Pinckneyville Seeks Museum Funding
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[A brief public hearing to discuss a grant application for $750,000 in flex funds from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity was held prior to the regular City Council meeting. The city is applying for the grant on behalf of the Foundation for the Future of Pinckneyville, which hopes to use the funds to build two museums in town.
The first is the Illinois Rural Heritage Museum and the second is a High School Basketball Hall of Fame. The Foundation for Pinckneyville is working with two separate groups to get the museums up and running.
The council approved an intergovernmental agreement and two resolutions of support for the project. The city would administer the grant funds.
Economic Development Consultant Harold Palmer said that the public hearing, agreement and resolutions are necessary parts of the grant application.
In other business, the council:
authorized City Attorney Roger Seibert to send a 30 day notice to the owner of the property at 103 E. Laurel St. The city has received a court order to clean up the property at the owner's expense. Tillocks Steel Supply and Salvage will remove everything from the lot at a cost of $9,334 to $12,000.
The price depends upon how many salvageable items are on the lot when Tillocks cleans it. A photograph of the property was used to create the cost estimate. Tillocks calculated the salvage value of the items in the picture and will subtract those amounts from the base rate of $12,000. Seibert was also authorized to proceed with the condemnation of the building on the property.
Condemnation requires 90-day notice. Tillocks has agreed to honor their initial estimate of $8,000 to remove the building once the condemnation proceedings are complete.
heard from Rita Schwebel that she is unable to complete a planned remodeling project because the County Zoning Board will not approve the plans. She urged the City Council to adopt its own zoning regulations and offered to oversee zoning for the city. Zoning was part of the land use and comprehensive plan that were created by committee several years ago. The plans were turned over to Greater Egypt Regional Planning Commission for completion and have never been returned. Mayor Joe Holder said he has spoken to Greater Egypt several times, but the completed plans have never been returned to the city. Palmer volunteered to contact Greater Egypt to find out the status of the land use and comprehensive plans after he completes the $750,000 DCEO grant application.
passed resolutions setting the speed limit on the parts of Longspur and Snowy Owl Roads that were recently annexed into the city at 30 mph and annexing in the stop intersection where the two roads meet.
authorized Commissioner Sam Fulk to publish a notice of the city's intent to use American Recovery and Reinvestment funds to do black top work on Grant and East Streets. Fulk said the notice is required by the Federal Government.
heard from Economic Development Coordinator Carrie Ford that negotiations with Hush Bullet Inc. are continuing. Job Seekers should send resumes to Huch Bullet at the former TUMS facility.
heard from Treasurer Rick Reese that the city has $525,000 in cash on hand and $170,000 in bills, leaving $355,000. Reese said that the the bulk of the available funds ($400,000) came from the sale of equipment at the former TUMS facility. Without those funds, the city would not have enough to pay bills.