Author: joeward7

Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register

The former ESQUIRE THEATRE in Springfield is the first big test of a city ordinance approved three years ago intended to force repair or demolition of vacant buildings. Under the ordinance, which took effect in October 2011, vacant buildings and homes had to be registered on a city boarded-up property list. Properties were limited to three years on the list, followed by a 60-day period for repair or demolition.

If the 60-day deadline were missed, the city could go to court for minimum fines of $750 a day and a demolition order. The three-year limit for the Esquire, now owned by AMC Theatres Inc., ran out Nov. 29, putting the 60-day deadline at Jan. 29. The building at MacArthur Boulevard and South Grand Avenue has been vacant since

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

After hearing that nonunion city employees are receiving cost-of-living wage increases this fiscal year, Springfield Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said he plans to again seek to require city council approval for any such decisions in the future. In an email to aldermen Nov. 21, Mayor Mike Houston said he had notified nonunion city employees on Nov. 2 that they were getting a 2 percent raise.

Earlier this year, McMenamin proposed an ordinance

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council Tuesday approved spending more than $2 million on upgrades to two of the four Dallman Power Plant units, to ensure compliance with new Environmental Protection Agency standards. Unanimous approval of spending nearly $2.2 million on an agreement with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company Inc. for upgrades at City Water, Light and Power came amid a campaign by the Sierra Club urging that the oldest of the two Dallman

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

City Water, Light and Power must convert all of its Dallman power plant units to a natural gas startup to comply with new sweeping U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations, or else they’ll be forced out of operation by the new standards. At least one Springfield alderman wants an outside analysis done before the council approves a $2.16 million contract with an engineering firm to start the upgrade process on the plant’s two older units.

“We’ve had quite a bit of discussion about how much we want to invest in units 31 and 32 moving forward,” Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said at Wednesday’s committee of the whole meeting. “The question is, Do we want to think this through some more before going down this path?

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council on Tuesday for a second time voted to dedicate $1 million toward the city’s police and firefighter pension debt amid calls to put the payment off until at least the end of the fiscal year. Ward 4 Ald. Frank Lesko asked his fellow aldermen to reconsider the ordinance they first approved months ago, urging them to put it off until at least Feb. 28, when the fiscal year ends.

The reaffirmation passed by a 6-2 vote, with Lesko and Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson voting against it. The measure came up again, after the allocation had already been approved once, because some of the language in the original ordinance needed to be updated, city officials said.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin

Bernard Schoenburg
The State Journal-Register

Sarah Delano Pavlik, a Springfield lawyer and Capital Township trustee, says she is running for Springfield Ward 7 alderman. Pavlik, 47, joins candidates including incumbent Joe McMenamin and Michael Higgins, owner of Maldaner’s restaurant downtown and runner-up to McMenamin in 2011. Former Sangamon County Board member Jen Dillman

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council on Tuesday revisited a plan to dedicate $1 million to paying down police and fire pension debt — something Ward 4 Ald. Frank Lesko urged his fellow aldermen to reconsider in light of the city-owned utility’s fiscal plight. Aldermen already voted 8-2 in August to put this $1 million toward the city’s mounting public safety pension debt, but the language in that ordinance indicated it was a transfer, when a supplemental appropriation is what’s required, city

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

A divided Springfield City Council on Tuesday approved borrowing more than $3 million for what some officials characterized as desperately needed vehicle and equipment purchases for the fire, police and public works departments. More aldermen supported two other ordinances at Tuesday’s meeting — one to authorize overdue contracts with five fire protection districts and another to set the salaries for city elected officials at their current levels for the next four-year term that begins in 2015.

The most controversial ordinance, to authorize financing $3.15 million worth of vehicle and equipment purchases including 40 police cars and a fire engine, passed 6-5, with Mayor Mike Houston casting the tie-breaking vote.

Jamie Munks
The State Journal-Register

A proposal to pursue financing for roughly $3 million worth of city vehicles and equipment is hanging in the balance after no Springfield aldermen raised the issue at a meeting earlier this week. Some aldermen favor holding off on a multimillion dollar purchase, while some of the city’s department heads call the ordinance critical because it will replace aging equipment used for tasks such as responding to emergencies and clearing snow from city streets.