The McLeansboro City Council met last (Tuesday) night at City Hall after holding their meetings at the Hamilton County Courthouse for the last several months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As it has been for the last several months, the water tank project was the main topic of discussion, although talk about the renovation of the McCoy Library was prominent as well.
Rod Martin of Shawnee Professional Services told the council the water tank has been filled and was chlorinated, which was approved by the Illinois EPA. He said they are slowly but surely nearing completion of the project. Change Order B-1 from Caldwell Tank was approved totaling $168,400, a $3,400 increase over the previous amount, mainly due to the addition of two wheel operators on the gate valves costing $2,000 and $1,200 for the chlorination. The Change Order also includes a completion of the project extension to September 15th with final payment due within 30 days after the completion date.
Richard Woods, former President of the Library Board, addressed the council members about renovations to be made to the McCoy Library. Two years ago a contractor was hired to make repairs on their building at a cost of $40,610. The library received a $35,000 Live and Learn Grant from the state to cover most of the cost and the city agreed to pay the remainder of the amount. Before work could be done, the pandemic hit and the project was stopped. Now that they are able to make the repairs, because of the sharp increase in the price of materials, the costs increased to $48,160. Mayor Chad May said that the money for the repairs have been appropriated for the upcoming budget and the city has matched the $35,000 grant money. Things needing repair include holes in the ceiling, tile falling off, some electrical issues, cracks in the walls and soft spots on the floor. Repairs should take one or two months. After some discussion, it was decided that the city will look for an engineer to do the work, so the matter was tabled until the next city council meeting.
Concerning the Dollar Store variance, representatives for those supporting and opposing the variance gave the reasons for their views. The variance is two feet and the building can stay in the exact spot it’s in now. The board members unanimously approved the variance.
Also approved was pay request #1 for Market Street Culvert replacement in the amount of $279,941.33 to E. T. Simonds, approval of a resolution for temporary road closures associated with the 2021 Mcleansboro Kiwanis Fall Festival as they have done every year, the closing of the city pool on Saturday, August 14th as most of the help will be going back to school, granting CrossFit permission to use the City Pool on August 7th from 3 to 5 PM instead of 5:30 PM because of parties starting there at 6 PM, $250 for a sponsorship of the 2021 Hamilton County Fair, and accepted the highest of six bids for the 2017 Dodge Durango – $18,881 from Drew Brown.
There was a significant increase in the water bill from Rend Lake due to filling the water tower.
In the Zoning Report, Pat Stevens said the structure at 503 St. Charles has been torn down and the title to the trailer on North Hancock Street has been received and mailed to the state, and now they are awaiting its return.
The board adjourned at 7:04 PM.
