Lincoln, Illinois
City Council Committee's Meeting
April 10, 2012
Minutes of the City of Lincoln City Council Committees' Meeting held in the Council Chambers on Monday, April 10, 2012.
Those present were Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Bacon, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert. Also present were City Engineer Mr. Mathon, Fire Chief Miller, Street Superintendent Mr. Jackson, Safety and Building Officer Mr. Lebegue, Police Chief Greenslate, and EMC Manager Mr. Palmer. Also present were Mayor Snyder, City Clerk Mrs. Gehlbach, City Attorney Mr. Blinn Bates, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, and Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.
Mayor Snyder called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. There were nine Aldermen present (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Bacon, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert) and one absent (Alderman Busby).
Mayor Snyder welcomed CITV5.
Everyone present recited the Pledge.
Geoff Ladd of the Tourism Bureau had a packet that he went over with the City Council. Upcoming events are April 20, 2012 Celebration for their 25th Anniversary with guest speaker Sen. Bomke and you can a meet and greet with him as they usher him out of several years of service to the community and to the tourism industry, USO Carnival (tentative date June 30, 2012), Route 66 Garage sale (town wide sale) May 11 & 12, and Geo caching event May 11-13 (high tech hide and seek). There was also a news release from the National Park Service about the economic impact of Route 66 and information about the final panels for the Route 66 hubs.
Alderman Tibbs reminded Mr. Ladd that they needed to get the garage sale on the agenda. Mr. Ladd said he would get that to the City Council.
Andy Hake with the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber was present on behalf of the Chamber’s marketing committee. They were going to several focus groups to get comments on a marketing logo for the city. The city is their first group. There were three logo concepts that were discussed. The Council looked at what was liked about each, what was disliked, what would make it better, and which one they liked best. Kathy Vinyard wrote down notes and there was a comment sheet where everyone could write down notes and turn in the sheet.
Mayor Snyder said he had passed out an email from Jordan Wyatt who is a producer with Lantern Creek Productions, a video company based out of St. Louis. It didn’t arrive in time to be approved regarding permission to shoot a music video downtown Lincoln on April 13, April 14 & 15. The mayor told them he could give them his permission to use sidewalks and alleys downtown.
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Mayor Snyder said the video is for a song called, “Small Towns” and is by a group called the Transatlantic out of Springfield. Lantern Creek Productions is also looking for a place to video the band while they were performing. Mayor Snyder sent them information about the parks around town. A phone message from Mr. Wyatt said they were going to use Memorial Park on either Friday night (April 13) and/or Saturday night (April 14). The band apparently would be performing after dark. Mayor Snyder said he believed the band had worked through the Park District to get that cleared.
The Mayor asked for the Committees' Issues to be Presented:
Finance, Policy and Procedure:
Chairman Alderman Anderson said there will have to be some budget line adjustments in several of the departments. The Council will have to vote on the adjustments. That vote would have to be at the very last voting session of the fiscal year which will be an adjourned session of the April 16th voting meeting. Alderman Anderson asked to have the budget adjustments on the agenda.
Alderman Anderson said there would be a policy change and it would have to be voted on. The policy change is that no requested city services (including, but not limited to such requests as sidewalk, curb work, and zoning permits) will be approved and provided for residents if they are delinquent on their sewer payments. Alderman Anderson asked to have that on the agenda.
City Treasurer Mr. Conzo said there would be a public hearing on the budget next week. Alderman Anderson asked to put FY13 budget approval on the agenda for April 16.
Fire/Water & ESDA:
Chairman Alderman Horn said she did not have a report.
Grounds, Buildings & Local Improvements:
Chairman Alderman Tibbs said she did not have a report.
Mayor Snyder said he had provided a copy of a proposal from Design Solutions Group, LLC which covers Grounds, Buildings & Local Improvements, Police, and Fire Committees. Each of the Aldermen were provided a copy. This is the architectural firm that will do the space needs analysis as well as the concept design for the police and fire departments and their needs. Greg Doolin is the President of the group. This proposal calls for them to do the work at an hourly rate of $95.00 per hour not to exceed a total of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00). It has been budgeted for this fiscal year. He asked for approval to put this on the agenda.
Police:
Chairman Alderman Hoinacki said he had a request from Main Street regarding street closures for the Grand March on Saturday, May 5 at 6:00 p.m. Alderman Hoinacki asked to have it placed on the consent agenda.
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Streets and Alleys:
Chairman Alderman Neitzel said she did not have a report.
Sewer Treatment Plant, Sewers and Drainage:
Chairman Alderman Neitzel asked for the bids on doors at the sewer treatment plant to be opened. There was only one bid. It was from Evans Construction Company of Springfield, Illinois with a bid of Eleven Thousand Eight Hundred Dollars ($11,800.00). The bid includes the removal and replacement of five (5) doors. Alderman Neitzel asked to have it on the agenda.
Ordinance and Zoning:
Chairman Alderman O’Donohue said they had a Resolution that requests the City be able to participate in the State of Illinois’s surplus property program
.
Mayor Snyder said that Alderman Wilmert had looked into this. The federal government requires a resolution for participation as well as another document containing signatures. The City had participated in this program previously, but their authorization expired in 2010. Mayor Snyder asked for approval of this Resolution to be placed on the consent agenda.
Alderman Wilmert said when he was looking for a printer online he wondered why they couldn’t get it from another city, from the state, or through this federal program. Mayor Snyder thanked Alderman Wilmert for his efforts.
Sidewalks, Forestry and Lighting:
Chairman Alderman Armbrust said he had a sidewalk reimbursement request from David Heady at 603 N. Sherman for Four Hundred Fifty Six Dollars ($456.00). Alderman Armbrust said Mr. Jackson had inspected it and we are ready to pay this bill. There is money in the rebate account to cover the cost. Alderman Armbrust asked for the petition to be placed on the Consent Agenda.
Streets and Alleys:
Mr. Jackson said there is a curb petition, but that his department will repair it since it has some flaking on it and holes in it.
Sanitation/Technology:
Chairman Alderman Wilmert said the technology committee has been busy getting quotes on computer consulting and hardware. Alderman Wilmert asked Police Chief Greenslate to mention an additional effort.
Police Chief Greenslate said he had applied 1 ½ to 2 years ago through State Farm for a grant for used laptops. Yesterday he was contacted that the City had been awarded the grant. Police Chief Greenslate went to State Farm and picked up twenty five (25) laptops that are in pretty nice condition along with the power strips and mice to go with them. It will take a little while to get the software installed and go through all of them and make sure there are no issues.
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Alderman Wilmert said each of them came with their hard drives brains wiped clean, but each has their own license keys.
Alderman Wilmert said each of them came with their brains wiped but each has their own license keys.
Alderman Wilmert said they are about five (5) years old and will work for our purposes. Alderman Wilmert said, as Alderman O’Donohue can attest, it takes several hours to take a laptop from nothing, install Windows software, do all updates, get drivers for it, and get it ready to use. He said it could take a week or more to do all of the laptops. He can get one ready and, provided that all are identical, then he can take a picture of it and use that image to change all the other laptops. That still takes days, and he has talked with a vendor about the process. This vendor offered their services and it would help him complete this task quicker. The laptops will have Windows XP and they will need to get some type of license to get Microsoft Office, so Excel, Word, and other Office software can be installed.
Police Chief Greenslate said he powered six (6) laptops up today. They seem to be of good quality.
Insurance:
Chairman Alderman Bacon did not have a report.
Mr. Conzo said they were getting near the end of the fiscal year. All departments need to get all the bills in so they can get them processed by the end of the year and get a better idea what their balance will be for the end of the fiscal year.
Mr. Conzo thanked Mr. Jackson for his help to bury the remains Civil War Soldier. Mr. Conzo thanked City Clerk Mrs. Gehlbach for going out to that. Mr. Conzo said there were several County officials there and they had a good turnout. Mr. Conzo also thanked Kyle Strait for excavating.
Alderman Anderson said she wanted to add to what City Treasurer Mr. Conzo said that if any of the department heads have bills that they know would be coming if you factored into this year’s budget to either let City Treasurer Conzo or City Clerk Mrs. Gehlbach know so they can get those checks written and issued in this budget. They will hold until the service is provided or the material is received but this way it would be in this year’s budget.
Mayor Snyder said they need to expend the money for the city wide clean up which is now going to be provided by Area Disposal. There was a meeting about the clean up. It is set to go on April 28 for those on the west side of Union Street and on May 5 for those on the east side of Union Street. The hours will be from 7:00 a.m. to noon. There will be ads in the paper and online. There will need to be a city employee to check ID’s to make sure those dropping off material are city residents. The city will also need someone from the Street Department there to help tamp the materials down.
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Mayor Snyder said the money that had been set aside for the cleanup will be directed instead to demolition. The city has started the process with three houses and were told today that two of those properties may be cleaned up before we actually get to demolish them.
Mayor Snyder said he passed out a copy of the agreement for legal services (contract with Woods & Bates). It had been discussed at the budget workshop. The changes from last year’s agreement were made per the comments from the budget workshop involving the dollar amount, meetings to be attended, etc. Approval of the agreement will need to be on the May 7 agenda.
Mayor Snyder passed out at the last meeting a letter from Comcast regarding their 2011 report. Mayor Snyder also passed out a copy of the 2009 report. The complaints received in 2009 totaled one hundred six (106) and in 2011 the complaints totaled five hundred fifty three (553). He sent an email to Libbie Stein asking about the dramatic increase. Libbie Stein was going to look into the numbers and get back to us, but he has not heard from her.
Mayor Snyder said he, Street Superintendent Mr. Jackson, and City Engineer Mr. Mathon met with the architect working on the 3rd Street property. Mayor Snyder displayed four large maps from the meeting. The property pins are located right next to the existing main building. It basically comes down to the fact that that there is not enough room on the existing property to rebuild all of the existing buildings after the soil is remediated. We will have to find a new location for the Street Department. They will be looking at other space.
Alderman Anderson moved to go into Executive Session under 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(11) to discuss pending litigation and Alderman Horn seconded it. City Clerk Mrs. Gehlbach called the roll call. There were nine yeas (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Bacon, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and one absent (Alderman Busby); motion carried. The meeting adjourned to Executive Session at 8:12 p.m.
The meeting returned to regular Session at 8:27 p.m. City Clerk Mrs. Gehlbach called the roll call. There were nine present (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Bacon Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and one absent (Alderman Busby); motion carried. Also present were Mayor Snyder, City Clerk Mrs. Gehlbach, City Attorney Mr. Blinn Bates, City Treasurer Mr. Conzo, and Recording Secretary Mrs. Riggs.
Alderman Neitzel made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Alderman Anderson seconded it. There were nine yeas (Alderman Anderson, Alderman Armbrust, Alderman Bacon, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Neitzel, Alderman O’Donohue, Alderman Tibbs, and Alderman Wilmert), zero nays, and one absent (Alderman Busby); motion carried.
The City of Lincoln Committee’s as a Whole Meeting adjourned at 8:28 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, Risa Riggs, Recording Secretary
City of Lincoln