Lincoln, Illinois

February 7, 2011

 

Minutes of a regular City Council Meeting held in the Council Chambers of City Hall, Lincoln,

IL, on Monday, February 7, 2011.

 

Mayor Snyder called the regular City Council Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. City Clerk Mrs.

Martinek called the roll. There were eight Aldermen present (Alderman Anderson, Alderman

Armbrust, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue,

Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert) and two absent (Alderman Bacon and Alderman

Busby). Also present were Fire Chief Miller, City Engineer Mr. Mathon, EMC Manager Mr.

Tackett, Safety Building and Zoning Officer Mr. Lebegue, Street Superintendent Mr. Jackson,

and Police Chief Greenslate. Also present were City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, City Clerk Mrs.

Martinek, Mayor Snyder, City Attorney Mr. Bates, and Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.

 

Those present recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Alderman Wilmert.

 

Public Participation:

 

Alderman Anderson said Alderman Busby called her and said he would not be able to attend this

evening and he wanted the Council to know that on Friday he will be entering Memorial Hospital

for bypass surgery. He asked that we keep in our prayers.

 

Mayor Snyder said on a similar note Alderman Bacon called today and her mother-in-law is in

the hospital and it is serious.

 

Mayor Snyder called for the Consent Agenda:

 

Approve Minutes of the January 18, 2011 Regular City Council Meeting and the January 25,

2011 Committee as a whole meeting

Payment of bills

Resolution 2011-233 recognizing Carroll Catholic School

 

Alderman Anderson moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented and Alderman Horn

seconded it. Mayor Snyder asked if there was any discussion. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called

the roll call. There were eight yeas (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman

Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and

Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and two absent (Alderman Bacon and Alderman Busby); motion

carried.

 

Approval of any items removed from the Consent Agenda

There were no items removed from the Consent Agenda.

 

Petitions

There were no Petitions to come before the City Council.

 

Lincoln, Illinois

February 7, 2011; Page 2

 

Ordinances and Resolutions

There were no Ordinances or Resolutions to come before the City Council.

 

Unfinished Business:

There was no Unfinished Business to come before the City Council.

 

New Business/Communications:

 

Discussion concerning the Logan County Enterprise Zone

 

Mayor Snyder said Will D'Andrea was present and had worked for the City in the zoning office

and is now the zoning officer for the County as well as the Logan County Enterprise Zone

administrator. What Mr. D'Andrea has been working on the creation of a map for the Enterprise

so we can see where it actually ends and he is close to developing. He has also been spending a

great deal of time on the actual language itself. In looking at the language of the Enterprise and

the various amendments that have been put in place over the years he has made some discoveries

about our Enterprise Zone language and we wanted to talk to you tonight about one of those

discoveries.

 

Mr. D'Andrea said they should all have a copy of the ordinance and the resolution as it was

approved by the city. Mayor Snyder said he just copied the page with H at the bottom.

 

Mr. D'Andrea said H under section 7 which is entitled Property Tax Abatement. Enterprise

Zone benefits shall be limited those products involving essential manufacturing operation

including the assembly, fabrication, repair, restoration or creation of products. Also included are

commercial storage, warehousing, distribution, telemarketing, phone order centers and health

care facilities. These are the types of permitted uses and businesses that are the targets of this

enterprise zone. Residential and retail products are not eligible nor commercial enterprise as

defined as businesses whose principal revenue come from on premise sales of food, beverages,

gasoline, durable goods or merchandise of any kind or the offering of services. The zoning

administrator shall be the judge of eligibility. As we look at the list of things that are excluded as

eligible uses in the enterprise zone we think what has transpired particularly on the West side of

Lincoln since 2004. We can see there is a conflict from what has been put in practice and what

has been allowed per authorization of this language.

 

Mayor Snyder said this language that the City and the County both passed in 2004 I think it was

done to extend the enterprise zone to some additional areas.

 

Mr. D'Andrea said it was part of the application for having several extensions for the enterprise

zone some more in extensive in nature than others since the inception of the enterprise zone.

This was attached to one of those extension of territories.

 

Lincoln, Illinois

February 7, 2011; Page 3

 

Discussion concerning the Logan County Enterprise Zone

 

Mayor Snyder said from 2004 this language here with regard to the enterprise zone with benefits

has been in place. The practice has been more expansive than the actual language here. As you

see since 2004 things that should not have been included were retail projects or commercial

enterprises defined as businesses whose principal revenue comes from on premise sale of food,

beverages, gasoline, durable goods and merchandise of any kind or the offering of services.

 

Alderman Neitzel said have we issued the enterprise zone to one or two of these. Mayor Snyder

said I would imagine there have been several.

 

Mr. D'Andrea said most of the developments on the West side as well as elsewhere in this

community that inside enterprise zone boundaries that have asked for it have been receiving

benefits so there are dozens of projects and businesses, building permit fees have been waived

and property taxes have been abated through these benefits.

 

Alderman Neitzel said did all of them come up here and ask for this.

 

Mr. D'Andrea said they came to find out if they were in the enterprise zone and whether or not

they qualified for benefits and the answer to that question is yes they were and there were certain

indications given to those businesses, sales tax exempt certifications. The building and safety

office was told they were eligible so they waved the building permit fees on behalf of the city.

 

Mr. Bates said after the enterprise zone is enacted there has been someone in charge of the

enterprise zone. The office that Mr. D'Andrea now holds, his predecessor officer was in charge

of administering the enterprise zone.

 

Alderman Wilmert said so in spite of the restrictive language they issued benefits.

 

Mayor Snyder said that is what happened yeah. The other piece that you have which is two

sided says City, Village, County of ordinance number this is language that was drafted to attempt

to put the enterprise zone language back to the way we thought it had been since 2004 but as you

see down at the bottom in section 1 it defines the enterprise zone benefits would include not only

the manufacturing operations, warehousing and so on and so forth but also retail businesses but

including businesses that engage in the sale of durable goods and merchandise of any kind on

premise sale of food, beverages, gasoline and offering of services. Those things were excluded

by the language of 2004 this ordinance would put back in and would define those projects as

being inclusive in the enterprise zone.

 

Alderman Neitzel said that's what we're doing is putting them back in. Mayor Snyder said if we

want to do that. Alderman Anderson asked if we don't.

 

Lincoln, Illinois

February 7, 2011; Page 4

 

Discussion concerning the Logan County Enterprise Zone

 

Mayor Snyder said if we don't this existing 2004 language is still operative and when someone

comes to Mr. D'Andrea now absent of the changes would have to determine if they meet the

current definition and if they don't then they would not be eligible for enterprise zone benefits.

 

Alderman Anderson asked if those that had been in effect since 2004 that wouldn't be in

compliance. Mayor Snyder said obviously there could be legal questions but at least from my

part I think those businesses acted on certification from a governmental body and acted in good

faith on those certifications and he for one wouldn't want the city going after them trying to get

anything back.

 

Mr. D'Andrea said he didn't have a different answer than that and didn't know what the

ramifications would be. In the interest of fairness people came to the appropriate governmental

bodies asked the appropriate questions. They made business decisions based on those responses

and he thought they would have a difficult time going back on those.

 

Alderman O'Donohue said what happens if a business comes now. We have obviously allowed

those businesses to bypass or disregard that regulation and some business comes in and what

happens if we say no and suddenly we are not going to let them do it. Are there further legal

ramifications? His other question was what was the reason in 2004 for putting the language in

place?

 

Mayor Snyder said he didn't think the change was made intentionally but it was made.

 

Mr. Bates said at that time in 2004 there was a big expansion if you remember back to that

time to address the Formosa plant down in Illiopolis that blew up. That is when Elkhart and

Sangamon County were added into the Enterprise zone and they (Formosa) had a consultant

and they came here as they did with most of the documents they drafted and presented them to

the county, city, Springfield and Elkhart and we all reviewed those and went over them and that

language was in there. That was language that had not been in there before and we went over

that and the city approved it. He didn't think it was necessarily intended to change something,

the drafters thought that was the way it was. That was the way most enterprise zones, at that

time at least were so they included the language. It was a deviation from what had been done

since 1987 when the enterprise zone was enacted. He was sure that the administrative officer

of the enterprise zone carried on just as he had done in all the years he had been there and didn't

realize that was a deviation. Everyone has raised good questions and there is nobody here

including myself that can answer those. From my perspective, as the attorney for the city are

there issues about the viability of the businesses out there that were extended the zone benefits

yes. Should those benefits be recovered or stopped he thought that would be ill advised.

 

Lincoln, Illinois

February 7, 2011; Page 5

 

Discussion concerning the Logan County Enterprise Zone

 

Mr. Bates said those people went to the correct officer and they were told by the correct officer

they qualified and planned and constructed their business on the basis of that representation of

those benefits and if he had to represent somebody on that issue I would rather represent them

because they have a very good argument.

 

Alderman Neitzel said with the way the economy is now and getting any business into the

Lincoln we sure don't want to pressure them with not helping them if it was done in all the prior

times. Alderman Hoinacki said he knew on the old sheet on page 5 top paragraph last sentence

there no residential property should be allowed an abatement and skimming over the new one it

doesn't mention any residential property being in or excluded. Mr. Bates said residential would

not qualify. Mr. D'Andrea said there was language that still excluded residential and if not they

could still make that clear.

 

Mayor Snyder said as a body we have several decisions to make, policy decisions with regard to

what businesses should be extended enterprise zone benefits. Is this new language sufficient?

He said he and Mr. D'Andrea had a couple of meetings today you know reading through this

language a strict reading of it maybe it doesn't apply to offices in a downtown setting which

might be a commercial business. It may be a retail business that offers services but maybe this

language needs some tweaking. We need to decide what we want to extend the enterprise zone

benefits to and what types of businesses.

 

Alderman Neitzel said what about the new handicapped office building out. Mr. Bates said

CISO. Alderman Neitzel asked if they were allowed the benefits.

 

Alderman Anderson said she was a little leery about being too specific because moving forward

you can't foresee every opportunity that can come along and thought if they were too specific

and obviously they were going to be looking at it in the future since they are looking at it now.

She would hate to not be able to extend enterprise zone benefits to a company that maybe didn't

specifically fit in here. We want to encourage all the business we can get.

 

Alderman Hoinacki said he liked the new ordinance and it was drafted real well. Section 1 the

very last sentence the Zoning Administrator shall be the judge of eligibility. Instead of trying to

narrow it down to certain types of buildings and businesses and that is sort of a broad thing there.

 

Mayor Snyder said to be fair to that office our intentions need to be clear from the beginning

whether it is spelled out or in some other way. It is best for the enterprise zone administrator to

have some clarity.

 

Mr. D'Andrea said he has been interpreting ordinances for a long time and there are businesses

that are unique that are a combination of different uses so there are always interpretations that

need to be made. We also appreciate when there is a much clarity as there can be.

 

Lincoln, Illinois

February 7, 2011; Page 6

 

Discussion concerning the Logan County Enterprise Zone

 

Mr. D'Andrea said if renovation of the downtown area that are interested in having benefits

extended to just saying office or office buildings would make it that much clearer. There could

be some things that he might still have to make a determination on and obviously you can't

come up with all future uses. When you can try to expand general umbrella uses so it falls under

office, restaurant, what exactly fabrication or assembly you might have some user that might has

some new product that has not been on the market before is it a combination of several of these

categories possibly. My determination is to see if they fit under there but clarity is always very

helpful to interpret.

 

Alderman Neitzel said don't you think the offering of services is pretty general. Mr. D'Andrea

said it is but when he looks from a zoning standpoint and that would be a good question for Mr.

Lebegue too under services such as dry cleaners, hair dressers things that provide those types of

services. Office buildings are generally a specific classification.

 

Mr. Smiley said this issue just came to me this afternoon. Overall any incentives you do we

are looking for a new economy over the last three years. Any incentives that we can do we're

competing against other communities all over Illinois especially when it comes to retail. He

mentioned projects that he was directly involved with such R.P. Lumber, new Goody's and

incentives made a difference. They are currently engaged in discussions with at least two

retailers and nothing he could go public with and no promises at the former Wal-Mart facility.

Enterprise zone is the only thing you can do right now in terms of offering and level the playing

field. Woodlawn has developed over the past several years and asked if there were other places

in the downtown area that could benefit from retail and some other stuff. You can apply that to

other downtowns throughout the county.

 

Mayor Snyder said they would need to come to an agreement with the county on the wording for

this. He said Mr. D'Andrea should have input on this language. The county will be discussing

this tomorrow night.

 

Mr. Bates said he thought Mr. D'Andrea and the mayor hit on a good point here because we

are all aware of the renovated Scully building. He wasn't sure that would fall in here as written

and he wasn't sure if it came to Mr. D'Andrea today to approve enterprise zone benefits to the

Doolens' with what he now knows he wasn't sure there was anything in this language that would

make him comfortable in approving that. He thought they had hit on a good point and probably

office construction or renovation is a good addition to this language. He thought clearly they

would want to do that. He wanted to clarify what has to happen. We now have, because of

expansion, have Lincoln, Logan County, Sangamon County, Elkhart, Hartsburg, New Holland,

Atlanta, and DeWitt County in our enterprise zone. All of them will have to pass this.

 

Lincoln, Illinois

February 7, 2011; Page 7

 

Discussion concerning the Logan County Enterprise Zone

 

Alderman Armbrust said when he came on the Council the enterprise zone was going strong in

some areas. He asked if this was set up on the state level.

 

Mr. Bates said that is the next step after all the governmental bodies that he just mentioned

amend it if they are so inclined and if they do then it has to be approved by the state. Mayor

Snyder said Mr. D'Andrea has had conversations with Department of Commerce and Economic

Opportunities.

 

Mr. D'Andrea said the state agency is more concerned that they meet the state criteria for the

enterprise zone additions either meeting certain criteria on your unemployment rates, poverty

rate issues than what local benefits are offered to whom and will not be as concerned in local

level decisions on who you want to extend benefits to. He thought they would be fine with that.

 

Mayor Snyder said they couldn't do anything tonight because they didn't put it as a voting

item on our agenda but wanted to bring it up because it has come to everyone's attention rather

quickly. He wanted a general consensus so they could move ahead.

 

Mr. D'Andrea said he had a map of boundaries for the Enterprise Zone.

 

Public Announcements

 

Mayor Snyder said they would get a recap from the departments about their experiences last

week with the blizzard. He had some information from Mr. Jackson that he handed out with

regard to the street department. He had an email that he had made them a copy of and then also

Fire Chief Miller has a report from the Fire Department. The street department had hauled off

348 loads of snow and that is a little bit of snow hauled away from downtown and it was about

$17,000.00 for the work there.

 

Police Chief Greenslate said he would like to thank Fire Chief Miller and Superintendent Tracy

Jackson for the loan of their spare 4 wheel drive vehicles is the only way they were able to

respond to calls and would not have been able to. They assisted over 50 stranded motorists

including six that they brought in from Old 66 during the worst part of the snow when a semi

tractor and trailer jackknifed blocking the south bound lanes on Lincoln Parkway near N.

Ottawa. His officers put themselves at great risk to get those people back in town. The costs he

had were 37 1/2 hours overtime for a total of $1,389.54.

 

Fire Chief Miller said they had no major emergencies so they did not have to call anybody in

throughout that time. Most of the major emergencies that were incurring were out in the county

areas where the snow was worse. For them around $830.00 to get one of the pickup trucks

ready for the snow was their main expense. It was good to have good relationships with Police

department and street department. With the communication they could get somewhere if needed.

 

Lincoln, Illinois

February 7, 2011; Page 8

 

Mr. Tackett said only issue they had was Pulaski and Singleton lift stations lost power. They had

generator backup and had call outs for those two items. On the new stations Zion and Singleton

regardless of the weather the new generators had not been installed there and backup generators

were brought in and they will be left until the new generators are installed. The plant did fine but

they did have one pump go down.

 

Mr. Jackson said $1,000.00 for repairs. The night of the storm they got pulled off the plowing

for about an hour and a half to drive a police officer around Old 66 to make sure there was no

one in the cars. They opened the shelter at Zion and they had to plow it so people could get to

it. The Holiday Inn Express they had the nurses there so the next morning they had to go out

there to plow that so they could get to the hospital and Cilco had six line crews at Russell Stover

Candies that they had to dig out because they were there all night long and they had about 6

foot drifts there. They spent about 4 1/2 hours on Sysco Drive because they had a 6 foot drift

probably 150 foot long without a v plow they had to use an end loader.

 

Alderman Armbrust said he rode with Mr. Jackson.

 

The February 15, 2011 meeting would be at 5:00 p.m.

 

Alderman Anderson said I move to go into Executive Session under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(2) to

discuss collective bargaining and Alderman Horn seconded it. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called

the roll call. There were eight yeas (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman

Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and

Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and two absent (Alderman Bacon and Alderman Busby); motion

carried. The meeting adjourned to Executive Session at 7:42 p.m.

 

The meeting returned to regular Session at 9:06 p.m. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll

call. There were eight present (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Hoinacki,

Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman

Wilmert), and two absent (Alderman Bacon and Alderman Busby). Also present were City

Attorney Mr. Bates, Mayor Snyder, City Clerk Mrs. Martinek, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, and

Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs. Also present was Police Chief Greenslate.

 

Alderman Neitzel moved to adjourn and Alderman Anderson seconded it. There were eight

yeas (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman

Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and two

absent (Alderman Bacon and Alderman Busby); motion carried.

 

The City Council Meeting was adjourned at 7:08 p.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted By:

Risa Riggs

Recording Secretary