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2022/10/03 - Mayor's Column: Three Items of Importance

“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH

This week I want to share with you three items that should be of interest to all our citizens.

First off, let’s talk about our superior level of safety in O’Fallon. I often get asked about safe O’Fallon is as a place to live, work and visit. I thought that I would share with you some information from the Federal Crime Data per 1,000 citizens. I compared this with other cities of populations of 20,000 or more in our local area (Alton, Belleville, Collinsville, Edwardsville, and Granite City).

  • From 2019 to 2021, our crime rate has decreased by 10%
  • O’Fallon’s crime rate is over 40% below the average rate of the other 5 communities.
  • O’Fallon’s crime rate is over 25% below the National Average for each of the last 3 years.

Second, I wanted to share some information about electrical rates. The consortium of cities here in Illinois that we have worked with for over 8 years is still in negotiations to try to secure lower electrical rates than those that Ameren is going to be offering to our citizens. Our current contract with Homefield Energy will come to an end in December 2022.  By going with these other cities in this aggregation program for the past 8 years has produced a significant savings for each household that has taken advantage of it.

Lastly, I want to share information and encourage everyone to attend the upcoming Town Hall Meeting on October 5, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. The main topic covered will be the upcoming enhancements at Community Park.

Over the next two years, the Community Park will undergo some major changes.  Everyone is invited to attend my Town Hall meeting at 6:30 PM at City Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 5th to hear about some of the plans and to give your input before any final designs are done.  We hope you can make it in person, but you can also participate online through Zoom.

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.