City Council lifts local state of emergency, mask mandate
Councilman Dennis Malak steps up for Charleston Mayor Brandon Combs, who was absent at the City Council meeting on Mar. 1 at City Hall. Malak is addressing the public to see if there is any audience presentation. At the meeting the Council stopped declaring a local state of emergency because of the state-wide lift on mask requirements.
March 1, 2022
The Charleston City Council voted 5-0 in favor of ending the local state of emergency during the meeting Tuesday night.
In the absence of Charleston Mayor Brandon Combs, Charleston City Manager Scott Smith said that there was no need to keep the mask mandate because of the state-wide mandate that masks are no longer required across Illinois.
The council approved the petition for two front yard setbacks for the R1 single family residential district, commonly known as 990 11th Street.
The setback includes a 14-foot setback facing west and a nine-foot setback facing east.
The council approved the purchase of a $33,280 Ford F150, including the trade-in of a 2001 Dodge Ram 2500.
The purchase replaced the current assistant fire chief, Tim Meister’s, command truck.
The bid was given to the Morrow Brothers Ford in Greenfield, Ill.
The purchase was included in the FY 2021/22 budget.
Although Charleston Mayor Brandon Combs was absent, the appointment of Stacy Lynn to a three-year term on the Charleston Historic Preservation Commission was approved.
Lynn will be replacing Brian Jones, the director of parks & recreation.
Councilman Dennis Malak says his thanks to Jones.
“Brian’s been with us for a long time, he’s done a fabulous job and I wish Brian the best,” Malak said. “Brian, thank you very much for your service.”
The council approved two raffle licenses, the City of Charleston Employee Recognition Dinner, on March 24, and the Children’s Advocacy Center of East Central Illinois on April 24 at 6 p.m.
Funds from the Employee Recognition raffle will be used to “recognize and give a little something back to our dedicated employees.”
Funds from the Children’s Advocacy Center raffle will be used to support the operation of the agency, specifically things not covered by grant funding.
To be eligible for either raffle, you must be an employee of one of the following: business, charitable, educational, fraternal, labor, nonprofit, religious, veterans’ organizations or a law enforcement agency.
The license fee costs $10 with cash or checks made out to the City of Charleston.
Rob Le Cates can be reached at 581-2812 or rllecates@eiu.edu.
