The Centralia City Council appointed Tommy Henegar at its regular meeting Monday night to fill the seat left vacant by economic development director Rob Jackson. Henegar is currently Director of Adult Education at Kaskaskia College and has previously served as a pastor at First Christian Church and as president of CCBA Food Bank.
Henegar said he had been asked by Mayor Bryan Kuder two weeks prior to the meeting if he would be willing to fill the vacant council seat.
“I just said, anything I could ever do to help the city, I’d be glad to do it. We circled back and he asked if I’d be willing to sit in the seat. I said let me think about it a couple of days and ask my family and wife. Then we said yeah, why not? It would be a good way to serve the city.”
Henegar says he has certain experience that will help him serve the city.
“One of the skillsets I bring is, I write grants, and I know some things for the children. I’ve written a lot of federal and state grants. I know some playground equipment and everything else has been done through grants, so that would be one thing I would like to look into, to see what we could do for that.”
Henegar says his goal to start out is to ask questions and get himself up to date on Centralia’s ongoing projects.
Kuder also named council member Barri Allen to be Centralia’s new mayor pro tempore, a position that was also vacated by Rob Jackson. Allen’s appointment was unanimously approved, including by Henegar in his first vote on the council.
Two bids were opened for surplus property. A bid for 435 South Hickory was made for the minimum of $2,500, and a bid for 1335 South Locust was made for $1,250, which was below the minimum. Properties at 926 North Poplar and 615 North Hickory did not receive bids.
In project updates, Public Works Director Jeff Schwartz reports that the new water treatment plant is making good progress. New water lines have been installed and equipment is functional. Schwartz says the project is slightly ahead of schedule.
Tommy Henegar is sworn in by city clerk Kim Enke. Photo by Austin Williams.
