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Plans Still on Hold for Galesburg Community Center

T.J. Carson
The Galesburg Boys and Girls Club has been the preferred location for aldermen to host a community center.

The Galesburg City Council this week voted in favor of making the Boys and Girls Club the city’s community center. But the plan will not be allowed to proceed -- at least not yet.

Only five of the seven aldermen were present, and City Attorney John Hanlon said the three-to-two vote was not good enough to make the action official.

“The vote was to spend city money and the city code requires a concurrence of a majority of all council members holding office, which would be four out of the seven, in order to spend money,” Hanlon said.

Hanlon said the rule is under Section 30.19 (E) of the city’s municipal code.

Under the agreement with the Boys and Girls Club, the city would give the organization around $115,000 over a five-year period for capital improvements and salary costs.

This is not the first delay for the plan.  A vote on the agreement was tabled earlier this month because some aldermen thought the decision should be made by the next city council.  Winners of the April 7 election will be sworn into office next month.
 

When the proposal was brought off the table this week, aldermen Corine Andersen, Peter Schwartzman, and Jeremy Karlin voted yes, while Russell Fleming and Wayne Allen voted no.

Aldermen Ken Goad and Wayne Dennis missed the meeting.

The city council is now expected vote on the agreement again on May 4 after the new city council is sworn in.

Angela Bastian will replace Goad in Ward 1 in the only change on the council. Bastian did not comment about how she would vote on the issue.