A pair of new stop signs are coming to Church Street in an effort to slow down traffic coming into town from the south side. Citizen John Emery addressed Carmi City Council Tuesday evening.
My beef is Church Street. Church Street here lately is more or less like the Indianapolis 500. The speed limit is 25. Granted, there are signs, but they’re no bigger than almost a sheet of paper. They’re rusty. Where they’re located, I don’t think they’re very visible. What I would like to see is a stop sign and possibly flashing lights like you did on Stewart Street years ago on the corner of Kerney and Church, which is halfway from the hill to Main Street.
Discussion ensued including other streets throughout the city that could potentially benefit from additional measures and questions about data from the speed check unit that gets employed throughout the city. Council would end up unanimously approving new signs going up on Church at Kerney. It will take about a month to get those posted.
Mayor Bill Stendeback also says he’s received calls in the last two weeks about Oak Street at 5th and 7th Streets regarding cars parking on the street and the difficulty seeing to merge onto Oak. Leaders are considering 30 foot “No Parking Here to Corner” signs.
Also Tuesday evening, Council heard from Chula Fleming, precinct committee woman for Carmi Township. She addressed the group on two topics; one being the dog park at Burrell Woods and the other, the White County Senior Citizens Center. On the dog park, Fleming says it’s a great resource and she uses it herself, but there are issues including the latches on the back gates where the mowers enter being worn out. The big issue Fleming says is the need for guttering.
The problem with mud. Everytime it rains, it’s just a muddy mess out there. It retains water, standing water. So a lot of people said to me let’s just put straw down or gravel but that’s not the problem. You need a gutter across that roof of the structure to redirect the water. If you have that, we can replant, get the grass back up there and that will help out a lot.
City Supervisor Brad Attebury said he and Mayor Stendeback will make a trip out there to see what can be done.
Fleming also made a plea on behalf of the White County Senior Citizens Center saying they’re struggling financially and nervous about DOGE adjustments. Fleming says she’s already been in touch with representatives and senators, and simply wasn’t sure if the city was able to or in a position to help. When asked how successful center’s recent breakfast fundraiser went, it was revealed the extent that the center is facing larger problems.
Fleming: The breakfast was…they made $2,300 and they’re going to do three fundraisers per month but there is another issue. They’re doing the fundraisers more to try to compensate for the issue with the pending lawsuit that may be in the works. They’re having to pay lawyers, and the IRS, they’re having to pay money back. So that’s another draw on their money.
Stendeback: I’ve just heard stuff through the grapevine. I heard they owe the IRS quite a large sum of money.
Fleming: It’s $62,000.
Council agreed it’s an important facility and serves a worthy cause. Fleming says the center serves about 1,000 people per month between White and Hamilton County. Councilmen Doug Hays said while he personally believed in helping out with any fundraisers, he was unsure of legally how the city could assist. City administrator Holly Healy suggested the center’s leadership reach out to U.S. Congressman Mike Bost’s office and request assistance from an IRS caseworker. No other action was taken on the subject.
Stendeback gave kudos to Ron Immel, who has taken the reins of the Carmi Airport from Greg Brown.
The airport has been kind of on a lockdown for the last couple of years and neglected. When Brad and I went out there to just kind of get a view of what shape it was in, it was pretty nasty to be honest with you. Ron has worked for the last two weeks cleaning and just…and it’s a great facility. We had a thing out there last night; the White County Flying Club met out there inside for the first time in quite some time and I think they were impressed by what he’s done. I want to give him some kudos. He’s interested in it. We’re selling a lot more fuel already since we’ve made these changes. Fuels a big thing. We’re making a little bit; not a lot. But we’re getting a lot more volume than a lot of those other airports because we’re probably the least expensive by over a dollar a gallon. We had one of those big planes pull in there yesterday, they were here looking at commercial property was all we could find out. And when they left, they spent $1,940 on fuel.
Stendeback says the airport is a good asset for the community and they’ll be trying to host some fly ins and breakfasts and bring more people in that way.
On the swimming pool front, leaders say it may be mid-June before the Carmi pool can open. After a closed session Tuesday evening, it was announced Kayci Large has been hired as the pool manager. Lifeguards for the season include Trinity McCormick, Wyatt Pretzsch, and Addison Dosher who are already certified. To be hired pending certification are Emma Legg and Gabriella Conover. The city is also employing three summer helpers. They are Ty Hollingsworth, Travor Mason, and Dylan Hindman.
City Supervisor Brad Attebury also wanted to update residents and ask for patience as they try to finish the Schumaker Street project at 1000 East. He says they’re waiting for a contractor to do some dirt work and that’s been delayed, as have some other projects city workers are trying to get to, mainly due to the wet spring.
Council recessed into executive session at 6:16pm and will reconvene on June 3rd.
