Code official leaving

The city of Vandalia will begin a search for a new code official, one that the mayor hopes will not take long to complete.
Mayor Rick Gottman announced at Monday’s city council meeting that Keith Meadows will be stepping down as code official in the near future.
Gottman said that Meadows, who has served as the city’s code official for a little more than 11 years, will be moving with his wife, Anita, to Missouri, to be near their daughter and new grandchild.
The mayor made the announcement, then asked that the council waive the term in Meadows’s contract that requires him to give the city 60 days notice upon leaving the job.
The council approved that action, allowing Meadows to give the city two weeks notice in the event he finds a job prior to the end of his current contract, which expires in May, and is asked to give less than two months notice.
Meadows said on Wednesday that he will stay through the end of his contract unless he lands a new job before May.
“Keith has done a good job for us, cleaning up the city and so forth,” Gottman said.
The mayor said that he would like to have Meadows’s successor on board before Meadows leaves the post.
Also at Monday’s meeting, Gottman informed aldermen that they would not, as expected, be voting on a liquor issue.
Rick Cripe, who is building a multi-plex cinema in the city’s west Interstate 70 interchange, had filed a request for a beer and wine license, and the council was scheduled to vote Monday on increasing the number of licenses, with the mayor – as the city’s liquor commissioner – to rule on the issuance of the license.
But Gottman told aldermen that Cripe had asked to have the issue removed from the agenda.
In other action:
• The council approved two Tax Increment Financing grants, and amended a grant award it approved two weeks ago.
The council OK’d a $7,500 grant for KRJ Properties, with Bill Haselhorst to use the funds to expand his business at 703 Janett Avenue. Haselhorst said that he plans to add oil changes and small engine repair to his auto detailing business.
The council also approved a $7,500 grant for Dennis Grubaugh, who will apply the funds toward façade enhancement, structural repairs, new windows, floor repairs and plumbing in his building at 308 W. Gallatin St.
Two weeks after approving an $8,500 grant award to Vandalia Capitol for improvements in the Old Capitol Shopping Center, the council increased that award to $15,000.
The grant award is for improvements that include new concrete in some areas, and Alderman Mike Hobler suggested a higher grant award if the property owner agreed to improve the Gallatin Street entry.
Gottman told the council that Vandalia Capitol had agreed to make that improvement.
• The council approved the minutes of the Zoning Board of Adjustments meeting on Sept. 5.
At that meeting, the board unanimously approved a request from Lucas and Sally Emerick for a 9-foot front yard setback where a 25-foot setback is required. They made the request so that they could replace the front porch on their residence at 612 W. Edwards St.
• Hobler, as chairman of the Vandalia Lake committee, announced that the lake campgrounds will close for the season on Oct. 15.
• Gottman reported that a dedication ceremony for improvements made at the Old State Burial Ground by members of Girl Scout Troop No. 382 will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12.
• Alderman Terry Beesley, chairman of the water and sewer committee, reported that water plant employees have had to use liquid chlorine recently to treat city water, due to the ineffectiveness of gas chlorine in hotter weather. That has caused a slight chlorine test.
• The council observed a moment of silence for retired businessman Maurice Shulman and for Willow Long, the 7-year-old Watson girl who was murdered last week.