Residents of Charleston may be forced to change their activities in their own yard after today’s city council meeting.

An ordinance pertaining to the discharge of certain weapons within the city limits will be updated during the meeting at 7 p.m. in City Hall.

“Some things on this list many people don’t consider weapons, but they are still things that could hurt them or their neighbors,” Mayor John Inyart said.

The former definition of a weapon is a firearm, air gun or BB gun; however, the updated list will prohibit the discharge of any weapon that projects pellets, arrows, missiles or any other projectiles.

“This includes compound bows used for hunting, which the resident may want to use for target practice in their yard,” Inyart said. “The problem with that is there is a possibility of the projectile going off of one’s property; that’s our concern.”

The council will also take a final vote on the hazardous waste bill. This bill was introduced at the last city council meeting and was tabled for public inspection.

The bill will hold any individual or company accountable for the cost of any chemicals spilled, which must be cleaned and removed by the Charleston Fire Department.

While keeping pollution of the area in mind, a resolution to accept a grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency will be addressed by the council as well.

The grant is a non-point source pollution grant, which will be used to aid in the care of Lake Charleston.

“We have been awarded this grant that will be used to create a watershed management plan,” Inyart said.

The plan would map out items needing to be done to the area surrounding the watershed management plant maps out, which drains into Lake Charleston; the source of Charleston’s drinking water.

The goals outlined in the plans are to cut down erosion and increase the quality of the water in the lake.

The grant will reimburse 75 percent of the project; the remaining 25 percent will be paid from the city’s water and sewer fund.

Along with the grant, the council will vote on a resolution to execute the agreement for V3 Companies of Illinois, Ltd. to prepare the watershed management plan. The company has worked with management plans along the Embarrass River in the past.

With the agreement, the project should not exceed $45,000.

Two bond issues will also be addressed during the meeting.

“We do this every year, these are manual exemptions we must do,” Inyart said.

The first bond issue deals with a 2003 bond, which provided more than $9 million to pay for the upgrade to the Water Treatment Plant.

“This says, we will not levy additional taxes for this payment of these bonds but we will pay for them out of another source,” Inyart said.

In this case, the substituting source is the water and sewer fund and income from residents’ water bills.

“This is something we agreed to do when we issued this bond,” Inyart said. “When we abate the tax money, it means we are not going to collect those taxes any longer.”

The second bond issue obtained in 2004 allowed $1.5 million toward the upgrades of the Rotary Pool.

This money will now be paid for out of general funds along with user fees.

The council will discuss a policy pertaining to public records for the first time since 2006.

At the beginning of this year, the state made significant changes in the Freedom of Information Act.

“This policy basically aligns our local ordinances with the state’s new rules,” Inyart said.

The new policy outlines the process of requesting information, definitions of words used in the policy and a list of the costs for certain types of public documents.

The Charleston Tourism Advisory Board has recommended the council to allow funding from the city’s tourism fund be given to the College of Arts and Humanities to cover expenses relating to the Celebration: A Festival of the Arts. The advisory board has been recommended $1,500 for the event, held April 23 to 25.

The funding will come from the tourism fund, which is accumulated by the hotel/motel tax money. This money goes into a separate fund to be granted to different organizations for advertising expenses, which would bring more visitors to Charleston, Inyart said.

In the middle of winter, Charleston’s Red, White and Blue Committee, which is in charge of the city’s 4th of July celebration, has hired Joe Nichols as the entertainment for the event with a $25,000 contract.

The concert, which is traditionally free, will be held at 8 p.m. July 3 in Morton Park.

The city will vote to authorize the contract to host the singer.

Finally, an announcement will be made by Inyart to reappoint Keith Perry to the Fire and Police Board of Commissioners for a second term.

Two raffle licenses will also be voted on along with the consent agenda.

Kayleigh Zyskowski can be reached at 581-7942 or kzyskowski@eiu.edu.