Macon County Shared Vision

Water Supply Issues: A Letter from former Mayor Howley

[This was written by former Mayor Howley to the City Council.]

Tonight's the Decatur City Council will begin an important study session which promises to attain a long-range solution to Decatur's water supply issue. The following facts are pertinent to the Council’s decision-making process and hopefully will be considered:

• Water supply has been at the top of this city's priority list since the lake was built in 1920 due to the concentration of large industrial users in the city,
• There have been dozens of studies completed since the 1940's about increasing the capacity of our lake,
• There have been dozens of studies completed since the 1940's about decreasing the amount of silt entering into Lake Decatur from the Sangamon River watershed,
• Most of these studies, paid for with taxpayer dollars, are sitting on shelves in the Public Works library and have never been fully implemented,
• Decatur makes enough water daily for a city of approx 300,000 population (approximately 38 million gallons per day “MGPD”),
• Our water supply currently is replenished from the Sangamon River, Big Creek, and Sand Creek and other small streams that feed into our lake. In total over 960 square miles provide water to Lake Decatur,
• Normal daily inflow from the Sangamon River averages 225 MGPD, at present that is down to about 5 MGPD (according to Jon Smith of the City),
• The Decatur Sanitary District processes approximately 30-32 MGPD of waste water through their system every day of the year,
• After processing this treated discharge daily, the sanitary district of Decatur discharges a similar amount down the Sangamon River.

Perhaps one of the most important and least discussed alternatives is:

Can this processed water from the city be recycled back to ADM, SWTP or the Lake on a daily basis rather than discharged downstream?

Is this not one of the most logical steps towards preserving this precious water resource so vital to our community? The city and county have sponsored a re-cycling program for several years dealing with newspaper, aluminum, plastic and glass containers. Yet we have not exhausted the possibility of recycling our water. We have all heard that the water supply is not the problem in Macon County. It is the management of those resources that is in question. There is plenty of water here. Our challenge is not to store more water but to ask that it be managed correctly by those entities who make and treat it on a daily basis.

Water Supply Issues; A Letter to the Mayor

Dear Mayor Osborne and Council Members,

Macon County Shared Vision tries to promote an informed and constructive dialogue about pro-growth policies in our community. Maintaining adequate water supplies for citizens is a primary responsibility of city government. We all must accept our collective responsibility for a robust water supply. The Decatur City Council’s consideration of options for meeting the water needs of our community may lead to the most important decisions over three to four decades.

Simply the intent of this correspondence is to encourage you

• be open with the citizens of Decatur,
• consider adverse consequences of funding options,
• examine all options for water supplies,
• exhaust all funding alternatives, and,
• carefully monitor all cost estimates.

Growth Friendly and Large Companies

Growth Friendly practices refers to actions of our community and government when we embrace companies that want to expand in our community. When companies expand in our county, it creates economic growth, jobs and an improved quality of life for everyone.

Large companies may invest many millions each into Macon County. ADM for example, invests over $600 million per year throughout the company. Caterpillar invests $2.4 billion per year. PPG Industries invests nearly $300 million per year in its business. While local investment by these companies is not public information, we can be sure hundreds of millions are invested here over time. In addition, these large companies also invest in other suppliers or acquisitions that may also benefit Decatur & Macon County.

When a large enterprise invests in a community, it makes a long-term commitment to the community. If we want to be a competitive community, we must be committed to these enterprises. Fair local taxes, quality of local schools and quality of local infrastructure is critical the success and return on investment that they have committed here. Every day we must be aware that our government affects these companies, their employees and each company's plans to invest more capital.

MCSV wants to promote Growth Friendly practices for all companies that seek to grow here. While many jobs get created by small and growing companies, we already have many jobs and potential for growth from large companies with a presence here. As we have seen recently, these existing employers can be an excellent source of growth. They also can be our best ambassadors in recruiting others to Macon County. We must convey to these companies that they are valued here. Being Growth Friendly to larger companies means things like:

1 - Providing reliable local resources like water, labor, transportation and education. Just as important are dependable utilities like electricity, natural gas and communications. When we permit disruption in these resources without considering the consequences on these large investments, we are not being Growth Friendly. Instead, our government must be vigilant about being a reliable and dependable partner. A major priority must be assuring reliable resources. Growth Friendly means being sure that we optimize the availability of resources that are essential to large companies here. (Reliable resources doesn't mean excessive resources.)

2 - Local preference purchasing is a sound policy for local governments. Small differences in the purchase cost from local companies would symbolize the appreciation of taxpayers and government for the jobs and investment in our community.

3 - Friendly and helpful enforcement of local laws. All business must comply with regulations applicable to them. Government officials have an important responsibility to protect the community by enforcing these regulations. Yet, this enforcement should be friendly and helpful. When building codes are enforced they should be done so in a way that is fair and helpful to growth.

We believe that government leaders should formalize a process to listen to and respond to the needs of large companies in our community. We must be sure that each large company here know that they are valued and supported in the community. Growth Friendly practices will benefit the entire community with new investment, jobs and economic growth for years to come.

Need Growth Friendly Practices

Originally published 8/19/2005 (also in Herald and Review)

Despite significant and praiseworthy efforts over the last several years, economic prosperity occurring throughout the country continues to by-pass Decatur and Macon County. Local policies in Macon County hinder our “community competitiveness” which is required to attract investment and jobs. Most economic indicators show this effect. Housing starts are less than one-third the level in competing counties. Unemployment rates are 45% percent higher than the average of the three competing counties. Our population continues a decline. We can and must do better.

Community Competitiveness & Investment

Investment is the life-blood of job growth and economic prosperity. Investment only flows into communities with local policies that nurture investment. Investment leads to jobs and improved quality of life in many ways. Investment may take the form of research facilities, new office parks or professional buildings, increased plant and equipment for manufacturers, new or rehabilitated retail locations and housing development.

Neighboring communities that offer growth oriented local policies attract investment away from others. Local policies have a direct effect on tax burden, school quality, economic development practices and government effectiveness. Within Central Illinois, neighboring communities are growing while Macon County struggles to attract investment and jobs. We can and must be more competitive as a community.

Other factors also affect investors’ choice of location. These include work force experience, environmental factors and quality of life. When investment flows into a community, these other factors improve dramatically.

“Growth Friendly” Policies & Practices

“Growth Friendly” policies and practices are the governmental actions, or regulation, that affect the ease of investing in a community. This regulation includes planning and zoning requirements, building codes, construction permits and inspection, and, coordination of economic development resources. When these policies and practices are constructive, investors can expect projects to be completed on budget and on schedule. Investment and jobs flow to “growth friendly” communities and away from non-friendly communities.

Unreasonable regulation of construction, development or other investing activity decreases return for investors and adds to uncertainty. Businesses will choose to invest where profits are highest and uncertainty is lowest. For example, California had a history of excessive regulation that contributed to a significant flight of business interests to neighboring states in the 1990’s. When governmental actions hinder construction and development the “friction” that results discourages future investments and creates a negative reputation.

Best Practices

To maximize community competitiveness, we must adopt and consistently apply “best practice” techniques to regulation of investment, construction and development. Best practices are superior techniques used in communities to enhance their economic development efforts.

In Champaign, the various economic development organizations are located in the same office space to provide a single point of contact. Rantoul established the reputation that when city leaders decide to support a project, all stakeholders in the city work together to complete it. Springfield and Bloomington have become known as easy to work with to obtain zoning variances or plan approvals. Each of these “best practices” demonstrate that the communities understand that investors and developers are “clients” and have a choice of where to invest.

We applaud the recent efforts of the City of Decatur Construction Management Team to improve certain practices effecting contractors and developers. We expect that this is the first of several improvements to the inspection processes. These process improvements demonstrate the kind of helpful attitude so important to investment and economic growth.

Promote a “Growth Friendly” Community

We encourage the City Council, City Manager and the entire economic development team in Macon County to be opportunistic with “Growth Friendly” Policies and Practices.  Macon County Shared Vision will promote ideas to develop Decatur’s reputation as a "Growth Friendly" community. These ideas include:

• Assignment of a city council member as a liaison to each investment or development project in the city where more than $100,000 is being invested in a commercial or job-creating project. Initially, this may best be accomplished once a project is approved.

• Conduct a formal semi-annual survey of client/users of city planning/inspection services to measure "how we are doing" in being responsive and helpful to contractors, developers and investors.

• Co-locate the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County with governmental entities involved in the economic development process to provide a single-point of contact for investors and enhanced coordination.

• Periodically review the "best practices" of successful communities to identify and apply these techniques in Decatur & Macon County.

• Identify "friction" causing activities and eliminate them. Refine the inspection approval process to make it friendly, responsive and effective during planning and construction.

• Create a communication “flyer” to notify developers, contractors and investors of techniques to improve the planning and inspection process and avoid common problems that interfere with timely completion of projects.