Rockton Township swears in Assistant Clerk

At the monthly meeting of the Rockton Township Board of Trustees, Kristi Schaffer was sworn in as Deputy Clerk for Rockton Township. When Township Clerk Judith Gurney told her, "It's official now," Schaffer joked, "What did I get into?"  But earlier in the meeting,  Schaffer had been advising the Trustees, obviously actively involved in Township affairs already.

The Trustees voted to appoint Township Supervisor Paul Williams as an authorized agent for Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund which covers township employees.

Sharon Hecox, who has managed the Township office for almost 18 years, has moved to full-time work at the Stateline Mass Transit District, where she had been part-time Executive Director. According to reporter Marianne Mueller, Hecox said, “Serving the people has been one of my greatest accomplishments and I hope I have made an impact... I am going to miss everybody; it has been a labor of love, this was never a job.”

Chris Doering submitted a bill for $40 an hour, half his usual rate, for the three hours he's spent preparing the new Township website. Gurney said, "He's basically got everything done" and she just needs to plug in photos of the Board. Doering has been the Township's IT consultant for some time. More recently, he also became a Township employee, as sexton taking care of the Township's cemeteries.

Trustee Gene Hermann questioned Doering's dual role as contractor and employee. "Why are we allowing this when it's a conflict of interest, with him being an employee? It's not appropriate according to the [State] handbook. Even him as a contractor to do our IT work is a conflict of interest since he is now an employee."

Hermann readily agreed that Doering needs to get paid for what he's done but wanted to revisit the arrangement. Williams said he thought this had already been discussed, but will put Township Attorney Doug Henry on the next meeting's agenda to give his advice. Meanwhile, the Trustees approved the $120 payment to Chris Doering.

Nygren Wetland Preserve received a donation to replace a damaged telescope and will be sending it to the Township, who owns the telescope for insurance purposes . Kristi will follow up.

At the Greater Rockton Centre,  Mike Harris will be doing masonry on a doorway but additional work needs to be done on the back side where wood was before. "It will probably be an extra to do that," said Williams.

Tree crews haven't started taking down dead trees at the cemeteries. A birch at the Greater Rockton Centre also needs to be removed. According to Chris Doering, Woodchuck Tree Service, who had the lowest bid, will be starting the tree removal this week or next. Trustee Connie Gleasman contacted an arborist for an assessment of trees at the cemetery, but they decided they did not want the job. So Gleasman called Tree Care, who told her that since the Township has been a client of theirs, there will be no charge. There was no formal motion to approve the offer, but none of the Township Board had any objection, especially at no charge.

Trustee Gene Hermann said his aquatics biologist has seen toxic blue-green algae in the Rock River, which can sicken or even kill animals. Dogs are very susceptible. Trustee Connie Gleasman suggested putting up signs advising people to stay out of the river, but Williams said the DNR would be responsible for that.