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2017/12/20 - Walter's Blog: My Best Of 2017 List

As we come to the end of another year, it is common to see “Best of” lists in newspapers, magazines, and web sites. I am not too proud to jump on the bandwagon, so here is my “Best of the City of O’Fallon 2017” (not necessarily ranked in priority order).

Municipal Elections

O’Fallon’s political landscape changed significantly in 2017. After 20 years in office, Mayor Gary Graham retired. Herb Roach was elected mayor in a tight election against Phil Goodwin. In addition, Jerry Mouser was elected as the new City Clerk and four new aldermen were elected: Ross Rosenberg (Ward 1), Mark Morton (Ward 4), Andrew Lopinot (Ward 5), and Dan Witt (Ward 7). A retreat was held in June to discuss how the City Council wanted to move forward and a strategic planning session was held in October to set priorities for the next budget year.

Budget

Budget challenges continued to be the rule for 2017. The state government finally approved an annual budget but the state’s structural deficits remain. Amid this uncertainty, we continued to be conservative in our budgeting. The City Council approved a reduction in the City’s property tax levy and we will continue to focus on proper stewardship of taxpayer dollars and to provide high quality services to O’Fallon residents.

Economic Development

In the wake of the state government’s financial insolvency, we are focusing on economic development to improve our local economy. Destination O’Fallon is a comprehensive economic development strategy to create destinations to attract visitors to O’Fallon and to attract new businesses to locate in O’Fallon to grow the local economy.

Creating destinations:

  • St. Elizabeth’s Hospital: The new hospital and medical office building opened on November 4 to great acclaim. The medical campus is providing exceptional health care to O’Fallon residents and is providing an economic stimulus to area businesses due to increased traffic of patients, visitors, and hospital employees.
  • Family Sports Park Expansion: The new all-weather soccer fields opened in September and attracted more than 550 teams to play in regional and national tournaments in O’Fallon. Many of these teams stayed in O’Fallon hotels and spent money in O’Fallon stores and restaurants. It is estimated the new fields will generate over $10 million in economic impact per year to O’Fallon.
  • McKendree Metro Rec-Plex: The ice rink, aquatic center, and fitness center opened in January and is home McKendree University hockey, swimming, diving, and water polo teams. In addition, the complex is used by age group hockey and swimming teams. The RecPlex is already attracting hockey tournaments, swimming meets, and other events.

Attracting Businesses:

  • Marriott Town Place Suites: This new hotel is under construction and is located on Regency Park Drive across from the Hilton Garden Inn and Regency Conference Center.
  • Old City Hall: The vacant building is being remodeled for commercial use in historic downtown O’Fallon and will soon house the Karla Smith Foundation.
  • 200 S. Lincoln: The old FirstBank building was purchased by the City several years ago but was sold in 2017 to the Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation for medical offices.
  • Bike Surgeon: The popular store opened on State Street and is adding to the vibrant Downtown O’Fallon.
  • Dewey’s Pizza: This distinctive restaurant opened in December to great reviews.
  • Sugarfire BBQ: Currently under construction on Green Mount Road next to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital.
  • Metro East Motor Sports: A major expansion was completed in 2017 at their existing store on the Frontage Road and they now sell Indian motorcycles in addition to their other sports vehicles.
  • Starbucks Coffee: A vacant restaurant building on W. Hwy. 50 was demolished and a new Starbucks is under construction.
  • Dollar General: A new store is under construction on W. Hwy. 50 to replace the store in Southview Plaza.

Public Infrastructure

2017 was another busy year for construction. Here are some highlights:

  • Milburn School Road: The last section of the road was completed in September. We received a state grant for this project.
  • Presidential Streets stormwater improvements: Phase 2 was completed in October and included drainage and road improvements through the older part of town. This is funded through the voter-approved Proposition S ½-cent sales tax.
  • Green Mount Road: As part of the St. Elizabeth’s Medical Campus improvements, Green Mount was widened to five lanes with landscaped medians between Regency Park Drive and Hwy. 50. We received a state grant for this project.
  • Rieder Road/I-64 interchange (Exit 21): This is not a City project, but the interchange opened in 2017 and will provide economic development opportunities along Rieder Road and Shiloh Valley Township Road.

O’Fallon Illuminated Holiday Parade

On the brink of death, the annual parade was revived by Beth Ortega and an array of O’Fallon volunteers. The parade turned out to be one of the biggest ever and appears to have an illuminating future.

Recognition

Finally, we said goodbye to four elected officials in 2017. As mentioned previously, Gary Graham retired as mayor after 20 years in office. His leadership transformed the community as O’Fallon grew from 19,000 people in 1997 to over 30,000 people in 2017. Phil Goodwin also served as City Clerk for 20 years and was instrumental in bringing transparency to the organization with televised City Council meetings and easier access to public records. Long-serving aldermen Gene McCoskey and Harlan Gerrish retired in 2017 after distinguished terms on the O’Fallon City Council, and Chris Hursey was not elected after being appointed to the Council following Michael Bennett’s retirement in 2016. All five of these gentlemen are thoughtful public servants who love O’Fallon and devoted many hours to making O’Fallon the special community it is today. I am thankful for their service and O’Fallon is better because of them.