It may have been a first for a Kewanee City Council meeting: The first order of business was a raffle drawing.
Friends of Councilman Steve Faber have been raising money to help cover the expenses he has incurred in receiving a double-lung transplant at Northwestern Medical Center in Chicago.
Faber has been recuperating from the surgery in Chicago.
Two of Faber’s friends who have been involved in the fund-raising effort, Dianne Packee and Deirdre Scott, brought a bowl filled with raffle tickets to Monday’s council meeting.
As City Clerk Kasey Mitchell held the bowl, Mayor Gary Moore drew three tickets for the three cash prizes being offered.
Moore asked whether there would be a problem if he pulled his own ticket out of the bowl. Councilman Chris Colomer said that yes, that would be a problem.
But that didn’t happen. The first ticket Moore pulled from the bowl, for the top $500 prize, was from Denny Scott, Deirdre’s husband. Other winners were John Miskinis, $300, and Kewanee Economic Development Corp. director Kathy Albert, $200.
The raffle organizers sold 250 $20 tickets.
Moore said he and City Manager Gary Bradley visited Faber over the weekend. “He’s doing very well,” Moore said, “and he’s getting back to his ornery old self.”
Also Monday, Jennifer Fornander gave a report on Saturday’s Hispanic Heritage Festival. She said 15 local businesses were vendors for the event, and local musicians performed.
Fornander thanked all the volunteers who made the event possible, and said, “We hope that this is just the beginning of something to come in Kewanee.”
Anthony Holdgrafer of Kewanee told the council there is a problem in Kewanee with stray animals and how some residents are dealing with them.
Holdgrafer called on the council to hire a city animal control officer.
“We absolutely, positively, no matter the cost, need an animal control officer,” he said.
He said he has read the city ordinances on animal control and they are too vaguely-worded to be effective.
Holdgrafer suggested that Kewanee model its ordinances on the ones in Cook County.
Moore said he would be happy to meet with Holdgrafer to discuss the matter more fully.
