New Lincoln Mayor Keith Snyder sworn in

Chief and department head appointments deferred; committees reorganize 

[May 05, 2009]  It's the start of the Lincoln's new fiscal year and the excitement of new beginnings was felt in City Hall chambers Monday evening as newly elected and re-elected officials took office. Mayor Pro Tem Marty Neitzel called the meeting of the city council to order and resided over ceremonial matters.

Associate Circuit Judge Thomas Funk administered the public servant oath of office to the city's 41st mayor, Keith Snyder; new council members David Wilmert, Ward 2, and Nathan Turner, Ward 4; incumbents Dean Henrichsmeyer, Ward 1, David Armbrust, Ward 3, and Marty Neitzel, Ward 5; Les Plotner, city treasurer; and Denise Martinek, newly elected city clerk.

Officially taking seat for the first time, Mayor Snyder addressed the council:

We are turning a page tonight, and it is up to us to now write a new chapter in the story of Lincoln. Even though we have a blank page in front of us, we are not starting with a blank story behind us. We've got a great story behind us with a lot of successes, and maybe a few failures along the way too.

I'm not naive enough to think that going forward we're going to have nothing but glowing accomplishments, because I'm certainly going to make my fair share of mistakes. But that's OK. We can learn from those and move forward. We can build on our triumphs of the past.

The thing that is most exciting to me as we start to write this new chapter for Lincoln is the fact that we are not going to be writing this chapter by ourselves.

When we are up here we make the headlines and we might be on TV, but the fact remains that the Author of Life is really the one that crafts our story and the one that guides us.

The best part of the story of the city of Lincoln is being written by our families and our fellow citizens around town. It is being written around dining room tables and in workplaces. It is being written in schools and churches, and that is an exciting thing to me, that we don't have to work on this story ourselves.

We need to remember as we pick up our pens tonight and start to work, we'll never be the best part of the story of Lincoln, but we can help those people that are. We can assist them in everything that we do, and we can assist them by serving ethically, by serving humbly and by serving with excellence.

As a friend of mine says, we may be leaders some of the time, but we are servants all of the time, and that is really what we are all about up here.

I'm proud to be serving the people of Lincoln alongside of all of you, and I look forward to what the story's going to be in the future and how we can write it all together.

Department head appointments postponed

The mayor said that he would not be making any announcements regarding department head positions at this week's meeting. He would defer that to a later date.

___

Committee assignments for 2009-10

The mayor made the following committee assignments for the next year:

Finance and Policies and Procedures

• Chair: Melody Anderson

• Vice chair: Kathy Horn

• Members: Neitzel, Tibbs and Busby

Fire, Water and ESDA

• Chair: Kathy Horn

• Vice chair: Buzz Busby

• Members: Anderson, Turner and Henrichsmeyer

Buildings and Grounds

• Chair: Joni Tibbs

• Vice chair: Melody Anderson

• Members, Armbrust, Busby and Neitzel

Insurance

• Chair: Nathan Turner

• Vice chair: David Armbrust

• Members: Tibbs, Horn and Anderson

Ordinances and Zoning

• Chair: Marty Neitzel

• Vice chair: Jeff Hoinacki

• Members: Turner, Anderson and Wilmert

Police

• Chair: Jeff Hoinacki

• Vice chair: Dean Henrichsmeyer

• Members: Horn, Armbrust and Tibbs

Sanitation

• Chair: David Wilmert

• Vice chair: Joni Tibbs

• Members: Henrichsmeyer, Hoinacki and Turner

Sewerage Treatment Plant

• Chair: Buzz Busby

• Vice chair: Marty Neitzel

• Members: Wilmert, Henrichsmeyer and Armbrust

Streets and Alleys

• Chair: Dean Henrichsmeyer

• Vice chair: Nathan Turner

• Members: Hoinacki, Wilmert and Horn

Sidewalks, Forestry and Lighting

• Chair: David Armbrust

• Vice chair: David Wilmert

• Members: Busby, Neitzel and Hoinacki

___

Council approves additional committee appointees

Snyder requested council approval for the following committee appointments:

Lincoln Planning Commission

For a term to end May 1, 2010:

• Chairman: David Klug

• Members: Ron Keller, John Guzzardo and Bob Wood

For a term to end May 1, 2011:

• Members: Don Miller and Vic Martinek

For a term to end May 1, 2012:

• Members: Clara Janet and Bruce Huskins

Members continuing on the committee:

• Cliff Marble and Dick Logan

Approved unanimously.

Lincoln Zoning Board of Appeals

With a term to end May 1, 2014:

• Chairman: John Sutton

With a term to end May 1, 2010:

• Members: Jim Drew and Bob Johnson

With a term to end May 1, 2011:

• Members: Ben Grudner and Tom Culnan

With a term to end May 1, 2012:

• Member: Julie Larson

With a term to end May 1, 2013:

• Member: Mannie Gaston

Appointments were approved in a 9-1 vote, with Armbrust voting no.

Civil Service Commission

• Clifford Sullivan

Approved unanimously.

Police and Fire Commission

With a term to end May 1, 2010:

• Chairman: Joe Haning

Approved unanimously.

Liquor Commission

• Keith Snyder, Les Plotner and Dan Wheat

Approved unanimously.

[By NILA SMITH]