COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING

Lincoln City Hall, Council Chambers

700 Broadway Street | Lincoln, Illinois

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

 

The Committee of the Whole Meeting of the City Council of Lincoln was called to order by Mayor Tracy Welch at 7:00 p.m., with proper notice given. City Clerk Peggy Bateman called roll.

 

Present:

Alderman Rob Jones, Ward 1

Alderman Steve Parrott, Ward 1

Alderman Tony Zurkammer, Ward 2

Alderman Sam Downs, Ward 2

Alderman Kevin Bateman, Ward 3

Alderwoman Wanda Lee Rohlfs, Ward 3

Alderwoman Kathy Horn, Ward 4

Alderman Rick Hoefle, Ward 4


Staff Present:

Peggy Bateman, City Clerk

Chuck Conzo, City Treasurer

John Hoblit, City Attorney

Joe Meister, Deputy Police Chief

Bob Dunovsky, Fire Chief

Walt Landers, Streets Superintendent

Andrew Bowns, Veolia Water, Project Manager

Remotely:

Wes Woodhall, Building and Safety Officer

 

Absent:

Matt Vlahovich, Police Chief

Presiding:

Mayor Tracy Welch


 

 

Public Comment:

There is no one present for public comment. 

 

Alice Roate/Logan County Tourism – 2nd Quarter Report

This report covers April, May and June 2022.  $42,364.00 was received in Hotel/Motel Tax.  Revenue is up 40% from the 2nd quarter in 2021.  A grant, in the amount of $46,287.00, was received from the state. Tourism is continuing to do digital marketing advertising and are working with a new company.  Radio marketing is planned for Balloons over 66 and the Logan County Fair.  429 people stopped into the Tourism Bureau in the last month, 480 at the Mill Museum.  209 of those had the route 66 passports with them.  The butterfly garden was opened in June and a cruise in was hosted at the Mill raising $681.00. 

 

Bid opening for 227 N. Kickapoo Street

One bid was received from Robert Becherer and was received on 07.12.2022 at 3:53pm.  The bid was for $5,100.00.  The bid included an easement for the City to still maintain access to the mailboxes. 

Alderwoman Rohlfs had conversations with Mr. Becherer over the weekend.  She shared that her understanding was he planned to use it for storing heavy equipment machinery and some of his cars.

He would also be repairing the roof. 

The City does not have to accept to bid.   

Alderman Bateman would rather see the city use it for storage. 

The council thanked Mr. Becherer for his bid.  Several Alderman didn’t feel the bid met what they were looking for pertaining to the use of the property. 

This item will be placed on the regular agenda. 

 

 

F.Y. 2022/2023 Appropriations

A meeting was held last week with Alderwoman Horn, Alderman Hoefle and Treasurer Conzo. 

There are a few lines that are higher than they were in the budget.  One being the gas/oil line.  There was a request to add $75,000 to the Economic Development line.  That has been added. 

This item will be added to the agenda for a special voting meeting on July 26, 2022.

 

Updating Equipment for City Parks

Those working on the park improvements, which includes Alderman Bateman, Alderman Zurkammer, Ashley Metelko and Superintendent Landers, suggests that $50,000 be used for each park. Those funds will come from the ARPA funds.  Melrose Park is the first park to be redone as it is out of compliance.  The plan is to install a 24x24 foot basketball court, new slide, new swings, picnic tables and mulch along with the cost to remove old equipment, brings the total cost to $41,700.00.  ADA accessible swings and rubber mulch are added options to bring the total closer to $50,000.00.  The playground equipment the group chose is made in the USA.  Charity Hutchison came forward and stressed the need for inclusion equipment and fences for special need individuals and their families at each park.

One park will be done each year with a total of $200,000.00 to use over all 4 parks.  Some parks will require more and some will require less.  All parks will be required to be ADA compliant once construction begins. 

This item will be placed on the agenda with a not to exceed amount of $60,000 for Melrose Park. 

 

Appointment of Mayor Pro Tem

On May 17, 2021 the council approved a motion to allow other council members the chance to serve as Mayor Pro Tem under the current administration.  The council’s idea was to reappoint annually to give others an opportunity.  Mayor Welch felt that Mr. Bateman has not done anything to warrant being replaced so his appointment should stand as it is his place to make the appointment of Mayor Pro Tem. 

Several council members voiced that they had no interest in being Mayor Pro Tem. 

This item will be placed on the regular agenda as Alderman Bateman being appointed as Mayor Pro Tem for the remainder of Mayor Welch’s term.     

 

Tourism Bureau

The Council asked Alderman Hoelfe and Alderman Zurkammer to bring forward a proposal to the council regarding tourism funds.  Moving forward, they’d like to create a line for City Park Upkeep/Maintenance and move the funds from Tourism projects and events to that line.  Add another line for maintenance with a budget of $250.00.  Keep the 3rd Friday’s line and move all other hotel/motel revenue to tourism.  Alderman Zurkammer feels that the surplus within these line will eventually run out causing the city to search for funds elsewhere within the budget to fund events.   The Railsplitter Festival and the Genealogical Society would be added to the proposal to be funded by the City. 

Several council members felt that the money generated within Lincoln should stay with the city to assure it was spent within the city on Lincoln events.  Once those funds are transferred to Tourism, they can be spent anywhere within the county.  They did not see the reason for a change. 

Alderman Rohlfs would like information from Tourism that states what their guidelines are for spending hotel/motel tax dollars. 

This item will be tabled and brought back on July 26, 2022.

Items that were not on the agenda but direction from the Council is needed….

1.  A request that was received from i3Broadband to extend the soliciting hours from 5pm to 6pm. The council was not in favor. 

2.  Mr. Muck is looking for an easement along 5th St road at the railroad tracks along with a dedication. This will have to be approved by the council.  Legal documents are being drafted.  There is a tentative meeting with Mr. Muck on Friday.  This is potentially the last parcel to finalize for the 5th St road project.

Mayor Welch wanted the council to keep in mind that all other negotiations with the other parcels have an August 18th deadline.  Those agreements will have to be renegotiated if the deadline is passed.  This item will be placed on the regular agenda.    

3.  Once the official election results are made public and there will need to a proclamation to revoke the Civil Service Commission.

4.  Deputy Chief Meister requested that the council approve the hiring of a police officer to replace a vacant positon made recently.  The police department had previously requested the hiring approval of 4 officers to fill vacancies.  Those positions have been filled pending the required pre-employment testing. This item will be placed on the regular agenda. 

Announcements:

  • 3rd Fridays is this weekend. The event continues to grow and is in need of volunteers. Contact City Clerk Bateman, Mayor Welch or Marcia Cook to volunteer. 

Adjournment:

 

There being no further discussion to come before the City Council of Lincoln, Alderman Hoelfe motioned to adjourn, seconded by Alderman Zurkammer. All were in favor. Mayor Welch adjourned the meeting at 9:34 p.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted By:

Charity Hutchison, Recording Secretary