By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) recently announced the creation of the Illinois Long Term Recovery Council to help develop current and future strategies to aid flood-stricken areas of Illinois – many of them farming communities – in recovering from and planning for future flooding.

The council is to convene this month and submit a summary of recommendations to Gov. Rod Blagojevich during the next six months, according to the DCEO. Blagojevich stated in a press release the council was created to address long-range issues facing communities that lie in flood-prone areas of the state to “ensure those communities can thrive again.”

“The Illinois Long Term Recovery Council is charged with determining the recovery needs and identifying critical recovery projects in seven core areas, including agriculture,” said Marcelyn Love, a spokesperson for the Illinois DCEO. “Governor Blagojevich announced the council’s four chairs on August 21, and the state has applied for a special federal grant to fund the work of the council.”

DCEO announced the council’s four co-chairs: Jim Bohnsack, chairman, Rock Island County Board; Terry Bruce, CEO of Illinois Eastern Community Colleges; Alan Dunstan, president of the Madison County Board; and John Spring, mayor of Quincy.
According to Love, agriculture will be a major consideration of the council and its interests will be well represented.

“Specific to agriculture, the Illinois Department of Agriculture is working with the Farm Bureau and other groups to ensure those agricultural leaders are recruited for the council,” she said.

Names of individual council members were not immediately available. “We’re still in that preliminary stage where we’re building the membership, making sure we have the right parties involved in this council, and identifying projects that need to be immediately addressed,” Love said.

“The council will have diverse and inclusive members with local leaders from each of the flood-stricken regions. The council will include local, state and federal officials, as well as leaders from community organizations, nonprofits and (others).”

Along with agriculture, the council will focus on flooding effects on housing, critical infrastructure, levees, locks and dams, economic and community recovery, future recovery planning and long-term policy reforms needed to reduce the damage of future floods.