[MAY 17, 2006]
A decision made at last Thursday's board of the
whole sparked heated discussion between board members at last
night's Logan County adjourned board meeting.
The county's road and bridge committee had accepted an
intergovernmental agreement with the city of Lincoln and West
Lincoln Township to work together on the Fifth Street Road project.
The project entails a revised study and the renovation of Fifth
Street from Lincoln Parkway to Interstate 55. In the committee notes
dated May 1, it stated their approval and plan to recommend the
agreement to the board of the whole.
It was noted during the board-of-the-whole meeting last Thursday
that the committee had not brought it forward to discuss at the
appointed time. Dick Logan asked later in that meeting if they would
be doing so. Committee chairman Terry Werth said, no, there were
board members who were not comfortable with the agreement.
At Monday's city meeting Werth was asked to bring the matter to
the floor at Tuesday's county adjourned meeting. He said he would
and believed that approval in committee, its presence in committee
notes, may allow for a vote from the board.
However, State's Attorney Tim Huyett was consulted, and he said
that it could not be done without a 48-hour notice posted.
Concerns are that federal and matching state funds that have been
specifically earmarked for the project might be lost. There was an
original acceptance date of June 1, 2006, for those funds, but that
date is believed to have been extended through the state's 2007
fiscal year. Numerous phone calls have been made to the state by
county and city officials and county coordinator Dewey Colter in an
attempt to clarify the extension, but absolute confirmation could
not be attained.
Board members, mostly Dick Logan and Dale Voyles, and county
coordinator Dewey Colter discussed rules set by Robert's Rules of
Order, county committee action rules and the Illinois state statute
under the Open Meetings Act, trying to sort out how to get the
matter discussed and voted on before the June 1 date. They arrived
at calling two special meetings of the board.
Board members received timely information on the Legends
subdivision at the Thursday meeting, but it was not brought up for
discussion. Logan suggested that it be added to the special
meetings.
Logan also suggested that the county audit progress be added to
those meetings. But the findings of WTI, the company reviewing the
county software program, would not be available yet.
Board members were told that they would receive copies of the
agreement with the most recent revisions highlighted so that they
could have time to review it before Friday's meeting.
The first meeting will be Friday at 7 p.m. There will be
discussion of the Fifth Street project as well as the Legends
subdivision. This meeting will adjourn to Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. to
take both matters to a vote.
Representatives from the city of Lincoln were also present at
last night's meeting. They included city engineer Mark Mathon,
Alderman Buzz Busby, Mayor Beth Davis, Alderman Daron Whittaker and
Les Plotner, the city treasurer. They did not speak since the matter
could not be discussed because Fifth Street was not on the agenda 48
hours in advance.
