Centralia’s new police chief was sworn into office during Monday night’s city council meeting.
Christopher Locke had his contract approved at the last meeting and officially began work on Monday.
Most members of the Centralia Police Department were on hand and Locke told them after the swearing in he couldn’t wait to start working together. Locke comes to the Centralia Police Department from Fairview Heights where he recently retired as chief.
The council approved a development agreement with Rachel Wallace for construction of a Scooter’s Coffee on North Brookside and West McCord that is in the northwest Tax Increment Financing District. City Manager Kory Smith.
“This is asking for our commitment on our end to enter into a development agreement once they get final drafts and deeds and everything recorded we can begin the development agreement process where there will be some TIF funds and other utilities that we can throw in for the developer.”
Wallace was thanked by the Mayor and Council for developing the new business along with operation of her existing businesses in Centralia. Wallace said after the meeting she hopes the Centralia Scooters can be opened by mid-December. She reported it will be sometime next year before work will begin on a new Scooters in Salem as she is currently working with the Illinois Department of Transportation on an entrance off West Main Street. The Salem Scooters will be located just east of the Subway which Wallace also owns.
The council approved another resolution to accept the lowest bid received by Good Energy for those on the residential and small business electrical aggregation program. The current agreement that has electric rates set at just 4.5-cents per kilowatt hour expires at the end of December. While Smith is anticipating much higher rates, he’s hoping the aggregation will stabilize electric rates and continue to offer a savings over the open market rate.
The council waive the bidding requirement and purchased a new pickup truck for the police department through the state bid held by Morrow Brothers Ford. The new pickup will replace a squad car totaled in a recent crash.
The council approved Mickey Harris and Stephanie Perez as the final two members of the committee studying the possibility of constructing a new Fairview Park Pool. With all the committee members now in place, Smith indicated the group would start meeting soon.
Centralia’s new Police Chief Christopher Locke (center) poses with his family after being sworn in. Left to right are Kaleb, Mady, Chief Locke, his wife Lori, and Jaime.
