Carroll Catholic students go to City Hall

[May 26, 2017]  LINCOLN - On Wednesday morning 16 of the 17 third-graders from Carroll Catholic School in Lincoln paid a visit to Lincoln City Hall. The students were there to meet Mayor Seth Goodman and to take a tour of Lincoln City Hall and the Fire Station.

When the students arrived, Mayor Goodman greeted them in his office.

He began by explaining that he was new to the position of mayor for the city, so he had asked Chief Mark Miller of the Lincoln Fire Department to join him in giving the tour. Goodman said as a brand new mayor there were things that he too had yet to learn about the city of Lincoln and about City Hall. Chief Miller on the other hand has been with the city for several years, and he and his firemen give tours of the fire department every fall during Fire Safety and Prevention Week.

Goodman asked the kids if they had questions they would like to ask about the city. The students had several good questions including what it costs to run the city on a daily basis. The students were told that the annual budget was approximately $13 million. It was also suggested that at the end of the tour, when they go back to their classroom, they could do the math and figure out what the average daily cost to run the city would be.

Chief Miller also explained that sometimes, it depends on what is being done at the moment. As an example he said that the city has approved buying a new fire truck for his department, so he is shopping for one now. When it comes time to buy the truck, the city will spend about $1 million on that one item.

The kids talked about running the city as a business, and their teacher Emily Kohl explained that right now the kids are studying business and entrepreneurship including learning how to understand a budget.

The students were asked if any of them would like to someday be the mayor of Lincoln. There were several who said they would, including one young lady who said that would be just the beginning for her. Her true goal is to be the first woman president of the United States.

One young student said his career goal was to be a paleontologist. That was a very big word, and he was asked if he could define what that career would be. Of course he answered correctly when he said it would be the study of prehistoric life, specifically dinosaurs.

The students where asked if any of them knew how old the city hall building was. While they couldn’t pin down the exact year, all knew the building was built in the 1800’s.

After a few more minutes visiting, Miller began the tour with the Building and Safety Office. He explained the duties of the Code Officer for the city of Lincoln then moved on to the City Clerk’s Office where newly elected City Clerk Peggy Bateman and her staff greeted the children and welcomed them to city hall.

Miller again explained the duties of each person who worked in that office, from collecting sewer bills, to writing paychecks for city workers and much more.

The kids also had the opportunity to ‘by-chance’ meet Street Superintendent Walt Landers. Landers was stopping in at city hall as he does daily to pick-up mail and perform other duties that he must do at city hall. Landers chatted with the kids briefly before they moved on to the next stage of their tour.

Moving on, Miller pointed out the city treasurer’s office, where the door was locked. The students understood that the treasurer is the one who takes care of the city’s money. Joking with the kids, he said that the city’s $13 million was all stacked up in that office. He wondered how tall that stack would be. Some bought into the joke and offered a guess, but for the most part, they all knew that the money was not stacked in the office.

As the tour began to head toward the fire station, Alderman Rick Hoefle who represents Ward 4 in Lincoln arrived. He said he had heard there was something really great going on at city hall and decided to come and check it out. Hoefle stayed with the group for the rest of the tour.

In the fire station, the firefighters were busy cleaning up one of the trucks. The students grabbed sponges and brushes and pretended to be helping, just long enough for a couple of snapshots.

Miller explained the large maps on the wall of the station, one of the county and one of the city.

After checking out the firefighter gear, students were led by Miller to the upstairs portion of the fire station and the firefighter dorms. The students learned that the firefighters stay at the station all day and all night, and when there are no calls they sometimes sleep upstairs.

When Miller showed them the pole that firefighters slide down, all of them were excited and wanted to give it a try, but Miller said unfortunately that would not be permitted.

Moving on, the students where shown the living areas for the firefighters as well as the offices for the fire inspector, the deputy chiefs and Miller’s office before moving on to the council chambers.

Before officially leaving the fire station portion of the building each student was made an honorary fire chief with the presentation of their own red fire hat.

In the council chambers, the students right away were impressed with the size of the space and the desks labeled with the individual aldermen and department heads. With Hoefle being present, Miller asked each one to find the ‘Rick Hoefle’ seat. Then they were allowed to take a seat at one of the desks in the room.

Eight students took on the aldermen positions with one young lady quickly grabbing up the mayoral position. The city administrator, city attorney, city clerk, and council secretary positions were quickly filled with the spill-over of students then moving on to take up a position as one for the six departments for the city.

The students were told about the voting process in city council, and to bring it home for them, Miller suggested they hold a meeting. The question posed to the “council” was “what shall we have for lunch today?” The ‘mayor’ than accepted motions for mac and cheese, hamburgers, and brussel sprouts. She then took the vote. Hamburgers won out by a wide margin and the poor brussel sprouts never stood a chance, receiving zero votes.

Hoefle told the kids that for aldermen sometimes the choices are not so easy. He said sometimes what the city has before them is the brussel sprouts versus spinach, and yet they as alderman must choose one or the other.

As the day began to wrap up, the students wanted to know if the general public comes to the city council, and if so why; what kinds of things do they want from the aldermen.

Goodman, Hoefle, and Miller all offered up examples, saying that the public can come to the council for any number of things from problems with weeds growing too high in a neighbor’s yard, to pot holes in the streets, and also concerns about city business.

As the last order of business before adjourning their council meeting, the mock aldermen and department heads gathered at the front of the room for a group photo that included their three hosts.

It was reported that the students would be leaving city hall, and might just swing by the Logan County Courthouse to check out county government before heading back to the classroom. The kids all thanked Goodman, Miller, and Hoefle for an excellent tour before heading on their way.

[Nila Smith]