 The city council is currently struggling to put together a balanced
budget for the coming year. Currently they are seeing red in the
bottom line, and discussions have gone to which of their community
partners they can afford to support.Both Main Street Lincoln and
the development partnership receive annual funding from the city of
Lincoln.
Reinwald introduces the Main Street Saver Card
Barb Reinwald of the Main Street Lincoln board told the council
that she was not here this time to ask for money, but rather to give
the group something.
She explained that Main Street has developed a Main Street Saver
Card. The card lists on the back the 18 businesses in the downtown
area who will be participating. Reinwald said that altogether, the
Main Street organization intends to distribute 2,500 of the cards at
a variety of upcoming events.
She said the first of the cards would be given out at the
Railsplitter Antique Auto Club cruise-in on Saturday. Shoppers who
use the card in the participating stores will, in addition to their
savings, have their name entered into a drawing for $10 in Main
Street money.
May is National Historic Preservation Month. Main Street will
recognize the Woman’s Club Building, which will celebrate 100 years
this year. The club members will be given Saver Cards.
Saver Cards will also be handed out on May 8, as part of the
observance of National Train Day, to folks getting off the train in
Lincoln.
Finally, May 22-29 is National Small Business Week. Main Street
will host a breakfast on May 26 and will give Saver Cards to
everyone who works in the downtown businesses.
Reinwald then put on her Treasure Chest apron and said she was
addressing the council as a business owner who appreciates the Main
Street organization and all their efforts to keep downtown
businesses growing.
"Out-of-town people love our square," Reinwald said. "I hear
every day, people are now getting off the main drag, coming into
Lincoln, eating lunch and browsing our shops because they are tired
of the big city."
"Shop locally, save locally and keep your tax dollars local," she
said. "It’s a circle. People buy from us, the sales tax comes to
you, you help Main Street, and Main Street helps us. It is a circle
that we can’t break, or we’ll lose our downtown."
Rohlfs talks about National Train Day
May 8 is National Train Day. Wanda Lee Rohlfs of Main Street
Lincoln said that Mayor Keith Snyder had spoken with her about a
month ago about observing the date.
Rohlfs said she had done some research and had put together a
list of ways to observe the day.
One of the things on the list is a variety of displays in the
Amtrak shelter. Rohlfs said that people would go to clean up the
area the day before and perhaps set up some of the displays. She
wondered whether or not the city had control of the shelter and
whether they could make arrangements to have it locked overnight to
protect the displays.
When folks come into town on the train, they will be given a
goody bag that will include the new Main Street Saver Card as well
as some other items.
In addition, Rohlfs is looking at giving train arrivals personal
watermelons. She said that she was going to talk to Kroger about
making a purchase of the individual-sized melons.
Rohlfs wrapped up by saying that Lincoln would not be the town it
is today if the train had gone a different route. She also noted
that the original train station was on the corner opposite to the
current depot, on the site where Salt Creek Chiropractic is now
located, and was under construction when Abraham Lincoln christened
the city with the juice of a watermelon.
Smiley speaks regarding the development partnership
Joel Smiley, executive director of the Lincoln & Logan County
Development Partnership, along with Bill Martin, who serves on the
partnership board, were at the Monday night meeting to reiterate the
importance of the development partnership to the city of Lincoln.
This presentation comes on the heels of word that the city is
facing some tough financial decisions for the 2010-11 budget year
and has discussed whether or not they can afford to support some of
their community partners.
Smiley said that he and his board did understand the challenges
that the council is facing. "For every dollar the partnership is
generating, we’re seeing an 8-to-1 return on the investment," Smiley
said.
Smiley noted the attraction of wind developers, the attraction of
R.P. Lumber, the reopening of Goody’s, the CEDS that is nearing
completion, the Center of Success and the USDA grant for developing
the Master Plan as some of the partnership’s successes.
He also noted that there is to be a major wind announcement soon,
a new manufacturers' council association is launching this week, and
they are working to bring together all the funders of water and
sewer and will be putting together a USDA roadshow.
Smiley said he just wanted to stress the importance of economic
development to the city.
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Council votes 6-3 to approve lighting grant
At last week’s meeting, city engineer Mark Mathon explained a
rebate grant that is available through the Department of Commerce
and Economic Opportunity.
The grant will rebate 50 percent of the cost for upgrading the
lighting in city facilities. All city-owned buildings are eligible
for the funding, but it was decided to apply only for funding for
the sewerage treatment plant and City Hall.
In the future, fluorescent tube lighting is going to go by the
wayside. Alderwoman Joni Tibbs said that because of this, the city
was taking advantage of the financial help now to do work that was
inevitable. She noted that if the city waits until they absolutely
have to do the upgrades, there will be no grant funding available.
The upgrading project at the sewer plant will come from sewer
revenues, while the funds for City Hall will have to come out of the
general fund.
Busby asked Tibbs what line she planned on taking the money out
of, and Tibbs responded that it would come from building and
grounds.
He asked her if she was present at the Saturday budget meeting,
and she responded that she was, just as he was. He then asked her if
she didn’t realize the city is broke. Her response was that yes, she
did realize that, and that they should have realized it three months
ago.
The bottom line is that there is money in this year’s budget in
building and grounds to do this work. The plan is to apply for the
grant and cut the checks for the contractor before the end of the
month.
If the city does not get the grant award, then the checks can be
voided.
Tibbs said that this was still the best time to do the work
because of the grant money.
The entire project will cost approximately $32,000. The
rebate-style grant will give back $16,000 of that investment.
City Hall in particular seemed to be in question, because the
upgrades are supposed to save on energy costs, but the city doesn’t
pay for the building’s electricity due to a franchise agreement with
Ameren. Alderman David Armbrust noted that due to this, there was no
real savings involved.
However, Anderson expressed that eventually the franchise
agreement was going to run out, the city would have to pay
utilities, the light fixtures would have to be replaced, and all
opportunities for financial assistance would be gone.
She concluded that she agreed with Tibbs that now was the best
time to do the work.
When the motion came to a vote, it was approved 6-3. Those who
voted no were Aldermen David Wilmert, Armbrust and Busby.
Other items approved
Harold Goodman Excavating was awarded the contract for doing the
Brainard’s bridge maintenance work for this year. Goodman was the
only bidder and entered a bid of $12,500.
A revised contract with Environmental Management Corp. was
approved. The new contract carries an annual fee of $149,556,
approximately $21,000 less than the previous contract. In exchange
for the drop in the rate, city engineer Mark Mathon will be sent to
other locations three days per month.
A contract was approved allowing Azavar Audit Solutions to
conduct an audit of the franchise fees paid to the city by Comcast
Cable.
Mayoral appointments
Dave Huffman was appointed to replace the late Cliff Sullivan on
the civil service commission.
Jim Grimaldi will replace Tom Funk, and Rebecca Van Nydeggen will
replace Curtis Sutterfield on the city’s ethics commission.
Two more budget meetings
There will be a budget workshop meeting on Thursday at 5 p.m. and
another on Saturday at 8 a.m.
Other news
Tracy Jackson announced that the city will plant its Arbor Day
tree on Wednesday at 1 p.m. in Latham Park. The new planting, at the
corner of Pekin and North Kickapoo, will replace the tree that had
to be taken out last month due to a severe split in the trunk.
Executive session
At the end of the evening, Hoinacki called for an executive
session to discuss the appointment to the vacant city police chief
position.
The meeting adjourned immediately following the executive
session. There will be a special re-adjournment of the voting
session next Tuesday prior to the committee-of-the-whole meeting.
[By NILA SMITH]
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