{"id":17611,"date":"2025-09-04T11:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T16:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=17611"},"modified":"2025-09-04T11:01:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T16:01:19","slug":"city-council-discusses-downtown-road-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/17611-city-council-discusses-downtown-road-race\/","title":{"rendered":"City Council Discusses Downtown Road Race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>(EFFINGHAM CITY PLANNER GREG KOESTER WAS RECOGNIZED WITH THE EMPLOYEE OF THE QUARTER AWARD AT THIS WEEK&#8217;S CITY COUNCIL MEETING)<\/p>\n<p>Effingham City Council members this week gave informal approval to a downtown race route.<\/p>\n<p>The Ham City Fall Fest is set for October 4th. The Fall Fest will replace an Octoberfest held last year. City Tourism Director Jodi Thoele said they plan to include more kids&#8217; events this year.<\/p>\n<p>As for the race, the route is still being finalized. A major consideration is the coordination between City staff and law enforcement, along with concerns over train traffic. Thoele said they hope to try this race with the understanding it might not work.<\/p>\n<p>There was also discussion of the Effingham High School Homecoming Parade. The parade is being moved from Wednesday to Sunday, September 21. The procession will stage behind Effingham Public Library then head south to Jefferson Avenue and travel west on Jefferson to Cherry Street, then go south to Grove Avenue, and then travel west on Grove to the high school.<\/p>\n<p>Also, City Administrator Steve Miller recognized City Planner Greg Koester with the Employee of the Quarter Award. Miller commended Koester for his service to the public, but especially noted his work on the new Comprehensive Plan, which could be completed by year&#8217;s end.<\/p>\n<p>Miller also presented City staffer Mike French with a Customer Service Citation Award. French was recognized for his actions to assist a local resident in the aftermath of a gas line being struck along 1st Street.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-17622 additional-class\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mike-french-9-2-25-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1920\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mike-french-9-2-25-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mike-french-9-2-25-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mike-french-9-2-25-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mike-french-9-2-25-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mike-french-9-2-25-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/mike-french-9-2-25-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(EFFINGHAM CITY PLANNER GREG KOESTER WAS RECOGNIZED WITH THE EMPLOYEE OF THE QUARTER AWARD AT THIS WEEK&#8217;S CITY COUNCIL MEETING) Effingham City Council members this week gave informal approval to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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