Rochelle News

By: Jeff Helfrich

Updated: 9 hours ago / Posted Jun 8, 2023

CRESTON — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Creston Village Board of Trustees opted to table a vote on a potential solar ordinance for those that install solar panels in the village that would allow Creston to charge for permits.

Village Building Inspector Casper Manheim works with various other municipalities that have put something similar into place and brought an ordinance to village officials for review last month. Manheim was absent Tuesday and the matter was tabled due to the need for further review and a request by Village Trustee Reid Elliot, who has expertise in the solar field, to discuss a few items with Manheim before a vote.

Village Attorney Dave Tess said he is prepared to make any desired changes to the solar ordinance and to fit it to Creston's specifications. The ordinance would include a permit fee structure for small panels on residents' roofs all the way up to large solar developments.

The solar ordinance will be on next month's agenda.

Raffle

The board opted not to put a raffle ordinance into place at this time at the advice of its attorney. The Moose Knuckle Bar & Grill recently asked the village whether it would be willing to put a raffle ordinance into place and grant it a raffle license so it could offer a Queen of Hearts program to raise money for charity.

Tess said that he did not recommend a raffle ordinance due to it being adverse to state law.

"We don't recommend it for the bar owners or the village," Tess said. "Illinois wants to regulate video gaming, and that means no other kinds of gaming. Nobody will have a deck of cards or a dice cup in a bar anymore. We can't recommend giving a raffle license to someone for this purpose."

Library

Byro said that the new Creston-Dement Library building process was recently put out for bid by the library's board and bids came back too high. Byro said the library is currently reassessing its budget and desires for the project.

"I was notified and Casper was notified of that," Byro said. "I'm not sure what they're going to cut back on. I'm waiting to hear more on what's going on with that. But the library is now talking about cutting back on things like black topping and some of the fancier things that are inside."

Landfill

Tess said that a deal made between Creston, the Rochelle Landfill and City of Rochelle back in 2021 still has not been finalized due to not receiving EPA approval. The deal would result in the closing of the Rochelle Landfill by or on Dec. 31, 2040. The landfill would close earlier if there is no remaining capacity. In order to ensure that there is no remaining capacity, the annual limit for waste that can be disposed of at the landfill would increase to 650,000 tons per year.

The agreement is conditioned upon the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency granting a final and non-appealable order to eliminate the need to exhume cell one of the Rochelle Landfill.

"They did a dry run application to the EPA and it came back with a multitude of issues," Tess said. "Most of them surround the redirecting of the creek. That has been a very slow process to get that returned. The landfill reapplied in May and there's been no response. The EPA has 90 days to make a response."

Byro said delays in finalizing the agreement have not been ideal for the village.

"It's just an ongoing, frustrating thing," Byro said. "I want to get this thing wrapped up. We haven't given up by any means."

Tess said the process has taken 8-9 months longer than originally anticipated.

Properties

Tess and the board discussed village properties in disrepair and in violation of ordinances and the legal work being done to bring them up to code. Tess said a number of the property owners have been served and court proceedings are moving along and some could result in defaults. Some property owners are cleaning up their issues to avoid litigation.

Committees

Byro appointed Elliot, a new trustee, to the committee assignment of subdivision trustee after it was vacated when Trustee Wayne Williams resigned. The remainder of the trustee committee positions will remain the same following April's election.