Wednesday, June 09, 2010
 
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City briefs: pay, liquor ordinance, road repair and more

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[June 09, 2010]  At the Monday night voting session of the Lincoln City Council, in addition to voting to join forces with Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital to apply for a grant for road construction, the council voted on pay increases for appointed personnel, approved a resolution regarding a parade for this year's art and balloon fest, and amended an ordinance regarding the consumption of alcohol in city parks. The council also approved expenditures to Hanson Professional Services and discussed overlay projects on State and College streets.

Raises approved for appointed personnel

With Alderwoman Melody Anderson absent for the evening, Alderwoman Kathy Horn, who is vice chair of the finance committee, made the motion to approve the salaries of appointed personnel for fiscal 2010-11 as prescribed in the official budget document.

During discussion, Mayor Keith Snyder said the motion did pertain to raises for department heads. He also stipulated that the department heads are to be held to the same "giveback" concessions as their employees. Whether it is furlough days or whatever the specific union may agree to, the department heads will match whatever concession the union is willing to make.

Comparing the 2009-10 budget document with the 2010-11 document, total dollars allotted to appointed personnel in the fire, police and street departments indicated a 1.1 percent overall increase in pay.

Currently the firefighters are the only ones who have agreed to a giveback concession. Each member of that department will take 64 hours of furlough time.

The city has been in discussions with the unions representing the other two departments, but no final decisions have been made to date.

When the motion came to vote, it passed 8-0-1 with Alderman Tom O'Donohue abstaining from the vote.

Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival will feature a Pilots Parade

This year the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce is hoping to add a new feature to the art and balloon fest: a Pilots Parade.

The parade in the works is slated to begin at approximately 3:30 Friday afternoon on Wyatt Avenue, with the procession to travel all the way to the airport.

Because some of the streets they plan to traverse are under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Department of Transportation, the city needed to pass a parade resolution, which will be submitted to IDOT for approval.

With a unanimous vote, the council approved the resolution to be sent to IDOT. Once it is approved by that agency, the chamber will be able to go ahead with planning the parade.

Ordinance amending alcohol consumption rules for city parks passes 9-0

Sunday afternoon from 1 to 4, the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital Auxiliary along with Dr. Don Sielaff and family are sponsoring a charity garden party at Memorial Park in Lincoln.

The Healing Life Society Garden Party will be a fundraiser for the hospital auxiliary, with the proceeds going to assist with the cost of decorative gardens at the new hospital.

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For the fundraiser the organizers have asked for a temporary liquor license so that they may serve alcoholic beverages in the park.

Snyder said that upon investigation, it has been discovered that there are two conflicting ordinances regarding liquor in city parks. The park codes say that there is to be no alcohol, while in another section of the city code, alcohol is permitted for special events.

In order to unify the code, an amendment was made to city code Section 8, Chapter 11, which is the park regulations section, saying that alcohol will be allowed at special events by permission of the city.

The amendment to the ordinance passed with a unanimous vote.

Overlay projects for State and College streets will begin soon

By unanimous vote, approval was given for an expenditure of $34,390.19 to Hanson Professional Services for the engineering phase of the overlay projects for State and College streets.

These two street projects are being paid for with federal stimulus funds, and the work is slated to begin later this month.

The total cost of the projects will come to approximately $395,000. This is the lion's share of the $465,000 the city received in stimulus funds. The $70,000 balance remaining will be earmarked for work to be done on Fifth Street Road.

[By NILA SMITH]

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