Gilman police reports on investigation into Christmas light theft
It was a fairly quiet month for Gilman, as reported at a regular village board meeting Jan. 13, although, Gilman Police Chief Tom Tallier said there was some activity at the park, when Christmas decorations were taken from there. Tallier says he is working on putting evidence together on the case.
“That has not been solved yet, even though I do have the vehicle that was down there at that time,” said Tallier.
When speaking of the many Christmas decorations, village president Jane DeStaercke said she gave public works director Rick Johnson permission to clean out the old pumphouse in the park, to be used for storage of the park Christmas decorations. Jerry Sromek and Fred Romig also have volunteered to put shelving in the building to house the decorations.
“Certainly it’s an asset to our community, the lights,” said DeStaercke.
DeStaercke also reported that the camper that is stationed in the park, has paid for the space and there is no time frame for when it might move.
“It’s not an ordinance, it’s a policy,” said DeStaercke. “There’s been no trouble and they’ve been paying.”
As long as the person or persons there are paying the rental fee, the board did not have a problem, if there are no issues. If an issue arose, DeStaercke said something could be done at that time.
“That would be your call,” agreed Tallier.
In addition, DeStaercke said she and village clerk Candice Grunseth met with representatives from Gilman Cheese, as the company is looking for a storage building, somewhere in the village.
“It was just to explore some options and there are some options, that are being considered,” said DeStaercke.
In the business portion of the meeting, members passed Resolution 2021-01 for budget amendments, which shows the grants for the library expansion, trailer court sale and COVID grant for income/ revenues, while the expenditure side showed COVID costs, library expansion and street construction (alley).
Grunseth also reported that the village received the final installment of the CARES Grant funds, in the amount of $71,723.31, as well as $647.09 that was from leftover funds that were not applied for by other communities.
DeStaercke made note that there is no old business on the agenda.
“Isn’t it nice to have the library and the trailer courts removed?” she said.
Prior to the regular meeting, a caucus was held, with nominations taken to appear on the spring ballot. Jane DeStaercke was nominated for Village President with no one else nominated. Mark Person, Eileen Grunseth, and Greg Steinbach were nominated for the three trustee positions. C. Grunseth will now contact the county to have the names offi cially placed on the ballot.
