Fairfield City Council
The Fairfield City Council met last night with a fairly light, 4 item agenda.
The TIF Surplus that will be returned to the taxing bodies was discussed, with $389,732 being returned to the taxing bodies. The current balance of TIF 1 is $1,477,292 with $772,194 already committed for projects such as the new water tower. A further discussion was held regarding the future of TIF and the new 1% Sales Tax that goes into effect January 1. Mayor Moore stated that the TIF Committee would be meeting before the meeting of the Joint Review Board.
The council voted to purchase new Absorption Chamber Screens for the Water Filtration Plant at a cost of $61,932. The purchase was necessary to maintain water quality and was also recommended by the Water Engineer.
A discussion for commercial properties with portable storage containers was held with the end result being that individual businesses wishing to place or keep the containers will have to make a formal request to the Fairfield Zoning Board. Residential use of the containers was approved at the last council meeting.
The council unanimously voted to not meet on December 27.
In Miscellaneous business, aldermen reminded Fairfield residents that petitions for city mayor and alderman may be picked up at City Hall. The filing period is December 12-19.
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Republic Trash Delay
Republic Trash will be on a one day delay due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Residents are asked to have trash cans set out by 6am Saturday, November 26th.
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Frontier Receives Grant
Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian Jesse White awarded over $5.6 million in Adult Literacy Grants to help students develop and enhance their reading, math, writing and English-language skills.
Among the recipients was Frontier Community College in Fairfield. Frontier will receive $75,500 for the Adult Volunteer Literacy program.
Individuals who are interested in becoming volunteer tutors or receiving services through Frontier Community College are encouraged to call Sharis Wilson, Coordinator of Literacy Development at 618-847-9154.
A total of 10,589 students are served by adult literacy programs around the state. A total of 4,686 volunteer tutors provide training for students to obtain skills that put them on the path to lifelong learning. Adult literacy projects help Illinois adults who read below the ninth-grade level or speak English at a beginning level to improve their reading, writing, math or use of English as a new language.
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ISP STEP Patrol
Illinois State Police (ISP) District 19 Interim Commander, Lieutenant Kerry Sutton, announces the results of Special Traffic Enforcement Patrol (sTEP) held in Wayne County during November. In all ISP wrote one citation for Occupant Restraint Violations and 14 citations for speeding. Total numbers show ISP wrote seven citations and 33 written warnings. This sTEP allowed the ISP to provide increased enforcement for impaired driving, occupant restraint, speeding, and distracted driving violations during the National “Click It or Ticket” Campaign.
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OSFM Stresses Importance of Cooking Safety
The Illinois State Fire Marshal is stressing the importance of cooking safety to prevent accidental fires on Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is the leading day for home fires involving cooking equipment.
The U.S. Fire Administration says from 2017 to 2019, an average of 23-hundred residential building fires were reported to fire departments in the U.S. on Thanksgiving Day.
Tips for avoiding fires include never leaving food that you are frying, boiling, grilling or broiling unattended.
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Illinois Unemployment
The Illinois jobless rate for October was 4.6%, an increase from 4.5% from September, although nonfarm payrolls increased by 3,600.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported the industry sectors with the largest over-the-month gains include Trade, Transportation and Utilities, Leisure and Hospitality, Manufacturing, and Professional and Business Services. The industry sectors that reported monthly payroll declines included Government, and Information.
The state’s unemployment rate was 0.9% higher than the national rate reported for October, which was 3.7% and which is up 0.2% from September. The Illinois unemployment rate was down 0.7% from a year ago.
Compared to a year ago, nonfarm payroll employment in Illinois increased by 191,000 jobs.
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Calls for National E15 Law
A dozen of the country’s top agricultural, oil and biofuel industry groups is pushing for Congress to advance legislation that would permit year-round sales of E15.
In a letter sent Nov. 21 to the four party leaders in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate and eight other lawmakers, the organizations said policy should be quickly adopted that “permanently resolves inconsistent fuel volatility rules.”
The American Farm Bureau Federation, American Petroleum Institute and Renewable Fuels Association were among the letter’s signers, who noted they have “come together — for the first ever — to support legislation that would resolve this issue once and for all.”
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River Stages
River stages as of this morning: the Little Wabash east of Fairfield stands at 5.25 feet, below the 17 ft. flood stage. Meanwhile, the Skillet Fork at Wayne City has a reading of 4.98 feet (flood stage is 15 ft.). The Little Wabash below Clay City is at 4.34 (flood stage is 18 ft.). Bonpas Creek at Browns reads 1.33 feet. The Little Wabash at Main Street in Carmi reads 3.36 feet, and the Wabash River at Mt. Carmel sits at 2.81 feet.
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Crude Oil
Today’s Crude Oil Price is $73.95 up $1.22 from yesterday.
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