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Castle Manor will break ground Wednesday The Lincoln City
Council approved the plat, construction plans for the first stage
and the rebate agreement for the Castle Manor development on
Lincoln's west side. Attorney Frank Miles for St. Clara's Manor
had presented the plans for the assisted-living
facility at the March 24 workshop meeting.
With eight members of the council present, the vote carried on
each motion with seven yes and one "present." Alderwoman Melody
Anderson offered the "present" vote. Alderman Verl Prather was
absent for the evening, as was Alderman Buzz Busby, who is in the
hospital.
There will be a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday at 1 p.m. The
site is behind the old Wal-Mart store.
City pays costs on private property suspected dangerous
The council approved moving budget amounts out of two expense
categories into the nuisance abatement line item to assist in
covering the costs involved in paying for building inspection at 217
S. Sangamon.
When the south side of the building next door to Alexander Lumber
Co. fell to the ground in December, the city had to have a
structural engineer come in and examine the structure. The cost of
that inspection, according to Les Last, building and safety officer,
was a great deal more than the budget allowed for. Consequently, in
order to cover the fees, $2,500 had to be transferred to that line
item.
Hampton, Lenzeni and Renwick of Springfield was paid $1,989.38 to
write a letter saying the building on Sangamon should be condemned.
City renews dispatch services agreement with ETSB
The council voted to renew its intergovernmental agreement with
the Logan County Emergency Telephone System Board for the coming
year, beginning May 1.
The ETSB agreement requested that the city pay a total of
$148,439.55 for the centralized dispatch services. This constitutes
a 5 percent increase over the current year.
The council discussed the increase, asking if it was allowed in
the contract. Fire Chief Kent Hulett said that the contract did
allow for the increase, and he told the council that the ETSB has
not asked for an increase for at least the last couple of years.
City will save on casualty coverage; workers' comp will eat the
savings
Prior to the Monday night meeting of the city council, the
insurance committee met to hear from Fred Danner of Old National
Insurance out of Danville. Danner serves as the city's consultant on
casualty and workers' compensation coverage.
Bids had been opened April 2 in the city clerk's office. Present
for the bid opening were Les Plotner, city treasurer; Anderson,
finance chairman; and Danner.
Bids were received from the Illinois Municipal League's program
and Callender & Co. out of Peoria, which currently provides the
city's coverage.
Illinois Municipal League's bid was in excess of $126,000, and
Callender & Co. came in with $96,359, which is $13,258 less than the
2008-09 policy. Danner said that the coverage offered by Callender
would be through Houston Casualty and was the best price, plus it
covered a broader scope of liability.
He was asked to verify if the quote included coverage for the
city's new fire truck, and he confirmed that it did.
Anderson had asked that Danner get an estimate on what the city
can expect for the workers' compensation policy that will renew in
December. Danner said that he had attempted to get that figure, but
it was impossible to know now exactly what will happen.
He said that it would be at least July before he could get a
reasonable estimate. Anderson asked him for an opinion, because the
amount needed to be adjusted in the last four months of the city
budget.
In the 2006-07 year the workers' compensation claims totaled
$127,000, and in the 2007-08 year that jumped to $434,000. This
increase in claims resulted in a 44 percent increase in the premium
last December.
So far this year, claims are at $125,000. Danner speculated that
next year's premium will not go down at all and said it might be
wise to expect that it will go up, perhaps as much as $3,000 a
month.
Therefore, for the last four months of the city's fiscal year, if
the council budgets an extra $12,000, it will pretty well wipe out
the savings on the casualty coverage for the year.
The bid from Callender & Co. for the 2009-10 year was accepted.
Kathy Horn reports on her meeting with Comcast
Alderwoman Kathy Horn had reported at last week's meeting that
before she had a chance to write a letter to Comcast regarding their
services, the cable company contacted her, asking her to meet with
them face to face.
There has been some discussion on changing the telecast of the
city council meetings from the Monday night voting meetings to the
Tuesday night workshops. Libby Stein of Comcast said that the change
could be made at no charge to the city, providing the Tuesday night
meeting involves the full council and the mayor is in agreement with
the change.
After the council meeting, Horn said that televising the Monday
night meetings does not offer the citizens of Lincoln an accurate
account of the work and discussion that goes into council decisions.
Some of the council feels that televising the Tuesday night
workshops would serve to keep the citizens of Lincoln better
informed on the actions of the council.
Horn also said that in regard to some of the channels that are no
longer available because of the transition to digital television,
Comcast will provide customers with a converter box, at a cost of $2
per month, that will enable viewers to watch, for example, EWTN.
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She added that Stein was very accommodating and encouraged her to
encourage residents of Lincoln to call the Springfield call center
with any questions or concerns they had about their service.
City will purchase electricity from Mid-American Energy
The council approved entering into an agreement with Mid-American
Energy for the purchase of electricity for the city of Lincoln.
This will be a 24-month contract with Mid-American. Because the
electricity is purchased on the open market, the price could not be
determined at the time of the vote. Therefore, the motion included a
stipulation that the purchase price per kilowatt-hour would not
exceed 3 percent of the market price on April 6. Those prices were
$0.0461 per kwh for the sewage treatment plant and $0.0480 per kwh
for all the other city accounts.
Resolution regarding staffing at Lincoln and Logan Correctional
facilities
The council adopted a resolution to be sent to Gov. Pat Quinn, as
well as the legislative leaders, regarding the safe operation of
Lincoln Correctional Center and Logan Correctional Center.
The resolution asks that the governor and legislative leaders do
what is necessary to assure the safety of the citizens of Lincoln
and the staff of the facilities as well as the inmates.
This is the final result of a request for support from the city
by David Lockenour, AFSCME 501; John Black, Local 2073; Roger
Griffith AFSCME 31; and Jeff Bigelow AFSCME 31. These gentlemen had
spoken to the council in February regarding the shortage of staff at
the facilities and the overpopulation of inmates, which combined
create a dangerous situation for the staff and possibly the
community.
The union and management of both facilities are in agreement that
there needs to be more staff on duty. It is their hope that this
resolution will help encourage the governor and legislators to add
some new hires.
Council hears a letter from Chris Graue
In a letter to the council, Chris Graue of Graue Chevrolet spoke
on behalf of his dealership and others in Lincoln, expressing much
disappointment in the council's recent decision to purchase a truck
for the wastewater treatment plant through a state purchasing
program.
He reminded council that the local car dealers generate revenue
for the city in tax dollars. He also spoke about the generosity of
the dealerships in supporting local organizations, schools, city
events, county events and much more.
He said that for the city to spend money on a vehicle out of town
was simply the wrong thing to do.
Salary increases
The council went into executive session to discuss salary
increases. That information was shared following the session.
However, the finance chairman wrote last night that some errors were
found in the calculations and the council would be revisiting the
issue, probably next week.
National Public Safety Telecommunications Week
Mayor Beth Davis-Kavelman presented and the council passed a
proclamation naming the week of April 12-18 as National Public
Safety Telecommunicators Week.
This observance recognizes the dedication of all 911 call center
staff, radio dispatchers for fire, police, emergency medical
responders, and many others for their dedication to providing rapid
and professional response to the emergency calls they receive each
day.
Resolution for motor fuel tax usage removed from agenda
Alderman David Armbrust asked that the motor fuel tax resolution
for the Nicholson Road railroad crossing work be removed from the
agenda.
City engineer Mark Mathon told the council that a number must be
assigned to the resolution. The Illinois Department of
Transportation wants the number to be an Illinois Commerce
Commission-stipulated agreement number. That number cannot be
assigned until after an agreement has been executed by the city and
other parties involved.
To that end, the council voted to appoint the mayor as the
designated agent for the city in entering into that agreement.
The resolution for Nicholson Road will return to the agenda at a
later date.
[By NILA SMITH]
Related past stories
Additional information
about National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week
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