Raceway development agreement must be fair

      Editor: Dave Uphoff
On September 6 the Minonk City Council will vote on an ordinance which will create a new TIF district that will encompass most of Section Six north of Minonk. The creation of the TIF district is necessary in order to give economic incentives for the developers of the proposed Minonk Raceway Park.

After the establishment of TIF district 3, the next step is for the raceway developers to sit down with the Minonk City Council and come up with a redevelopment agreement that will establish the parameters for the development of Section Six. This is were the rubber meets the road. Everything that has been been proposed or promised up to this point is now subject to review and even negotiation. What is decided in the agreement will be binding. Therefore, it will behoove the city to make sure that everything is examined and thought through clearly.

Everyone is excited about the raceway coming to Minonk and it should be a boon to our local economy. Nevertheless, the city must look beyond the promotion and fanfare that has accompanied the raceway development so far and make sure that all affected parties are treated fairly in the redevelopment agreement.

A few things come to mind that the city must consider. Firstly, the revenue from concessions will probably bring in more money that the ticket sales. The city has already been promised to receive a cut from the ticket sales. However, efforts should be made to ensure that local vendors get to share in some of the concession revenue. I don't know exactly what formula can be arrived at but I do know that the local pizza establishments would like to be able to provide some of the concession. Randy Hellyer, the head of the raceway development group, assured the council that local vendors will get a chance to participate in the concessions. We hope he keeps his word when it comes time to grind out the redevelopment agreement.

The second consideration is to make sure that the TIF itself is not abused. This means that only the raceway park itself should be included in the TIF district. The proposed 29 commercial lots will be outside of the TIF district as they should. Any additional residential or commercial development must also remain outside the TIF. We do not want to emulate the City of Wenona's abuse of their TIF district by putting residential development into the TIF.

Finally, the city should arrange some agreement wherein the raceway developer helps in the upgrading and maintenance of the roads surrounding the raceway park. With the creation of the TIF district the city will inherit 3 miles of township roads that now must be maintained by the city. The north township road will be the main entrance into the raceway park and will probably have to be repaved with asphalt. This will be very costly and the city should receive help from the developers to improve the road. The city has already spent $70,000 in getting the TIF established and is not in a position to incur excessive development costs.

Randy Hellyer and his associates have expressed gratitude to the City of Minonk for making it possible for them to bring the raceway to this area. They also have expressed willingness to be a good partner with the city. The City of Minonk and its residents are in turn grateful for the raceway developers for choosing the city to develop the raceway. We hope that the upcoming negotiations do not change these attitudes and that each side recognizes the importance of working together to come up with a fair agreement for the developers, the taxing bodies, and the City of Minonk.

Council no shows


With many important events taking place within our city government it is dismaying to see the number of absences of council persons at the city council meetings. In the 8 meetings of the new council, only Alderman Sean Cunningham has attended all meetings. The remaining council members have missed anywhere from 1 to 4 times! This is unacceptable and reflects poorly on the city. It also makes it difficult to make decisions.

Another concern is that the dress of the council members for the most part is pretty shabby. I realize that dress is more casual today but meetings to make decisions that affect the lives of 2200 people is not a task to be taken lightly. The dress should reflect the seriousness and importance of the event. I compliment Mayor Bill Koos and City Clerk James Liner for wearing a shirt and tie to every meeting. I urge the alderman to respect the democratic process by dressing appropriately and attending each meeting as their constiuents elected them to do. It does not bode well when the press attends more city council meetings than the council members.

Reply to destruction of cattails in Motel 6 pond


In reply to Dr. Michael Stagliano's editorial lamenting the removal of cattails from the Motel 6 pond, I have been told by the Mayor and the City Administrator that their removal was necessary in order to prevent the drainage tiles from becoming plugged. Apparently, the cat tails create a lot of muck and spread very easily and could eventually prevent adequate flow into the pond. City Administrator Trent Smith said the pond was meant to be a retention pond and not an ornamental pond.

To reply to this editorial please send your comments to

Your letter will be published in the email section. Viewers are welcome to submit a guest editorial.

August 22, 2005