Complaint calls for investigation into St. Clair County’s lack of COVID relief spending in Cahokia Heights

CAHOKIA HEIGHTS, Ill. (First Alert 4) - A Metro East group is asking the federal government to investigate St. Clair County for its lack of spending in certain Metro East communities like Cahokia Heights.

Centreville Citizens for Change, a local group committed to resolving decades-long flooding issues in Centreville, which is now called Cahokia Heights after Cahokia merged with Alorton and Centreville, sent the U.S. Department of Treasury a complaint letter accusing St. Clair County government officials of discriminating against Cahokia Heights by allocating millions of American Rescue Plan Act funding to more affluent areas of St. Clair County.

The St. Clair County government received more than $50 million in COVID relief money after the Biden istration signed off on the legislation a few years ago. Cahokia Heights received $2.8 million, but Mayor Curtis McCall, along with other federal and state officials, have said the funding isn’t enough to fix the city’s sewer and flooding issues.

“I’m really upset,” Centreville Citizens for Change president Walter Byrd said. “They don’t want to send no help down to East St. Louis and Centreville.”

County documents show millions have gone to things like purchasing the Belle-Clair Fairgrounds and land for St. Clair County Animal Control in Belleville, but roughly $850,000 went to rehabbing a Cahokia Heights water tank.

“I continue to be deeply concerned by the flooding and sewage crisis in Cahokia Heights and the lack of an effective or timely solution. I’m glad that we now have a federal EPA coordinator in place to take full of the situation and enhance our response,” officials with U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski’s office said in a statement.

“I know the residents are frustrated. I know I’m frustrated. I hear from residents all the time about their concerns about what is happening in their community. The whole reason we pay taxes is for government at the state, local and federal levels to solve problems of this magnitude. This situation has gone on long enough. We need action not more talk,” Illinois lawmaker Kevin Schmidt said in a statement to First Alert 4.

St. Clair County Chairman Mark Kern and Cahokia Heights Mayor Curtis McCall didn’t respond to First Alert 4′s request for comment as of Friday night.

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