2021/11/22 - Mayor's Column: Working Together
“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH
This week’s article is about some programs where we are working with other governmental agencies to help provide better amenities for our citizens and purchase items at less cost by working together.
I want to start this article with a BIG THANK YOU to Mayor Patty Gregory of Belleville, Mayor Mark Kupsky of Fairview Heights, and Superintendent Carrie Hruby of District 90 for their involvement in a new buying consortium. I also want to thank our own Greg Anderson for pulling it all together. That is correct; the Cities of O’Fallon, Fairview Heights, and Belleville, and District 90 have joined together on purchasing common items. This may be the first time in Southern Illinois that a group of different governmental bodies have gone out to bid together on Office Supplies.
I had originally reached out to several cities and school districts to see if they would be interested in going together to try to get lower prices for our different entities through a collaborative buying effort on commonly used office supplies. I can’t say enough about the cooperation that we have received from those mentioned above as we have moved forward with this.
If this is successful in saving money for all concerned, we can look at expanding it in the future to others that may be interested in participating and/or looking at other common items that we may all need to purchase for our entities.
I also need to give a thank you to our Public Works Director, Jeff Taylor; St. Clair County Board Member and Managing Director of St. Clair County Transit District, Ken Sharkey and Tony Erwin, Director of Facilities for the Transit District for their efforts on working together to provide new and improved biking and walking trails in the St. Ellen Mine area. This was a joint effort to add to and improve some old paths that needed some work.
This is important because this could tie into some other future trails that we may jointly work on that would extend these trails further in the future. In the new 2040 Master Plan walking and biking trails were an item that was constantly brought up.
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open.