 They began with a 7 p.m. public hearing and then went into a voting
session that lasted less than 30 minutes.
Bond hearing
According to law, the city has to hold a public hearing before
issuing a new general obligation bond. That hearing was held Monday
evening, but no members of the public were present for
participation.
Kevin Heid of First Midstate Inc. out of Bloomington was on hand
to present information regarding a new bond issue.
The city of Lincoln has issued these types of bonds every three
years for approximately the last 25 years.
Two simultaneous actions occur in this process: The bond is
issued, then immediately used as collateral for a loan.
For the city, this means an influx of cash that can be used on
certain expenditures that are categorized as capital expenses. The
money cannot be used to pay wages or finance the day-to-day
operations of the city.
The bond is issued and the loan made according to current
interest rates and is paid back in three annual payments.
Once the loan is made, Midstate takes control of the bond, splits
it into smaller dollar amounts and sells it to investors.
General obligation bonds are considered to be a very secure loan
product because the city uses revenues from property taxes to repay
the loan.
Heid said that based on current information, the city has the
ability to pay back $183,892 per year, which would include the
interest payments.
When this was discussed in April, Les Plotner, who was then the
city treasurer, said that the city could add $615,000 to its coffers
through the new bond. It now appears that the actual figure will be
somewhere around $500,000.
This amount is still sufficient to cover capital expenses for the
2010-11 fiscal year, as the city budget put only about $193,000 in
expenses in the bond line item.
The exact amount of the bond was not mentioned during the
hearing. There are a couple of factors that will weigh into this.
The interest rate on the loan will be calculated on the day the city
votes to issue the bond. They will then consider the dollar amount
that will accrue and issue the bond according to their ability to
pay it off over the next three years.
Currently the city has to make one final payment on the existing
bond. That payment is due Dec. 1 and will be in the amount of
$174,188.
Armbrust dumps the dump
Voting on a revision of landfill fees was on the agenda, but when
it came time for Alderman David Armbrust to make a motion, he moved
to remove the item from the agenda, basically killing the motion.
When asked why, Armbrust said there were a number of factors
included in his decision.
First, revising the fees would include a change of city
ordinance.
Secondly, it appears from what was learned last week that the
superintendent of streets and alleys has the ability to determine
commercial fees on his own, with supervision from the Sanitation
Committee, not Sidewalks, Lighting and Forestry, which is Armbrust’s
committee.
And finally, he said that he didn’t believe the motion would pass
the way he wanted to make it, so he thinks it is best to drop it.
While it wasn’t discussed Monday night, it has come up in the
past that changing city ordinances is an expensive venture. Once the
council votes on an ordinance change, the official document is
written by city attorney Bill Bates. Then it is given to Sterling
Codifiers, a professional firm that incorporates the change into
existing city code and publishes it on the city of Lincoln website
as well as in written form for the official documents that are held
at City Hall, all for a fee.
Master plan approved
The Logan County Master Plan was approved by a unanimous 10-0
vote. Alderwoman Kathy Horn made the motion to approve and it was
seconded by Alderman Buzz Busby.
During discussion of the matter, Busby said he had talked to a
couple of people who seemed to think that the master plan was a
concrete document. He said that is not the case, that none of it is
carved in stone. It simply offers the city and county a guide.
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Mayor Keith Snyder added that the plan leaves the city, county
and its community partners with "big, broad parameters." He said it
was up to the city to decide what they will do with it, and that for
example, in the category of making Logan County a compelling place,
what that means for Lincoln is not going to be what it means for
surrounding towns.
Alderman Tom O’Donohue said that he too had talked to a few
people about the plan and had gotten the impression that the public
thinks the plan will give more control over city decisions to the
Lincoln & Logan County Development Partnership.
He said this is definitely not the case. The city loses none of
its decision-making ability by endorsing this plan.
Alderwoman Marty Neitzel asked if changes could be made to the
plan after it is adopted.
Joel Smiley, the director of the development partnership, was on
hand for the meeting. He said that yes, changes can be made and
should be made. He also emphasized that while the 50-page document
presents as a long-term plan, there will be a need to revisit the
plan every few years and adjust it according to the current needs of
the communities.
Rent payments to Safety Complex tabled
The mayor said he wanted to talk about the extension agreement
with the Logan County Safety Complex before a motion was made,
because he was going to ask that the motion be tabled, and once that
happens, the council cannot discuss the issues.
Two weeks ago the council approved a three-month extension and a
rent amount equal to $2,438.71 per month for the space currently
occupied by the city police department in the Logan County Safety
Complex.
Last week it was learned that the county wants to change the rent
to $2,504.55 per month, reflecting a 2.7 percent increase based on
the Consumer Price Index and the increases imposed by the county on
property tax extensions.
Snyder said that after discussing this last week, City Clerk
Denise Martinek, Alderwoman Melody Anderson and he had taken another
look at the amount the county was asking for versus what the city
had intended to pay.
He said Martinek had reviewed the budget and determined that the
amount the city originally intended to pay for the three-month lease
extension already included the 2.7 percent increase.
Snyder said he had contacted the county regarding this, as well
as asking for a justification of the increase as a whole, but has
not heard back from them.
He said he was asking that the motion be tabled and that if the
county has not responded to his questions by the time of the next
voting session, he will ask that it be removed from the agenda and
the city will hold to the original agreement.
Snyder’s request was approved by unanimous vote.
Firm hired for union negotiations
Clark Baird Smith will be the official negotiators for upcoming
collective bargaining meetings.
Anderson put this item on the agenda last Tuesday night, saying
that the firm is well versed in collective bargaining and was called
in last year in the final days of bargaining with the city police
department.
The motion carried with a 10-0 vote.
[By NILA SMITH]
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