Future mayor tells what's next for newest Illinois city

BELLEVILLE, Ill. (AP) – On May 6, when new city leaders will be sworn in, the communities of Alorton, Cahokia and Centreville will officially merge to become Cahokia Heights. Centreville Township Supervisor Curtis McCall Sr. will become the first mayor of the new town after running unopposed along with other candidates under his New Vision Party ticket. McCall discussed next steps for the consolidated city, including the future of Commonfields of Cahokia and Centreville Township, in an interview with the Belleville News-Democrat last week. McCall said his top priority is to find resources to fix sewage infrastructure in the area. In January, the three cities applied for a roughly $22 million FEMA grant that’s designed to address those infrastructure issues. McCall said he feels confident that the grant, if awarded, would help alleviate flooding problems that residents have faced for decades. ‘œSo number one is to get raw sewage from going into people’s backyards, (getting rid of) the stench that they have to smell when walking outside their door. Residents voted for change. They voted for action, and to me, that’s what that vote meant yesterday. Those people that live there have a right to have a decent home and decent community, and they have a right to feel the way that they feel, to feel that the government has abandoned them, and in many cases, the government has abandoned them. ‘œSo I’ll go from the sewers being our first priority then to our roads. Many of our roads are in bad condition. Public safety is also a priority.’� He expects to be notified of the application status in June. He said the matching fund to apply for the grant was $2.2 million, an amount that he says would’ve been difficult to afford had resources from the towns not been combined due to the merger. ‘œ’».So I believe, right there, the consolidation is paying off for the citizens of Cahokia, and I think that would be the case in many future projects to come.’� When will the work to get the cities officially merged take place, in terms of personal addresses and signage for businesses? ‘œA lot of that is going to take time. Clearly, we’re not going to be going to businesses and telling them that they have to change their name to Cahokia Heights right now. We’re going to give people time to do that. People are well aware that this is new, so there’s going to be some growing pains for myself, as the mayor, and for residents and business people, but we’re going to work together with them to work those items out, and I think by working together will get those name changes straightened out.’� Is there a time frame for when those things will be completed? Although McCall doesn’t know an exact date for completion of those projects, he said the work starts with appointing a zoning and ordinance board, which he says he’ll do on his first day in office. He said members of the board will work with business owners and residents to establish a timeline. ‘œI think that it has to be a community approach, so I’ll be going throughout Cahokia Heights and asking people to serve on various committees: the zoning board committee, the police commission committee, the code enforcement committee, the infrastructure committee. I’m going to be reaching out to members who are having problems with the sewers and the streets and asking them to serve on these committees. I believe that we can have titles that says this and that, but what better expert than the people who live with it every day?’� What happens to Commonfields?