Author: joeward7

Deana Stroisch

The State Journal-Register

Feb 13, 2013

Springfield aldermen are divided over whether Mayor Mike Houston’s administration should be required to get city council approval to have more than 1,500 employees on the city payroll. The proposal, sponsored by Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin, Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards and Ward 9 Ald. Steven Dove, was put on next week’s debate agenda, after attempts to hold it in committee and put it on the consent agenda both failed.

But it appeared on Wednesday that next week’s vote could result in a 5-5 tie. In the event of a tie, the mayor decides. After the meeting, Houston wouldn’t say how he would vote.

The proposal would not allow the total number of employees to exceed 1,500, not counting temporary or seasonal positions, unless first approved by aldermen. It also requires the human resources department to provide the council with a monthly report detailing the current number of employees, broken down by department.

As of Wednesday, Houston said, the city’s workforce totaled 1,467 employees. The proposed budget for fiscal 2014, which begins March 1, authorizes 1,526.

Edwards said the proposal isn’t about a specific administration but making the city more accountable to citizens.

“When you go to the citizens of this community and say you want a sales tax increase, at the same time you’re not willing to limit the number of employees, then you need to explain that,” Edwards said, referring to the mayor’s plans to propose a sales tax hike to pay for infrastructure needs.

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Read the full article at sj-r.com…

DEANA STROISCH
The State Journal-Register

With a Hy-Vee deal approved, the focus along MacArthur Boulevard is shifting to the former Esquire Theatre. The building, the largest undeveloped property along MacArthur, has been empty for nearly a decade.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin, whose ward includes the former theater property, said conditions have improved to attract a developer. Land costs have declined, interest rates are low, a new tax increment financing district exists, and there is “renewed pride and activity in the neighborhoods.”

DEANA STROISCH

The State Journal-Register

Jan 08, 2013

Construction of a Hy-Vee grocery store along MacArthur Boulevard is expected to begin this spring, after Springfield aldermen Tuesday unanimously agreed to provide the company with $3.5 million in tax increment financing.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin thanked local businesses and agencies, such as the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce and Town & Country Shopping Center, for making pledges to jump-start the TIF district. “Hy-Vee will transform a blighted block into an oasis and restore pride to nearby neighborhoods that felt abandoned by major retailers in recent years,” McMenamin said.

DEANA STROISCH
The State Journal-Register

Springfield aldermen on Thursday gave initial approval to providing $3.5 million in tax increment financing to help Hy-Vee Co. build a supermarket along MacArthur Boulevard. The agreement was put on the consent agenda for final approval next week.

Hy-Vee officials have said construction on the site of the former Kmart, 2115 S. MacArthur Blvd., could begin in the spring and take less than a year.

DEANA STROISCH

The State Journal-Register

Dec 28, 2012

Mayor Mike Houston’s proposed budget for next year will only worsen the city’s pension debt, says Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin, who says he’s already planning to vote against it.

McMenamin said he will vote “no” on the budget for the second year in a row “because it fails to address the police and fire pension debt while continuing unaffordable pay raises that are financed in effect by borrowing from our police and fire pension funds.”

DEANA STROISCH

The State Journal-Register

Dec 16, 2012

Springfield will be required to pay an additional $1 million next year toward police and fire pensions, bringing the city’s total payment for fiscal 2014 to more than $18 million, according to budget director Bill McCarty. The $1 million increase comes as a surprise, McCarty said, and probably will force the administration to delay equipment-purchase requests from the police and fire departments, among others.

Mayor Mike Houston wants the city to pay even more toward police and fire pensions next year. He told aldermen recently that the city plans to continue to assume an investment rate of return of 7.5 percent, but

DEANA STROISCH
The State Journal-Register

Mayor Mike Houston’s administration is recommending Hy-Vee Co. receive more than $3.5 million in tax increment financing to build a supermarket along MacArthur Boulevard. If the TIF money is approved by the Springfield City Council, construction of the 88,000-square-foot grocery store on the site of the former Kmart, 2115 S. MacArthur, could begin in the spring and take less than a year, Hy-Vee spokeswoman Ruth Comer said Friday.

The company also has an agreement to purchase the former Town & Country Shell station, which closed in October. The TIF request represents nearly 36 percent

DEANA STROISCH
The State Journal-Register

The owner of the MacArthur Park Apartments has agreed to fix hundreds of building code violations by March 1, under a settlement signed Wednesday. The agreement also requires James Green of Granite Investment Co. to pay $57,465 in fines, in addition to building registration fees and permit charges.

“It enables us going forward to point out that people

DEANA STROISCH
The State Journal-Register

A day after a majority of Springfield residents voted in favor of requiring future city employees to live in the city, aldermen remained divided on the issue.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said Wednesday he doesn’t plan to call for an immediate vote by the city council. Instead, he plans to discuss the results of the advisory referendum with other aldermen and the mayor and then decide how to proceed.

About 59 percent of city voters supported the proposal.

DEANA STROISCH
The State Journal-Register

A group called Springfield Citizens for Residency has formed to encourage voters to support a non-binding referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot. Committee members, who held a news conference Thursday, plan to start distributing 40,000 pamphlets this weekend that encourage voters to support a residency requirement for new city government employees.

“I think we need a real strong show of support by the voters of Springfield,” McMenamin said after Thursday’s press event.