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Fifth
Street
Streets and alleys committee
chairman Dave Armbrust announced at Tuesday's council meeting that
there would be a meeting Wednesday morning in the mayor's office to
discuss the Fifth Street Road project. He said that Mayor Beth
Davis, finance chairman Verl Prather, streets and alleys
superintendent Tracy Jackson, city engineer Mark Mathon, county highway engineer Tom Hickman
and himself would gather. Armbrust said the focus of the meeting
would be to discuss the work to be done and possible funding.
Mayor Davis added after the meeting
that the Wednesday meeting would also serve to coordinate an
agreement of what funding they will ask for when city
representatives make their Washington, D.C., trip with EMC
representatives.
Both the city and county have been
eager to make improvements on Fifth Street for several years now.
Finances have been the major holdup. Fifth Street is viewed as a
gateway to west-side development.
["Fifth
Street Road focus of Lincoln and Logan County infrastructure plans
-- Anticipated development to the west presses officials"]
Inspections
Following a year of extensive rains
and flooding, Alderman Benny Huskins suggested that city should make
an inspection of city bridges. He noted that many of them, such as
the one on Union Street, have small trusses.
City engineer Mark Mathon responded
by saying that he and Jackson completed an inspection of all the
bridges last fall and found them to be in good shape. He has
recently been in contact with the Army Corps of Engineers to check
on the necessary permits that would be needed from the state to do
minor repairs. They would like to do some general repairs, clean and
add riprap to some bridges.
New
insurance decisions coming
Insurance committee Marty Neitzel
has set a meeting for 6:15 p.m. on Feb. 15 to review employee
insurance coverage. Some programs that are in use will no longer be
available to choose from, so new options will be discussed.
Sweet
smell of success written in remnant
Neitzel added that she went on the
ethanol plant trip last week and was favorably impressed. She
brought back a baggie with a sample of byproduct from ethanol
production. DTGS resembles granola and smells sweet and yeasty. Uses
for it are still being developed. It has been used to bake muffins
and as cattle and pig feed.
She said she didn't notice any
unappealing odor, just maybe a slight smell that resembled bread
baking.
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Homeowner's cost
Alderman Patrick Madigan questioned
what a homeowner's responsibility is for sewer line repair cost. A
homeowner at the corner of Peoria and College received a bill for
repairs. He was billed for 15 feet beyond his property line.
The owner also felt that his sewer
line collapse, which was near the street, was caused by heavy
equipment running up and down the street for the new school
construction.
Sewer manager Grant Eaton said that
property owners are responsible for the line from their home to
where it taps into the city line. Most Lincoln lines tap in under
the street at the center. Some lines go clear to the other side of
the street, i.e., some on Woodlawn Road. This can be quite costly,
up to $3,000-$5,000, if it is a great distance.
Eaton said that he would welcome
calls from homeowners and new buyers to inquire about a property's
sewer line distance.
Injury
sets officer back
A new city police officer suffered
an injury during his training last week. A rather large man fell on
Todd Blaum while they were doing some mat training. Blaum suffered
damage to the bone and tendons in his knee and needed surgery.
Blaum had till today (Thursday) to
get back in class in order to graduate with his class. He was going
to make an effort to do that, as he is only days from completing his
training, Police Chief Bob Rawlins said.
Officer training is in Champaign at
the University of Illinois. The course is about 12 weeks, 480 hours
long.
[Jan
Youngquist]
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