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"Swapping" of funding sources approved, but not without concerns
Last week, new Lincoln Mayor Keith Snyder asked that a vote be taken
regarding switching funding sources for some of the city's street
projects.
The city's federal stimulus funds had been earmarked for
improvements to Broadway Street. Home rule tax funds coupled with
some of the motor fuel tax revenues had been designated for repairs
to
College Street between Eighth
and 11th streets and for North Kickapoo between Pekin and Keokuk.
Monday night, Snyder said that he had heard some concerns voiced
about the blocks on Kickapoo being included in the swap. He said
that it had been voiced that the work on Kickapoo could not wait for
the stimulus funds.
According to city engineer Mark Mathon, the stimulus fund
projects have a let date of mid-March 2010, with a completion date
no later than Sept. 30, 2010.
Snyder said that because of the concerns expressed, Mathon and he
have discussed another area for the swap.
Mathon said that the new proposal they want to submit to the
Illinois Department of Transportation will include the work on
College Street, but then will add a section of South State from
Fourth Street running down to West Kickapoo, including the portion
that runs in front of Lincoln Estates.
He added that they would write the proposal as an "and/or,"
leaving the original idea of North Kickapoo in there as a project
that could be done if the State Street project doesn't qualify.
He also said that he could see no reason why the State Street
blocks would be denied, but that they would do it this way as a
precaution to assure that all the funding was used.
Les Plotner, city treasurer, said that he had been concerned
about including the North Kickapoo blocks in the stimulus because
"when we passed the non-home rule tax, we promised to fix streets."
He added that he wasn't sure some of these streets could wait a
year for repair, and with the non-home rule tax money in hand and
the stimulus not, he wondered how wise it was to do this.
He also noted that the state of Illinois still owes the city
$517,000 for stoplights and road work at Sysco and asked what was to
prevent the state from withholding the stimulus funds as well.
Mathon said that the stimulus money was federal dollars,
designated for specific uses, and that the state had to hold the
city's share until it was spent. There was no way that the state
could take control of those funds and use them elsewhere.
Snyder added that when the Illinois Department of Transportation
approves the State Street blocks for stimulus, then the Kickapoo
blocks will go back to the non-home rule funds, and the work will be
done this year.
Alderman David Armbrust wondered whether or not the city is
jeopardizing the funding altogether with these new submissions. He
said that he had understood that the deadline for submission was May
1.
Mathon told him that a proposal had been submitted on May 1 and
that it had been a preliminary so that the state could show the
federal authorities that the money was going to be used. He said
that with a let date of March 2010, there is a timeline that works
back to July of this year on various stages of the plan, so, yes,
they do have time to submit an amended plan without jeopardizing the
funding.
Armbrust also noted that when the stimulus funds were announced,
no one was told that the projects could not commence until 2010. He
thought that it was a stipulation that the money be spent as quickly
as possible in 2009.
When the item finally came to a vote, the new changes to the
proposal were approved unanimously.
According to Snyder in a conversation on Tuesday morning with
LDN, the next step will be to begin public hearings on the subject.
Snyder also said that currently there are two grants that can be
applied for to fund a bike path along Broadway. However, with the
state budget not yet finalized, it is unknown at this time whether
or not those grants will be offered this year.
He also noted that the alternate plans he submitted last week
include funding from both the Safe Ride to School grant and one from
the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
In the event that the city should be awarded only one of the two
grants, the plans for the bike path would have to be modified
according to the dollars available.
Singleton Engineering and design contract approved
The council has agreed to hire an engineer for the Singleton lift
station project without letting it out for bid. They did this saying
that the situation at Singleton is an emergency, as the temporary
fix that is now in place could be a safety concern.
This is a sewer project that takes the Kmart lift station
equipment out of its location to the Singleton site. It also
includes the new construction at Malerich Drive for Castle Manor and
the new hospital complex.
At last week's workshop meeting, a contract between Donohue &
Associates and the city was reviewed. Bill Bates, city attorney,
said that as always, he is concerned about the terms of the
contract, which includes an indemnity clause that would hold the
engineers only partially responsible for damage to private property
should the design be flawed.
He said that typically contractor agreements do not protect the
city well enough in issues of liability.
He was asked to contact Donohue and talk to them about striking
the clause. Monday night Bates said that he has been expecting a
call from the engineers since late last week, but thus far he has
not heard from them.
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He said that as it stands, the indemnification clause of the
contract has not been removed.
He told the council that if they so chose, they could agree to
the contract with a stipulation that the clause be amended, or they
could leave it as is, or they could table it until he has heard back
from Donohue.
The council's first inclination was to approve the contract with
contingencies. However, it was soon brought up that this was going
to cost time, and there was a good chance that Donohue's would deny
the request anyway.
In the end, the council voted to approve the contract as
presented.
Commonwealth Edison and Nicor gain access to city property
According to Bates, the city street works building on Third
Street was once a gas manufacturing plant.
Bates said that the plant closed sometime around 1935, and he
believes it used coal to produce gas for the city.
"It has been known in other parts of the state where there were
manufactured gas plants, that there were some environmental concerns
left behind that have never been addressed," Bates said.
Throughout the state some of the utility companies that are
"successors in interest" of these plants have been the parties held
responsible by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency for
addressing any of these environmental concerns.
In October of last year, Bates heard from Commonwealth Edison and
Nicor Gas as the successors in interest. He said that they made a
request to be given permission to do an environmental study of the
location, at their expense.
They drafted an access agreement that would allow them to do a
comprehensive assessment of the site.
Conversations between Bates and the companies have been going on
since February, and he said that last Wednesday he received a final
copy of an agreement.
Bates said that he was not pushing the council to make any kind
of decision at the moment, but because he cannot be at next week's
workshop meeting, he wanted to provide an opportunity to ask him any
questions they might have.
He also showed them a large three-ring binder that is the
proposal from Commonwealth Edison and Nicor. He said the book went
into great detail about what would be done at the site. He added
that there was also some very interesting reading in the book
regarding the history of the gas plant and invited them to take a
look at it anytime.
The council agreed that it was in the city's best interest to
approve the agreement and let the two companies get started on their
testing as soon as possible.
Tracy Jackson, city streets and alleys superintendent, said that
he had heard from the companies that if approved, they would begin
the project the last two weeks in June.
Petition prompts mayor to request special meeting of sidewalk
committee
A petition by John DeOrnellas for replacement or repair of a
brick sidewalk at 530 S. State St. was tabled for the evening.
The mayor asked that the sidewalk committee meet and establish
some guidelines on when and how to do improvements of brick
sidewalks.
The committee will meet at 6:40 p.m. June 9.
Mayoral appointments to boards and commissions
Snyder made the following appointments to boards and commissions:
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Civil Service
Commission:
Keith Leesman, 531 Union St., replacing Chuck Conzo, who
resigned.
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Board of trustees
for firemen's pensions:
Mayor Keith Snyder, replacing former Mayor Beth Davis-Kavelman.
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Board of the Lincoln & Logan County
Development Partnership:
Glenda Allison, 506 N. College, replacing Les Plotner, who has
resigned.
Mayoral appointment of a department head
Snyder said that he wanted to pass on an appointment for the time
being, but to that end, he would ask the council to call an
executive session at the end of the evening to discuss this.
City Hall roof work begins
Mathon said that the work on the City Hall roof would begin at 6
a.m. Tuesday. Work will begin on the north side of the building.
He added that the contractors would work to assure public safety
and access to the building.
Absent members
Mayor Keith Snyder reminded the council that Nathan Turner was
absent due to being out of town on business. He also noted that
Alderman Buzz Busby was back in the hospital as of early Monday
morning. He asked the council to keep Busby in their prayers. All
other members of the council were present for the meeting.
[By NILA SMITH] |
