March Coffee with the Mayor
Guests include County Board Chair JR Glenn, Lincoln Alderpersons Rhonda O’Donohue and Steve Parrott and Lincoln Police Chief Joe Meister

[March 31, 2025] 

The March 28th Coffee with the mayor with Mayor Tracy Welch saw what may have been the largest turnout ever at such an event. There were approximately 25 people in the large side room at Guest House Coffee & Pastries at 9 a.m. to have a cup of coffee on the mayor and enjoy an open conversation about many topics.

Welch hosts these open forum meetings every other month. Typically he invites one or two alderpersons to join him along with one of the city department heads. This month the alderpersons in attendance were Ward 4 alderwoman Rhonda O’Donohue and Ward 1 alderman Steve Parrott. Lincoln Police Chief Joe Meister was present as well.

This month an invitation had been extended and accepted by Logan County Board Chair JR Glenn. On this day, Welch said that guests were welcome to address concerns not just for issues in the city, but to also speak with Glenn about any county topic.

County update from JR Glenn

As part of the morning discussion, Welch asked Glenn to make a few comments about recent issues at the county level. Glenn said first off that the county was moving forward with the Logan County Jail expansion project and that steps were being taken to advance the county broadband initiative.

He said that the restoration of the Logan County Courthouse was moving forward and getting ever closer to completion. He said that the third floor work is finished, and the second floor work was nearing completion. He added that the replacement windows for the courthouse are on-site and that task will be happening in the near future.

Glenn noted that there had been some issues with climate control in the various offices with the new geothermal system, but those issues had been addressed, and he is hopeful that there won’t be any future issues.

Welch noted that there has been some confusion among constituents about the jail, and he wanted to emphasize that the jail is not at the Lincoln Police Department, and that the city is not doing any additional work at their new station on Fifth Street.

For Clarification: The Logan County Jail is located at the Logan County Safety Complex. It is under the jurisdiction of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office and is the financial responsibility of the Logan County Board. The nearly $7 million project is the result of state mandates that require all jails to comply with guidelines regarding detainment of suspects.

Questions regarding home schooling and truancy

Alderman Steve parrot, who in his professional capacity works with home school and private school programs with the Illinois State Board of Education asked Police Chief Joe Meister to explain how complaints about child neglect and truancy are addressed with children that are home schooled.

Parrott offered a specific scenario where that a neighbor might call the police saying that children are not attending school and are being neglected by their parents, when the facts include that the children are home schooled.

For clarification Parrott explained that the guidelines for home schooled children include 880 hours of instruction per school year and that school should be conducted in five-hour blocks. He added that there are no rules as to what time of day or day of the week those education hours are achieved.

Meister said the first step is always to interview the complainant and determine if the claim is valid. If it is, the next step then would be to interview the parents of the child or children involved. He said if the complaint appears to be valid after talking with all parties, then the local truancy office is notified, and the case is deferred to them.

O’Donohue speaks on the development of a new strategic plan for the city of Lincoln

Alderwoman O’Donohue said that she and David Sanders are involved in looking into a new strategic plan for the city. She said the last strategic plan had been completed in 2020.

She said that devising a good plan included spending time with the city department heads and setting longer term budget goals for specific needs within each department.

She said that the plan was also going to include a revamping of the city ethics portion. She noted the city had attempted to pass a new code of ethics but it had failed. The strategic plan will work to include a policy that will be acceptable.

O’Donohue was asked what types of things were included in the plan. She said as an example there are issues that will need to be addressed within the city that are quite costly. The Plamer Street bridge is one such issue as the bridge needs to be replaced and that will be a big project for the city. Other items that will be included in the plan is an outline of the needs of the city in the areas of the police and fire departments. She noted as an example that the city is going to have to consider erecting a fire station on the west side of the city.

She said the city is also in need of affordable housing for citizens. She noted that she had discussed this with Rachel Oney at the Salvation Army and had learned that organization can apply for grant funding for housing, and that a strategic plan for the city would be necessary for those grant applications.

Welch shows support for LEAD

Welch said that he was asking the city council to budget $5,000 for the Lincoln Economic Development and Advancement (L.E.A.D.). He said that the LEAD Executive Director Andrea Runge is doing good things and the city has not offered much financial support in the past. He noted that LEAD has made a strategic plan for their economic development program, and that Runge had addressed the council with pieces of the plan at a recent workshop meeting.

O’Donohue added that she has found Runge to be very accessible and willing to talk and help when called upon.

Parrott offers updates on tourism

Alderman Parrott is a mayoral appointed member of the Logan County Tourism Bureau along with Alderman Sam Downs. Parrott shared Saturday that the bureau’s executive director, Alice Roate-McCray had recently resigned to take another position outside the county.

He said the tourism board is going to be looking to fill that position in the near future. In the meantime, he announced that the board recently voted to hire Scott McCoy as a tourism consultant.

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McCoy has most recently been serving as a consultant for the city of Atlanta and is known for his expertise in promoting Route 66 tourism. McCoy had done good things for Atlanta and prior to that for the city of Pontiac in promoting Route 66 and those small communities as destinations along the Mother Road. Parrott said the bureau is looking for good things to come from the new consultant in preparation for increased Route 66 traffic in 2025 at the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road.

He also shared that the bureau is moving to add some new attractions including the large L-I-N-C-O-L-N letters that will be set as a photo op stop in downtown Lincoln. He said there is also a large donut coming.

As a salute to Abraham Lincoln and the christening of the city, four watermelon benches are coming. One will be placed at the Lincoln Depot where the tourism office is located, one will be at Postville Park and two will be placed in downtown parks.

Are federal changes impacting local schools?

One guest asked about the schools in Lincoln, was the changes in the federal Education Department going to have an impact on our schools.

Welch said he sat with the superintendents in some local organizations and he sees no indication that the District 27 Elementary Schools or the High School District 404 are in any real danger due to the changes. He said he was of the understanding that our local schools are strong and healthy.

Parrott said that what the federal government is doing is dissolving and moving programs, but that it is not going to have an impact on states other than giving more control over education to the states.

One guest on Saturday sits on the District 27 Board of Education and said that the district is strong and in good shape financially.

District 27 to make big changes at Adams School

The same board member to District 27 shared that the district is going to be making some very big changes. First, plans are being completed for adding classrooms to Central School so that students in Kindergarten, First and Second grades will be moved from Adam’s School on North Ottawa Street to Central.

Then, the perhaps bigger announcement is that Adams school will be converted to a day care facility for District 27 staff.

Many people in the audience spoke on this, saying it was a really good thing to see the district taking action to provide day care for staff families. The board member said that day care and child care is costly and a big deterrent for education staff because, for one thing, even when there is no school, parents still have to pay the day care in order to keep the spot open for their child or children. She said with a school managed day care, that won’t happen. When school is out for the summer, parents will not have to pay to hold their spot for example.

What is the number one crime in Lincoln?

Talk turned to crime in the city of Lincoln. Chief Meister shared that the Safety Act had been a deterrent for police and a boon for criminals. He shared that in he had looked at statistics comparing 2022 before the Safety Act and 2024 after the act was being fully enforced. He said that theft and burglary incidents had seen a 50 percent increase in 2024 due primarily to the no cash bale rules included in the Safety Act.

Meister was asked what was the number one crime in the city. He said that criminal activity is divided into three categories; crimes against persons, crimes against property and crimes against society.

He said that in crimes against persons, domestic violence is number one. In crimes against property theft and burglaries are number one and in crimes against society it is drugs that takes the number one spot.

Meister was asked about the downtown surveillance camera project and he said that it has been very helpful. He explained that there are camera’s around the downtown area as well as others in strategic areas. There will be more cameras installed whenever possible. He said the cameras had been effective in helping the police identify and arrest suspects.

He also added that there is an increase in use of bicycles for thefts and burglaries. Meister explained that the criminals are riding bikes with small carts or wagons behind and are breaking in, stealing, and riding away.

He told the group that the rule should be “see something – say something” should be practiced by all citizens. He said obviously not every person riding a big with a cart is going to be a criminal, but at the same time, you see this in the middle of the night, and it looks or feels suspicious, it is better to call than to let it go.

Meister and Welch also talked about the efforts to rebuild the manpower on the force. In years past, due to strict budget constraints, the size of the department had been reduced to a bare minimum. The city is now working to slowly bring the numbers back up to what would be appropriate for a city the size of Lincoln.

Meister said the big problems are hiring as well as retention because the Illinois State Police is doing the same thing the city is. ISP is rebuilding its forces and because they offer better wages and benefits than small municipal departments can offer, they are getting the new hires. On the bright side, he said when the ISP reaches its hiring goals, then smaller departments such as the city of Lincoln will become more desirable.

Several other topics were discussed during the course of the morning, with the meeting stretching well beyond the scheduled 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Guests continue to offer input and ask questions beyond 10:30 a.m.

The Coffee with the Mayor events are held every other month, so the community should expect there will be another event hosted by Mayor Welch in May. The events are open to the public and citizens are encouraged to stop in at Guest House Coffee and Pastries, enjoy a beverage on the mayor, and participate in the open discussions on matter concerning the city.

[Nila Smith]

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