Council Breezes Through 20-Minute Meeting

With scarcely any need for discussion, the Effingham City Council breezed through an almost 20-item agenda in about 20 minutes Tuesday night.

The meeting was the first to include an opening prayer, or as City Attorney Tracy Willenborg asks the City to call it, a legislative invocation.  Local pastor J.C. Neff will go down in history as the first person to offer the invocation.

Council members agreed to increase the number of Class B/E liquor licenses from one to two. Local developers Chet Kiefer and Scott Conant are hoping to obtain the additional license for use at Camp Lakewood, which they now own. They say they've had people arrive to camp and don't want to take their camper into town to pick up liquor so they've loaned the campers a pickup truck. A Class B/E liquor license allows consumption sales and package sales. The Council will consider Kiefer and Conant's request for a license at a future meeting.

The Council agreed to temporarily close some downtown streets on October 17 for a Chilifest being overseen by the Downtown Effingham Association and other entities, and approved a replat of property on the southeast corner of 3rd and Evergreen from one lot into two. West and Company CPAs plans to build a new business location on the corner property. The Council also approved a replat of property involving the Hodgson Mill corporate office nearing completion and the land east of the Buffalo Wild Wings strip mall, merely involving the relocation of a lot line.

Council members accepted a proposal for $517,674.05 from Effingham Asphalt to resurface several streets in Collins Subdivision including Collins Drive, Martin Street, Holly Drive, Wenthe Drive, Jenner Avenue and Diane Court, and also amended the contract for resurfacing of streets in the new part of Park Hills Subdivision since some of the sub-base of the street had deteriorated. The change reflects an additional $10,000 in cost for the work, which also included resurfacing the parking lot of Fire Station #3 on South Banker.

City Clerk Kelsey Lock opened a bid on a property being sold by the City at 602 West Clark. One bid was received, from K&K Investments, for $22,601, but the submission did not include plans for the property, which was part of the bid requirement. The Council took no action on the matter.

The Council did not discuss a three-year intergovernmental agreement with the Unit 40 School District being proposed by Unit 40 Superintendent Mark Doan. Earlier discussion had involved a one-year commitment of $100,000, not a three-year proposal as was to be discussed. Mayor Merv Gillenwater said, "We're not ready to discuss this."