The annual Brian J. Munz scholarships were presented at Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Fairbury City Council at City Hall.
Recipients were as follows:
Kylie A. Bazzell – daughter of firefighter Greg Bazzell. Kylie is a 2020 graduate of Prairie Central and plans to attend Heartland Community College for two years before transferring to a university for her Bachelor’s Degree in marketing with a minor in communications.
Mitchell Gregory Bazzell – son of firefighter Greg Bazzell. Mitchell attends Western Oklahoma State College pursuing an Associate’s Degree in Ag Business and then will continue on to Oklahoma Panhandle State University for his Bachelor’s Degree.
April Kristi Barnes – SELCAS employee. April is currently taking prerequisites at Heartland Community College with the intention of pursuing an Accelerated BSN at Mennonite College of Nursing.
Rebecca Mae Steffen – SELCAS employee. Rebecca will attend Illinois State University in the fall and work toward obtaining her Bachelor’s in Nursing through the RN-BSN program.
Milan Chad Leman – SELCAS employee. Milan has been attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for the past two years majoring in Technical Systems Management with a minor in Ag Health and Safety.
Paul Earl Leman – son of SELCAS EMT Kim Leman. Paul has been a student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for the last year where he is pursuing a Bachelor’s in Science and Mechanical Engineering.
Loretta Mae Knapp – SELCAS volunteer. Loretta began classes June 17 at OSF St. James Medical Center in Pontiac to become a paramedic.
Also at Wednesday’s Fairbury City Council meeting, the group decided to open up the swimming pool to anyone, effective immediately. The pool had been open Monday through Saturday for Fairbury residents and open to everyone on Sunday.
“It almost seems there’s room to open it up,” Mayor David Slagel said.
The pool’s current capacity is listed as 289 and the Illinois Department of Public Health is currently restricting that to 50 percent capacity. In the handful of days the pool has been open, it saw 67 swimmers on Saturday, 106 Sunday, 84 Monday, 88 Tuesday and 74 as of early Wednesday afternoon.
Alderman Gary Norris acknowledged the hard work from city crews to get the pool up and running this summer.
“I know the kids really appreciate being able to use it again.”
A decision on replacing the inner doors at Stafford Community Center was tabled until someone from the Boys and Girls Club shares more information with the council. City Superintendent Brett Ashburn reported the gym doors need to be replaced and there are no doors to the bathrooms.
“It would be nice to have something installed in there,” he said.
Police Chief Robert McCormick said his recruits are back at the academy and are expected to graduate this month. He also thanked the community for the support shown to the local department recently.
“This really does lift the morale of the officers who feel the pressure of what’s going on,” McCormick explained.
In other action, the Fairbury City Council:
-Approved the consent agenda, which included the June 17 minutes, voucher invoice register, treasurer’s cash report and overtime report.
-Amended the zoning classification of real estate on west Pine Street from residential to commercial to allow a storage shed.
-Considered the 2020-2021 appropriation, with a hearing scheduled for July 15 prior to that night’s City Council meeting when the ordinance will be considered for action.
