The school board voted last spring to build new schools rather than try to renovate the two present buildings.

At a special meeting Wednesday evening, the board heard a presentation from Kevin Heid, representative of the investment banking firm First Midstate of Bloomington, which will handle the issuance of the bonds. The board then voted 6-1 to authorize the referendum, with Leta Harrington casting the only "no" vote.

The plan chosen by the board will keep the tax levy at its present level, 47.43 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, by borrowing money from the district’s own working cash fund to help abate the levy for the current outstanding bonds. Heid presented several other plans to the board but pointed out this plan will save the district about $33,000 in interest. The $4.1 million bond issue will be repaid in 18 years, using revenue from the district’s bond and interest fund. Interest on the bonds, estimated at 6.5 percent, will total $3,060,460.

"Taxpayers will not see a difference in the tax rate," said District 27 Superintendent Robert Kidd.

Most school districts keep a working cash fund, which can be used for interfund loans when needed and save the district from paying interest on bank loans, Kidd said. He said the district has never had any problem selling bonds. The school district will invest the $4.1 million until it is needed, and interest on the investment will be used for the building project.

The $8,318,181 from the Capital Development Board (CDB) comes as a result of a special program approved by the state legislature to help communities build new schools. Kidd pointed out that next year will be the last year a school district can apply for these school construction grants unless the legislature renews the law. However, a school district must pass a referendum approving payment of the local share of the costs before receiving the state funds.

Kidd told the Lincoln Daily News that the estimate of $11,324,757 given by the CDB for building the two new schools is not a realistic figure, according the district’s architect, Dave Leonatti of Springfield. The CDB bases its estimate on a specified number of dollars per square foot, and Leonatti believes the cost of constructing the new schools in Lincoln will be closer to $12,400,000. Leonatti does not think the state’s allowance would permit the school to construct the quality of building it wants, and said there may also be additional costs of site preparation because of the type of soils in the Lincoln area.

If the referendum passes, the project will go into the actual design phase, Kidd said. "Right now we have just a footprint. Teachers haven’t had anything to say about what they want in the new buildings. The architect will talk to the teachers and then come up with a floor plan."

For Central School, which some residents believe should be preserved, Kidd said the architect will be asked to design a building that fits into the neighborhood. "It will not be a space-age building," he said.

The next step in the building project would be to construct a replacement for Central School on the Seventh Street side of the present site. Construction would probably begin in the summer of 2001, with a timetable of 18 months to two years.

When that phase is finished, Central School students would be moved into the new building, while Lincoln Junior High students would move to Central. The present junior high school would come down and a new one built on the same site. The last phase of the construction would be taking down Central School. The whole project would take about four years, Kidd said.

When all construction is completed, students in grades six through eight would all go to the new junior high school, and all elementary schools in the district would be kindergarten through fifth grade.

Kidd said he anticipates some opposition to the bond issue from the Save Our Schools group, which has advocated the renovation of both Central and Lincoln Junior High School. "The group said they will oppose the referendum, and I know they are organizing to do that," he said.

It is with vision the Lincoln Police Department proactively reaches out to our youth using many different programs and avenues. Through the efforts of Officer Rich Montcalm and the support of Chief Richard Ludolph, the "Youth Violence Prevention for a Safer Community" program was established and will continue. Officer Montcalm solicits the funding, organizes and implements the program. This is the third year that Lincoln has received funds. When the program began in July 1998, Lincoln received $15,000; in July 1999 the amount was $14,800.

The program primarily centers around going into the schools and educating youth in violence prevention. It seeks to provide instruction for students in primary grades about violence prevention. It has been focused on working with kindergarten through third grade students during at-school and after-school programs.

This year, Officer Montcalm says, "We will expand our program to the fourth grade students to increase the importance of cooperation." The program will provide multiple interactions with the police.

"Teachers, YMCA and the local Youth Speak Out have recognized that such programs are greatly affecting the children in a positive manner to prevent violence," Montcalm says. He believes that the program will greatly reduce the chance of the participants becoming involved in acts of violence, and therefore greatly benefit the community of Lincoln and the surrounding area.

The department also received a copy of the tape that was made for the program this past spring. Lincoln Police Department and several other Illinois police departments are featured in the tape, which teaches youth the principles of violence prevention. The tape is being given by the state of Illinois to the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. to be distributed nationwide to other police and law enforcement agencies to use in their communities.

The property, owned by Don and Marilyn Buelter, consists of a garage-type building used for storage and a house that has been damaged by fire. The proposed use is a 6,080-square-foot auto parts store with 27 parking spaces. The developer of the property has asked that his identity remain confidential.

Gary Johnston, who lives on the corner of Woodlawn and Palmer, asked the council not to rezone the property because of safety hazards. He said he had no information on the number of accidents at that site but called the traffic "horrendous."

"School children come down Elm Street," he told the council. He suggested that council members "sit there from 4 to 6 p.m." and then decide how important the safety issue is.

Julian Johnson, who lives across the street from the proposed development, said he was also against changing the zoning, because of traffic congestion. "Traffic on Woodlawn is terrific, and a new store would make it worse."

He noted that the shrubbery was untrimmed and the condition of the site was "the worst I’ve ever seen it."

Frances Kendrick, who lives across the street and said she had just celebrated her 85th birthday, also asked the council not to change the zoning, because of the traffic.

Marilyn Buelter, who with her husband, Don, owns the property, said the prospective developer came to her and "didn’t ask for a tax abatement or an enterprise zone." She said the developer is interested in the property because of the high volume of cars going by on the combined state routes 10 and 121.

Alderman Benny Huskins said he believed the council should take the recommendation of the Plan Commission and reject the zoning request. City Attorney Jonathan Wright pointed out that the council would need a two-thirds vote, that of seven members, to rezone against the Plan Commission’s recommendation.

Huskins also said he thought it was "only fair to know who is going to be building there." Bock replied that the developer had asked for confidentiality. Mayor Joan Ritter said that in her meeting with the developer, he had stipulated that he would build an auto parts store.

Alderman Patrick Madigan said he believed the opinion of the current residents was important. "I live one and one-half blocks from the area. I would like the council to give some thought to the safety factors and the people in the area."

In other business, the council discussed postponing the proposed road improvement on Wyatt Avenue until the school year is over, because of the traffic problems that would result.

The council also heard an opinion from City Attorney Wright that there is no conflict of interest for Alderman Steve Fuhrer in voting on a liquor license ordinance. A letter from Lester C. Van Bibber III, of Citizens for Justice, Inc., requested that Fuhrer not discuss or vote on liquor license issues because his wife is owner of the Blue Dog Inn, which has a city liquor license.

Wright pointed out that Fuhrer is not an owner of the establishment and "the simple fact of marriage" to the owner does not constitute a conflict of interest.

The birds, which come in flocks of hundreds, even thousands, according to the Mayfair residents, are not only a nuisance but a health hazard. Patricia Birk of 160 Eaton Drive told the Lincoln City Council at its work session Tuesday evening that she fears her husband, who is being treated for a severe pulmonary condition, may become infected with histoplasmosis, a viral lung disease sometimes spread by birds.

She introduced Brendon Bacon, a Lincoln boy who has recently had the disease, and his mother, Stacey, who also addressed the council. Brendon does not reside in Mayfair but visits grandparents who live there.

Birk also spoke about the nuisance caused by the roosting flocks. "Three years ago my back yard was so bad I couldn’t take a step without walking on bird droppings and feathers." To frighten the birds away, she said, "I stood outside for hours banging two-by-fours together."

She said bird droppings had ruined the paint on cars parked in the streets, and the odor was so pervasive people could not sit outside.

Several sources, including the Illinois Department of Public Health, recommended the use of the bird-banger, a pistol-like device which shoots a cartridge into a tree full of roosting birds. The cartridge does not kill or injure the birds, but frightens them by exploding with a loud noise, Birk explained.

The noise, however, has brought complaints from nearby residents who say it disturbs them and their pets. After responding to these complaints, Police Chief Richard Ludolph told the Mayfair residents that the device violated the city noise ordinance and suggested they talk to their aldermen, Joseph Stone and Michael Montcalm.

The officers who came out as a result of the complaints were "very professional," Birk added.

"We just want you to let us use the effective means we have," Birk told the council. "If you want to make us get permits, that’s fine." She presented the council a petition with the signatures of 86 Mayfair residents and a note from her husband’s pulmonary specialist.

Chief Ludolph said he has visited the Mayfair area and agrees the residents have a legitimate problem with the roosting birds. However, he also noted that the bird-bangers are very loud, and shooting 10 or 15 of the devices could be disturbing to people and pets.

"It is a difficult problem," he told the council. One solution might be assigning specific times when it would be legal to use the devices.

Alderman Montcalm said he believed the health issue should outweigh the noise problem and asked that the ordinance be amended quickly so the council could vote on it at the next meeting Sept. 5. The committee agreed to meet at 6 p.m. on Sept. 5, before the regular board meeting, to discuss the ordinance change.

"I’d like to see it moved on quickly," Alderman Stone said. "The birds are there now."

[Joan Crabb]