Lincoln, Illinois

City Council Committee's Meeting

August 10, 2010

 

Minutes of the City of Lincoln City Council Committees' Meeting held in the Council Chambers

on Tuesday, August 10, 2010.

 

Those present were Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Bacon, Alderman

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

Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert. Also present were Police Chief Greenslate,

Street Superintendent Mr. Jackson, EMC Manager Mr. Tackett, Fire Chief Hulett, and

City Engineer Mr. Mathon. Also present were City Attorney Mr. Bates, Mayor Snyder,

City Clerk Mrs. Martinek, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, and Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.

 

Mayor Snyder called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. There were ten Aldermen present

(Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Bacon, Alderman Busby, Alderman

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

Alderman Wilmert) and none absent.

 

Those present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Wanda Rohlfs, Executive Director of Main Street Lincoln was present.

 

The Mayor asked for the Committees' Issues to be Presented:

 

Finance, Policy and Procedure:

Chairman Alderman Anderson said she did not have a report.

 

Fire/Water & ESDA:

Chairman Alderman Horn said she did not have report.

 

Grounds, Buildings and Local Improvements:

Chairman Alderman Tibbs said she did not have a report. Mayor Snyder said Alderman Tibbs

had given him a card about the Balloon Fest parade and he asked Fire Chief Hulett if he

would have fire vehicle at the Art and Balloon Festival Parade on August. Fire Chief Hulett

said it came up in their Logan County Fire Association meeting last night and a number of

fire departments in the County are invited as well. Mayor Snyder asked if they would have

any room for Aldermen if they would like to ride in the truck. Fire Chief Hulett said yes.

 

Sewer Treatment Plant, Sewers and Drainage:

Chairman Alderman Busby said would everyone pay attention. Last week he tried to take

something off the table and couldn’t get a vote on and he was going to take it off the agenda and

forget about it. He will try it this Monday.

 

Lincoln, Illinois

City Council Committee's Meeting

 

August 10, 2010; Page -2-

 

Alderman Busby said he wanted to say congratulations to Mr. Jackson, Police Chief Greenslate,

and Fire Chief Hulett for doing a terrific job on their budget this last month. I know I chewed

some of them out. They also need the accolades.

 

Mayor Snyder said Treasurer Conzo will have some information about some revenue maybe that

we’re not flushed with cash but we’ve had some nice bumps. We will have that information on

Monday night.

 

Police:

Chairman Alderman Hoinacki said he had some petitions to block streets for some events. The

first was a petition from The Harvest of Talents for their 5K run on October 23, 2010 and their

insurance is on file and it could be placed on the consent agenda. The second petition was Main

Street Lincoln for the Art of Wine from Friday, August 27, 2010 to Monday, August 30, 2010.

 

Mayor Snyder said if they could also have in that an authorization to give permission for

alcoholic beverages on the city street. He thought they had granted that for the hospital event at

the park.

 

Alderman Hoinacki said he would place that on the consent agenda then. Mrs. Rohlfs said the

street would be closed through Monday morning.

 

Grounds, Buildings and Local Improvements:

Mayor Snyder said there was a petition for Harvest of Talents about putting the sign up on the

City owned lot at the corner of Kickapoo and Pekin Street. He said they could make the sign

go up after Balloon Festival and all the activities that go on there and then it would be on until

October 25, 2010.

 

Alderman Tibbs asked to have that on the agenda.

 

Streets and Alleys:

Chairman Alderman Neitzel said she had a petition from Tim Aper of 216 3rd Street for a

repair to the curb and gutter for the new lot he purchased and asked to have that on the agenda.

 

Mr. Jackson said the curb is actually gone and has deteriorated totally. We will go in and dig up

and put it back in.

 

Alderman Neitzel said the second thing she had she would turn it over to Mr. Mathon.

 

Mr. Mathon said in order to commit the rest of the allocation for the city’s stimulus dollars

or funding that we had received. IDOT is going to be providing to us a joint agreement that

he does not have in hand yet that allocates some of the dollars to right of way acquisition

for 5th Street Road project. They are supposed to have that agreement to them tomorrow.

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City Council Committee's Meeting

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Mr. Mathon asked that it be include on Monday’s meeting.

neighborhood of $70,000.00.

 

Alderman Neitzel asked to have it on the agenda.

 

Mayor Snyder said he had one thing. During the open house this afternoon about the downtown

streetscapes they had several discussions about parking and during the course of those

discussions and additional possibility of some parking spots came up. It is literally just across

the street here and he wondered if perhaps the Fire Chief and Street Superintendent and City

Engineer could take a look at it and get back to us. A suggestion was made that across the street

here beside the Post Office we have a whole block down to the mailboxes with No Parking. The

question was raised could we at least get a couple of parking spots along this end and maybe

even designate them 15 minutes or whatever is in front of the post office so there would be

an opportunity for people to zip in to do post office business and zip out. A concern maybe

historically has been allowing room for the fire trucks to pull out to have enough room there.

 

Mr. Mathon said there may be an ordinance issue to deal with.

 

Alderman Neitzel asked to have that on the agenda.

 

Ordinance and Zoning:

Chairman Alderman O’Donohue said he had a couple of Ordinances to put on the agenda. The

first was amending Section 9-5-15 of the City Code for Parking on Davey Street. The second

one is an Ordinance amending Section 9-7-13 pertaining to a parking enforcement volunteer

program.

 

Mayor Snyder said he wanted to address that. He said he had asked the City Attorney and Police

Chief along with the Deputy Chief to look at coming up with a volunteer program for downtown

parking enforcement. This is an ordinance which will authorize that and attached to that is a

Lincoln Police Department policy that would implement that. This is a program where the city

would solicit volunteers to enforce the 2 hour downtown parking ordinance. The volunteers

would have to be a U. S. Citizen, 21 years of age, have to pass a background investigation by the

police department, pass a training course the police department would design and then also sign

a liability release reliving the city of any type of liability with them serving in the capacity as a

volunteer. The policy then outlines and goes into further detail with what they would be required

to do. In essence document their time, put chalk marks on tires, write the citations but then

involve any police officer if there was a dispute that would arise in any type of citizen complaint

or any type of engagement that might get a little heated. They would not have arrest powers,

they could use a city vehicle if need be, we would want them to have a uniform of particular

style, not necessarily a police uniform it would obviously be a visible vest or something like that

and they would carry a cell phone with them at all times to make sure they could call the police

department if something arose.

Lincoln, Illinois

City Council Committee's Meeting

August 10, 2010; Page -4-

 

Mayor Snyder said it is just an attempt to try and deal with this issue of downtown parking

and obviously our police department is operating one person down because of the budget

 

He thought it was in the

 

situation and they don’t have the resources towards it that they would like to but it might be an

opportunity for us to engage volunteers to try and address this issue. He didn’t know if Attorney

Bates or Chief Greenslate have any comments but they worked this up and he thought they were

both comfortable with it.

 

Alderman Tibbs said we have a two limit downtown. Mayor Snyder said yes. Alderman Tibbs

said always been. Mr. Bates said since the meters went out.

 

Alderman Tibbs said that is really too bad. I am saying that if you are a visitor and you are going

to go and walk around the square and stop and see and look at shops I can say for myself I can

burn two hours easy. She didn’t know there was a two hour limit.

 

Alderman Wilmert said you mentioned it was to deal with an issue so what is the issue, are

people over time, are they making complaints or what is driving this now out of curiosity. I am a

little bit like Alderman Tibbs.

 

Mayor Snyder said he has heard almost from the day he assumed office he has heard complaints

from downtown business owners about a variety of things such as county employees using

spots, complaints about other businesses using spots and we’re confined on the number of spots

we have simply because it is a finite number. There are also concerns about the folks that pull

in and just park all day. It is aggravated by court dates where obviously it fills up around the

courthouse. There are folks in there for significant periods of time. It is an issue he has heard a

lot about and they heard about when they were informing people about this open house and the

public hearing. It is a concern on downtown business.

 

Alderman Anderson said ever since she has been on the Council she gets calls numerous

times throughout the year with regards to business owners, their employees and courthouse

employees that repeatedly park for long periods of time downtown eliminating a lot of the

spaces.

 

Alderman O’Donohue said having had a business downtown for a long time he could tell them

he has been in this room sitting over there complaining about the parking. It has been an issue

since the meter maid since we did not fill that position.

 

Alderman Armbrust said I very seldom park downtown. However, I used to be a frequent visitor

to Galena so one day he got a ticket for over parking. He paid the fine and sent the money but

also sent receipts for over $600.00 of merchandise I spent in their town when I got that ticket.

He said he has not been back since.

 

Alderman Wilmert said I wish there were a way to target that behavior without having to catch

everybody else in the net as well.

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City Council Committee's Meeting

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Mr. Bates said he has been here nine years now and it has been talked about virtually, a year

does not go by that it is not talked about. It is predominantly the business owners and their

employees and the county employees. We have actually had representatives from the Council

 

repeatedly talk to representatives of the County Board because one of the biggest problems is

employees of the courthouse.

 

Alderman Horn said they have a parking lot they can park in. Mr. Bates said once you

implement the policy to do it you will see them coming out of the courthouse every two hours

and move two spaces. Alderman Neitzel said they were going to hurt the wrong people.

Alderman Hoinacki said until we get everybody on the same page county, any municipality

employees whether it is city or county, the Oasis people, you have insurance company’s

downtown that park, dental office and until you get everyone on the same page you are not

going to solve this. Alderman O’Donohue said he didn’t disagree with some of the comments

made here or disagree but it’s something and for how many years has it been a problem. Mr.

Bates said there is signage downtown. Alderman O’Donohue said he knew businesses that the

customer said they got a ticket and the business says I’ll pay for your ticket and the downtown

businesses will take care of themselves.

 

Mr. Bates said the problem that they did run into with the handicapped volunteer enforcement

was over zealousness. Police Chief Greenslate said that is just something that will be his

responsibility to monitor.

 

Mrs. Rohlfs said she thought part of the problem was that there are all day parking places in

downtown but a lot of people are not necessarily aware of those. She said the municipal lots that

Mrs. Riggs and she were just talking about a while ago and there are people that are not aware

of where there is all day parking places are. If you are coming here to do shopping that might

be something if we had a map in the businesses that if you are going to be here all day here are

some places where you can go and park all day without having to worry about whether you are in

a two hour parking place. Again I think the whole problem here is with employees whether they

are employees or store owners and with the county people and that is what she thought needed to

be addressed as to how do you and can you, can you legally say to your employees this is your

designated parking area and you need to park there. If that is true then if everybody enforces it

throughout the whole downtown then it would be ok.

 

Alderman Neitzel asked how far the two hour parking goes. Mr. Bates said it is past that because

it is in front of his office. It was said that you could park around the parks. Mr. Bates said he

pays rent for off street parking for his office. Alderman O’Donohue said when they had four

employees they told them if they got caught parking on the street they had to move their car

and they either park in the spot in back or they park at the park but that was something as an

employer they enforced and you can enforce it.

 

Mayor Snyder said they have a Resolution for DCEO and a Resolution for blighted structures.

Lincoln, Illinois

City Council Committee's Meeting

August 10, 2010; Page -6-

 

Alderman O’Donohue asked to have that on the agenda.

 

Sidewalks, Forestry and Lighting:

Chairman Alderman Armbrust said they were trying to revamp the rules for the city landfill.

Alderman Anderson asked if the contractors paid on the spot. Mr. Jackson said they bill

 

everyone quarterly.

 

Sanitation/Technology:

Chairman Alderman Wilmert said he did not have a report.

 

Alderman Wilmert said he wanted to make the Council aware of something that has been

bothering him since the last meeting that he regrets and that is with respect to their vote to go

ahead with the Broadway project street overlay. He said the street is not in complete shambles

and he knew there were sections of it that needed some work but in his opinion but he wanted

them to reconsider their vote on that and perhaps delay that project and that it was over a half

million dollars. He realized that there were funds “allocated” for that in the budget but he

didn’t feel they should spend it and hold on to that in case of an emergency it could be used to

help our cash flow situation and if they don’t spend it they would at least have it. If we really

drastically need to fix a section of the street that would be one thing but to go through this entire

project when just recently we’re trying to scrape funds together and that kind of thing and he

can’t in good conscience and he made a mistake that night and didn’t fully understand what

was going on and you heard me ask where the funds were coming from that was a lame attempt

to try to get a grasp of the situation too late. He didn’t know if this could even be done but he

needed to get this out that it was a mistake and he thought it should be delayed if nothing else.

 

Alderman Neitzel said is that money that we have to spend on the streets. Mr. Mathon said it

was budgeted out of the ½ cent non home rule infrastructure tax. Alderman Anderson said it

has to go on infrastructure. Mr. Mathon said that is correct. Alderman Anderson said it doesn’t

necessarily have to go on that project.

 

Alderman Wilmert said he wanted to clarify just because we have it budgeted and just because it

has to go toward a certain purpose doesn’t translate into we must spend it in his opinion. In an

emergency we can use it for something else. Whatever we have to do I don’t think Illinois just

surpassed California number one risk of default. We are feeling the squeeze on every level and

it is only going to get worse. He didn’t think this was the time to be spending in some sort of

euphoric mood.

 

Mr. Conzo said just to address that point motor fuel tax we have received some $30,000.00 from

State of Illinois over the last month and there would be more information when he gives the

Treasurer’s report on Monday. Keep in mind the fact that whether it is motor fuel tax you will

see that the city has made some advances the last month and it doesn’t meant that they will next

month. As we go along the state’s fiscal year ends July 1.

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City Council Committee's Meeting

August 10, 2010; Page -7-

 

Mr. Conzo said you may see the state less forthcoming. Just because there is a positive balance

doesn’t mean you have to spend it all or spend a lot of it.

 

Mr. Bates said you voted to accept the bid. Mr. Mathon said they do not have a signed contract

yet. Mr. Bates said the motion was to accept the bid. Mr. Mathon said that was correct. Mr.

Bates said he could not tell them tonight but they may not be able to go back if they accepted a

low bid. Alderman Wilmert said there has to be a way. Mr. Bates said he wasn’t sure they could

 

do that after they accepted the bid but did not know that for a fact but his suspicion was all the

way until you accepted the low bid you could have rejected all the bids but he was afraid they

had created enforceable rights to the bidder when you accepted the low bid. Alderman Wilmert

said his point was that it might be worth paying a fee to get out. Mr. Bates said reconsider is

not an option in the form but it would need to be a motion to rescind the action previously taken

which would require a 2/3rds vote.

 

The project was not to begin until after the Balloon Fest. Mr. Jackson said there are four

intersections that are bad and are we going to be able to do those before we lose them. Alderman

Busby said Alderman Wilmert you cannot use in the general fund.

 

Mayor Snyder said there is a balance in the non home rule fund and we get approximately

$700,000.00 a year. We started the year with close to $2M.

 

Mr. Conzo said the sales tax is $1.5M and MFT has $870,000.00. Alderman Neitzel said

that still leaves us with $1M and that it is a main street artery. Alderman Busby said to ease

Alderman Wilmert’s mind we received some income tax that was $266,885.00 which is up by

22% over last year. Alderman Neitzel said if you piece meal it costs more money.

 

Mayor Snyder said they would put a motion to rescind the vote on the agenda.

 

Insurance:

Chairman Alderman Bacon said she did not have a report.

 

Mayor Snyder said he passed out a copy of the City Ordinance 3-13-19C and that section of our

code is our franchise agreement with the cable provider and it was approved in 1994. They are

allowed to conduct an evaluation within thirty days for the 10, 16 and 25 year of the contract.

They could do that within a thirty day window which is August 1 to September 30. It is a public

hearing and they set it down for August 24, 2010 at 6:00 p.m. He said he would contact Comcast

to let them know.

 

Mayor Snyder said they had received a letter from Congressman Schock. He will be in Elkhart

on August 23 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and in Mason City in the evening of August 24.

 

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City Council Committee's Meeting

August 10, 2010; Page -8-

 

Fire Chief Hulett said he wanted to remind everyone that they have high heat and he is

concerned about citizens. ALMH is a cooling station.

 

Alderman Busby made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Alderman Anderson seconded it.

There were ten yeas (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Bacon, Alderman

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

Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and none absent; motion carried.

 

The City of Lincoln Committee’s as a Whole Meeting adjourned at 8:02 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Risa Riggs

Recording Secretary