Area changes were developed, implemented and revised by Charleston City Council as students took advantage of a few month’s vacation.

The city’s portion of Doudna Fine Arts Center’s Seventh Street expansion project is progressing both financially and developmentally, said Mayor Dan Cougill.

Financially, nine Eastern students were awarded the scholarship credit hours Eastern exchanged for the portion of Seventh Street.

The road, valued at $480,000, was sold to the university for 4,444 credit hours last semester to be administered at the city’s will over 10 years.

“When Eastern announced they were serious about the fine arts project, we agreed to swap the road for credit hours,” Cougill said. “I think it was a win-win situation that benefited both parties.”

The credit hours were administered to Charleston residents based on a list of criteria.

“The university helped accomplish one of our goals: to put students (in college) who couldn’t necessarily afford to go to college, but deserve to go because of grades, their work in the community and so on,” Cougill said.

They must have graduated from Charleston High School, received an Eastern acceptance letter and displayed an active interest in the community through volunteer work.

Financial need was also considered in the credit hour assignments.

Sara Frankie, Kurt Ramsey, Shane Reichart, Raymond Tomshack, Erin Warpenburg, Thomas McElwee, Brittany Barker, Jessica Matthews and Andrew Mounce were the chosen recipients.

Originally, the city expected to only award seven scholarships, but state financial aid awards made an additional two awards possible.

“We wanted to work this thing so it benefits as many students as we can possibly benefit,” Cougill said.

Award recipients can reapply for the scholarship for future academic years at Eastern if they maintain a worthy image and a 2.50 Grade Point Average.

As a developmental response to the project, Seventh Street’s stoplight will be moved to the Ninth and Lincoln intersection.

“We started by upgrading and widening Ninth Street with the idea that when Seventh Street closed the traffic would move to Ninth Street,” Cougill said.

Once implemented, the lights will remain at the Ninth and Lincoln intersection.

Mayor Cougill said the city is hopeful the Illinois Department of Transportation will have the lights set up this fall.

In other business, plans to widen sidewalks surrounding the courthouse to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements made no progress this summer.

The city proposed a project to widen sidewalks, rebuild a retaining wall, increase the number of parking spaces around the square and insert new street lights.

Resident fears of tampering with the courthouse’s historic integrity led to plan adaptations and delays.

“Absolutely nothing progressive happened,” Cougill said. “It won’t be done this year.”

The council will meet again 7:30 p.m. next Tuesday at the City Hall Council Chamber on Jackson Avenue.

Campus editor Carly Mullady can be reached at: [email protected]