Carlinville council meets with Safe Passage employees, discuss traffic light maintenance contract

 

By ERIN SANSON
Enquirer~Democrat Reporter

The Carlinville council meeting on Mon., April 4 saw three visitors from a new program, run by the Macoupin and Montgomery County public Health Departments. There was also discussion over the traffic signals around town, the Illinois Alluvial Regional Water Company (IARWC), and events that will be held on and near the Square.

Safe Passages

The Carlinville city council meeting was joined by visitors from the Safe Passages program, a joint effort between Macoupin and Montgomery counties to provide help to those struggling with substance abuse issues.

The Carlinville Police Department, Macoupin County Sheriff’s Department, and other locations in Carlinville are already setup as access points for the Safe Passages program. Lindsay Minor, Elyse Schoen, and Jennifer Carron work in the Safe Passage program and came to the council to introduce themselves and their program to the council. Schoen described the program as a judgment free way to help individuals struggling with substance use connect to services to combat their substance use.

Walk-in clinics for the program exist in Gillespie and Litchfield, as well as 23 other access locations throughout Macoupin and Montgomery counties. Besides the police departments, the Macoupin County Public Health Department building is also an access point in Carlinville.

Safe Passage can also provide access to other services offered by the Public Health Department such as medical or dental clinics. Schoen mentioned that Taylorville, which has had a Safe Passage program for several years, has seen their crime rate drop 40 percent due to the end of drug-crime, such as theft and burglary, cycles, which members of the council noted was an impressive decrease.

Safe Passages is also hoping that the North Broad Health Department location can now be used as a central access point for other groups such as Gateway or NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) to offer their services for substance abuse support groups, or support groups of different kinds, such as veterans, family support groups, or LGBTQ+ groups.
Council members were invited to meetings where individuals throughout the communities can come together, inform the health department on gaps they are seeing in their communities, and figure out a way to fill the gaps.

Traffic Signal Maintenance

The council approved a 10 year intergovernmental agreement between itself and IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) for the maintenance of three traffic signal locations in Carlinville. The lights are located at Nicholas and Broad Street, on Illinois Route 108 and MacCauseland Avenue and on Illinois Route 108 and Shipman Blacktop.

The lights at the intersection of IL-108 and Shipman Blacktop are designated as 100 percent corporate, meaning the state will not pay for any maintenance for those lights and does not contribute to the energy charges for the lights. The lights at Nicholas and Broad and IL-108 and MacCausland are designated as 50 percent State and 5 percent corporate, meaning half of the maintenance responsibility falls to the State as do half of the energy charges.

The lights near Walmart are not on a State highway and are the full responsibility of the City of Carlinville. Thus they were not included in the maintenance agreement.

Zoning Map

The Carlinville Zoning Map needed ratification as it recently underwent a change. The only change, according to Zoning Administrator Brian Zilm, was the rezoning of a property on North Oak Street from single family residential to neighborhood commercial. The council voted to ratify the new map.

Alluvial Update

Updates from Joe Direso regarding the IARWC meeting were discussed. The Central Macoupin Rural Water District was present, with new representation in Rich McClain. According to the IARWC attorney David Foreman and Sue Campbell, after they reviewed previous meeting minutes, it was discovered CMRW never resigned from the IARWC and is still a group board member.

The Fosterburg Water Department voted to accept the water supply agreement and is now a member and board member, bringing the water board to seven voting members. Each municipality financial contribution to the project changes with the addition or loss of members. According to Dan Held, Carlinville’s alternate representative on the IAWRC board, adjustments are still being made to each members contribution.

Correspondence

Gene Sullivan submitted a piece of correspondence asking that he be able to switch dates in May for closing East Main Street. There is a fundraiser set for May 21. Sullivan has asked permission to close the street on May 14 instead, and would like to hold a bags tournament. He asked the city if he could close the street at 1 p.m. The council agreed he could change the date to close the street. Discussion began over what time he might be able to close the street. Alderwoman Vicki Wagstaff felt that 1 p.m. on a Saturday would be very early. Alderman Todd Kohler agreed that 1 p.m. was too early and made a motion to allow Sullivan to close the street at 2 p.m. for the bags tournament. Kohler’s motion was approved.

Municipal Band Schedule

The 2022 Municipal band schedule was given out during the meeting. There are six concerts scheduled for the summer.

Monday, May 30
Memorial Day Concert held at 7 p.m. at the American Legion Hall.

Tuesday, June 14
Flag Day Concert held at 7 p.m. on the Square.

Friday, June 24
Concert held at 7 p.m. on the Square.

Friday, July 1
Independence Concert held at 7 p.m. on the Square.

Friday, July 22
Concert held at 7 p.m. on the Square.

Friday, July 29
Rotary Ice Cream Concert held at 7 p.m. on the Square.