Coffee with the Mayor
Part Two – Lincoln Police discussion and sewer talk


 

[April 07, 2024] 

On the Saturday before Easter, Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch hosted Coffee with the Mayor at Guest House Coffee and Pastries. There was a large turnout of Lincoln citizens for the event. Welch noted later that he believed there were more people in attendance than at any of the previous events.

Constituents were able to interact with the mayor and also alderperson Kevin Bateman and Wanda Lee Rohlfs, and City Waste Treatment Manager Andrew Bowns.

The first part of the day focused on the situation with the Logan Correctional Center. There is a concern that when Governor JB Pritzker announced that Stateville and Logan would be demolished and rebuilt, he was precise on the location of the new Stateville, but much vaguer about the future of Logan.

As the morning progressed, the talks shifted to other topics.

A comment was made that a third party not present had complained that there was an issue with a lack of police presence in the downtown area now that the police station is located on Fifth Street. The constituent said he was just repeating what he had been told, but there was a concern out there that the LPD does not spend enough time downtown.

Welch said that there are a couple of factors included here. First, he said when there is a problem, the LPD is quick to respond, but if they aren’t notified they can’t know there is a problem. Secondly he said there is a shortage of police officers in general. The shortage comes from the fact that law enforcement is not being treated with respect from a higher level. It was noted that the Safety Act has made it frustrating for officers because someone arrested can be released within minutes of incarceration, and they are free to go out and commit another crime. It was noted that this happened not long ago and was reported on national news. A person was arrested, released, and minutes later murdered someone. The Safety Act made that possible.

Bateman said that there are not enough applicants for officer positions. He said that the council has taken measures to help the LPD hire. The live in the city rule has been modified so that now an officer doesn’t have to life within a certain radius of Lincoln. The council also has established a protocol where that the chief is authorized to hire a certain number of officers. Bateman said this saved time in that the Chief does not have to come back to the council for each hire and doesn’t not have to wait for a committee of the whole meeting and then a voting session which all combined can take two or more weeks for approval. This helps, but when there are not enough applicants then what can the city do?

Also, there was a few minutes spent on the fact that some people think that voicing a concern on social media is just as good as calling the police. Bateman said this had occurred and the end result, he had asked the social media commentor why they did not call the police, and the response was “I put it on Facebook, they should have seen it there.” Not true Bateman said. If you want the police, call the police.

There was a comment made about the former Lincoln Developmental Center and a need for more veteran services. Welch said that Central Illinois Veteran Commission Director Joe Schaler and others had tried to get a portion of LDC for a facility for veterans with emotional health issues, but the attempts had not yielded the desired results. The citizen was also directed to the new Hope on Fifth which will feature services for veterans along with many other community services.

Bowns was asked to share information about the city waste treatment facility. The city owns its waste treatment facility but contracts its management out to Veolia Water. Bowns is employed by Veolia, though not a stranger to Lincoln. Bown is the grandson of the late Buzz Busby who was a city alderman for many years. Bown’s parents are Cince Bowns and the late Jerry Bowns of Lincoln.

Bowns spoke about the complications of working with a very old sewer system. He explained that Lincoln has a combined sewer system which means that wastewater and storm water travers through the city to the waste treatment plant in the same pipe. This is not widely accepted as the proper method of deliver by today’s standards. However, Bowns said that separating the two sewer lines would be nearly impossible and very expensive. As a result the city has to deal with a lot of issues with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

He said that EPA mandates is the reason for the recent $15,000,000 upgrade to the sewer. The upgrade was done at the city expense, and money had to be in essence borrowed, in order to complete all the work. That “loan” came from the Illinois State Revolving Funds with an interest rate of 1.1 percent.

The money to pay the loan is being secured through the change in sewer rates and the method of calculating those rates that occurred a few years ago.

Bowns said that because the sewer is combined, special attention is given to “rain events” in the city, as that rain can greatly increase the volume of water going into the sewer plant. The EPA wants that water to go into the treatment plant with as few effluent releases as possible into public water ways. Bowns said depending on the amount of rain, there are times when the sewer can system releases untreated waste into the water stream. The city must monitor every rain event and report when sewer and storm waters are released.

Bowns was asked about the life span of the underground sewer lines. He said it varied according to the materials used. In Lincoln a lot of the underground sewer lines are clay tile. He said those pipes range in diameter from 6-inch to 9-foot by 9-foot square.

He said the city had invested in a camera system that permitted the sewer department to run a line into the sewer and identify where there is damage or collapse of the sewer without digging it all up. In additional they were utilizing new technology that permitted the department to inject a resin membrane into the sewer line at the damaged area and give it a coating that will last about 50 years. He said the resin was sprayed in then after it was set, the camera and a cutter is put into the line and sewer connections were cut out so that sewerage could flow from buildings into the transport pipes that eventually take it to the waste treatment plant. He said this new technology was saving the city a great deal of money.

The balance of the two-hour coffee with the mayor was spent on a few different topics including citizens still voicing concerns over the number of liquor and gambling establishments and comments about the permitting of cannabis establishments from growers to manufacturers to retailers within the city.

The Coffee with the Mayor events are hosted every other month by Mayor Welch. Each event includes an invitation to city alderpersons and department heads to participate. Under the open meetings act, there can be only two alderpersons involved in each meeting.

[Nila Smith]