Pigeons to Christmas Lights; Something for Everyone on Law Day City Council Agenda

Everything from pigeons to Christmas lights faced those Effingham and St. Anthony High School students who took over city government Thursday as part of Law Day activities.

(MAYOR-FOR-A-DAY MAKAELA NAVA-SIFUENTES AND EFFINGHAM MAYOR MERV GILLENWATER)

The day featured tours of City facilities including shooting guns at the firing range and experiencing a fire first-hand, but the events concluded with a mock City Council meeting. 

(CITY COMMISSIONER BRIAN MILLEVILLE MEETS BEFORE THE MOCK CITY COUNCIL MEETING WITH COMMISSIONERS-FOR-A-DAY JENNIFER WOHLTMAN AND MICHAEL RHODES)

City officials put items on the pretend agenda including penalties for depositing landscape waste on city streets, an employee salary increase that the real Council had decided not to grant, the purchase of city squad cars, replacement of sewer lines, infrastructure assistance for a retail development, hiring part-time firefighters, purchase of a dump truck, recycling bins at the police department, and a pigeon nuisance in the downtown area.

(CITY ADMINISTRATOR-FOR-A-DAY JORDANNE BEAULIEU WITH EFFINGHAM CITY ADMINISTRATOR JIM ARNDT)

The Council-for-a-day generally supported the proposals, but the motion to purchase additional Christmas lights failed.  The pigeon issue supplied some levity as the documentation supporting the proposal included a photo of a car doused in doo-doo.  Mayor Makaela Nava-Sifuentes said, tongue in cheek, it was a photo of her car and she understood that was how her constituents felt about her.  The pigeon proposal included information that the pigeons would be fed a hallucinate corn mixture that would "confuse the pigeons and put them into a state of distress and put out a warning to other pigeons that the downtown area is not the place they want to be."

(EFFINGHAM CITY CLERK KELSEY LOCK IS FLANKED BY COMMISSIONER-FOR-A-DAY TAYLOR WILLIS AND CITY CLERK-FOR-A-DAY SHANNA McINTYRE)

Mayor-For-A-Day Nava-Sifuentes said after the meeting that the day was not at all what she expected and was much more interesting than first anticipated.

Students from Altamont, Beecher City, Dieterich and Teutopolis high schools worked with Effingham County offiicials for the day Thursday.  The Effingham Elks Lodge hosted the participants for lunch.  The Elks are national sponsors of Law Day.