The first meeting of 2019 for the Fairbury City Council was a rather short one.
During the 15-minute session, the group took care of four new business items – one of which included a request from Metro Communication Company, Inc. to lay fiber optic cable in the city right-of-way. Mayor David Slagel reported the cable is coming all the way from Chenoa and will travel along Route 24 before heading down Clay Street to a tower.
“They apparently have a point of presence there already,” Slagel said.
According to a letter from the company, the proposed buried cable will be placed using a plowing and directional boring method and the surface terminals and markers will not interfere from regular highway travel.
The group authorized Mike Mellott and Bob Ziegenhorn to attend the 37th annual technical conference of the Illinois Rural Water Association (IRWA) in Effingham Feb. 19-21 in the amount of $350 for member registration costs and $190 plus tax for two-night hotel accommodations.
Street Superintendent Martin Steidinger discussed the need for a new skidder. He said a dealer has one on the lot which would be cheaper than a new one and the current one could go to the sewer department. Steidinger would like a committee meeting to review different quotes.
“We’d like to bring it to the council,” he said.
A committee-of-the-whole meeting was scheduled for Jan. 9 at 6 p.m.
During council comments, Alderman Jerry Hoffman wondered about getting a recycling report and how things were going with the effort. Steidinger said recycling has never been a money maker for the city and probably never would be. A recycling summary will be available in the summer.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting the Fairbury City Council:
-Paid membership dues to the Fairbury Area Chamber of Commerce in the amount of $325.
-Approved an agreement with Metro Ag at a rate of $.049/gallon with a 400,000-gallon minimum for removing excess lime at the lagoon and land application.
-Appointed Dale Diller as an authorized agent for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.
