News

Backpack Program granted $3,000

Published by admin on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 6:42pm

The Coal City Backpack program serves to keep kids nourished and as it begins to wrap up its fifth school year it received a boost from Exelon Generation.
The power generator recently presented the non-profit help organization with a $3,000 grant to aid its efforts to provide supplemental food to children in the Unit 1 School District.
Throughout the school year, the Backpack program provides students in need with supplemental food twice each week—Tuesdays and Fridays. The bags contain items like macaroni and cheese, fruit snacks and fruit cups, juice and crackers.

Developer dedicates land for municipal improvement

Published by admin on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 6:41pm

An unimproved, grassy area west of DiPaolo Drive between two improved sections of Oak Street is being dedicated to the village of Coal City.
Property owner Jim Fredin has agreed to dedicate the land to the village providing it the right-of-way needed to install a new gravity fed sanitary sewer, and at some time in the future to construct a roadway to connect the two sections of Oak Street.
Village trustees accepted the right-of-way and approved entering into a development agreement with Fredin with regard to future road construction.

Utility rates going up, utility bills going down

Published by admin on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 6:39pm

Coal City residents will be paying more for every shower, load of laundry and garden watering, actually every drop of water consumed in the village will cost a bit more now that town officials approved a 9 percent rate increase. However, the good news for residents is they will be paying less overall.
Each year the village reviews its rate structure and total expenses according to a formula that takes into consideration the various costs to operate the system.

Police board retroactively approves officers

Published by admin on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 6:34pm

Ten Braidwood police officers have gained retroactive approval from the city’s Police and Fire Board, during a brief meeting that attracted several residents looking for answers.

On April 12, the members of the board – Wayne Saltzman, Roger Patterson, and Michael Colavecci – voted unanimously to approve the certification of the officers, some of whom have been working for the city for as many as three years.

According to the Illinois Municipal Code, the board is required to appoint members of the police department, and to issue certificates to those appointees/hires.

Soucie termination case remains in limbo

Published by admin on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 6:32pm

Braidwood’s former deputy chief will remain on paid leave, with no end in sight to the internal case surrounding her employment with the city.

On March 25, a Will County judge dismissed a counterclaim by the city of Braidwood against former Deputy Chief Michelle Soucie, thus granting her petition for a permenant injunction against the Police and Fire Board.

An Easter Eggs-travaganza at Old Smokey!

Published by admin on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 6:30pm

The weather was sunny and pleasant as a record number of children turned out to enjoy a good old fashioned Easter Egg scramble at Old Smokey City Park on Saturday, April 13.

The park District hosted its annual Easter Egg Hunt, welcoming a total of 271 children to the park this year, the largest in the history of the event.

The parks provided 1,000 for each of the three age groups represented, all of which were scooped up by the exited children in just minutes.

The children also got to visit with the Easter Bunny himself.

Vehrs offers assistance to new council

Published by admin on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 6:27pm

Braidwood’s outgoing mayor has offered an olive branch to the new administration, letting the incoming mayor and commissioners know that he’s available to help out with a smooth transition.

On April 9, during a regular meeting of the City Council, Vehrs gave a nod to the mayor — and commissioners-elect who won office on April 2.

Jones the winner in five-way race

Published by admin on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 6:25pm

For months, residents of the city of Braidwood endured political bickering and back and forth, with accusations of money misspent and promises to do better.

On election day, voters in the city turned out in numbers stronger than the majority of Will County, and picked four of five new representatives for City Council.

The unofficial results of the April 2 race show Bob Jones, owner of Joneseez and a one-time Water Commissioner for the city, winning the five-way mayoral race by a margin of 38 votes.

Explosives found, destroyed at farm

Published by admin on Tue, 04/16/2019 - 1:01pm

The Cook county bomb squad detonated five sticks of dynamite found at a farm in Wesley Township on Tuesday morning.
The Will County Sheriff’s Department received a call on Monday, April 15, from the current owner of the old Butterfield family farm on Route 102, just north of Chicago Road near Ritchie. The farm sold recently, and the new owner moved in.
According to the sheriff’s office, the new owner was cleaning out a three-story barn when he ran across a cardboard box with five sticks of dynamite inside.

Bad-rap rock removed: Park to open by week’s end

Published by admin on Tue, 04/09/2019 - 7:15pm

    Those two big piles of rock that were being stored in the South Island Park near the dam are nearly gone, along with the city’s hopes for using it to save lives.
    The rock was donated to the city by the Union Pacific Railroad. Once the railroad built a new bridge over the Kankakee River, it dismantled the old bridge. The rock piles were the bulk of the limestone piers. The railroad saved the cost of disposal by giving the rock to the city, and Mayor Roy Strong hoped to use it for fill at the base of the river dam to eliminate the boil that has claimed so many lives.