Brimfield to boost fish stocking in village lake

By MOLLY RICHESON
For The Weekly Post

BRIMFIELD – More money has been appropriated to restock the Brimfield village fishing pond.

Trustees of the Brimfield Village Board voted Monday night to allocate up to $1,500 for restocking the lake, which takes place every other year. Usually, the village had been paying $1,000 to Herman Brothers Fisheries of Hanna City for that purpose.

The extra funds are designed to provide some leeway when purchasing fish, according to village officials.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources surveys the pond regularly, then suggests what and how much to restock. IDNR has suggested channel catfish, as well as crappie and bass, though the bass have been doing a pretty decent job of repopulating.

The village plans to purchase mostly 1- to 3-pound fish so that fish can be kept immediately after being caught.

Village President Dan Fishel said a fishing tournament might be a fun idea once the pond is restocked, though there were no additional comments on that.

The board also voted to spend $1,250 to remove three tree stumps in Brimfield Community Park. The relatively large stumps remain following storm damage. Other stumps already have been removed.

Also approved was an expense not to exceed $1,200 for Luke Willi Services in Kickapoo to construct a village firepit. It is to replace firepits the village has borrowed for various events, most notably the annual Christmas Walk.

The date for this year’s walk is Dec. 2, by which time the new firepit should be ready.

Another issue addressed was liability insurance for the historical log cabin located in the lot adjacent to Village Hall. The log cabin itself and all of the donated items therein are deemed as irreplaceable and cannot be assigned a value. Originally, the cabin was quit-claim deeded to the Village in 2007 and is leased to the Historical Society for $1 per year, with a requirement that the village will be responsible for insurance, if possible.

However, the village’s insurance company says that in the same way the baseball diamond is insured separately, the cabin needs to be insured separately by the Historical Society with its own liability policy listing the village as additionally insured. A concern is that the Historical Society may not have the funds to cover the insurance. But there seemed to be agreement that if the building is going to be open for the Christmas Walk or Ice Cream Social, the cabin needs to be insured beforehand.

Special guests for this meeting were members of Boy Scouts Pack 352 and their scoutmaster, Taylor Winklemann. Attendance helps fulfill the scouts’ requirements for their Citizenship in the Community merit badges.