 Immediately after the
roll call and pledge, Mayor Keith Snyder said
that he had been informed it was Alderman Orville "Buzz"
Busby's birthday. He asked Busby to verify that, and the alderman
responded that it was his "34th, 39th birthday."
At 73 years of age, Busby is the oldest sitting alderman as well
as being the longest-sitting alderman on the Lincoln City Council.
Busby also was quick to tell everyone that there was someone else
in the room who shared his birth date: Chuck Conzo.
The mayor then led the group in singing "Happy Birthday" to Busby
and Conzo.
Charles "Chuck" Conzo appointed city treasurer
At the end of the evening, Snyder said that he was pleased to
present to the council for their approval Charles "Chuck" Conzo as
his choice for the next treasurer for the city.
Conzo has been very active in Lincoln over the last several
years. He was involved in the Heritage Days committee from its
inception, working with Mayor Beth Davis-Kavelman; is currently
serving on the Civil War statue committee; and is active with the
Postville Courthouse.
He has always been active in politics, currently serving as a
Republican precinct committeeman in West Lincoln Township, Precinct
2. On the Republican Central Committee he is currently the treasurer
and also a past secretary.
Conzo graduated from Illinois State University with a bachelor's
degree. His major was history with a minor in English.
He has been employed by the state of Illinois for the past 25
years, including the last 17 years as a regional manager for the
Illinois State Lottery.
He and wife Judy, who is also active in the community, reside in
Lincoln and are members of the First United Methodist Church.
Before the council took their vote, Snyder invited Conzo to the
podium to make a statement and field any questions the aldermen
might have.
Busby spoke up, saying that he was not at all opposed to the
appointment, but he wanted to ask about Conzo's ability to commit
his time to the job. Busby noted that much of the work the treasurer
has to do for the city cannot be done in the evening.
Conzo said that currently he is planning to use vacation time to
fulfill his duties to the city, but that he is planning on retiring
from the state in the not-too-distant future.
Conzo addressed the group, saying that he knew everyone in the
room and was looking forward to working them. He also said
that he felt his experience in state government would be an asset to
the position.
Drawing a laugh from the crowd, Alderman David Armbrust said:
"You do know, sir, this job can age you quickly. Your name only came
up a few weeks ago, and you have a birthday today. It may be working
on you already."
Alderwoman Marty Neitzel made the motion to accept the mayoral
appointment for city treasurer. When it came to a vote, the motion
passed unanimously.
Immediately following the vote, Conzo was sworn into office by
city attorney Bill Bates.
Conzo also took the opportunity to acknowledge his support team
in the audience: wife Judy, sister-in-law Donna Krebs and Marilyn
Wheat.
Sign ordinance removed from the agenda
In October of 2008, the ordinance committee, then chaired by
Alderwoman Wanda Lee Rohlfs, finished up its work on a new
ordinance regarding billboards in the city of Lincoln.
During the lengthy process of drawing up that ordinance, the
committee knew that once it was completed they would have to address
another issue, the "sign ordinance."
After several committee meetings, in April of 2009, right before
leaving office, Rohlfs placed a new sign ordinance on the agenda.
However, the ordinance never passed.
With new aldermen and a new mayor in office at the first of May
that year, the document needed to be reviewed by them before they
were asked to vote on it.
In their review, the newly elected Snyder, along with Aldermen
David Wilmert and the late Nathan Turner all said they wanted to
meet and discuss the questions they had about the document.
Turner especially had questions that he felt warranted open
discussion.
But before that could happen, Turner died. As the council
adjusted to that loss, there was at least one meeting about the
ordinance, but for the most part it has been kept on the table,
waiting for a revision or a vote.
When Les Last retired earlier this year, the new building and
safety officer said that he would work with the then-chairman of the
ordinance committee, Neitzel, to review the document.
In an interview a few weeks ago with Lebegue, he said that he had
studied the document and saw that there needed to be some revisions.
[to top of second column]
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However, with the appointment of Tom O'Donohue to fill the seat
of Turner, a realignment of the committees meant a change of
chairmen of the ordinance committee.
Monday night, as the newly appointed chair, O'Donohue said he
wanted to have the vote for the sign ordinance removed from the
agenda.
O'Donohue said the sign ordinance is still an issue that will be
addressed by the committee and Lebegue, but at the moment Lebegue
has more important issues to deal with, and there is no need to keep
the original agenda item listed.
City approves changing penalties for ordinance violations
One of the items that has been on Lebegue's "to do" list is a
revision of penalties for ordinance violations pertaining to the
building and safety office.
Monday night the council voted unanimously to authorize Bates to
draft an ordinance amending the fine and penalty section of the
building and safety code.
With the new ordinances, penalties will be uniform throughout the
code and will start at $75 and can go as high as $500. In addition,
repeat violators will be charged double for their violations.
Procedural changes in open meetings to be discussed further
Since taking office as city clerk, Denise Martinek has attended
several meetings for municipal clerks and has come to realize that
some of the procedures practiced during open meetings for the city
of Lincoln are unique to the city.
Last Tuesday night during the workshop meeting, Armbrust
introduced the topic of changing one such procedure and put it on
the Monday night agenda for open discussion under new business.
According to Martinek, the city of Lincoln is about the only
municipality that reads aloud each petition presented by Lincoln
residents. She said she has been told that in most cases, the
petitions are presented in writing to the council, which then votes
on a motion made by a committee chairman.
During discussion, Neitzel was the first to speak, saying that
she was concerned about making this change because she felt like the
constituents of the city had a right to this information.
"The people need to know how we are spending their money," she
concluded.
Others in the room, such as Alderman Jeff Hoinacki and Alderwoman
Joni Tibbs, agreed with her that this was public information that
needed to be made available to everyone.
Alderwoman Melody Anderson also said that not reading the
petition aloud could affect the council's ability to voice questions
or concerns about an issue.
Snyder told the council, though, that it would still be placed in
front of them in writing. Everyone would have the chance to review
each petition; they just would not be read aloud.
As the discussion ensued, Armbrust also noted that there have
been occasions in the past where he read a petition and it sounded
fine, but when it was read aloud, he would notice that there was a
problem.
From there the discussion went to whether or not it was a written
rule for the city that the petition should be read aloud, and no one
had an answer to that question.
Finally, the council agreed to put the discussion on hold and do
some more research on what the city's administrative policy says on
the subject.
Announcements
Before the meeting adjourned, Tibbs said that she would have a
committee meeting on June 29 to discuss changing service providers
for the telephones in City Hall.
Snyder reminded everyone of the fundraiser for St. Jude's to be
held this weekend by Main Street Lincoln and the Railsplitter
Antique Auto Club.
He also said that the chamber of commerce has sent out volunteer
sign-up forms for the art and balloon fest, and he encouraged
everyone who was able to consider offering some volunteer time to
that event.
[By NILA SMITH]
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