The Carmi Elks Lodge will get a special event liquor license to be able to serve alcohol at an upcoming fundraiser for The Guardian Center; Kenny Hargrave is one step closer to a liquor license allowing him to move forward with adding video gaming to Fifth Street Market; and leaders have made a decision on a TIF consideration they previously tabled. All that over the span of 36 minutes at Tuesday evening’s Carmi City Council meeting.
First up was Davis.
The Guardian Center is holding a murder mystery event September 12th. It’ll last from about 5 to 8 o’clock. They would like the Carmi Elks Lodge to have a cash bar the night of their event. They reached out to us so I’m asking for approval for that. I’ve already talked to Cynthia and we know the steps we have to do for the city and the state licensing and also with the dram insurance to cover everything so we’ll have all of that covered well in advance.
That license was unanimously approved.
Council also approved a quote to repair Engine 9’s Turbo at the power plant. It comes at a cost of $20,318.44. City Supervisor Brad Attebury says that’s a small price to pay when it comes to the IEMA credits the city earns by having a fully functional power plant.
Yeah, we’ve had a turbo leak on 9 for awhile. It’s gotten worse. Last week, they were running and actually had some sparks kind of coming out of it so it’s getting worse; it needs repaired. It did pass all the testing last week so we are ok for that; we won’t lose our credits. We do receive $5,871.80 per month for that engine so I think it would be wise to go ahead and get that repaired.
The payment for repair was unanimously approved.
Council also created that fourth Class G liquor license after Hargrave’s request at the last meeting. Read more at Hargrave to Get Liquor License; Leaders Receive Auditor Opinion; Mayor Breaks Tie Tuesday – WRUL-FM
In a continuing effort to offer more transparency, Mayor Bill Stendeback says Ordinance 1661 will have the electric cost adjustment calculated every six months and presented to the City Council at the second February and August meeting each year.
Basically, what this ordinance says is that the electric cost adjustment is to be calculated every 6 months for all rate classes and presented to City Council for approval. That’s part of us trying to be transparent about how that all works and trying to work it out to get that figure on the bill also.
Additionally, council amended the recently enacted Anti-Nepotism Policy to account specifically for employees that are currently working their way through licensing that when complete would place them in a department where the policy would prevent them from joining.
The final agenda item Tuesday surrounded TIF agreements and how often business owners could request participating in the program. Currently, business owners have to wait two years before requesting TIF assistance again. The Cates family which owns and operates Cherry Street Automotive, but also owns buildings throughout Carmi was interested in getting a TIF agreement in place to make improvements at their primary business. In March of 2024, Blankenship Auto Parts received a TIF agreement. That business is run by Alderman Doug Hays. The building is owned by the Cates’.
Read more at Carmi Council Approves TIF Agreements; Amends Liquor Ordinance Tuesday Night – WRUL-FM
City Administrator and Economic Development Coordinator Holly Healy had the recap on current funding for TIF I and II.
The current balance in TIF I which is more like Commerce Street, the Industrial Park, Ferrell Clinic, that area…as of yesterday, we had $682,331.52. In TIF II, we had $124,895.07 so because our TIF Districts touch, with council approval we can transfer money from TIF I to TIF II which has been common. My current estimated obligations in TIF I are $24,000. My current estimated obligations in TIF II is $338,570.00 but I will tell you I’m estimating $200,000 alone on the Rosebud project…and I’m really hoping I’ve overshot the runway but if we run into a problem, I wanted to make sure we had enough budgeted. We’re of course paying that out of ARPA funds first and then finishing it up with TIF money.
Alderman Jeremy Courson made a motion to keep the 2 year waiting period between granting access to TIF agreements; it was seconded by Councilman Tracy Nelson and passed with all voting yes save for Mark Blake who abstained as he works at Cherry Street Automotive and Hays who abstained because he manages Blankenship out of a building owned by Cates.
In reports, Mayor Stendeback continues to praise Ron Immel and the efforts being undertaken at the Carmi Airport. He said a fly in has been planned for August 2nd and called it a great opportunity for the community to come visit and learn more.
Alderman Jack Bradshaw says he thinks the council is moving too fast on some things.
We’re sometimes acting too quick on getting a motion on the floor and then voting for it right then. Just to back up, the stop sign we put up, I think it’s been going pretty good, I haven’t heard any complaints, but I did get three or four comments after the sign went up ‘Why didn’t you do this’ or ‘Why didn’t you do that’ so I think sometimes we act too quickly on some things and I think we ought to maybe think about tabling them for maybe at least a meeting for an opportunity to get some feedback. I didn’t like personally being put on the spot for the liquor license. I didn’t like being put on the spot.
Council adjourned without an executive session at 6:06pm. Leaders are next scheduled to gather at 225 East Main Street on July 15th at 5:30pm.
