A quick 25 minute meeting for Carmi leaders Tuesday saw Mayor Bill Stendeback make an appointment to council. Sheri Stevens was chosen and unanimously approved to fill the open Ward II seat held for 13 years by Mike Knight. Knight stepped down due to health concerns two weeks ago leaving the void. While Stevens wasn’t born in Carmi, she was raised here and has been a proud Carmian since the age of 7. While she says she was hesitant at first request, caring about her neighbors and community eventually tipped the scales.
Mayor Stendeback asked me if I would fill the vacancy of Mike Knight for alderman ward II and I said no. But then I thought about it and I thought ya know, I want to be a help to the constituents of ward II and the city of Carmi.
In addition to joining council, Stevens will for now be added to the lone committee Knight served on joining chairman Jack Bradshaw on the Parks Committee.
The regular agenda items moved through fairly quickly including resolutions formally naming the Eckerle Park baseball field “Pat Stewart Field” and naming the terminal at the airport the Stan Williams Terminal. Both of those actions already took place as they were surprises for the honorees. Council also approved permitting for Corn Day festivities which includes road closures and a resolution recognizing America’s 250th Anniversary. The council renewed it’s standard agreement with Brown and Roberts Engineering for consultant services at the airport.
The final four agenda items all dealt with payments all coming out of IEPA loans and in total coming to $205,548.95. They cover work on the radio read water meter project and also the Sycamore Street watermain replacement.
More than half the meeting was spent on discussion and reports from the mayor, City Supervisor Brad Attebury, and a few council members. Stendeback says the city’s next e-recycling event will be coming to Carmi November 7th. Additionally, a grant will afford the city the ability to purchase the property at 105 Shipley Street. That’s expected to go through Thursday and the city plans to demolish the structure. Attebury touched on several topics including mosquito spraying, saying residents could call the city office if they noticed a significant issue in their neighborhood. He says workers are trying to avoid doing widespread fogging simply due to the cost of treatment coming in at $16,000 a barrel. Street patching should begin in the next few weeks. There’s a sewer issue on Jessup and Main Street and work should begin in about a month. The Sycamore Street project should be wrapping up within 6 weeks and the water meter project is also in the final furlong.
The Carmi Council is next due to gather July 7th.