Representatives of BHMG Engineers spoke to the council for about an hour on options for backup electricity. Currently the city has old and degraded equipment to supply power in case of an outage and it can only be used in emergency situations. There’s not enough capacity available, so other options need to be explored. The electric system has two electric supply sources currently, SIPC and the power plant. Fairfield owns an alternate source line to the SIPC substation in Mcleansboro and they are looking into options utilizing the Fairfield line as a secondary source. Maintenance and additional generation to cover the city peak load could cost about $3.1 million, and probably more. The current dialog with Fairfield is to share maintenance costs in trade for use of the line as a backup source. The council members accepted BHMG’s recommendation of a utility pole inspection with Osmose Utilities Services at an estimated cost of $40,000 to be shared equally between Mcleansboro and Fairfield to understand future line maintenance cost estimates and determine the best solution for backup power for the city moving forward.
The city insurance with IPMG was renewed with a 1.6% premium increase of $175,000 to $178,000.
Southeastern Illinois Regional Planning and Development was authorized to apply for and to administer if funded the Illinois State Library Public Library Construction Grant program, for a mini-grant of $35,000.
The council approved a TIF reimbursement request by Don and Ann Burke of 600 West Market for $9,656.23.
Full-time city employees and volunteer firefighters will each receive Christmas bonuses of $125 and part-time employees will each receive $50.
Volunteer firefighters will each get a clothing allowance of $450 every six months, or twice a year.
Zoning administrator Pat Stevens says the property at 702 South Hancock Street has finally been demolished, there is court action on another property and another is in the process of cleaning up. Also, the city is deciding what to do with some of the properties that residents have been interested in.
