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The city's new sign ordinance was finally completed in April of
2009, just before Wanda Lee Rohlfs and Verl Prather left office.
Rohlfs chaired the ordinance committee and Prather was the
co-chairman. From the committee it went to the city attorney, Bill
Bates, who reviewed it for correct legal language and sequential
numbering. When he was finished with the document, he sent it on to
the mayor for review.
Because the mayoral seat has changed as well as a few of the
council seats, Mayor Keith Snyder said Tuesday night that he wants
to do another committee-of-the-whole review of the ordinance. He
said that he has gone through the 30-plus page document and has
several questions, and it occurs to him that the newest members of
the council haven't seen the document either and might have
questions as well.
Copies will be distributed to all the council and it will be
reviewed at a future workshop meeting.
City to pay infrastructure rebate
The city of Lincoln will make its first rebate on public
infrastructure that brought in the Walmart Supercenter. In the year
2008, the store generated $182,869.31 in excess sales tax to begin
the repayment process.
Wal-Mart fronted $600,000 for public infrastructure when the
company built the new store in an undeveloped area of Lincoln's new
west-side business district in 2006.
In the development agreement that was approved on Dec. 6, 2005,
the company agreed to provide all their own roads and sewers,
develop new roads that would open the area for other new businesses,
and also agreed to give the city 27 acres of land located directly
behind the new store location.
An agreement was struck to pay back the infrastructure costs with
the extra sales tax revenues that would be generated.
After much debate in 2005, the council and the company finally
reached an agreement.
The company agreed to concede $15,000 of the $600,000 when the
cost to upgrade the city's Zion lift station exceeded the estimated
budget, bringing the total to be rebated down to $585,000.
At the Tuesday night workshop meeting, Les Plotner, city
treasurer, said that based on sales taxes generated in the calendar
year 2008, it was time to pay the first installment.
The agreement is that the city will make rebate payments based on
the differences between the annual sales tax figures for the given
year (2008) and an average of the store's sales tax figures for
2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
The four-year average came to $313,932.55, and the sales tax
generated for the 2008 calendar year by the store totaled
$496,801.86, creating a difference of $182,869.31.
Bill Bates, city attorney, said that this payment would be going
to the company much later than it should be. He explained that the
payment should have been made in April, before the end of the
2008-09 budget year, but that there were valid reasons that it
didn't get done.
The city had contacted the state of Illinois for the four-year
average figure that was needed, but the state was unable to provide
that information. The retailer was then asked to get the figures.
The city finally received that information on Sept. 2 and acted
on it as quickly as possible.
Video gaming may be the next hot topic
Several members of the council, the mayor, city treasurer, city
attorney and others attended the Illinois Municipalities League's
annual conference in Chicago on Sept. 25-26
Snyder asked that they go around the room and each attendee
comment on what sessions they had attended and what they had learned
at the conference.
It was clear that the council members had spread out and tried to
hit as many workshop sessions as possible, as they reported on
meetings regarding downtown revitalization, wind energy, finance,
grant opportunities and grant writing, methods of trimming the city
budget, collective bargaining, and much more.
Plotner said that one thing he came away with was an assurance
that the city of Lincoln is not the only one in Illinois suffering
from financial concerns.
He also attended a meeting about using professional collection
agencies to collect delinquent bills and thought it was a topic the
city of Lincoln should discuss further.
But perhaps the most disconcerting topic discussed at the
conference was the legalization of video gaming machines and the
effect it would have on municipalities.
Alderman Buzz Busby said that it is the biggest fiasco he's seen
in a while.
Alderman Jeff Hoinacki added that the machines will become legal
without any rules, much like the state laws that made it illegal to
smoke in public places in Illinois but offered no provisions on how
to deal with it.
Bates said that it is an absolute disaster. "I don't think
anybody in our community that has video gaming machines at this
point in time has any comprehension of what is going to happen to
them," he said. "All of those machines are going to become illegal,
a Class IV felony to possess them, as of the date their stickers
expire, which I believe is July 1 of 2010. I don't know how
everybody is going to deal with that. The bottom line is the state
is going to be in charge of that, so you can guess what it is going
to be like."
Lease agreements set to expire February 2010
Alderwoman Joni Tibbs said that the city owns two parcels of farm
ground with lease agreements that are set to expire in February of
2010.
The first is an agreement between the city and Corey Farmer for
the 25 tillable acres located behind the Walmart Supercenter.
Tibbs said that last year they went out for bid on this parcel
and ended up getting less per acre than they had with the former
tenant. She wondered whether it should be placed out for bid again
this year or whether the city should negotiate a price with the
current tenant.
Bates said that he has contacted Farmer, and the tenant is not
willing to pay the current cash rent of $227.90 per acre. One reason
for this is that it has been found that of the 25 tillable acres,
there are 2-3 acres that are very wet and do not produce crops. In
addition, the leased ground is not eligible for any of the federal
farm rebate programs.
Bates said that in a telephone conversation with the Farmers,
they indicated they would be willing to pay $200 per acre for the
ground.
The second property is 40 acres located near Lincoln Lakes,
leased by Darrell and Sarah Benner at a rate of $150 per acre.
This is a three-year lease, and Bates said that while today the
$150 an acre sounds low, when the lease was negotiated three years
ago, it was a competitive price.
Bates said that there is an issue with this property in that it
appears to be landlocked, with no public access. He said that this
would make it very difficult to open it up for bid.
He asked Mark Mathon, city engineer, if he knew any specifics on
the property, and Mathon said he didn't offhand, but he will look
into it.
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Bates said that he had tried to contact the Benners on Tuesday but
was unable to reach them. He hopes to speak with them in the near
future and find out what their feelings are about renewing the lease
and the cash rent amount they are willing to offer.
He also suggested that it would be prudent to give the tenants
notice by the end of October if the city decides they do not want to
renew the leases.
The mayor said that in regard to the property behind Walmart,
there is a local organization that is interested in a portion of
that property. He doesn't have details on what they are thinking but
will contact them and see if they can present something in the near
future.
Bates reminded everyone that the lease for that property
specifies that the city can take it back for development at any
time, with reasonable reimbursements to the tenant for the cost of
planting a crop and refund of the cash rent for the specific acreage
taken.
"Boomerang grant" returns
City Police Chief Stuart Erlenbush announced that the "boomerang
grant" has once again been returned to the city … this time with
money attached.
The grant he was referring to is the Community Oriented Policing
Services grant sponsored by the Department of Justice in the amount
of $25,000, which has been earmarked since March for improving the
security in City Hall.
This brings to an end a process that began in May of 2008 when
Robert Shattuck of J.H. Petty and Associates did a walk-through of
City Hall and made recommendations for security improvements to the
building.
The city then filed a grant application for $25,000 to implement
some of the recommendations.
This year in March, Tibbs announced that she had heard from Aaron
Schock, 18th Congressional District representative, that the city
would be awarded that grant.
However, since then, the grant application has made its way back
to the city for "tweaking."
Erlenbush last month reported that he had received the grant back
and had to make some minor adjustments and clarifications. He noted
that he had resent it and was hoping that it would not become the
"boomerang grant," going back and forth between the city and the
Department of Justice.
After the Tuesday night meeting, Tibbs said she was very happy
that this is finally completed and that it could not have been
accomplished without the dedication of the committee, the city
police department and Dan Fulscher of the Logan County Emergency
Management Agency.
She noted that it was good that the city and the EMA were able to
work together to get this accomplished, and she appreciates all of
Fulscher's efforts in helping them.
The funds will be used to install a video surveillance system in
the building and panic buttons for the city offices. A portion of
the funds will also be used to upgrade the city's software systems,
making the city books more secure.
Tibbs said that down the road, if more money becomes available,
there are other measures that she would like to take, such as adding
security glass at the public area of the city clerk's department and
the building and safety office.
City will seek bids for workers' compensation insurance
Alderwoman Stacy Bacon said that the insurance committee has
established a schedule for going out for bid on the workers'
compensation policy for city employees.
She said that ads have been placed and that bid packets are to be
available in the city clerk's office on Oct. 1. Bids will be due
back to the clerk's office no later than Nov. 25, will be reviewed
by the committee on Dec. 1, and the winning bid will be awarded on
Dec. 10.
City to take easement at Lincoln Towncenter
Bates said that he has received the easement agreement between
Lincoln Towncenter and the city of Lincoln.
The developers of the Castle Manor project have upgraded and
connected to a sewer line that runs through the parking between
Kroger and the old Walmart store on the city's west side.
The agreement said that Castle Manor developers would make the
improvements to the sewer and then sign it back to the city.
With this stage of the sewer work being completed and the
document regarding the easement properly written, Bates said that he
would suggest to Busby that he add it to the agenda to allow the
mayor to sign the agreement Monday night.
Palmer lift station issue still on the table
Alderman Buzz Busby said that at last week's voting meeting he
had tabled a vote of purchasing new bar screen for the Palmer lift
station because he felt like it needed more discussion.
He had intended to go into that on Tuesday night, but Bob
Tackett, waste treatment manager, is still gathering formation
regarding the issue. Therefore Busby said they would hold off on any
further action until a later date.
Request of alley closure may be a problem
A petition for an alley closure between Peoria Street and Tremont
for the block between Hamilton and Sherman streets may not be
approved at the Monday voting meeting.
The petition is for the area to be blocked off during a
neighborhood party that is not sponsored by any organization.
Bates said that the problem with this request was the need for a
certificate of insurance, which would relieve the city of any
liability should someone be injured while in the alley. He said that
with no official organization involved, he didn't believe that the
certificate would be obtainable, as it is not something that is
likely to be covered by homeowner insurance.
Hoinacki asked that the petition be placed on the regular voting
agenda, and he would look into this further before the Monday night
meeting.
[By NILA SMITH]
Past related
reports
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Wal-Mart or Walmart?
Technical note: The name Walmart has
recently come into use along with the name Wal-Mart. According to
Associated Press guidelines, the name Walmart is now used when
referring to the retail stores. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the name of the company,
which has headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.
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