Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Comment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident raises private-road truck concerns; planning commissioner urges accountability after elected official's remarks
Summary
A resident told the council heavy trucks are using Lyons Avenue, which he says is a private drive he paved; a planning commissioner publicly criticized remarks by a fellow commissioner that she said demeaned residents' education and income levels.
Marseilles — At the start of public comment, resident John Baratta said heavy trucks from a neighboring business are using Lyons Avenue and causing mud, dust and safety problems at the driveway in front of his home.
"He's driving this heavy equipment...he's destroying it," Baratta said, asking the council to investigate weight restrictions, easement claims and maintenance responsibility for the street he says is not a city-owned road. Council members told him the city had previously checked and that staff and the city attorney would review deed records and follow up.
Later in public comment, Karen Stillwell, a member of the city's planning commission, said remarks made by Commissioner Scheib at a recent planning commission meeting suggested the city's residents were "low income and uneducated," and she called those statements offensive and a breach of public trust. "The use of such language and characterization of our city and of its residents in this manner is not only offensive," Stillwell said on the record.
The council did not take formal disciplinary action during the meeting. Mayor Hollenbeck asked staff to review the matters raised and to provide updates to the council.
