The Vandalia City Council held its regular meeting on Monday, May 19, 2025 at 7:00 p.m., the final regular session before transitioning to a summer schedule of one meeting per month (June, July, and August on the third Monday). The agenda included presentation of proclamations honoring local veterans' organizations, the swearing-in of a new police officer and introduction of a new public works technician, appointment of Mary Zeller to the Vandalia Arts Council, first readings of two bond ordinances, a second reading with a public hearing for a regional streetlight electric service contract, reports from boards and commissions, council comments, and an executive session.
The May 19th City of Andaya Council meeting is now called to order. We'll begin with a moment of reflection, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right, Council, you've got an opportunity to review the study session minutes of March 17th along with the council meeting minutes of March 17th. Are there any comments or corrections? Being none, they stand approved. That brings us to communications petitions and awards, where tonight we have a proclamation recognizing the Vandaya Butler veteran service organizations. And at this time, I'd like to turn it over to Councilman Follock to issue the proclamations. Thank you. Good evening. Uh first of all, I'd like to thank um the mayor for allowing me to give the proclamations here. Um, but if we could have the representatives from our veteran service organizations that are here, come up to the podium, please. I believe you're both from the American Legion Post, correct? Okay. Um so uh for those of you um that live in the community, um, as you know, we have had a um veterans parkway banner program for the last um three years, or we're starting the third year uh this spring, and um all three veteran service organizations in the community, uh the American Legion Post 668, Amvets Post 99, and the Veterans of Fe Foreign Wars Post 9582 have all financially uh supported the program uh since its inception. So um we have proclamations for all three, and I will read the proclamation here. Um whereas the brave men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces have made tremendous sacrifices to defend our freedoms, protect our homeland, and preserve the values we hold dear as a nation, and whereas honoring these heroes through visible community-wide recognition is a meaningful way to express our deepest gratitude and ensure that their service is never forgotten. And whereas the Vandaya Butler Veterans Parkway banner program was established in 2023 to publicly recognize and honor our community's veterans by displaying commemorative banners along Veterans Parkway or Dixie Drive. And whereas for the past three years, this important initiative has been made possible through their generous financial contributions and unwavering support of our local veteran service organizations whose commitment to veterans extends beyond their service to include lasting community engagement and advocacy. And whereas these organizations have demonstrated exceptional leadership, patriotism, and dedication in helping to preserve the legacy of our veterans and foster a spirit of remembrance and respect among all residents. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that we, the Vandia City Council, on behalf of our grateful citizens do rec hereby recognize and extend our heartfelt appreciation to the American Legion Post 668, Amvet's Post 99, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9582, who have provided continued financial support to the Veterans Banner Program over the past three years. Let this proclamation stand as a testament to their ongoing commitment to honoring those who have served and as an enduring symbol of our community's deep respect for all who wear the uniform. Thank you, gentlemen. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, real quick before I step back. Um, I just want to give a couple other shout-outs uh for this program. Um as I started as I stated before, we're starting the second cycle of banners. Um so our second two-year cycle. Um, besides the three veteran service organizations, the program could not have occurred without the support of many other people. Um Nick Kavalaskis from the Chamber of Commerce and his staff who help administer the program, take all the orders, process all the payments. Um they've been a big partner with them. Um Butler Township obviously partners with us at the city, um, our friends at SpeedPro. Uh, they have supported the program in a tremendous fashion by um turning banners out at very quick pace with short timelines. So they've done and uh have done an outstanding job for us. Um, our public work staff at both the city and the township who um on very short time frames put all the banners up every May right before Memorial Day and maintain them throughout the year for any banners that may need attention uh through the veterans holiday or the Veterans Day holiday, and last but not least, Mr. Dave Arnold, and Dave needs to step up here and I tricked him to coming here tonight because he would not have come had he not had I shared this with him, but um this gentleman right here um Mr. Arnold is a resident of the city. Um I went to him with an idea a little more than three years ago and kind of said, Hey, do you have any ideas about this? So Dave has a background in um marketing and graphic design, uh has his own business, and so I was just looking on maybe a couple concepts, and about a week later, I had a big mock-up board with some amazing displays, including obviously the ones that we settled on, and we have um up and down Veterans Parkway. Uh Dave has volunteered, and I do mean hundreds of hours, um, designing banners, um, researching photographs, improving photographs. I mean, we get some real humdingers uh with photographs of really poor quality, and Dave works magic to make those look good on banners. Um, I'll never forget that we were before the first set of banners. Uh he required myself and at the time, Amber Holloway, the assistant city manager to come out to do a site visit with him on Dixie Drive to get proportion sizes correct. And I kind of laugh about it at the at the time, but um, the importance of it, I think speaks volumes. We get a tons of compliments about our banners in the Vandia Butler Township community. Um I'm kind of partial.