 During the course of the meeting they heard from Wanda Lee Rohlfs of
Main Street Lincoln, shared thoughts on workshops they had attended
at the Illinois Municipal League Conference and established the
schedule for this year's trick-or-treat activities.
Main Street update
Rohlfs began by sharing a brochure offered by Amtrak that
highlights activities in towns along its route for the period of
October 2010 through March 2011. She drew attention to an image of
the Saver Card that is currently being distributed by Main Street.
She said that shoppers coming into town would be able to use
their brochure and take advantage of the special offers that are
available from the participating merchants in the downtown area. She
also noted that the Saver Card will be continued into 2011.
The Main Street office now has the Abraham Lincoln Cell Phone
Tour Guide available in its office. The pamphlet lists 49 stops
throughout Logan County, complete with GPS coordinates and phone
codes for hearing the various messages at each stop.
Nov. 12, 13 and 14 the downtown area will observe an open house
with merchants open for shoppers on Friday, Nov. 12, from 5 to 7
p.m. Saturday activities will include breakfast with Santa, and on
Sunday there will be a spaghetti dinner at Hallie's Lunch Box.
The theme for this year's Christmas celebration, including the
parade, is "Snowy Days & Starry Nights." Merchants will decorate
their windows according to the theme.
There is a change in the parade schedule this year. Rather than
being on the first Thursday in December, the parade will take place
on Friday, Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving, and will commence at
5:30 p.m.
Registration forms for parade participation are available at the
Main Street office, 109 S. Kickapoo.
Halloween with the mayor
Main Street will once again host a trick-or-treat parade with
Mayor Keith Snyder leading the way throughout the downtown area. The
event will be at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 30, beginning at Latham Park.
There are 16 participating merchants in this year's event. The
mayor will lead the children through town, collecting goodies. The
parade will end at City Hall with a photo and a drawing for Main
Street Money.
Official trick-or-treat night in Lincoln
At the recommendation of city police Chief Ken Greenslate, the
official trick-or-treat time for the city of Lincoln will be Oct. 31
from 5 to 8 p.m.
Greenslate also sent out a reminder to kids and parents to be
safe when out on the streets and for parents to be sure to check
what their children are given before allowing them to eat anything.
He said if any package looks the least bit suspicious, it should be
discarded.
Treasurer's report for September
Chuck Conzo, city treasurer, distributed the September report on
city finances, saying that right now the city's general fund is in
fairly good shape.
In the month of September, the state of Illinois issued just over
$600,000 in funds to the city. However, he noted that the
reimbursements and allotments received are almost all from the
state's obligations for the last fiscal year.
Payments were received for April and May state income tax; June
non-home rule, municipal sales tax, telecommunications and state use
tax; and August motor fuel tax.
The city also received approximately $344,000 in Logan County
property taxes.
Conzo said one thing that concerns him is the amount of income
tax that is being received. He noted that for May 2010 the figure
came to just over $80,000, while in the same month of 2009 it was
$99,000, in 2008 $120,000, and in 2007 $128,000.
He said the city can expect that as unemployment rates continue
to rise, this revenue will continue to fall.
County gives city three-month extension on complex
The city and county have agreed to a three-month extension on the
city's current lease of space in the Logan County Safety Complex.
The complex currently houses the city police offices, but Snyder
has asked that the city look into other options for space.
Bates noted to the council that they are authorizing the signing
of a three-month extension at the cost of $2,438.71 per month. If a
decision is not made within the 90-day period, then the lease will
go to a month-to-month agreement.
Bates cautioned that on the month-to-month basis, the county
would be within their rights to issue a 30-day vacate notice. He
said he hoped that would not happen, but the council needs to be
aware that it could.
[to top of second column] |
 Attendees discuss Illinois Municipal League Conference
The mayor, treasurer, city attorneys Bill and Blinn Bates, and
council members Kathy Horn, Marty Neitzel, Buzz Busby, Jeff Hoinacki
and Tom O'Donohue all attended at least one day of the three-day
Illinois Municipal League Conference in Chicago in September.
Horn said she attended several workshops, including one entitled
"Community Analytics," which discussed economic development,
identifying change and the reason for change in our city. She said
the discussion tied in very well with the Logan County Master Plan.
She said one of the strongest points she heard in each of her
workshops was that communication between governing bodies and their
community partners was a key component of moving the city forward.
She encouraged everyone to ask questions and learn all they could
about what is going on in the county and city.
She also noted a workshop regarding mutual aid and pinpointed the
excellent work of Dan Fulscher of the Logan County Emergency
Management Agency.
She said anyone who had questions about mutual aid and the EMA
should contact Fulscher as he is always willing to discuss his
programs with them.
Later, Snyder would also comment on this, saying he had attended
a meeting on the city official's role in the case of a local
disaster. He said he was pleased to see that compared with other
cities, Lincoln is well ahead of the game in being prepared for
disaster, and a great deal of the credit for that goes to Fulscher
and the EMA.
O'Donohue said his interest had been in workshops regarding risk
management, and he had also attended a workshop that discussed
issues with home foreclosures, abandonment and city code issues.
Snyder also discussed a workshop he'd attended addressing the
economic impact of developing bike trails in the community.
Some new ideas came out of the conference.
Neitzel suggested that the city promote a walking program in each
ward as part of encouraging healthy lifestyles.
Snyder attended a meeting regarding city administrators, and this
is an issue he wants to pursue further.
"We really don't have a city administrator," he said. "We have
opportunities that are passing us by. We are a $15 million
organization and do not have a full-time administrative head at the
top of our organization. I really think we need to make that a
priority in next year's budget," he said.
Snyder concluded with, "We're never going to have all the revenue
we need to supply everything we want to do, but I really think we
need to make this a priority next year."
Council to review plan
Snyder said he had e-mailed electronic copies of the Logan County
Master Plan to the aldermen and he wanted them to come to the
Tuesday night workshop meeting next week prepared to review and
discuss the plan as a unit.
Executive session
At the end of the evening Horn requested that the council go into
executive session to discuss employee hiring and compensation.
Guests, member of the press and department heads were asked to exit
the meeting, with the exception of fire Chief Kent Hulett, and were
told there would be no need for them to return after the session.
[By NILA SMITH]
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