Lincoln, Illinois
City Council Committee's Meeting
August 9, 2011
Minutes of the City of Lincoln City Council Committees' Meeting held in the Council Chambers on Tuesday, August 9, 2011.
Those present were Alderman Bacon, Alderman Busby, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert. Department Heads present were Fire Chief Miller, Safety and Building Officer Mr. Lebegue, Deputy Police Chief Geriets, City Engineer Mr. Mathon, Mr. Kitzmiller for EMC, and Assistant Street Superintendent Mr. Wright. Also present were Mayor Snyder, City Clerk Mrs. Martinek, City Attorney Mr. Bates, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, and Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.
Mayor Snyder called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll. There were nine Aldermen present (Alderman Bacon, Alderman Busby, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert) and two absent (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust).
The Pledge was said by all.
Public Participation
Mr. Wes Fuchs said they were having a stuff the bus for District 27 School District and food drive for the Logan County Food Pantry. They have a lot of different sponsors, a lot of different stuff going on and organized. There will be face painting, the city police department is bringing one of their cars, fire department is bringing an engine and he got a call late last week from ABATE wanting to support them and bring a lot of bikes up and do not want to park in the gravel parking lot that are uneven which makes for a great chance the bikes will fall over. What he is asking the Council to do and realize they are a little bit late and sincerely apologized for that is to shut down South Monroe Street between 5th Street and 4th Street from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on August 13th to thru traffic. It will probably take up the back portion of the road so the residents there can still get thru.
Mayor Snyder asked if anyone had any questions and said they would miss it if they put it on the agenda next Monday but if the Council would be ok with that he could go ahead and approve it he guessed through his Executive Authority or whatever you want to call it to allow them to have it. He asked if anyone had any questions.
Mr. Fuchs said it would be closed to thru traffic and the residents would be able to get in and out. Alderman Horn asked if he had let the neighbors know and was sure they would support him because it is such a good cause and if they knew in advance they wouldn’t get mad at us either. Mayor Snyder asked if everyone was ok with that. Alderman Busby asked if the Police Department was ok with that. Deputy Chief Geriets said yes and the daytime hours and stuff shouldn’t present any problems and it was only a one block area.
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Geoff Ladd said he had two proposals the first being the rerouting of Route 66 Scenic Byways so it turns on Washington and goes past the Mill and goes past LDC so that is the first proposal. The second page in the color makes it much clearer and you would see the red and the green and the green being changed to the route. It is just a small section on the tail end of the byway that would be changed. This would mirror more closely the original routing that Route 66 took through the City of Lincoln. That is the first proposal and would require modifying this original Resolution during Mayor Davis-Kavelman’s regime.
Mayor Snyder said he believed City Attorney Mr. Bates has already prepared a Resolution with the new route on there and the Alderman should have that before the meeting.
Mr. Ladd said the second proposal to put this new experience hub in Postville Park and that the color picture on the last two pages does a lot more justice. On the back page you can see the spec numbers and everything better. They are looking at an 8 foot structure and he did go back by the park and look there is room to put it right on the corner there but there is also plenty of room on a diagonal behind the tree that is fairly close to the corner (5th and Washington) and could be easily seen from either 5th Street or Washington Street side and thought it might be more warm and friendly to have it into the park a little bit more rather than having it sticking right out on the corner there. The idea is we want people to pull in, park and read what is in there anyway. He didn’t think that would be an impediment if they had it a little more inset to the park area there and probably safer for the sign and it would not block all the work on the tree and landscape as well. Once you guys approve that then we have to take it to our board for final approval. The tourism would fund this project and there is no funding issue.
Mayor Snyder said this would require electricity to be run to it. Mr. Ladd said the very top, actually along the side where it says Lincoln Illinois it will be lit up at night. Alderman Neitzel said what about behind all the pretty landscaping. Mr. Ladd said that is where he is leaning for. Alderman Neitzel thought that would be perfect because you can see what very well from either street side. Mr. Ladd didn’t think they would lose any visibility with putting it there instead of in front. Alderman Neitzel said she would like behind the landscaping. Alderman Tibbs said she did too and it would be very complimentary and of course the city is not liable for anything at all, if anything should happen to that sign. Mr. Ladd said it would be under their insurance and the city would be additionally insured. Mayor Snyder said would it be enhanced any way with a walkway to it or is that not envisioned with these types of displays.
Mr. Ladd said it is really not in the concept and wasn’t sure it would be necessary really. Even the example here you can see that people are just walking up but they would need some kind of cement base for it.
Alderman Wilmert asked if they would be running electrical to it and knew there were a lot of events that could use it at the park and didn’t know how the electrical access was there.
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Alderman Wilmert said if we are going to be furnishing some electrical it might not be a bad idea to do it discretely by a bush or did the concrete pedestal have some sort of electrical access established at the same time so there might be a way to tap into that for future events or anything held in the park.
Mayor Snyder said the street department actually put that in before this year’s Route 66 Garage Sale.
Mr. Ladd said they put in a huge bank of outlets. There is a big variety of amperages so it probably could get by without that but definitely trench this line and they would take care of that so that it is underground.
Mayor Snyder said the Street Department put that in during the spring and also put in this summer the same type of service at Melrose Park. That is where the movie in the park was recently.
Mr. Ladd said the water upgrade out there too so you are ready to hold some major events out there. Mayor Snyder said Melrose Park has water as well. Alderman Tibbs asked to have it on the agenda to approve this and asked if there was a Resolution. Mr. Bates said the Resolution is for the Scenic Byway and Resolution for Exhibit Hub. Mayor Snyder asked for them to be on the Consent Agenda.
The Mayor asked for the Committees' Issues to be Presented:
Finance, Policy and Procedure:
Vice Chairman Alderman Horn said she did not have a report.
Fire/Water & ESDA:
Chairman Alderman Horn asked Fire Chief Miller to address his concerns.
Fire Chief Miller said their system testing has been completed and he would like to talk in Executive Session about promotions.
Grounds, Buildings and Local Improvements:
Chairman Alderman Tibbs said everyone had a copy of the open house coming up and they should be proud to show off our City Hall. She also wanted to thank Kathy Vinyard for all her hard work and the Mayor in putting this together and the Chief and that it would be a wonderful evening. She went in the attic and brought down several historical books and they could read about ordinances and things from the 1800’s. She said it would be worthwhile coming to see that.
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Mayor Snyder said Alderman Tibbs has done a lot of work with not only getting down the books but she has been busy painting downstairs and moved the pop machine from the lobby hallway to the employee lounge and cleaned up the hallway so she has been very busy. We owe her a big thank you for all her work. She is planning on having the books out here for the public to come in and take a look at
Mayor Snyder said he had passed out to their place tonight a preliminary agreement between the city, Commonwealth Edison and Nicor Gas Company. This is for the cleanup of the 3rd Street garage property. This is a contract which we negotiated with the utilities and what it provides for is the payment to the city to hire an architect to do work on the planning of the 3rd Street garage situation. The exhibit attached at the back of the agreement basically talks about the work list for the architect on this project. It’s to evaluate our current property and do an analysis of what we call our multiple building arrangement because the street department not only is equipment at the 3rd Street garage but we have a Kickapoo Garage and Hamilton Street as well. They want to look at all of those things and see if they can possibly be consolidated into a building of about 16,000 square feet. That is the existing size of the building we have on 3rd Street. They would look at possible alternatives for a temporary location and they would look around to see if they could temporarily locate and they would also do an evaluation of a permanent location so if it was less expensive to permanently locate the street department and have that work done the architect would do that analysis as well. This provides up to $20,000.00 to do that work and Mr. Bates has seen the agreement and is fine with the way it is presented. We haven’t selected an architect yet but we have estimates from a couple of architects and their estimates to perform the work are well under this amount so we should be fine with the amount that is specified here. He guessed it was just a preliminary agreement and just for the architectural work at this time and it is not for the construction or anything like that and we thought it best to engage a professional to look at our space and do an evaluation of it.
Alderman Neitzel said what is the time frame on this? Mayor Snyder said given the way, part of it depends on their continuing to sample and are waiting to get the results back from the EPA. Mr. Bates said you mean the architectural and thought the proposals said 6 months.
Mayor Snyder said it would have to be quicker or slower depending on what would be decided on the construction window. That is what he was trying to get at since they were still sampling and they don’t know exactly the extent of the contamination.
Alderman Neitzel asked if they were going over into the health department. Mayor Snyder said he didn’t know they were sampling and it didn’t seem like this stuff migrates too far. Mr. Mathon said that was correct. Mr. Bates said they got permission to do sampling on the West side of the tracks but the primary part they still need to sample is the railroad right of way and West side, he thought.
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Mr. Mathon said that is the area, they have completed the sampling process for those field samples and they are contained and continuing to have those samples analyzed in order to get the results sent in to IEPA in order to get firm handle on the remediation plan.
Mayor Snyder said we do not have to lay out the funds we would engage the architect, we would get the statement from the architect but payments would be passed on to the utilities and they would get the money to us and we would pay the architect. We would have the contract with the architect but the utilities will be paying the costs.
Alderman Tibbs asked if we were going to use the present property and relocate the street and alleys or look for another location.
Mayor Snyder said part of the architect’s responsibility will be to look at other locations around the city and try to identify and will at least temporarily attempt to relocate the street department while the remediation work is going on. Part of their effort is to try and do a cost benefit analysis to say what would be the cost for permanent location versus the cost of temporary. Temporary cost will be moving, paying temporary relocation expenses then moving back would also involve rebuilding on the same site. The architect will take a look at that and determine what would be the most cost effective way for that to be handled.
Alderman Neitzel asked if they had to tear down all the buildings and treat all that. Mayor Snyder said yes.
Mayor Snyder said perhaps it would be rented temporary space or constructing something. He didn’t think they wanted to work out of a tent.
Alderman Tibbs asked to put this on the regular agenda.
Mayor Snyder said they have ordered the new drop boxes and will be installed the week after next. This will be done before the Art & Balloon Festival.
Sewer Treatment Plant, Sewers and Drainage:
Chairman Alderman Busby said they received the contract back signed from American Water. Mr. Bates said no, it was not signed by them and they told the city to sign it and send it back and then they would sign it. Alderman Busby said they sent the wrong contract and they would have to contact them to get the proper contract.
Mr. Bates said the only problem with it is that Chris used the original indemnity language which it talks about us being liable for gross negligence and during the negotiations he had provided the Mayor with alternative language to that in one of the revisions but he didn’t use that in this document. That is what needs to be changed. He didn’t want to tell him a fib so look and thought the letter said it wasn’t sign but to sign and send it back.
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Mr. Bates asked if Alderman Busby wanted it back or who got it. Alderman Busby said he could have that. Mr. Bates asked what he wanted him to do with it. Alderman Busby said give it to the Mayor.
Alderman Busby said they have a sinkhole on North Logan. He gave the floor to Mr. Kitzmiller.
Mr. Kitzmiller said a week or two ago Alderman Busby let you know we are working towards repairing a sink on and couldn’t remember if it was at Davenport or Burlington. Alderman Busby said Davenport.
Mr. Kitzmiller said as they were televising this line to see where they were at and what the problem was before we just go out there and start excavating. We found out that the line, this 15 inch line that goes between Burlington and Davenport is in very bad shape. We are afraid that is in bad enough shape that if we dig down to fix the sink hole we’re going to cause an issue like we had at Clinton and Union a number of years ago that it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and it can’t stop because the pipe is in such bad shape. What we are proposing to do is to have this block lined with cure in place block and then at that point once the pipe is taken care of then the pipe will be stabilized then a smaller excavation can be done to fix the sinkhole. Now because it is urgent we felt that we didn’t have the time to write specs and actually put this out for bids so we solicited three proposals from three different lining companies. We’ve got, Hoerr Construction came in with the lowest proposal with $21,950.00 and then our highest proposal was $31,800. We would like permission to have this 375 feet and15 inch clay lined and then once that is done we will do the excavation to repair the sinkhole.
Alderman Neitzel said put it on the agenda.
Alderman Busby to put it on the agenda please and another thing to keep in mind if we don’t get it right away there is a lot of truck traffic on that street. We will have more problems than we’d wish for.
Alderman Neitzel said isn’t that what happened in the first place. Alderman Busby said yes, he would say so. Mayor Snyder asked if there was money in the budget for this or are we going to have to defer other projects. Alderman Busby said probably defer other projects. Mr. Kitzmiller said not necessarily because he didn’t remember the amount but would guess somewhere between $50,000.00 to $75,000.00 was earmarked for lining of this type as well as lining manholes so there is money there for this type of project. Alderman Busby said he thought the money for lining was for Union. Mr. Kitzmiller said and manholes so it might just be that they might not be able to do as many manholes this year and that they had already done a number of manholes but they might have to cut back. Mr. Bates said that motion will have to pass by 2/3rds if it’s not being bid. Alderman Busby said right.
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Police:
Chairman Alderman Hoinacki said he did not have a report.
Streets and Alleys:
Chairman Alderman Neitzel said she did not have a report.
Ordinance and Zoning:
Chairman Alderman O’Donohue said he did not have a report.
Alderman O’Donohue said in front of everyone they should have a beginning of a job description and duties for the City Administrator position. The Mayor had sent an email earlier this week or last week sometime and it is basically the same thing that he sent us in the email. What we are looking for is, hopefully you’ve had a chance to review this but they are looking for input and he knew it may seem a little long to some people so that is kind of stuff we need. If you see something you don’t think is appropriate or if you see something that shouldn’t be added is basically what they are looking for.
Alderman Wilmert said they would be refining that in the next meeting. This would be the time to voice anything that you are concerned with.
Alderman O’Donohue said they would come back at some point but they were trying to get some opinions beforehand.
Mayor Snyder said the job description will be used then to build the ordinance that would be placed into the city code creating the position and specifying those duties so it would all key off the job description. He also sent a copy of a City Administrator profile and that wouldn’t necessarily be a document that we would make available to the applicants but that would be more for our purposes than to say the type of person we are looking for. Whereas the job description this is what this person will be doing. The profile would say they would be looking for a person that would then have these skills and abilities, experience and education. The job description template if you will just follows the template that we have put in place for other department heads and certainly if there is something in there that is redundant, or it could be stated more succinctly or combined that would certainly be fine.
Alderman O’Donohue said he knew reading through this personally some of it sounds kind of funny, some of the things we want to look for in an administrator but these are important things and very common in the other job descriptions other things that we have reviewed and gone over to create this and the Mayor really has done a very good job in putting this together.
Mr. Bates said he didn’t think they should be concerned about the language. He thought it took a while to say what you want to say.
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Alderman O’Donohue said he wanted to make sure they say everything.
Mr. Bates said the length did not bother him at all. He didn’t want them to be motivated to be brief just because you want to be brief. This is obviously an important position.
City Treasurer Conzo said he had a comment on the budget under the second thing listed here under key responsibilities generally the finance committee and the Treasurer have been responsible for that. He understood that when you have a city administrator you are going to shift some of that to that individual. He guessed what he was thinking that was develops the city budget on his own and that his preference would be to clarify that to say working with finance committee and City Treasurer and develop the city budget. The other thing the one right below that the grant writing is important and his impression maybe there should be more emphasis on that as far as the responsibilities and also pertaining to qualifications we should have more emphasis on the need to have experience and ability to do that and he thought you would want that person to do.
Mayor Snyder said just to run down through those key responsibilities. Plan, organize and work with all city departments, to work together the budget piece that Mr. Conzo mentioned, coordinating directing alternative funding, including grant writing, planning and evaluating department head management performance, coaching those types of things, assessing the community’s needs and insuring focus on meeting those needs, developing City Council meeting agendas, attending and participating in all Council meetings, directing and preparing analysis and recommendations on policy issues, prepare news releases, overseeing an effective human resources management program, assessing information technology assets of the city that is something that we really need to have done. Being team oriented, have ongoing commitment to serve as visibility in involvement in community, participate in professional community organizations, and participate in regional, state and national meetings to stay abreast of community trends and technology. Those are kind of the keen responsibilities we outline.
Mr. Bates said he just thought of something when you said attend all city council meetings. Should you insert something there for those committee meetings being requested by the committee chair to attend? There may be a lot of committee meetings that you want him/her there.
Mayor Snyder asked if there were any other thoughts. Mr. Conzo said one other thing, he may have overlooked it, and he didn’t see anything in here that says this individual must reside within the City of Lincoln. Alderman Neitzel said it was in there. Alderman Tibbs said the second to the last bullet here the city administrator shall have the ability to, in regards to the fire department, why are we singling out one department.
Mayor Snyder said the person that cut and pasted that section forgot to take out fire department and should read all departments.
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Alderman O’Donohue said they don’t have another date to meet but in the mean time you can send an email to the Mayor or him. When they have the final list they will be back.
Mayor Snyder said what they would see next is they will bring back a “finalized job description” and they will also use that to put together and Mr. Bates has already worked on the ordinance. They will tweak that to make the changes and bring that back to you as well. He thought they would ask for approval of the job description and get the ordinance and move that through. Once they get approval on the job description then they will advertise for the position. They will have to set up some dates when the applications will have to be back in and then they will continue down that road. It says they must have a bachelor’s degree and that no fewer than three years progressively responsible periods of management, administration at a municipal government required. He thanked Alderman O’Donohue and Alderman Wilmert for their efforts on this.
Sidewalks, Forestry and Lighting:
Alderman Bacon said she did not have a report.
Mayor Snyder said he had a letter from Ameren and seems to get those about once a week that they are cutting trees.
Sanitation/Technology:
Chairman Alderman Wilmert said he did not have a report.
Alderman Wilmert said a public service announcement that the recycling area uptown here is not for personal use for garbage or any other use that you want to be rid of. He said that Mitzi Rohlfs recently, inspecting that as she sometimes does has personally removed garbage sacks full of household garbage and two television sets from the co-mingled bin which is used for plastics and so on and it really is not meant for that. Please pass that along to people who might be misusing that particular service.
Insurance:
Chairman Alderman Bacon said she did not have a report but she might in a couple of weeks.
Alderman Tibbs said if you can’t come to the open house to look at the Chief’s area. They have some new photos of our fire department. She thought they were going to bring up the brick streets.
Mayor Snyder said no, they approved going out for bids and he thought Mr. Mathon was going to work on the specifications for the bids. It was his understanding that he was going to explore other options with regard to what may be done, whether it be take the brick up or doing something different.
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Alderman Neitzel said Pulaski Street is a challenge and they want to do the right thing on Pulaski Street. Mr. Bates said they were bidding the specs alternatively in order to get the information on how you wanted to do it so the bids are going to come back with alternative proposals. Mr. Mathon said that is correct the way it is set up currently being readied there are several alternatives for that stretch of Pulaski Street that is going to be done with a couple of alternatives on how to handle that particular stretch, whether it is straight overlay, bricks being removed, bricks being removed and replaced. Alderman Tibbs said that Mr. John Sutton came in while they were talking.
Alderman O’Donohue said he was there too and what Mr. Sutton was talking about cost and he was basically saying that bricks will last longer than the other options and no one was arguing that point but one of the reason he thought they were taking the bids out, and they can’t say what they want to do because they don’t know how much it is going to cost yet. That is one of the reasons they were going out for bid. One of the options was to put bricks back.
Alderman Busby said he recalled when Ed Malerich was Mayor that there were some streets voted on to keep as brick. He remembered that Lincoln Avenue was one of those.
Alderman O’Donohue said he also remembered when Joan Ritter was Mayor she had another vote to pave over some streets. Mayor Snyder said they will do more digging on that.
Mayor Snyder said the Municipal League was September 15-17, 2011. If they have any interest in going to please contact the City Clerk.
Alderman Horn said I move to go into Executive Session under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(5) for acquisition of real estate and 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(1) to discuss hiring, firing, discharge etc. of employees and Alderman Tibbs seconded it. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll call. There were eight yeas (Alderman Bacon, Alderman Busby, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and two absent (Alderman Anderson and Alderman Armbrust); motion carried. The meeting adjourned to Executive Session at 7:56 p.m.
The meeting returned to regular Session at 8:50 p.m. City Clerk Mrs. Martinek called the roll call. There were eight present (Alderman Bacon, Alderman Busby, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and two absent (Alderman Anderson and Alderman Armbrust); motion carried. Also present were City Attorney Mr. Bates, Mayor Snyder, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, City Clerk Mrs. Martinek and Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.
Alderman Hoinacki said that he had a street department issue that he could bring up now. Over a year ago his son was married at the Jefferson Street Church and as of today there is still no street sign at the corner of Jefferson and Woodlawn Road.
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Alderman Tibbs thought the signs had been ordered. Alderman Hoinacki said that is what he thought too. Alderman Tibbs asked if he had asked him. Alderman Hoinacki said he had not but he was sure the answer was going to be that they were backordered. Alderman Neitzel said she would look into it. Alderman Hoinacki said there is a light by State Bank of Lincoln that has been out for over a year and a barricade on Pulaski Street that has been there for at least six months. Alderman Tibbs said she didn’t know how they could solve issues without the department being asked first.
Mayor Snyder said they were going to do the giveaway for the Balloon Fest things. He would send out a notice to the press and will have forms here, the library, and Chamber office. He also forgot to mention Bob Holloway who is an artist is going to be the Grand Marshall of the parade. Also on Saturday that needs to go on the agenda, they are going to do a Resolution to make Saturday, August 26th Bob Holloway Day in Lincoln like last year.
Alderman Busby made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Alderman Neitzel seconded it. There were eight yeas (Alderman Bacon, Alderman Busby, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and two absent (Alderman Anderson and Alderman Armbrust); motion carried.
The City of Lincoln Committee’s as a Whole Meeting adjourned at 8:54 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Risa Riggs
Recording Secretary
City of Lincoln