Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register
Residents of Springfield’s Ward 6 have a new alderman to represent them through the April election. In an emergency meeting Tuesday, the Springfield City Council approved the appointment of a former alderman, Barry Becker, to the temporary post left vacant by Cory Jobe’s resignation.
Working on the budget will be his top priority during his time on the council, the 75-year-old Becker said. He was chair of the finance committee, which was responsible for hashing out the budget, when he served the council from 1987 until 1991.
Mayor Jim Langfelder has cited Becker’s financial experience as one reason for his selection. Becker’s appointment, the mayor has said, also avoided a potential conflict with aldermen who said they would not support anyone to fill the seat who also wanted to run for the remaining two years of the term.
Becker worked as a fiscal officer for the Illinois Department of Insurance for nearly 30 years, retiring in 2002.
YWCA demolition
At Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting, aldermen advanced a motion that would remove a roadblock to the city tearing down the former YWCA building, over an objection from Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin.
Langfelder asked the council to overturn the Springfield Historic Sites Commission’s denial of the city’s request to demolish the dilapidated local landmark. The commission voted down the request in October, the same day the council OK’d a nearly $400,000 contract for demolition.
The city said in its demolition request that the $7 million to $9 million estimate to restore the 100-year-old building is too cost-prohibitive. But commissioners said the city didn’t provide enough information to back up that claim.
Aldermen put the request to overturn the commission’s decision on its agreed agenda for next week’s meeting.
“I just want to point out that we’re spending a significant amount of money here, $400,000, without yet having a plan for development,” said McMenamin, who wanted to hold off on making any decision about the future of the building until the city’s land use plan is in place. “We don’t have a developer yet for the block that is recommending demolition.”
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 