Members of the Benld City Council voted
unanimously Monday night to award a $619,347 contract for a long-awaited sewer
improvement project to Haier Plumbing and Heating, Inc., Okawville.
Jesse Maynard, an engineer with HMG Engineering, said Haier provided the lowest of five bids received from potential contractors. Bids were opened May 5 and ranged from Haier’s low bid to a high of nearly $1.4 million.
“We are recommending that you award Haier Plumbing and Heating at $619,347,” Maynard said. “Haier has done a lot of work for us and we have absolutely no problem with them. The bid was higher than our estimate but everything is coming in higher these days.”
The city received a Community Development
and Assistance Program grant in the amount of $505,000 and the city originally
anticipated spending $98,000 in local funds to pay for the project. Since the
bid exceeded the original estimate, the city will be responsible for the
overage. Because it is a grant-funded project, reducing the scope of the
project to cut costs is not an option.
The project calls for replacing about
3,400 feet of deteriorating sewer lines on the city’s east side and re-lining
about 1,600 feet that can be salvaged with lining. The project has been under
discussion since 2015.
“When can we get started?” Ald. Jerry
Saracco asked.
“That’s a good question,” Maynard
admitted. “It’s going to depend on how quickly we can get the materials.” He
said Haier is preparing to start a project in Pinckneyville that has been on
hold since the first of the year waiting for materials to be delivered. “It’s
really hard to say when that PVC pipe will come in.”
Once the project begins, construction
time is estimated at 150 days.
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PROPERTY SALES
Following a brief executive session, the
council voted to sell two properties acquired by the city as a result of court
action to local residents. City Attorney Rick Verticchio said the city could
legally sell the properties because both had previously been declared surplus
and advertised for sale via a bidding process.
Council members voted unanimously to seek
property at 400 S. Seventh Street to Jim Spencer for $1,500. Verticchio said
the city will be required to pay the county about $300 from proceeds of the
sale for delinquent property taxes on the parcel.
The council also approved the sale of 301
West Central Avenue to Bill Gascon, who lives on an adjacent lot. The council
deferred action on the sale last month after Ald. Saracco questioned what
Gascon planned to do with the property. Mayor Jim Kelly reported Monday night
that Gascon told him Gascon might build a garage on the lot or leave it as a
grass-covered expansion for his yard. Gascon reportedly agreed that he would
build nothing without the specific approval of the council.
On the advice of Verticchio, the council agreed to amend the city’s 2021-22 appropriations ordinance to increase the appropriation for building demolition by $100,000. The city incurred significant costs in demolishing the former bank building on Central Avenue and other structures at various locations in town, depleting the original appropriation.
In a related matter, the council members voted unanimously to accept of low bid of $5,200 from Richard McLain to demolish a burned out house on South Main Street, provided he provides a certificate of insurance and documentation regarding disposal of debris in an authorized dumping area. Two other bids were received, including a bid of $10,400 from Sam Schafer and a bid of $15,000 from Mark Ranger.
Council members informally agreed to give Catherine Young until the council’s July 18 meeting to report to the city in regard to how she intends to deal with deficiencies at the old Gaye Hardware building, 409 East Central Avenue. Appearing before the council, Young said she had gotten a bid from Dynamic Roofing to replace the roof and was awaiting a final bid from Young Roofing. The Dynamic Roofing bid, she said, was $5,000 more than a bid she obtained just four months ago.
“It’s a lot of money,” she said. “If I a
put on a new roof, all the other stuff to be done is a concern. I don’t have
unlimited funds.” With a new roof, she said, she would have to install a
heating system and contract for structural repairs.
“I’d love to put on a new roof but I have
to decide what to do,” she advised. “I’ve got to assess what I want to do. It
may be more economical to take it down.”
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Young said she had discussed the
possibility of razing the building with Ken Snider, who owns the neighboring
No. 5 Winery. She said Snider indicated the building could be demolished for
about $10,000.
With upcoming vacation plans and the need
for more research, Young pledged to have a final decision for the council by
July 18.
Mayor Kelly reported he had heard from
Tim Loveless, owner of Cornerstone Rentals, who was upset about being cited for
debris on one of his rental properties. Kelly said Loveless had cleaned up the
trash “and he did a really good job,” but Loveless was upset that he wasn’t
contacted before a citation was issued.
“I told him we’re going to clean up the
town,” Kelly said. “He agreed and said he would cooperate. He said that would
help him in renting his properties, and I told him I would tell the council
that he wants to work with us.”
PARK CAMERAS
On a motion by John Balzraine, the
council approved the purchase of security cameras from Auto Sound &
Security at a cost of $2,700 to be installed at the city park. Balzraine said
the cameras will help curtail the vandalism the city has experienced at the
park, which has included damage to picnic tables.
“We’ve had a lot of vandalism,” Balzraine
said. “I think it’s time to do something.”
SIDEWALK GRANT STATUS
Mayor Kelly read a letter from State Sen. Doris Turner regarding the status of a $500,000 sidewalk grant awarded two years ago to replace sidewalks on Central Avenue. Turner was responding to a report that funding for the grant had been withdrawn. Turner said the funding remains available but requires legislative reauthorization which could be enacted during a veto session if one is held.
“The $500,000 grant funding is not gone,”
Turner wrote. “What they most likely heard is that the grant needs to be
reauthorized.”
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OTHER ACTION
In other action, the council:
Approved a business license application from Douglas Miller for a new business called Miller Power Washing.
Formerly authorized Xavier Stewart to proceed with an Eagle Scout project to improve Veterans Park. Stewart outlined his plans for the park last month.
Dana Carr Skinner, 52, of Gillespie has announced her candidacy for Macoupin County Circuit Clerk. She will be on the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot.
Dana, a lifelong Macoupin County resident was born and raised in Wilsonville by her parents, Barb and Van Baker. She graduated Gillespie High School in 1990 and attended SIUE before starting her family. She has raised eight children all of whom graduated college or attended trade school. Dana is married to Todd Skinner.
Dana is currently a public servant, serving the people of Illinois as a paralegal. She has over 25 years legal experience with 15 of those years being directly in the courtroom. She has worked in law firms that practiced in all areas of the law from probate, family, civil, traffic, criminal and real estate. After working several years in the legal field, Dana went back to college and obtained a paralegal degree.
Dana is running for Circuit Clerk because, “It is time for me give back to my community and the residents of Macoupin County. Lee Byots Ross has done an amazing job as our current Circuit Clerk and I want to continue the work that she has accomplished. My adult life has been focused on my family and my children, and they are now grown. My focus now, would be to demonstrate to the residents of Macoupin County that I can and will do an excellent job as Circuit Clerk,” Dana said.
The Circuit Clerk is responsible for establishing, maintaining and keeping all records of the court, as well as several administrative, financial and public services.
“There are employees in the office now that have worked there a number of years, and I will be committed to them and their opinions, as well as the people the Macoupin County. I will learn from the current employees if I am elected in November and I believe that I have the experience, the knowledge and the work ethic that would make me an asset to the Circuit Clerks Office’s team,” Dana said.
United Mineworkers of America President Cecil Roberts will commemorate the 125th anniversary of Union Miners’ Cemetery in Mt. Olive on October 13. Ceremonies begin at noon with a short historical parade, Roberts, IL AFL-CIO President Tim Drea, and frequent labor music.
Afterward, a meal will be provided as the labor music continues. The event is free and open to the public. A portable chair is recommended.
The cemetery is located on near 5536 Mt. Olive Road in Mt. Olive and can be found by following North Lake Street.
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Background of Union Miners Cemetery by the Mother Jones Museum:
The Union Miners Cemetery is in Mt. Olive, a small mining-town that was once the center of a rebellious group of miners who helped to secure Illinois as the solid rock for the United Mine Workers Union. Today thousands of visitors come each year to pay their respects to the memory to Mother Jones and the spirit that guided her and the founders of the labor movement in the United States. They reflect about the connections between the past and the present.
The cemetery was established in 1899, when commemorations of the miners killed in the 1898 “Virden riot” became controversial in the Mt. Olive cemetery where they were originally buried.
The bodies of the Virden “martyrs” were re-interred in a cemetery established as the Union Miners Cemetery by the Mt. Olive United Mine Workers local. Commemorations of these events in the following years contributed to a generation of activism in the Illinois coal fields.
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They did this by claiming the kind of memorial space that was denied in other places, such as Haymarket, where police often disrupted commemorations. This built a sense of connection between past and present in the area, and made it clear that ordinary workers had changed the course of history. The role of the ordinary worker came into focus. Mt. Olive was one of the few places in the country where labor history was taught before the 1970s.
This is a unique place in the history of the labor movement; it was the only union-owned cemetery in the country. This is a place with a monument to Mother Jones, but it also evokes the power and potential of the labor movement. It is a place of reflection and remembering, of thinking of the labor movement’s roots. It is a shrine not only to Jones but to the sacrifices that connected human rights and labor rights, a place where people wonder when and why labor lost power.
When I decided to write this article, my original intent was to find out when they removed the rails down the middle of Macoupin Street, but I thought I might research when the railroads came and went in Gillespie. So here is a brief history!
In the 1850’s, railroads were becoming more important to the US for both transportation of people and goods. Chicago was the hub of railroad traffic in the west and cities throughout Illinois were vying to have railroads come through their section of the state. Having a railroad meant prosperity and growth. Towns would grow with increased population. The key question was where are the railroads going to go? Influence by key political people throughout the state was important.
Prominent people in the US and central Illinois like Judge Joseph Gillespie, William Mattoon, Electus B Litchfield and Robert Rantoul (Massachusetts senator) and others help bring the railroad south.
The move south was brought about by the chartering of the Terre-Haute & Alton Railroad in January 1851 out of Mattoon, Illinois. It was to extend south to Alton because legislators wanted Alton to compete with St. Louis in the growth of the area. The work was started in 1852 to originally go 172 miles. It was completed in March 1856. Extensions were created from Alton to Belleville and eventually to St. Louis. By 1857 the route was completed and a railroad went through Gillespie. The St. Louis connection was helped by the building of the Eads Bridge in 1874.
In June 1867, the Terre-Haute Alton Railroad was leased to the Indianapolis & St Louis Railroad but went into foreclosure in 1882 and sold to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (known as the Big Four). This railroad came under control of Vanderbilt and the NY Central Railroad system.
The Terre-Haute Alton Railroad/Big Four Railroad came to Gillespie on an east west route. It passed through Gillespie today in the land next to the Civic Center, crossing Macoupin Street next to Subway. The Big Four Terminal was just off Macoupin Street where the Civic Center is located. There were additional terminals in Hornsby and Dorchester.
A 2nd railroad will add additional prosperity to Gillespie. The Illinois Traction System was a brainchild of William B. McKinley (not the president). He had a vision to create an electric railroad empire that covered at its peak 550 miles of rail.
The Traction system started in connecting Danville and Champaign in 1901-02, then to Decatur to Springfield in 1904. He also completed the route from Springfield to Granite City going through Gillespie and Benld in 1904. This Interurban as most people called it was a passenger service. It would eventually connect to Peoria by 1907 and St Louis by 1910. It was also possible to go to Chicago by connecting with other railroads. The Illinois Traction Terminal was on the corner of Macoupin and Spruce Streets where United Community Bank is located and at one time did have a small spur to the east.
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Everyone associates the growth of Gillespie-Benld and the surrounding area to the coal mines, but the railroad also played a key part in the growth of the area.
You might wonder why main street is so wide compared to other towns’ business districts? Gillespie was unique by having the Interurban rail down the center of Macoupin Street but also the Big Four crisscrossed near Walnut Street. The town has to be one of the few towns in Illinois to have that unique situation.
In the early days, the crisscross intersection was controlled by only railroad signs. The “Stop, Look and Listen” slogan did not stop accidents at the crossing. Eventually, a crossing watchman was hired to control the car and pedestrian traffic at the intersection of the two railroad lines. It was also not unusual for a parked car to back into the Interurban in the business district.
These two railroads went north-south and east-west throughout town until the Interurban ceased to operate. The last Interurban use was on March 3, 1956. The rail line was eventually taken over by other railroads and would only be used for freight transportation, especially by Norfolk Western and other railroad lines. The rail line did have a brief arrangement to transport coal from Monterrey Coal Junction to Edwardsville in 1970, but the last use of the old Interurban Line for freight use occurred on August 20, 1970.
The eventual decline of the railroads in Gillespie coincides with the decline of the coal mines. Railroads were being transformed from coal to diesel and coal use immediately declined.
The Big Four stopped operating on December 17, 1964. Slowly they started to remove the tracks between Litchfield and Bethalto. Illinois maps show Big Four railroad tracks in 1965, but they are gone by 1967.
Now to the original premise of the article, when were the railroad tracks removed down the middle of Macoupin Street? My sources throughout town were varying, I got all kinds of guesses. I narrowed it down by my own memory. It was there in 1972 when I started teaching but then all of a sudden it was gone. I searched newspapers in the fall of 1972, then 1973 and I found it in 1974.
In January of 1974, the city decided to do something about the water lines in the business district. There was a conversation in late February to remove the tracks, but when will they do it? At the same time there was discussion about the sewer lines where the tracks are located. So, the city decided to it all at the same time, remove the tracks, and do water and sewer lines. By early April 1974, the tracks are gone and by early May, the downtown was a mess because of the water main project. After the downtown removal of tracks, the city eventually moved further north and south on Macoupin to remove the remaining tracks.
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So, what proved to be a simple search gave you, the readers, a history of the railroads in Gillespie. Stop by the library and see the assorted railroad pictures and if you have anything railroad-related or an interesting picture involving the railroad such as an accident involving the railroads. I would like to see them.