City of Mt. Vernon, Illinois

City Council Workshop Meeting

December 14, 2009

 

 

 

The Mt. Vernon City Council held a Workshop Meeting on Monday, December 14, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 1100 Main Street, Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

 

The purpose of this Workshop Meeting was for a Presentation Regarding a Railroad Plan and Discussion of the Trash Problem in Mt. Vernon.

 

Mayor Mary Jane Chesley called this Workshop Meeting to order.

 

Roll call showed present: Council Member Dennis McEnaney, Council Member Todd Piper and Mayor Mary Jane Chesley.  Absent: Council Member Mary Burgan and David Wood.

 

Mayor Chesley introduced Mr. James Adams of Centralia, Illinois.  Mr. Adams has worked several years on plans that involve Mt. Vernon, Centralia, and Wamac regarding the railroads and possible overpass, underpass and moving tracks to help with the traffic and crossing problems that all of the cities have now.  Mr. Adams gave the Council packets with maps and explained his plans and ideas to them. He stated that Centralia has a problem with a sharp S curve coming into town from the south. This has a 10 mph maximum speed limit and when some of the trains are 4400-foot trains this causes a problem with the train traffic.  Mr. Adams spoke regarding the Norfolk Southern using the McCord Overpass in Centralia. One of his proposals was regarding the line to Walnut Hill and Dix. Mr. Adams then explained other routes that would take some traffic off of the inside city crossings by rerouting the trains. Mr. Adams discussed the 5th Street crossing in Mt. Vernon and the 2nd Street crossing He stated that he could not see why there needed to be two crossings 1-½ miles apart in town. He stated that the Union Pacific has 25 to 30 trains each day and the Southern has 19 to 20 daily. Mr. Adams suggested removing the L & N Tracks in the downtown area.

 

Council Member David Wood entered the meeting at 4:03 p.m.

 

Mayor Mary Jane Chesley asked what this plan would do to the tracks that service Milano. Would it remove the tracks there?  Mr. Adams stated that there

would be tracks added to handle the Precision National Railway and possible other business spurs. Council Member Todd Piper asked who would pay for these changes. City Manager Ron Neibert stated that IDOT, the railways and ICC would pay but the City would have some funding. Council Member Piper asked if there would have to be 1 or 2 overpass or underpasses for vehicles and would IDOT pay for these. 

 

Mr. Adams discussed a possible Casey Creek Bypass and a 5th Street underpass. Mr. Adams stated that he has been working on this project since 1986.

 

Mayor Chesley stated that she and Council are all receptive to the plan and as they all know, the main problem is funding.  Mr. Adams asked Council to pass a Resolution of Support for his plans. He stated that Centralia and Wamac have already done so.  Mayor Chesley stated that Council would look over the plan and pass it on to the engineering staff to try to come up with a cost estimate and look into funding available then they would discuss this at a future Council Meeting.  Council Member Dennis McEnaney asked if Centralia and Wamac had passed this Resolution of Support. Mr. Adams stated that they had. Mr. Adams left the meeting.

 

Council discussed the trash and litter problems in the City. City Manager Ron Neibert spoke regarding the City’s litter fines. Mr. Neibert stated that the fines are $25.00 to $200.00 determined by a Judge of the Circuit Court.  He stated that Centralia fines are 1st offense $ 125.00, 2nd offense is $250.00 and 3rd offense is $500.00 up to a $750 maximum with no judges. Salem costs are 1st offense $25.00 and double the cost until $750.00.

 

Council discussed that dumping trash is not the same as littering. Council Member David Wood stated that he just sees too much litter around town and who is going to clean it up.  Possibly with some teeth in the fines and offenses might get the attention of people. He asked how many litter fines we issue and collect.  City Manager Neibert stated that little or none. Mr. Wood spoke regarding the Adopt a Mile Project that used to be done by local clubs and organizations. He asked who was in charge of that program.  Council Member McEnaney stated that the public needs to volunteer to help keep the City clean. People need to be more alert and want a cleaner city.  He asked if Council thought signs would help deter some of the littering.

 

Council Member Todd Piper stated that possibly some of the Neighborhood Watch groups and churches would like to become involved in this. Council Member Wood stated that we need to get focused on this.  He stated that there is a lot of litter and trash around the city and it looks awful.  All of the trash cans around the square and in the downtown area are always full.  They need to be emptied more often, whoever is in charge of this.  Council Member McEnaney stated that we could use a task force and have a coordinator to handle some of this.

 

Council Member Wood asked why the City has three departments with mowing equipment.  Why not just one department to do it all. He stated that now the new overpass and the interchanges need mowing more often because the State has not been keeping it up due to their budget cuts. Could the City not mow some of these greenspaces. City Manager Ron Neibert stated that due to some of the job descriptions and the union classifications, the City has to handle some of this differently.  Council Member Wood stated that we have doubled the cleanup times and there are still problems.  There is still mattresses, couches, etc setting around the City.  A lot of the alleys are full of trash and debris and someone needs to pick it up. City Manager Neibert stated that the transfer station closing has also influenced this problem. He stated that people can call our trash service company and they will come and pickup large items, but there will be an extra charge for this. Council Member Wood asked if it would be possible to have CWI open the transfer station once a month or so for people to dump items at a cost. Mayor Chesley stated that this could be looked into. We need to check any options to help with this problem. City Manager Neibert stated that we need to strengthen our fines for littering and cut down on this problem. Council Member Wood stated that we do need to come up with a plan. Mayor Chesley stated that some of this is covered in the Comprehensive Plan. City Manager Neibert stated that we could talk to the Townships and County and get everyone on track to work on this together.  Council Member Todd Piper asked if TIF Funds could be used to help clean up in the TIF areas.  City Manager Neibert stated that he didn’t think so, but would check into this. All in all, the Council agreed that trash and littering is a terrible problem in the City and something needs to be done about it.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

Motion by Council Member Todd Piper to adjourn this City Council Workshop Meeting.  Second by Council Member Dennis McEnaney.  Yeas: McEnaney, Piper, Wood and Chesley.  Absent: Burgan.