The Vandalia City Council held a regular meeting on March 16, 2026, beginning at 12:00 PM. The meeting included a recognition of a 35-year employee's retirement, approval of several resolutions and emergency ordinances, a board appointment, and council comments.
Please stand for the pledge. One nation under God. Liberty and justice as well. And Council, you've had an opportunity to review the study session minutes and the council meeting minutes of December 1st and December 15th. Are there any comments or corrections? And then they stand approved, and that brings us to communications petitions and awards. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to uh Mr. Oldhouse. Well, thank you, Your Honor. And tonight we have the distinct honor and privilege of welcoming or recognizing a very, very long-term member of our city staff, Chris Mastrino. Chris, if you'll come up the podium, I'm going to read your bio. And it's always significant when we recognize people with long years of service. 2025 is usually a big milestone, sometimes even 30. But tonight we're recognizing an employee with 35 years of service. And uh not only that, Chris will be retiring here in the next few weeks. So there'll be a couple photos of him as I read his bio here. Um Chris has been instrumental here at the City of Vandalia, played uh worked several different roles during his time, as we'll read here shortly. But uh it's been a privilege to have him here. We're certainly going to miss him as he heads into retirement years with his family. But he's certainly served well and we're certainly wishing him all the best. So Chris is a graduate of Melton Union High School and JVS CTC for architectural drafting in 1981. And he proudly served four years in the U.S. Air Force as a fuel systems mechanic. He continued his education at Sinclair Community College and Alpina Community College near his duty station in Michigan, studying surveying and civil engineering. Chris began his career as a civil inspector with Lockwood, Jones, and Beals from 1986 to 1990 before joining the city as an engineering technician. In June 1991, after earning his state certification as a Class 3 building inspector, he was appointed building inspector. And then in March 2024, he was promoted to Chief Building Official. Over his 35 years of dedicated service, Chris has been a cornerstone of the DES division and the city as a whole. His extensive institutional knowledge, steady leadership, and willingness to assist residents, businesses, and fellow employees alike have made a very lasting impression on the organization and community. Chris and his wife Jan are the proud parents of a daughter and son and are enjoying life as busy grandparents. Maybe we have some of them here tonight. All right. And uh while we are sad to see him go, what's that? They gave a degree here. They do that sometimes. But the best days are ahead with grandchildren. And while we are sad to see you go, Chris, we are excited for this next chapter in your life. You've worked and served many, many years here. We thank you for all the service. We've had a lot of fun times, I know with uh there's many colleagues here, both past and present, and probably even some that are gonna be following your footsteps. So uh and it's great to see everyone here to support him. We wish you the very best. Your final day in the office will be Friday, April 3rd. And so uh very well-earned retirement, and we certainly wish you the best. All right. We'll let you say any words you might wish to say to your family, colleagues, and we're gonna get some pictures, get some pictures in front of your uh Oh wow, yeah, there you go. Yeah, I'm pretty good at forget to do that. So, yeah, yeah. Uh it's been an honor and privilege working with everybody here and all my favorite cabaders back here in my family. Um I'm not very good at speeches, but it's been a good run.