Williamsfield hires third treasurer in a year

By MOLLY RICHESON
For The Weekly Post

WILLIAMSFIELD – The Williamsfield Village Board swore in its third treasurer in the past year at Monday’s meeting, welcoming April Bouchez.

Bouchez, also a member of the Williamsfield School Board, replaces Linda Baker. She resigned from the job in September after eight months in the position.

Baker was hired Jan. 6 to replace longtime Treasurer Mary Rice, who resigned three days earlier. Rice and Board President Robert Johnson differ regarding the circumstances. Rice said she was forced out of the job. Johnson said she resigned rather than learn the new computer systems.

Baker summarized her accomplishments at the end of Monday’s meeting, saying she helped catch up on audits that were past due, which should allow the village to apply for grants, and modernized the accounting system while also working a full-time job.

Baker said she was not paid in full for her last paycheck and is owed $691.20 plus mileage reimbursement for a village-related trip to Springfield. She said those payments were assured to her by Johnson via text messages.

Baker said she expected this to happen after the reaction she received when her resignation was submitted. She said she has yet to receive either a paystub explaining the discrepancy or an explanation from the board.

Baker said while she did not work the entire month of September, she was also never paid extra during previous months when she spent extra hours working on treasurer tasks.

“For seven months, it didn’t matter how many hours I worked over, I still got $952,” she said Tuesday. “I should have got the same amount for the last month I worked.”

The water department at Williamsfield is still experiencing power glitches, an estimated 400 in the last two months. Ameren Illinois sent a lineman to remove a ground strap that is no longer necessary and checked everything from the transformer to the building.

A meter was replaced and equipment to analyze the problem was installed last Friday. The board hopes an engineer will be calling in the next few days with an update.

Altorfer performed a simulated power outage and found nothing wrong with the generator, though the generator itself only sounded an alarm and didn’t power up during the last outage. These glitches reset the entire plant and have to be handled manually each time the occur.

The water department is also waiting on a solenoid to power a line for the chlorine at the water plant. The cause of buildup on the pumps was discovered to be the chlorine injection line being installed in the wrong place and everything needed to be re-piped to correct the issue.

While they wait for the solenoid, everything remains backed up, but the pumps only need to be cleaned about once a week instead of every few days.

Williamsfield will also be developing a source-water protection plan to be submitted to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency by Nov. 30 as mandated by the state. BCZ Engineering was hired for $7,500 to develop this plan.

The board also approved a 5.5% loan with Integrity Community Bank for the purchase of a new truck with a hydraulic dump. The truck will cost upwards of $105,000. The interest rate will be reevaluated after five years of the 10-year loan.

Ordinances to implement both a non-home rule local tax and a grocery tax are written and will be discussed at the next board meeting.

In addition, the board approved having an ordinance drawn up to raise the annual tax levy to the 2025 projected inflation rate of 2.2%.
Williamsfield FFA will lease 5 acres of farm ground next to Doubet-Benjamin Park to use for test plots. A price per acre will be determined at a later date after a farm-management service is contacted to determine the value of the land.

Three board positions are up for reelection in 2025: Andrew Scott, Lucas Lekrone and Stuart Hickerson. A caucus will be held on Dec. 2 at the Village Hall at 6 p.m., with the regular board meeting to follow at 7 p.m.