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  "description": "Rusty Wheel fined $1,000, removal of City Administrator language clarified, 14% increase in health insurance, and more engineering expenses to Fehr Graham for sewage work.",
  "path": "/the-happenings-at-the-15-june-2026-south-beloit-city-council-meeting/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-16T17:14:18.000Z",
  "site": "https://roscoenews.com",
  "textContent": "The South Beloit City Council meeting started off at 4:55 p.m. yesterday, June 16, 2026, with a hearing of the liquor commission that resulted in the Rusty Wheel Saloon (City Hall's next door neighbor) being fined $1,000 and placed on a 12 month probation for allowing patrons to consume alcohol in its parking lot during its Memorial Day festivities.\n\nKristin Karalis, the manager of the Rusty Wheel, was in attendance for the hearing but was not allowed to speak on behalf of the Rusty Wheel. City Attorney Roxanne Sosnowski said she could not speak during legal proceedings as the Rusty Wheel is an LLC and only an attorney could speak for the LLC at legal proceedings (Admin. Code tit. 77, § 100.4).\n\nThe council discussed when the $1,000 fine would be paid, with councilmembers Prentice and Hedrington agreeing on before the 4th of July and ultimately settling on 30 June. Ms. Karalis did mentioned that the fine will be paid within the week.\n\nThis is not the first time a business in South Beloit had been fined for allowing the consumption of alcohol in its parking lot without a permit. The Wheel was fined under prior ownership and fined the same amount. Mustangs was fined twice for two separate infractions, $1,000 and $1,500 for each infraction.\n\nThere were five more significant pieces of action transpiring from the meeting.\n\n1) Language was clarified on the removal of the position of City Administrator vs. the person employed as City Administrator. The clarification to current statute (section 2-26.10, South Beloit Municode Library) stresses that while it takes 2/3 of the council's vote to remove the office of City Administrator, only a simple majority would be required to remove the person occupying that position.\n\nSonya Hoppes, South Beloit City administrator, said she wanted the council to vote yes for this clarification at the meeting.\n\nMayor of South Beloit Tom Fitzgerald said this about the change: \"This is clarifying just like we did with the department heads. We made sure that they were protected. This council can change. Five can come in; five can leave. It's that easy. And when you have good people as department heads, you should keep them because they are hard to find.\"\n\n2) Removation of 532 Hemenway only received one bid, the bid of $35,000 from Goad Construction. In that bid, Goad Construction stated that it would rehab the property into a two-family rental unit occupied with tenants and rectify any existing code violation by the spring of 2027.\n\n3) The city renewed its health insurance plan with insurance broker Tricor out of Beloit. The price for the city's health insurance plan increased by 14 percent.\n\n4) The use of recycled asphalt for driveways is now limited to residential use only.\n\n5) Council discussed another increase of $77,000 in engineering costs for the city's lift station and force main upgrade project. While this was the only increase discussed for this project at this meeting, the engineering costs to Fehr Graham were originally $309,500 over a year ago and have ballooned by $128,000 to a total engineering cost of $437,500 so far.\n",
  "title": "The Happenings at the 15 June 2026 South Beloit city council meeting",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-17T14:21:45.578Z"
}