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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Thursday, December 4, 2008 7:18 PM CST
Shelbyville ready to put stimulus money to work when the time comes

By SHARON BARRICKLOW, For the JG/T-C

SHELBYVILLE — If President–elect Barack Obama is planning on creating 2.5 million new jobs with an economic stimulus plan, the city of Shelbyville will be ready.

The city council on Monday approved council member Tim Finks’ plan to upgrade estimates and engineering plans for two big sewer projects that have been sidelined for almost 10 years because of lack of funding.

“With the federal government offering some sort of stimulus plan we need to prioritize and be ready,” Finks told the council. “It’s the projects that are ready to go, that can put people to work and help businesses that will get approved first.”

Finks’ plan calls for spending almost $25,000 to upgrade plans for a large sewer line project and a wastewater processing lagoon, making those projects ready to be constructed should the money become available. The wastewater processing equipment would be a priority because the small lagoon, not part of Shelbyville’s main wastewater treatment plant, is out of compliance with Illinois Environmental Protection Agency guidelines.

“They (the IEPA) have been willing to work with us because we’ve continued to make improvements as we had the money,” Finks said. “They know we don’t have the money for a complete job at this point, nobody does.”

Council member Noel Bolinger questioned whether Shelbyville could get any money for infrastructure because Gov. Rod Blagojevich has shown a preference for Chicago area projects.

“And you really think you can get money from Blagojevich?” Bolinger asked. “He doesn’t like downstate.”

Bolinger voted for the plan, agreeing ultimately with Finks and the rest of the council that the plan was worth trying.

“You’ve got to have projects ready when the money becomes available,” said council member Joe Beck.

“I think there are going to be plenty of towns in the area thinking about this,” said Finks, who said he first considered resurrecting the projects about three weeks ago. “Whoever is ready will be the ones who get the money.”

Contact Sharon Barricklow at sharonhrnews@yahoo.com.

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