Mayor John Inyart gave the State of the City address to an audience dressed for the Hawaiian Islands during the Chamber of Commerce “Luau for the Locals” annual dinner and awards banquet Saturday.

In his speech, Inyart summed up the last year from the city’s perspective.

Economic development within the city and the state headed the speech.

“Statewide, the picture is not a pretty one,” Inyart said. “There were just over a dozen active industrial site selections last year in the entire state and of those only three are even still in consideration at this time.”

Locally, Inyart noted that there has not been a more difficult time in recent memory to be in business than it has been in the last two years.

“We’ve lost additional jobs this year and we’ve seen some businesses close their doors,” Inyart said.

Hand in hand with the economy is the city’s budget, 2009 was a challenging year from a financial standpoint, Inyart said.

“Our budget was tight before and we had to make adjustments along the way,” Inyart said. “Overall though we’re on solid financial ground and we are working hard to make sure we are operating on a balanced budget.”

On the balanced budget, the city plans to work on a couple public works improvements in the future.

Inyart said the Waste Water Treatment Plant upgrade has begun.

The project is about $7 million, which is funded by an Illinois Environmental Protection Agency loan.

The Illinois EPA loan is accompanied by two bonus components including a 25 percent automatic reduction on the total cost of the loan and no interest rate.

“We’ll be paying back only 75 percent of what we borrowed and not paying any interest, saving us almost $4 million,” Inyart said.

About 6000 feet of an 18-inch water main will be installed; the new main will connect the treatment plant with the pipes that serve the city.

“We estimate that of the two lines which serve this purpose now, one was installed in the late 1800s and one in the early 1900s,” Inyart said.

Among other highlights, Inyart also spoke about the FutureGen plant possibly coming to Coles County.

“What a roller coaster ride it’s been,” Inyart said in reference to the plant. “Reports indicate we should know something (about the possibility of it coming to the area) in the next few weeks.”

Later in the evening, Carol Floyd, the 2009 Chamber of Commerce President, passed her gavel to Dale Wolf, the 2010 Chamber of Commerce President, but not before she summarized her year in charge.

This included the “Buy Local” campaign and converting the mailed newsletter to an electronic system.

After Wolf took the podium he spoke about his goals for next year, including buy local Tuesdays.

“We want to buy local all the time, but we will push for this to be done especially on Tuesdays,” Wolf said.

Panther Catering prepared and served the Hors d’oeuvres and meal for the event.

Kayleigh Zyskowski can be reached at 581-7943 or at kzyskowski@eiu.edu.