Rameen: Coming up on City Spotlight, we are talking Mattoon with the Mayor of Mattoon, Tim Grover, and Mattoon City Administrator Kyle Gill, who will discuss community pride in Mattoon, updates on public works projects, and the latest economic development in Mattoon.

We will talk about Mattoon businesses with Ed Dowd of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce.

That's next on City Spotlight.

[music playing]City Spotlight is supported by Consolidated Communications.

CCI is honored to salute the cities and their leaders in the area, as well as providing TV, Internet, and phone service for the local homes and businesses.

We live where we work, and are proud to support the communities we serve.

More information available at consolidated.com.Thank you to all of you for joining us for another edition of City Spotlight.

We are talking Mattoon today, and we'd like to welcome back to the program the Mayor of Mattoon, Tim Gover.

Tim: Thank you.

Glad to be here.

Rameen: And Mattoon's City Administrator Kyle Gill.

Kyle: Thank you.

Rameen: Great to have you guys back on.

Last time we talked was toward the end of May, so before the start of summer, a lot of projects and business things.

We've got a lot to talk about here.

Let's start with public works, Tim and Kyle.

We've talked about community pride a number of times when we've talked with you guys about Mattoon.

We've noticed some demolition going on in different parts of town.

Can you tell us some of the spots?

Kyle: Yeah, well, we'll start with the public works.

The public works we're doing, Marshall Avenue from 6th to 9th, the intersection at 9th street got taken care of in a 2-week period.

It was very smooth and it was open before school started.

It alleviated some congestion.

They're continuing to work down there.

I think they're done with the storm sewers, and are actually working on the pavement now.

Everything's running really smooth, and they've ramped up that.

Also, with the Heritage Park, we're on schedule with that.

We hope to have the main construction part all completed by the end of this month, maybe the middle of October.

Then, you'll start seeing plantings being put in in the October timeframe, and then probably finished up next spring.

Rameen: Very good.

Let's- Tim: As a lot of people know, Heritage Park is on 17th and Broadway.

Kyle mentioned the project on Marshall.

That's one phase of three phases.

Next year, we'll do from 9th to 14th Street, and then, the following year, 14th to 17th Street.

Rameen: Busy street for Mattoon, and the Heritage Park there is also in the downtown area.

I saw the work that was being done there at the beginning of June, and look forward to seeing the finished product there.

Anything else going on in downtown Mattoon as far as businesses or being worked on in that area?

Kyle: We're in communications with a couple of other different people of looking for some spots downtown.

Plus, there is a building at the 1300 block of Broadway, 1300 Broadway, that was just recently purchased, actually, I think, yesterday.

They will be putting their business in there and expanding another business in there as well.

Rameen: Very good.

Tim: Also, downtown, KC Summers has moved into their new facility there on Charleston and 19th Street.

That's a nice new addition to the downtown area as well.

Rameen: You can't miss it.

It's pretty big.

Tim: It is.

Rameen: All right.

Very good.

We've also talked about a couple of times, is the waste water treatment facility, the satellite facility.

We talk about sewer work and the various towns here on City Spotlight.

It's not something that you see worked on every day.

It's man-hours, a lot of man-hours and money involved.

Talk about that.

Where is that going?

Kyle: Yeah.

We're on track with that as well.

We've putting in a lot of hours.

We've had some heavy rains this summer.

That slowed some things down with mud washing into it.

They cleaned it out.

Curry Construction is doing an excellent job on that.

It's on schedule.

We hope to have it completed towards the end of the year.

Rameen: Tim, I know we talked beforehand about sewer and water lines, and the age of some of them in some of our central Illinois communities.

To continue to work to improve those has got to be the focus of every town.

Tim: Absolutely.

There are water and sewer lines in Mattoon, Charleston, every community, that are over 100 years old.

Nothing lasts forever.

Some of them are starting to deteriorate and fall apart.

As we can, as we have the money, we're trying to upgrade those various facilities.

Rameen: Any other public works things, or shall we move on to- Kyle: We actually did start the construction of the public works building.

It's under construction now.

Rameen: Excellent.

Very good.

Tim: That's on East Dewitt Avenue.

Rameen: Correct.

That's right.

Tim: People would probably be going by there seeing some of the equipment being moved around.

We're looking forward to getting that started and getting it completed.

Rameen: Started, completion, probably next year.

Tim: Yeah.

Next year.

Rameen: Very good.

All right.

Let's talk about some economic development.

I think a starting point would probably be over near the Interstate.

We have that area.

What's the latest on Fujiyama?

Tim: Well, they're working on it now inside.

They're planning to open, the last I heard, around the end of the year.

Rameen: Okay.

Very good.

That's the old Cody's, as everybody knows.

Tim: Yes.

Rameen: There's also a bank just to the west of that.

Tim: First National Bank is putting in their wealth department there, which we used to call the trust department, but now, wealth management.

That's coming along very nicely and they're hoping to be in there before too long.

Rameen: Very good.

Let's hop to the south, across Charleston Avenue there, the Dettro Drive intersection there.

We have some things going on there.

Talk of a road there, a new road, going around Wal Mart there.

Tim: Yeah, a new road will go around Wal Mart.

It will be on the west side of Wal Mart, off of 16.

That will then wrap around the back of Wal Mart and connect to Dettro Drive.

I'm hoping once that is completed, that it will spur some additional economic development in that particular area.

Rameen: That would definitely be a bonus, as well as we notice the heavy traffic that does go on at that intersection.

You guys also told me about an additional lane at that intersection as well.

Kyle: Yeah, as you mentioned, the heavy traffic.

Part of that, with that road being in there, we're also looking at expanding that intersection, widening it out to have two lanes turning back towards Mattoon and still have one turning toward Charleston, and hopefully, alleviate some of the back-up traffic that we have there, especially towards the holiday season, or Thursday, Friday nights, people going out to eat.

Two lanes back to Mattoon will hopefully get people through the intersection a little bit faster.

Rameen: In this case, heavy traffic is a good thing, because that means people are going to all those places.

Tim: Right.

Kyle: Correct.

Tim: All right, talking about that area also, Sarah Bush has announced they have purchased approximately two acres of land there on Dettro Drive south of where their walk-in clinic is now, and they plan to put a new clinic building there.

Then, also, south of that, at the intersection of Dettro Drive and Country Club Road, a memory care facility will be going in there, a 33-bed, I believe, or 33 room facility.

Rameen: Correct.

Also in that area, the people are seeing this here at the start of October, Staples will be, should be, the time that it's been told it will be ceasing business around that time in the beginning of October.

Tough blow, it's been there for 18 years in Mattoon.

At least, in another way, it's in a great location and could be a good place for something down the road.

Kyle: Yeah.

The Chamber director and I have already been in contact with the owners of the property.

They're talking to retailers, trying to get somebody to occupy it.

We are actually reaching out to retailers as well.

It is a prime location, being right there on Charleston Avenue, one of the heaviest traffic areas between there and the Wal Mart.

That's a positive note.

Hopefully, that will give us a good building that we can get a new retail, something different that we don't have in town.

Rameen: It's very visible from Charleston Avenue, whether you're leaving Mattoon or coming into Mattoon.

We'll talk to Ed Dowd, the Chamber director, later in the program as well.

That area, specifically, as I re-taped the segment with Mr. Dowd, a number of years ago, there wasn't all that's there right there by the Interstate.

Is that area always constantly on your guys' minds, as, "What else can we add there?"

Kyle: It is.

It just seems the natural progression between Mattoon and Charleston, that's the direction it's going, and the Interstate there.

That's always the first place that most retailers want to look at because it's one of the highest traffic areas.

It has the most recent development.

It is definitely a spot that everybody leans to go to first.

Tim: We're working with other developers in that area, as well.

Rameen: All right.

We nailed the Dettro Drive/Charleston Avenue area just right, okay?

We also have, I believe, an O'Reilly Auto Parts on Charleston Avenue being under construction?

Tim: Yes, that's correct.

Kyle: Yeah.

The building is up and enclosed.

I'm not quite sure of their timeframe, but I'd say within a couple of months, that it will be up and open and made that extra part of Charleston Avenue.

It took down three older houses and it's got a nice commercial development on there now.

Rameen: I noticed, as far as the community pride, there was a house or something torn down next to the Domino's.

Kyle: Domino's.

Rameen: Very good.

Lakeland Boulevard, is there anything going on with Lakeland Boulevard, whether it be the north or south part of it?

Tim: Well, in the south part, there's a potential development that will be there near the Interstate and on Lakeland Boulevard, or South 45.

We're hoping, with that development, that there will be other things that will start to develop as well.

Rameen: Very good.

We'll stay on that western side of Mattoon.

As people know, obviously, the news of the GE plant in Mattoon.

Is there anything you guys can add to what's going on there?

Kyle: They're in their time period right now where they're letting their employees see if there's anything they can do to save the plant.

We've also been talking with some other business people and Chamber director and Kohl's together of what are some possibilities that could come from the closure of that building?

What other uses may be able to be put on that property?

That's something that we will be getting in touch with GE once an official announcement comes out, what they're going to do.

We will work with them, hopefully, to see what we can do to utilize that property and the building and get some kind of other business in there.

Tim: Kyle and Ed Dowd and Angela Griffin from Kohl's together and I met for probably an hour and a half or more recently, sort of a brainstorming session of what might happen, what could possibly be put in there.

We're working on that, along with other people.

Rameen: A lot of variables and a lot of eyes following that.

We're taping in early September.

You guys are headed off to a ribbon-cutting after our taping here.

Where's the ribbon-cutting at?

Tim: It's at the Fields Church, which is on East Dewitt Avenue.

They had a major addition put onto the church, so we will be going over for that as well.

In fact, there were about three other churches in Mattoon that have had additions- Kyle: Last year.

Tim: This past year.

Rameen: That's impressive.

Tim: A lot of activity going on.

Rameen: All right.

Very good.

Let's talk about the Mattoon Fire Department, and, I understand, a grant for a brand-new fire truck.

Tim: We did.

We were very fortunate.

We had applied for a grant twice and were turned down, so we applied the third time.

They say third time's a charm.

They came through with a $300,000 grant.

We're buying a new combination pumper/rescue truck.

We're looking forward to that.

It will take, Chief Nichols said, probably about 8 months from the time that the order is received until we receive the new truck.

Rameen: 2017, a new fire truck for Mattoon.

Tim: Absolutely.

Rameen: Excellent.

I think we've covered everything on my list, but we can't forget about talking about all the activities that transpired in Mattoon over the summer, Bagelfest, all the baseball and softball tournaments.

How'd they all go this year?

Kyle: Everything went well.

Again, we had the Bagelfest is hot, as usual.

Tht might have had the turnout a little bit down.

We had a softball tournament that weekend.

We've had several softball tournaments and baseball tournaments all summer long, hundreds of teams from all over Illinois and out of state coming, and spending money in Mattoon, which is always a good thing.

They're actually looking at trying to expand some new tournaments next year and there's actually one that's a joint effort between Mattoon and Charleston that they're looking at.

Rameen: Oh.

Sounds fantastic, as well as, if you add some more in Mattoon, you have almost every week of the summer filled, it sounds like.

Kyle: Just about.

Tim: Well, we do.

Rameen: Very good.

Tim, that tradition of what Mattoon has going on with all the tournaments, baseball, softball location is Mattoon now, for all those tournaments going on.

What can you say about that, as part of what Mattoon is?

Tim: Well, I think it's something that has been going on for many, many, years.

Kurt Stretch, our Parks Superintendent, he and his staff have done a fantastic job with the ball diamonds and everything.

People come here from elsewhere and they say it's the best that they have seen.

We're really proud of that, and we welcome people to Mattoon, and hope they'll all come back again.

Rameen: A lot of ball diamonds to keep upkeep on.

Mr.

Stretch probably has his work cut out for him.

Gentlemen, is there anything else, like last comment here on Mattoon moving forward, anything else going on that you'd like to point out here as we wrap up?

Tim: There are always things going on.

We are always working on things.

Kyle is doing a fantastic job, not only as City Administrator, but also as our Economic Development Coordinator.

He and Mr. Dowd will be going to Chicago in October for a meeting of, well, you can tell a little bit.

Kyle: Yeah.

It's the International Council of Shopping Centers.

We go up there and make appointments with different retailers, and actually, also, developers and see what we can bring into Mattoon, show them what we have, show them different areas, and try to get ideas generated, and at least get people interested in Mattoon, to come and look, and possibly develop in Mattoon.

Rameen: Well, it's been a pleasure having both you guys on to update with all the busy work going on in the summer in Mattoon, and the start of fall here.

The Mayer of Mattoon, Tim Gover.

Tim: Thank you so much.

Good to be here.

Rameen: And Kyle Gill, Mattoon City Administrator.

Gentlemen, it's been a pleasure, as always.

Kyle: Thank you.

It's been a pleasure.

Rameen: Excellent.

Coming up next on City Spotlight, we'll talk more about Mattoon businesses with Ed Dowd of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce.

First, let's take a look at some of the upcoming activities going up in Mattoon.

>>[music playing] We're back here on City Spotlight, this episode on Mattoon.

As you can see, we left the studio and our backdrop is downtown Mattoon.

Here to help us talk more about Mattoon is the Executive Director of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce, Ed Dowd.

Ed: Yeah.

I'm very excited to be here.

We have a beautiful city.

Downtown Mattoon has really come up a long way.

As you can see, it's a little warm day, but we're excited to be here, to talk about Mattoon.

Rameen: It's a bit of a warm September day, but that happens sometimes in Illinois.

Ed: Yes, it does.

Rameen: First off, Ed, could you tell us a little bit about yourself please?

Ed: Sure.

Prior to becoming the Mattoon Executive Director of the Chamber, which I started in January, I was the Manager of the Staples here in Mattoon for the last 16 years.

I was heavily involved in the Chamber, and always thought it was a great organization and it was great to promote Mattoon and to say how wonderful things are always happening here in Mattoon.

When I was offered the position, I was thrilled to have the opportunity.

Rameen: Oh, that was actually going to be one of my questions.

You've stepped up from being the store manager here to the position at the Chamber there.

How long have you been affiliated with the Chamber prior to you becoming the Executive Director?

Ed: One of the things that Staples did, which was very nice, is they let us be involved in the community.

From Day 1, for the entire 16 years, I was heavily involved in the Chamber.

We had our business expo for the last 15 years.

I was the Chairman of that for 14 out of the 15 years.

I also was President of the Chamber for two stints of 6 years total during my time at Staples, so I was very familiar with the organization and how things can work in Mattoon and how we can make things improve in Mattoon.

I was very involved with that.

Rameen: Excellent.

Very good.

Let's talk some more about the Chamber and one thing that's different about the Chamber from the last time, we actually had Mary Wetzel on the very first City Spotlight episode.

The Chamber location at the time was the Peterson House in Peterson Park.

It's changed now to 15th and Broadway.

Talk about the new location of the Chamber.

Ed: Correct.

The Chamber has moved a couple of different times.

We used to be at the Burgess Osborne Center, which is right next to the police station.

Then they moved to the Peterson House.

The Peterson House was a nice place, historic building, but it didn't really serve functionally that well as a location because of the stairs and things like that.

With the renovation of downtown and the huge emphasis on building up the downtown area, we thought it was great to have the Chamber come here and be part of the downtown area, downtown community.

As you can see, it's built up fantastic.

We have some great new storefronts, Sears Hometown, and things like that.

It was a perfect fit for the Chamber to be where the businesses are.

Rameen: Excellent location.

Ed: Excellent location.

Rameen: It's a new home.

I've been inside your new facility.

It looks very nice.

Congratulations there.

Ed: Please come down and check it out.

We've done a lot of good things to make it look great.

We have some historic things in there.

We're real excited to have you stop in.

Rameen: All right.

Excellent.

Let's next talk about the mission of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce.

Ed: The mission of the Mattoon Chamber is to promote our businesses, to help Mattoon prosper, and to make the citizens and the community successful in all ways, shapes, and forms, so that the city will thrive.

Rameen: Very good.

What are some things you guys are working on?

Maybe some activities, things going on here as we're in the latter half of 2016.

Ed: Sure.

We have some great events coming out.

We have our 15th Annual Business Expo, something that we are very proud of.

We hold it out at the Cross County Mall.

We usually have between 75 to 125 vendors.

We usually get 2-3,000 people who visit it.

We also have, what's exiting about it, other than the Expo itself, is our Taste of the Expo, where we get usually 12 to 15 taste vendors who have culinary delights that people really enjoy.

For only a $5 ticket, you get six samplings of different fares.

I promise you never go away hungry.

That's one of our biggest events coming up.

Rameen: All right, very good.

Ed, you probably have a pretty good bead of how businesses are going in Mattoon.

As we've seen in this year, in 2016, a lot of new businesses going up, maybe some refurbishes on the outside of businesses.

First off, Ed, how would you describe the business climate in Mattoon right now?

Ed: Well, as some people are aware, we do have some businesses, GE is talking about potentially closing, and, unfortunately, Staples has made the decision to close this location.

However, we are very excited about the opportunity.

Staples, the building itself, is on prime location, right off the Interstate.

We do not foresee it taking long to fill that position.

Even though GE might be closing, we have a lot of people who work there who, there's a lot of opportunities for them in other businesses who are always looking for qualified help.

It's an exciting thing there.

In Mattoon, we also have a lot of things going on, a lot of new construction.

We have O'Reilly's Auto Parts, which is opening up on Charleston Avenue.

We have Fujiyama restaurant, which will be opening up in the old Cody's building.

It didn't take long to fill that position up.

We also have some smaller restaurants, Osaka, here in town.

We have a lot of other things that are coming in the pipeline that should be very exciting for people.

It's a great opportunity here.

Rameen: Not to plug Osaka, but I just recently tried it.

I never tried sushi before, but it was very good.

You mentioned Fujiyama there in the old Cody's building.

One thing, diversifying the places that you can eat in Mattoon.

That will be pretty exciting that you have another food variety to add.

Ed: Exactly.

It's funny, we went from no Japanese restaurants, and now we have two.

What's nice is there is a difference, though.

Osaka is more geared toward sushi and actual sushi, where the Fujiyama is going to be the show, almost like the Benihana-type of restaurant where they do a show, or you can still eat steak or something else.

It's going to be a great addition to the area.

Rameen: There's also a Fujiyama in Effingham, so now two locations in central Illinois.

Ed: That will be opening soon.

Rameen: Ed, I want to backtrack just a couple of steps there.

You mentioned the Staples building.

That will be closing.

We're actually, people are seeing this here in the beginning of October, so the Staples building, business will have ceased by that point.

You have an interesting relation that you were the store manager there for 16 of the 18 years.

Mixed emotion there, is when you heard that news?

Ed: Yeah.

It's almost like you losing a child, believe it or not.

I was disappointed, but again, it's an opportunity for another fresh new business to come in, new faces, maybe a fresh new outlook on what can be offered in the city.

Unfortunately, we're losing a member, but we could be gaining something else.

I'm real excited about that.

Rameen: That part of Mattoon has always been a very interesting part to look at from a business standpoint.

Over the last 25 years, as people know, you used to come in from Charleston on Route 16 past the Interstate, and the next thing you'd pretty much see would be the mall.

Now you have all these businesses that have popped up.

Ed: Exactly.

Rameen: Talk about that area being an area that Mattoon continues to grow with what you guys already have up.

Ed: Correct.

It's a huge growth area, with the Home Depot.

Since I've been in town, we've had the ALDI, the Aaron's, the Home Depot, the strip mall that has the Buffalo Wild Wings and things.

It's really an expanding area.

There are projects under works that are going to expand in that area.

Look forward to, in the future, we get some expansion on top of what's already there.

As I said before, I don't see the Staples building staying empty very long.

I think it's a prime location, as we talked about.

Rameen: It's a safe bet that that will probably be filled very soon, and we could be talking about that within a year's time.

Other parts of Mattoon that you can see potential growth, because Mattoon covers a lot of area, north, south, east, and west.

Ed: Sure.

Well, some things that people don't always hear about, because a lot of people don't like to tout themselves, First Mid Insurance and First Mid Bank, they're always expanding.

They're acquiring new companies and so they're continually expanding.

Consolidated Communications, who just bought Champaign Telephone, their first acquisition in Illinois.

They are continually expanding.

They have offices in California and Texas and things like that.

One of the things that's amazing to me is what happens in our town.

Justrite Manufacturing, I don't know if you're familiar with them, they manufacture things for oil industry, safety equipment, and things like that.

What a lot of people don't realize is, as the Chamber, one of the things I learned when I became the Executive Director was, they actually ship all over the world.

It's amazing.

They ship to the Middle East, they ship to India, they ship to Australia, China.

It's amazing, things that are manufactured right here in little old Mattoon, are shipped worldwide.

What I have to do, as a Chamber member, I have to certify documents, certify international documents that go to all these different countries.

I proudly certify dozens of documents a week.

These items go all over the world.

It's very exciting to hear.

Rameen: Ed, as we wrap up this episode here on City Spotlight, your final thoughts, whether it be on Mattoon as a whole, the Chamber, or the businesses, the direction of where Mattoon is going.

Ed: Sure.

As I said before, we did have a few closings, but guess what?

We have a lot more things that are opening.

We have a lot more exciting things.

Businesses in Mattoon are expanding, as I mentioned.

There's a lot of great things happening in Mattoon.

Downtown revitalization has gone well.

We're going to have our Heritage Park opening soon down the street.

There's a lot of great things happening in Mattoon.

We would love to have you come visit, anytime.

Rameen: Very good.

A lot of the good things going on here in Western Coles County, Mattoon particularly.

Ed Dowd, the Executive Director of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce.

Pleasure having you on City Spotlight.

Ed: Thank you so much.

It's been a pleasure.

Rameen: All right.

Thank you very much.

As we conclude here on City Spotlight with downtown Mattoon as our backdrop, we thank you for joining us here on City Spotlight on Mattoon.

We'll see you next time.

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