WOODSTOCK – Village Council on Monday agreed to begin offering residents a new service in the coming months – street cleaning.

Council members unanimously approved the purchase of a 1999 Terramite ride-on broom/sweeper from Ritchie Brothers Auctioneers at a cost of $1,650, while also agreeing to the repair and maintenance of the machine at a cost up to $2,000.

Village Administrator Bradley Herron said the village currently doesn’t provide street cleaning services. Instead, it has relied on property owners and occasional court-ordered community service teams to clean the streets.

“It’s something we’ve had requests from residents to keep up on,” he said.

Herron added the street cleaner is running, but needs a new seat, water tank, ignition switch and brakes. The total cost of the replacement parts is estimated to be around $700.

Village maintenance worker Ron Moore has expressed concern about the timing belt on the machine, which has 1,000 hours on it to date.

“We are not sure if we need to replace it yet,” Herron said. “If the timing belt were to break, it could cause some major problems.”

Council was informed if the belt needs to be replaced, the entire kit would cost $470.

Ball park now under surveillance

Mayor Jackie Hayes informed council that cameras were installed and are working at Woodstock Ball Park.

Last month, Hayes reported the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office was concerned with possible illegal activity at the ballpark and asked whether the facility had operating security cameras.

“I do feel better that the cameras are there,” Hayes said.

Herron added the Union County Rampage travel baseball team, which uses Woodstock Ball Park as its home field, helped provide and install the security equipment.

In other business:

•Council approved the purchase of propane for use at the municipal building from Heritage Cooperative at a cost of $500.18.

•Council signed off on the purchase of nine new office chairs from OfficeMax in Delaware at a cost of $539.91.