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City
chiefs and department heads review busy year 
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Part 2:
Streets and alleys, wastewater treatment and sewers, and legal
matters
[May 25, 2007]
The Lincoln City Council heard
annual reports from city department heads at this week's business
session. The reviews were for the city's past fiscal year, from May
1, 2006, to April 30, 2007.
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 At the council's opening meeting of the fiscal year, on May 7, Mayor
Beth Davis delivered her annual "state of the city" address. The
core of her message was that there has been and continues to be a
lot of growth taking place. It has been and will continue to be
challenging.
Reports from the department heads mirror that. Most have been
involved to various degrees in the growth process, participating in
legal negotiations, infrastructure design, costs and implementation,
codes, safety, and ordinance compliance. Several major projects have
been part of the business growth and have required working with
multiple other parties.
Not only was there a lot of work with the new growth, but then
there has been the everyday work and the out-of-the-ordinary work,
such as dealing with blizzards and tornadoes.
Below are reports made by Tracy Jackson, streets superintendent;
Dave Kitzmiller, wastewater treatment and sewers manager; and Bill
Bates, city attorney.
Summaries
Tracy Jackson, streets superintendent
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Cleaned ditches.
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Culverts installed
or replaced.
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Sidewalks repaired
or replaced throughout the city.
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Swept downtown
streets and the rest of the city on Thursday nights, Saturday
mornings.
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Working with
Americans with Disabilities on creating ramps.
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Forestry budget
hit hard because of tree damage following several tornado and
ice storms.
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39 3- to 4-inch
girth trees planted throughout the city.
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400-plus saplings
planted at tree farm or at the bottom of the landfill.
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Landfill cleanup
work.
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13,720 landfill
users signed in; add another 200-300 who didn't sign in.
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Performed mosquito
testing and spraying program.
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Herbicide spraying
has become more time-consuming with new requirement to change
chemicals near areas that drain to waterways with fish and other
wildlife forms.
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Worked with other
city departments to erect barricades, direct traffic, pick up
bicycles; looked at code violations; provided 86 hours of
maintenance on squad cars.
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Worked with city
engineer nearly daily on street issues, alleys, walks, curbs,
signs.
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Assisted groups
with festivals, including loan and setup of ticket booths and
snow fences.
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Maintenance on
streets, patching, sweeping, seal coating, salting and
snowplowing.
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It was the worst
snow year since 1978. At one point the city assisted the
Illinois Department of Transportation while IDOT was dealing
with numerous crashes, Jackson said.
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Total renovation
of 2 /2 blocks of city streets at Mill and Miller streets.
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Conducted the
annual leaf pickup. This was helped by the majority of people
hauling their own leaves to the landfill this year, Jackson
said.
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Daily maintenance
of equipment.
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Replaced a large
mower used to cut right of ways.
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One sweeper was
down most of the year, but the council approved the purchase of
a new and better sweeper, and more sweeping is being done.
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Jackson said that
odds and ends performed by the streets department included
traffic signal maintenance; picking up dead animals -- deer,
squirrels; fixing banners, flagpoles, etc.
Dave Kitzmiller, wastewater treatment and sewers manager,
Environmental Management Corp.
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A big sewer
project at Hamilton and Pulaski streets was done at the start of
the year. A 4-foot manhole was replaced with a 6-foot manhole.
This also involved removing two 4-foot brick manholes, replacing
a number of catch basins and piping, and replacing 25 feet of
27-inch sewer.
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Lincolnwood and
Zion lift stations were replaced.
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Three major pieces
of equipment -- the Vactor, Skid Steer and flatbed -- were
replaced.
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69,245 feet of
sewers cleaned.
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938 feet of sewers
televised.
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1,027 requests for
utility relocations (85 requests per month average).
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A 10-year,
seven-day average low-flow revised study of Salt Creek was
performed. This led to the deregulation of the wastewater
treatment plant from 4.19 million gallons per day down to 3.88
million gallons per day.
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All safety
training completed.
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8 1/2 years with
no lost time because of accidents.
Bill Bates, city attorney
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Worked on numerous
developments on Lincoln's west side. To name a few: the Aussman-Johnson
plat development, Graue Inc., I-55 Commercial Park plat and
currently working with the attorney for the ALMH project.
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Attended nearly
all city council meetings during the year.
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Worked extensively
with city engineer Mark Mathon and sewers manager Dave
Kitzmiller.
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Handled the legal
aspects of:
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General obligation
bonds
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New and revised
ordinances
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Economic
development agreements
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Numerous property
liens and foreclosures that involve many detailed processes
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Filed 110
violations of compliance to ordinances in court.
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Filed and prosecuted 14 liquor
violations for sale of alcohol to minors.
[Jan
Youngquist]
Past related articles:
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