Lincoln City Council agrees on TIF revisions, Façade Grant, support for the Logan County Tourism Bureau and new Class D Liquor License

[June 06, 2015]  LINCOLN - Monday evening all eight aldermen were present for the voting session of the Lincoln City Council. There was also a large crowd in the gallery as guests were there to witness the awarding of the Arbor Day Poster Contest winners, the swearing in of a new Police Officer for the city, and others were on hand to watch the session.

TIF Façade Grant modification

Aldermen voted to approve changes to the Façade Grant guidelines of the Tax Increment Financing program as recommended by city administrator Clay Johnson.

Johnson addressed the subject, outlining the changes that had been made to the guidelines. He said that the matching grant stipulation, as well as minimum and maximum award amounts, had been added to the existing guidelines. In addition, language had been added to define better what work or expenses would be allowed within the Façade Grant, and what would be excluded.

Johnson also said the applicant would have to be in good standing on its obligations to the city such as sewer fees.

The new guideline will also establish that funding is limited and once exhausted, the Façade Grant program will be suspended until a future fiscal year. The city hopes to be able to fund smaller projects for the Façade grant program from its general funds, as the budget will allow. As the TIF dollars come back to the city through captured property tax increases, the intent is to use the money earned as the investment capital, rather than dollars from the general fund.

When Johnson finished, Todd Mourning made the motion, and it was seconded by Jeff Hoinacki to approve the revision of the current TIF guidelines. The motion passed by a unanimous vote of 8-0.

Facade application for 515 Broadway

The Council then moved to the current application for work done at 515 Broadway. This motioned had been tabled for quite some time. The first move was to take it off the table. That motion was approved unanimously. The second motion came from Michelle Bauer, to approve the request and award MMIL $10,000. The motion was seconded by Scott Cooper. When brought to a vote, the request was approved unanimously.

Support dollars for Tourism

Aldermen voted unanimously to support the Logan County Tourism Bureau with an annual disbursement equal to 95 percent of the hotel/motel tax collected by the city.

When the item came up on the agenda, Todd Mourning made the motion to approve the support with the second coming from Jeff Hoinacki.

During the discussion, the question was asked if the city knew what dollar amount the 95 percent would be. Johnson said the net income had been projected for the budget, and that the portion going to the Tourism Bureau would be approximately $160,000. It should be noted that the dollar amount paid to tourism will be based upon 95 percent of the actual dollars received by the city.

Jonie Tibbs asked how the money was disbursed; was it paid annually?

City Treasurer Chuck Conzo said that last year the city had paid the Bureau monthly, just as the state had disbursed the dollars to the city.

Steve Parrott asked if Tourism needed to be paid monthly. Johnson said he believed that to help them with their cash flow that is what would be preferred by the bureau.

The discussion moved on to talking about performance and quarterly reports provided by the Tourism Bureau. It was mentioned that the dollars might be distributed upon receiving a satisfactory report.

It was also mentioned that if the bureau is not performing to the satisfaction of the city, the financial support could be revoked at any time.

Tourism Director Maggie McMurtrey was in attendance at the meeting along with members of the Tourism Council and the Logan County Alliance Board of Directors. McMurtrey said she was willing to come to the council monthly if they needed. She said she could offer them information at any time, and that they were invited to visit her at her office if they had questions or concerns.

She also commented on a question that had been posed at the workshop meeting the end of May. At that meeting, she was asked if she could offer comparisons over previous years on how many motel stays were occurring annually. She said she had investigated that, and motel visits were up by about 9,000 stays over five years ago.

With no other discussion, the roll call vote was taken, and the motion was approved with an 8-0 vote.

Class D Liquor License

The council also approved with a 7-1 vote modifying the Class D Liquor License to accommodate the sale of Craft Beer and Spirits by the glass or by the bottle, and to extend the hours of business.

The only discussion on the topic was a question from Todd Mourning, who wanted to verify that this selling by the bottle would not mean patrons could leave the business with an open bottle. Johnson said that was correct.

Steve Parrott asked why there had been only one Class D Liquor License for the city. City attorney Blinn Bates said the Class D was created for one specific business in town, but then it was not used. That establishment is no longer in business.

The motion to approve was made by Tibbs and seconded by Kathy Horn. At the vote, seven aldermen voted ‘yes’ and one alderman, Parrott, voted ‘no.’ The motion passed by majority vote.
 

New Lincoln Police Officer

Kyle Veech was sworn in as a newly hired police officer for the city of Lincoln. Veech was hired to fill a vacancy in the department.

Arbor Day poster contest

Winners of the Arbor Day poster contest were recognized by Street Superintendent Walt Landers. There were 185 entries this year representing all the elementary schools in Lincoln. First place went to Ivy Sandel. Ivy is a student at Northwest School, and her parents are Isreal and Sarah Sandel. Second place was awarded to Grace Carter. Grace is a student at Zion Lutheran School in Lincoln and the daughter of Samantha Carter. The third place prize went to Gabriel Smith, a student at Washington Monroe School. Gabriel was not present to accept his award. The winners were given a variety of prizes provided by local businesses.

[Nila Smith]