Galesburg City Council met last night and as a part of their consent agenda alderman voted to renew the program which lets all Carl Sandburg College students, staff and faculty ride the city and no cost to the individual.
The ride passes are funded by a grant from Sandburg.
Amber Conour, Office Manager for Galesburg Transit came to speak on behalf of extending the program.
“We’ve seen nothing but good things come from the students who… before were very limited in what they could and couldn’t do on the buses,” said Conour. “Whether it was because they were trying to choose between paying for transportation or paying for meals or different expenses that they had at home.”
Conour added that the lessening of financial burden on students perhaps made it so more could attend the community college.
Sandburg Student Life Coordinator Genny Stevens added that ridership for their students on Galesburg Transit has gone up 18 percent since the previous year.
Alderman also approved a new water play feature for Lakeside SplashZone.
The play equipment costing around $250,000 is expected to be installed by next summer swim season.
City Manager Todd Thompson says that the city had budgeted to replace this feature.
He says they aimed to have a feature appealing for a larger share of children and because of the aging of the current equipment.
Thompson says they received two bids but administration was recommending the higher bid, “We think it’s a bigger and better facility that will get more use out of older children and we think that it’s the best value.”
Alderman Wayne Dennis questioned whether the recommended bid was really worth an extra $44,000, the difference between the low bid.
Parks and Rec Director Tony Oligney-Estill says that Vortex’s bid is a bigger structure, has more elements and suits toddlers up to 13 year olds.
He also said that the other bid proposed wasn’t very detailed and he didn’t feel they got enough information to recommend their bid.
