Mayor

So far, I have heard Don Monty and Jane Adams both express willingness to serve out the remainder of Joel Fritzler's term as mayor.  As I said before, I think Monty would be the best choice to serve out the remainder of the term, due to his detailed knowledge of city regulations and governmental operations.  However, I do fear he would also extend the length of council meetings even longer than they are now.

As far as a replacement for whomever the council chooses as mayor, I hope the council chooses someone not connected with the university to serve.  Currently, the only person on council without a SIUC connection (save  Monty) is Lance Jack.  While the university is the tail that wags the city, we do need some more representation of the business community on council.   I could see Roxanne Conley, owner of Attitude Designs, doing a good job on the council.  She runs a local business and is very active in the community.  However, she has so much on her plate currently that I doubt she would pursue the position actively.

Fritzler Resigns

Mayor Joel Fritzler announced his resignation today effective Feb. 3, to take a position at Northern Arizona State University. There will be a special session of city council on Jan 21 at which the council will select an acting Mayor to serve out the remaining 15 months of his term.    Council members will elect one of their own to serve as acting mayor, then, according to the way I read the code, the new acting mayor will select, with advice and consent from the other council members,  their replacement on the council.

So, if you are interested in service on the council, without the hassle of running for the seat, now is the time to start putting your name forward to the current council members.  Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Don Monty serve as acting mayor, as he has demonstrated an extensive understanding of  the minutiae of city government during his time in office.

Koppers Update

Given the amount of controversy the Concerned Carbondale Citizens group has ginned up  in the past several months over the BrightFields Solar Array project on the Koppers site, I found the most recent report provided by Beazer, the company tasked by the EPA with cleaning up the site, interesting reading.

Items Performed/Completed Since Previous Report:
 On December 3, 2013, a group of local residents known as Concerned Carbondale Citizens submitted a
list of questions related to the Site and solar project to the Carbondale City Council.
 On December 10, 2013, Brightfields submitted a letter to the City of Carbondale requesting that the City
Council temporarily postpone further consideration of Brightfield’s Special Use Permit Application until
after the two requested public meetings are held.
 On December 20, 2013, FTS submitted the second 2013 semiannual RCRA groundwater sampling
data to IEPA.
 On December 26, 2013, Beazer submitted the Shrew Population Pilot Study Report to USEPA.
 Beazer, USEPA and others participated in corrective action coordination conference calls on December
6 and 20, 2013.
 Beazer continued post-construction OMM activities (e.g., DNAPL thickness measurements/removal,
CAMU leachate monitoring/removal, Site inspections, etc.).
 Beazer collected approximately 113 gallons of DNAPL from the barrier trench and approximately 34
gallons of DNAPL from recovery well RW-23 during this reporting period. The approximate total
DNAPL volumes collected through December 2013 are 17,641 gallons from the barrier trench and
7,228 gallons from RW-23.

Items Anticipated to be Performed/Completed over the Next One to Two Months:
 Beazer and Brightfields will continue to evaluate potential future solar land use at the Site.
 USEPA will plan an additional public meeting.
 Beazer and Brightfields will schedule additional public information sessions in conjunction with USEPA’s
public meeting.
 Beazer, USEPA and others will participate in planned biweekly conference calls to discuss Site
corrective action and redevelopment activities.
 Beazer and USEPA will participate in a meeting in Chicago to discuss various topics, including human
health and ecological risk assessments and the August 2012 sediment investigation findings.
Items Anticipated to be Performed/Completed over the Next Two to Six Months:
 Beazer will continue to evaluate potential future Site uses, including conservation land use and
commercial solar energy.

Parking Meters 2

Apparently my memory has been condensing time on me as a email from the city manager indicated that the city has not covered the downtown parking meters with bags during the Christmas season for three years now..  However, he also let me know that the city did not enforce or ticket autos parked in violation during the period either.  The reason was to eliminate the need to purchase new bags and signs, especially the signs, which were getting old.  There was also some concern about not having the people leaving town on Amtrak parking in the bagged spaces and defeating the free parking opportunities.

I can understand the need for the city to save money.  However, deciding not to enforce parking meters during the Christmas shopping season and not making sure everyone knows about it rather defeats the purpose of freeing up the parking.  As far as avoiding the parking problem with Amtrak, wait until the semester ends and then bag the meters or post signs.

 If money is short, maybe the city could contact the Chamber of Commerce or Carbondale Main Street to help purchase additional bags for next year  Heck, I would be glad to kick in money myself to help buy bags for the meters or pay for an updated sign, if it would help encourage people to come downtown to shop during the Christmas season.

City Cable Channel

I had thought the city had discontinued broadcasting city council meetings and other civic information over Channel 16, especially since I had gotten nothing but static on the channel the last couple of times I tuned in to watch the city council meeting.  Figuring that the city had opted to drop broadcasting through 16 in favor of live steaming the meetings over the city website as I have not been able to see anything on the channel for a couple of months now.

Apparently that is not the case though.  I have received a couple of emails since last night indicating the city still broadcasts over 16 and that city manager Baity is looking into why I (and apparently some others) have not been receiving the signal.

City Council Meeting

City council is meeting tonight. Cannot make it to the meeting and I don't see it broadcast on channel 16.  Here is the agenda, though.

One thing that rather bothers me is the city's active solicitations of per-applications from community organizations for city funding.  Given that the city just had to raise taxes to fund city pensions and has plans to retain the portion of the sales tax that is due to expire in a couple of years to further help fund those pensions, it would seems that actively seeking out more organizations to potentially fund is just setting those organizations up for future disappointment.

Downtown Chirstmas Lights

I see the city has starter removing the community Christmas lights.  While I can see the multi-colored ones hanging on the light poles and the revolving statues on the square coming down, it would be nice to leave up the lights that encircle the light poles and outline some of the buildings in downtown.  They certainly do brighten up downtown and make it look more lively after dark.