TIF aids new Elmwood restaurant

By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post

ELMWOOD – A new restaurant in Elmwood is receiving some city financial assistance for its signage.
During its meeting June 3, the Elmwood City Council approved a $1,027.57 tax-increment-financing grant to Otera Brinson, proprietor of Elmwood Junk Food Café, 102 W. Main St. That’s half the cost of the sign and installation, according to Amy Davis, the city economic-development director.

Elmwood Junk Food Café opened June 4. Chicago-style hot dogs, baked potatoes with toppings and meatball submarine sandwiches are among the menu items. The cafe occupies space a Subway restaurant once filled.

“This building came open and I decided it would be a shame not to have a cafe of some sort,” Brinson said.
She and her husband, Don, moved to Elmwood last November to be midway between family in Mapleton and Moline.

“We found (Elmwood), came and looked at it for an hour and we just loved it,” said Otera Brinson, 58, a Pekin native. “We bought a house and here we are.”

She ran a similar cafe in Paris, Texas, close to that city’s 60-foot replica of the Eiffel Tower, that is topped off with a red cowboy hat.

Her new sign will say “Cafe” and is an homage to a 1915 sign on the same corner that had “Smoke” displayed vertically.

Restaurant hours are Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Tuesdays and Thursdays 11-3.
The vote to OK the TIF grant was the first one all six council members took since the April election.

To begin the meeting, the other five members approved Mayor Andrew Almasi’s appointment of Kristy Johns to fill a vacancy created when Almasi assumed his new position.

Johns is a vice president based in East Peoria for Cullinan Properties Ltd. She and her husband, Nate, have 16-year-old twins. Her council position will be up for election in 2027 for a full four-year term.

“The best good you can do is within your own back yard,” Johns said during the meeting.

Johns, who represents Ward 2, joined Julie Davis, Kristen Strom and Tim Teel as council newcomers. The latter three were inaugurated in May. Nathan Brunnelson and Bob Paige are the council returnees. Their seats will be up for election in 2027.

The council also approved a 4% wage increase for the 12 city employees, full and part time. Brunnelson, who helps oversee public works, suggested an across-the-board hike would be fair. So might a raise of between 3 and 5%, he said, based on cost-of-living increases.

Councilors deferred until next month a decision on whether to implement a local 1% grocery sales tax. It would replace an identical state tax that is to end Jan. 1. The city has until Oct. 1 to notify the state.
“It wouldn’t result, technically, in an increase from what people are paying,” Almasi said.

Almasi and council members wanted more information on how much money the current tax contributes to city coffers. Casey’s and Dollar General probably are the main locations where the tax is applied, City Treasurer Bonnie Beal said.

Jeff Lampe contributed to this report.