Centralia City Manager Galen Mahle announced at Monday night’s city council meeting that the new Centralia water treatment plant will have a ribbon cutting on December 18. City officials will meet with engineers and contractors on Tuesday to determine what final items need to be completed. Currently, IT staff are installing the plant’s computers and networking. Centralia’s water is planned to switch to the new plant on or close to the date of the ribbon cutting.
Economic Development Director Rob Jackson told the council that Centralia has been given federal approval for the Economic Opportunity Zone 2.0 initiative, continuing the original Economic Opportunity Zone granted in 2018. 240 qualifying zones were approved across Illinois, down from 327 under the original program. Economic Opportunity Zones incentivize development through reductions in capital gains tax.
With the Opportunity Zone 2.0 in place, the city aims to layer the zone with a proposed STAR Bond district to further incentivize development and draw investment to Centralia, in what Jackson described as a “beacon for private equity.” A public hearing regarding the STAR Bond district boundaries will be held on November 19 at 5:00 p.m. at City Hall.
Also at Monday night’s meeting, the city council passed an ordinance updating Centralia’s regulations on low-speed electric and gas bicycles to be brought in line with new regulations under the Illinois vehicle code. Centralia’s existing regulation went into effect in 2025, while the new state regulations are effective at the start of 2027. Centralia’s updates to the city ordinance include definitions for low speed electric bicycle and low speed gas bicycle, and the requirement of a speedometer for Class 3 low speed electric bicycles. The bicycles remain required to be registered with the police department, including inspection process, a fee of $20, and an annual tag to be applied to each low-speed or low-speed gas bicycle.
