Henry Baird, president of the firm, addressed a letter to the council asking permission to put a payment window on the west side of the building and change traffic flow in the alley from northbound to southbound so drivers could make payments at the window from the driver’s side of the car.

The need for the change, according to the letter, was the increase in parking near the business, caused by the opening of Sorrento’s restaurant, which is next door to Action Rental.

Police Chief Richard Ludolph said that alleys have run north from Clinton to Pekin streets "forever," and the change in the direction of traffic flow would affect everybody who had a business in the area. He noted that because of State Bank of Lincoln’s drive-up window, traffic would have to continue to run north from Broadway to Pekin streets.

City Attorney Jonathan Wright said that allowing a drive-up window in an alley would require the approval of the council, since parking is prohibited in alleys except for loading and unloading.

City Clerk Juanita Josserand told the council she had informed Roger Mattson of the local office of Action Rental that a drop box on Kickapoo Street was available, but Mattson said that was not feasible for the firm’s clients, since cash cannot be left in drop boxes.

Alderman Joseph Stone suggested a 15-minute parking zone near the business, but Chief Ludolph said there would be enforcement problems.

However, Alderman Steve Fuhrer was looking on the bright side. "It’s a nice problem to have when people can’t find parking spaces downtown," he quipped.

No action was taken on the request, which will be discussed at a later meeting of the streets and alleys committee.

Another matter up for discussion was farming the 40 acres of land the city owns on West Kickapoo Street. For 17 years the 38 tillable acres have been farmed by Welch Agribusiness, because it was adjacent to 85 acres that business owned. The 85-acre plot has been sold to Darrell Benner of Broadwell, who has contacted Wright about taking over the farming of the city land.

Welch had farmed the 38 acres on a 50-50 crop share basis, under which the city and the tenant split the costs and the revenue. Alderman Gerald Dehner suggested the council look into a different arrangement, charging Benner cash rent for the land. Grant Eaton, sewer plant manager, said whatever arrangement is made, the tenant farming the land must agree that the city can still use the location for a storm sewer.

In other business, bids were opened for a new crane truck and a platform for the truck — equipment for the sewer treatment plant. However, bids were received for the platform but none for the truck itself. Eaton said the city would be able to purchase the needed equipment from the state of Illinois.

Alderman Stone reported that the firm which did the audit of the city’s finances for the last fiscal year had raised its price by 41 percent and said he would go out for bids from other firms for the 2000-2001 fiscal year audit.

Three petitions for new sidewalks to be constructed by the city, an ordinance to vacate an easement on College and 21st streets, an ordinance for a handicapped parking space at Lincoln Medical Supply, and an ordinance approving Economic Development Revenue Bonds for Lincoln Christian College were put on the agenda for the next regular meeting.

Because of the President’s Day holiday, the regular council meeting scheduled for Monday, Feb. 19, will be on Tuesday, Feb. 20, instead. The ordinance and zoning committee will meet at 6:30 p.m., the sewer committee at 6:45 p.m. and the full council at 7:15 p.m.

"Planning was the key to making the transition the success that it was," said Lincoln Correctional Center’s Warden Augustus Scott Jr.

"Our staff put one population to bed, and the next day they woke up to a totally new population. This was something that had never been done before in the state of Illinois. We did everything we had to do to ensure the continuous operation of the facility from one day to the next," he continued.

"I was pleased with the professionalism of my staff. I believe Lincoln was partly chosen due to the availability of space, the stability of its staff and the professionalism the staff has shown in handling many of the department’s other initiatives. They did extremely well with the transition," he added.

Scott also credited IDOC’s Director Donnie Synder’s dedication to this project for the smooth transition. "He ensured adequate training for his staff. This reflects the director’s commitment to the program. The director’s ideal is to cluster all of the female institutions in the central Illinois area, from intake, to programming to parole. Lincoln is a direct link to Chicago and to the other female institutions in the state like Decatur, Dwight and Kankakee. Lincoln has now been added as a link to that chain and, in the future, Hopkins Park."

Jerry Sternes, warden at Dixon Correctional Center in Dixon, said, "This initiative allows us to provide more programming options to the inmates. Isolating the two populations gives us an opportunity to provide better, more in-depth and comprehensive programming. This way we can develop our resources.

"The inmates see the move as a positive one. As for the staff, they know that it is much easier to supervise one population," Sternes added.

Inmates perform most of the manual tasks that are needed to keep the correctional center physically operational. Both wardens agreed that the women have an opportunity to learn some real skills because they will be responsible for doing all of the jobs necessary for helping to run the institution.

Warden Scott explained that even in corrections, women have different issues than men.

He said, "When a male goes to prison there is usually a female left behind to take care of his children. When women go prison, more often than not, there is no one left behind to care for her children. Therefore there are issues of foster care, guardianship and possibly adoption that must be addressed while women are incarcerated. As a result, advocacy services had to be increased."

Other changes were those made in the visiting room to make it more child-friendly. The facility has seen an increase in volunteer services, since more women attend religious services than men. The staff has had to plan activities that women are interested in, since their statistics showed that women are less physically active than their male counterparts. They had to be more creative with activities that were geared toward women.

As a result of the transition, the Lincoln Correctional Center’s Work Camp in Springfield was reassigned to Logan Correctional Center so that it could continue to serve a male population.

[Kym C. Ammons-Scott]

Alsbach said that by the first week in March his firm would be able to give the city an "accurate guaranteed price" for the upgrade. The cost has been estimated at about $9 million, to be financed by a loan from the Illinois State Revolving Loan Fund. The loan will be repaid over a period of 20 years by revenue from the sewer plant.

The plant upgrade is necessary to keep the city in compliance with Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) recommendations, Alsbach said. The plant was built in the 1930s and has not had a major renovation since 1972.

At this time, the treatment plant has a waste load coming in that is "considerably higher than the plant was designed to handle," Alsbach said, although so far it is remaining in compliance with discharge limits. For example, one measure of capacity, the three-month low flow, came in at 81.88 percent of load in 1999 and even higher in 2000, he said. According to the IEPA, if the load for the three low-flow months is greater than 80 percent of design capacity, additional sewer permits could be restricted.

Although at present the treatment plant is in compliance, there is no excess capacity, Alsbach said, and if a problem did come up, it could result in a violation. A violation could mean the IEPA would say the plant cannot add any additional sewers, and growth in Lincoln would be limited.

With the upgrade, the capacity of the plant will be increased from 3.35 million gallons per day to 4.3 million gallons, according to Grant Eaton, plant manager. This will allow the plant to operate for another 20 years, based on a growth in population of one-half percent per year, he said. As much of the old plant as possible will be utilized in the upgrade.

The plant upgrade has been in the works since last May, when the city submitted preliminary plans to the IEPA. Plans were resubmitted in November after corrections were made to account for the higher prison load, which is a little under 500,000 gallons per day.

If the city agrees to the guaranteed maximum price, the final design of the plant will be completed in May and submitted to the IEPA. Eaton said he hopes to be able to go out for bids early this fall and get started on construction yet this year. The actual construction will take about a year to18 months to complete, he said.

In other business, the council approved a request for repair of a brick sidewalk at 229 Peoria St., with the stipulation that the repaired area would be concrete, not brick. They also approved the petition for a handicapped parking space on the west side of 200 N. Chicago St. for Lincoln Medical Equipment. A petition for installation of curb and gutter on the north side of Second Street between South State and Jackson was tabled until the next meeting, pending further investigation.

A resolution was approved honoring Captain Roger Adams, who is retiring after serving 25 years with the Lincoln Fire Department.

[Joan Crabb]