Centralia Mayor Bryan Kuder told those attending his State of the City message on Wednesday that a new water plant is the city’s number one priority.
His comments came as he ran down the accomplishments of each of the city’s departments.
“We hear alot about we want a swimming pool. Yes we do, we do need a swimming pool. But I said this during the council meeting before, do you want a swimming pool or a water treatment plant where the water is made to fill that pool? Right now we need a treatment plant. We can get a pool through other funding avenues. But right now that water treatment plant is #1 on our priority list. You get up and turn on your faucet and you expect clean drinking water.”
Kuder says the new plant can also mean more to the Centralia area.
“The most we can put out is 5-million gallons of water a day. You get a couple large industries in there, are you going to feed your industries or citizens? So with this plant, we are looking at using a local provider to build it so if we need to add more modules to it we can, depending on if we have more industries coming in.
Kuder hopes that funding is in place for construction of the new plant off West Green Street in Central City to begin next year. He noted the city has already received two grants totaling $700,000 to replace the old raw water line from Carlyle Lake. Kuder commended the current staff for continuing to produce good water with the nearly 100 year old plant.
Kuder also highlighted efforts to redevelop 400 plus properties the city currently owns. He’s looking forward to redevelopment of the Hoffman-Hart building that sat vacant for decades under city ownership and a new program where a lot was given to Centralia High School for the building class to construct a new home. He says when that home is completed it can be sold, with the money going into another new home.
“If we can get some of these dilapidated houses or empty lots start getting some houses on them, putting some houses back in the community for sale is a win win situation. Lots got houses, then people have homes.”
Kuder has also reached out to Kaskaskia College and another organization to see if they would also like to begin constructing homes in the city.
Kuder noted the city would also be completing a new comprehensive plan in the coming year that will guide the city for the next decade. He also highlighted a slide showing the considerable number of new businesses that opened in the city in 2022. For those who say there is nothing to do in Centralia, he showed another slide highlighting some of the 200 events planned in the city this year.
Kuder closed the program by thanking the city staff who give their all each day to make the accomplishments possible.
