City of Alton - Committee of the Whole Meeting
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ALTON – Despite facing heavy skepticism from two aldermen, the Alton Committee of the Whole on Monday agreed to pay an SIUE graduate student with ARPA funds to collect and analyze data as part of the city’s effort to become a “Child Friendly City.”
Committee members voted 5-2 to allocate $14,616 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to pay a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE).
This GRA would be tasked with collecting and analyzing data about Alton’s safety, social services, living environments, and more as part of the city’s ongoing effort to be recognized by UNICEF as a Child Friendly City. This data would be used as guidance to ensure the city’s children and their needs are considered in any future policy decisions.
Under the proposal from the Southern Illinois University System Office of Community Engagement, the GRA from SIUE would work for 20 hours per week for a nine-month period from September 2025 to May 2026 and would provide progress updates “as appropriate” with city staff and council members.
Ward 3 Alderman Michael Velloff and Ward 1 Alderman Chris Bohn expressed heavy skepticism of the proposal once the item came up for a vote. Velloff asked if the city could do this data collection and analysis “in-house” with city staff, but the City of Alton reportedly does not have access to the same subscription-based databases as SIUE, nor are the city’s “in-house” graduate students as familiar with sociological data sets.
Velloff and Bohn repeatedly questioned the benefit of such a proposal, as in their view, it would have no “tangible” effect on the city or its residents. Velloff asked whether this initiative would fix any of the city’s streets or lead to the hiring of additional police officers, which it would not.
After Alderman John Meehan called the $14,616 total a “modest investment” for the city to have concrete data to base future policy decisions on, Velloff asked if he could amend the item to add $15,000 for sidewalk repairs in his ward, since it was such a “minute amount of money.”
Previous City Council members passed a resolution in April of 2023 calling for up to $1 million in ARPA funding to be allocated specifically “on projects that will support young people’s learning, growth and recovery through youth programming and skills development in the City of Alton.” Mayor David Goins clarified that since this money has already been allocated this way by previous council members, this funding cannot be spent on other projects, such as street repairs.
Ward 4 Alderwoman Rosetta Brown emphasized the commitment already made by City Council members to support youth programming and safety. She added that the GRA is “probably struggling to get through school” themselves, to which Bohn replied: “It’s not our job to pay for that.”
While the $14,616 total outlined in the proposal does include a stipend for the GRA, it specifically states that the cost of the student’s tuition is covered by SIUE, not the City of Alton.
Committee members voted 5-2 to allocate the ARPA funds, with Bohn and Velloff voting against the resolution. The item now goes to the City Council for final approval this Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. Follow the discussion and vote on this and other agenda items live on Riverbender.com/video/live.
A full recording of the Aug. 25, 2025 Alton Committee of the Whole meeting is available at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
