Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011
Minutes of a regular City Council Meeting held in the Council Chambers of City Hall, Lincoln,
IL, on Monday, May 2, 2011.
Mayor Snyder called the regular City Council Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Those present recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Mayor Snyder
Swearing in of Elected Officials
Judge Thomas Funk swore in Ward 1 Alderman Anderson, Ward 1 Alderman Bacon, Ward
2 Alderman Horn, Ward 3 Alderman Tibbs, Ward 4 Alderman Busby, Ward 4 Alderman
O’Donohue, and Ward 5 Alderman Hoinacki.
City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll. 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. Also present were Department Heads Police Chief Greenslate, Deputy
Police Chief Geriets, Fire Chief Miller, EMC Manger Mr. Tackett, City Engineer Mr. Mathon,
Safety and Building Officer Mr. Lebegue, and Street and Alley Superintendent Mr. Jackson.
Also present were City Attorney Mr. Bates, City Clerk Mrs. Martinek, Mayor Snyder, City
Treasurer Mr. Conzo, and Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.
Public Participation:
There was no Public Participation.
Mayor Snyder called for the Consent Agenda:
Payment of bills
Petition by Tecia Hennessey to have the intersection of Broadway and McLean Streets flashing
red lights for distribution of poppies on Saturday, May 28, 2011 from 8:00 a.m. to 12 noon
Petition by Cathy Sanders to have the Annual Scout Sweep Day on June 4, 2011 with a rain date
of June 11, 2011
Petition by Thomas Frost for a curb break at 628 21st Street
Alderman Anderson said I would move 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 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.
Approval of any items removed from the Consent Agenda
There were no items removed from the Consent Agenda.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 2
Petitions
There were no Petitions to come before the City Council.
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.
Reports:
There were no Reports to come before the City Council.
New Business/Communications:
Statement of Conditions at State Bank of Lincoln is on file
Authorization to perform legal boundary survey for City parcel
Alderman Tibbs moved to authorize the City Engineer to have a legal boundary survey
performed on the city parcel located on W. Kickapoo Street said parcel being legally described
as Lots 20, 21, and 22 of Hart’s Addition in Lincoln and Alderman Neitzel seconded it. Mayor
Snyder asked if there was discussion on this. Alderman Tibbs said this was brought up in our
workshop by Mr. Tackett in regards to this property and at this time we are not interested with
the sale but we would like to know more about this property and get it surveyed. Alderman
Neitzel said does Alderman Tibbs want to go forward to find out the legal boundaries anyway.
Alderman Tibbs said yes that is what the survey is. Alderman Hoinacki said he thought to do
this in order for years down the road if something was to come up with a different property
owner next to it would come up and they would have where the line is. Alderman Neitzel
thought it was a good idea. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll call. 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.
Approve contract with Illinois American Water for disconnection services
Alderman Busby moved for approval of the contract with Illinois American Water for disconnect
services as presented to the Council and Alderman Neitzel seconded it. Mayor Snyder asked if
there was discussion about this. Alderman Neitzel said even though she seconded the motion she
wanted to ask Mr. Bates if he has gone over everything and it was up to snuff. Mr. Bates said no
I can’t as I said last week at the committee meeting I can’t approve or recommend approval of
the contract because of the indemnification language. Alderman Neitzel withdrew her second.
Alderman Wilmert seconded the motion.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 3
Approve contract with Illinois American Water for disconnection services
Mayor Snyder said further discussion on this and he knew there was a question with this when
it was brought up because of the language of the contract it is contractual liability. What we
would be assuming if we entered into this contract. The question was raised could we go out and
purchase liability coverage just for this contract and Mr. Bates initiated a look but he didn’t think
there was any definitive answer at this point.
Mr. Bates said he spoke with our agent today and after the question came in they wanted to
see the language and they wouldn’t commit that it was contractual liability and he said there
were only very limited circumstances where contracted liability was covered by our policy.
They wanted to see the proposed language which they have the underwriters look at it and
that was today and he didn’t have answer on that. They also didn’t have an answer nor could
they give him an answer if they could obtain additional insurance coverage on this liability
and they looking at that but they were not very encouraging and they said there were nothing
the underwriters is going to say it’s language you can’t live with why should we. He couldn’t
answer that at this point. He has asked the questions.
Alderman Neitzel said do you have any knowledge of what other cities might do in a situation
like this. Mr. Bates said he did not.
Alderman Tibbs said could this be a possibly that we would see quite a bit of our insurance down
the line and could you tell me Mr. Bates what are some of the possibilities that you might know
of but how could we possibly get ourselves in a jam.
Mr. Bates said the simplest the way a problem can arise is if pursuant to our direction they go
out and turn off the water and disgruntled resident decides they are going to sue people and they
are not just going to sue the city they will whoever turned the water off. It will include us as
a defendant and the water company as a defendant and under this language in this contract we
would have to defend not ourselves but the water company. Taking it to the extreme however
the language has been drafted, if the water company personnel would go out there and somehow
cause an accident or run over someone pursuant to our direction to shut off water, not put their
vehicle in park and it runs over a child or some employee goes postal and shoots a lot of people
all of that pursuant to this very broad language falls back on us. We have to indemnify and
protect and defend them by whatever action is taken by their personnel pursuant to our direction
to shut off the water and that is in the extreme.
Alderman Neitzel said would another case be if the water shut off on someone that is terminally
ill would we have a litigation problem.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 4
Approve contract with Illinois American Water for disconnection services
Mr. Bates said he didn’t think necessarily a portion has anything to do with whether or not they
have liability or not but it is probably in terms of strict liability against, a claim against us it
is most likely to come up in the context of what we talked about quite a bit up here and it is a
tenant that has paid all their rent, that’s in possession and they are paying their landlord their
rent and the landlord is responsible for the sewer bill and hasn’t paid the sewer bill and we
shut off the water those people are not going to be happy. They are going to look for recourse
against someone and that someone is going to be us and the water company. He also hastened
to add that we kind of hashed this out last week at the workshop session and we have both
lists. We have the lists of sewer delinquencies and we would have access to the water company
delinquencies. He thought they talked about if the water bill is current we are probably going
to be very hesitant to ask the water company to shut off the water because that is going to be
somewhat of an indication to us that the tenant or someone on the property other than the owner
is actually paying the water bill and the landlord hasn’t paid the sewer bill. He thought they
talked about some ways to try and work on that but with the access to the two lists he thought
they would have to be extremely careful on trying to make sure we are not trying to shut water
off on someone who hasn’t gotten notice.
Alderman Wilmert said he seconded it because he thought it should at least come to a vote
and he was interested in hearing what Alderman Busby had to say about it in light of all the
information. My recollection this is one of the few ways we have to press the issue as far as
collection is concerned. Obviously other communities do it and he knew there were plenty of
reasons to be scared into not doing it but thinking of one off case we have where a tenant isn’t
paying or landlord isn’t paying we could obviously find a way to not initiate in that case but what
is your feeling on this now.
Alderman Busby said he was still for it otherwise he wouldn’t have made the motion. The only
other way that he know that they could put any pressure on them is to dig it up.
Mayor Snyder asked if there were other questions or comments.
Alderman Busby said if they were to dig it up he thought they would have to change their
ordinance so that the cost of them putting it back in would be on their shoulders and not the
city’s. Alderman O’Donohue said as he understands this, this doesn’t have to be an either or
situation if we prove this we can still resume collections, we can still dig it up if we choose.
Alderman Wilmert said this is an option right. Mr. Bates said the city is in control of issuing
the notices to shutoff so if you enter into the agreement and don’t ever issue any notices to the
Illinois American Water to shut off you have the agreement. Alderman Wilmert said you don’t
utilize until we are comfortable. Mr. Bates said there is a considerable amount of in house
administrative work that is going to have to be done by someone because there are notices that
you have to issue and it is not just overnight it’s going to happen.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 5
Approve contract with Illinois American Water for disconnection services
Mr. Bates said there are required notices to the owner and the occupant.
Alderman Tibbs asked if they could possibly put it two ways Collection agencies and this other. I
mean go ahead and try both ways.
Mr. Bates said yes. Mayor Snyder said they have the option now of digging it up and they are
going to talk next about the collections if this were to pass at least three options.
Alderman Wilmert said we are simply getting ourselves the option of shutting off but we don’t
have to until we are comfortable with the ramifications but this is the first step to have the ability
to. Is that correct?
Mr. Bates said presumably the council is going to have to establish some types of policies and
procedures on how you do this.
Alderman O’Donohue said that’s his question, who is going to make this decision. Anyone who
does that opens the city up for liability.
Mr. Bates said correct.
Alderman O’Donohue said it falls back on our heads and opens the city up for that liability.
Anyone that we send really should be on our heads to send it and it should be a City Council
vote.
Mr. Bates said the agreement specifically outlines the procedures on how to process shut off
notices. I don’t know what the Council’s policy is going to be on how that’s done. I don’t
know if you approve this agreement if Alderman Busby feels he has the authority tomorrow to
start processing notices or not. That is probably something that should be made clear so that he
knows. I certainly don’t at this point.
Alderman Tibbs said are we going some of these people owe a lot of money. Are we going to
ask for all of the money or ask to set up a payment process or what are we going or how are
we going to put this process together? If someone calls and says well I’d like to start paying
monthly or what are we going to do.
Mr. Bates said he thought the agreement contemplates unless they pay their pass due bill the
water doesn’t get turned back on. Alderman Tibbs said the total amount. Mr. Bates said yes
ma’am.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 6
Approve contract with Illinois American Water for disconnection services
Alderman Neitzel said being that the water is shut off is kind of letting ourselves out for liability
and he knew that Alderman Busby didn’t like the idea of collections, giving them 30% but still
that rules out no liability on the part of the city. She said any business that has bad debts and
sends it to a collection agency before they go after them in court. She was not in favor of putting
the city into any type of liability.
Alderman O’Donohue said he wanted to clarify so that he understands the consequences
correctly if water is shut off on the structure that structure cannot be habitated. Alderman Busby
said that’s right. Alderman O’Donohue said we are not only shutting off water but we’re saying
you can’t live here anymore. Mr. Bates said that is true but he thought Mr. Lebegue would
acknowledge that is an enforcement issue and he knew that Mr. Lebegue and Mr. Blinn Bates
have been working on one property that we deem uninhabitable but it is still inhabited. Mr.
Lebegue said she is out of the home. Mr. Bates said there is an enforcement angle and he thought
the Mayor had actually received. Mayor Snyder said he received an email from the Logan
County Health Department just clarifying that they have no jurisdiction over any properties
within the city with regard to declaring a residence uninhabitable and that is strictly a decision of
Mr. Lebegue’s office as Mr. Bates’ says it is an enforcement issue. Mr. Bates said he can post
it as uninhabitable but if they continue to live there the only recourse is to go to court and have
them evicted. Alderman O’Donohue said our policy states that is our policy. Mr. Lebegue said
it would be the state plumbing code. Alderman Horn said if this doesn’t pass tonight and we
decide for the collection agencies can we go back to this in the future. Mr. Bates said as long
as Illinois American Water is willing to go along with it. Alderman Hoinacki said he would be
in favor of maybe foregoing this and maybe start collecting angle first and we can always come
back to this.
City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll call. There were four yeas (Alderman Anderson,
Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Busby, and Alderman Wilmert), six nays (Alderman Bacon,
Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, and Alderman
Tibbs), and none absent; motion failed.
Quotes from collection agencies for delinquent sewerage accounts
Mrs. Martinek said she had talked to three different collection agencies. She had another one
but they didn’t get back to her. Two are a 70/30 split so they would retain 30% of any money
collected. The third one is a third of any amount collected. She thought the 70/30 split was
pretty standard.
Alderman Anderson said you currently have a relationship with one of them. Mrs. Martinek said
Midwest Credit & Collections, they do our parking tickets and they have been in to look at the
sewerage list and have a pretty good idea of what would be involved. Alderman Anderson said
have they done a pretty good job on the parking tickets.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 7
Quotes from collection agencies for delinquent sewerage accounts
Mrs. Martinek said they had done a good job. Alderman O’Donohue asked if Mrs. Martinek
had a percentage of how much collections they can. Mrs. Martinek said she really didn’t have a
percentage but they have gotten some of their older parking tickets.
Mr. Bates asked if he could expound a little bit on the collection process. For those of you who
are not familiar with the collection process the collection company will come in and take the
whole book of delinquent accounts or as much of it as you want to give to them. They will
initiate collection activity through contact and correspondence with the account and they will
use their best efforts to collect as much as they can without what they call going legal. Once
they have exhausted their ability and they are satisfied they can’t get any further they will
take it legal by filing a small claims action in the Logan County Circuit Court. Pursuing that
through the collection process in court and typically they ask for an assignment of the account
which means the suit would actually be brought under the name of the collection agency and
they would be doing it as the owner of the account but they still owe Lincoln the money they
collect. One of the things he forgot to mention the other night that they really need to clarify
is that whether they are advancing the costs of filing of fees or we are advancing. Typically it
would be our responsibility but the fees are getting significant in collection action by the time
you file, pay a filing fee, and then you have to have a service fee to have the document served
on the defendant and then once you get a judgment you have more service fees for citation or
wage deduction so those costs are significant and they go up depending on the larger the dollar
amount you are seeking to get the higher the amount of the filing fee. If you are successful in
recovering the money you also recover the filing fees not the collection agency fees but the filing
fees. Sometimes those are paid by the collection agencies and then recovered in due course and
sometimes they will tell you, you have to advance and more and more are saying you have to
advance them because they are significant.
Mayor Snyder said they were just discussing earlier if they wanted to go this route we probably
need a motion at the next meeting because they can’t do it at this one because it wasn’t an
agenda item. At the next meeting they could approve the process and the specific companies
with which they want to pursue that.
Mr. Bates said a lot of companies use more than one collection agency. They might give A-M
to one agency and N-Z to another. Some give a certain amount over to one and a certain amount
under to another. It is done a lot of different ways or you can give to one agent.
City Treasurer Conzo said he would recommend several agencies.
Approve contract with Logan County Animal Control
Alderman Wilmert moved to approve the contract as written and Alderman Anderson seconded
it.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 8
Approve contract with Logan County Animal Control
Mayor Snyder said they had passed out a copy of the contract at the workshop. As they
mentioned when it originally came it came with a higher CPI. There was an error in it so the
county corrected that and the increase in cost is 1.5% for a total amount $38,367.80. He asked if
there were any other questions or further elaboration.
City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll call. 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.
Advice and Consent to the Appointments of Department Heads and Deputy Police Chief and the
Swearing In
Mayor Snyder nominated John Lebegue as Building & Safety Officer. Alderman O’Donohue
said she would move to approve the appointment of Mr. Lebegue as Building & Safety Officer
and Alderman Anderson seconded it. Mayor Snyder asked if there was discussion. City
Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll call. 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. City Attorney Mr. Bates swore in Mr. Lebegue.
Mayor Snyder nominated Ken Greenslate as Police Chief. Alderman Neitzel made a motion to
approve the appointment of Ken Greenslate as Police Chief and Alderman Hoinacki seconded it.
Mayor Snyder asked if there was any discussion. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll call.
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. City
Attorney Mr. Bates swore in Police Chief Greenslate.
Police Chief Greenslate submitted Michael Geriets as Deputy Police Chief. Alderman Wilmert
made a motion to approve Mike Geriets as Deputy Police Chief and Alderman Busby seconded
it. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll call. 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. City Attorney Mr. Bates swore in Deputy Police Chief Geriets.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 9
Advice and Consent to the Appointments of Department Heads and Deputy Police Chief and the
Swearing In
Mayor Snyder nominated Mark Miller as Fire Chief. Alderman Horn made a motion to approve
the appointment of Mark Miller as Fire Chief and Alderman Armbrust seconded. Mayor Snyder
asked if there was any discussion. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll call. 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. City Attorney Mr. Bates swore
in Fire Chief Miller.
Mayor Snyder nominated Tracy Jackson as Street Superintendent. Alderman Neitzel made a
motion to approve the appointment of Tracy Jackson as Street Superintendent and Alderman
Armbrust seconded it. Mayor Snyder asked if there was any discussion. City Clerk Mrs.
Martinek called the roll call. There were seven yeas (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust,
Alderman Busby, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, and Alderman
Tibbs), three nays (Alderman Bacon, Alderman Hoinacki, and Alderman Wilmert), and none
absent; motion carried. City Attorney Mr. Bates swore in Mr. Jackson.
Public Announcements
Mayor Snyder said the next voting meeting they would get the legal contract.
Mayor Snyder said the committees will remain the same and that he was looking to change the
committees and they will have to be addressed through Ordinance.
Mayor Snyder said he passed out an article that appeared on the Chicago Tribune website and
thought it should be a concern to them. The Speaker of the House was not ruling out cuts to the
cities to balance the State budget. He said the Governor has suggested suspending the income
tax that comes to cities which would save the state in the neighborhood of about $100M which
obviously the state feels they need some savings but the impact to us if they were to lose the
income tax that were to come to the City of Lincoln would be to the tune of $1.2M. The budget
that we just approved last week it was a $5.8M general fund budget of which the state is now
talking about taking $1.2M out of that. If that were to happen he didn’t think he had to tell
anybody how disastrous that would be. The cuts they would have to make in personnel and in
services to somehow try to balance that midyear. He thought it behooved them to contact our
local legislators and he didn’t know that they would be on board with an idea like this but it
really could be disastrous for cities and for the services that we provide. He said they could send
a letter with everyone’s signature.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 10
Mr. Conzo said this is a problem we have talked about and it is one of the payments that is
chronically late. Bad enough they can't pay us on time and go two, three or four months in
getting it and now they want to take this away from us. The other thing that you should know
about this is that we get a very small percentage of this fund. They take the total collections
minus what the department of revenue sets aside for the refund fund for the purpose of tax
refunds and that is the amount left which is called net collections. One tenth of the net
collections is set aside for the municipalities and is allocated to the local counties from the
local government disbursement fund based on the population of the county or municipality.
We are getting a very small amount of that as are all the municipalities in the state. What they
are taking away from us is significant to our budget as he was sure it was for other local units
of government. This is something the state will be able to squander in a matter of weeks if not
months the way they have mismanaged the state budget over the last 8 years. This will be of
very little benefit to the State of Illinois in terms of solving their long term budget problems it is
going to be huge problem for our city and other cities and counties.
Mayor Snyder believed they needed to be concerned if it is taken out of our budget.
Alderman Anderson said before adjourning the meeting she wanted to say a proper thank you
because she was so stunned last week when you gave me the flowers I don’t even know if I said
thank you. She wanted everyone to know that it is not a one man show. The budget is a huge
process and so many people helped with it. We need to realize that the City Treasurer stepped
up to the plate and he is following in his predecessors footsteps in terms of being actively
involved in super input and Alderman Busby's knowledge is irreplaceable so even when he
was not well he was there by phone. All of our department heads were critical in getting their
information and she can't say enough thanks for Susan Gehlbach in the Clerk's office she worked
enumerable hours in helping get the budget out. She thanked everyone.
Mayor Snyder thanked Alderman Tibbs and Police Chief Greenslate who did some painting
downstairs in the downstairs hallway. There is some fresh color down there.
Alderman Tibbs said she would like to thank the Mayor for his help as well. Mayor Snyder said
there is still a little to finish up.
Mr. Conzo wanted to acknowledge the contribution by his predecessor Treasurer Plotner who is
available any time he calls him to ask questions that came up during the budget hearing and also
for other times that he has called during his first year.
Mr. Jackson said at the next meeting they would be awarding the color contest winners for the
Arbor Day Poster Contest.
Mayor Snyder said the Illinois Wind Energy Association having a meeting tomorrow at the
Capital with a morning and afternoon session. He would get them details if they were interested
in going.
Lincoln, Illinois
May 2, 2011; Page 11
Alderman Busby made a motion to adjourn 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 Council Meeting was adjourned at 8:02 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted By:
Risa Riggs
Recording Secretary
City of Lincoln