Sangamon Sun

City of Lincoln Committee of the Whole met April 10. 

Here is the minutes as provided by the committee:

The Committee of the Whole Meeting of the City Council of Lincoln was called to order by Mayor Seth Goodman at 7 p.m., with proper notice given. City Clerk Peggy Bateman took roll.

Present:

Alderman Tracy Welch Alderman Ron Fleshman Alderman Ron Keller Alderwoman Heidi Browne Alderman Jeff Hoinacki Alderman Rick Hoefle

Present:

Treasurer Chuck Conzo City Clerk Peggy Bateman Fire Chief Mark Miller Police Chief Paul Adams

Waste Water and Treatment Manager Tim Ferguson Building and Safety Officer Wes Woodhall

Streets Superintendent Walt Landers

Absent:

Alderman Steve Parrott Alderwoman Michelle Bauer City Attorney Blinn Bates

Presiding:

Mayor Seth Goodman

Public Comment:

Mayor Goodman called upon citizens registered to speak. Mr. Scott Turner was present to discuss his plan for a spring cleanup trash collection. Mr. Turner began by talking about a recent trip he took to Colorado - where he noticed how much cleaner the town he visited was compared to the City of Lincoln.Mr. Turner is planning a city wide cleanup day, equipped with volunteers, bus rides to site, BBQ, and more. The launch would be from Latham Park. The 2018 Spring Cleanup would be on April 21 from 9-11 a.m.

Alderwoman Browne said thank you for coming up with a solution that is already formulated. Mr. Turner said he has buses lined up and one thing he would like is to get The Courier involved and the local radio station.

Treasurer Conze said Latham Park is under the jurisdiction of the county. Alderman Hoinacki asked if there is a rain/snow day plan in the event of the need to reschedule. Alderman Hoefle said thank you too - he said it is a wonderful idea. He mentioned the need to stay off of private property.

Mr. Turner's plan is to walk around Steak n' Shake and then 1-55, south of the Bloomington Exit. He said this is only for two hours. Alderman Hoefle asked how more people will contact Mr. Turner if they want to sign up.

Police Chief Paul Adams brought up safety concerns for volunteers being on or near the roadway. Mr. Turner said he was going to ask everyone to wear yellow. He said he is not asking for a Police Officer to be on duty - but if one could be close... or in the area. He said these are not groups of children, they are older individuals. Chief Adams and Mayor Goodman said they will be there. Fire Chief Mark Miller said he can give a box of gloves to the cause.

There being no further public participation, Mayor Goodman moved down to other agenda items.

Request to Permit:

American Legion Logan Post 263 requested the use of the Broadway and Mclean Streets intersection on Saturday, May 26, 2018 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. The purpose being to distribute poppies for Memorial Day.

Alderman Hoefle asked about having the group's insurance information. City Clerk Peggy Bateman said she does not have it yet, "No." The item will be placed on the consent agenda.

Request to Permit:

His Hands Outreach Inc., Schools Out Bash Ray White Park on Tuesday, May 29, 2018. Blow up slide, bounce house, dunk tank. The group requested the road be blocked in front of Hope Grows, 904 Short 11th Street.

Mayor Goodman asked if Mr. Ed Tibbits would like to give any information. He approached the microphone. He said in 2018, his group is going to do things a little differently. They will have hayrack rides around the fairgrounds. He mentioned the idea to have some streets blocked between the park and the fairgrounds.There will be blow up activities for kids. He said there hasn't been any major issues over the years.

Mayor Goodman called for questions from the council. Alderman Hoefle askedif the Police Chief has any qualms with closing streets. Chief Adams said it is a low traffic area. The item will be placed on the consent agenda.

Treasurer Conze asked for clarification on the Spring Cleanup item - if that too should be placed on the consent agenda. It will be.

Proclamation Iarbor Day Celebration:

Streets Superintendent Walt Landers was asked to speak about this event in recognition of Arbor Day. No further discussion.The item will be placed on the consent agenda.

Lease Agreement-Logan County Tourism Bureau:

Alderman Welch led discussion on the lease agreement. He mentioned two paragraphs that have been amended by City Attorney Blinn Bates. He said Mr. Bates advised against their removal. In addition, an automatic renewal clause has been added.Alderman Keller inquired about the signage on the building. The item will be placed on the consent agenda.

Fast Track Demolition - 6434th Street:

Building and Safety Officer Wes Woodhall shared information about a house in very bad shape,the foundation and roof are failing. He said the house if full of trash and debris. He said animals are living in the home. He said the homeowner owes sewer, mowing bills, etc. He said someone had been squatting in the home too - he found a tent. He said people are there on a daily basis. He said it is a property that is in need of help. He is looking for the go-ahead. Mayor Goodman called for questions.Alderman Hoinacki said to place it on the agenda.

Purchase of Building and Safety Department Vehicle:

Building and Safety Officer Wes Woodhall shared information about the older Dodge Stratus his crewmembers are driving. He mentioned the $4,000 allocated on an annual basis for vehicle maintenance. He said the vehicle was recently in a wreck too, so there is damage to it. He has inquired about purchasing alliances - he found a 2017 Jeep Patriot from a local Chrysler dealership. Chief Adams did a Car FAX report on the vehicle. He said the city does have money in the budget for this year that he would like to go toward this. The vehicle repair line item would be reduced by $2,500 for next year.

Mayor Goodman called for questions. Alderman Hoinacki said thank you to Mr. Woodhall for doing all the leg work with the vehicle search. He suggested placing it on the consent agenda. Mayor Goodman said it will be placed on the consent agenda.

Discussion - Tentative Resolution Adopting Working Budget:

Treasurer Conzo discussed recent changes in the budget - edits since the last Committee of the Whole meeting. The changes can be found on page seven, under item number 02-300-0 in the General Fund. He said some items under this have been moved to the Hotel/Motel Tax.

He also shared an update on the Tropics sign repair that has been completed. He said there is still $1,000 in the Balloon Fest fund, mentioned DockDogs®, and the potential need to set aside additional money for tourism events. He said if you do not like any of these things, to tell him and he can strike them. He said this will likely not be the last budget draft. He said keep in mind that the budget can even be changed after placing it on the consent agenda. He said there is a Public Hearing on Monday, April 16, 2018 at 7 p.m. prior to the Regular City Council Meeting.

Mayor Goodman called for questions. The item will be placed on the agenda.

Waste Franchise Agreement:

A. Proposed Amendment to Waste Franchise Agreement

Alderman Hoefle began with mentioning issues that are still ongoing - relating to the confusion of curbside recycle pickup, versus alley pickup. He said if the city wanted to take over billing the trash, and include it on their monthly statement - the city could recoup $1.20 per customer. He said the move could bring in $48,000 or so annually. He said the city would recover the money, and then for every customer they recover for - they pay Area Disposal.

Mr. Eric Shangraw from Area Disposal said if this would start on June 1, and the city would collect on garbage in July, the city would pay the money that is actually collected. This was to alleviate the concerns that the city would be carrying liability of the people who had not paid.

Alderman Hoefle said there would need to be people in place to do the billing. That would make the need to move one current part-time city employee to full-time. The move would increase their work hours by six hours more per week which would make them full-time. He said this offers a real positive for something the city fought to make better in most cases. He said this is an opportunity to get a return on investment for taxpayers.

Alderman Fleshman asked Alderman Hoefle to share the numbers again. It would be $1.20 times 4,400 customers. He said the expense would be somewhere between $6,000 and $8,000 a year. Rough guess. Treasurer Conzo said the expense is not going to be great, but it could be a little greater than what Alderman Hoefle laid out. He said this is certainly not a bad idea, but the costs could be more than what Alderman Hoefle was estimating. There could be software changes.

Mr. Shangraw mentioned Area Disposal did some of the dirty work up front. She spent hours on the list - scrubbing it clean.

Alderman Welch said to elaborate...another key point in this was the City Clerk's Department. He said if Clerk Bateman's office was not able to absorb the extra work with the billing - the whole deal would have fallen apart.

He mentioned budgeting bills on a monthly basis if all the bills are sent quarterly. He said another line can be added to the bill - one bill for trash and sewage each month, instead of billing on a quarterly basis. He said it will help to budget their expenses a little better. He said there is the cost of labor and the need for a few pieces of equipment such as an envelope stuffing machine. City Clerk Bateman said the current stuffer could burn up by switching to monthly billing. Her office also wants a new postage meter. She is looking at costs.

Alderman Hoefle said this is was not inevitable because the city would have still needed to switch to monthly billing for sewer bills. The savings, he said, could be around $63,360 potentially every year - so the net would be around $50,000. He said it is the potential of being something beneficial.

Alderman Keller thanked everyone involved including Area Disposal. He said there have been a lot of wrinkles that needed smoothing out. He said the company has been very responsive to all of the city's complaints.

Mr. Shangraw shared there are still work orders out for bin swaps etc. He said hopefully in a month, everyone will forget all about this. Clerk Bateman said the original deal is - if this goes through, if people do not get their trash picked up they would call Area Dispoal, if they have billing concerns, they would call the city.

Alderman Hoefle spoke up about Part B. He would like it to be voted on and approved before taking up Part A.

Alderman Welch asked Clerk Bateman to share about Part B and their discussion from earlier in the day. Clerk Bateman said under this, Mrs. Ashley Davis would move to full-time employment status. The city could not take this on if Mrs. Davis could not move to full-time. She said she has been working for the city already part-time. She said if the council approves, Mrs. Davis would get that position.She brought up the 2015 ordinance about establishing the sewer clerk positon and that the City Clerk can appoint someone to the position per council approval.

Treasuer Conze said she has done a great job with the sewer. He said she is very accurate in her work. Clerk Bateman said she thinks there are probably days where she wants to crawl in a whole. She said she is very good with the people and has a lot of patience.

Alderman Welch also thanked Mr. Eric Shangraw. He said the city could not have solved the problem without his help. He apologized to him for Alderman Hoefle. The item will be placed on the consent agenda.

B. Discussion About Utility Billing Position

Portable Diesel Backup Pump Bid:

Waste Water and Treatment Manager Tim Ferguson talked about the piece of equipment that he has been getting bids for.He said he would urge the city to move for the item.Alderman Hoinacki said to placeit on the agenda.

Discussion on Property Acquisition for Union Street Pump Station:

Waste Water and Treatment Manager Tim Ferguson said the city is increasingly surpassing the capacity of this pump station. He said CMT is looking at potential 2.5 acres of area farm ground - through the lease, purchase, or easement. He said this is one of the stipulations for completing this. Mayor Goodman asked how everyone wanted to proceed. Alderman Hoefle said this is something better suited for Executive Session.

There being no questions, the item will be discussed during Executive Session.

Sewer Rate Structure Presentation:

Mayor Goodman moved discussion to the Sewer Rate Structure Presentation. Waste Water and Treatment Manager Tim Ferguson started the conversation.He said he has a more equitable plan than in the past - it is a flat rate,tiered approach.He said his working group has come with different flat rates e.g. 1,000 gallons of water would be $25. Anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 gallons would come with a cost of $35, per month.

Mr. Ferguson said he does not think this will be the final rate. He said there could be some assistance from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). He said he feels very strongly the city will see some kind of return. He said this leaves the bill in place for some lower end people. He mentioned other concerns -watering lawns, filling pools, large families. He said Crawford Murphy & Tilly needs some sort of plan so they can submit it to IEPA. He said the city needs to commit on this quickly.

Alderman Hoefle said this has been a real challenge. He said this has not been a fun place to be. He said walking into this - they are looking at $20 million. He said untila plan is put in place, the city will not know what rate they can get this bond at. He said the councilneeds to put numbers in place so everyone knows the city is serious and moving forward. He said they are looking at worst-case scenario. He said the plan keeps it simplified and with the monthly billing plan, it should be less of a burden on the citizens.He said the council is looking to pay it off right now - as the city incurs it.

Alderman Hoinacki asked Mr. Fergusonif he is looking for the councilto placeit on the consent agenda. Mr. Ferguson said bugs still need to be worked out, but that CMT needs to have rates put in place and a schedule.

Treasurer Conzo asked about the new revenue - that could result from the new structure. It would be $4,460,270 that would be after the implementation of the structure.Treasurer Conzo asked about the !EPA loan and the potential to look for other loan options like was done recently with the Fire Department's Fire Truck and bonds with the new City of Lincoln Police Station. He wanted to knowif this would cause problems with the IEPA.

Mr. Ferguson said there is no harm in looking - but that could mean that everything CMT has been doing could be for not. Mr. Ferguson said there is no harm in looking for other rates.

Alderman Hoefle moved to place theitem on the agenda. Mayor Goodman said the item will be placed on the agenda.

Discussion on Agreement to Obtain Residential Water Reading:

Mr. Gabe Boden, Superintendent for Operations at Illinois American Water discussed a draft agreement that was presented to City Clerk Bateman this week. Alderman Hoefle asked for clarification on the readings - per month or per reading.He wanted to know what the figure would be per month for customers.

Mr. Boden did not have the figure off the top of his head, he said it would be around 5,500 customers. Alderman Hoefle asked if there is any room for negotiation. Mr. Boden said that is not his call, but that all the contracts they have are at that price.

Alderman Keller asked about information on page two, Ill, C. - he read the paragraph out loud and asked how difficult it is to discern this information.Mr. Boden said it depends on who is paying the sewer bill.

Alderman Hoefle said part of him wants to look into this and put it off for a week or two. He asked if there is a deadline. Mr. Boden said that process is fairly simple. Alderman Hoefle asked if the city is currently getting nonresidentialreads. Alderman Hoefle asked if the city is paying for nonresidential usage.Mr. Boden said no. Alderman Hoefle asked if he could reach out to Mr.Boden tomorrow, April 11, 2018.

Mayor Goodman asked if the councilwanted to wait. The item will be brought back in two weeks during the next Committee of the Whole Meeting on Tuesday, April 24, 2018.

Repeal of Language from City Code 7-8-1-14 16:

Alderman Hoefle said the city is going into the unknown on the sewer mandate. He said the last two sentences in the city code offer a possibility to repeal it untilthe city has a standardized number they can look at. He said without the standard amounts it could be hard to ever exercise that again.

Alderman Hoinacki made the motion to place the item on the agenda.Alderman Welch said he received a call today about this - where he was urged to NOT repeal this.He said he agrees with Alderman Hoefle about the tiers - and that it would be difficult to offer a set 10 percent discount for customers because the city will not know what the annualnumber will be.

He said the only way the city could offer this discount is if they followed Ameren's model of putting customers on a flat rate. Mayor Goodman said the item will be placed on the agenda.

Announcements:

Mayor Goodman asked if anyone had any announcements.

Police Chief Paul Adams said the D.A.R.E. baseball game was happening today at the Peoria Chiefs ballpark. He said it was a good time with junior high students from various city schools.

Clerk Bateman mentioned e-pay online - paying bills and parking tickets will change. The link will be changed. Patrons would be able to make one time payments going forward. She said their credit card and checking account information will be retained if customers enter that information.This will be effective Monday, April 16, 2018.

There being no further announcements to come before the council,Alderman Hoefle made the motion to move into Executive Session under 2 C1, personnel and 2 CS, the purchase or lease of real property for the use of public body, seconded by Alderman Welch.

Present:

Alderman Tracy Welch Alderman Ron Fleshman Alderman Ron Keller Alderwoman Heidi Browne Alderman Jeff Hoinacki Alderman Rick Hoefle

Absent:

Alderman Steve Parrott Alderwoman Michelle Bauer

Yeas:(6)Alderman Tracy Welch,Alderman Ron Fleshman,Alderman Ron Keller, Alderwoman Heidi Browne, Alderman Jeff Hoinacki,Alderman Rick Hoefle

Nays:(o)

Absent: Alderwoman Michelle Bauer, Alderman Steve Parrott

Executive Session I 2 CT and 2 C5:

The counciladjourned from the Committee of the Whole meeting at 8:16 p.m. in order to go into Executive Session.

Adjournment:

The Council returned from Executive Session at 9:44 p.m. There being no further discussion to come before the City Council of Lincoln, Alderman Hoefle motioned to adjourn, seconded by Alderman Welch. Mayor Goodman adjourned the meeting at 9:45 p.m.

Present:

Alderman Tracy Welch Alderman Ron Fleshman Alderman Ron Keller Alderwoman Heidi Browne Alderman Jeff Hoinacki Alderman Rick Hoefle

Absent:

Alderman Steve Parrott Alderwoman Michelle Bauer

Upcoming Meetings:

Committee of the Whole ITuesday, April 10, 2018 at 7 p.m. Public Hearing IMonday, April 16, 2018 at 7 p.m.

Regular City Council IMonday, April 16, 2018 at 7 p.m. Committee of the Whole ITuesday, April 24, 2018 7 p.m. Regular City Council IMonday, May 7, 2018 7 p.m.

https://www.lincolnil.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=890:april-10-2018-committee-of-the-whole&catid=50&Itemid=82