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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Thursday, January 3, 2008 12:22 AM CST
Mattoon council approves grants to aid business projects

By HERB MEEKER, Staff Writer
hmeeker@jg-tc.com

MATTOON — The City Council agreed Wednesday night to offer some help to a pair of business projects.

Robert Walker of D & R Walker Brothers LLC will receive an annual subsidy of $8,000 over the next 10 years to help pay for facade improve and repair work at 1522-24 Broadway Ave. The project has drawn a lot of attention in recent months with masonry work on the second floor of an old building used by a furniture store.

Facade improvements cost about $80,000, while emergency structural repairs raised the price of the work by $17,750, based on estimates presented to the city.

Walker is requesting a Midtown tax increment financing or TIF grant as a way to help meet costs. Similar grants have been approved for several building improvements along Broadway in the past two years.

Regarding the second project, Joe McKenzie, commissioner of public works, offered a motion to authorize Coles County Regional Planning & Development Commission to prepare a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development rural enterprise grant to help finance a new sewer line for 2511 Lake Land Boulevard.

A restaurant project has been proposed for the building used by American Towing. The city would provide $8,192 as a local match for the $27,312 project. The federal grant awardees will be announced in May.

Approval was unanimous for both grant motions. Commissioners McKenzie, Rick Hall, David Schilling, Randy Ervin, and Mayor Dave Cline voted in favor.

In other business, the council agreed to postpone approval of a sump pump ordinance change regarding excessive water discharge on public property. Hall said the discharge problem at the handful of locations which officials had in mind when they drafted the change might be solved through negotiation rather than an ordinance affecting all residents and business owners.

“This only affects 10 or 20 people and this is not a citizen-friendly way to handle (the situation). We can get this done without an ordinance,” Hall said.

The consensus of the council during the caucus session was the ordinance could be postponed, but Mattoon City Attorney and Treasurer Preston Owen pointed out that without stricter rules against excessive discharges, new construction projects would not be affected. Some active discharges are causing buildup of algae during the summer or ice during the winter on sidewalks or streets, he said.

Also Wednesday, the council reappointed Vickie Baker and Paul Icenogle to the Mattoon Tree Commission, which oversees regulations on trees in the public right-of-ways or boulevards. The tree commission aims to help maintain the tree canopy in the city.

Certificates and other honors were handed out to Light-Up Mattoon Contest winners from December. The winners and their categories were: Tony and Allison Masse for best residential display; Elm Ridge residents for best neighborhood display; General Electric for top industrial decorator; Todd and Angie Black and their little helpers for best religious display; Quilters Cabin at Warners for best retail or commercial display; and Mike and Brenda Beavers for the Griswold or over-the-top Christmas display.

Contact Herb Meeker at hmeeker@jg-tc.com or 238-6869.

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My Point of View wrote on Jan 3, 2008 7:22 AM:

" Hall says this is not a "citizen friendly way to handle the situation", he must have learned something from his mistakes on the School Board. He sure did not think that way when he voted to build the schools, against the vote of the citizens or when he took part in the illegal tax vote on south 9th street, " Mattoon Tea Party" "

Early Bird wrote on Jan 3, 2008 7:34 AM:

" While the funding for the Walker project makes absolutely no sense to me, I have to say I agree with helping the folks start a new restaurant. How many permanent jobs are involved with helping a established Mattoon business man will be created? I'm not blaming Walker, he is only taking advantage of the system. At least the restaurant will provide permanent employment and will increase the cities tax revenues. TIF money, grants and loans should be for NEW business, and not for established companies, such as the local phone company or the Walker corporation. Mattoon will never grow as long as this sort of practice continues. I have been falsely accused on this site of being anti TIF, but I am not. I just would like to see those monies used to start NEW business's, which in turn increase the cities revenue from the associated taxes. "

gringa wrote on Jan 4, 2008 11:13 AM:

" I'm not against TIF-funded projects, BUT there should be strings attached. Any public monies granted or loaned for the betterment of private enterprise should be 'bonded', so that if the business venture is sold to a third party or if it fails to permanently provide the promised job growth or increased tax revenues assumed in the grant or loan application, the public monies are reimbursed by a bonding company. For example, if Bob Walker decides to sell his Lakeland property to others, whatever subsidy amounts he has collected from the city should be returned to the city on the day of the sale. Otherwise, he fixes up his building, sells it for a premium, and pockets $80,000 in taxpayer funds. Same thing with the 'new' restaurant. If things don't go well and they close their doors, the owners owe the city $8,192 before they simply walk away. Public money should NOT be used as venture capital! "

Dohbaugh wrote on Jan 4, 2008 3:58 PM:

" Darn good points, gringa. does any one know the answers to these questions? "

Collatine wrote on Jan 5, 2008 2:18 PM:

" Regarding the "illegal" vote to build the schools in the first comment... Yeah, that must have really been a bad thing. Those schools have really been a disaster for Mattoon. Of course, one could argue that there would be no way we'd have gotten FutureGen or any other economic development without someone with enough vision and common sense to build brand new facilities as part of a complete overhaul of the Mattoon schools. For certain, my family and I wouldn't have moved to Mattoon 3 years ago without the new schools. "

Big T wrote on Jan 5, 2008 9:35 PM:

" FYI-The planned expansion of the city sewer out on Lakeland Blvd. is not just an advantage for the new restaurant, it is a good move for the city. This will enable more growth on this end of town, a move that can bring new developments which would not have been possible for Mattoon. The sewer system they will be installing will service more than just one building, it will increase property values and revenue due to subsequent taxes. I am sure it has been a deterant in the past to prospective incoming businesses, and will open up that entire end of town for development. "