Also absent was Mayor Keith Snyder, whose
father-in-law died late last week. Melody Anderson served as mayor
pro tem for the evening. She began by explaining the mayor's absence
and expressing condolences on behalf of the council.
Anderson also noted the presence of the new city administrator,
Sue McLaughlin, introducing her to the group and welcoming her to
Lincoln.
City engineers may "look into" obtaining federal funds for
Oglesby bridge
On the agenda Monday evening was a motion to "approve conceptual
plan to apply for federal grant to remove Oglesby Avenue Bridge."
Alderman Bruce Carmitchel made the motion and it was seconded by
Jeff Hoinacki.
Tom O'Donohue opened the discussion of the motion, asking how
long it would take to get the money for the project.
Lisa Kramer of Prairie Engineers was sitting in the city engineer
seat in Darren Forgy's absence. She said that if the proposal for
the bridge removal meets the requirements of the Illinois Department
of Transportation, the money would probably be available early in
2014.
She recapped that the funding is going to come from a federal
bridge replacement program and actually belongs to Logan County. The
county is willing to give the money to the city for this project,
but beforehand, it has to meet all the IDOT requirements. Submitting
and going through the review process will take time.
She also noted that if the design engineering costs were taken
out of the proposal, it could speed up the process, and the money
might be available in mid- to late fall this year.
Kramer was asked how much the design engineering costs were, and
she said approximately $16,000. She cautioned, though, that this
would mean getting no reimbursement for the engineering costs from
the federal funding; that would have to come straight from city
coffers.
McLauglin asked what the total cost of the project would be.
Kramer said the cost of the project would be approximately $120,000,
with the city being responsible for 20 percent, or approximately
$24,000.
Anderson asked if the motion had anything in it to indicate if
the engineering would be included or excluded. Kramer said she
thought the city could go either direction with this motion. She
told the council that she felt they needed to put together a
preliminary concept to send to IDOT.
Carmitchel expanded on this, saying it was his understanding that
they should put together a preliminary document to go to IDOT to
show that the city plans to apply for funding.
