After working with the university, the city will vote tonight on a resolution closing sections of Seventh Street and making other sections into one-way streets in preparation for the new Doudna Fine Arts building.

On the agenda for the council is a resolution detailing plans for Seventh Street in conjunction with the building that is scheduled to be completed in 2005.

Because of private property restraints on north Seventh Street near Lincoln Avenue across from campus, the university proposed to the city to close the street for pedestrian use starting at about the steam plant or even the Blair Hall parking lot and would reach the Tarble Arts Center, said Mayor Dan Cougill.

For the parts of Seventh Street that are left on the furthest ends of the street next to campus, Cougill said the segment near Lincoln Avenue would most likely be turned into a one-way street going southbound but said he wasn’t sure what the university planned for the south end of the street near Andrews Hall.

Closing off that part of Seventh Street would cost the university $480,000, however, Cougill said if the plans follow as they have been, the city would convert that amount into semester hours that would equal 4,444 semester hours for 10 years. In that 10 years the city could ask the university for any number of those hours at a time.

“We get to take them whenever we want,” he said.

Through this plan the city could benefit from inflation of semester hours at Eastern and the university would not have to come up with $480,000 right away.

In addition, Cougill said this plan would allow the city to use the money generated to create six to seven full-paid scholarships for Charleston students to Eastern and still have some money left over.

Cougill said he expects the council to pass the resolution tonight or at its next meeting on Dec. 17. After that, the university must take the plan to be approved by the Board of Trustees.

Also on tonight’s council agenda is the annual tax levy. Cougill said the members would discuss the levy and possible rates but most likely nothing will be decided.

Last on the agenda is an ordinance allowing Cellular One to use the cellular communications tower that is located at 1611 Redbud Road on Illinois Route 16 between Charleston and Mattoon. Cougill said the company intends to improve its coverage by using the city’s tower.

The council meets at 7:30 p.m. at the municipal building located at 520 Jackson Ave., and the meeting is open to the public.