 At the beginning
of the evening, Mayor Keith Snyder offered some
good-natured ribbing and asked Alderman Buzz Busby to guess how old Wilmert might be. Busby quickly answered, "61."
After feigning offense, Wilmert said he was 39. Later in the
evening, Snyder would lighten the mood over the landfill debate,
saying, "Maybe we'll have this issue settled by the time Mr. Wilmert
turns 40."
In addition to Wilmert, eight other members of the council were
present for the evening, with Alderman Jeff Hoinacki being absent.
Debate over landfill will come to a vote
Alderman David Armbrust who chairs the Sidewalks, Forestry and
Lighting Committee for the city, has long been wrestling with a
problem at the city's dump site.
The dump, which is located on Broadwell Drive just south of New
Union Cemetery, is open to residents of Lincoln as a free depository
for lawn and landscape waste.
The facility also accepts waste from contractors for a fee. This
summer, it was brought to the committee's attention that contractor
fees are not being fairly charged. The problem lies in that there
are contractors who are unknown as such to the dump site personnel,
and they are being allowed to dump free of charge, while others have
to pay.
The committee has met on a few occasions to discuss how to handle
this, and their most obvious solution has been to charge everyone,
including Lincoln residents.
On Tuesday night, Armbrust said he had a fee proposal in front of
him that had been prepared by the mayor. He said he was prepared to
put the proposal on the agenda with one small change.
The mayor's proposal maintained a no-charge status for city
residents using small vehicles such as a car or small pickup to haul
in their waste.
Everyone else would be charged a fee. For commercial depositors,
the fees would be double the current charges.
Armbrust said he couldn't support the proposal as it was, and he
wanted to amend the free status for local residents and establish a
$1-per-load charge on those depositors as well. In addition, he said
that he would support giving a certain number of free days to city
residents when they could haul in their waste at no charge.
During discussion on the matter, Alderwoman Joni Tibbs said she
would not support any change that imposed a fee on city residents.
In response to her comment, Busby noted that there are cities
that tax for this type of service. He thought that charging a fee to
those who actually use the dump would be favorable over implementing
a tax that would apply to all residents.
When the committee had met and discussed this early last month,
it was suggested that a survey be taken at the landfill to see if
its users would support a fee. The council learned that one informal
survey had been taken and that 117 people said yes, they would pay
the fee, while only about 10 were opposed to it.
As discussion ensued, Tracy Jackson, street and alley
superintendent, also brought up the fact that budget constraints had
caused the landfill to be open fewer days this year. He said that
the attendant at the dump is a part-time employee earning minimum
wage. When minimum wage went up, the budget couldn't take the strain
of raising this person's pay, so the city had to cut back on the
days the landfill was open.
Jackson said that without financial support for the landfill,
this will continue to be the trend. The $1 per load seems small and
the money would be used specifically for landfill expenses such as
the part-time attendant and to support additional days of grinding
the waste into mulch.
As all this was taking place, city attorney Bill Bates and the
mayor were engaged in another conversation. Snyder then told the
council that according to the current city ordinance, Jackson was
responsible for determining the fees, and the Sanitation Committee
was responsible for reviewing those fees and approving them.
Bates also noted that the city would have to write and adopt a
new ordinance to make any changes at all.
As an expression of frustration over the whole situation,
Armbrust said: "I feel like I'm wrestling a snowball here. I don't
know what to do, but I feel like we're jeopardizing the facility if
we don't do it (establish fees)."
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The mayor's proposal had also established fees for nonresidents
of the city, and Jackson commented that he wasn't sure the city's
permit from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency would even
allow for nonresident dumping. He told the council he would check on
that and get back to them.
In the end, the council couldn't agree on what motion should go
on the agenda for Monday. Snyder suggested that the motion be for a
change and leave it at that. He said the council would then have
time to consider what the change should be and amend the motion
accordingly.
County wants COLA on complex
The city and county have agreed to a three-month extension on the
rent for city police space at the Logan County Safety Complex. Last
week the council approved a three-month extension and a rent amount
equal to $2,438.71 per month. Tuesday night it was learned that the
county wants to change the rent to $2,504.55 per month, reflecting a
2.7 percent increase based on the Consumer Price Index and the
increases imposed by the county on property tax extensions.
Snyder said he thought that was high and Alderman Tom O'Donohue
agreed. He suggested the county be asked to justify that amount, and
the mayor said he would see to that.
Business owner complains about parade route
Snyder said he received a complaint from a local business located
on Pulaski Street that the annual Lincoln Christmas Parade disrupts
his ability to run a delivery service for his business.
During discussion, it was talked about whether or not there was
an alleyway the business could use for that evening, and it appeared
that there was none.
Tibbs said she really didn't know what to do about this
situation. She also commented: "I've been a resident of Lincoln for
45 years. I've never in my life have I ever heard a comment about a
business being disrupted."
In the end, Snyder asked police Chief Ken Greenslate if there
would be a police officer posted at the intersection near this
business, and if that police officer could control the traffic and
allow this business to get their delivery vehicles out during the
parade. Greenslate said he would take care of it.
Sidewalks along Fifth and Logan confused everyone
When the Illinois Department of Transportation said they were
going to redo the sidewalks along Business Loop 55 (Fifth Street and
Logan Street), city engineer Mark Mathon, Jackson and Snyder all
thought that the intention was to do all new sidewalks the entire
length of the route.
However, when work got under way, it became clear that was not
the plan.
Snyder said there were residents along the route who received
letters that their sidewalks would be improved, but when IDOT got
there, they decided not to do some of those sections.
One of the reasons for skipping them was that in order to do the
sidewalk, some trees would have to be damaged or removed, so IDOT
made the decision not to do anything.
Other residents were not notified that their sidewalks would be
repaired, but IDOT ended up doing them anyway.
The point of the conversation at council was that this was
something that was beyond the city's control, but it might have some
residual effect.
Snyder said there are now areas where the sidewalks have not been
improved that may result in residents calling on the city to
initiate a repair or replacement.
[By NILA SMITH]
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