Forest Village Council – February 12, 2026

Village of Forest Council met in regular session on Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 7:00 PM in council chambers.

Mayor Hastings called the meeting to order with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Attendance:

• Derek Hastings – present
• Mary Dickinson – present
• Loretta Perkins – present
• Sarah Hankins – present
• Danielle Moore – present
• Valerie Mullholand – present
• Joe Moore – present (arrived late at 7:03 p.m.)

Village Announcements: None

Approval of Agenda for February 12, 2026: S. Hankins moved to approve agenda for 2/12/26 meeting. M. Dickinson seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays. Agenda approved.

Approval/Corrections of Minutes: Approval of minutes from January 22, 2026.
V. Mullholand moved to approve minutes from 1/22/26 council meeting. M. Dickinson
seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays. Minutes approved.

Bills: Approval to pay bills. M. Dickinson moved to approve the payment of bills. V. Mullholand seconded. Vote: 6 yeas, 0 nays. Payment of bills approved.

Citizens’ Comments: None

Old Business: None

New Business: V. Mullholand requested to be excused from council meetings on 2/26/26 for work commitment and 4/9/26 for attending high school band trip with child. S. Hankins moved to excuse V. Mullholand from meetings held 2/26/26 and 4/9/26. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 5 yeas, 0 nays, V. Mullholand abstained.

Discussion on Request for Qualifications for design phase of lagoons and sewer was held. Wessler Engineering was the only submission. Scores were discussed with council. M. Dickinson moved to adopt the scoring from the Request for Qualifications. S. Hankins seconded. Vote: 6 yeas, 0 nays. Passed.

Committee Reports

Mayor: Continuing to address nuisance properties.

Finance/Audit: Committee met 2/12/26. J. Rinehammer will be applying for Hardin County Community Foundation Grant for Lima St. sidewalk project. Discussed the need to communicate with CIC to see if they are applying for flowers for the town.

Safety: Scheduled meeting for 2/23 @ 6pm. Safety committee will look into Green River
Ordinance and also fees for solicitors at next meeting..

Police Chief: Digital citations should begin in the next few weeks. Monthly statistics were given. Average speed over the limit was 17 mph. Auxiliary hours were 59.75. The department issued 27 citations in January 2026. The department received 363 calls for service.

Fire Chief: None

Ambulance Board: None

Service: Update from 2/10/26 meeting was given. Scorecard for Request for Qualifications was completed. Service committee discussed water rates. There was an error when entering the rates into the billing system. This had no negative impact on residents. Council had previously approved $.47 increase per 1000 gallons and no increase on base rate. However, $.47 was applied to base rate and not per 1000 gallons. Therefore, the Village will return to the base rate of $15 and the 5% increase will be based off this amount. Therefore, when the rates change in March billing cycle the new base rate will be $15.75. For per 1000-gal rate, the 5% increase will be based off of the amount $9.50 per 1000 gallon. Therefore, when the rates change in March billing cycle the new rate will be $9.97 per 1000 gallon. The committee is working on communicating this to residents and will be included with the next utility bills.

Administrator: Switched to Masi Labs for water and sewer testing. Water meters continue to be a priority. Preventative maintenance is being completed for sewer system. Waiting on 4 new pumps for the lift stations. Funding for the pumps was thru a grant. Thank you to Derek Hastings and Joe Moore for assistance with plowing during the snow storm. Skid steer has been repaired and bucket truck should have repairs completed within the next week or 2. Park work will begin with the warming weather.

Park Board: Update from 2/9/26 meeting was given. Park Board applied for Hardin County Community Foundation Grant for new baby swings. They have requested that if J. Rinehammer is not able to attend meetings that another worker will attend. Park Board voted to keep their current officers. List of items needed attention were discussed to include moving eagle and smurf and marking the tables and chairs. Spring clean-up has been scheduled for March 14, 2026 @ 9am. The rain dates will be 3/21/26 and 3/28/26. Next Park board meeting is 3/9/26 @ 9am at the all-weather pavilion.

Market Square: Market Square is working on reorganizing committee members.

CIC: Dues are do at this time. It was stated that any new businesses are offered one-year free membership. Hardin County Community Foundation Grant application due by the end of the month. CIC was wanting to focus their request for downtown decorations and 250-year celebration, and was hoping Village would apply for flowers. CIC is working with VFW for Veteran’s banners. Still needs light pole information for AEP.

Business/Industrial Development: Have not met, meeting quarterly planning to meet in March.

Zoning and Planning: Scheduled meeting for 2/23/26 @ 6:45pm.

Mayor Hastings appointed Curt Mullholand to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Human Resources/Ethics: Schedule meeting for 2/19/26 @ 5:30pm.

Tree Commission: Have not met and finding it difficult to coordinate committee members schedules. Written plan has not been completed, still need to obtain information from DNR.

Village Solicitor: M. Fish advised that he is moving to Illinois and will not be able to continue to represent the Village. This is not an immediate move, and could be up to 6 months. He will be assisting with obtaining and transition with a new Solicitor. Going to work on the items he needs to complete for the Village of Forest.

Fiscal Officer: Almost finished with closing out 2025. Update on Muni Link transition was given. Communication will be sent to residents, hoping to be done 2/13/26.

L. Perkins moved to adjourn meeting. D. Moore seconded. Vote: 6 yeas, 0 nays, Meeting
adjourned at 7:57pm.