April 7, 2025 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Live at St. Joseph Village Board March 23, 2021

We are here. This could be a pretty amazing meeting.

LIQUOR LICENSE TIME. We are moving the agenda around so the Matt and Sheri Walsh and Anthony Laubscher can leave if they want.

They changed the ordinance to reflect the new number of active liquor licenses. Meaning, the BBQ place will get their license. #yummy #goodfood #Macandcheese

Salvo Rodriguez from the United Way is presenting to the village of St. Joseph regarding a Born Learning Trail in Kolb Park.

Rodriguez said that early learning is a critical part of childhood development—and it can happen anywhere, at any time. Rodriguez said Born Learning Trail turns everyday experiences into teachable moments.  The interactive trail would contain signs with instructions for simple games that can turn a trip to the park into learning moments for kids. The trails have a theme of Watch! Stop! Learn! Play! and encourages parents and caregivers to follow the child’s lead, building the child’s curiosity and confidence, and reinforces learning opportunities present in everyday life.
Trails are already located in Savoy, Rantoul and Champaign.

Kolb was selected because it is centrally located in the village and is next to the rail trail.

This would be such a cute idea. My kids are the target age for this and they love hopscotch and games like would be included on the trail.

Joe Lierman is retiring after the village election in April. #OMG #ENDOFANERA #THISMAKESMESOSAD #ILOVEJOE

Joe is recommending Marc Miller. He is Ogden’s attorney. #Heisalsosupersmart


The billing rate is $185/hour. His rule is if you don’t like a bill you don’t have to pay it.

A reader has pointed out he is also the village attorney for Sidney and it’s Marc not Mark. #thankyou!

There is no other public participation. I am the only one left besides Mr. Sennert. #ITwiz

RPC has provided the village info regarding food trucks.

Joe has said outlawing food trucks will be hard. #probably


Tami saying she thinks food trucks in town would be fine and she doesn’t really think it will hurt brick and mortar that much. Do we want food trucks? #whatdoyouthink? Other towns around us have them- for example Broadlands, Tolono.


Tami said this needs to be done by the end of April and is stressing what needs to be in the policy- where can they be, can they be in neighborhoods, ect. How many days would they be allowed, permit fees, ect.

Max Painter saying he is for food trucks in the village. “You can drive 15 minutes and be on Prospect Avenue. We are just giving people a little more variety.”

Sidney also has food trucks.

Now discussing allowing them only at the park so they aren’t near the downtown restaurants.

Dan Davis asking who will enforce this policy. #villagehall #theywillpullyourpermit

Discussing how many food trucks would be allowed in town each night and how much the permit would costs.

I don’t think 40 trucks are going to want to be here at the same time but… you never know I guess.

The board doesn’t seem interested in regulating if people want to have a food truck at a private party.

They are still talking about the details and to be honest it doesn’t matter because its all theoretical. They are stuck on talking about food trucks on private property and I would be totally, totally shocked if they ended up doing anything about this because they usually shy away from policing private property.

Dan Davis wants it done soon because they promised the public. Which is true.

Art is concerned they don’t have enough time to get it done, ect.

Just allow the trucks. The only people I have seen who think it’s a bad idea are the restaurant owners and while I understand that I also think the general public doesn’t want the village tipping the hand of capitalism. Just let the public decide if they want food trucks. They won’t come if they don’t make money.

Now Art is discussing what happens if a brick and mortar has a food truck.
Rapp saying there has to be “latitude” on that. I think he’s implying that like if El Toro has a food truck they wouldn’t need to get a permit but… IDK.

Just my take: it’s a food truck. Permit it and move on.

This board has a tendency to discuss items that should be committee meetings during their actual meetings which is good for me because they provide a lot of detail. Like a lot of detail.

WCIA is doing our town in August. The village hall is coming up with people they can interview.

THis is what I have been waiting for. Last week, there was an “email situation” the mayor account got hacked. Mike Sennert came to the rescue because he is #amazing. “He cleaned up the mess.” Tami said she didn’t open anything suspicious. “It was a mess and it was frightening,”

Mike is going to be the IT guy on a regular basis to take care of issues with computers, ect. He will also come in and check computers to update them. #praisethelord #theyhaveneededthisforawhile #hero.

The Laurel RV situation has been handled. “I don’t know what happened but it is gone.”

Tami saying they are in the bridge phase. Are we? I thought we were in Phase 4 still. Anyway, Rochs wants outdoor seating again.

Discussing it. But honestly, just shut down Lincoln. I enjoyed it one way. #justmytake

Discussing how some people may be more comfortable eating outside even when vaccinated. #thatsme

I think they will allow the outdoor dining but it will be formally announced later. Basically watch for signs.

OMG we are only on the mayor’s section.

Sports agreement has been signed with the high school for soccer.

Tami is talking about grants and audits and a mess at the county. Read this for more details.


This News-Gazette story actually explains it better.


The search for the Village Administrator has been extended. Have 5 more resumes. They are moving forward.

They are awarding contracts to Spring Green and Outdoor Solutions Basically, they broke up the parks and gave some to each.

Max is discussing pickleball. Could a tennis court be a pickleball court?

They are going to turn a tennis court into a pickleball court.

What is pickleball?

Jim Wagner just asked the question for me. Apparently its a wiffle ball with a racket?

Ameren time. Basically, you gotta sign the franchise cause they are the only business in town. #10yearfranchiseagreement #willpaysameastheywerebefore

Luke giving a shoutout to the office staff for dealing with flooding and tree branch issues.

Meeting over.

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