COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING

Lincoln City Hall, Council Chambers

700 Broadway Street | Lincoln, Illinois

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

The Committee of the Whole Meeting of the City Council of Lincoln was called to order by Mayor Tracy Welch at 6:02 p.m., with proper notice given. City Clerk Peggy Bateman called roll.

Present:

Alderwoman Robin McClallen, Ward 1

Alderman Steve Parrott, Ward 1

Alderman David Sanders, Ward 2

Alderman Sam Downs, Ward 2

Alderman Kevin Bateman, Ward 3

Alderwoman Wanda Lee Rohlfs, Ward 3

Alderman Craig Eimer, Ward 4

Alderwoman Rhonda O’Donoghue, Ward 4

Staff Present:

Peggy Bateman, City Clerk

Chuck Conzo, City Treasurer

John Hoblit, City Attorney

Walt Landers, Streets Superintendent

Wes Woodhall, Building and Safety Officer

Ty Johnson, Fire Chief

Joe Meister, Police Chief

Absent:

Andrew Bowns, Veolia Water, Project Manager

Presiding:

Mayor Tracy Welch

Public Comment:

JR Glenn, Chairman of the Logan County Board

Lori Milosevich-Lahr – Estes, Bridgewater & Ogden FY 23/24 Audit Presentation

Lori summarized the 96-page report by touching on a few points and sharing where they can be found in the report.

This item will be placed on the regular agenda.

Request to Permit: Lincoln Park District 5K Saturday, August 23, 2025

This item will be placed on the consent agenda

129 S. Sangamon Street Demolition Project

This building is down and removed.

Mr. Woodhall shared with the council his concerns and plans to stabilize the wall of the neighboring building. He and the Structural engineers feel that flow able fill be brought in to support the base of the once interior wall and is now an exterior wall.  He has bids for the flow able fill and paint for the wall.

This will be paid for out of the Enterprise Zone funds.  The projected cost is $48,000.   

This item will be placed on the regular agenda with a not to exceed $60,000.

Fire Department Clerical

The Fire Chief does not have any clerical staff.  Chief Johnson doesn’t feel a full time clerical position is necessary, so Ashley Metelko will offer her assistance for the Fire Chief.  Chief Johnson would like to also create a Deputy Chief for the department as well but that will be brought back to a later COW. 

Solar Ordinance

Alderman Bateman would like any ground mounted Solar array be approved by a governing body.  He feels there is a lot of farm land inside the city limits, along Woodlawn, that the owners are being offered money to install solar rather that farm it.

There was mixed feelings on the appearance on solar panels.

Anything over a half acre footprint is currently required by ordinance to obtain a special use permit.  That request will go through the planning commission for approval, then brought to the council to vote on.

Discussion was had regarding council approval for any solar permit other that residential. 

Alderman Bateman and Attorney Hoblit will work on the ordinance changes and bring back to the next COW.  All solar permits will cease until this matter is finalized. 

Discussion Non-Union Employees Pay

The Mayor put together a policy for the council to consider.  The policy will check the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for that year then add a plus 1 or 2% to that figure.  The reason for the plus 1 or 2% is the CPI is the minimal cost of living increase and also it gives the employees the incentive for better work.  The department heads will complete a performance review for all employees and give the pay increase accordingly.  The Council will work only on the budget for the increases. 

There is also interest for a Compensation Study on salaries. Most likely completed in year 2026.

There was also discussion on job security for when a new department head or elected official come in, that they cannot terminate current employees to bring in their own people.  This will be brought to a later COW. 

Treasurer Conzo feels that the IDOR should be referenced for the CPI since is for Illinois.  He also feels that the 1-2% should be as high as 3 % for years where the CPI is extremely low. The policy can be adjusted if the CPI is too low.   

This will be brought back to the next COW after the recommended changes have been made.

Mayor Welch moved on to other items on the agenda.

Announcements:

• The Landscape Waste Facility this week, then closed until mid-March. The new attendant building is set and the new fence along the road is up.

Adjournment:

There being no further discussion to come before the City Council of Lincoln, Alderman Downs motioned to adjourn, seconded by Alderman Sanders. All were in favor. Mayor Welch adjourned the meeting at 8:13 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted By:

Charity Hutchison, Recording Secretary