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Galesburg Mayor talks business climate, challenges for the City

The Galesburg Area Chamber of Commerce held its Local Legislative Luncheon on Monday. The luncheon is an opportunity to hear from elected leadership on city and county legislative issues. Galesburg Mayor John Pritchard spoke to the crowd where he emphasized how the business climate in Galesburg has shifted. “(When I was first elected Mayor) we had a fairly unfavorable business climate,” Pritchard said. “I think that’s changed. We’re still working with the same ordinances and codes that we’ve always worked with. We’ve started from the position of “What can we do to help you?” (instead of) “This is what you can and cannot do” – I think that makes a world of difference. In all the meetings I’ve had with outside developers, and talking with the community, I hear really positive results from that.”  Pritchard said he thinks the city is doing a good job at supplying a developer with all the information they would need when looking to develop in Galesburg. The mayor also said he thinks some codes are too complex. As an example, he indicated fire codes being complex – how the fire department must keep a consultant on-hand to explain certain codes. He said in regards to fire codes, the council will be looking at proposals to simplify definitions – so that explaining certain codes and ordinances will become easier.

In regards to the long-term challenges, Pritchard said the most important issue for the city is adding living-wage-paying jobs. In the short-term, the city is focusing on opportunities and threats. One concern involved Amtrak. “One of the major concerns we have today is we think the new leadership at Amtrak may be the type of folks…one day we may get up in the morning and discover the Southwest Chief is no longer running,” Pritchard said. “So we’re concerned with building a coalition along the routes of those long, cross-country trains that go through town – to make sure no sudden administrative decision is made that ends that service to our community.”  The mayor said over 100,000 travelers use that line every year – and those that conduct business in Chicago find it to be a handy mode of transportation.

Another fundamental problem that Pritchard touched on was a structural deficit. He said the wages, health insurance, and expenses of the city grow at a rate much greater than the natural growth rate of revenue. Pritchard says he’s anticipating projections for the upcoming year, and at that time, he said the city and the city council will have decisions to make on mitigating any deficits.

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