Effingham officials discuss alert system following Teutopolis evacuation

Oct. 5—The Effingham City Council this week discussed the city's community alerts, which are sent to residents through TextMyGov, in the wake of the recent tragedy just outside of neighboring Teutopolis.

The Sept. 29 T-town accident involved a truck transporting anhydrous ammonia and claimed five lives, injured several others and forced the evacuation of area residents.

"With what happened with T-town last weekend, it's even more important, the text messages that we get when there are things of that nature," Effingham City Commissioner Hank Stephens said during the council's regular meeting Tuesday. "Should we try to push that again?"

Effingham Deputy City Administrator Dennis Presley told Stephens that the city has been working to market the alert system, occasionally uploading posts to Facebook reminding residents to sign up for the alerts.

"Could we do more? Absolutely," Presley said. "But it continually picks up with more subscribers all the time."

To sign up to receive alerts from the city, according to the city's website, residents can text "EFFINGHAM" to 91896.

Also in reference to the accident, Effingham Fire Chief Brant Yochum reported that one truck and three firefighters from his department responded to the area to assist other first responders.

"They did a fantastic job, and they were very brave in their efforts," Yochum said.

In other matters, Effingham Police Chief Jason McFarland announced the promotion of Scott Volpi to sergeant and the promotion of Aaron Lange to lieutenant.

Lange has been with the Effingham Police Department for 20 years while Volpi has been with the department for 23 years.

"Both officers have decades of experience and bring a lot of training and wisdom to the table," McFarland said.

McFarland presented both officers with new badges and certificates recognizing their promotions.

Also during the council's meeting, Effingham Economic Development Director Todd Hull announced that the city has submitted its application to annex three properties into the Effingham/Effingham County Enterprise Zone.

The application was recently approved by the city of Effingham, Effingham County and Teutopolis.

"They have up to a month to approve that," Hull said. "We feel pretty good about the application."

Meanwhile, Effingham Public Works Director Jeremy Heuerman said the paving at the intersection of Evergreen Avenue and Willenborg Street has been completed.

"It's looking great," Heuerman said. "We should hopefully be opening that road very soon."

"That project is just over $100,000 under budget which is fantastic."

In other matters, the council:

—Approved an ordinance authorizing the purchase of real property for utility purposes from Ruth Rhodes, et al.

—Authorized the submission and acceptance of a participation agreement for an Economic Development Grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation for the city's Stevens Industries, Inc. expansion project.

—Authorized the acceptance of a proposal from Culy Contracting, LLC., in the amount of $37,618.00 for the city's 2023 Manhole Rehabilitation Project.

—Authorized a revision to the city's master agreement for traffic signal maintenance and the apportionment of energy cost with the Illinois Department of Transportation, adding new traffic signals at the intersection of U.S. Route 45 and the south ramps of I-57 and I-70. The Illinois Department of Transportation will be responsible for the cost of maintaining the signals.

—Approved change order no. 1 from Effingham Asphalt Company for the first phase of the city's 2023 Resurfacing Project which reduces the city's contract cost by $43,030.72.

—Approved a certificate of completion from Effingham Asphalt Company for the completion of the first phase of the city's 2023 Resurfacing Project.

—Authorized a $1,000 grant to Effingham Mini Golf for improvements.

Nick Taylor can be reached at nick.taylor@effinghamdailynews.com or by phone at 618-510-9226 or 217-347-7151 ext. 300132.