Aldermen approve creation of housing, sports committees; Moore plans to name people to each by next week

QUINCY — The Quincy City Council approved Mayor Linda Moore’s request to establish a strategic task force on housing and the Quincy Sports Commission.

Moore said after Monday’s City Council meeting that she hopes to name about 20 people to each committee, and she hopes to have a list of names for aldermen to approve at the June 9 meeting.

Moore, a member of the first St. Louis Sports Commission in the late 1980s, said the Quincy Sports Commission will have advisory members and ex-officio members who will join the other commission members, but they won’t have voting privileges. She said advisory and ex-officio members might be on the housing task force, but not as many.

The strategic task force on housing will look at housing needs in Quincy. A comprehensive housing study, completed in 2023, said more than 400 new housing units are needed immediately in Quincy and Adams County — 100 single-family, 75 condos or townhomes, 100 market-rate rentals, 75 affordable-rate rentals and 125 senior housing units.

The study also said Quincy and Adams County needs an additional 700-plus units by 2028 and another 750 by 2033.

“(The study has) been out there (for two years), but nobody has addressed, ‘How do we get there?’” Moore said. “The purpose of the strategic task force will be to take that report and look at how we get there. Who needs to develop? What type of housing? Where could it be located? How will it be financed? Who will be building it? (The task force will be) taking a complete strategic look at what we need to provide the housing we need for our community to house workers today, as well as our future workers.”

Moore hopes the housing task force can produce a report similar to one recently completed in Tulsa, Okla.

“They’ve outlined everything that they intend to do over the next 10 years,” she said.

Alderman Karol Ehmen (R-4) and former alderman Paul Havermale, now superintendent of the Adams County Veterans Assistance Commission, will be the co-chairs of the committee.

“Their task will be to keep everybody on task to get to that end product of that report and how we can implement that report,” Moore said.

Moore said the purpose of the sports commission would be to look at what types of facilities the city already has and then look at what the city needs.

“There’s been a lot of talk that we need a sports facility in this community,” Moore said. “The question is, how do we get it? And who pays for it?”

A proposed indoor facility in Quincy — to be built at a yet-to-be-determined site — calls for hardwood floors to accommodate at least eight full-sized basketball courts and double that number for volleyball. A feasibility study was presented in April in City Council chambers, with costs projected by Gary Johnson with ARCO National to be in the $30 million to $35 million range.

Moore also thought the sports commission could help grow existing events or help bring new events to Quincy.

“We have a number of sporting events here that could grow, and so the question is: How do we grow them?” she said. “How do we finance them without maybe using any taxpayer dollars?”

Moore said she’s “pretty darn close” to getting all of the people she wants on the housing task force, and she hopes to get all of the people she wants on the sports commission “in the next day or so.”

In other action, aldermen:

• Heard a presentation from Jason Parrott, director of planning and development, about the city’s BET on Q and LEG UP programs. Parrott said 28 events (which were given about $366,000) have returned surveys to BET on Q about their events, and those events have generated about $2.361 million for a rate of return of about $6.40 on every dollar spent by BET on Q.
• Granted permission for a special event application to hold the Sizzlin’ Summer Market on July 12 in Clat Adams Park.
• Agreed with the Plan Commission’s recommendation to approve a non-conforming use permit request from Steve Duesterhaus allowing for a two-family residential dwelling (duplex) at 2244 College Avenue, which is zoned for single-family residential use. 
• Overturned the Plan Commission’s recommendation to deny a request from Jason Heck for a special permit for a planned development allowing for a small-engine repair shop in an accessory building (garage) at 1400 Sycamore, which is zoned for single-family residential use.
• Approved appointments by Moore of Harrison Clark to the Preservation Commission and Dan Brink (mayoral appointment) Erica Shupe (restaurant representative) and Bill Terlisner (at-large representative) to the BET on Q Commission.
• Approved reappointment by Moore of Timothy Jacobs to the Police Pension Board.
• Approved the low quote for $14,089.95 from Vulcan, Inc. of Foley, Ala., to buy 315 signposts and the low quote for $8,372 from Warning Lites of Springfield to buy 920 12-inch by 18-inch signs. The Quincy City Council recently passed an ordinance limiting the weight of vehicles that utilize city-owned alleys to 26,000 pounds and under. The Department of Public Works will post “No Vehicles Over 12 Tons” signs at the entrances of alleys throughout the city.
• Approved hiring Lauterbach & Amen of Naperville to provide the actuarial valuation calculation for both the fire and police pension funds for three years for $40,640.
• Approved an ordinance to amend the 2025-26 Fiscal Year Budget, allowing the General Fund to increase the concrete budget for the $79,995 excavator resolution, reduce the Legal budget by $20,000 and reduce/eliminate the director of administrative services budget to increase the mayoral budget by $177,768.