Quincy City Council approves recommendation for stop sign at 16th and Sycamore

QUINCY (WGEM) - Monday’s Quincy City Council meeting took all of 30 minutes. Safety measures are in the works for one intersection to cut down the number of accidents.

Quincy Police Chief, and Traffic Commission Chairman, Adam Yates said four crashes in the last five years have happened at the intersection of 16th and Sycamore Streets, half of them resulting in injuries.

“It was clear that there were some issues going on in the intersection but not exactly one particular issue, so we felt that a four-way stop at that particular intersection where all vehicles coming from all directions would have to stop,” Yates said.

Yates said the commission was first asked to analyze 14th and Sycamore, and in the process, uncovered issues a few blocks down. Yates said the Council would have to pass an ordinance to make the four-way stop a reality.

In other happenings, the Council denied streetlights at the intersection of 30th and Lincoln Hill NW as well as Oak Street between 14th and 15 streets, at the recommendation of the Traffic Commission.

Nov. 20 through Jan. 1 was officially proclaimed as “Project Red Ribbon,” to create awareness and prevent drunk driving.

Prior to the Council meeting, the Finance Committee met with Comptroller Sheri Ray in a public meeting to discuss tax levy options. A majority of the meeting consisted of talks regarding the police and fire pension. Ray presented three options for pension funding including: funding pensions at 100%, which would be a slight decrease from last year, or fund the same balance as last year at 104%.

The current property tax levy funds 64% police and fire pensions, 19% city bond debt and 17% library and library bond debt. The Council later adopted a resolution to authorize pension funding for the fiscal year beginning May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2025 at or above 100% for fire pension at $4,908,135 and for the police pension at $4,473,508.

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