The City of Jacksonville is taking another step toward the long term goal of improving Lake Mauvaisterre Monday night.
The Jacksonville City Council approved unanimously a resolution for an intergovernmental grant agreement with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency during their regular meeting.
Adam Fox of Benton and Associates says the intergovernmental agreement is part of the exploratory phase of eventually constructing a dam at the lake.
“It is an agreement between the city of Jacksonville and the Illinois environmental protection agency, in regards to a section 3-19 grant. That would split the cost of funding, a design, and permitting phase of the project for protection and reclamation of Lake Mauvaisterre. Looking at the possibilities for constructing an in lake damn to capture sediment and nutrients that are now coming into the lake from the water shed.”
Fox says the grant would help cover costs in the first steps the city needs to take to see if building such a dam would be feasible.
“Planning, design, permitting and once we would get thorough this we would be able to flush out potential options for the sediment damn. At that point then we could come back to the city and present those options and if we have a permit in hand for that then it would also open us up for potential future funding opportunities and grant funds that could potentially be available to help fund for construction of such project at that time.”
In other business at last night’s meeting, the Council approved a first reading of the appropriations ordinance for fiscal year 2021. The ordinance gives the city the legal permission needed to spend tax monies throughout the year.
The ordinance sets the appropriations at 10% above the budget, which for this year is just over $43.4 million-dollars. The second reading will be heard during the council’s February meeting.
The council also approved the reduction of the number of liquor licenses in the city, following the closure of the JP Convenience Store, Ponderosa and Lira’s Italian Restaurant.
All three agenda items received unanimous votes of approval by the council.