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 On hand representing the city were Mayor Marty Neitzel, Rick
Hoefle, Jeff Hoinacki, Kathy Horn, Todd Mourning, Steve Parrott,
Jonie Tibbs, and Tracy Welch.
On hand representing the county were County Chairman David Hepler,
and Vice-chairman Bob Farmer, along with board members Rick
Aylesworth, Kevin Bateman, David Blankenship, Emily Davenport, Gene
Rohlfs, Chuck Ruben and Scott Schaffenacker.
The group discussed several items on Wednesday evening including
issues with downtown parking and the increasing problem of vandalism
in Latham and Scully Parks.
Downtown Parking
Mayor Neitzel opened the discussion saying that the city is working
on this issue. She said that she and other city officials were
working to make the downtown area customer friendly. She added that
at this point, there are ideas and plans in the works, but she is
not prepared to discuss them publicly. She said that would be
happening soon.
County board member Kevin Bateman spoke next saying, “I would like
the rest of my county board members to just say out loud that we
will support the city on any (solutions to) downtown parking issues
that they come up with. Whether it affects our employees, their
employees, or business owners. She is right; it is a downtown
shopping district.” Bateman went on to say that he supported this
100 percent and that he was hopeful that his fellow board members
would support him in his statement.
 County Board member Gene Rohlfs asked Neitzel if the plan she was
referring to included increasing parking time limits from two hours
to three hours. Neitzel said it did not, but it was certainly worth
considering. Alderwoman Jonie Tibbs said she supported the idea of
three-hour parking instead of two. She commenting that she often
spends far more than two hours at a time shopping in downtown
Lincoln.
Rohlfs went on to say that expanding the hours to three would also
help with enforcement issues it would require fewer manpower hours
to monitor the downtown parking spaces.
City Administrator Clay Johnson commented that enforcement of the
parking limit is a problem for the city police department, and it
has been difficult for the city to develop a method of monitoring
and enforcement that is cost and time efficient. He added that word
gets out that tires are being marked, vehicle owners run out and
move their cars every two hours.
Rohlfs wondered if the city could use new technology, specifically
video cameras to monitor parking. He said that the videos would have
the time recorded. A patrol person could make the rounds around the
square recording license plates numbers. They could then return
three hours later and video it again, then tickets could be issued
and mailed.
Bateman said that also, in a small community such as Lincoln
“everyone knows you.” His theory was that vehicles and license
plates could be reported to city officers and tickets issued
accordingly. He said he would provide a list of county employees,
and the city could run their plates and if they are parked
illegally, give them a ticket.
Bateman added, “Make the tickets have some bite to them. Not $10
tickets, but $50 to $100 tickets, they will quickly start walking
from one of the local parking lots.”
Alderman Todd Mourning asked if the county courthouse has exterior
security cameras that could be panned out to record the parking
areas. County representatives said they did not.
County Board member Chuck Ruben asked if there was still a plan to
modify parking on the west side of Scully Park, taking it from
parallel parking to diagonal parking. Neitzel said that was still
part of the downtown revitalization plan. Bateman said he recalled
former Mayor Keith Snyder presenting that proposal, and that it
would add a lot of additional parking in that area.
Bateman also noted that while many will argue that is not enough
downtown parking, he feels there is, and that the number of parking
spots available is not the issue. He said there weren’t that many
employees at the courthouse or city hall to take up all the
available parking off the square. He also noted that some business
owners and their employees are also the problems, and they too
should be warned off the square, especially when most have available
parking behind their businesses.
 Alderman Tracy Welch commented on how parking is controlled at his
workplace. Working for State Farm in Bloomington, Welch said when
employees violate parking restrictions, it is noted by the employer.
The steps include talking to the employee to start with, but if the
problem persists, it is placed in their employee file that they
repeatedly violate company policy.
Rohlfs also commented that he sees people backing into diagonal
parking spots in the downtown area. He said he had checked, and
there is no ordinance against back-in parking. He feels that is
something that the city should address. Bateman discusses
vandalism at Latham and Scully Parks
The discussion about the county-owned Latham and Scully Parks began
with a few words of appreciation from Mourning. Mourning said he’d
received photos of an issue in one of the parks from a constituent.
He said he contacted Chairman David Hepler, who then contacted
Bateman, and the situation was addressed quickly. Mourning said he
just wanted to make public his appreciation to the county for that
quick response.
Bateman said that he knows a lot of people don’t realize that the
two parks belong to the county. Therefore, the city has to take the
calls and complaints. He went on to say that right now vandalism in
the parks is a big problem.
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He noted that in Scully Park, five of the benches that were placed around the
fountain have been destroyed. A slide at Scully was also torn up, and the
concrete tube at Latham is continually repainted to cover up graffiti and
vulgarity.
Bateman said the county strives to keep the parks nice, but they spend the money
to do so, then someone tears it all up.
He said keeping up is a challenge, but he keeps moving forward as much as
possible. He mentioned that the fountain in Scully Park has been repaired and is
going to be repainted and ready to go for spring. He noted the fountain was a
popular location for family photos and prom pictures.
Regarding the benches around the fountain. Bateman said that he needs to come up
with something that is durable enough and heavy enough that it cannot be
destroyed. He said the Illinois Department of Corrections had gotten involved.
He noted that an entire team from the IDOC had come to Scully to help design
something that would be harder to destroy.
Bateman said the IDOC had designed a bench that would go with the curve of the
area around the fountain. It would weigh about 2,000 pounds and could be bolted
down. He said though the issue then became the money to build such a structure.
He said the cost to do it right would be about $10,000, and the county doesn’t
have that in the budget.
County Board member Pat O’Neil wondered if it was time to set and enforce a
curfew in the parks.
Mourning wondered if it would be helpful to install trail cameras around the
parks. He said they were not terribly expensive, and could record acts of
vandalism. Bateman said that filming could be beneficial if they could make the
violators pictures very public. The discussion then turned to the fact that many
of these vandals are under age, and they cannot be publicly listed in a
newspaper or other media source.
Bateman also said he hated to impose the curfew because there are adults and
good people who enjoy an evening walk through the parks, and he doesn’t want to
take that away from them.
Welch said he would agree that cameras would be a good idea, and he also thinks
that a curfew is a good idea.
Welch said there should also be a public investment. “We all have
responsibilities as leaders of the community, and beyond this group, to say hey,
knock it off.”
Bateman said that enforcement and patrol in the parks were another one of the
city/county “slippery slopes.” While the parks belong to the county, they are
within city limits and under city jurisdiction. He said that the city and county
needed to work together to solve this problem. He then added that if the city
wanted to install the trail cameras, it would get no “push-back” from the
county.
While neither the parking discussion nor vandalism discussion yielded action
steps for the city or county, midway through the talks, Neitzel commented that
it was good for the two groups to talk about the issues and get ideas from one
another.
In other talks during the evening
The city and county are working to author a new intergovernmental agreement for
Fifth Street Road. The current agreement, written in 2007 expires soon, and will
need to be renewed.
Kevin Bateman talked about the Up in Smoke BBQ competition as a member of that
committee. He said the Anything Goes competition will be eliminated this year
and replaced with a Steak Cook-off. The committee is also working on a People’s
Choice competition that would include public participation. There is also plans
to bring in more food vendors to the event this year.
Tracy Welch, as a member of the Lincoln Third Friday committee discussed plans
for the summertime events. He noted that the committee will work with the county
and respect the courthouse lawn as they make their plans.
Pat O’Neil wondered if something could be done to make the intersection near
Triple-A Siding and Window safer. His suggestion was that the short street
running from Carroll Catholic School to that intersection be made one-way going
north only. Logan County Board Member Emily Davenport said that Carroll Catholic
was also concerned about that street and had talked about whether or not the
street could be permanently closed.
The county and city are pleased with the support they are getting from one
another on various issues around the area and are pleased with the open
discussions that are taking place at the joint meetings. They plan to continue
the quarterly meetings.
Hepler also thanked the Mayor and Council for their support in the passing of
the tax levy for the Veteran’s Assistance Commission.
The Wednesday night meeting was called to a close after approximately one hour
and 15 minutes with a motion to adjourn from County Board member Scott
Schaffenacker.
[Nila Smith]
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