The Charleston City Council will vote on the weapons ordinance during today’s meeting at 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of City Hall.

During the last meeting, the ordinance was put on public file for public inspection.

Since the meeting, Mayor John Inyart has received feedback from both sides on the issue.

“I have heard from people who say we are trying to micromanage their lives and I have heard from people who think it is a good idea to bring the city ordinance in line with what the state recommends,” Inyart said.

If passed, the ordinance would limit the kinds of weapons that could be discharged within city limits to eliminate any type of weapon projecting pellets, arrows or missiles.

In addition to the weapons ordinance, the city council will address four items for the first time.

The council will also look at an ordinance to authorize the Charleston Carnegie Public Library for a tax anticipation note.

This will allow the library to borrow their tax money early from the bank in either April or May. Once the library receives the tax money in the fall, the money will have to be returned.

The loan will not exceed $300,000 and the interest rate will be about 1.96 percent.

With a positive vote by the council, an upgrade would be done to Charleston’s wastewater treatment plant by replacing the turbine blowers.

The turbine blowers force air into the treatment liquids to allow oxygen to aid in the organic breakdown of the solids within the waste, Inyart said.

The upgrade project will cost $53,000; however, the more energy efficient turbines could save the city $65,000 annually by using the more energy efficient technology.

“Essentially, this could pay for itself within the first year,” Inyart said.

Currently, two small turbine blowers are used but the new installment would include a single KTurbo turbine blowers.

The final ordinance the council may amend is the Unified Development code.

During the Board of Planning Appeals and Zoning meeting on Feb. 11, the board recommended two adaptations of the city’s code.

The first recommendation would add wind towers and turbines to the list of acceptable structures within city limits.

“People will eventually start asking for permission to site wind turbines within the city limits and we will have to have new language within the code to address those requests,” Inyart said.

The second recommendation has been made to amend the acceptable distance a fire lane must be from a building, adjusting the distance from 20 feet to 25 feet.

If passed, the construction of sidewalks would be allowed with the additional five feet of space, Inyart said.

In other business:

With a council member participating from a remote location, three raffle licenses will be voted on along with the consent agenda.

The St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church has requested a street closure for June 13. Ninth Street from Madison Avenue to Jefferson Avenue, Jefferson Avenue between Ninth Street and 10th Street and finally, 10th Street between Madison Avenue to Adams Avenue will be closed from 7 a.m. to midnight for the Summer Start-up Festival.

Finally, Inyart will appoint Dan Corrie to the Historic Preservation Commission

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