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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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