Moline

Businesses hurt by the pandemic can get some help from the city of Moline. It's accepting applications for another round of the Small Business Relief Loan Program.

Community Development Program Manager K. J. Whitley says the forgivable loans are for businesses with two to 50 employees. In the previous round, the city handed out 5,000 dollars each to nine businesses.

"We were able to help nine businesses, many of them were restaurants or bars but we did have some small retail businesses that we were able to help too. "

Moline has narrowed its search for city administrator. Tuesday the mayor and city council will interview five candidates, from a pool of 42 applicants for the job.

Which-ever candidate is selected will take over from Interim City Administrator Martin Vanags who's served for nearly a year. He came to the city through a termporary agency for government jobs called GOVHR. He replaced J.D. Schulte who took the job after the previous City Administrator Lisa Kotter was forced to resign.

Despite the pandemic, Moline is doing well promoting jobs, local businesses, education, and improved neighborhoods, while providing important city services. That was the message Monday from Mayor Stephanie Acri during her annual State of the City address.

A key accomplishment, she believes, is keeping the city financially strong.

"We have a balanced budget that protects and furthers the progress we've made. The budget reduces tax rates for the fourth year in a row while supporting a smarter use of city resources."

Rock Island is looking forward to receiving a lot of help from the American Rescue Plan. The bill just signed by the president sets aside millions of dollars for local governments.

Mayor Mike Thoms says he's been told Rock Island will receive more than 27 million dollars, but not all of the rules have been written yet on how the money can and cannot be spent.

"They've given a couple of guidelines on what not to and what for. And two of them they said you can't do is pay off bonds or pay pensions, so we know we can't do those. One thing we know we can do is infrastructure."

One of the last survivors in the video rental business is closing. This week the owner of Family Video announced it's going to close its last 250 stores, including seven in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. 

They're located in Moline, Bettendorf, Davenport, Galesburg, Dixon, Kewanee, and Keokuk. And they'll close once everything in the stores is sold, videos and store fixtures.

Just five months after it started, a program to help Moline police better handle people with mental health problems will expand. Wednesday the city announced the creation of a paid internship for a college student majoring in social work.