McLeansboro City Council Meeting Productive
The meeting opened with the city learning it has been awarded a $2,400,000 (2.4 million dollar) loan from the USDA for the construction of a new water tower. The City officially received notification on October 4th.
The city is considering an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to maintain a newly established pollinator prairie habitat at Rogers-DeWitt Park for ten years. Funds would be available for seeds and chemicals for meadow restoration. To plant wildflowers at the site, any autumn olive bushes would be removed and one or two herbicide applications will cut back on any excess Indian grass early next spring and will be continued throughout the fall. Most of next year would be spent doing these steps to prepare the site properly. After the final herbicide application in late summer/early fall, the site would then undergo a controlled burn to remove the dead vegetation and expose the soil for a frost seeding from late December to early March. Once established, the fields could then be maintained by prescribed fire starting in the third growing year.
Burns should be done a couple of times per year to allow habitat to still be present following a burn. This will be an excellent habitat for animals and birds and the site can be used for an educational tour and promote the habitat to other landowners and organizations.
The council tabled for now the idea of buying or leasing an auger truck for the electric department.
Steve Zimmerman won the high bid for the sale of surplus property (the parks and plant department’s F150 pickup truck) with a high bid of $351.50.
Public toilets in the city parks will be closed for the winter season.
Letters have to been sent to several residents to clean up their properties
The council decided to close off several roads within the city for the annual Christmas Parade, “Christmas Candyland” on Friday, December 7th at 6 PM.
A presentation from the local IMRF authorized agent has been requested to conduct a cost estimate for an early retirement option.
The meeting lasted about 15 minutes.
