Regional Leaders Breakfast held this morning
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Leaders from Randolph County gathered this morning at the Regional Leaders Breakfast at the Coulterville VFW. Randolph County Economic Development Director Chirs Martin welcomed everyone and gave the opening remarks to the crowd of 100.
Suzanne Novoselac of the Coulterville Village Board welcomed the group to Coulterville and gave a brief speech about the businesses and happenings in Coulterville. Meghan Markotay of Red Bud Regional Hospital recognized sponsors for the breakfast.
Monroe-Randolph Regional Superintendent of Schools Marc Kiehna introduced Future Regional Leaders from Chester High School, Chester Elementary, Steeleville High School and Red Bud High school. The students were selected to attend the breakfast as future leaders within the community. Jody Lauf of Southwestern Illinois College presented Taylor Grafton, of Steeleville High, and Jordan Hanna, of Red Bud High, with a $500 scholarship. Grafton was awarded the Ed Crow Memorial Scholarship and Hanna was awarded the Regional Leaders Scholarship.
Ashlie Kuehn, Director of Public Relations and Government Affairs for Prairie State Generating Company, was the keynote speaker for the meeting. Kuehn gave a power point presentation on the Prairie State Generating Company. She stated the plant is the cleanest coal plant in the nation.
"We are proud to be a new step for coal. We burn less coal and won't need as much coal to produce energy. We mine in a room and pillar style," Kuehn stated. "We have 525 full time employees, 200 coal miners, 150 workers in the power plant, 50 corporate and 100 construction workers still on site. Our owners serve more than 25 million people in eight states."
Kuehn noted the groundbreaking was held in October 2007 and that the construction is 98% complete as of today. Upon completion the facility will employee 550 people.
"We are dedicated to miner safety," Kuehn stated as she gave the coal mine update.
She then gave examples of the community outreach the facility participates in.
"We are a large contributor to the tax base in Washington County... As well as stimulating $785 million dollars in economic activity within Southern Illinois.
Kuehn noted the company does not have any customers at this time and is not supplying electricity.
The sponsors for Thursday's breakfast included: Prairie State Generating Company, LLC, Buena Vista National Bank, City of Red Bud, Coulterville Coal Company, LLC, Gateway Mone, First National Bank of Steeleville, Knight Hawk Coal, LLC, Roland Machinery Company, Sparta Community Hospital, Chester Chamber of Commerce, City of Chester, City of Sparta, Coulterville Area Chamber of Commerce, CTS Technology Solutions, Inc. DORMA Architectural Hardware, Egyptian Electric Cooperative Association, Farm Credit Services of Illinois, First State Bank of Dieterich - Red Bud, Gateway FS, Inc., Gilster-Mary Lee Corporation, Memorial Hospital - Chester, Randolph County Board of Commissioners, Randolph County Progress Committee, Randolph County Farm Bureau, Randolph County Housing Authority, Randolph County Progress Committee, Inc. Randolph Signs Outdoor Billboard Advertising, Red Bud Chamber of Commerce, Red Bud Industries, Inc., Red Bud Regional Hospital, Rollet Bros. Trucking Company, Inc., Sparta Chamber of Commerce, Steeleville Banking Center - a branch of First State Bank of Campbell Hill, Steeleville Chamber of Commerce, Steeleville Healthmart Pharmacy, The Village of Coulterville and the Village of Steeleville. Watch for details concerning the October Regional Leaders Breakfast to be held in the Red Bud area. The theme of the October meeting will be Education.