Tuesday, Oct. 8

 

Council mourns loss of Alderman Stone

[OCT. 8, 2002]  The Lincoln City Council offered a moment of silence and a prayer in memory of 5th Ward Alderman Joseph Stone, who died unexpectedly Monday morning.

Everyone in the room remained standing after the Pledge of Allegiance, as suggested by Mayor Beth Davis, to honor Alderman Stone. Fellow alderman Glenn Shelton, an ordained minister, offered a prayer in which he thanked the Lord for Stone’s "untiring service to the city of Lincoln" and asked that Stone’s family be consoled for their loss.

Mayor Davis asked council members to attend the funeral and walk in together to honor their fellow councilman. The funeral will be Thursday at 11 a.m. at Holland and Barry Funeral Home. Visitation will be held there Wednesday from 5 to 7 p.m.

City Hall will be closed during the hour of the funeral, according to City Clerk Juanita Josserand.

 

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Stone had served as alderman since October of 1997, when he was appointed by then Mayor Joan Ritter to fill the unexpired term of Dave Story. He ran for another term in 1999 and had taken out petitions to run again in February of 2003, according to Josserand. He had also served on the Logan County Board of Review.

Davis said that within the next two weeks she will appoint another alderman to serve the 5th Ward. She said she will also appoint other council members to take Stone’s committee assignments so committees can continue to function.

[Joan Crabb]

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Miller receives first firefighter award

[OCT. 8, 2002]  Assistant Chief Mark Miller was named the Lincoln Fire Department’s Officer of the Year at a brief ceremony Monday night in front of the Lincoln City Council.

This is the first time the department has presented such an award, said Fire Chief Bucky Washam. Washam cited Miler’s leadership abilities, commitment and dedication. He and Rex Mallekoote, chairman of the fire and police committee, presented the award.

"To be a good leader, you have to have good followers," Miller said. "I want to thank the shift that works for me."

Miller has been a member of the Lincoln Fire Department for the past 12 years and commands the B shift.

He received an associate degree in fire science from Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield and is working toward a bachelor’s degree from Western Illinois University. He has also taken classes through the University of Illinois firefighting program.

Miller is currently teaching a class in fire science for the Williamsville-Sherman fire departments.

 

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[Photo by Joan Crabb]

He said he was "very surprised" to win the department’s first officer-of-the-year award and believed much of the credit should go to the firefighters on his shift.

The award, a framed picture of firefighters, describes the essence of a hero: "True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others, whatever the cost."

[Joan Crabb]


City, firefighters reach
contract agreement

[OCT. 8, 2002]  After negotiations which both sides said were generally harmonious, the city of Lincoln and the city’s fire department reached agreement on a three-year contract, city attorney Bill Bates told the council at Monday evening’s regular meeting. Bates recommended the city ratify the agreement.

"We came out with a pretty good contract," said Jim Davis, president of Firefighters Local 3092 and chief negotiator for the fire department. He said that while not all meetings went smoothly, by and large the negotiations went well.

"I would echo Jim’s comments," Bates said. "The negotiations had their heated moments, but overall I thought they went pretty swiftly and pretty smoothly." He said the two teams met about eight times.

Terms of the contract, according to Bates, include a 3 percent raise the first year, 3¼ percent the second year and 3½ percent the third.

Longevity pay was switched from a flat dollar amount for length of service to a percent of base pay, and rank pay was switched from a flat rate to a percentage of base pay.

The new contract also allows firefighters to live within a 10-mile radius of the city, a privilege that other unions that deal with the city also have, Bates said.

 

This year’s contract also makes some modifications in the discipline for violations of the drug and alcohol policy, Bates said.

Base pay for beginning firemen under the new contract is $2,981.21 per month. Firefighters also earn longevity pay, rank pay, EMT pay and inspector’s pay.

The seven aldermen present agreed unanimously to ratify the agreement. An agreement with the Operating Engineers Local 399, representing clerical workers, was tabled until the Oct. 21 council meeting.

The council also voted unanimously to issue general obligation bonds totaling $620,000 over a four-year period. Interest rates will be 3.9653 percent, according the Kevin Heid of First Midstate, Inc., of Bloomington.

The city ordinarily issues general obligation bonds in three-year increments, but because of favorable interest rates decided to take a four-year option this time, Alderman Verl Prather said.

The money from the bonds must be used for capital projects, such as street repair and other infrastructure work, Heid said. The city will not receive the money until the December payment for the former bond issue is made.

State Bank of Lincoln is the agent for the bond sale, and Heid said all bonds have been sold locally this year, as they have been in the past.

Prather also announced that the city has officially been approved for the $9.8 million loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to upgrade the city’s sewer plant. The city met the Sept. 17 deadline for submitting bids for IEPA approval after having some problems getting contractors to meet the exacting bid specifications.

 

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Construction on the plant upgrade should be starting in mid-November, according to Mark Mathon, city engineer. The project will take about 18 months to complete.

At present the plant can process only 3.35 million gallons per day, but the upgrade is designed to process 4.19 million gallons. This will allow for industrial, commercial and residential growth in the city and also allow the plant to meet the IEPA’s more stringent requirements when the city applies for a new permit, Mathon said.

The council also approved making the intersection of Union, Seventh and Pulaski streets a four-way stop. Presently motorists must stop at Seventh and Pulaski but not on Union. The request for the four-way stop came from Dr. Robert Kidd, superintendent of School District 27. The district is building a new elementary school facing Seventh Street to replace the current Central School.

Aldermen also agreed that the city would terminate its agreement with Illinois American Water Company to process payment of off-duty police officers who provide security for the plant. Presently the water company pays the city, which in turn pays the police officers. However, according to Bates, the city would be liable in case any officers were injured while working at the water plant.

The police department will request that the water company deal directly with police officers instead. The city will cease doing the payroll as of Nov. 4.

 

The council also agreed to go ahead with work on the 21 light fixtures along Wyatt Street, which need major repair. After hearing a report from street superintendent Don Osborne, the sidewalks, forestry and lighting committee voted to accept the bid from Fitzpatrick Electric for the equipment necessary to make the repairs. The street department will do the work this fall.

Verl Prather, chairman of the finance committee, asked for a meeting of the committee before next week’s committee-of-the-whole session to find ways to inform the public about the upcoming referendum to increase the city’s sales tax by one-half of 1 percent. He said the city needs the extra money for infrastructure, as there is no money in the current budget for street repairs.

[Joan Crabb]


Body found in Salt Creek

[OCT. 8, 2002]  A man apparently jumped from the U.S. 66 bridge over Salt Creek on Tuesday. The body of Gary R. Shull, 59, of Lincoln, was found in the creek by a motorcyclist just after noon.

Shull had last been seen about 10:30 a.m. He was declared dead by Logan County Deputy Coroner Warren Rogers at 1:45 p.m.

Because the recent death of Brian Bobb is being treated as an unresolved homicide, the Illinois State Police crime lab was called in to assist with the investigation. Logan County Sheriff’s Department, the Coroner’s Office, Lincoln Rural Fire Department and Lincoln City Police responded to the call.

An autopsy was being performed this morning.

Sgt. John Cook from the Sheriff’s Department and Rogers are leading the investigation.

Evidence and interviews with the family lead the investigators to believe that there was no foul play involved with this incident.

[Jan Youngquist]

[Gary Shull obituary]

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