Galesburg City Council on Monday unanimously approved a few big ticket items with little conversation.
One of those was a conditional pledge of $1 million to the National Railroad Hall of Fame if their project to build a facility goes forward. Aldermen held no comment on the matter before promptly unanimously voting yes.
Mayor Peter Schwartzman said that he hoped the Hall of Fame Board would be able to use this pledge to bring this project to fruition.
There was also a prompt yes vote on hiring an engineer for Phase 2 of the work to complete the multi-use path at Lake Storey.
Tom Simkins with Galesburg on Track announced the Community Blue Ribbon Award for the month of October. In a bit of a twist, the group wanted to tip their hat to the city for an empty lot on Chambers St. the city recently demolished.
The Community Blue Ribbon sign will be placed on the lot in recognition of the city’s efforts to revitalize the community housing stock.
A company named Avazar will perform an audit of city revenue and expenses to see if there aren’t missed revenues from city contractors and utilities.
Aldermen unanimously approved the contract which theoretically shouldn’t cost the city any money. It could be a money-making opportunity though.
The company will analyze revenue and related expenses for such utilities as electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, water, sewer and/or storm sewer providers, fuel providers, waste or refuse-hauling providers, and franchise fees.
Alderman Bradley Hix asked several questions of Finance Director Gloria Osborn including why the hotel/motel tax wasn’t included.
Osborn said that her staff works diligently with these businesses and she would rather not share those revenues with companies outside of Galesburg.
Tom Fagan with Avazar says ultimately it’s money the city wouldn’t have known about, so the business model gives his company a 40 percent split of new revenues for three years.
After three years the city gets to keep those rolling new revenues in perpetuity.
Hix suggested earmarking these revenues towards tackling ballooning pensions for fire and police employees.
Ultimately legal counsel Paul Mangieri said it would be wiser to deal with that budgetary matter later.
