Council accepts recommendation for water and fire damage restoration service in different 12th Street location

QUINCY — Jeff Butler may finally have found a place for his business.

The Quincy City Council voted Monday to accept the Plan Commission’s recommendation for a special permit for an office and shop for a water and fire damage restoration service at 3120 N. 12th, formerly the home of Outdoor Power Inc. Aldermen will vote on the permit next week.

Butler applied earlier this year to establish his shop at 2301 N. 12th and 2315 N. 12th, an undeveloped lot, and the plan had received approval from the Plan Commission. However, neighbors in the Northridge subdivision and along 12th Street voicing concerns about an increase in traffic led to Butler withdrawing his petition at the June 8 City Council meeting.

Eric Entrup and Greg Fletcher, 1st Ward aldermen, said they had not received complaints about Butler locating his business on the corner of 12th Street and Hamann Lane.

That vote, combined with the rest of Monday night’s agenda, took 18 minutes to complete.

Several petitions granted

Petitions were granted for a fireworks display on Oct. 16 at Flinn Stadium, the Septemberfest picnic at Blessed Sacrament Church on Sept. 11, the Quincy High School homecoming parade on Sept. 24, the Quincy Notre Dame homecoming parade on Oct. 14, and a Maker’s Market at Quincy Brewing Company on Oct. 2. 

QND also received permission to close Van Buren Street from Ninth Street west to the alley for home football games. Jennifer Dancer of the Dancer Love Foundation and Q-Town Fitness received permission to hold the Glow Row on Sept. 11 on Sixth Street between Maine and Hampshire.

A proposal to rezone properties at 300 S. 10th, 304 S. 10th, 920 York and 922 York from multi-family residential to downtown general business was sent to the Plan Commission.

Aldermen approved the vacation of the eastern 150 feet of an east-west alley bounded by South 7th Street, South 8th Street, Kentucky Street and State Street. 

Aldermen also approved the first amendment to the Waste Water Operation and Maintenance Agreement between the city and Inframark of Houston, Texas. The amendment will increase the base operating fee paid by the city to $80,074 per year.

Farha yells at Holtschlag, ‘I don’t care what you think’

Mayor Mike Troup asked each alderman if they had anything to offer before the meeting adjourned. Mike Farha, R-4, removed his mask to make a three-minute statement.

“We’re continuing to have these large events. OK. We open the streets up. Fine,” he said. “But here’s my problem. I’m sitting here with a damn mask, this less than 10 percent efficacy. And people wonder why would we have this trouble, supposedly with right wing fanatics? Well, I can answer that question. Because the rat Fauci (Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) and the current occupant (of the White House, President Joe Biden), the occupying force that he’s surrounded by and his vice president went everywhere and told people that this vaccine … “

Jack Holtschlag, D-7, interrupted Farha to ask, “Excuse me. Does this have anything … ?” 

Farha yelled back, “Yes, it has everything to do. I have the floor. I don’t care what you think.”

Farha continued, “Everything that Donald Trump did, President Donald Trump, was a violation, and it was dangerous. So now he becomes president and wants everybody to get vaccinated, which is probably a wise thing. But guess what? A large portion of the unvaccinated support Trump. Trump was in Mississippi (in front of) 50,000 people, and they booed him off the stage when he said, ‘I think the vaccine is good.’ And the vaccine is taken.

“Politics has consequences. It has consequences whether it’s in Benghazi, it has consequences whether it’s in Saudi Arabia, and it certainly has consequences in Afghanistan. Government needs to get on the same page, and we need to have some common sense. Thank you.”