NEVCO SCOREBOARD COMPANY MAY BE MOVING TO INDUSTRIAL PARK
The economic expansion news came early and often at last night's Greenville City Council meeting as several items on last night's agenda turned into big announcements indeed. During the public hearing for a CDAP Grant Application for $410,000 for a parking lot it was announced that the reason for the parking lot was to accommodate a new location for Nevco Scoreboard in the Wolf Industrial Park. Should the grant be successful Nevco will build a new $5 million facility on 16.4 acres less the 3 acre parking lot. The council quickly voted to support the grant application, as well as passing an option for Nevco to buy the needed industrial park property. In the land purchase agreement Nevco must start construction within one year of approval of the state grant.
Next the council took up an annexation and rezoning to B-2 request from Edna and Karl Suess for 26 acres they own bordered by the I-70 entrance ramp and Route 127 just north of the interstate. Rick Shuffield representing Love's Travel Stops of Oklahoma City then outlined his company's plans to build a 5 to 6 million dollar facility including a 9,000 square foot building with a convenience store, franchise restaurant and gift shop plus 16 fueling points. The company plans to develop 10 acres first and commended the city's efforts to include the property in its TIF district plans. They plan to start building in the spring and be open at the end of next year. The project is projected to create 40 to 65 full time jobs. Love's operates 200 Travel Centers in 31 states including several in Illinois.
City Manager Dave Willey added to the good news when he informed the council that Dave Rehkamper of Tri Ford told him that Ford Motor Company had approved Tri-Ford's satellite operation at the former Taylor Derrick location in Greenville.
The council also approved spending $50,000 to finance research on how the city could attract more commercial retail business. The city hopes to move quickly to take advantage of that research which will be performed by the Buxton Company, the same company that will be doing similar research for Vandalia.
In other action the council passed a pay raise for the City's Tourism Director. You can see most of the open part of the meeting tonight on Greenville Cable Channel 3 at 6PM.
SKATEBOARD PARK COULD BE IN KPD FUTURE
The Kingsbury Park District board has announced plans for construction of a skateboard park sometime in the next eighteen months. Additionally, board president Dave Barbey said he was recently contacted by someone representing a group of citizens offering to raise money for a skateboard facility. Barbey commented at Monday night’s KPD meeting that the cost would be around $150,000. Park district director Jerry Sauerwein told WGEL that they are considering a 40 x 40 concrete park that would be located at either the Jaycee Park or near the pool. Park board members attending January’s Illinois Association of Parks meeting in Chicago will conduct further research on skateboard facilities.
On a 5-1 vote, the KPD board adopted the tax levy for the coming fiscal year. The amount levied is $237,575 with around $91,000 of that for the recreation fund. Board member Dalelene Yates was the dissenting vote.
Silt dam work at Patriot’s Park is nearing completion and construction of the new boat ramp is underway. Sauerwein complimented Blankenship Construction for their work at Patriot’s during the Clean Lakes Grant funded project. Sauerwein said he has received several inquiries about the excess dirt taken from the lake during the dredging. He is compiling a waiting list for those wanting any of the dirt not used by the KPD.
And following discussion on the underused payphone at Patriot’s, it was decided to have it removed. The cost to the district is $51 a month with it only generating around $100 a year in revenue. The KPD will keep its payphone at the pool.
TIF DISTRICT PUBLIC HEARING
The City of Greenville held two public hearings concerning the establishment of two TIF districts last night. Some of the people in attendance expressed their concerns about increased taxes to finance the districts. Attorney Consultant Mike Weber explained that the only increased taxes would be from new development created within the two districts. After last night's hearings the city council can act on establishing the districts within two weeks. The two new TIF districts would be the downtown district including the square and property along Harris Avenue and the second district is near the intersection of Route 127 and I-70, including the 26 acres the city rezoned in last night's council meeting to accommodate the new Love's Travel Stop. The districts have a life of 23 years but would be dissolved within seven years should no new projects be developed. Any property owner in one of the districts wanting to take advantage of funds would have to negotiate with the city to take advantage of TIF generated monies.
STEPHENS TO HOLD TOWN HALL MEETING IN GREENVILLE
In response to power outages that residents experienced from the November 30 winter storm, State Representative Ron Stephens will be holding a town hall meeting in Greenville tonight (Wednesday) at City Hall. A discussion will be held in reference to the difficulties these outages have presented for families and how local utility companies can prevent these large outages from occurring again. Stephens believes faster ways need to be developed to restore power to homes, as it's the second time in the last year that the area has gone without power for several days after severe weather. He said with winter only beginning, the issue needs to be tackled before another winter storm hits and more families are left out in the cold. The meeting begins at 7PM and is open to the public.
RED KETTLES FILLED OVER THE WEEKEND
The Bond County Salvation Army had its busiest weekend of the season as bell ringers collected $3,637 including nearly $2,500 at Capri IGA. Coordinator Wayne Pierce told WGEL the total does not include Capri IGA’s $1,000 matching donation. This past weekend’s donations nearly doubled what the Salvation Army had collected in prior weeks. The grand total is $8,586. Pierce said groups and individuals are still needed for bell ringing. He also reminds everyone who signs up to man a red kettle to mark their calendar and not forget when they are scheduled. This year’s collection wraps up on Christmas Eve weekend.
