Lincoln, Illinois
December 20, 2010
Minutes of a regular City Council Meeting held in the Council Chambers of City Hall, Lincoln,
IL, on Monday, December 20, 2010.
Mayor Snyder called the regular City Council Meeting to order at 7:15 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). Department Heads present were Police Chief Greenslate, Safety and Building Officer
Mr. Lebegue, Street Superintendent Mr. Jackson, Interim Fire Chief Miller, and EMC Manager
Mr. Tackett. Also present were City Clerk Mrs. Martinek, Mayor Snyder, City Attorney Mr.
Bates, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, and Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.
Those present recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Public Participation:
Mayor Snyder said they had honorees again this year for each ward. The following were
recognized:
Ward 1 by Alderman Anderson
Logan County Paramedic Association – Steve Siltman
Ward 2 by Alderman Horn
Chuck Conzo
Ward 3 by Alderman Tibbs
Bruce Huskins
Ward 4 Alderman O’Donohue wanted to wait for Alderman Busby to return
Ward 5 by Alderman Hoinacki
Judy Aue
Mayor Snyder had two volunteers Rev. Glenn Shelton and Andy Anderson
Mr. Joel Smiley of Economic Development Partnership gave a brief update.
Mayor Snyder called for the Consent Agenda by Omnibus Vote:
Approve Minutes of October 12, 2010, November 9, 2010, November 23, 2010 Committee as a
Whole Meetings and the December 6, 2010 Regular City Council Meetings
Approve payment of bills
Approve cancellation of the December 28, 2010 Committee as a Whole Meeting
Approve 2011 Holiday Schedule
Approve issuing paychecks on December 23, 2010
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.
Lincoln, Illinois
December 20, 2010; Page 2
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.
Ordinances and Resolutions
Ordinance #2010-722 Levying Taxes for all Corporate purposes for the City of Lincoln, Illinois
for the Fiscal Year beginning May 1, 2010 and ending April 30, 2011
Alderman O’Donohue made a motion to adopt the Committee Report for the Ordinance #2010-
722 Levying Taxes for all corporate purposes for the City of Lincoln, Illinois for the Fiscal Year
beginning May 1, 2010 and ending April 30, 2011 and Alderman Anderson seconded it. Mayor
Snyder asked if there was any discussion on that. 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. Alderman O’Donohue moved to accept Ordinance
#2010-722 Levying Taxes for all Corporate purposes for the City of Lincoln, Illinois for the
Fiscal Year beginning May 1, 2010 and ending April 30, 2011 and Alderman Horn seconded it.
Mayor Snyder asked City Treasurer Mr. Conzo if he wanted to address this. This is our levy and
he knew they had to do this to get it on file and asked if there was a particular date.
Mr. Conzo said it was the last Tuesday in December which will be next week. He thanked
Mayor Snyder and said it is self explanatory and talked about it in Council workshop and the
key point to this is we have a CPI from the State of Illinois of 2.7%. This ordinance takes that
into consideration as well and new property that will be assessed and based on that we see an
increased levy of $60,000.00 which we have divided equally per our prior discussion and per his
recommendation divided equally between the police pension fund and fire pension fund. That is
the bottom line.
Mayor Snyder believed the total amount is shown on page 12 for $1,661,906.86 is the total tax
levy and asked if there were any questions about this.
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.
Official Reports:
City Clerk’s Report for November, 2010 is on file.
Lincoln, Illinois
December 20, 2010; Page 3
City Treasurer Mr. Conzo gave an oral report of the Treasurer’s Report for November, 2010 and
it is on file also.
The written reports from Department Heads are on file.
Unfinished Business:
There was no Unfinished Business to come before the City Council.
New Business/Communications:
Permission for the Fire Department to go out to bid for the Fire Station exhaust system
Alderman Horn moved to approve permission for the Fire Department to go out for bid for the
Fire Station exhaust system and Alderman Anderson seconded it. Mayor Snyder asked if there
was any discussion on this. Alderman Tibbs said this is a grant and not using the city money and
if the Chief would like to talk about this it is through buildings and grounds.
Interim Fire Chief Miller said they had to get approval from the Illinois Historical Society for
this installation and they got it. The grant they applied for was $41,000.00 and they do have a
5% they are entitled and it will be deducted from the grant. It will help clean the environment up
for the firefighters and the employees of City Hall.
Mayor Snyder asked if there were any questions on this. He said we have dates when those are
due back in.
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.
Direct the City Attorney to draft an Ordinance making the alley in Block 10 of the Original Town
lying between Broadway and Pekin Streets open to Two-Way Traffic
Mayor Snyder said we have a couple of options here so let me explain those before you proceed
with a motion. The alley we are talking about is the one next to State Bank between Broadway
and Pekin and parallel to Chicago and Kickapoo. There could be a motion to make the entire
alley two-way or we also have precedent in a block in a block two blocks southwest only a
portion of that alley could be two-way. It could be one way traffic off Broadway and then
roughly half way through that alley it could become two-way so that traffic could come in the
other end and go out the other end. He had the opportunity to have some discussion with State
Bank and he didn’t know that they felt strongly one way or the other. He felt their only concern
was if the alley was made two-way there is a fence there coming off the corner of their building.
Lincoln, Illinois
December 20, 2010; Page 4
Direct the City Attorney to draft an Ordinance making the alley in Block 10 of the Original Town
lying between Broadway and Pekin Streets open to Two-Way Traffic
Mayor Snyder said their concern was when their customers pull in the alley from Broadway
and then they are parked at an angle and went to back out and there was two-way traffic
coming down that alley the fence might make it difficult to see that. That was a long winded
explanation but he thought there were a couple of options in which you could go or you could
choose not to do it. Prior to giving our City Attorney instructions to draft an ordinance we just
need to decide what we want him to draft.
Alderman Tibbs said she didn’t see the need to do anything. She thought it could be confusing
and would not agree to it.
Alderman O’Donohue said he actually took some time and talked to some of the businesses and
he didn’t get them all. The ones he did were ok with it and they were enthusiastically ok with
it. It would be helping people not breaking the law and he was not saying just because they are
already doing it means anything but the fact is they are ok with it. They wanted him to mention
that as long as everyone realizes that 2 cars cannot fit going past each other in the back of that
alley. That was the only thing that was of any concern to them.
Alderman Wilmert said he knew they had some retail that take deliveries back there and if they
do half way the business on the corner wouldn’t mind.
Alderman Anderson said we have alleys here in town that are one way and when someone’s
getting garbage picked up or deliveries you can’t get through you turn around because you can’t
back the other way the wrong way. It seems to her that it is all going to work out. She said if
they make it two-way it’s not going to be that big of a deal.
Police Chief Greenslate said from the perspective of the accidents you mentioned with State
Bank and this is the City Attorney’s area of how it will be drafted but that area where it
approaches State Bank boundaries that is an area of visibility issues. If it is feasible to draft an
ordinance that they can erect signage that ok you can come in either way but once you get to this
point do not enter from that point forward so they don’t have cars trying to go past the fenced in
areas where the cars will be parked at angles will have difficulty seeing oncoming traffic. He
thought that would address those businesses who have concerns about entering from Pekin Street
who are going to get 75-95% of those businesses taken care of by going up to that State Bank
property line and State Bank employees and customers will still be happy they will still be able
to come in the Broadway Street way.
Mayor Snyder thought right now the ordinance is a little odd in it lists the alleys that are one-way
and there is an exception for Block 20, he thought, where it says half of it is two-way so actually
to make it a halfway alley, part two-way and part one-way, it might be easier drafting than
making it all two-way. It could be handled that way. He asked for the Council’s preference.
Lincoln, Illinois
December 20, 2010; Page 5
Direct the City Attorney to draft an Ordinance making the alley in Block 10 of the Original Town
lying between Broadway and Pekin Streets open to Two-Way Traffic
Alderman Neitzel said she thought they should leave it the way it is. She thought they would
have accidents the other way.
Mr. Bates said he would say that he didn’t realize it until he got into and started looking at the
code and it is where his office is, is the alley which is actually two-way on the South half and
one-way on the North so you can't enter on Pulaski Street by the Alley-Bi you can only go
out that way. You can enter on Clinton Street and go back out on Clinton Street. He tried to
remember why it was that way and thought it had something to do with when Mr. Simonson had
the carpet store there because he unloaded and reloaded back there. He hasn’t seen any problem
at all on Clinton Street at least.
Alderman Wilmert said he thought it was going to accommodate not just the business on
the corner that he is affiliated with but if you have other businesses that are enthusiastically
embracing and we can accommodate them for no real cost and make their life a little easier for
their employees to come in and also that parking lot he thought they should do, if nothing else
show of appreciation for what they bring to the community. If there is already precedent to that
he didn’t see it as an issue.
Mayor Snyder said if they did the half way arrangement they could enter that alley from either
end but you could not exit from the Broadway end only exit from the Pekin Street end.
Alderman Hoinacki said he would make a motion to make half one-way and half two-way with
the North half. Alderman O’Donohue said they are not talking half and half they are saying
enter one side but exit, they are talking about more than half it would be three quarters of the
way in the alley. Mr. Bates said it is going to be half. Alderman Wilmert seconded the motion.
Mayor Snyder said it would be to make that alley one-way in off Broadway and two-way in
off of Pekin and asked if there was any further discussion and they are just directing the City
Attorney to do this. Mr. Bates said it is done.
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.
Lincoln, Illinois
December 20, 2010; Page 6
Public Announcements
Mayor Snyder said they have a sheet in front of them from their farm settlement.
Mr. Bates said they may recall that they entered into a variable rent lease with Kent Cross for
2010 crop year and that lease provided a fixed base amount paid plus some variable rent to be
paid based upon actual production and actual pricing during a ten month period. He kept track
of the 2010 bid from the local elevator for the first business day of each month (March through
December) and that added up to the price being $4.09 a bushel of corn. The actual production
for the 2010 crop year on that 40 acre farm was 157.2 bushels to the acre. There were some
farm program payments received so following the formula we developed. The variable rent is
an additional $33.01 per acre which Mr. Cross paid today and he has forwarded to the City Clerk
this made the rent for 2010 $183.01 per acre for the city farm. That’s probably less than what
we had hoped for but significantly more than we had been getting historically but the production
you may have heard county wide the corn crop was not near what was anticipated. The 157.2
is probably not near what the potential land is. However, Central Illinois wide and beyond it
wasn’t as big of yield as it was before and that is why the price is at $4.09. If the production
would have been better the price would have been lower. He thought this lease could possibly
need some reviewing and tweaking and he personally would recommend to the city that they
give it one more year under these same terms just to see how it works in the second year. He and
Mr. Cross talked at great length today about how they might try and tweak it if they see another
year next year with the same kind of indications as this year. All in all he was certainly not
unhappy with the way this had resulted after what they had been getting.
Mayor Snyder asked if there were any questions. Alderman Tibbs said this is the first year and
we are trying this out and she wanted to go with Mr. Bates’ suggestion and then they can go from
there and bring it to committee.
Mayor Snyder said he also passed out to them tonight a letter that he received from the
Department of Transportation. Normally these would come for the Council to get your approval
on. It is a memorandum of understanding but he wanted to just simply make you aware of it and
if it would be ok for him to sign it. He had Mark Mathon take a look at it and as you see in the
second paragraph they talk about traffic signal improvements and what it amounts to you will
see in the second sentence of the first paragraph the improvement consists of installing reflective
sheeting to existing traffic signal back plates so they will put reflective stuff around the traffic
lights. This will be at no cost to the city and it is for 6 different intersections which are Illinois
Route 10 and Heitmann Drive, Illinois Route 10 and Connolley Road, Keokuk and Logan,
Keokuk and Kickapoo, Logan and Broadway, and Lincoln Parkway and Fifth Street. He said it
was basically the yellow outline on the traffic lights and we will have to do as we have pursuant
to the master agreement. He said unless he got any objections from any of them he would go
ahead and sign the memorandum of understanding and send them back to IDOT and they can
take care of that in the spring. He said the drawings were very interesting.
Lincoln, Illinois
December 20, 2010; Page 7
Alderman Tibbs said Mayor at the same time will they look at the signals as far as activity.
Coming off the interstate there and Madigan Drive on down it is just a mess. She saw the other
day traffic backed up all the way to the Interstate and were sitting and waiting on a light and
there is no action in front of us and it is over six seconds.
Mayor Snyder said Mr. Mathon has had several calls and looked at the timing issue and Mr.
Jackson worked with Mr. Mathon to try and get the state to address some of those. This work is
just for the reflective plating.
Alderman Horn said we talked last week and she thought Alderman Anderson mentioned tonight
but on Sunday, December 12th it was crazy on the scanners and she thought the girls that were
working those scanners should be publicly congratulated for the job they did. The assistant
supervisor was Debbie Kimberlin, the dispatcher was Jodie Washam and then they called in
Justin Brown as an extra dispatcher. They did such a wonderful job and according to what she
heard the weather is going to be this week they will probably be doing it again. She wanted to
publicly thank them for their dedication and what a great job our dispatchers do for 911.
Mr. Conzo said they have a historic site in front of the VFW hall which is a well that Abraham
Lincoln and others in the 1840’s drank from when the Postville Courthouse was an active
courthouse and Postville was the county seat. Some of the bricks from that well have been
removed by the street department, have been cleaned up and added a plate to them and look very
nice. They have been available for sale to the public for 6 years. They still have a number of
them available and they normally sell for $25.00, they want everyone to have the opportunity to
buy them and they make great Christmas gifts. They are discounted and available now through
Christmas for $18.53 which is the year our city charter.
Alderman Anderson said I move to go into Executive Session under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1) to
discuss employee hiring, compensation and discipline 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 8:01 p.m.
Mayor Snyder said they would take a short recess and return in Executive Session and said
Happy Holidays to everyone. City Attorney Mr. Bates said Merry Christmas to everyone.
The meeting returned to regular Session at 8:34 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
City Attorney Mr. Bates, Mayor Snyder, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, and Recording Secretary
Mrs. Riggs.
Mayor Snyder said they had received a story about Comcast.
Lincoln, Illinois
December 20, 2010; Page 8
Alderman Neitzel made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Alderman Anderson seconded the
motion. 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 8:35 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted By:
Risa Riggs
Recording Secretary
City of Lincoln