

Thanking Dave McCormick for power washing the tennis courts at Kolb. He did my house a few years ago. #topnotch.

Tami Fruhling-Voges is announcing that two trustees have resigned. Jim Wagner and Dan Davis have both resigned.

Here is Jim’s letter.

9-12-2023

Please Read Entire Letter at Board Meeting On 9-12-2023

To: Village of Saint Joseph, IL

Unfortunately, I am going to Step Off the Village of Saint Joseph, IL Board mainly Due to the following reasons.

My family activities with my kids being in sports and being involved with their school activities are a very big part of our decision-making process as a family. I have at times missed functions due to my commitment to the Village board meetings. It wouldn’t be fair to my kids, wife, and myself not to step off.

Our business also plays a big part in this. Being a family business, this goes hand in hand with family life. I am very blessed that our entire family, including our kids, are involved with this. We are thankful that with our community support and our growth this requires more time and focus, not only for my family, but our local staff as well.

A big part of what brought this up is my health. As some of you may know, I had a health issue back in June that could have turned out much worse than it did. This put me in deep thought on the first two reasons listed above. I need to make sure to focus more on my health to assure I am here for my family by scaling back my commitments overall, including the Village of Saint Joe Village Trustee position.

This decision has not been taken lightly and we’ve had many sleepless nights before ultimately coming to the decision to step off the board and focus on my family.

I would like to recommend Steven Peters for this position. Steven is not only well known in our community, but he is also well qualified and intelligent and would serve our town in the best capacity possible with all decisions based around our community.

It has been an honor to serve this community since January 2018.

Respectfully,

Jim Wagner


Here is Dan’s letter.

Fruhling-Voges saying she regretfully announces their resignations and appreciates their time and efforts. “They will be missed but they have made important decisions for their lives and I respect that.”

Fruhling-Voges said she will be in the process of looking for other candidates once again.
Max is bringing up the solar panels. So, I totally misunderstood this. They aren’t going on the sewer plant. They are going on the sewer plant ball diamond.

Max would like to revisit the solar panel issue. Max said they will be spending money on the power the company is making but will still have to pay for power. Max is saying the decision the board made last time to “lease” solar panels is “the biggest scam you got going.”

Terri is saying they already voted on it and they already discussed it at length.

They are discussing a conference call Art and Max had with some solar panel experts. Terri saying she wasn’t involved with that.

“There are a lot of things we aren’t involved with that you are,” Art just said to Terri.

Art saying it is not unusual for the board to discuss things on the spur of the moment. Joe is trying to steer the meeting back on course.

I am not going to go too deep in the back and forth on this but you can check out their YOUTUBE!
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZTvOv74EG4Sag_LrRDdcQ

Max saying the next time he will bring it up is when he says “I told you so.” Bascially, Max thinks it would be better for the village to buy the solar panels or at least he wanted to gather more info. Tami at the last meeting showed her support for a leasing type thing. Leasing isn’t technically what it is but that’s a good way to describe it. Just watch the Youtube.

They are arguing and I can’t keep up with it so check out the Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZTvOv74EG4Sag_LrRDdcQ

“I am done DONE,” Max just said. “DONE.”

And we are all done. Cause they adjourned.





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