Ottawa Commissioners outline their goals for 2021

All of Ottawa’s city commissioners agreed that fiscal responsibility needs to be the city council’s priority for 2021 because of COVID-19 creating uncertainty in revenue – but that’s not to say there’s nothing to be excited about when it comes to their goals for the upcoming year.

Commissioner Marla Rodriguez said new playground equipment is going in at East Side Park, and the $305,100 in grant money for the Thornton Park project, which includes new equipment and a splash pad, will be available.

Commissioner Wayne Eichelkraut said the grant money the city has been able to get from the state of Illinois has been instrumental in organizing these projects.

“We’re out there financially to get as many grants as we can for the city, and we want to make sure we have revenues to cover our share of the grants,” Eichelkraut said.

For every grant the city of Ottawa gets, the city has to make sure it can cover a predetermined portion. In the case of the grant for Thornton Park, Ottawa had to cover $300,000.

“We’re currently working on a budget, and on that side of it, we have to look at revenues and forecast them,” Eichelkraut said. “We’ve been good at that in the past. We can actually properly control our budget that way.”

Eichelkraut said another goal is to ensure they can help as many restaurants and businesses as possible. The city has spent more than $714,000 to help local businesses affected by the pandemic obtain grants to keep them afloat.

Rodriguez said one of her goals is to partner with a painters union to see if they can get the Hilliard Bridge sculptures in Allen Park repainted.

“I know we have a special fund for it, so I’m hoping we’ll have enough money to cover the paint expense,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said she’d also like to see the Goose Creek Pedestrian Bridge on Champlain Street open back up, as it has been out of commission for about a year.

“That’s a project they’ll have to get figures on and reconstruct it,” Rodriguez said. “We need to get that sidewalk back open.”

The bridge crosses a creek, and crossing on the bridge on the road is a safety hazard.

Commissioner Tom Ganiere said he’s looking forward to the city replacing and repairing the various water mains that have been causing problems throughout the year. He said they also are looking at a project where it lines the sewers in certain areas as they’ve done in the past.

Ganiere said he looks forward to having the wastewater systems running as efficiently as possible.