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Flex-Line buys Chester Skateland

Posted June 20, 2016 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

The fate of one building has been saved, while the other may have been sealed.

During Monday's meeting of the Chester City Council, Mayor Tom Page opened the bids for the former Pinky's Sugarland (1006 State St.) and Chester Skateland (160 Taggart Ln.)

Pinky's received no bids, while Chester Skateland received three - with the winner being a $176,000 bid from Chester-based Flex-Line Automation.

The council later decided to forgo waiting until next meeting to approve Flex-Line's bid, which fell between the city's two building appraisals - $165,000 and $220,000.

"We are looking to expand our production space," said Flex-Line Automation President Cathy Rinne. "We'll be making some modifications to the existing building."

Both Skateland and the 2 acre lot it sits on were up for sale, while only the Pinky's building was. Anyone wishing to purchase the 1800s-era structure would also have to move it.

During public comment, Randolph County Museum and Archives Curator Emily Lyons asked the council how it was beneficial to the residents of Chester to tear down the building.

"That's such a unique building and it's a tribute to the uniqueness of the craftsmanship that made Chester what it was," said Lyons, who later referred to the building as a "ready-made monument."

Page stated that the building was causing sight line issues at the traffic stops at that intersection.

During media availability after the meeting, he was asked what will happen to the former doctor's office, dentist's office, beauty shop, barber shop, shoe shop, magic shop and Randolph County Republican Party headquarters.

"We will probably look at tearing it down," he said.

In May, former Pinky's proprietor Dianna Mueller told the Herald Tribune the building had been put up for the National Register of Historic Places.

It was also a popular stop for riverboat tourists.

"It was supposed to be and I think we had gone through step one and step two and there was some paperwork to do for step three," Mueller said on if the building was ever considered for the National Register of Historic Places. "It's just what I heard. When you're in a building like that, you hear a lot of different things.

"They had been working on it."

In regard to Skateland, Rinne was asked what the company liked about that location.

"We had looked at a facility in Sparta late last year to expand our production area and that didn't work out and we feel very strongly about investing in our local communities," she said. "So when this building became available, we were interested."

Rinne said Flex-Line knew the city was "strapped for cash" and wanted to help.

"It just seemed like a nice, mutual benefit," she said.

Rinne was also asked if the company has a timeline for the expansion. It is unknown at this time if the expansion will create any jobs as Flex-Line is a project-based business.

"We've got to make some modifications to it," she said of Skateland. "It has to have some loading docks added to it and some modifications made to make it something we can use.

"I imagine that will take place during lulls with our current workload."

In other news, the council approved an agreement for on-call natural gas service with the towns of Frohna and Altenburg in Missouri.

"This is to provide temporary on-call service when their sole operator was away from the town," said Alderman Dan Ohlau.

Roundup

The council approved the prevailing Wage Rate Ordinance with the Illinois Department of Labor.

The council approved payment of bills in the amount of $63,545.11.

The next meeting of the Chester City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, July 5 at 7 p.m. It is open to the public.

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