City Council Acts on Series of Items

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Published on March 8 2017 11:04 am
Last Updated on March 8 2017 11:04 am
Written by Greg Sapp

The Effingham City Council completed action on a series of items Tuesday night.

The Council approved granting a special use permit to Effingham Bible Church allowing mini-warehouses to be placed on property at 2304 Hoffman Drive. A prospective purchaser of the ground wants to place the mini-warehouses on the site and the current zoning isn't compatible with such development.

The Council vacated a portion of Vulcan Drive now on private property, approved plats of various subdivision projects, and also committed funding for the bike lane project planned throughout town. The project cost is $117,600 with 80% of the cost paid for by a state grant. TREC and the City will each contribute 10% of the project cost.

Council members approved a reciprocal agreement on the exchange of information between the City and the State Department of Revenue, approved an agreement with Crawford, Murphy and Tilly Engineers on work on the sludge lagoons at the city water treatment plant, and agreed to close South Walnut from Jefferson to Shelby the morning of Saturday, April 8 for the Martin's IGA Hoop Shoot.

The Council agreed to have the City share the cost of improvements to North Outer Belt West. The improvements will include lighting, a multi-use path, pavement marking, entrances, restoration and erosion control. The City's share of the cost will be in addition to a state grant totaling $1,029,216. Also agreed to was the abatement of the tax levy regarding the bonds being sold to finance construction of the new city police station. The Council discussed, but did not vote on, repealing the current ordinance regarding the current amusement tax and enacting a new tax. They also discussed new pay ranges for non-union salaried and hourly positions in city government that would change as of the new City fiscal year on May 1, and discussed a future land use map update as part of an upgrade of the City's comprehensive land-use plan.

Council members were also updated on tourism activities by City Tourism Director Jodi Thoele.