Galesburg City Council chambers at City Hall.
Mayor Peter Schwartzman has asked that an item be pulled from Monday’s City Council agenda that would hire a firm to do a programming and schematic design on Churchill Junior High as a community center.
The item was a $76,000 contract for Farnsworth Group to perform work that includes designing detailed floor plans, providing renderings of building improvements, and reviewing the scope of hazardous material abatement.
But Mayor Schwartzman tells WGIL that he asked the item be pulled to give Council more time to “review and consider it.”
Schwartzman told WGIL on February 9th that “we’re probably not going to spend a dime on Churchill, in real terms, before the election.”
Four City Council seats will be decided by April 4th’s elections.
Schwartzman also said until a lot of money is spent on Churchill the city would be open to other sites, acknowledging a downtown location might be more ideal.
But Schwartzman says the city’s efforts to sell $5 million in general obligation bonds has accelerated the process a bit, in terms of when money has to be spent.
Once the contract is approved work is expected to take 8 weeks and there would be another phase brought to the Council for approval.
Council documents say the project could be put out to bid early as August 2023 and construction could start as early as September, although Council’s delayed approval could push that back.