The Charleston City Council passed two ordinances allowing Charleston House to lease its common areas and offer short-term rentals at the City Council meeting on Tuesday.
Charleston House is a bed and breakfast located at 956 Sixth St. The property was previously owned by the Eastern chapter of the Sigma Pi Fraternity.
Joshua Craig, the owner of Charleston House, proposed the two ordinances. One ordinance permits Charleston House to lease its common areas for social gatherings, and the other ordinance allows for short-term rentals of the property.
Sally Cougill came forward during the public comment section of the meeting.
Cougill thanked City Council and said her husband and former Mayor of Charleston Dan Cougill, who died in January 2025, would be proud of City Council for passing the ordinances.
“I know Dan would be very pleased too if he were here to be able to speak to us about it. The Sullivans and I appreciate what Joshua’s doing and what is happening in our neighborhood,” Cougill said.
According to Cougill, the area has changed because of the bed and breakfast.
“Our neighborhood has kind of done a flip. It’s very, very meaningful to us,” Cougill said.
The council also granted a standard scavenger license to Rumpke Waste and Recycling to provide waste hauling services in the city. The company currently provides service on Eastern Illinois University’s campus.
Rumpke was previously granted a temporary license when one of the four slots for city scavenger licenses became available.
Another ordinance was passed that would allow Charleston to modify specific sections of Title X of the Unified Development Code. Previously, the section stated that the Charleston Board of Zoning, Appeals and Planning was mandated to meet at least once a month for the transaction of business.
However, there is not always business to be discussed during each monthly meeting. The amendment change will allow the members to meet only when necessary.
“Codes get outdated. Things get changed, and sometimes you need to amend them to bring them up to speed,” Mayor Brandon Combs said.
The council also accepted a grant from the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board for the reimbursement of money used to purchase in-car cameras in Charleston police vehicles.
The city has purchased nine cameras from COBAN Technologies Inc., costing $56,430.
The council then approved a permanent utility easement at the Charleston Carnegie Public Library.
The utility easement will house electric vehicle charging stations available to the public. This comes after a grant of $50,000 from REACH Strategies was accepted to aid in the funding of electrical vehicle infrastructure at an October 2025 meeting.
“It’s the higher trafficked areas and where we’ll have those for people to be able to use,” Combs said.
Olivia Clardy can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]
