​The Board of Commissioners meeting was held April 1, 2019 at 4:30 pm.
This Observer was unable to attend meeting due to set up of election equipment at polling place. Review of PHA website shows meeting Agenda available; no Board Packet was found nor prior approved minutes. Website continues to be in progress. Highlights of Agenda for this meeting: CEO Report, approval of intergovernmental agreement between PHA and Springfield Housing Authority (SHA) for management services, and 2018 Agency goals.
Next scheduled meeting of PHA is May 6, 2019 at 4:30 pm. At The Frank Campbell Community Center, 312 S. Merriman St., Peoria,

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            Linda Daley chaired the meeting 
            Mark Matusak presented the Manager’s Report:
            o Burials were up in February although still slightly under last year’s numbers.
            o The CloudPoint GIS project is coming along well and is on target for completion in the Fall..
            o There has been an early return of two “seasonal” employees to start cleanup of leaves that are remaining from last year.  Clean up was postponed until Spring because of last Fall’s inclement weather. Grounds staff build-up is tentatively scheduled for April 22.
            o The Pet Cemetery – Whispering Woods.  Mark Matusak reported that calls have been made to a number veterinarians in the area and most now have flyers in their offices explaining the services Springdale Cemetery offers.  Pet owners will have a number of options regarding burials or scatterings for their deceased pets. 

​The Peoria County Board of Election Commissioners met on Thursday, March 14, 2019.  Everyone was present except LaColis Reed.  All of the bills that were approved were standard.  The Verizon bill was a little higher because the hot spots are on.  There was a bill for software support, and a bill to Amazon for something that could not be found locally.
The Board approved moving Precincts 02 and 20 from Hollis Grade School to the Bartonville Christian Church.  This had been discussed at the February meeting but could not be approved at that time because plans were finalized too late to be included in the agenda.
In the updates on the primary and general elections, Director Tom Bride said the judges liked the pollbooks, and the drop off changes that were planned after the November election went very smoothly.  Turn out at the primary was 10.8%, which was higher than two years ago.  As of March 14, 761 ballots had been mailed out (which is ahead of two years ago), and 233 people had voted early.  Tom is expecting a turn out of over 20% for the general election.
​Irene Pritzker, Observer

​Peoria Housing Authority Board of Commissioners met promptly at 4:30 p.m. March 11 at 312 S. Merriman.  Vice Chair Carl Cannon led the meeting. Also present were Commissioners Anne Fox, Tekia Childs, Helen King and Director Jackie Newman. Commissioner Alma Brown arrived at 4:36 p.m.                    
   During public comment period, the question of when PHA website would be accessible was raised, as well as availability of agenda, board packets and prior meeting minutes.  No agendas were available for public at this meeting.  Response regarding website was that it should be up in five days.                                   
   As of March 27, website shows date of next Board of Commissioners meeting as April 1 and notes that website should be up soon.  Peoria Journal Star reporter Steve Tarter was present at meeting and coverage of meeting was reported in newspaper.                                                                                                                       
  

The Peoria City County Landfill Committee met at their regular time, 3 p.m. on the third
Wednesday, February 20th, at City Hall room 404. Chairman Steve Morris presided.
  The Foth Engineering Report included information for rehabbing the landfill gas flare station. Discussion
covered if the gas could be collected and put to use instead of being flared, but the concern was raised about lack of enough gas to make that economical for the present. There is interest in looking at what can be done in five to ten years.   
  Chris Coulter, PDC, reported that 4,000 households have been added to Peoria recycling pick-up since the bi-weekly pick-up with no cost up front for a toter have begun and there are now 14,000 households participating. 

​Linda Daley chaired the meeting
· Public Comment: There were two comments by the Public: A citizen attended to restate the Goals which in essence state that the duties of the custodians of the Cemetery are to remember these Goals: Caring for families and providing compassionate services to customers and to reduce the financial burden on tax payers. Secondly, Herb Kasube, the Race Director for the IVS Half Race associated with Il. Valley Striders, addressed the Board with an update of progress. The race route has a portion that winds through Springdale Cemetery.
· Treasurer Jim Stuttle presented financials for review and discussion. Items were approved by the Board
· Mark Matusak presented the Manager’s Report
· Brian Murray has successfully completed “dual entries” for the first month of this fiscal year in preparation for the switch from AXIOM to Cloud Point to take place later this year.
· Family burial site projects continue for 3 families estate. The three separate discussions are in the process of planning and Mark is working with the families to create a project that will meet each of their needs as a family.
· It was noted that 3 SCMA Director terms will be up in June and Mark will be informing the Mayor.

​The Peoria County Election Commission held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, February 12, 2019.  Commissioner LaColis Reed was out of town.  Under Approval of Bills, Executive Director Tom Bride was reminded to buy locally whenever possible.  Early voting location and hours for the April 2, general election were approved.  Early voting outside the city of Peoria begins on February 21.  Residents of Peoria will have to wait until Friday, March 8, after the results of the primary have been certified.  Hollis Grade School will no longer be a polling place because of the school's safety concerns.  Those precincts will be moved back to Bartonville Christian Church, although official approval cannot happen until next month.  The church board did not pass this until the morning of the Commission meeting, so it could not be on the agenda.  Pollbook training started on February 13.  As of February 12, 250 people had already voted by mail and 250 people had voted early at the Commission office.
The Commission then moved into Executive Session to discuss pending litigation.
​Irene Pritzker, Observer

​   ​Annual meeting of PHA Board of Commissioners was held February 4, 2019 at 3125 Merriman St., Peoria, IL. Meeting started on time at 4:30 PM and was chaired by Vice Chair, Carl Cannon. The Board addressed the required annual signing of commissioner documents: Conflict of Interest Statement and Confidentiality agreement. Forms were signed. Meeting was adjourned at 4:33 pm. Prior to adjourning the session, a motion was made and seconded to table meeting agenda until March meeting due to lack of quorum. Absent were Alma Brown and Ann Fox.
Regular meeting of Board of Commissioners followed Annual meeting and started at 4:34. Alma Brown, Secretary, arrived at 4:33 pm. Board packet and agenda was not on PHA website, but copies of agenda were available at the meeting. There were no public comments or media coverage. Jackie Newman, Executive Director was present and reported on HUD shutdown effects.

​No meeting of the Board of Commissioners held in January; notice of cancellation of January 24 meeting is currently posted. Meetings changed to first Monday of each month at 4:30 PM. Schedule of Board meetings for 2019 are posted on website. Next meeting will be February 4, 2019, at The Frank Campbell Community Center, 312 S. Merriman, Peoria IL. I will attend February meeting and continue to monitor PHA website for update on meeting minutes and Board meeting packets.

​The Peoria City County Landfill Committee met January 16th, 3 pm at Peoria City Hall room 404 with Chairman
Steve Morris presiding.
  Karen Raithel, Peoria County Sustainability and Resource Conservation Director announced that recycling drop-off locations at the Northpoint Shopping Center off of Knoxville Avenue and at Sterling Bazaar off of Sterling Avenue would soon be closed and that Peoria residents should use their city-wide option of curbside recycling pick-ups.
   The first part of the Foth Engineering report covered continued monitoring of pollutants. Repeated incidences of acetone were decided to be false positives from contamination in lab testing and not actually showing high landfill levels.