Illinois Valley Times

The city of Oglesby responds to some residents' complaints about communication in the city.

“I think there's there is miscommunication here and some misinterpretation,” Commissioner Terry Eutis said during the meeting. “All we can do is going forward, do a better job of working together, communicating better. And you know that I'm a supporter of yours, and I think this is a simple fix I'm sorry for the mistake.”

The council uploaded a livestream of its meeting to the city’s Facebook page.

At their February 21st city council meeting, the city council received a resident who came out to talk about We Are Oglesby, a nonprofit organization made up of local residents and businesses seeking to revitalize and grow the Oglesby community and economy. Brandy Day, the president of the organization, shared that their vision and focus were similar to that of the city council, yet they have not been able to join forces with the city thus far to be able to increase their efforts and resources to best serve Oglesby. She used the example of a recent winter parade for their collaboration, which went very well, however, a more permanent and long-standing relationship has not been established and she feels there has been a blockade from the city.

The council voted on paying $8 million for a transformer at the Mallick substation from Virginia Transformers.

Day pointed out a recent event involving a mapping project that We Are Oglesby had been working on for several months. The community mapping project involved putting up several you are here signs, as well as directional signs pointing to shops, restaurants, and bars in the downtown area to improve and increase customer traffic in the area. We Are Oglesby had been working with local organizations, ensuring code compliance for the signs, and was very excited about the future of the program, when they were notified that the city would be effectively taking over the project.

The council will meet again at 7 p.m. on Monday at 110 East Walnut Street.

Members of the city council responded, saying that they aren’t intending to take over the project, but they are contacting state representatives and signage companies to try and get funding and plans in place for this project. They also claimed that they have not heard the city was taking over the project, thinking they were continuing the partnership with the nonprofit. Eutis suggested creating a joint commission between the city and We Are Oglesby to improve communication and partnership, making the most efficient use of everyone’s time and resources.