City Council Moves Forward w/Fourth Interchange Project South of Business Park

The Effingham City Council is moving ahead with efforts to land a fourth interstate interchange for Effingham.

Council members Tuesday accepted a $60,000 IDOT planning grant to help determine a location for the interchange. The City will kick in a $15,000 match to receive the grant.

City Director of Public Works Steve Miller said work on the study will begin this summer, with completion hoped for this fall or winter.

In the meantime, the Council also voted to seek a grant to design and to construct the interchange. The application deadline is at the end of this week, so time was of the essence if the Council wanted to move ahead with the grant request. Miller said the design work is estimated to cost $1.2 million and actual construction is projected to cost between $15 million and $20 million. 

The City would have to put up 20% of the cost of the project. That translates to $240,000 for the design work, and approximately $4 million for the construction work.

City Administrator Jim Arndt suggested such a project will not be just a City project, especially since not all of the area involved is within the City limits. Arndt mentioned Effingham County, The Alliance and the Effingham Railroad as possible partners in a "public/private partnership" on the project. 

Miller said the City's match could come from Opportunity Zone funds; basically a program where people can place their capital gains into the zone and save on their taxes and help the City.

The project has been discussed for years, and Dutch Lane has been mentioned as the roadway to the interchange. Miller said the area around Dutch Lane will be studied, but a southerly extension of Raney Street out of the Business Park past where the road swings west to become Old Watson Road could be part of the project. 

Miller said after the meeting that a study developed by professors from the University of Alabama and the University of Southern Mississippi shows that rail traffic is increasing in the Effingham area and should increase further. The study states communities including Effingham "are expected to see significant increases in freight volume so are potential locations for intermodal facility development", that is a combination of roadways and railways.

The Council also finalized a three-year agreement with the Effingham Unit 40 School District to provide a School Resource Officer to work in Unit 40 schools for the coming three school years. The school district will pay the City $25/student the first year, $26/student the second year, and $27/student the third year. The county sheriff's department will continue to supply the SRO for the rest of this school year.

The Council purchased parcels of property from Frank and Sue Hoelscher and from Dave and Jayne Goldstein for the reconstruction of Henrietta Street from Temple Avenue to Heritage Drive, and approved a Downtown/Southtown Business Area Redevelopment Program agreement with Thompson Law for exterior improvements to their new home at 125 East Jefferson Avenue with the City and the developer each contributing $10,975 toward the cost of the project.

Council members approved the pay for non-union salaried and hourly City employees, with pay increases matching those received by union employees, and awarded a bid to Alpha Energy for new software, dampers and a rooftop heating and air conditioning unit for City Hall for $257,960. The Council also appointed City Administrator Jim Arndt to seats on the Board of Trustees of the Fire Pension Fund and the Human Relations Board, and appointed City Treasurer Caitlyn Phillips to a term on the Board of Trustees of the Police Pension Fund.

No comments were received from the public on the proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning May 1. A vote on the budget will come at the next Council meeting. The budget totals $96.3 million, 2% up from last year. The increase, Arndt said, is due to police and fire pension fund investments. 

The Council heard from Executive Producer Rich Jorn from the Effingham Performance Center for $31,000 in tourism dollars for new servers for the ticket purchase process at the EPC. The Council will vote on the request later. There was also discussion about prohibiting parking on the north side of Pike Avenue east of Raney Street. The move would give school buses a place to board and drop off children more safely. A vote will come later.

Phillips reported that 31 bank accounts formerly held by the City have been reduced to 13, and the City's earned interest on the accounts is expected to increase from $30,000 a year previously to $300,000 over the next two years.