 Brush pickup should be
finished soonTracy Jackson, streets and alleys
superintendent, said that the landfill may be looking pretty full
right now, but it's not really. City crews are working on brush
pickup as a result of last week's storms and have brought a great
deal into the landfill.
He also noted that they are nearing completion and hope to have
everything hauled into the landfill by the end of this week.
Street project
Mark Mathon, city engineer, said that beginning Monday the
intersection at Union and Clinton streets will be under repair and
closed to through traffic. Mathon expects this closure to last
approximately three days.
Mayor seeks applicants to fill vacant seat
The mayor announced that he is seeking letters of interest from
Lincoln residents who might be interested in filling the aldermanic
seat vacated by Dean Henrichsmeyer. Anyone interested in the
position must reside in the city's 1st Ward.
Letters of interest or a resume can be mailed to the attention of
Mayor Keith Snyder at City Hall or e-mailed to
mayor@cityoflincoln-il.gov.
Update on new hire list for police department
Deputy Police Chief Mike Geriets said that the fire and police
commission and the police department are working to establish a new
hiring list for city police.
There were 39 who attended the orientation. For the physical
agility test, 27 showed up, but of that number only 23 moved on to
take the written exam.
Written exams are scored externally, and Geriets said that the
test scores have not yet been returned to the city.
Substitute attorney in matters of conflict
Alderman Buzz Busby said there is a city resident with a sewer
problem that needs to be addressed by legal counsel, but attorney
Bill Bates has a conflict of interest in this case and needs to step
aside.
At the July 14 meeting, Busby wants the council to discuss hiring
an attorney for this case only.
Bates said he has discussed this with local attorney Jonathan
Wright and that Wright is very interested in being considered for
this as well as some other items coming up in the future that are
going to be a conflict for Bates.
Busby asked Bates to contact Wright and invite him to be present
at the July 14 committee-of-the-whole meeting so that the council
may speak with him about this position.
Council to discuss appropriations
Alderwoman Melody Anderson announced that on July 14 the council
will meet at 6:30 p.m. to go through the appropriations for this
fiscal year.
Lincoln may be on the verge of cutting-edge technology
Three weeks ago at the committee-of-the-whole meeting, Alderman
David Wilmert said he was interested in investigating opportunities
for the city to receive grant funding for high-speed Internet
technology.
At the meeting last week, the mayor amended the sanitation
committee, which Wilmert chairs, to include researching
technological advancements for the city.
However, before the committee had time to meet, some rather
important developments have come about that Wilmert said he wanted
to share with the council.
In searching for stimulus funds, he found a federal agency called
the National Telecommunication and Information Administration that
has a grant program coming available very soon. The city is eligible
for a Broadband
Technology Opportunities Program grant from the agency.
According to the NTIA Web site, Congress has appropriated $4.7
billion to establish broadband in unserved and underserved areas and
to improve access to public safety agencies as well as for public
computing centers such as public libraries and community colleges.
The grant would fund bringing high-speed Internet to the city of
Lincoln through fiber optics.
Wilmert said that he and Snyder have discussed this and found a
group called Teska out
of Evanston that is willing to work on the grant for the city for a
fee.
Wilmert said that Teska, in conjunction with Northern Illinois
University, is willing to design the network for the city, draw out
the specifications and write the grant.
He said that these were all services that the city is not able to
perform on their own.
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Furthermore, Wilmert told the council that there is a private entity
who wishes to remain anonymous, at least for now, who is willing to
pay the $20,000 it will cost to hire Teska to do this work.
Wilmert said that adding the fiber optic network could be a huge
benefit to the city as it seeks to grow. He noted that hospitals,
colleges, technological businesses and off-site data storage
facilities prefer and look for fiber optics when locating into an
area.
Snyder said that receiving this grant award would equate to the
federal government funding the creation of a new city-owned utility
that would bring fiber optic connectivity to Lincoln.
He offered a simple explanation of the benefit of fiber optic
technology when he held up a pencil, saying that what the city
currently has through Comcast and Verizon is the ability to transfer
data through a line the size of the pencil. He added that the
transfer is done through copper wire. He then asked the council to
imagine a line that was the size of 1,000 pencils all bound
together, transmitting information through a light source.
He explained that while the fiber optic line physically is
smaller in size than a cable or phone line, its capacity to transmit
information would be 1,000 times more than the copper line.
Snyder said that right now they are looking at fiber optics as a
source for Internet services, but it could also be extended to
telephone.
Wilmert added that this could increase property values in the
business districts of the city. He said that the next wave of the
future is going to be fiber optic connectivity and that for many
businesses, especially governmental entities and the health care
industry, this connectivity could be a deciding factor on where they
locate.
Snyder said that the grant will be officially announced sometime
next week, and there will be a 60-day window for making application.
Wilmert said that the people at Teska have the time and expertise
to research and write a grant that would represent the city of
Lincoln in the best possible light.
Bates noted that if this would work out, the city would become
the owner of the system, and area businesses would actually buy
their services from the city.
The mayor said that if they get the grant, the city will want to
contract out the administrative services for the business.
He added there could also be an opportunity to wholesale to other
providers such as Comcast, and perhaps CCA, so those businesses
would not be left out or put out of commission by this development.
Alderman David Armbrust asked if Wilmert was certain that the
fees to Teska would be paid by the anonymous donor, and Wilmert
assured him that part was a done deal.
Alderwoman Marty Neitzel asked if this anonymous donor was
looking for anything in return, such as return of the $20,000 if the
grant is awarded, partial ownership of the service or input on how
the business is run once established. The answer from the mayor was,
"No, this is a very nice philanthropic act."
Neitzel concluded then that this was a win-win situation that the
city should go forward with.
Snyder added that there are approximately 12 communities around
the country that have done this same thing and have found it to be a
very profitable business for their municipality.
He concluded the discussion by saying that if they could
accomplish this, "Lincoln would be at the cutting edge for a
community of our size, which is kind of an exciting thing to say."
Things heat up at City Hall
Tuesday afternoon around 4:30 it was discovered that there was
water dripping from the air-conditioning vents in the Lincoln City
Council chambers.
By the time the council got together at 6:15, repair people were
on hand to check out the problem, and shortly thereafter the council
learned that the air conditioner's coil compressor had given up the
ghost. The unit is not repairable and will have to be replaced.
Consequently the council conducted their evening business in
conditions that were a little warmer than they would have liked.
[By NILA SMITH] |
