Page 4 - Wayne Carl News Today

The National Railroad Hall of Fame remains focused on building a new multi-million dollar visitors center museum in downtown Galesburg.

Gerald Smith will begin in Galesburg in the next 30 to 45 days.

A master plan on possible community center locations was presented to the Galesburg City Council Monday.

Galesburg aldermen on Monday approved the hire of a new City manager as a part of a work session but the council was divided. Gerald Smith was not present at the meeting but is expected to start work in the next 30 to 45 days. Larry Cox, Bradley Hix, Wayne Dennis voted against the contract. Cox says Smith's starting salary is too "costly for the city". Cox says Smith would be starting near the top of the salary schedule and with a comparable benefit package to where Todd Thompson ...

Galesburg Aldermen have a work session planned for Monday night where they likely will hire a new city manager and may provide direction on the future of a community center. Peoria-based Farnsworth Group was hired by the council to create a "master plan" for a new community center. Farnsworth officials are expected to provide details about converting four different spaces into a community center; including the Hawthorne Pool and Churchill Junior High. Farnsworth has already done a surv...

WGIL reported last week on the City of Galesburg applying for an Open Space Land Acquisition and Development grant to help cover the costs of renovating Lancaster Park. But there's a larger city park that's already been approved for last year's OSLAD grant and bids are expected to go out in the spring. Interim City Manager Wayne Carl announced at Monday's Council meeting that the city is in the process of selecting a design firm. The scope of H.T.'s renovations include a...

A project to modernize traffic signal equipment is coming to Galesburg. The public will not notice any significant changes as a result of the new traffic signals, however the project will provide added efficiency and reliability for the city. The project includes a total of 12 signalized intersections along Henderson Street, and at Main and Farnham streets. City Engineer Aaron Gavin tells WGIL the signal heads themselves will not be modified and there will be no additional signals. The improvem...

Galesburg City Council approved an addendum to the Collective Bargaining Agreement with the city's police union on Monday night that will shift police employees to a new schedule. Officers would work 12-hour shifts instead of 8 hours, have more days off, including an opportunity for younger officers to have weekends off. The change isn't immediate. Jan. 1 of 2023 is when it goes into effect. The City has described this as an effort to both recruit officers and support current officers....

Galesburg City Council will review four possible locations for a new community center during an upcoming Sept. 26 work session.

Galesburg Police officers could be putting in longer days next year. A recent agreement between the City of Galesburg and the Public Safety Employees Organization calls for police personnel to work 12-hour shifts, opposed to the current 8-hour shifts. If approved by the Galesburg City Council at its Monday meeting, the new work schedule would start Jan. 1. The change to 12-hour shifts is a recruitment and retention strategy that will also reduce overtime costs. According to the city council agen...