Collinsville City Council Discusses Boarding Of Buildings
By Stephanie Malench
smalench@timestribunenews.com
The Collinsville City Council held its first meeting in the council chambers at city hall since March of 2020 when they moved all of their meetings to the Gateway Convention Center to allow for social distancing.
Four presentations opened the meeting. First was a proclamation declaring July Parks and Recreation month across the United States.
Second was recognition of waste water lines employee Steve Banks on his retirement after 21 years in the public works department.
Third was the presentation of the Collinsville Education Scholarship Foundation Awards of $1,000 each to Maria Coca and Millicent Collins.
Collins will be attending Northern Illinois University to study dance performance and Coca will be attending the University of Mississippi to study pediatric support care.
The final presentations were the Yard of the Month winners for June. Scott and Vicki Ahlers won first place and Tina and Donald Baker won second place.
The Ahlers are now entered into the drawing for yard of the year.
The key performance indicators presentation was for the Public Works Department. Highlights from 2020 included satisfying all IEPA requirements to close out the city landfill, demolition of six condemned homes, saving $73,765 by using in house fleet repairs on 519 city owned vehicles across departments, and 100% compliance on all regulatory sampling requirements.
A discussion was held on updating the ordinance regulating boarded up properties in the city. The new ordinance will require permits good for 90 days with one 30 day extension available.
Boards will have to be 1/2 inch thick, the same color as the exterior, and fit the opening exactly.
Councilmen David Jerome and Tony Hausman asked Community Development Director Travis Taylor to create different divisions for nuisance properties and properties being boarded up due to a fire or natural disaster.
Sixty days after the ordinance is approve and voted on a written notice will be provided to the affected property owners who will then have 30 days to comply with the new regulations.
In other business:
– an ordinance was passed authorizing Mayor John Miller to execute an intergovernmental agreement allowing IDOT to maintain the traffic control devices for the next 10 years and divide the energy costs;
– authorization of an ordinance allowing the mayor to sign a professional services contract with Sports Facility Advisory, LLC to complete a study and business plan to completely redevelop the Collinsville Sports Complex from the ground up;
-awarding a bid and authorizing a contract with Heneghan Construction for Phase 1 of the Willoughby Farm Stormwater Mitigation project that includes construction of rain gardens and an underdrain system.
The next meeting will be held at City Hall on July 13 at 6:30 p.m.
