Wednesday, May 28

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City hears proposals on services
and discusses gambling revenue

[MAY 28, 2003]  In a meeting on Tuesday evening, May 27, the Lincoln City Council discussed an array of items. Visitors were given first priority so they would not have to stay though the whole meeting.

First up was a Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance representative, Sarah Schwantz. She explained their new rate plan options.

She said that the company had "two plans to present." There is a new PPO plan and an HMO plan. The two city unions are also looking at these plans.

Employees choosing one of these plans would not be able to maintain their current plan. The plans, if enacted, could save the city up to $93,000 with the PPO and even more if some employees chose the HMO plan.

The changes will take place in the new fiscal year, which begins on July 1. A total of 83 employees would be affected by these changes.

City Attorney Bill Bates said that one of the city unions has not reached a decision about the plans yet.

The insurance representative told the council that the company needs a decision soon. Employees who want to switch need to have their paperwork in by June 15. The employee's new choice would go into effect on July 1 and remain in effect for 10 months before a new choice period begins.

The plans will be discussed at the next regular meeting, on June 2.

Next, a Cingular cellular phone service representative from Lincoln Land Communications, Chris Barnes, presented a plan to streamline the city's phone system and save money. Currently, the city of Lincoln's various departments must sign off for their phone line usage each month. There are 12 separate lines and 12 separate phone bills. For example the street department has a different phone line than the sanitation department. Under this system the city pays $440. They averaged 2,348 minutes over a six-month period.

Barnes presented a plan that she referred to as the Shared Home Bulk Rate Plan. With this new plan the city would combine all of their lines into one plan. With the shared plan one more line would be added. The city could use 2,500 minutes for 13 phones for $270 dollars a month with tax. This plan would bring a savings of around $100 per month for the city. If the council went to a 3,700-minutes-per-month plan, there would be a savings of $95 per month. Barnes said the new plan would have the same features, which include voice mail, caller ID and call waiting.

Some of the differences in the plan would be in the area of usage. The new plan would not be nationwide. The plan would include Chicago, central Illinois and the Saint Louis area as the calling area.

Roaming would occur when the person using the call was outside of these areas. The roaming rate would be an extra 49 cents per minute. The rate for exceeding the 2,500 minutes allotted by the new plan would be 25 cents for each extra minute.

"Another major difference in the new plan would be that only one person would be responsible for signing off on the phone bill," Barnes said. "This is different from the present practice, where each department is responsible for their own phone usage."

Alderman Fuhrer said the council will consider this plan and discuss it further.

Alderman "Buzz" Busby questioned the council’s present practice of starting their regular Monday night meeting at 7 then immediately taking a 15-minute break to look at bills and re-starting the meeting at 7:30.

This system has been going on for some time. It was started so that aldermen could arrive for the meeting and then take 15 minutes to look over the bills prior to the actual meeting beginning.

 

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However, as Alderman Busby said "I was here last week at 5 p.m. to look over the bills, and it took me an hour and a half to do so." Those two stacks of bills were from only two of the city departments. "It’s impossible to go through bills in 15 minutes," he stated.

City Clerk Melanie Riggs said that 95 percent to 98 percent of the bills are in and available for the aldermen to look at by 5 p.m. on Fridays. They can be placed in the chamber at that time for the aldermen to stop by and review before the Monday meetings.

City Attorney Bill Bates said that the city ordinance states that meetings of the city council begin at 7 p.m., and there is no mention of a short adjournment for looking at bills.

The aldermen agreed that they would be willing to study the bills prior to the meeting and begin the meeting at 7:15 p.m., continuing without a recess.

Council members received the annual police report prepared by Police Chief Rich Montcalm. Alderman Shelton urged everyone to read the report. He called the report, "an excellent piece of work by Chief Montcalm." He said that they should pay particular attention to the survey that the police chief conducted. The survey was distributed to 250 people, and he found it very interesting.

Alderman Shelton also raised a possible revenue source for the city. He suggested considering a tax for poker and other gaming machines in the city of Lincoln. Other states and cities do this. He asked, "Do we know exactly how many poker machines there are in the city, and are the machines checked on a regular basis? Do we know the serial numbers of the machines and are they checked?"

Police Chief Montcalm said that the machines are checked. A task force performs compliance checks, but it has been four or five years since the last check.

Alderman Fuhrer said that he was looking at the poker machines in Lincoln as a part of his revenue study. The study will not be ready for a couple of weeks. The council agreed that the issue of looking at the poker machines in the city and of a possible tax should be studied and will be on the next agenda.

There is some question as to whether the city can collect on these. Most of the machines have out-of-town owners.

Council member Jonette Tibbs reported on the Lincoln Animal Shelter. She said that an old, unused refrigeration unit that had been sitting in an area at the shelter is being removed by Jim Bridge. The reclaimed area will fenced for a six-unit outdoor dog run.

Tibbs said she was very pleased with the animal shelter and felt that the people running it are doing a good job. She and Shelton said that they feel "very positive about the shelter’s progress."

Shelton asked if it is the responsibility of the police to check into barking dogs. One of his constituents had been ticketed because of a barking dog, and he wondered why the police were involved in this. "Can't the animal shelter deal with these kinds of issues?" he asked.

City Attorney Bates stated that the city police are the only ones who can issue a citation "ticket" for violating a city ordinance.

These issues and many more will face the council at its next regularly scheduled meeting, June 2.

[Don Todd]


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