A comprehensive plan was presented to the Galva City Council Monday that would enhance the city’s ability to attract business and make city services and improvements possible.

Cole McDaniel from Hometown Consulting provided an overview of the plan. It includes obtaining grants not available in the past and updating the current website so residents can easily obtain information about such things as city services, ordinances, and zoning regulations.

“A strategy for seeking out state, federal, and private grants is a key component,” said McDaniel.

The plan would also address the downtown and develop plans to increase the aesthetic value of the buildings and the community as a whole.

“Our work with Terra Lumen in bringing the Allenia Space to Galva is an example of how partnerships such as ours work,” McDaniel told the council.

In addition, having a long-term comprehensive plan will enable future administrations to stay the course and provide them with past plans.

“The plan will provide them with the necessary framework and history and make it easy to continue moving forward,” he said. “This keeps the knowledge and experience available should key people retire or leave their position.”

Alderman Doug Anderson said that the city has a lot of helpful information already, as their arrangement with Bi-State Regional Commission planning provides such things as demographics, population, income, education levels, and traffic patterns.

“We have worked closely with them for a long time,” Anderson said, with McDaniel acknowledging that they work with Bi-State as well.

City Manager David Dyer explained that the current plan was put into place in the early 1960s and has had few updates.

“Getting a current plan in place and updating it when needed is important to our success,” he said.

Dyer also showed a visual of a BlueCross/BlueShield fitness grant that is available to Galva.

“BlueCross hopes to have one of these fitness installations every 10 miles in the rural areas and our park district is a perfect place for it,” Dyer said. He added that the grant relies heavily on the presence of community support, which he feels could be easily sought.

McDaniel concluded his presentation by noting that the city is in a much better position to seek out grants than in the past.

“Hometown Consulting is very eager to get started on the project,” he said.

The council voted unanimously to accept Hometown Consulting’s proposal to develop the comprehensive plan and assist in getting it up and running.

Next, Dyer announced that the property replacement tax was reduced, but the income and sales tax showed an increase. He also told the group that if the state of Illinois follows through with eliminating the one percent sales tax it could affect revenue.

Police Chief Kraig Townsend announced that his department has hired another full-time police officer.

“Luke Queen, a Knox County native, will be a welcome addition and will give us a full force of officers,” he said. Queen was not able to attend the council meeting but will meet them in February.

There were no audience comments.

The next meeting will be held on Monday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.