Gillespie’s own Chuck (C.P.) Price is planning to open a new restaurant on Main Street. It will be located in the building that last housed Ageless and Broadway Video. We recently interviewed Chuck to get the inside scoop on his new venture. Here are his responses:
What will the new restaurant be called?
Chuck: “Originally I had settled on “The Pit” but after asking for suggestions from friends and family I have decided to call it “CP’s Five n’ Dine. People still remember when that building was “The Dime Store” so we feel that “CP’s Five n’ Dine” will keep that sense of nostalgia and history alive. I’m even in talks to try to get the old robotic horse that used to be in the window at The Dime Store.”
What is your target opening date?
Chuck: “My goal is to do everything we can to be open by May 1st.”
What kind of food will be on the menu?
Chuck: “We will serve all the same dishes that were available at Chief’s as well as an expanded dinner menu, breakfast all day, protein shakes, and a full blown bakery.”
What will it look and feel like inside?
Advertisement
Chuck: “We’ll have a large dining area with lots of things to promote shopping local in G-Pie. As I said before we’re even trying to get the horse from the old dime store.”
What are your long-term goals for the restaurant?
Chuck: “To eventually have a deli, bakery, butcher shop, and restaurant all together. I want to create a business that Gillespie can be proud of, and hopefully this will be a big step towards revitalizing main street in Gillespie.”
Who all is involved in the project?
Chuck: “Me, my mom, and a bunch of friends and family are and will be involved in the project.”
What do you hope the restaurant will mean to Main Street in Gillespie?
Chuck: “My hope is that people will come from other communities not only to eat at the restaurant but also to shop and attend other activities in our town, which in the long-run will help our local economy. Also, we want to remind people in Gillespie that we have options right here in our town to purchase most of the things we need.”
Anything else you would like to say to our readers and the Gillespie-Benld Communities?
Advertisement
Chuck: “Yes, in closing, I have worked outside of G-Pie all of my life and pulled business out of this community. With this venture and working for Daley Chevrolet I plan to start a new buzz in our little city about SHOPPING LOCAL and keeping our tax dollars at home. By the way I think Ageless has definitely made a difference in the amount of people coming through G-Pie everyday. Thank you to everyone for your support!”
Members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education voted on Monday night to accept the district’s annual financial report and audit, and agreed to drop $5 million in mine subsidence coverage in an effort to mitigate against rising commercial insurance premiums.
Ken Loy, an auditor with Loy Miller Talley Certified Public Accountants, Alton, presented highlights of the financial report for the fiscal year that ended June 30 this year. Loy said the auditors provided a “clean opinion” overall for the district’s procedures for accounting, tracking financial information and maintaining internal controls. State law requires the auditors to render opinions in three specific areas, including an opinion on overall auditing standards and an opinion on internal control compliance within each of the district’s major programs. Additionally, the auditors were required to present on opinion on the district’s handling of federal funds, which exceeded $3.4 million last fiscal year.
“You have three reports with three clean opinions,” Loy said.
The financial report also includes a financial profile assessment required by state law. Loy said the profile, determined through calculations for five different ratios, is 3.7 out of 4.0 for the past fiscal year. The “Recognition” status is the state’s highest category for school districts.
“Most districts have been on the ‘Watch List’ and Gillespie has been on the ‘Watch List’ in past years,” Loy commented. “But you’re at the top of the ladder now and have been for the past two years.” Loy said Gillespie had a perfect score in four of the five categories used to determine financial status but fell short in the area of long-term debt.
“Your long-term debt is a little on the high side,” Loy said, largely because of financial liabilities the district incurred after the loss of Benld Elementary School due to mine subsidence.
The report shows the district having $11,460,000 in long-term debt, requiring annual debt service payments of $1.1 million to $1.2 million. Additionally, the district has $639,711 in lease liabilities for equipment such as school buses.
Comparing revenue to expenditures, the district took in more money than it spent in all for two funds, where budgeted spending deficits were covered with existing surplus funds.
Advertisement
The financial report documents a property tax for last fiscal year at $3.49 per $100 in equalized assessed valuation. At the same time, the district’s total equalized assessed valuation was set at $103,564,334, up from $87,198,959 two years ago.
“The last three years, you’ve had some pretty big increases in equalized assessed valuation of six to eight percent,” Loy commented. “That’s a lot different from a few years ago when it was 2.7 to three percent.”
The document reports the cost of educating one student for one year at $8,892, which is what the district would charge as tuition for an out-of-district student. The average daily attendance was 1,005, which is up from 996 the previous year, but still shy of 1,028 for 1,100 before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Loy characterized the school’s overall financial condition as stable.
“You’ve had three or four pretty good years in a row that helps offset some of the bad years you had in the past from about 2016 to 2020,” Loy said.
COMMERCIAL INSURANCE DEBATE
On a motion by Amanda Ross, seconded by Peyton Bernot, the board voted to renew a commercial insurance policy with Wright Speciality with some modifications to the company’s original proposal. The action followed several minutes of debate as the board wrestled with substantive increases in premiums.
The policy covers general liability, property damage, crime, vehicles and workers compensation, along with additional coverage for mine subsidence. While premiums for coverage in most areas were similar to the previous year, the premium for property damaged jumped nearly $40,000 from $105,821 to $142,444. Supt. Shane Owsley said the increase was due to the insurer’s experience with paying out weather-related claims over the past year. Additionally, the company proposed reducing the district’s deductible for wind and hail damage from 10 percent to 1 percent.
The total premium for standard coverage came in at $261,238, compared with $219,888 last year.
Additionally, the district purchased mine subsidence insurance for $124,189 for the first $10 million in coverage, plus $48,852 for the next $5 million and $44,175 for yet another $5 million in coverage. Essentially, the district was paying $217,216 for a total of $20 million in mine subsidence coverage.
Advertisement
Owsley said the district could shave $5,893 from the standard policy premium pay upping the deductible to $15,000 for all perils excluding wind and hail.
“I’d love to keep all the insurance, but you’d be looking at about $50,000 in additional premiums,” Owsley said. “I don’t have any good answers for you.” Owsley proposed increasing the deductible from $10,000 to $15,000, dropping $5 million in subsidence coverage, and purchasing additional “gap” coverage for about $50,000 for wind and hail coverage.
Owsley noted that a castrophic loss due to mine subsidence, as when Benld Elementary School was a total loss, is unlikely. Moreover, $20 million in coverage would not be nearly enough to cover a total loss of one of the district’s classroom buildings. Mine tunnels under the newly constructed BenGil Elementary School were injected with concrete before the school was built, but portions of the High School/Middle School are undermined and subject to mine subsidence damage.
“When you drive around this area in the country, you see a lot of sinks,” Weye Schmidt commented.
Owsley said he’d been advised that it’s not a question of wthether or not the district will experience mine subsidence damage at some point but rather “when” that damage will occur.
Bernot agreed $20 million would not be enough to cover a catastrophic loss and if such a thing were to happen, the district would be forced to return to the legislature for funding to replace a school. Additionally, the amount of money the district can levy is limited by tax caps, meaning the district cannot levy enough in property tax to cover the increase in premiums.
“Where would that money come from?” Bernot asked.
“It would have to come from our reserves,” Owsley replied.
Advertisement
Bernot commented that he’d be comfortable with eliminating $5 million in subsidence coverage to reduce premium costs.
The approved plan—with $15 million in mine subsidence coverage, a $5,000 boost in the deductible, and the addition of gap coverage for wind and hail—will total $475,386, compared with $421,976 the district paid last year.
ATHLETIC REPORT
Athletic Director Jeremy Smith addressed the board with an end-of-season report, which included an extensive discussion regarding to the future of the district’s soccer program. Previously, the district was part of a coop with Litchfield High School to field enough players tor a team, but Smith reported Litchfield recently dropped out of the coop.
“I’ve reached out to local schools to see if they would coop with us,” Smith said. “They’re not really interested, mainly because, with our enrollment, it would put them up into the next class.”
The district could resume a soccer program as a parent-supported sport, according to Smith and Owsley. However, the Litchfield program became a school-supported sport two years ago, meaning Gillespie soccer parents have not been active for the past two years. Owsley said a goal would be to recruit at least 18 players, at a cost of about $10,000 per player—meaning parents would have to raise about $180,000 to fund the program. Owsley was optimistic about recruiting 18 players because younger players have been reluctant to join the program because they could not drive themselves to Litchfield.
The district currently sends six players to Litchfield.
Smith said he is awaiting results from a survey of students to gauge the level of interest in a local program. In the meantime, GHS Principal Jill Rosentreter said soccer parents are “anxious” about what direction the school will take. She said she and Smith are making an effort to keep parents informed as the local district works toward a resolution.
Smith also introduced a sports webpage which can be accessed via the school district’s webpage. The new website includes a sports calendar, schedules, and information about Sports Hall of Fame inductees. Smith said parents can even set up a personal account through the page which will ensure they receive emails regarding schedule changes, cancellations and other information.
Advertisement
PERSONNEL
Following a one-hour executive session, the board voted to post a vacancy for an elementary Social/Emotional Learning coordinator, and voted to hire Kelly Helen as a district custodian.
In other action, the board accepted the resignation of Jay Weber as head coach for the parent-funded middle school cross-country program, and hired Trae Wargo as the seventh grade basketball coach.
The board accepted the resignation of Alexis Ollis as the GMS/GHS head cook and posted a vacancy for the position. Board members also voted to hire Amy Costello as a three-hour part-time cafeteria worker, pending a background check, and voted to post a vacancy for a six-hour part-time cafeteria worker.
CEO FUNDING
In other action, the board accepted Owsley’s recommendation to make a $3,000 investment in the county’s Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunitites (CEO) program, payable in three $1,000 annual increments. CEO board chairman Scott Reichman made the request last month during a District Focus segment.
The Illinois State Board of Education has recognized all three Gillespie Community Unit School District #7 schools with top designations, marking an outstanding achievement for the district.
Ben-Gil Elementary School has earned the prestigious “Exemplary” designation, placing it among the top 10 percent of elementary schools in Illinois, while both Gillespie High School and Gillespie Middle School have earned “Commendable” designations.
The Exemplary designation is awarded to the highest-performing schools in the state, while the Commendable designation recognizes schools that have no underperforming student groups, a graduation rate greater than 67 percent, and whose performance ranks in the top 90 percent of schools statewide.
“This is a proud moment for the entire community,” said Superintendent Shane Owsley. “This designation is a sign of the hard work, time and dedication put in by the students, staff and community members of CUSD #7.”
All three schools demonstrated strong performance across multiple academic indicators, including:
Student academic achievement
Student academic progress
English language proficiency progress
Chronic absenteeism
Graduation rates (High School)
Ben-Gil Elementary’s Exemplary status places it in an elite category of Illinois schools, while the Commendable designations for the middle and high schools reflect the district’s consistent commitment to educational excellence across all grade levels.
This district-wide achievement highlights Gillespie CUSD #7’s success in maintaining high educational standards and ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed, from elementary through high school.
Police in Gillespie are searching for at least two people involved in an early morning break-in and robbery that happened early Wednesday at Besserman Superbowl.
The bowling alley said on their Facebook page the incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 23. The suspects compromised the ATM and a gaming machine. The business’s security measures and a quick response from the Gillespie Police Department limited the suspects time inside the establishment to under 10 minutes but substantial damage was sustained.
Temporary repairs were made quickly and normal business hours were not interrupted for Besserman Superbowl but no arrests have been made. Anyone with information about the incident or the individuals involved are urged to contact the Gillespie Police Department at 217-839-2922.
“We appreciate the outpouring of support from our patrons, friends, and family in response to the break-in yesterday morning,” Besserman Superbowl posted on their Facebook page. “We value your loyalty and anticipate serving you soon at our renowned bowling alley and friendly community hub.”