A special Macomb City Council meeting was held Monday, which involved a public hearing, aldermanic discussion and council approval of an application for an Open Space Land Acquisition and Development (OSLAD) grant for Chandler Park renovations.
Amy Wilson of The Farnsworth Group told the council that $600,000 in grant money is available. If Macomb matches the grant dollar-for-dollar, funds would total $1.2 million out of $1.5 million in OSLAD-eligible improvements. Wilson said the overall park improvement plan totals $3.2 million. Some of the grant-eligible park improvements include a spray plaza to replace the existing fountain; a North Randolph Street trackhead to replace the Kiwanis playground; relocation of the concrete play sculptures; purchase of new playground equipment, and surrounding sidewalk improvements.Wilson said the overall project should last 24 months from 2027 through 2029.
Alderman Jennifer Hemingway said, 'Chandler Park was one of the attractions when we first came to Macomb. We felt it displayed a sense of community.' The deadline for submitting the OSLAD grant application is the end of this month.
Following conclusion of the special city council session, Mayor Mike Inman convened a Committee of the Whole meeting to hear reports for the May-July quarter from four departmental officers City Attorney Lisa Scalf said 92 cases were prosecuted during the quarter and $16,186 in fees were collected. Liens totaling $3,642 were filed against those with delinquent water bills and liens totaling $2,098 were filed against people fined for tall grass on their properties. Scalf said her office is working its way through more than 250 Freedom of Information Act requests, with 224 requests involving the Macomb Police Department.
“They tend to come in at a pretty steady clip,' she said.
Mayor Inman said simplification of the FOIA process is an Illinois Municipal League priority during the spring legislative session.
Downtown Development Director Savannah Ballard reported that businesses downtown are currently at 90 percent capacity. 'You'll see that go up during the next quarter,' she said.
Ballard said five downtown events were held from May through July and five downtown facade projects were approved. She reported that five new pieces were rotated into the downtown sculpture exhibits, and that 559 people are now using the new community calendar. She said the quarter saw 521,800 city Facebook page views and 223,600 downtown Facebook page views.
Business Director Melissa Worley said there are currently 118 full-time city employees and 61 individuals working part-time. She said the city billed 16,589 utility customers during the quarter. Top users are the city of Colchester, the West Prairie Cooperative and the Georgetown subdivision. She said customers paid $1 million in water bills, $622,965 in sewer bills, and $280,356 in garbage collection fees. Worley said Macomb's top vendors for the quarter were Illinois County Insurance, Laverdiere Construction, Waste Management and West Central FS.
Grants Supervisor Jessica Biddenstadt said there are three grant projects in progress, five more grants awarded, and decisions pending on three other grant applications.
