MT. VERNON, IL — Mt. Vernon Mayor John Lewis gave his state of the city address on Thursday during the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon. The address featured all that was accomplished, issues pertaining to the city, and improvements made in 2020 as well as looking forward to goals for this year.

Mayor Lewis began his address with the subject of taxes. This is a topic that played out in public when the discussion was had to build a new, state-of-the-art police station.

For Mt. Vernon residents, 2018 & 2019 featured a water crisis. Thanks to the passage of a 1% sales tax passed, the water infrastructure has been vastly improved in 2020 and work will continue in 2021. However, 2020 will forever be remembered as the year of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Mayor Lewis says although 2020 featured a lot of negative impacts to the community; he highlighted an accomplishment that was both personally gratifying for him as well as the city.

Mayor Lewis went on to highlight all the new businesses that have come to the community despite the pandemic and all that he hopes to see happen for Mt. Vernon in 2021.

You can hear the full state of the city address on WMIX AM940 and 96.5, 94.1FM this Sunday starting at 10:30am with a special, hour-long presentation of the Southern Illinois Insider. You can find that link under the NEWS tab at wmix94.com.