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City seal coat work to begin next week Tracy Jackson, city
streets and alleys superintendent, told the council that seal
coating on city streets would begin next week, weather providing.
One-way alley one day only
The alley behind Trinity Episcopal Church, 401 Pekin St., will be
designated as one-way only on July 23 as the church hosts a
fundraiser dinner.
The alleyway will be established as a pickup point for carryout
meals. Motorists may enter the alley from Delevan Street and exit
onto Pekin.
Elkhart Grain added to enterprise zone
Prior to the vote on adding Elkhart Grain to the Lincoln and
Logan County Enterprise Zone, Andrew Hamilton of Opportunity
Alliance LLC addressed the council with a new plan that identifies
different city blocks that would be added to the enterprise zone in
the future.
At last week's workshop meeting, aldermen and the mayor had
expressed concern for the way blocks of the city were selected.
While it is understood that there will be times when this must be
done in order to meet the required 120 percent of the state
unemployment average, the council felt that they should have some
input early in the process about the area that would be added within
city limits.
Hamilton said that in the future his first step for establishing
an enterprise zone would include submitting maps of the areas that
meet the criteria and allowing the council to determine which areas
within those maps should be used.
When the motion was made to add Elkhart Grain to the enterprise
zone, Alderwoman Melody Anderson said that she had spent a great
deal of time the last two weeks considering this action. She said
that in this case, she felt like the city was veering away from the
original intent of the enterprise zone. She noted that the addition
will not add jobs for the community, and there will be no residual
revenues for the city.
She asked the council to remember this decision if and when other
businesses ask to come into the enterprise zone without offering a
monetary incentive to the city or increased employment.
Alderwoman Marty Neitzel said that the only reason she was
supporting this motion was that it would benefit the area grain
producers. She added that she agreed with Anderson, that this action
should not be perceived as showing favoritism toward Elkhart Grain.
Alderman David Armbrust said that he was OK with doing this for a
business in Logan County but would not support a similar action for
businesses outside the county. He also said that he wasn't
completely in favor of spending the Logan County Enterprise Zone
acres in other counties anyway.
With a seat vacant in Ward 1 and Alderman Jeff Hoinacki absent
for the evening, the vote to add Elkhart Grain to the enterprise
zone passed with a count 7-1. Alderwoman Joni Tibbs voted no.
Previous vote rescinded
Alderman Buzz Busby asked that a vote taken on June 14 in regard
to a culvert on the property of Patrick Gettleman be rescinded.
Gettleman's property has a rainwater drainage culvert running
across it and ending in his backyard. Consequently the lawn is
flooded a great deal of the time. He had asked that the city extend
the culvert to the alleyway behind his home to alleviate the
flooding.
When the council voted to install the culvert, the motion
included Gettleman being solely responsible for the cost of the
culvert.
Busby said that after the meeting he spoke with Gettleman, and
last week Busby, Neitzel and city engineer Mark Mathon met with
Gettleman again and negotiated that he would pay 50 percent of the
cost of the culvert.
It was noted that when residents ask for culverts to establish
new driveways, they are expected to pay the full cost of the
culvert. However, this is not the same type of situation, and
Neitzel and Busby both said they felt that this was a fair and
reasonable compromise for the city as well as Gettleman.
An amended motion was made and passed unanimously.
Fiber optic research moves forward
Alderman David Wilmert handed out a letter to the council, giving
a brief rundown of progress being made on researching and applying
for a Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant for broadband
Internet services via fiber optic connectivity for the city.
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A task force has been researching the subject, and the city is now pursuing a
grant. The task force includes Wilmert and Mayor Keith Snyder for the city;
Scott Goldstein of Teska; Doug Powers of Northern Illinois University; Patrick
Doolin, Integrity Data; Curt Schleich, CCAonline/Wireless; Darrell Oller of
Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital; Mark Houpt of Lincoln Christian College;
Randy Schrader, Lincoln College; Steve Becker, Lincoln Community High School;
local business owner Rick Hamm; and Dan Fulscher, Logan County Emergency
Management Agency director. The BTOP grant application is due Aug. 14. Wilmert
reminded the council that Teska will be doing the grant application
at a cost of approximately $20,000. There is, however, an anonymous
donor who will cover that cost for the city.
Wilmert also handed out a three-page document that explained the
BTOP grant, how it works and who may be eligible for it.
The council voted to allow the mayor to be the designated
signatory on the BTOP application.
Motor fuel tax materials bids awarded
The city recently sought bids on 52,700 gallons of bituminous
material (oil), 2,635 tons of aggregate, 350 tons of cold patch
material for filling potholes and 175 cubic yards of concrete for
sidewalk and curb repair.
Mathon told the council that there were no bids placed for the
concrete or the aggregate. In that case the Illinois Department of
Transportation allows municipalities to solicit quotes from
suppliers and make those purchases directly.
Bids were awarded to Louis Marsch Inc. of Morrisonville in the
amount of $108,825.50 for seal coat and to P.H. Broughton of
Springfield in the amount of $17,382 for M17-08 patch and $13,036.50
for M19-07 patch.
Let out for bid: city overlay projects
The city will advertise for bids for the city street overlay
projects. Bids will be opened July 28 and awarded Aug. 3, with work
to begin, hopefully, within two weeks from that date.
Alternate city attorney hired
Local attorney Jonathan Wright has been hired to represent the
city in an issue where sitting city attorney Bill Bates has a
conflict of interest. This conflict involves a sewer problem with a
city resident. But Bates said last week that he knew there were
going to be some other conflicts of interest in the future. Wright
can be brought in for those as well.
Truck for sale
The city will advertise for bid a 1980 Ford F-30 flatbed
belonging to the street and alley department.
This is the same vehicle that was let out for bid late last fall.
The original bid specs had a minimum bid requirement, and according
to Jackson, no bids were submitted. The new resolution removes the
minimum bid requirement.
Help to pay medication costs
Mayor Snyder said that he had received information through his
job with Lincoln Christian College about a program offered by
Pfizer, called Maintain, which offers assistance to people who are
in need of medications and do not have the means to pay for them.
Information about this program is available by calling 866-706-2400
or on the Web at
http://pfizerhelpfulanswers.com/.
He noted that while this didn't truly apply to city business, he
wanted everyone to be aware of the program if they had constituents
or just friends and family who were struggling to pay for their
medications.
[By NILA SMITH]
Past related stories
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