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| Mayor Breaks Tie Vote on GREDA Grant Application; Hear Full Council Discussion Here |
A tie vote broken by Mayor Gary Smith was the difference between applying for a grant that will investigate whether or not two different facets proposed for the new Logistics Park Galesburg will actually work.
The Galesburg City Council Tuesday night voted three-to-three to okay applying for one-hundred-thousand dollars in state and federal grant money to hire a firm to conduct a study on whether or not the property between Galesburg and Knoxville could actually be a distribution center utilizing both rail and truck traffic. Smith cast the tie-breaking vote in favor.
The Galesburg Regional Economic Development Association originally wanted to apply for the grant on its own, but learned it couldn't do that without council support. GREDA Vice President Dick Johnson says the study would provide something that, up to now, hasn't been done before. "It provides us with a completely unbiased, objective viewpoint by a third party on the marketability, and the feasibility, of Logistics Park Galesburg," Johnson said.
Seventh Ward Alderman Mike Lummis wonders if, in a way, the development of the Logistics Park is being done backwards. "One constituent had called me, and said 'What have we been working on for five years, if we now have to quantify that we can have an intermodal system out there?'" Lummis said. "That's a valid question."
The study, GREDA officials say, would take 12 to 16 months to complete if it's done, which was another point of opposition.
Fifth Ward Alderman Karen Lafferty wasn't at Tuesday night's meeting, hence, the need for a tie-breaking vote.
To hear the full City Council discussion on the grant application request, CLICK HERE (mp3 format). |
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| 09 03 08 by Newsroom |
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