Mayor’s Row………by Ned Mitchell
Greetings from city hall in Sesser! We hope you are enjoying the summer and that the heat has been tolerable. City workers are working diligently to finish up several projects that we have started. The water line replacement on South Elm Street should be completed by weeks end and then the street department will take over excavations of the first block of East Matthew Street and the first 3 blocks of South Walnut. This is a continuation of our permanent street program and before we can asphalt those streets we first have to take out about 2 feet of dirt and put in a rock base upon which to build a street. If you live on those blocks, please be patient with us as we do this work. If you attend the First United Methodist Church, please be patient with us as streets on both sides of the church will be removed and rebuilt. We will do our best to make it where at least one lane of traffic can move, but there may be a short time when no traffic will be allowed on those streets. I promise you it will be much better when we get in rebuilt and a few years from now when we asphalt those streets you will really like them. Once that work is done we have two blocks of sewer line that must be replaced in the north end of town. So, as you can see, we are busy and we have much to do. Special thanks to our city workers who do this work without the help of outside contractors. The savings is enormous and we would not be able to accomplish this without their help!
City council work this week included the condemnation of 5 more pieces of property in Sesser as we continue to try and make this a better place to live. We don’t expect to get all of these removed this year but it will allow us to open up a dialog with the owners and let them know that we are serious about it. We are making progress!
The city council also voted to purchase the property just west of city hall for $18,000.00 for future expansion. We are out of room at city hall for just about every department. Our city hall is over 45 years old now and it still serves us well but is rapidly becoming too small for our needs. We had purchased one lot west of us for $3,000.00 about 4 years ago and had the first right of refusal for the house and two other lots if it became available. The owner of the property died some time ago and this property was deeded over to me before his death. Per our agreement I had kept the house rented to the same tenant as long as they wanted to live there. Once they moved the house and property became available and the city at that time exercised their option to buy. With me being the owner it made the process a little more difficult to avoid any conflict of interest. I could not be in attendance at any time the matter was discussed or vote was taken. The council one month ago discussed the purchase but upon advice of our city attorney put off the decision for another month to allow everyone to think it over. As a matter of public record that is why I am revealing my interest in the property now and explaining what exactly has taken place. The purchase will also be reported on my statement of economic interest that is filed at the county clerk’s office and also with the state of Illinois. I and the city council want to be upfront with Sesser folks and if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me or your alderman.
Franklin County board members are going to have an opportunity to step up the plate and swing at the ball if board member Jim McPhail of West Frankfort keeps his word. McPhail has made no bones about the property tax scandal that has been going on in this county for several years and you have to admire him for taking a stand and speaking up even when it involves fellow democrats. This is about all the people who have not been paying real estate taxes because township assessors have not been doing their jobs. The county board recently ran advertisements in the local papers telling us that if anyone was caught in this situation they would go back and not only collect the back taxes but also a penalty as the law allows. Some board members have now ran backwards on that idea and have suggested that maybe they should just start collecting the taxes now and forget the past. Hogwash! McPhail has promised to hold their collective feet to the fire and make them vote up or down on the back taxes and penalties. I’ll go on record right now and say I will not vote for or support any county board member that does not agree to collect the past taxes and the penalty. It’s the right thing to do and county board members are elected to do the right thing. A lot of us are watching this vote and it will be interested to see if the board takes the right action.
We are sorry to report the death of Sesser resident and philanthropist Ribella Palada. Ribella sponsored many scholarships to Rend Lake College for Sesser-Valier graduates and she set them up so they will be awarded for years to come. This will be a lasting tribute to Ribella and her family name. I always enjoyed visiting with Ribella at the VFW Friday night fish fry and will miss her kind demeanor and pleasant disposition. She was truly a wonderful person, great American (she wore a flag pin every where she went), baseball fan and supporter of Sesser.
In sick bay this week are John Bursich and fire chief Cletus McBride. Both have had recent surgery and are now home recovering. Ilah Winn is home from skilled care. Lois Fred is still in skilled care at Franklin Hospital in Benton. All these folks would appreciate a card, phone call, or personal visit. We wish them a speedy recovery!
A long time Sesser business has sold and new owners taken over. Bruno’s Restaurant is now owned and operated by Todd and Heather Carns of Pinckneyville and we welcome them to town as they add to their businesses. Bruno and Edna Romani built and operated Bruno’s for many years creating a well known dining business. After they retired the business was operated by the family, sold, then purchased back by family members who did a fantastic job of running the restaurant. They recently made a decision to retire from the business and have turned it over to very capable people. We hope you will welcome them to Sesser and give them a try.
Congratulations to Lowanda and Curt Johnston who recently celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Curt and Lowanda continue to donate countless hours to us here in Sesser in various community projects and we wish them well!
Our new school superintendent, Jason Henry, visited our city council meeting last week and was introduced around. We hear a lot of good things about Jason and are excited to have him in Sesser. There are several new teachers that will be beginning their teaching careers in Sesser also and I plan to introduce them in future columns.
Some folks have commented that the last column or two have been somewhat boring, I can only guess that is because I have backed off the reformer/unreformer governor, but trust me I have not forgotten how we are being ignored by this administration in Franklin County. I can understand from a political standpoint how if you are an employee of the governor or have a state contract, it might be best to not speak up about things. I know all about and understand the concept of loyalty. However, we are getting the short end of the stick from this guy and if I’m the only democrat who will call his hand on the fact that we are being ignored, then so be it. I can assure you that with the election just around the corner the reformer/unreformer will suddenly find time to answer email and letters and you can rest assured there are several in Franklin County who are waiting in the weeds for this to happen. It will be interesting!
If you need us or have comments or questions, give us a call at 625-3611, 625-5322, 625-5788, email nedmitchell@verizon.net or www.sesser.org .
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