Gary Williams

 City Manager Gary Williams announced he will resign the post effective the end of  March. From the sound of the press release, it sounds as if he has another job opportunity within the area and plans to accept it. Probably not the Executive Director position at Carbondale Main Street, which, as far as I know, is still looking for someone to fill the spot. Meanwhile, the city is considering applications for an interim manager while it looks for someone to fill the position.

During his tenure, off the top of my head, the city saw significant upgrades to the downtown streetscape, construction of the multimodal transit center, transfer of several parks from the Park District to the city and progress on the downtown entertainment plaza. Not bad to list on one's resume.

More on Hollywood Lounge

Caught an interview with Mayor Mike Henry and  City Manager Gary Williams regarding the Hollywood Lounge license suspension. From what they said, and an article in today's Southern, someone at SIUC had booked the rapper FBG Duck to perform at the Student Center on March 30. However, it appears that FBG Duck is a bit enamored of guns, at least from his Facebook page, and a member of the Gangster Disciples to boot, so someone at SIUC canceled the space. The promoter also booked FBG Duck for an afterparty show at Club 262 in Carterville, which caused the Williamson County Liquor Commission to pull the club's liquor license until today, causing cancellation of the performance.

Carbondale Police meanwhile, contacted venues in Carbondale that had the space to host the performance to find out if the promoter had tried to rebook there. Hollywood Lounge had  been contacted and had booked the performance but after talking with the police decided to cancel the show. Due to worries that the performers and entourage might show up at Hollywood anyhow and the amount of attention the show received on social media, and with the implied consent of owner Bobby McBride, Mayor Henry, with the agreement of a majority of the Liquor Control Commission, suspended the establishment's liquor license until Monday.

The weekend passed peacefully so closing the establishments may have worked. Of course, there may not have been any problems anyhow. Carbondale Police and the Mayor may have overreacted. We will never know. However, if a shooting or other criminal activity tied into the the performance had occurred and the police had not taken preemptive action, they would probably have gotten castigated for not doing anything to prevent it.

Meet The Mayor Schedule

In case you want to meet Mayor Mike Henry or City Manager Gary Williams, here is the Meet the Mayor schedule for the rest of the year.  From the city's press release:

Sessions will be held every month on Thursday. Times will alternate between 8:30-9:30 a.m. and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Citizens will have the opportunity to talk to Carbondale Mayor John “Mike” Henry and Carbondale City Manager Gary Williams at various eateries throughout the city.

The locations will be as follows: 

Date                            Location                                  Time                           

·         February 1                   Panera                                     8:30-9:30 a.m.

·         March 1                       Italian Village                         1:30-2:30 p.m.

·         April 5                         Kroger Starbucks                    8:30-9:30 a.m.

·         May 3                          Bandana’s                               1:30-2:30 p.m.

·         June 7                          Denny’s                                   8:30-9:30 a.m.

·         July 12                         Longbranch                             1:30-2:30 p.m.

·         August 2                     Dunkin’ Donuts                      8:30-9:30 a.m.

·         September 6                El Paisano                               1:30-2:30 p.m.

·         October 4                    Cristaudo’s                              8:30-9:30 a.m.

·         November 1                Hunan                                     1:30-2:30 p.m.

·         December 13               Jen’s Joe                                  8:30-9:30 a.m.

See Click Fix

Just learned about this app for your smart phone from City Manager Gary Williams today. It is called See Click Fix and can be downloaded to your phone for free. When you see a non-emergency problem that the city needs to address, such as a pothole or street light out, you open the app, take a picture of the problem, add an description and email it automatically to the Public Works department. If you like, you can do it anonymously . Turn around time, according to one person I spoke with who has used the app is less than 4 days.  He reported a pothole and, 4 days later, the city had repaired it.

Area's Greatest Challenge

Caught this morning's Talk of the Town with Gary Williams interviewing Jeff Doherty from Jackson Growth Alliance and found Doherty's response to Williams' question about the greatest challenge the area faces. Doherty's response:  Illinois.

Between the amount of money owed various businesses and organizations by the state, the possibility of a 20% funding cut to SIUC and the pension liabilities the state still owes and has imposed upon local municipalities, I think he has a point.