Miller: Collinsville’s future plans tied to state budget

Collinsville Mayor John Miller, who was re-elected Tuesday by a margin of 221 votes, said he wants to continue “just the total development and redevelopment of the city.”

Miller, 67, defeated City Councilman Mike Tognarelli with 1,417 votes, according to unofficial results. Tognarelli had 1,196 votes.

Miller said his re-election campaign for a second term was “extremely low profile” and so was his celebration.

“I had both daughters and all seven grandchildren with me at home when we were watching the returns,” he said. “I’m not a party person, and I didn’t have a big festivity planned. ... I was with my family and enjoyed my grandkids hooping and hollering when the numbers came in.”

There are plans for future projects but Miller said the city will likely focus on the short-term while state budget cuts remain uncertain.

“We can’t really do a lot of serious planning of spending money until we know how much money we’re going to lose with the 2015 fiscal budget in the state of Illinois,” Miller said in an interview Thursday.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s proposed state budget includes a decrease to the Local Government Distributive Fund — the income tax for municipalities. A reduction to the fund could mean about $1.2 million lost for Collinsville, according to Miller.

Miller said that loss of funding would make upcoming contract negotiations challenging.

“We do have five labor unions (in which) contracts are up next year that we have to start negotiating,” Miller said. “It’s going to be a very difficult time for us to negotiate when we have a limited amount of funds and we don’t know how much we’re going to lose because that Local Government Distributive Fund, that goes into the General Fund, which helps pay salaries.”

The city will however see some increase in revenue because of a medical cannabis retail store that Health Central LLC of Effingham plans to open in Eastport Plaza.

“The money is secondary to me on what it will bring to the city,” Miller said. “It will be a financial boost to the city. But the thing is, medical trends are strange. We take a product like cannabis that was outlawed for so long in this country and then we find another use for it, which is beneficial.”

Miller said he is not in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana, but he has seen first-hand situations in which medical marijuana would be helpful.

“In my years in the fire department, we would go out on children with seizure activity and they’re helpless. It’s a problem,” he said. “If there’s something that could help them and help their parents get through and make that child’s life a little bit better because they can take this cannabis oil and it decreases the amount of seizures that they have, isn’t that well worth it? Why shouldn’t we be involved in helping to make people more comfortable and live normal lives?”

Miller will be working on the issues of budget cuts and medical cannabis with two new councilmen: Cheryl Brombolich and Richard “Jeff” Stehman.

Brombolich is retired from working for the city after 31 years.

“She was my city clerk,” Miller said. “Cheryl is a very educated person as far as what’s going on in the city. Probably one of the most knowledgeable persons about city activities, the biddings and the documents. ... I think that she will be an asset to the council.”

Miller said Stehman, who is the building and zoning supervisor for O’Fallon, will also be an asset with his knowledge of how government runs.

“He’s been doing that for a long time over at the city of O’Fallon. I’m looking forward to him bringing that knowledge with him here,” Miller said. “I think he will be a good fit with our Community Development Department and bring new ideas and information on those issues.”

Miller said he has confidence in both the new councilmen because they are lifelong residents of Collinsville in addition to their experience “so they really care about the city prospering.”

Some visible projects in the works in Collinsville are water main replacements on roads, including on Clay Street where a streetscape program will be implemented after the infrastructure is ready, the Summit Avenue Bridge and others. The Collins Park project — part of the city’s Uptown Master Plan — soon will be added to the list as the City Council approved asbestos abatement and demolition bids at its March 23 meeting.

“We’ve got a crew coming in next Monday starting on the Collins Park,” Miller said.

The plan is to move the Collins House west onto the corner that will be considered Collins Park, and a welcome center at the western entrance to the uptown. The property where the Martha Manning building is located will be leveled and the council will begin taking proposals from developers to build.

Across the street from that future development will be a new restaurant Reifschneider’s Grill and Grape, with five lofts above its location. Miller said the restaurant is “hoping to open in early fall.”

This story was originally published April 9, 2015 at 4:23 PM.