Galesburg City Council will meet Monday night with aldermen scheduled to discuss raising the salary scale for future police and fire chiefs.
Council documents cite a compensation study that shows the positions’ current salary grade are not competitive.
The change would make the base salary for police chief go from $83,000 to $100,000, and the fire chief’s to go from $79,000 to $91,000. This would only affect future hires in those roles.
Police Chief David Christensen and Fire Chief Tom Simkins each have more than three decades tenure with the city and have salaries that extend beyond the furthest step, even in this change.
Aldermen could also approve bids to reconstruct a handful of city roads, sidewalks, and curbs. Academy Street, from Main to Ferris, had been marked for improvements in the 2019 city list of capital improvement projects.
It’s expected that Hood Demolition and Excavation, out of Rushville, will be approved for the contract since they were the lowest bid out of two, coming in nearly $180,000 less than what had been estimated the project would cost.
This portion of the road is Category 1 protected brick street, meaning it will be replaced relaid in brick, even though that generally is more costly.
The project also includes new water main, storm sewer, sidewalks, driveway approaches and retaining wall. The $858,000 cost is being funded largely through the City Gas Tax Fund, but also with money from TIF IV and water fund.
Also, Council members can approve $6,000 to bring electric service to Parking Lot M, west of Kohl’s Diamond Gallery. That will include streetlights that will be put up in the lot. Council documents say that community events are increasingly making use of the lot.
The Council can also approve bids to reconstruct the sidewalk on the east side of Cherry Street, from Main to Simmons, and the east side of Prairie Street, from Main to Ferris. Each of the low bids for those improvements came in at about $100,000 a piece.
