Du Quoin Plans for $681,340 Downtown Sidewalk Program
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[City hall offices are closed for the holiday today and because of that the last council meeting of the year will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The agenda includes a proposal to retain city engineer J.T. Blankinship to blueprint a plan for $681,000 in downtown sidewalk improvements, next year's tax levy, a new contract with the city's economic development consultant, a special olympics proclamation and changes to the city's vacation policy.
An announcement in late October that Du Quoin will receive $681,340 for new downtown sidewalks was the largest of four grant announcements totaling $1,353,425.
The $681,340 downtown revitalization grant follows the announced release of a $42,085 downtown energy grant to replace doors and windows in the business district; $225,000 to resleeve over 9,000 feet of sanitary sewers in Du Quoin's northeast corner and finally $405,000 for construction of a solar energy park in the Du Quoin Industrial Park. Du Quoin will add $135,000 to that grant for a total of $540,000 to build the solar project.
The sidewalk funding is a part of the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP), a federally-funded competitive grant program that promotes alternative means of transportation.
More than 20 downtown Du Quoin businesses have been approved for matching city storefront grants of $5,000. A handful of very large business makeovers are underway as well, utilizing a combination of champion communities monies, TIF funds and local lending.
The state through its Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Director Warren Ribley is providing the City of Du Quoin a $405,000 grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to install an expandable solar photovoltaic system within the Du Quoin Industrial Park. The project will provide significant energy savings for industrial park users and further the state's green goals.
The 90-acre industrial park has been developed according to Urban Land Institute standards. The solar project will help businesses located within the industrial park offset the cost of electric power with solar power. The system will generate approximately 198,044 kWh of electricity annually. Generating this amount of renewable energy is equivalent to removing 27 cars from the road, decreasing oil consumption by 331 barrels, or planting 3,647 trees.
Here is the agenda for Tuesday's meeting.
1. Remote Participation/Electronic Attendance Objection
2. Call to Order: Roll Call
3. Approval of Minutes
A. Approve the minutes of December 28, 2010 Regular Meeting, the December 28, 2010 Executive Session
4. Payment of Bills
5. Consent Agenda
6. Proclamations
A. Special Olympics-proclaiming the week of January 10 thru January 16, 2011 as Special Olympics week.
7. Ordinances
A. Ordinance 2010-O12-01: An ordinance authorizing the levying of taxes for the purposes of operating the City of Du Quoin Library for the fiscal year 2011-Final Approval
B. Ordinance 2010-O12-02: An ordinance amending Section 11-1-28 of the current code of ordinances concerning Vacations and Compensatory time-Final Approval
C. Ordinance 2010-O12-03: An ordinance authorizing the City to enter in to a contractual agreement with Ashauer Consulting-Final Approval
D. Ordinance 2010-O12-04: An ordinance vacating a portion of roadway at the City Lake area-Public Display
E. Ordinance 2010-O12-05: An ordinance authorizing the sale of property by the acceptance of sealed bids-located at 219 South Mulberry Street-Public Display
F. Ordinance 2010-O12-06: An ordinance authorizing the sale of property by the acceptance of sealed bids located at 9 South Maple Street-Public Display
G. Ordinance 2010-O12-07: An ordinance authorizing the sale of surplus property (pickup truck) by the acceptance of sealed bids-Public Display.
8. Resolutions
9. Public Agenda
A. Approve the 2011 Council Meeting Schedule
B. Approve to place on Public Display an agreement with J.T. Blankinship for engineering services related to the IDOT downtown beautification/enhancement program-Public Display
C. Approve to rescind the condemnation order on the property located at 810 South Washington Street
10. Other Business
11. Public Comment
12. Executive Session
13. Action Resulting from Executive Session
14. Adjournment