DeKalb Times

Village of Shabbona Board of Trustees met June 2.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

The Special Meeting of the Shabbona Village Board was called to order by Village Clerk, Jen Morrison, on Monday, June 2, 2025, at 6:30 P.M. in the meeting room at Village Hall, 206 S. Blackhawk Street, Shabbona IL. The following were present:

Title	Name	Present	Not Present		Title	Name	Present	Not Present
President	OPEN				Trustee	OPEN
Treasurer	OPEN				Trustee	Denny Sands	X
Clerk	Jen Morrison	X			Trustee	Frank Ottengheime	X
Attorney	OPEN				Trustee	Mark Stanley	X
Engineer	Chastain & Associates: Curtis Cook	X			Trustee	Joshua Snyder	X
Public Works	Bud Forrer	X			Trustee	Kallan Welsh	X

OPENING OF MEETING/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/ ROLL CALL 

Roll Call Vote: Denny Sands-aye, Mark Stanley-aye, Frank Ottengheime-aye, Joshua Snyder-aye, Kallan Welsh aye. 5 present.

ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA – Frank added scheduling Finance Committee meeting and Infrastructure Committee meeting.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA – Kallan Welsh motioned to approve the agenda, Mark Stanley seconded. All in favor vote aye, none opposed - motion carried.

CITIZENS ADDRESSING THE BOARD: 13 present

• John Rood-102 Apache: asked board in their zeal to slow down and deliberate things they are bringing up. Chapter 3 of municipal code, wasn’t well thought out and needed editing. Encourages to put things in order before proceed. Rumors all over town about water/sewer prices and policies he encourages to really deliberate and discuss before making changes and looking longer term at the impact of those decisions.

• Allura Jefko-411 W Cherokee: She was here before about dog limitations, they have one dog and neighbor has 6 dogs that are hopefully on electronic collars now, those dogs have charged her dog on her deck, DeKalb County Sheriff has been called. Majority of municipalities have 3 pets per household and Shabbona has no #. Dogs charge while hanging laundry, no fence so don’t know if going to stop or keep coming. County said need pictures but hard to record or photo when trying to get her dog safe. She is asking village to look at how many pets are allowed to be kept. Frank said the board would look into it and get back to her.

• William Heimbigner: encourage on appointment of Dominick for village attorney based on meetings William has attended in Lee since he became their village attorney. Regarding the appointment of village mayor he understands board is appointing Frank and in his experience he said that would be a mistake.

• Jeff Jefko-411 W Cherokee: last August it was discovered that they had a watermain leak, village took out two pieces of sidewalk and replaced pipe/valve. Sidewalk still has not been replaced since the watermain leak was repaired.

APPOINTMENT OF ACTING VILLAGE PRESIDENT (2 YEAR TERM) 

A. DISCUSSION AND NOMINATIONS BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES: Denny Sands motioned to nominate Frank Ottengheime, Mark Stanley seconded. Roll Call Vote: Denny Sands-aye, Mark Stanley-aye, Kallan Welsh-aye, Frank Ottengheime-abstain, Joshua Snyder-aye, 4 aye-1 abstain, Motion carried. B. Village Clerk, Jen Morrison, swore in the Frank Ottengheime as Acting Village President.

NEW BUSINESS 

A. RECOMMENDATION TO APPOINT A VILLAGE ATTORNEY: Denny Sands introduced Dominick Lanzito, who is currently attorney for the City of Rochelle since 2017 and Village of Lee appointed in May 2025. Dominick has worked with City of Rochelle since 2012, worked as counsel for IML and represented municipalities throughout most of the state. His firm represents 400 municipalities, park districts and fire districts. Very familiar with water utility, water reclamation. He is also a former State’s Attorney. Frank Ottengheime asked Steve Carlock, Village President of Lee, to say a few things. Steve had spoken to Rochelle Mayor John Bearrows and he met with Dominick and recommended him to the Lee board. Denny Sands wants to discuss what has happened to this point. Denny Sands motioned to appoint Dominick Lanzito as Village Attorney, Mark Stanley seconded. Roll Call Vote: Denny Sands-aye, Mark Stanley-aye, Kallan Welsh-aye, Frank Ottengheime-aye, Joshua Snyder-aye, 5-0 Motion carried.

B. CONSIDERATION/APPROVAL TO POST VILLAGE BUILDING INSPECTOR RFP: Mark Stanley motioned to approve posting RFP for Village Building Inspector, Joshua Snyder seconded. All in favor vote aye, none opposed - motion carried. Jen will post on website and publish in Rockford Register Star and Daily Chronicle.

C. CONSIDERATION/APPROVAL ON INITIATING THE 30 DAY TERMINATION CLAUSE WITH B&F CODE COMPLIANCE: Board reviewed letter to terminate B&F Code Compliance as building inspection service. Mark Stanley motioned to approve sending the letter to B&F Code Compliance initiating the 30 day termination clause as of June 3, 2025, Denny Sands seconded. All in favor - aye

D. CONSIDERATION/APPROVAL OF VILLAGE TREASURER AND DEPUTY CLERK JOB DESCRIPTIONS: Need to approve # of hours and pay for Treasurer for job posting. Jen Morrison recommends removing Utility Billing from Treasurer to the Clerk as that would bring Utility Billing into the Village Office.

E. CONSIDERATION/APPROVAL TO POST VILLAGE TREASURER POSITION: tabled until 6/23 meeting for attorney review.

F. CONSIDERATION/APPROVAL OF SUB-COMMITTEES: Frank Ottengheime said need to replace Marc on committees. Kallan Welsh will chair finance committee, Frank thinks it should be committee of the whole for finance. Finance Monday 6/9. Mark Stanley will chair infrastructure committee, set meeting date of Monday 6/16.

G. CONSIDERATION/APPROVAL TO AUTHORIZE THE PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE TO HANDLE ALL MATTERS FOR THE 4TH OF JULY FESTIVAL: Denny Sands motioned to authorize the Public Affairs Committee to handle all matters for the 4th of July Festival, Mark Stanley seconded. Roll Call Vote: Joshua Snyder-aye, Kallan Welsh-aye, Frank Ottengheime-aye, Denny Sands-aye, Mark Stanley-aye. 5-0 Motion carried.

H. PROCESS FOR FILLING OPEN BOARD POSITIONS: Frank asked if anyone has ideas on how to handle open board positions, Denny asked the audience at meeting if anyone was interested. Jeff Jefko would be willing to do it, he was on the board 25 or more years ago, been a resident for 43 years.

I. CONSIDERATION/APPROVAL TO CHANGE START TIME FOR MONTHLY BOARD MEETINGS: Will need to publish any change of dates or permanent time change. Kallan Welsh motioned to change start time to 6:00pm, Mark Stanley seconded. All in favor vote aye, none opposed - motion carried.

J. CONSIDERATION/APPROVAL OF BID RECOMMENDATION FOR RUN OFF AT SHABBONA FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT - RESOLUTION 2025-06-02R1: Curtis Cook said that on May 21, 2025, Chastain accepted bids for the drain tile project, and Curtis recommends awarding to O’Brien Civil Works Inc for $53,438.00. Kallan asked what the bid solicitation is, advertised in IDOT bulletin that all contractors look to for local agency work (counties, townships, municipalities). Fee to pull copies of plans but not to submit a plan. Other two companies pulled plans but did not submit a bid. Frank asked if Fire District board been advised of project and is this going to resolve the issue. Curtis and former trustee Simpson had meeting with Fire District Board a while ago. Curtis believes this will resolve the issue, the grade is below fire barn elevation. He said the removal of the bushes helped as well as rerouting well house gutter drainage to Illini Street. Frank asked if it is necessary. As engineer, Curtis thinks should do to the tile project. Frank also asked about mud coming up floor of fire station, has a void been created under the fire station? Frank is concerned that mud came from somewhere and that fire district would want to know if there is a void causing mud to come up thru slab, Curtis said that there may be a crack in slab that allowed the entry of mud. Curtis asked how much mud, Frank said it was substantial. What if the floor fails in the future? Frank is hesitant to approve the drain tile. Curtis said there was a study done pre and post development of drainage. Amount of run off area that moved towards fire station was less after construction of well house was complete than it was before construction. To minimize water off the well house roof, it got rerouted and piped to Illini Street storm to the west rather than towards fire station. Frank said there was no problem at Fire District until the Well House was built. Curtis recommends finish grading the area. Mark Stanley asked about going out to bid, Jen said would need to if $35,000 or more, can RFP if less than that. Frank would like fire district board to be part of the conversation about this. Curtis said that last discussion with fire depart was there is an agreement in place and village needs to make those improvements. Denny said that this same discussion has happened over and over, he is tired of hearing about it and it never gets solved and both sides do not agree. Mark Stanley said need to get both sides together and come up with solution. At this point, Frank is not sure there is a problem to be solved. His concern is if the fire station floor is compromised and asked if it would be village responsibility. Dominick said he would need more facts to talk about liability. Curtis said that downspouts from fire station there was a drain tile plugged and fire department fixed that. Frank said more investigation is needed and Curtis said both boards need to come together on it. Infrastructure committee get with Fire Department – contract has 45 days before bid expires (Curtis will double check that). Jen Morrison will contact Fire Protection District Trustees about 6/16 Infrastructure meeting. Kallan asked if move forward with drain tile, is directional boring necessary? Curtis said chose to use directional boring so concrete apron in front of fire station is not disturbed as it is more expensive for repouring concrete and fire department asked to not have apron torn up for the project.

ADJOURNMENT: Denny Sands motioned for adjournment at 7:43PM, Kallan Welsh seconded. All in favor vote aye, none opposed - motion carried.

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