The Fairfield City Council met for their regular meeting last (Tuesday) night at Fairfield City Hall. Fairfield Police Chief, Keith Colclasure spoke to the council and crowd in attendance on the recent retirement of Silas Eckleberry from the police department. Chief Colclasure stated Eckleberry retires with 35 years of service, beginning his career as a patrol officer in May of 1989 and ending his career on June 28th. During his career, Eckleberry was a member of the Southern Illinois Drug Task Force and also served as Assistant Police Chief and as a Sergeant on the force. Mayor Gary Moore congratulated Eckleberry on his retirement and presented him with a plaque for his years of service.
Jill Andrews from the Kiddie Kollege addressed the council regarding the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and read a brief statement on the history of the program. Families in Wayne County can enroll their child(ren) ages birth to five to receive a FREE book each month in the mail until they turn five years of age. The Dollywood Foundation pays for infrastructure costs such as managing enrollment, coordinating mailing and negotiating bulk wholesale costs of the books. The remaining costs are shared by the State of Illinois and Read SI, whose members successfully raised the necessary funds to launch the program. As enrollment grows, so will the funding needs. Securing support from community members will be ongoing. The cost is $13.30 per child, per year. The total cost per year for all Wayne County children will be $14,495 per year. Mayor Moore read a proclamation stating today, July 10th as Dolly Parton Imagination Library Day in Wayne County. A special launch event will be held this morning at 9:30 at Kiddie Kollege. A registration table will be set up for parents who would like assistance in enrolling their child and the event is open to the public and area businesses/organizations and all childcare providers and early childhood service providers are encouraged to attend.
Travis Williams from the airport addressed the council on the pavement maintenance and pavement markings project. Williams stated these projects are much needed as the pavement is deteriorating in areas on the runway and pavement markings are needed to help with assistance when approaching aircraft prepares to land. The council approved this project for the airport. The council also approved the street maintenance project with three areas of the city to be addressed. An ordinance passed with council approval to create an agreement regarding the reimbursement of Police Officer and Firefighter training, certification and equipment cost. Mayor Moore says the agreement would be for a three year period requiring new officers hired to work for the city before leaving for another department. It will help the city also on being reimbursed for academy expenses should the officer decide to break the agreement before the three years is up.
The city council unanimously approved the hiring of four police officers. Mayor Moore says with the retirement of Eckleberry, the department has seven patrolmen with two of those officers preparing to return to School Resource Officer duty for the upcoming school year which would then leave five officers to patrol the city. The department recently conducted testing of six candidates with four now undergoing background checks. Pending the outcome of the background checks, these four candidates will begin police training academy in August for 16 weeks.
Mayor Moore gave an update on the watershed program at the Lakeside Park reservoir. Monday night, a public hearing was held with a good crowd in attendance. Moore says the city was given options on how to proceed with the project, all coming in at a different cost to the city. Federal grant money could be utilized to help alleviate the costs when and if that money becomes available and the Mayor says this is a two to three project and the city needs input from the residents on how to proceed. Mayor Moore emphasized on how important this is and is encouraging city residents to contact an alderman or city hall and voice their opinion. The question is; Do residents want to leave the area the way it currently is OR do residents want to see water return to the Lakeside Park reservoir? Again, contact your alderman or Fairfield City Hall and voice your opinion on the matter.
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