 Public hearing Prior to calling the voting session to
order, a public hearing was held according to city ordinance for the
vacating of property.
The request to vacate involves a section of Evans Street behind
the now-vacant Lincoln Church of God.
Gene Steinmarch was on hand for the hearing and said before the
meeting that the Community Services Foundation is purchasing the
church building, with plans to convert it to a group home for people
with disabilities. He said the foundation currently has a group home
in Atlanta they are going to vacate. The residents from that home
will be moved to Lincoln.
The Community Services Foundation has asked the city to vacate
Evans behind the church so they can have green space on their lot.
Last week Mayor Keith Snyder said the only problem that had been
brought to light came from Ameren Illinois, which asked that they be
able to maintain a 5-foot right of way along a utility line on the
street.
When Snyder called the hearing to order, he asked if anyone
wished to object to the vacating, and no one responded. He then
asked if there was anyone who wished to speak in favor of the
action, and again no one responded.
The hearing was then closed.
Later in the meeting, when the motion came to a vote, it passed
unanimously in favor of vacating the requested portion of Evans
Street.
City treasurer delivers report for August
Chuck Conzo, city treasurer, delivered his monthly financial
report for August.
He started out by drawing attention to the general fund balance,
which totaled $437,983.29. This is a drastic improvement over the
August 2010 balance, which was only $79,617.74, and the August 2009
balance, which was $129,531.
Conzo said that what he sees is not that revenues have gotten all
that much better, but rather the council and the finance committee
have done a really good job in their budgeting efforts. He also
acknowledged the city departments and said they were doing very well
in monitoring their budgets and controlling expenses.
Conzo shared that the Illinois Department of Revenue has issued
an estimate of personal property replacement tax for the 2012
year. The estimate for the city of Lincoln for the full year comes
to $292,946, a decrease of $43,277.23 from the current year.
Commonly known as "replacement tax," this money is what has
replaced local property tax for the past several years. In the
1970s, local businesses paid property tax to counties and
municipalities just as residents did. But a change made by the state
of Illinois took that revenue away from the counties and
municipalities and replaced it with a tax paid to the state.
Once received, a portion of that money is distributed back to
local governments. Conzo said that of all the tax distributed, over
51 percent is going to Cook County, while the rest of the counties
statewide get a portion of the balance.
He also noted this is the fund Gov. Pat Quinn is proposing be
used to pay for the regional superintendents of education. He noted
that thus far it hasn' t been said specifically whose share that
will come out of -- state, city or county -- but if it comes out of
the city, it will be one more expense on reduced revenue.
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Having just returned from an Illinois Municipal League conference
in Chicago, Snyder said he had heard there that the money was tapped
to come out of city funding. He noted he wanted to see the
superintendents get their funding, but he didn' t think the city
should be the ones to have to provide it.
Other business
In other business, the council unanimously passed a motion to
approve an ordinance creating the position of city administrator in
the city of Lincoln.
The approval of bids for overlay projects involving brick streets
was tabled, with plans to discuss the issue further at the next
workshop meeting.
The Fourth Street sewer repair bill to Petersburg Plumbing was
approved, even though it came in $4,000 over the original estimate
of $12,000.
The sewer work had been approved on an emergency basis by Busby
last week. Therefore, it required a two-thirds majority of all
aldermen to pass, or seven votes. The motion was made by Alderwoman
Mary Neitzel and passed unanimously with eight votes.
Consent agenda
Items on this week' s consent agenda included permission for
Lincoln Community High School to do whitewashing on city streets for
homecoming Sept. 30 and permission for a block party to be hosted by
Full Gospel Evangelistic Center on North Monroe on Sept. 24.
Thank you
Snyder shared that he had received thank-you cards to the city of
Lincoln from the Lincoln Rural Explorers, a youth firefighter
training program; from the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce
in appreciation of the city' s support of the art and balloon
festival; and from Chris Graue, representing the Up in Smoke
barbecue event.
Police Chief Ken Greenslate said that speaking for himself and
fire Chief Mark Miller, he wanted to thank the numerous
organizations and businesses who had special recognitions in honor
of first responders over the 9/11 weekend. He said all the displays
of appreciation were greatly appreciated by the officers and
firefighters.
[By NILA SMITH]
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