Two members of the Centralia City Council agreed at Monday night’s meeting there needs to be more discussion before a decision is made on banning parking on Pittenger Alley near Bicentennial Park off the 100 block of South Locust. Their comments came after Tim Snyder who owns Mid-America Insurance and the old City Hall building next door complained about the action taken at the last meeting.
“I believe the issue was voted on before the proper consideration. Number one, property owners were not informed about this action. Or had the opportunity to discuss impact of it prior to the vote. Number two it is my understanding that statements were made to the council about the current and future availability that simply was not accurate. I believe these actions were unfair and biased of council to act in a way they would not have if they would have understood the situation in it’s entirety.”
Snyder turned over a packet of information on the history of the issue to each council person.
Later in his comments, Councilman Blake Griffin suggested another look at the issue.
“I would ask that the council would not take any action and put this on pause so we can as council, city manager, fire chief and downtown merchants affected by this to hopefully come up with an amicable decision that we all can be happy with. That is safe for the downtown patrons and citizens but works for the merchants as well.”
Griffin later asked how many other impacted merchants were in attendance. A half-dozen raised their hands, with only one having knowledge the issue was coming up at the last meeting.
Councilman Rob Jackson also requested the parking ban not be enforced until further discussion.
There was no further discussion, leaving it unclear what would happen next. For his part, Fire Chief John Lynch says he is willing to sit down and discuss options but still has the same concerns about emergency equipment being able to properly access that portion of downtown in the event if a fire or emergency.
While the no parking ordinance change has been published as required by law 10 days before going into effect, it has not yet been enforced.
City Manager Scott Randall announced residents would see a three-percent a month increase for trash collection on their next bill. The increase was scheduled at the start of the second year of the three year contract with Republic Services. Randall also announced work was underway on the budget for the fiscal year 2021 that starts January first.
The council also passed a resolution approving the city’s continued participation in the State of Illinois Federal Surplus property program.
