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Money for City Hall roof
Alderwoman Joni Tibbs asked the council to offer opinions on what
should be done about the roof of City Hall. The lowest bid for the
roof replacement came in at approximately $153,000. If the council
wants to go forward with the roof, they will have to figure out how
to pay for it.
Alderwoman Melody Anderson said that the budget year ending April
30 has enough funding to pay about half of the total bill. The other
half has to come from the new budget year or through some other
method.
She added that if the money comes out of the new budget, that is
going to pretty well eliminate any other building and grounds
projects, such as extra cash needed for windows, or the City Hall
security system.
Tibbs reminded the council that when the mold testing is done, if
there is mold in the building, that will have to be dealt with
regardless.
City Treasurer Les Plotner reported that borrowing from the
general obligation bond for the new roof would not be an option, as
new bonds cannot be passed again until December of 2010.
Sales tax rebates for Wal-Mart and Sysco
Attorney Bill Bates and Plotner talked about another financial
obligation that they have not yet been able to pinpoint a dollar
amount for.
The city entered agreements with both Wal-Mart and Sysco for
their developments. The businesses paid for city infrastructure, and
the city could pay that back to them from portions of the increased
sales tax as it returns to the city. Bates said this will be a
sizable amount of money.
The base amount for the rebate for Wal-Mart is figured as an
average of the sales tax collected from 2002 through 2005. The
Illinois Department of Revenue could not supply those figures to the
city. They would need to come from Wal-Mart.
Plotner says that there is a similar situation ongoing with
Sysco. They have established a base for Sysco but have no current
tax payment information to compare it to.
Planning, platting and a private rebate agreement for St. Clara's
Castle Manor
The Castle Manor assisted living facility is the first of a
multi-stage project by St. Clara's Manor Nursing Home. When
complete, the complex will include the assisted living facility, a
nursing home and an attached living community.
At the April 6 voting meeting, the council will vote on the plat
for stage one, along with the building plans, and will consider
allowing the developers of Castle Manor a private rebate agreement
for infrastructure.
Frank Miles, attorney for the Castle Manor developers, told the
council that streets and sewers for the project will be installed at
the developer's expense. The private rebate agreement allows them to
recover some of those costs from future developers in the area.
Castle Manor is working with Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital on
details to share the expenses for some of the infrastructure, as the
hospital sewers will eventually tap into the manor's and the manor's
streets will eventually link into the hospital's.
A third developer, who owns a parcel at the far south end of the
property, has chosen not to participate at this time. The private
rebate agreement allows that for the next 25 years, that developer
or any developer who wants to connect to the infrastructure built by
Castle Manor will have to pay a fee.
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This agreement would allow the city the authority to grant or deny
the third developer the right to join with existing infrastructure
and the responsibility of collecting the fee on behalf of Castle
Manor.
Bates told the council that the planning commission has met twice
regarding this and has voted unanimously to recommend that the
council approve the plat and approve the concept of the private
rebate.
During council discussion, waste treatment manager David
Kitzmiller asked if this would have any bearing on the city's
ability to charge for equipment upgrades. The current lift stations
that will be servicing Castle Manor and ALMH are sufficient for
those facilities, but anything else added to that sewer system would
require upgrading the equipment.
Bates said that the rebate agreement will have no effect on that.
However, he also warned that the third developer is probably not
going to be willing to pay both the city for upgrades and Castle
Manor for the tie-in, but the council would have the ability to deny
the request if they saw fit.
Alderwoman Kathy Horn to meet with Comcast
Alderwoman Kathy Horn had not yet completed the writing of a
letter to Comcast regarding their services in Lincoln before she was
contacted by Comcast requesting a face-to-face meeting regarding
this.
She has agreed to meet with them on Thursday.
Damage to city's Chevy garage building
Tracy Jackson, street and alley superintendent, told the council
that the roof of the city's Chevy garage is in bad condition and is
going to need repair. He said that he would contact the insurance
company to come and take a look at it.
However, during the meeting, he got a call from city personnel
letting him know that the roof had indeed "flipped up" and was now
in need of immediate repair. He will contact the insurance company
and file a claim as soon as possible.
Emergency sirens still not functioning properly
Fire Chief Kent Hulett told the council that in the test done
earlier in the day, only half of the emergency warning sirens worked
properly. Further work will be done on the system, and another test
will be conducted next Tuesday.
Crumbling street near Lincoln College belongs to state
Jackson says he's been getting complaints about Feldman Drive.
The road is not the responsibility of the city, but rather the state
of Illinois.
[By NILA SMITH] |
