SHELBYVILLE, IL. — The first item of business at the Shelbyville City Council meeting held Monday, August 2, was a letter of resignation from Larry Joe Beck, Finance Commissioner on the council.  Mayor Roy Shuff read the letter from Beck which stated personal reasons for his resignation which was effective immediately.  Beck has served on the council since 2001 in two different positions, first Public Safety Commissioner and then as Finance Commissioner.

When contacted Beck would only say his resignation was for personal reasons.  He did state that the cause was not the friction that arose from the renewal of the city’s employees health insurance.

The council had called for a special meeting on July 30 to discuss the pending health insurance.  Beck and Commissioner Brent Fogleman had voted against renewing the Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance because that insurance company had raised the premiums by $42,000.  Mayor Shuff and Commissioner Jeff Johnson had voted to renew the insurance and the council was deadlocked until Commissioner Tim McConnell showed up to the meeting and broke the tie by voting to renew the insurance.

The council had asked the two unions the city must negotiate with, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the Operating Engineers, for concessions regarding the insurance.  The FOP had agreed to the concessions, but the Operating Engineers would not go along.

Shuff said he will appoint someone to fill out Beck’s term.

“I will appoint someone to fill out his term that would run until the election in April 2011,” said Shuff.

Shelbyville City Clerk Carrie Jones said when the city elections come up in the Spring  someone will have to run for that commissioner’s spot.

“Someone will have to run for that position in the Spring of 2011 and will have the seat until it comes up for reelection in 2013,” said Jones.

In other business the council approved a resolution of support for the Illinois Transportation Enhancement program (ITEP).  This is a grant the Chautauqua Preservation Committee is applying for.  Wayne Gray, chairman of the Chautauqua Preservation Committee, said the grant amount is over $1 million dollars.

“The city council passed the resolution of support because the city will be responsible for the 20 percent matching part of this grant,” said Gray.

The council also approved a franchise agreement with new Wave Communications which is one of the companies providing cable service to Shelbyville.

The remainder of the council meeting was a report from the group that traveled to Okuwa Village, Japan, which is Shelbyville’s sister city.  Shelbyville city engineer Alan Spesard and his wife Beki served as chaperones for Shelbyville High School students Rachael Croy, Chelsea Jones, and Samantha Huber.

The program with the sister city has sent students and chaperones every other year to Okuwa and then the following year Okuwa sends students and chaperones here. The two sister cities pick up the airplane fare for the group and once the group arrives in the sister city their expenses are paid by that city.  Shelbyville City Clerk Carrie Jones said a large donation from IHI Turbo in Shelbyville covers the bulk of the expenses.

“The city has asked Okuwa to make these trips every other year now because of tight financial restraints with the city,” said Jones.

The group gave a report and showed various gifts and souvenirs to the council.  The report is too lengthy for this article, but following are some excerpts:

“The village is located in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains that are covered by Cypress trees with crystal clear mountain streams,” Alan Spesard told the council.

Rachael Croy modeled the kimono she was given on her trip.

“The food was different, my host family had a garden so we ate a lot of fruits and vegetables,” said Croy.  “We also had a lot of rice and noodles.”

“My name is Chelsea and in Japan they have candy called Chelsea candy,” said Chelsea Jones.  Jones then passed that candy around for folks to sample.

All of the trip participates agreed they had a wonderful time and learned much from the trip.