FREEPORT - Mayor George Gaulrapp (I-Freeport),
gave his state of the city address tonight.
The speech allowed the city's leader to deliver some good news; a budget
surplus.
The mayor also mentioned the hiring of
some new police officers, and he also asked for some community input on what to
do with some decaying buildings.
But Monday night's meeting turned
quickly into a rally for Sensata-Honeywell workers urging the city to help them
save their jobs. Over half a dozen
people addressed
Around 175 people stand to lose
their jobs when Sensata closes their doors in January. Cheryl Randecker has been a worker at Sensata
for over 30 years. She says this doesn't
just affect herself, but the whole community.
"Community members here as well as
the businesses are very supportive, because they realize that by losing these
jobs they also lose money," said Randecker.
Randecker urged the mayor and
aldermen to attend an event this weekend that concerns their company. They hope to create some buzz to stop Sensata
from sending jobs overseas.
"I think that what they can do is to
come together as a group," said Randecker.
"That means all of northwest
Gaulrapp hears the concerns of the
workers and their families. He
confronted the issue in his speech Monday evening.
"I personally have family and
friends who work at Sensata," Gaulrapp said in his address. "I know what you're
going through. I would not want to be in
your position, but believe me, the city of
New funding to NIDA, the area's
economic development alliance, was on the block at tonight's meeting. The proposal will most likely come to a vote
at their July 16th meeting.
Gaulrapp believes it will pass, hopefully aiding in the Sensata saga.
"We have a draft form of how we're
going to support NIDA - $100,000 investment," said Gaulrapp. "Part comes from the
TIF, part comes from the general fund, but we have goals and initiatives and dollar
items attached to that."
The mayor also mentioned the fact that
the city has brought some new employers to
