August 27, 2014

July still sees slight uptick from last two months

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Despite a slight uptick from the last two months, Moultrie County’s unemployment rate in July was still lower than any other central Illinois county, marking an ongoing trend throughout the current year.

At 5.8, the July rate, which tied for the 10th lowest in the state, was an uptick from 5.5 the two previous months, and so far the county enjoyed its lowest rate of the year in April at 5.4, which was the lowest in Moultrie since November of 2011 when it was 5.3.

Moultrie began 2014 with an unemployment rate of 7.3, which was also the lowest out of its neighboring counties. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
The new style of rural reference and street name signs, as seen at the intersection of Rt. 32 and the entrance to Bo Wood, includes mixed case as opposed to the now outdated all uppercase lettering.

August 13, 2014

2009 rules and routine wear prompt replacement

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

With routine replacement of traffic signs and regulations from 2009 dictating new retroreflectivity levels and upper and lower case street signs, Moultrie County is preparing to replace more than 2,000 regulatory, warning, and post mounted guide signs beginning this fall, not to mention 2,755 rural reference/street signs as needed.

At the monthly road and bridge committee meeting last Tuesday, it was announced that bids for the purchase of the 2,015 regulatory signs would open August 22.

According to county engineer Jeffrey Birch, the sign upgrade project comes with a program cost of $185,000, though a figure that is strictly for budgeting purposes. While there is an estimated cost for the project, which is typically lower than the program cost, Birch says that in order to have potential bidders bid “blind”, that estimate would need to be withheld.

“The program cost is a ‘best guess’ established by the agency at the time of preparing the annual budget and is a very rough ballpark figure,” explained Birch in a separate interview. “The estimate of cost is prepared  after the specifics to any contract have been determined.  The estimate of cost is a much more refined number.  Both numbers were prepared by the County Highway Department.” Read More

Photo by RR Best
Sullivan firefighters Trevor Hughes and Larry Edwards stand atop the burning Red Apple restaurant Tuesday morning.

July 30, 2014

Box-alarm fire devastates local restaurant

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

A blaze that lasted nearly two hours ravaged a restaurant in Sullivan Tuesday morning.

The Red Apple Family Restaurant caught fire shortly before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday according to Sullivan fire captain Chris Wright.

  Emergency personnel were paged out at 8:23 a.m. with the first fire company arriving at 8:25 a.m. Initial observations by emergency personnel included heavy dark smoke and fire coming out the back of the restaurant.

The first company entered the building only to discover zero visibility and that the fire was actually located above them in the attic.  Read More

July 23, 2014

Big aim is to avoid increasing maintenance costs

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

With new regulations and increased costs for purchasing and maintaining bus fleets, Sullivan schools may opt to begin leasing their busses, rather than purchasing them outright.

The need for a lease was discussed both during and after Sullivan schools transportation supervisor Cary Suhl’s annual transportation report last month.

In his report, Suhl explained that the district has 25 vehicles in its fleet, including 16 school busses and that bus drivers drove an average of 709 miles each day to get students to and from school at an average cost of $2,210.33 per day. For the 13-14 school year, the district’s fleet underwent 154,143 miles of travel, down 2,812 miles from a year ago. The majority of the fleet also enjoyed slightly better gas mileage this past school year, and the average cost per gallon of diesel had also fallen just less than 12 cents. The 13-14 budget stipulated $80,000 for fuel, but the total came in $14,573.07 less at $65,426.92 as of June 12. Read More