City Council

Sat in on city council last night and the place was pretty packed. Kicked off with a five minute meeting of the Liquor Control Commission that quickly approved a temporary liquor license for Carbondale Main Street for the Pig Out and an A-2 license for the Stadium Grill.

Next up was the swearing in of new C'dale police officer Barry Bailey ( sp?). He left right afterward, followed by about 10 people, family members, I'd guess. The announcement afterward that Feb 23rd was designated Rotary International Day in the city freed up another dozen or so seats after the obligatory picture.

No citizens comments or public hearings so the mayor moved straight into the consent agenda, with everything passing as a group, except for item 2 which Councilman Fritzler asked to have voted on separately since he wanted to discuss travel expenditures by the mayor (about $3300) and other staff members. Fritzler pointed out that some staff members were traveling and training on the city's dime, then leaving city employment soon after and wondered if there was some way to prevent avoid this. The mayor responded that the city manager was looking into it. The exchange went much more smoothly this time then their last one.

Then, it was time for the big event, the reason so many people had shown up, the consideration of funding requests for community organziations. These were pre-applications that had to be submitted for evaluation and council approval prior to actual funding in April when the 2010 budget is set. All of the requests were approved without debate except two.

Carbondale Main Street had requested a 3% increase in funding to $12,021, while the city staff recommended funding remain at $11,660 and the lower amount was the official amount being voted on. Lance Jack moved the funding increase back to the original $12,210 level and the increase passed, with the mayor and Councilman Haynes voting against.

WDBX's $4000 request was the other item voted on separately, with the funding earmarked for a stand-by generator for the station. The radio station originally planned to ask the city to fund the full $8000 cost but had been told they funding was more likely to get approved in the form of a 50/50 grant, with the station raising half the necessary funds. The station's rationale for asking was that, in an emergency, the city could use the station's transmitter to communicate to the region. However, when asked, Jim Wall, vice-chair of WDBX's board said they station had not raised any matching funds yet. The funding request was voted down with only Councilman Wissmann and Councilwoman McDaniel in favor. Mayor Cole did suggest that the council would look more favorably on the request in the future if matching funds were raised.

The only other groups speaking were representatives from the Boy's and Girl's Club and the I Can Read program, both of which brought program participants to thank the council for past funding and tell how the respective program had benefited them. After announcements about the Boy's and Girl's Club Night at the Oscars fundraiser and the African American Museum's Obama exhibit reception, the meeting adjourned about 7:55.


Update: The DE has a report up on the meeting as well
Update: Here's the Southern's article on the meeting. I see it has the old figure for Carbondale Main Street's funding.