 Mayor Keith Snyder was back in council chambers, having returned
from vacation.
City will publish delinquent sewer accounts
One of the most important things discussed Monday night was a
proposal from Alderman Buzz Busby, who chairs the sewage committee,
that the delinquent sewer accounts be published by local media.
After making the motion and receiving a second, Busby said that
advertising the delinquent accounts was legal, and it was his
sincere hope that some of the people on the list would be
embarrassed by it and consequently pay their bills.
Snyder asked him how he planned to advertise the accounts, and
Busby said that he wanted space in the Lincoln Courier, Lincoln
Daily News and on the city website.
Chuck Conzo, city treasurer, asked for some clarification on the
criteria for who would be on the list, and he was told that it would
be only the customers whose unpaid bills are exceeding three months and have had liens placed on their accounts.
Denise Martinek, city clerk, said that the liens go on at 90 days
without exception. It was also noted that in the last week alone, 12
to 13 liens were filed on delinquent sewer accounts.
When it came to a vote, the motion to publish the list was
approved 9-0.
Approval of sidewalks and "no parking" signs raises questions
Alderman David Armbrust made a motion to approve a sidewalk
repair in the 100 block of Oglesby.
When the second was given and the group entered into discussion,
Alderman Tom O'Donohue asked if anyone could give him the criteria
for approving a sidewalk repair.
He said that he wasn't questioning the judgment of Armbrust and
he wasn't questioning the need for the sidewalk, he just wanted to
know how the decision was made to approve this request.
It appears that there is no set guideline for this in any of the
city's policy and procedures.
As it was discussed, Armbrust and Busby in particular said that
each request needed to be examined on a case-by-case basis, that
there really could not be a black-and-white procedure for these
actions.
Snyder said that he didn't think O'Donohue was asking for a
strict procedure but rather an outline of the process involved.
As discussions ensued, it came to light that when a request like
this is made, the committee chair, the street and alley
superintendent, and even sometimes the police department or fire
department assist in the decision-making process.
Alderman David Wilmert said that was information he hadn't heard
before. He said it was good that there were multiple people involved
in making the decision, and he thought it would be to everyone's
benefit if the process were documented somewhere.
Alderwoman Joni Tibbs added that as aldermen they all have a
responsibility to look at situations for themselves, and she noted
that in most cases she does exactly that.
Later the group would vote unanimously for the sidewalk repair
and also for a "no parking" sign on Davey Street.
The question of procedure came up once again on the "no parking"
sign, but in the end the mayor suggested that the discussion be held
during a workshop meeting, perhaps next week.
City approves mortgage release on old CDAP loan
According to the mayor, the city clerk has been able to locate
minutes of a meeting in January of 1993 that indicate a Community
Development Assistance Program loan made by the city of Lincoln to
Cheesman Seed Co. was indeed paid back in full.
This answers a question that came up last week regarding
releasing a lien as a second mortgage holder on property once owned
by Cheesman and now owned by a party that was not named in any of
the council discussions.
With the written confirmation that the loan has been repaid, the
vote to release the second mortgage was unanimous.
Mayor gets go-ahead on grant applications
With unanimous approval Snyder will go forward with applying for
two grants for downtown streetscape projects.
The first grant, if awarded, would be $675,000 through the
Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's Community
Development Assistance Program. The second would be an award from
the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Snyder said that Lisa Kramer, who is well known to the city as an
associate at Hanson Professional Services of Springfield, has
started a new business called Prairie Engineers of Illinois, and
that firm will write the grant proposal for the city.
The mayor also noted that there was a private donor who had
donated the cost for one proposal to be written, and he is hoping
someone else will come forward and donate the approximately $2,000
cost for the second one. If not, though, there is money in the
mayor's budget to cover the cost.
Snyder also said that in the grant application, the city could
"gain points" from community participation. Therefore he hopes to
have an open house and public hearing next Tuesday evening at City
Hall. The open house is scheduled to run from 4 to 6 p.m.
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 Proposed spending by the sewer department meets opposition
According to law, the sewage department of a municipality must be
self-sufficient, relying on no outside sources for its revenues.
In the city of Lincoln this is not a problem as far as the budget
is concerned, since the sewer department always runs in the black.
However, there are several thousand dollars in unpaid sewer bills to
the sewer department, and it is common knowledge that there is a
cash-flow problem for the city as a whole.
Therefore, when Busby sought permission to go out for bid for a
new storage building and a new retaining wall at the waste treatment
plant, it met with some opposition.
When these items were placed on the agenda last Tuesday night,
Alderwoman Marty Neitzel said she didn't think it was a good idea to
go forward with them.
She commented then that while the sewer department was the
Cadillac and the other departments were Chevys, she could not
justify saying yes to these requests when the council had just
finished lecturing the department heads on cutting back on
unnecessary spending.
When the motions came to discussion Monday night, she still said
she couldn't support them and that these purchases should not be
made until the city had more money.
Busby said that getting the bids didn't mean they would have to
award them, but he also commented that the new building was needed
as the sewage department had equipment that should be sheltered but
was standing out in the weather, and the retaining wall around the
sludge pond did need improvement.
In a roll-call vote, Neitzel and Alderman Kathy Horn voted no to
the storage building and O'Donohue qualified his yes vote with "for
bid only."
In the vote for the retaining wall, Neitzel, Horn and Tibbs voted
no.
With the majority of the nine present saying yes, the city will
seek bids on these two projects for the sewer department.
In other business
By unanimous vote P.H. Boughton won the bid for the Broadway
Street overlay project, which will not commence until after the
Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival. Their bid came in at $538,970.82.
The only other bid received was from Illinois Valley Paving in the
amount of $614,322.26.
Lincoln's street and alley department will run their street
sweeper through the midway at the Logan County Fair this year. The
council accepted an offer of $436.14 from the fair board for the
service in a vote of 8-0-1. Armbrust abstained from the vote.
The 600 block of Pulaski will get four new parking spaces just
off the intersection with McLean Street, on the north side of the
road.
Six little skunks in Mayfair
Neitzel shared with the council her story of six little skunks in
Mayfair and ended it with a lesson to all.
She recounted that recently a couple of her neighbors had come to
her with a problem. It appeared that there were six skunks running
wild in the neighborhood, causing a lot of ruckus at night and of
course smelling up the community.
Neitzel said that they talked about what to do and finally came
up with hiring Les Wood, who is licensed and capable of catching the
wild animals. He captured five of them Sunday night and planned to
try again Monday night to get the sixth.
She said that there was a moral to her story and it is simple:
"When you have a problem in your neighborhood, get together and work
it out."
Neitzel said that it is part of being good neighbors for everyone
to work together to resolve problems, and that they should also know
that if they need help, they have an alderman they can turn to.
She concluded that she was very proud of her neighbors in Mayfair
for doing just that, and she thought they were setting an
example for everyone.
[By NILA SMITH]
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