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Eight members of the council were present for both the special
meeting and the workshop session. Absent for the evening were
Alderwomen Joni Tibbs and Stacy Bacon.
Budget meeting
Sage words from Busby
During the course of the special budget meeting, Alderwoman
Melody Anderson went through each department's budget, noting any
changes that will need to be made in order to produce a balanced
budget for the year.
Notable changes included reducing the police department request
from three used squad cars to two and moving some capital expense
requests out of the budget, with stipulations they will be included
in appropriations and funded by the general obligation bond.
During the course of the one-hour session, Alderman Buzz Busby
offered several cuts in several departments, most of them relating
to expenses involving supplies, equipment maintenance and repairs.
He said that for the most part he was basing his cuts on actual
expenditures in the current year.
He spoke directly to the department heads, saying, "There are
some lines you can do nothing about, but there are many lines that
are your direct responsibility, and those will show your management
ability."
Busby also said the city has two serious concerns: the budget and
the condition of city streets. He said he would not support the
hiring of a new police officer or a new firefighter until at least
one new person has been added to the street and alley department.
Busby also approached John Lebegue of the building and safety
office, asking if he could cut back on his part-time salaries again.
He noted a substantial increase, which Lebegue had originally asked
for, and said he thought it was too much.
Lebegue said he could cut it, but it will severely affect his
ability to do his job for the city.
Alderman Tom O'Donohue defended the increase, saying the building
and safety office is generating revenues for the city and can
increase that with more man-hours.
Anderson also supported the increase, saying she'd rather take
some of the capital expenses out of Lebegue budget and move them to
the general obligation bond and leave the part-time salaries alone.
Workshop meeting
Garrett Schreiner and his dad, Steve, were in the gallery for the
workshop meeting. Garrett is a member of Scout Troop 1102. He
attended the meeting as a part of his citizenship and community
badge requirement.
Mayor Keith Snyder asked him to step to the podium and lead the
council in the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Prospect of a bike trail
Local businessman David Lanterman and Lisa Kramer of Prairie
Engineers of Illinois were in attendance at the regular workshop
meeting to discuss the possibility of a bike and hiking trail to run
between the city of Lincoln and Union, using the old interurban rail
line.
Lanterman said a group has been working on a proposal for a bike
trail using the old line and really hadn't reached the point of
being ready to present anything, when a problem arose.
Currently the Illinois Department of Transportation has an
overpass going over the old line on Interstate 55. IDOT had
approached the county and asked if the overpass needed to remain or
if that area could be dirt-filled.
Not knowing of the bike trail idea, the county said IDOT could
fill it in. However, when Lanterman and others working on the idea
learned of this, they went to the county and asked the board rescind
their consent, which they are willing to do.
Lanterman said that right now, all he is asking of the city is
that the council put together a letter of support for the project.
The old interurban line is still visible in all but two short
sections of the 10-mile stretch between Adams School and Union.
Lanterman said current estimates are that it will cost $500,000
per mile to build a bike trail.
There is still a great deal of work to be done in planning before
the group can even begin to seek out funding and start the work.
The aldermen all agreed it was a good idea to build the trail,
and they will offer their letter of support via a resolution to be
passed at Monday's voting meeting.
City hears from Comcast about state laws
Snyder shared two letters he has received from Comcast regarding
Illinois state laws regulating cable service providers.
One letter cites
Public Act 96-1422 and requests that the city provide the
complete list of all addresses within their corporate city limits.
The letter includes instructions on how the report is to be done
and submitted. The report will mean some time-consuming effort on
the part of the city clerk's office.
This is the same law that has basically eliminated the city's
ability to audit Comcast to assure the company is remitting to the
municipality the proper amount of franchise fees and taxes.
The second letter was the company's annual report to the city.
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In the past the city has been able to request audits of cable
services, but the
Cable and Video Customer Protection Law has limited what
information cable companies have to provide.
The result is that the annual report tells only how many service
complaints Comcast received in 2010 from Lincoln customers. The
total came to 97, in the following categories: billing complaints,
21; installation or termination of service complaints, 54; quality
of service or repair complaints, 19; and programming complaints,
three.
During discussion the number of complaints received was brought
into question as appearing to be much lower than expected.
Snyder said he thought there was a certain criterion the company
follows that turns a customer's call into a viable complaint.
Fire department looks at charging fees
Fire Chief Mark Miller said he's been investigating the
possibility of implementing some fees for services, which would help
offset some of his department's overtime hours and machine hours.
Among the areas he's studying are permit fees for commercial
fireworks as well as a service fee for sending a fire engine and
staff to a site during a public fireworks display. Miller said
currently city code requires an engine and crew to be on-site at a
public display, but there are no fees attached, and there could be.
Another area of concern is in the number of what Miller referred
to as "true false-alarm calls." Last year he said there were 144
fire calls for the department, and 105 of those were false alarms.
Miller tried to make it clear what these calls actually consist
of. Generally speaking, there are businesses in the city that have
automated alarm systems. The systems, if not properly maintained,
malfunction and send out an alarm when no threat exists.
In other cases, alarm companies may be doing service and fail to
contact the fire department and tell them so. Miller said if the
alarm goes off and the department has not been notified of service
work, they have to respond.
Implementing a fee for those false calls would have a double
benefit. Once companies know they will be billed, they may be more
diligent in maintaining their systems, thus eliminating some of the
calls and reducing time and equipment costs for the fire department.
And for those who don't, the fees will help offset those same
department costs.
Anderson supported the idea of a fee for false calls, saying she
has a scanner and hears these calls and has noted time and time
again they are calls to the same location.
Miller also commented that this doesn't apply to all calls. He
explained that sometimes an alarm can be set off by cooking, for
example. He said responding to that type of call where there is no
actual fire is not considered by the department to be a "false
alarm."
Miller said there are laws that limit what the charges can be for
various incidents, and he is still investigating what he can charge
for and the amount allowed.
It was also mentioned by police Chief Ken Greenslate that there
could also be a possibility for the police department to establish
some fees for false alarms regarding burglar alarm systems.
There was also discussion regarding fees for technical rescue
services. This is more of a gray area right now that Miller needs to
continue working on.
Parking problems still in the works
The council reviewed a new two-hour parking limit map produced by
city engineer Mark Mathon. The map is being fine-tuned one meeting
at a time, and the council is nearing a point where they are going
to be able to pass a resolution.
Once they are prepared to do this, city attorney Bill Bates will
need to write an ordinance outlining the two-hour parking areas in
the city.
Snyder asked Mathon if an official map could be created and
posted to the city website when the ordinance is passed, and Mathon
said it could.
The council has placed this on the voting agenda but knows they
will table any motions for next week, as Bates said he would need
more than a week to get the ordinance properly prepared.
In other announcements
Snyder relayed a thank-you from Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital
to city department heads Mark Miller, Ken Greenslate, Mark Mathon,
John Lebegue and Tracy Jackson for the assistance they offered the
hospital to achieve a safe and efficient transfer of patients from
the old hospital to the new.
Snyder acknowledged the From the Ground Up group, saying the red
tulips are popping up all over town now. He also said the Logan
Correctional Center is going to grow annual and perennial plants for
the group's future use.
And finally, he shared with the council that there is a new
Lincoln book now available, authored by D. Leigh Henson and entitled
"The Town Abraham Lincoln Warned."
[By NILA SMITH] |
