The Vandalia City Council held a regular meeting on April 6, 2026, at 7:00 PM. The meeting opened with a moment of reflection and the Pledge of Allegiance. Key actions included approval of multiple prior meeting minutes, a proclamation recognizing National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, a public comment urging citizen engagement, and a unanimous vote to award a culvert installation contract.
Yeah, great. All right, seven o'clock, so we're gonna go ahead and get started with this evening's uh council meeting. Uh we'll start with a moment of reflection, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Please stand for the pledge. Under individual libertarian justice. All right, council, you've had an opportunity to review the council organizational meeting minutes, the council study session meeting minutes, and the council meeting minutes of January 5th, the council special joint meeting minutes of January 6th, along with the council study session meeting minutes and the council meeting minutes of January 20th. Are there any comments or corrections on those? All right, being none, we'll move on to communications petitions and award, where tonight we have a proclamation to present for National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week, which will be April 12th through the 18th. So if you can join me at the podium, our two communicators. All right. Well, well, first of all, thanks for all you do. We all appreciate that, and I think probably all of us have called dispatch at one time or another, so we do really appreciate the job that you guys do. We do have a proclamation we'd like to present to you, and I'm gonna go ahead and read it to you. Whereas emergencies can occur at any time requiring police, fire, or emergency medical services. Whereas, when an emergency occurs, the prompt response and the appropriate personnel is critical for the protection of life and property. And whereas the security of our public safety personnel is dependent upon the quality and the accuracy of information obtained from citizens who call 911. And whereas public safety specialists are the first and the most critical contact for our citizens with emergency services, and whereas public surface safety specialists are a vital link for our police officers, firefighters, and monitoring their activity by radio, providing them with the information and ensuring their safety. Whereas public safety specialists have contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fires, and treatment of patients. Whereas public safety specialists exhibit compassion, understanding, and professionalism while performing their duties. Now, therefore, I, Richard Herbst, as the mayor of the City of Vandeya, do hereby proclaim April 12th through April 18th as public safety telecommunication telecommunications week in the city of Vandalia. Congratulations. Appreciate all of it. There's supposed to be nine. Nine of you. Okay. There's your own. Thank you. Thank you. You sure you want to say that? All right, we have no public hearing. That brings us to comments from interested citizens. So if someone would like to make a comment, please come to the podium, state your name and address clearly for the record. And we further ask that those who speak, please follow the etiquette of communicating with respect to others. And as a courtesy, please try to stay on topic with your comments as you address council, and in an effort to give all citizens an opportunity to express their thoughts and concerns. We ask that you keep your comments as brief as possible and limit them to five minutes. Mr. Hoggardson. Don Hutchison, 1084 First Will Drive and 1058. Yeah, I wanted to take a minute. Thank you, Mayor, Council, for letting us talk to bring to attention to the citizens of Vandalia that they might want to, in a sense, think about recircling the wagons in regards to things that are being discussed that could possibly need your assistance in a moratorium that there are things that could be also viewed as that of what was connected to the warehouses at one time that those citizens need to come in, let their voice be heard, let there be no misunderstanding about particular language, particular addressments of whatever referendum resolution things that need to be addressed to ensure that we don't end up having the issue such as we had with warehouses. A lot of people in the city, they don't get the privilege of being able due to schedules or whatever going on in their life to come in and see some items that are going to be discussed that could affect them more than they realize and that they need to awaken and come in and address it. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we will move on to the uh city manager's report where we have a couple of information items. Mr. Althouse. Thank you, Honor. City of Vendalia is offering Van Day residents free large debris drop-off from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the public works garage.