South Beloit, Rockton, and Roscoe board meetings this week: voting, buying, selling, approving, amending, and donating

The Villages of Rockton and Roscoe, as well as the City of South Beloit, will hold meetings early this week. The public is invited.

The Roscoe Board of Trustees will begin their Tuesday meeting with several consent agenda items, which are usually voted on as a block, without discussion.

• The board is expected to authorized this year's annual payment to Axon Enterprises Inc. Trustees approved the five-year lease agreement with Axon in February 2022, which provides and maintains body cameras, tasers, redaction software, cloud storage and related miscellaneous equipment for the police department. The annual price is $30,742, or $153,710 over a five-year term. In July, the village also purchased a police drone from Axon for $19,489, which includes training, licensing and associated equipment.
• Village trustees are also expected to spend $10,529 for five DDM4V7S patrol rifles from Daniel Defense with sights by Aimpoint for the Police Department. Interim Chief Sam Hawley says their current rifles have had a lot of rounds put through them.
• The final consent item is the approval of a contract with Comcate Software and Services to provide a code enforcement, permitting, and business license management platform, including software licensing, onboarding, and training. The software will cost $17,500 a year, with a one-time setup cost of $7,500.

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Two other items that are expected to receive a final vote on Tuesday:

• Allowing an accessory building at 6498 Sutter Drive to be 912 square feet, instead of the usual 700 square foot maximum. Village Administrator Scott Sanders says that because of its arrangement on the corner of Applegate and Sutter, the building won't appear unusually large from the street.
• Allowing 7-foot fences instead of 6-foot fences on the side yards of six multi-family residences on Baneberry Drive (PIN: 04-29-426-009), between Mary's Market and the Landmark Apartments, behind Schnuck's. For aesthetic reasons, the Village wants the fences to be vinyl, not wood, and in a compatible color.

New business items do not receive a final vote upon first reading, unless the board votes to suspend that rule. On the agenda under new business this week: an agreement with

Premier Technologies for offsite cloud data backup for a recurring monthly fee of $300, including a one-time set up cost of $250. In November 2022, the board hired Premier Technologies to provide professional information consulting services in 2023 for $2,700 per month.

At the Committee of the Whole meeting which follows the board meeting, trustees will discuss the purchase of replacement servers for Village Hall and the Police Department.

At their Tuesday meeting, the Rockton Village board will vote on approval of a payment plan for the IDOT invoice for the joint Highway 75 project. They also plan to amend an ordinance that covers the maintenance and repair of sidewalks. But after that, they will go into executive session (which is not public) to "Discuss the Setting of a Price for Sale or Lease of Property Owned by the Public Body." The Village of Rockton has been trying to find a developer for some waterfront property that was formerly the Sonoco paper mill. They will be discussing the property at Monday's Administration Committee meeting [PDF].

At Monday's meeting, the South Beloit City Council plans to vote on approving a revised towing policy. They will have a first reading for a special use permit to allow a contractor storage yard at 6305 State Line Road, which is owned by Cat Contracting.

They will consider amending their liquor ordinance to create a  new “WS” License. Additionally, they will discuss the sale of a Depression-era house which the city owns at 632 Lathrop Terrace.

The city council is expected to approve plans for the 2023 Memorial Day Parade.

In purchases and appropriations, the city council will consider:

• Copy machine lease with Impact, for the South Beloit Fire Department. 
• Services agreement with Huber Technology for fire reporting and fire inspection reporting software for the South Beloit Wastewater Treatment Plant. 
• Purchase of a front end lawn mower from Johnson Tractor for the Street Department for $24,982. 
• Purchase of a 2023 Chevy Pickup truck from Kunes Auto Group for the Fire Department for $46,125.

In new business, South Beloit will discuss giving $5,000 to 50 North for senior citizen programming for South Beloit residents. And they are expected to grant a liquor employee license (RLE) for Tiffany Hansen at Viking Lanes and a business license for Storage Queen.

More News from South Beloit

• Whiskey Hotel Barbecue’s grand opening is a smokin’ success. Roscoe's new barbecue business at 5522 Elevator Road is open from 11 p.m. -6 p.m., Thursday - Sunday.
• Nancy Mohns volunteered at church over the years Visitation will be Friday and Saturday, May 3, 2024, with memorial service Saturday at noon.