Author: joeward7

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council was divided Tuesday over whether to devote $20,000 to the Lincoln Funeral Reenactment planned for this spring. The expense, proposed as a budget amendment by four aldermen to help the Lincoln Funeral Coalition fund some aspects of the massive event planned for May

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

Questions over a proposed ordinance authorizing $3.5 million to cover health care-related expenses for the city of Springfield prompted a heated exchange between aldermen Tuesday night.

A one-sentence explanation of the proposed ordinance, indicating that the supplemental funding is needed because of an increase in the amount and number of medical claims in the last quarter of fiscal 2015, prompted Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin to call the explanation “inadequate.”

“We get one sentence to explain a $3.5 million budget problem,” McMenamin said. “… We need some help. We need to know why we’re so off.”

Ward 10 Ald. Jim McDonough said the information wasn’t new – that it was a message city Budget Director Bill McCarty delivered to aldermen a few weeks ago, and that McMenamin was pontificating.

“I think you were here, Ald. McMenamin,” McDonough said. “I think you heard what we all heard.” McDonough is serving out the remaining months of former Ald. Tim Griffin’s term in Ward 10.

“You’ve been here a couple of months and you’re going to accuse an alderman of pontificating?” McMenamin shot back.

After Tuesday’s committee of the whole meeting, McMenamin called McDonough’s statement “a slam,” charging that it was a political move from someone “who’s not going to have to work with us” come spring when the new slate of city officials take office.

McDonough is not running; McMenamin is being challenged by Sarah Delano Pavlik and Michael Higgins in his re-election bid.

“I think it was calculated on his part to try to slam an alderman who’s in a contested race,” McMenamin said. “… I was just asking questions. That’s what we’re supposed to do.”

The majority of the $3.5 million supplemental funding request is due to increased medical expenses, and city officials hope it represents a worst-case scenario. Health-care regulation changes at the federal level have created challenges for local governments when it comes to budgeting for those expenses. Some aldermen said Tuesday that was something they were prepared for, and that it was to be expected that the federal changes would make cost predictions more difficult.

The original cost estimate was $26.7 million, an actuarial report in October raised the year-end estimate to $27.5 million, and there have been escalating costs since. Part of that cost comes out of the pockets of employees and retirees, Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards pointed out.

Bernard Schoenburg
The State Journal-Register

The people who run a city and those who build things in it don’t always publicly air their disagreements, but a $5,000 contribution in a race for alderman has generated just such a conversation.

EMS Midwest LLC, owned and operated by lobbyist and developer CHRIS STONE of Springfield, gave $5,000 to Ward 7 candidate SARAH DELANO PAVLIK on Dec. 30. She is taking on incumbent Ald. JOE McMENAMIN and MICHAEL HIGGINS in the April 7 election

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

At least one Springfield alderman wants to make it easier for residents to find up-to-date information on problem properties in their neighborhoods.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if a citizen could go the website without having to make a Freedom of Information Act request and keep up to date that way?” Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said Thursday evening at a city budget hearing. “I think we have to move in that direction

Bruce Rushton
The Illinois Times

Both sides agree.

Two aging coal-fired generators owned by City Water, Light and Power are akin to automobiles that are getting on in years. At some point, the owner must ask: Should I continue spending money on repairs and maintenance or should I walk away?

Supporters of keeping the plants in operation say that it would be foolish to shut down the generators that aren’t broken. But, according to a report released last week by the Sierra Club, it’s time for the city to pull the plug on the plants built in 1968 and 1972 that have proven a drain on CWLP

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council on Wednesday will begin its piece-by-piece review of Mayor Mike Houston’s proposed budget, and some aldermen want to see changes to provide funding for an inspector general and more money for demolishing dilapidated buildings. City leaders next week will host the first of five departmental budget hearings through Jan. 22, during which they will comb through the Houston administration’s

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved establishing an Office of the Inspector General to look into alleged wrongdoing in city government. In a 9-1 vote, aldermen OK’d creating the office to investigate, inspect and oversee city departments, and look into reported malfeasance.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin cast the only vote against the ordinance, though he acknowledged that he respected the efforts of its co-sponsors

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The owners of the former Esquire Theatre property have told city officials they intend to raze the long-vacant building, which could make way for more development along MacArthur Boulevard. The announcement, which Springfield Mayor Mike Houston made at Thursday morning’s MacArthur Boulevard Association meeting, follows the news Wednesday that city leaders struck a deal with the owners of the troubled Bel-Aire Motel

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

Monday’s ribbon-cutting at the new Springfield consolidated vehicle maintenance garage was more than 2 1/2 years in the making. After several delays, city workers and equipment from four separate garages moved into the new facility in phases starting in October and ending Nov. 9. City officials maintain that savings from the consolidation could surpass initial projections of as much as $5 million over a five-year period.

While considering the $400,000 investment to purchase the new garage, at Capitol Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive, “in reality, the savings will exceed that estimate