Austin Edwards to perform in Altamont July 17

Jun. 21—ALTAMONT — Singer and Songwriter Austin Edwards is coming to Altamont after members of the Altamont City Council voted unanimously to approve a request for a July concert in Schmidt Park.

SAFE, Sexual Assault and Family Emergencies, an organization serving 11 area counties, including Effingham County, requested the free music concert for Saturday, July 17.

The concert features one of two musical artists who placed second as "Broken Roots" in last year's "America's Got Talent" television show competition on NBC. Effingham Native Austin Weinstock, who uses the stage name Austin Edwards for musical performances, will bring his band to Altamont.

"We're not charging anything for it because we want everyone to be able come," SAFE Awareness and Fundraising Director Jill Wright said.

Wright said due to COVID-19 there has been a huge reduction of crowd gathering events that have taken a toll on peoples mental health, physical health and emotional health.

"We just want to be a positive influence on whole community. I want everyone to come together for something positive and something they can enjoy," Wright said. "I knew I wanted to bring a concert here, but I wasn't sure who I wanted it to be."

"I know there are a lots of great local bands but I wanted to be ... go big or go home," Wright added.

Wright said that SAFE and Weinstock had a special connection because Weinstock works as a homicide and sexual assault detective in the Chicago area.

"We have several food trucks lined up to come," Wright said. "We are not using this as a fundraiser for us, but we are hoping to have some sponsors to be able to afford everything because this is a very expensive endeavor."

"This is kind of a precursor to what our sesquicentennial celebration is going to be," Mayor Jason Rippetoe said. "There are a lot of positive things happening in town this summer and hopefully it will bring a lot of people to town."

In a phone interview, Austin Edwards said he would be bringing his full band to play in Altamont. The band will perform between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., however SAFE has activities planned before the concert starting at 5 p.m.

Council members also approved a special liquor license requested by the Altamont Sesquicentennial Committee for liquor sales during the Austin Edwards concert.

Commissioner Dan Milleville asked whether or not special fencing would be required for the event.

"Yes, it will follow the requirements the city has in place," Rippetoe said.

"It's good to see activity again," Commissioner Michael Walker said.

After a closed executive session, the council voted to approve a 3 percent wage increase for city employees retroactive to June 1.

During commissioner report discussions, City Commissioners Todd Slingerland and Michael Walker presented estimates of how much it would cost to replace an out of date SCADA computer system and associated hardware that monitors the operations of the water and electric departments.

Slingerland said to replace the system for the water department it would cost the city $75,000 to replace the SCADA system and Walker told council members he estimates it will cost $75,000 to replace electric department system for a grand total of $150,000.

Walker said the current SCADA system used by the electric department was purchased new in 2001.

"It was a good system back then. It was cost effective for what we needed, unfortunately the company who designed that at the time came out with a better version." Walker said. "It will work until it doesn't work and once it doesn't we're in trouble."

He said the system is out of date to the point the new software needed to drive the system won't work on the old computers currently running the system. Walker said the current system can't be serviced any longer.

"It takes about a month to do all of the programming and then it will take a couple of weeks to get all of the bugs out of the system," Walker said.

He said there would be a savings after three years if they decide to replace the system due to the fact they would be able to use an Ethernet phone line instead of their current dedicated phone line.

"One of the biggest cost is programming," Slingerland said. "There isn't a program we can just plug and play. You can't go to the Google store and download an app and make the system work."

In other matters, the board:

—Approved a resolution for the Effingham County Fair parade on Sunday, Aug. 1. A rain date is set for Saturday, Aug. 7. Parade line-up is at Altamont Community High School.

—Approved a payment for the amount of $58,176 for water main replacement at U.S. Route 40 and Illinois 128. The city expects this portion of the water main project to be reimbursed by the State of Illinois by agreement between the city and the Illinois Department of Transportation.

—Approved a bid advertisement for PVC pipe to be used for the sewer department south lift station project.

Charles Mills can be reached at charles.mills@effinghamdailynews.com or by phone at 217-347-7151 ext. 126.