First projects in Small Rental Rehabilitation Program receive City Council approval

QUINCY — Aldermen approved funding for the first 10 projects in the Small Rental Rehabilitation Program during Monday’s City Council meeting.

Building owners with property west of 18th Street, within the city limits, submitted proposals for funding assistance. Forgivable loans are available at zero percent interest for 50 percent of the total cost of renovation/construction up to $20,000 per unit. Approved were:

• 1139 Hutmacher Road, $20,000
• 1307/1309 Elm, $40,000
• 1311/1313 Elm, $40,000 
• 110 S. 11th, $20,000
• 412 S. 12th, $13,138
• 1016 N. 17th, $10,605.50
• 1343 S. 12th, $20,000
• 1608 Cherry, $20,000
• 426 S. Eighth, $30,000
• 615 Ohio, $20,000

The 10 projects were approved for a combined total of $233,743.50. The program has $250,000 to spend annually for four years.

The goal of the SRRP is to rehabilitate existing, distressed rental dwelling units or to develop new market-rate rental units through new construction or through the conversion of existing buildings.

Creation of hotel development program tabled

One item was tabled, and another was sent to the finance committee.

A resolution authorizing the creation of a hotel development program was tabled for a week. The program calls for the City Council to direct $500,000 in food and beverage revenue to the program. That money would be used for new developments that bring 100 or more hotel rooms to the Quincy market.

“Some of the aldermen have received calls from the hotel group association,” Quincy Mayor Mike Troup said after the meeting. “We’re just trying to see what they want, so we can answer their questions and then decide on this next week.”

A request from Cullinan Properties to get $100,000 from the Mid Town Business District Fund to help pay for repairs to the roof of the former Bergner’s building was sent to the finance committee. 

Bryce Barnes, a vice president with Cullinan, sent a March 14 letter to the city. The roof of the building, now the Quincy Medical Group surgery center, has problems every time it snows or rains. The estimated cost of repairs is $1 million. Barnes’ letter asked for $300,000, but Bevelheimer explained Mid Town fund only has $103,000 available.

City cedes bonding capacity to WIEDA

Aldermen also ceded the city’s allocation of its private activity bond volume cap of $4,354,790 to the Western Illinois Economic Development Authority to be used to support projects that will provide job opportunities and new investments. 

“This is more or less a bank that allows us to cede our (bonding) capacity,” said Chuck Bevelheimer, director of planning and development. “Then if we need it, we can get it back. It’s an opportunity for us to use the private activity to help projects in our region, as well as to eventually help ourselves if we ever need bonding capacity for a project.”

Bevelheimer said it was the “eighth or ninth” time he remembered the city ceding its bonding capacity to the nine-county WIEDA. 

Aldermen voted to approve:

• A non-conforming use permit to allow for a duplex in a single-family residential zoning district at 1800 Spring/430 N. 18th Street.
• A request by 2×4’s For Hope for a special permit for planned development to split the lot at 1300 N. Second to allow for the construction of a single-family residential unit on each lot. 
• A request to vacate the northern-most 192 feet of the north/south alley bounded by Vermont, Hampshire, North Fifth and North Sixth. A parking lot owned and maintained by Adams County will be improved.
• A request from the Q-Fest Committee to display four double-sided avenue banners on city-owned light poles surrounding Washington Park. The banners will be displayed from May 23 through June 27. 
• The re-appointment of Mike Farha, R-4, to the City of Quincy and Adams County Joint Emergency Telephone System Board effective April 30 for an additional three-year term. 
• The purchase of services for policy management through Lexipol in Irvine, Calif., for $13,214.88. Lexipol is a leading provider of policy management resources for law enforcement organizations.
• A one-year contract for janitorial supplies by Area Distributors Inc. for $18,826.74. 
• A proposal for the annual maintenance, calibration and certification of water treatment equipment from Hach Company of Chicago in the amount of $8,028.
• The purchase of two 8-inch and 15 6-inch fire service water meters with cellular automatic readers from Midwest Meter, Inc., of Edinburg for $209,003.32. They will replace aging commercial meters.
• The payment of an invoice from Klingner and Associates $12,323.10 for phase two of the water supply improvement project. The rehabilitation of filters 1-6, the replacement of the filter backwash fill system and structural repairs to the Water Treatment Plant are part of the project. 
• The purchase a 2012 sewer cleaning truck loader bucket machine and 2001 pull-in machine from Midwest Vac Products of Mascoutah for $35,000. The utilities and engineering department doesn’t have appropriate equipment to clean the sewers along the riverfront from Cedar Creek south to the pump station at Curtis Creek. The city’s equipment can clean small sewer lines but is ineffective for sewers about 24 inches in diameter and larger. More than seven miles of interceptor sewers are along the riverfront, all greater than 30 inches in diameter.