City Council to vote on annexation agreement, prevailing wage rates

Stephanie Markham, Editor-in-Chief

The Charleston City Council will vote Tuesday on the final annexation agreement for the “20 Acre Woods” subdivision Luxury Homes will build just west of Charleston.

A public hearing regarding the subdivision will take place at 6:15 p.m. before the regularly scheduled 6:30 p.m. meeting.

City Clerk Deborah Muller said the city is required to hold a public hearing before officially approving a subdivision.

“That’s when people can come and if they have concerns about annexing a given piece of property they can voice those concerns,” she said. “If they would like to see it happen they can certainly offer their testimonies that it would be a favorable thing.”

Three ordinances on the agenda must be approved for the subdivision to be set for development.

These include recognizing the annexation agreement, annexing the property to the city of Charleston and zoning the property.

City Planner Steve Pamperin will be conducting the public hearing and reviewing Luxury Homes’ petition to make sure it complies with the state statutes for an annexation.

At its June 16 meeting, the council gave conditional approval to Luxury Homes’ concept plan and preliminary plat, and the Board of Zoning and Appeals has since reviewed the council’s conditions and recommended those items for final approval, Pamperin said.

“The zoning board had their action a couple weeks ago, and now those findings are coming to the City Council (Tuesday) for their final consideration,” he said.

The council will also vote on a resolution to adopt the prevailing wage rates established by the Illinois Department of Labor.

“We are required to adopt the prevailing wage rate by our ordinances,” Muller said. “We do that every year beginning with the July prevailing wage rate that is published by the Illinois Department of Labor.”

She said this establishes the hourly pay rate for a long list of positions, such as boiler maker, brick maker and carpenter. Muller said she will be publishing these rates and sending copies to the Illinois Department of Labor to ensure Charleston is complying with state requirements.

“It lists exactly what the base pay is, and these are the amounts that we have to adhere to,” she said.

She said the list also includes dates specific to Coles County that these amounts apply to, such as holiday pay rates.

“It’s kind of an interesting process, but every single category will be listed on there for primarily for public works type operations,” she said.

The council will meet at 6:15 p.m. for the public hearing and at 6:30 p.m. for the regular meeting Tuesday in City Hall.

Stephanie Markham can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].