The Morgan County Commissioners are doing what they can for small businesses in the area. The commissioners approved an application Monday morning for the Downstate Small Business Stabilization program for the Triangle Bar & Grill in Woodson. County Planner Dusty Douglas says that the bar will be eligible in the next round of grants for up to $25,000 after the first round was granted by the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity last week.
The Commissioners also amended the fees for bars & grills in the county when they apply for their liquor license. Normally, businesses pay two installment of $525 for their license each fiscal year. The commissioners voted to lower the second installment for this year down to $300. Commissioner Bill Meier says it was just the right thing to do: “Chairman [Bradley] Zeller and I talked about this, and I think it’s the right move on the board’s part because these folks have been left out in the woods for the past 3 months now. That’s kind of how we looked at it. We just want to make sure that they still have to pay by July 1st.”
In other business on Monday, the board approved a bid of $312,530 for bridge construction over the Snake Creek branch on the Arcadia Road. County Engineer Matt Coultas told the board that the project will last about 2 months and will begin once all paperwork is finalized. “The contractor wanted to start this week, but I don’t think that’s going to happen with all the signatures on paperwork we still need to get. I think it’s a 40-day contract cycle, so I’d say it’s approximately 2 months.”
Coultas said that work on the Arenzville Bridge is almost complete, and traffic should be able to resume sometime by the end of this week barring any further delays in materials arriving for final construction.
County Treasurer Jenny Geirnaeirt wanted to remind Morgan County citizens that the next round of property tax payments are due today – June 10th. “We are seeing money come in fairly well. We are still trying to encourage people to pay outside of the courthouse due to the constraints of social distancing. We have a dropbox in the back of the courthouse. They can mail it in. They can go to any local bank in Morgan County that is not U.S. Bank and pay there. If they do come in the courthouse, they do obviously have to wear a mask, and if there is a line, we have a place where they can take a number and they have designated areas where they need to stand. We are also asking that they have their check made out so they don’t have to stand at the counter and write up the check so we can limit that physical contact. Unless people have multiple parcels, we would ask that they call and make an appointment ahead of time. I know that many farmers have multiple parcels. We encourage them to give us a call to come in at a scheduled time.”
The next Morgan County Commissioners meeting is scheduled for 9AM on Monday June 15th.