Thursday, October 29, 2009
 
sponsored by Graue Inc.

City briefs: Soccer, the racetrack, electric bills, loose dogs, property problems and more

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[October 29, 2009]  This week's committee-of-the-whole meeting was held at Adams Elementary School in Ward 5 with Aldermen Marty Neitzel and Jeff Hoinacki hosting.

Neitzel opened by saying that she would not want to live anywhere else but Lincoln, Ill. She further said that she has lived in every ward in the city with the exception of Ward 1.

Neitzel stated that she's been in Ward 5 for approximately 10 years. She loves her ward and said that it offers residential, commercial and industrial opportunities as well as being home to Lincoln College and its museum, which is a tourist attraction.

Exterminator

She named the bottle factory as industry, Graue Chevrolet, Puritan and several other commercial businesses.

Neitzel also said that she currently lives in Mayfair, and come Saturday night she'll have no less than 150 kids trick-or-treating, and she looks forward to that every year.

Hoinacki added a thank-you to District 27 for the use of the school.

Soccer complex discussions continue

Alderwoman Joni Tibbs said that city engineer Mark Mathon had investigated the question that came up last week regarding allowing the club access to the proposed park property via a gravel driveway.

Mathon said that he had spent time last week looking at city regulations and that paved road rules applied generally to the development of subdivisions.

He explained that because this is city property and the proposal is basically for a park, there are no rules that would prevent the gravel drive.

Water

Other topics that came up with the club involved their business status. Dru Hauter and other members of the Lincoln FC board were present for the meeting. Hauter said that the group has filed to be an Illinois not-for-profit corporation. They will also be applying for a federal tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status.

Tibbs said that another question that had come up was what would happen to the property improvements if the club abandoned the complex. Hauter said that the club would eventually put in lighting. While the club was hoping for a long-term relationship with the city, if there would be a departure, the club would gift that lighting to the city.

Mayor Keith Snyder asked how the club would view the lease. He wondered if the club viewed that for the term of the lease, the city would not pursue or entertain any other offers on the ground. He asked if they would work with a clause in the lease that allowed for a certain amount of notice if the city wanted to terminate the lease.

Hauter said that the club was willing to go along with that, and that they would also want a clause in the event they wanted to terminate the lease, and the amount of notice that would be required.

Issues that will still need to be addressed by the club include the natural waterways on the property. Mathon provided everyone with a topographical map showing the land's elevations, as well as marking the locations of two concrete drainage structures.

The club will have to work around these issues in laying out their playing fields.

On the agenda for Monday night, there will be a vote to approve or deny going ahead with drafting the lease agreement. Tibbs noted that the city does want the lease for five years, and it will be rent-free.

Anderson discusses racetrack

Alderwoman Melody Anderson passed out a list of questions that have come up regarding the racetrack.

She said that she had spent upward of six to eight hours searching through old minutes of meetings to find answers to questions that have come up this year regarding the races.

She said that as she receives calls she has had to go back and dig out this information because there is nothing specific such as a written policy on what the track managers can and cannot do.

Tibbs said that first of all, the racetrack managers didn't come before the council this year with their program, and they should have.

Anderson agreed that they should come to the council annually, but still there needed to be some kind of written outline to clarify what they can and can't do.

Questions on the list included the curfew, violations of curfew, notification of curfew violations and fines imposed.

In addition to this, Anderson and Tibbs both said that the track managers should provide their race schedule annually and the council should be permitted to approve it.

Also, there should be special approvals for race events held for multiple successive dates, special races and events such as fireworks.

Other questions involved the sale of beer, the number of Sunday races that should be allowed, and whether the city should receive notification and be allowed to approve schedule changes once the season begins.

Misc

Updates to policy and procedures manual

Anderson said she has been looking at the city's policy and procedures for a while now. She has sent everyone a copy of the current policy with her notes and suggestions added.

She said that one thing she was interested in exploring was the procurement policy. Anderson noted that Main Street Lincoln has a policy that offers a bit of an advantage to local businesses during the procurement process.

However city attorney Bill Bates said that his initial investigation into this shows that the city cannot do anything that would show favoritism, and giving local businesses an advantage of any kind would be favoritism.

Anderson also wondered if the city had sufficient job descriptions in their policies. She noted that the alderman job description is "fairly loose."

She said that it had come up particularly with aldermen and the pay schedule that there might be a potential problem.

Voting meetings pay $75 each, committee of the whole pays $50 and special meetings pay $25. The problem arises in figuring out the absences from meetings and whether or not the aldermen are entitled to pay when they are absent.

City Clerk Denise Martinek said that the alderman can have two excused absences paid, or if there is an illness or a family-related issue, that is still payable. She explained, though, that in looking at past payments, she has had difficulty determining whether or not the pay was justified.

She said that with the current recording of absences, it could raise a question as to whether or not some aldermen were getting special treatment.

Alderman Buzz Busby also noted that the $25 for special meetings includes attending committee meetings outside of the council. He noted as an example that Alderman David Wilmert is entitled to the $25 for attending meetings of the Joint Solid Waste Management Agency.

Internet

Tibbs said that the individual was responsible for filling out the pay sheet for those meetings. She and Busby jointly noted that there are several aldermen who never ask for pay for those outside meetings.

Anderson asked for a committee meeting at 6:15 p.m. Nov. 10. She wants everyone to review the policy and procedures and bring suggestions to the table then.

Cost analysis from Mid-America Electric

Busby handed out a cost analysis from Mid-America Electric. He said that for whatever reason, the company is charging the city for electricity at City Hall, when in the past there has been no charge.

He said that waste treatment manager Bob Tackett and the city's former waste treatment manager, Dave Kitzmiller, were going to look into why this has changed.

Busby noted that at the waste treatment plant, the electric usage is still under budget for the year. However, in all the other areas of usage, the electric bill is above budget.

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Please call the police

Deputy City Police Chief Mike Geriets said that the aldermen may be receiving calls regarding dogs running loose. He encouraged them to tell their constituents to call the police so that police can document the incidents.

He said that the problem is coming up with specific breeds that residents are afraid of. He added that the police department does get a lot of these calls, and once in the past year they have even had to shoot a dog. He said killing an animal is not something they want to do, but sometimes it is necessary if they are aggressive.

Photographers

Geriets said that he has met with animal control and they too are concerned about the breeds that they are seeing running at large. They noted that approximately 70 percent of the animals they are receiving calls on are pit bull mixes. Geriets also noted that the majority of these dogs are not aggressive, but they are perceived as so because of their breed. Other breeds that residents are wary of are German shepherds and Rottweilers.

He added that he didn't know what the answer was for stopping this: if the fines needed to be increased, or what. But the bottom line is that something needs to be done to motivate owners to take responsibility for their animals.

Discussion on this moved to an incident that happened over the weekend, when a child was bitten by a large breed, aggressive animal. It was noted that at first the animal was not taken into custody.

Bates said that he had received a call about that on Monday morning, and that he personally contacted animal control and they went out and apprehended the animal.

Bates said that the state's attorney's office is responsible for prosecuting a vicious dog complaint, but he has also volunteered the office of the city attorney if necessary to assist in that prosecution.

Bates noted that on Sunday, during the initial offense, the dog actually bit two people: the first being a child, and the second being the person who attempted to rescue the child from the animal.

Sign ordinance to be revisited

Neitzel has given out copies of the new sign ordinance. She said that at the next committee-of-the-whole meeting she wants everyone to come prepared if they have any questions or areas of the ordinance that they want to discuss.

Brick sidewalk repair will be tabled

A petition from Tim L. Aper for the construction of a concrete sidewalk at 208 and 216 Third streets will be tabled next week.

When the petition was read, Tracy Jackson, city street and alley superintendent, said that this was a second request for work to be done on a brick sidewalk.

At the first request, the sidewalk committee had stated that the walkway needed to be cleaned up so that it could be evaluated. That has now been done; however, Jackson said that he had talked to the committee chairman, Alderman David Armbrust, and Armbrust wants this petition tabled.

Armbrust has advised Jackson that within the next two weeks, he will bring up for vote a new procedure for addressing brick sidewalks.

Snyder and Smiley to attend IDOT meeting

Mayor Keith Snyder said that next Thursday he will attend a meeting at Illinois State University, along with Joel Smiley, director of the Lincoln & Logan County Development Partnership.

The meeting is being put on by the Illinois Department of Transportation and will offer an update on the state's high-speed rail program.

Ribbon-cutting for business incubator

Snyder reminded everyone that there will be a ribbon-cutting for the business incubator program at 11 a.m. Thursday at 600 Broadway. He encouraged everyone to attend.

Mayor calls for an early meeting next Monday

The mayor is calling for the Monday voting meeting to begin at 6 p.m. rather than 7:15.

He explained that while at the Illinois Municipalities League Conference in September, he attended a session put on by Buxton Co. The presenter at that meeting is in Illinois next week and has contacted the mayor about meeting with the full council.

Chip Rogers will do a presentation about retail attraction.

Hoinacki said that the company has a Web site that includes their success stories, which all look very good. He encouraged everyone who could to take a look at that Web site before the meeting.

To learn more about Buxton, visit http://www.buxtonco.com/index.asp.

Mason and Gates not-so-merry go-round

City Treasurer Les Plotner spoke up that seeing as how the meeting was in Ward 5, perhaps they should talk about the junk at the Quonset hut on Kickapoo and what could be done to get it cleaned up.

Bates said that he could fill everyone in on what is going on there.

The city attorney has been after the property owner, Mr. Mason, as well as the tenant, Mr. Gates, to get the messes cleaned up there.

Mason obtained an order of eviction to get Gates off the property. Mason then began immediately cleaning the property up himself.

Gates in turn got a restraining order against Mason prohibiting him from removing anything from the property.

"Mr. Gates has been evicted and has no legal right to enter the property, but Mr. Mason has been enjoined from removing anything from the property," Bates said. He went on: "This is our court system at its finest."

In addition to this the city attorney has taken Gates to court for failing to put up an opaque fence around a junkyard within 300 feet of a residence. However, when that went to trial before Judge Harris this week, the judge fined Gates $2,000 for the failure to comply but could not order him to erect the fence because he's been evicted and is not allowed on the property.

Bates said that until Mason and Gates finish their fight in court, there is nothing more that the city can do.

Another area that is under Gates' control is off Kickapoo, along the Ophir Street right of way. Snyder said that Jackson and city officer Rawlins have been out to take a look at a tractor and trailer plus another trailer parked there.

Jackson told the mayor that within one hour after he and Rawlins were there, Gates was removing items from the property.

He also noted that the tractor-trailer was registered to Gates and had been tagged by the city for towing.

The serial numbers had been scratched off the trailer that was there, but it is believed it is Gates' responsibility as well.

Fast track on track

Bates said that the legal notices have been published for three consecutive days regarding the demolition of two problem properties. Effective Wednesday the 30-day countdown can begin.

Providing that no interested party comes forward to stop the process, the properties located at 417 N. Madison and 718 S. College will be demolished at the end of the 30-day waiting period.

Autos

Geriets introduces Ward 5 resident

At the end of the evening Geriets said he wanted to personally introduce the council to the one Ward 5 resident who attended the meeting at Adams School.

He said that Jim Oliver is not only a resident of the ward, he is the arson investigator for the state fire marshal's office. He added that Oliver has worked with the city police and fire departments on several occasions over the past years.

[By NILA SMITH]

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