City briefs: Racetrack rules, Ameren woes, sewer upgrades, grants and more

[November 12, 2009] 

Horn and Wilmert talk about Ward 2

This week's "roadshow" found the city council at Postville Courthouse on Fifth Street. The courthouse is located in Ward 2 of the city. Alderwoman Kathy Horn and Alderman David Wilmert represent the ward and hosted the meeting.

Horn said that Ward 2 had Postville Courthouse and the well across the street, several churches, and two nursing homes. Horn said that the ward was also populated by some very fine people.

She said that in talking with Ward 2 resident Joyce Seeley, she had learned that back in the day, this part of town had many grocery stores, which she found interesting as a person in the grocer profession.

She said that like every other ward in town, hers was not without a few problems. She noted the condition of State Street as one of the pitfalls of the ward, "and we have the wonderful Fifth Street Road in our ward," she said with tongue in cheek.

Wilmert said: "The entire time I have lived in Lincoln, I have lived in Ward 2, in a four-block area that encompasses Seventh Street, 10th and now Pine."

He said that he had decided to talk specifically about Postville Courthouse. He noted articles written by Dr. Leigh Henson, which were presented in Lincoln Daily News, about the courthouse and referred to the case of the missing chimney.

Today's courthouse has one stone chimney on the outside of the building. However, many photos from the past depict the courthouse with two chimneys, both inside the building, coming up through the roof, one on each end.

Wilmert noted that when the original building was taken down and moved to the Ford Museum, it also had two chimneys. However, photos that were located later showed where an exterior chimney had at one time been on the building.

Wilmert said that what happened is that at some point in time, the building was moved a few feet. The original outside chimney was removed at that point, and two internal chimneys were constructed.

A message from the mayor

Mayor Keith Snyder was absent this week, but he sent a message to the aldermen and the residents of Ward 2 via a note that was read by Denise Martinek, city clerk.

Snyder's oldest daughter, Hannah, has been studying in Argentina and is now ready to return to the United States. Snyder and his wife, Beth, have traveled to that country for this week. They intend to take in some of the sights and then assist their daughter in preparing to return home.

All three Snyders are expected to be back in Lincoln by the end of the week.

Alderman Buzz Busby is the mayor pro tem for the city and acted on behalf of the mayor in his absence.

Policy and procedure needed for racetrack

Alderwoman Melody Anderson has been looking at the policy and procedure for setting and enforcing racetrack rules for the Lincoln Speedway and has found that there are none.

Anderson said that this season there were complaints about the track that the city really couldn't do anything about, because terms and conditions of the agreement between the city and the track were buried in past minutes of the meetings and not specifically written out.

In 2008 the Lincoln Speedway managers came to the council and presented their schedule and asked for three specific dates when they could break their 11 p.m. curfew. The city permitted those breaks in curfew.

For the 2009 season, no one came before the council.

Anderson said that was part of the problem. The managers and perhaps even some of the aldermen assumed that the agreement from 2008 would carry through to 2009.

Anderson said: "We voted and gave them three specific dates in 2008 (for an extended curfew). They assumed that meant they could do that every year whenever they wanted. That was an incorrect assumption. There was no approval for them to go overtime this year."

Anderson went on to say that she personally documented one time this past season when the races went to 11:30.

Alderwoman Joni Tibbs suggested that perhaps the rules could extend the curfew to 11:30 on Friday and Saturday nights.

Anderson answered emphatically no. "We are not changing any rules, and we're certainly not offering them to run later," she said.

She went on to say that if the track managers want changes, they will have to come before the council and request them.

The written policy will specify that the track managers must come before the council annually with their schedule for the year, that they must have the approval of the city for special events, and that they must notify the mayor if they have a change in the schedule after the season begins.

The mayor will be given authority to accept or reject any proposed changes in the schedule.

In regard to the curfew, there is an ordinance in place that states the fine for violation, which is $1,000 for every 15 minutes they go past curfew.

While the fine is in place, the enforcement and consequences of the violation are not outlined.

The policy will state that the notice of fine will be delivered to the track managers within two to three days after the violation and that it must be paid prior to the next race. If left unpaid, the city will prohibit future races until the fine is paid.

Error on the part of Ameren and Mid-American costs the city big bucks

On Tuesday, Alderwoman Marty Neitzel, waste treatment manager Bob Tackett and David Kitzmiller attended a meeting with Ameren in regard to the city's electric bills.

Kitzmiller is the former waste treatment manager contracted to the city of Lincoln by Environmental Management Corp. Currently he is with that company as a regional manager and is still involved with the city of Lincoln to a lesser degree.

Busby had noted at the last council meeting that the city was being charged for electricity at locations that in the past had been provided service free of charge.

In 1970 the city signed a franchise agreement with Ameren that would permit the city to have electric service to five locations, including City Hall, free of charge.

When a new and separate contract agreement was signed with Mid-American Energy in May, that company took over those five locations by mistake, thus breaking the franchise agreement with Ameren.

Therefore, the city has been charged for usage at those locations for the last six months at a total cost of $7,436.47.

Tackett said that Ameren has offered two options to rectify the problem.

First, they can go back to the original agreement and honor it until that contract expires in 2020. This would mean no future charges on the five locations, but Ameren will not return the money that the city has paid them.

The second option is that Ameren will set up an annual rebate to the city based on average costs per month. Tackett said that an Ameren representative who met with them indicated that for this year the rebate would be approximately $15,000.

City attorney Bill Bates asked who had been responsible for this mishap, and Kitzmiller said that it was an error on the part of Mid-American.

Wilmert said that he felt like the city should get their accounts back to the franchise agreement and look for a way to get the $7,400 back. "I can't think of any case where someone would be allowed to switch your electricity without your permission," he said.

Busby agreed with Wilmert and added that the city should go after Ameren to get that money back. He said that if Ameren then wanted to go up against Mid-American, that was their choice.

Bates said that going with the $15,000 rebate was leaving the city with an unknown cost in the future that could end up being very expensive, while going back to the original agreement would mean that the city would know that they're only out the $7,400. He also agreed that the city should attempt to get the $7,400 back from someone.

At the next voting meeting, the motion will ask if the city should revert to the original agreement until it expires in 2020.

Tackett asks for $37,100 for CSO monitoring equipment

Tackett handed out copies of a presentation that had been made in April of 2008 regarding combined sewer overflows.

A combined sewer overflow is a discharge from a combined sewer system directly into a waterway. A combined sewer system is designed to collect a mixture of rainfall runoff, domestic and industrial wastewater in the same pipe for conveyance to a treatment facility.

A CSO may occur during heavy rainfalls when the inflow of the combined wastewater exceeds the capacity of the sewer system and the treatment facility. CSOs act as relief points for the excess flow, thereby reducing the frequency and severity of sewer backups and flooding.

Under the 1997 Clean Water Act, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency established an unfunded mandate that municipalities monitor CSOs. An unfunded mandate means that the city is responsible for all costs, with no financial assistance from the state.

Tackett said that the city of Lincoln has three locations where there is overflow. The mandate specifies that the overflows must be monitored during rain events. At these locations the city will have to test for E. coli and various other bacteria that are being released into public waters.

To conduct the monitoring, special equipment is required. Tackett has received estimates from two different companies for this equipment, Gasvoda & Associates, and ELAN Technologies. ELAN has offered a quote of $37,100 and Gasvoda offered $39,750.

Busby said that he had asked Tackett to look into the cost of renting this equipment. Tackett found that everything they needed could be rented at a cost of $28,000 for a 90-day period.

The problem with this is that samples have to be taken on multiple occasions after a rain event. Each rain event sampled must have a minimum of 1 inch of precipitation. After that there must be 10 consecutive days with zero precipitation before the next set of samples can be taken.

Busby noted that in cases such as this fall, it could take several months to find a 10-day period when it didn't at least sprinkle.

Tackett is asking that the council approve purchasing the equipment from ELAN. He also noted that there are very few companies that offer this equipment.

Once the equipment is purchased, it will be used to gather samples of the overflows. Those samples will then have to be sent to a testing lab for analysis. Kitzmiller told the council that the testing would cost probably $65,000.

The city budget included $150,000 for this project, and at the moment it looks like they may come in under budget.

Once testing is complete, the city will more than likely have to resolve some compliance issues. Tackett and Kitzmiller said that the EPA would give the city so many years to get into compliance with the EPA guidelines on what is acceptable contamination of water.

The answer will be to either treat the water before it is released or establish two different releases into public waters, one for treated sewage outflow and one for storm water.

It was also stated that more than likely the most economical answer would be treatment, but either solution is going to be costly.

Wind farm returns enterprise zone space

Bates said that he has three documents that the council needs to give the mayor permission to sign and submit to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

When the Rail Splitter Wind Farm was added to the enterprise zone, the company stated that they might not need all the acreage they were requesting at the time.

Now that the farm is completed, they are returning 0.1943 square mile that was not needed.

This return of acreage means that now the city has more to offer any future businesses that may request enterprise zone space.

What ward is the new hospital in?

Anderson said that she has been looking at the location of the new Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital and is wondering what ward that facility is located in.

The city of Lincoln annexed the property on the west side of Lincoln Parkway so that the hospital would be inside city limits, but the location was not assigned to a ward.

Due to its location, Anderson said that it appears that it could be either Ward 1 or Ward 2.

City engineer Mark Mathon said that in the city codes there are specific definitions of the borders of each ward. He believes he can study those definitions and provide the answer in the near future.

Fire chief offers updates on grant applications

Federal "SAFER" Grant:

Fire Chief Kent Hulett said that it was once again time to apply for the federal SAFER Grant. The city applied for this grant last year but did not win an award.

Hulett said that the grant will provide dollars for new hires in the fire department, but it would not pay for replacement personnel.

He reminded everyone that winning the award does not mean that the city has to accept it. Should the grant be awarded to the city, the council will have the opportunity to review the terms and conditions of the grant, then decide if they want to accept it.

$4 million for a new fire station:

Federal grant awards for new fire stations are scheduled to be awarded the end of November. Lincoln has applied for such a grant in the amount of $4 million.

This grant is part of the federal stimulus package. It will cover the cost of new construction but not the cost of purchasing land.

Grant for exhaust system:

Hulett said that he has also applied for a grant for improvements to the exhaust system in the current station.

He said that even though he would hope for funding for a new station, he felt he needed to apply for this money as well, just in case the other was not awarded to the city.

The exhaust system in the current station has been in need of upgrades for quite some time.

Surveillance equipment to be purchased for recycling bins

Alderwoman Joni Tibbs has received estimates for surveillance equipment to be placed at the recycling drop on Kickapoo Street across from Latham Park.

She and Tracy Jackson, street and alley superintendent, have chosen the option they feel is most economical for the city.

The one-time cost of $2,140.46 will be for the lease of a digital camera, recorder, CD burner and all the necessary wiring for installation. There will also be a monthly service agreement, which will pertain only to the upkeep of the equipment.

With this system, Jackson will do the monitoring of the location by watching the recording after the fact, obtaining license plate numbers, then requesting that fines be issued to violators.

Tibbs said that the dollar amount involved does not require board approval. She is just giving everyone a heads-up on what she is going to do.

Alderman Nathan Turner said that even though there was not going to be a vote on this, he wanted to state for the record that he was opposed to this action.

He said that if people dump where they shouldn't, they are going to continue to do so, if not at the Kickapoo location, then somewhere else.

He wondered if the recycling bins should be done away with altogether. He said that perhaps recycling should be done curbside with garbage pickup instead.

Liquor commission requests changes to Class D license

The liquor commission has received a request from the Owl's Roost for a license to serve wine by the glass. The Owl's Roost is a new business scheduled to open soon on Pulaski Street, just west of the Treasure Chest.

The business will be a bookstore and coffee bar. They hope to sell sandwiches and other food items along with beverages, including wine.

Currently the only license exclusive to the sale of wine is the Class D. This license is for the sale of sealed bottles not to be opened or served on the business premises.

The commission is asking the city to amend the Class D to include the sale of wine for immediate consumption. The proposed change allows that wine may be served by the bottle or by the glass in the business establishment. It also stipulates that open bottles may not leave the business premises.

A call to vote on the sign ordinance

Neitzel said that she was ready to take the sign ordinance off the table and vote on it next week.

She said: "I feel that the sign ordinance has been dealt with by former Alderwoman Rohlfs and everything has been taken care of. I'm going to make a motion to pass it as handed out, unless somebody else has questions about it."

Turner said that he had a few questions, first of which was why there was a need for a 30-page ordinance for the city of Lincoln.

He also noted that there were some discrepancies in the time a violator has to take down a prohibited sign.

Busby asked for specific pages where the discrepancies showed up, but Neitzel interrupted, saying: "Rather than spend a lot of time on this now, do we need to hold a committee meeting?"

Turner said he felt like that would be a good idea and Wilmert agreed. That meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on Nov. 24.

City police need a new squad car

About a month ago one of the city police squad cars was involved in an accident. The car has been totaled, and the insurance claims have been paid.

Police Chief Stuart Erlenbush said that he has done some preliminary checking on prices of vehicles. He said he knows that doing business locally is what the city hopes to be able to do, but local dealerships are estimating costs about $3,000 to $3,500 higher than dealerships involved in the state bid program.

Erlenbush will be bringing a bid proposal to the council in about two weeks.

Busby noted that he had heard through the grapevine that the insurance payment would cover the cost of a lower priced state bid vehicle.

Mileage related to workers' comp claim sparks debate

Turner said that about three weeks ago he had pulled a bill out of the stack that was to be approved via the consent agenda.

The bill was for mileage reimbursement related to a workers' compensation claim.

He said that he reviewed the bill and documentation and had concluded that the approximately $200 for multiple round trips to a doctor is Springfield was justified. He also stated that he had denied a claim for reimbursement for personal property in this same case.

Busby questioned why the city was paying the mileage at all.

Turner said the employee was referred to a workers' comp-approved doctor in Springfield. The employee had no choice but to see that doctor.

Busby asked if workers' comp would pay the mileage, and when he was told no, he commented, "Then why should the city?"

Busby went on to say that he had heard a couple of different stories on how the accident actually happened. He and Turner agreed, though, that how it happened was a separate issue.

Busby finally asked, "Does everyone else think the city should pay this?"

Wilmert said that if there is anything in writing saying the city won't pay, then they shouldn't; otherwise, yes, they need to.

Anderson agreed, saying, "If the medical professional he was seeing said he had to go, then I would say yes."

She continued, "But I would hope that the separate issue of how this injury occurred is being dealt with."

Mayor pro tem recognizes guests

At the end of the evening, Busby asked that the guests attending the meeting introduce themselves. Among those were Ward 2 residents Lester Van Bibber, Chuck Gonzo, Joyce Seeley and Lois Leonard. Also present were Dan Wheat of the liquor commission and Burnetta DePuy, who is council member Anderson's mother.

Seeley said that she had a few things to say to the council. At 75 years of age, she has lived in Ward 2 for all but two years of her life.

She said: "I'm not ashamed of where I live. I live across the street from Podunk. I can remember when we had no sewers and no running water, and people in the spring had to use rowboats to get from the street to their houses."

Seeley went on to say that when the city put in the sewer system it was a really great day. She said that she is very proud of the city and the neighborhood she lives in. She feels that the Ward 2 aldermen do a great job.

Her greatest disappointment in the community revolves around the racetrack. She noted that it was noisy and dirty. She also said that she didn't believe that it was good for local businesses. She has spoken with many of the local restaurant owners and they say that on race nights local folks won't come out to eat because of the races.

Lois Leonard also spoke to the council, agreeing with Seeley's statements and adding that because of the racetrack she is no longer able to sit outside and visit with company on race nights. She said that it is so noisy that they can't hear each other.

She also said that she had listened to the meeting and didn't agree with everything that was discussed. She closed out the evening events by saying, "I hope that you all consider all of those things very carefully. It is our money."

[By NILA SMITH]