Pony May Reopen

The liquor license for The Pony Cabaret and Steakhouse comes up for renewal for 2016-2017 today. Also on the agenda is a formalized definition of what is meant by "topless" and "bottomless". It appears they may have used an "or" in the original ordinance when they meant to write "and".

Mike Henry Challenge Hearing

Sat in on the the Electoral Commission hearing for the challenge to Mike Henry's candidacy for mayor this afternoon.  That's Henry sitting in the witness stand. Darryl Dunham is in the black coat with his back to the camera, SIUC Archaeology Professor Andrew Balkansky in the grey jacket,  and Henry's lawyer is the woman in the dark jacket to the right. Mayor Don Monty, Councilwoman Corene McDaniel and City Clerk Jennifer Sorrell facing the camera.

About 3 dozen onlookers and three cameras filled the room behind the railing, almost all of them pro-Henry. A number of them snickered several times at comments Henry made in response to Dunham's questioning and two gentlemen behind me kept running commentary on Dunham, all negative.

Dunham, as the one questioning Henry's status, spent most of his time questioning Henry and introducing various documents into evidence, including a water bill, voter registration card, tax bill and driver's license, all to show that Henry still maintained his primary legal residence in Carterville as of late 2014, well past the date by which he had to establish residence in Carbondale in order to run for mayor. Dunham also cited the case of Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who faced a challenge to his Chicago residency when first running for mayor, indicating that Emmanuel proved residence by just these documents, therefore they should be applicable in proving Henry still had a Carterville residence.  Henry claimed these were all either oversights or, in the case of the water bill, a malfunctioning meter showing water usage after Henry said he had moved out of the Carterville residence.

Henry's lawyer, whose name I did not catch, introduced a number of documents and bills into evidence, all showing Henry's residence as a W. Hill St. address. She also put Henry's wife Terri on the stand to testify that she had properly changed her voter reregistration and driver's license to the new residence, arguing that previous court cases had ruled that other members of a family unit could provide evidence of residency. She also introduced some $10,000 worth of improvements to the property and the testimony of neighbors as to Henry's continuous residency into evidence.

Shortly after 5 p.m., Mayor Monty recessed the hearing. Since either members of the commission or the lawyers were unavailable the rest of the week, the commission will reconvene Monday, Dec. 15 at 3 p.m. and issue its ruling.

Henry Challenge

The challenge to Mike Henry's residency and its impact on his mayoral candidacy should prove interesting if it turns out he fails to meet the residence requirement of living a year within the city limits prior to the election. That throws the decision about the next mayor into the hands of city government. Does the three member commission follow state law and declare Henry ineligible to run for mayor, essentially handing the position to Jane Adams, unless someone mounts a strong write in campaign? Or does it override the law, as is its option, essentially saying that giving votes a choice is more important that adhering to the residency requirement.

I hope the challenge comes to naught and that Henry is found eligible, simply because it would be easier on the process but I have to admit, 'twould be interesting to see how the Carbondale Election Board would rule.

More Beer

At least one of the retailers that received a liquor license at last week's city council meeting has already stocked in beer and wine.  Schuncks has converted the area at the front of the store that used to house their video rental area to beer and wine.  The Neighborhood Food Co-op expects to stock local beer and wine within six to eight weeks.

Arnold's Market is the business I expect to come out the big winner in this.  Consider:  all of the other recent recipients of a liquor license are located very close to Highway 13. Westroads and Schnucks will compete for most of the mass market beer and wine sales on the west side (Neighborhood Food Co-op, I expect, will not stock lines such as Keystone, Bud Lite and Coors, stocking local wines and beers, more in accord with its image but not drawing big crowds).  Meanwhile, Wal-Mart and Kroger will fight for the market share currently dominated by ABC, One Stop, Blue Fish  (assuming they mange to deal with the ownership difficulties) etc.

There is no place to buy liquor in Carbondale south of Wall Street and we have seen a significant growth in housing, especially student, in the Pleasant Hill Road area.  Liquor purchases tend towards the impulsive, i.e. "Let's stop and get a 24 pack on the way home" or "Hey, time for a beer run."  Since convenience plays a big factor in the decision and assuming Arnold's does not follow the Co-op's plan of stocking locally sourced beer but carries widely popular, the store should see a huge influx in sale as students (and others) stop there on the way home or head there when they discover they are low, as opposed to making the trek to the next closest location, Pinch Penny Liquors on E. Wall.

Chicken Ordinance

The revised, yet again, chicken ordinance goes before the Sustainability Commission this Thursday for another vote, before getting sent on to city council.

Road Changes

Affecting traffic around the new public safety building.  From the city clerk's office:

Beginning at 5:00 am on Monday, June 27, 2011, the following traffic changes will occur in the City of Carbondale:

• College Street between Washington and Wall Streets will be two way traffic and on-street parking will be eliminated
• Logan Street between College and Mill Streets will become one way southbound with parking on the west side only
• Graham Street between College and Mill Streets will become one way northbound with parking on the east side only and
• A four-way stop will be created at the intersection of College and Marion Streets

This action was authorized by the Carbondale City Council, Ordinance 2011-06.

Dump Fronabarger Movement

There's a group on Facebook formed to try to persuade Lee Fronabarger to resign his spot on city council and for the council to elect Tom Grant to the position.  From the page:

Tom Grant had the most votes for the fourth city council seat (he was only 8 votes away from winning the third city council seat), but instead of appointing a man with a huge amount of knowledge about how the city is run who had the obvious support of the citizens, they appointed Lee Fronabarger. Who is Lee Fronabarger? The guy the citizen's DIDN'T vote in.

1) Tell the city council that you are disappointed with their decision.
2) Ask Lee Fronabarger to represent his fellow citizens and respectfully resign and/or decline the appointment.
3) Tell the council to appoint the person the residents of Carbondale voted for, Tom Grant.
4). Help develop a referendum to change the law so that representatives will be ELECTED in the future, and NOT appointed.

It is rather hard, however, to make an argument that the will of the people was overruled when less than 3000 people turned out to vote, the will of the majority of the people apparently being to stay at home and watch TV.  Also notable is that the people making noise about this didn't bother to show up at the city council meeting at which Fronabarger was elected by the council to finish out Fritzler's unexpired term.

Icebox Bar and Grille

The Icebox Bar and Grille's application for a class A2 liquor license at city council tonight.  On the plus side for approving the license:  1)  there have been no problems with parking or crowding around the facility since Kevin Kirkwood assumed ownership of the restaurant, 2)  the police have reported no citations during the same period.

On the other hand, the police have also reported the advertising on Twitter and Facebook of several late evening events at the restaurant  in violation of city ordinances. The events were canceled when police contacted the restaurant about them.  This willingness to brush against the law is not a good sign, given that the Icebox is applying for a license that requires 51% of its receipts to come from food sales, a line that restaurants with similar licenses have had problems with in the past.

City Council Meeting

If the agenda for tomorrow night's council meeting is correct, this should be one of the shorter meetings in recent memory, since it largely consists of swearing in the new mayor and council members, as well as the city clerk

New City Clerk

In case you missed this (I know I did) Rachael Keehn was appointed the new city clerk, effective Feb 18, upon Janet Vaught's retirement. Though she has a law degree from SIUC, a quick Google search doesn't indicate what career she was pursuing before accepting the clerk position.

And They're Off

First filings for mayor and city council today. Reason for doing it now? First filers get first placement on the ballot so since these folks filed at the same time, a lottery determines placement:

At 8:00 a.m. this morning, three (3) candidates filed their nominating petitions for Mayor of Carbondale and four (4) candidates filed their nominating petitions for Carbondale City Council Member.

Alphabetically, the candidates who have filed their nominating petitions for Mayor are:

Joel Fritzler, 123 South Violet Lane

Sam Goldman, 504 Lexington Court

George Maroney, 37 Pinewood Drive

Since these candidates all filed at the same time, a lottery for ballot placement will be held on Tuesday, November 23, at 3:30 p.m. in the City Clerk's Office. Only these three candidates will be involved in the lottery to determine the order in which these names will appear on the ballot. Candidates who subsequently file for Mayor will appear on the ballot in the order in which their nominating petitions are received.

Alphabetically, the four candidates who filed their nominating petitions for City Council Member are:

Jane Adams, 606 West Elm Street

Lee M. Fronabarger, 1140 Morningside Drive

John Holt, 406 South Oakland Avenue

Donald Monty, 418 South Giant City Road

Since these Council candidates all filed at the same time, these candidates will also be included in a lottery for ballot placement on November 23rd. Candidates who subsequently file for City Council will appear on the ballot in the order in which their petitions are received.

If five (5) or more candidates file for Mayor, a primary election will be held on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. The primary election will narrow the field to four (4) candidates for Mayor, with the four candidates appearing on the April 5th General Election ballot. Ballot placement for the General Election is determined by the number of votes received in the primary election, with the highest vote-getter placed first on the ballot, the second highest vote-getter placed second on the ballot, etc..

If thirteen (13) or more candidates file for City Council member, a primary election will also be held for Council Member to narrow the field to twelve (12) candidates. Again, ballot placement for the candidates advancing to the General Election will be determined by the number of votes received in the primary.

The period for filing nominating petitions for Mayor and/or City Council extends through 5:00 p.m. on Monday, November 22nd. Nomination packets remain available for pick up in the City Clerk's Office, Room 165 of Carbondale City Hall, 200 South Illinois Avenue.

City Clerk Announces Retirement

From the email:

Carbondale, Illinois -- Long-time Carbondale City Clerk Janet Vaught has announced her retirement effective February 18, 2011.

Vaught, 58, who has worked for the City of Carbondale since 1976 and has been City Clerk since 1979, announced her retirement to the City Council in a closed City Council meeting on July 20th. She also announced that her husband, Chuck, 60, who has worked in the City’s Finance Department since 1975, will also retire from the City on February 18th.

“Chuck and I met when I went to work for the City in 1976 and a year later got married,” Mrs. Vaught said. “He was ready to retire and I just couldn’t imagine working in City Hall without him. We both want to travel and I have promised him that I will take up golf so we can play together. Most importantly, we want to spend more time with our grandsons.” Said Mr. Vaught, “Our family and friends will tell you that we’ve been thinking about this for a long time. There are things we want to do and not enough time to do them. We finally decided the time was right.”

In response to City Clerk Vaught’s announcement, Mayor Brad Cole said, “Janet has been one of the people at City Hall that you could always go to for an answer about why or when something happened. She is a true professional and the Council will miss her.”

The City Clerk is appointed by the Mayor with the consent of the City Council. Plans for replacing Vaught have not been announced.

Chickendale

Another ban a local group is interesting on overturning, this one on keeping chickens within the city limits. Wayne Weiseman presented this letter to the C'dale City Council a few weeks ago, advocating allowing Carbondale residents to keep a backyard coop of chickens. This looks tied into the "local food" trend that is growing in popularity throughout the nation.

However, comparing chickens to a pet such as a cat or a dog is a bit of a stretch. Chicken's are nowhere as well behaved as a cat or a dog and the owner will have to have multiples of them in order for a decent stream of eggs to come. However, there's no denying that a chicken is much more useful than the typical cat or dog, at least in terms of providing physical sustenance.

Rental Inspection Figures

Haven't heard much about how the rental inspection program is going so sent a FOI request to City Clerk Janet Vaught to see the reports for Sept. since I thought there's be 30 or so. Got an email back from her asking if I really wanted to see them all. From the tone of the email, I got the feeling there woudl be more than just 30, so changed my question to ask for the number of inspections for the past three months and turns out I was right. Courtesy of Stephen Phillips, Inspector Supervisor, Building and Neighborhood Services:

August--181
September--219
October--266

Election Turnout

Courtesy of the city clerk's office, here's the turnout for the last 4 city elections:

Mayor & City Council election 2007 - 3,940

City Council election 2005 - 1,739

Mayor & City Council election 2003 - 3,640

City Council election 2001 - 2,809

I was expecting about an 1800 turnout for this election and was asked at one of the forums why I was so optimistic. One of the candidates commented that, based on people's awareness of the election when they were knocking on doors, they expected a 1400 to 1600 person turnout.