Mt. Vernon, IL — Concerns are being raised around a local funeral home’s expansion. At the August 17th, Mt. Vernon City Council Meeting representatives from Hughey Funeral Home presented a plan to rezone parts of their property at 1309 & 1307 Harrison and 123 N 13th St. to allow for a crematory to be built for their business. However, two neighbors of the funeral home say they would like more thought to be put into the council’s decision. They say research they have found suggests that regulations the council believed were in place from the Environmental Protection Agency aren’t actually enforced. Which they say could hurt the neighborhood because of possible mercury emissions released during the process of cremation. Also they say this could lower the value of the homes surrounding the property. The council made the decision to rezone the property to be used as primary business district. But tabled the decision to allow the conditional use of the property for the crematory until more information is gathered.