Updates on City Council ordinances and funding, fire union negotiations, fraud charges, city departments, and more.
City Council
Decatur City Council - $800,000 for Home Repair & Accessibility Program, for roof replacements & accessibility improvements in the urban core. The program will be managed by the Central Illinois Land Bank Authority, which also manages the Abandonment to Rehab program, thus CILBA will be responsible for $1.3 million in assistance programs for the city.
The old Garfield School site on W Grand may be redeveloped in conjunction with the Decatur Park District. Repurposing the school building is estimated at $19.6 million, contingent upon the unnamed developer receiving tax credits from the state. The City is allocating $675,000 for the project in hopes it will increase chances of the developer getting the tax credit. The City recently provided $250,000 to support the new Woodford Homes facility on North Charles Street. View the Preliminary Plans.
The three-phase redevelopment includes plans for independent senior housing, other mixed-income housing, "reconfiguring" of Garfield Park, and for later development of mixed-use (including commercial) properties.
Library Carpets will get new carpeting from Flooring Oasis, a Decatur company, for $284,961. This was included in the 2023 city budget, as well as funding for other Library repairs and building improvements. The Library is also replacing most of their shelving. As of April 2022, Mike Lingenfelter is the President of Flooring Oasis.
Opioid Treatment - The City will receive $73,000 from the state to support opioid treatment. The funds will be split between Heritage & Crossing for in-house programs and to distribute Narcan to first responders. This comes as part of a $26 billion settlement between Illinois and the nation's 3 largest pharma companies.
Free bus rides for DPS Students: Decatur Public Schools Students will get free rides on city buses just by showing their school ID. The School Board will first have to approve the intergovernmental agreement, which asks for $35,000 annually (plus inflation) to be paid by the School District to the City.
Prior to this change, the school district paid for bus fairs for high school students to go to and from school, at 80 cents per ticket.
Solar Development - Council approves about $22,850 to hire CQI Associates, LLC for consulting on solar projects in the city, including at the library, water treatment plant, transit facility, and Civic Center. Watch the 9 minute video from City Council.
Lake Decatur Ordinance Amendments were tabled. The proposal included separating Boating regulation & Boat Docks regulations into their own ordinances. Lakeside regulations would have included more permits for lake-side improvements, rules for better prevention of lake shoreline erosion, and some other minor changes.
For boating, "no wake" times would change from "10:00 P.M. to sunrise" to 1 hour after sunset to sunrise. Lakeside property owners would be allowed only 2 easements for building docks., rather than 3 currently. Dock size restrictions would be added, along with a couple other minor changes.
These changes were all tabled after a 30 minute discussion.
Community Services
The Salvation Army served 66 men in their shelter. Their food pantry served 340 households and 589 individuals. Aldi, Prairie Farms, and Midwest Food Bank gave TSA discounts on food. Pathway of Hope (Supportive Housing) served 19 families and 7 individuals.
Free books for kids: The Imagination Library offers free books to kids until their 5th birthday. Sponsored by United Way and The Community Foundation of Macon County.
$65,681 for emergency food/shelter - "Macon County is set to receive $65,681 in federal funding that will be distributed to local agencies offering emergency food and shelter programs. Local qualifying agencies have until Thursday, Feb. 16, to submit a letter of request to receive funding."
A Seed Swap was hosted by the Macon County Community Environmental Council at the Library on Feb 8th, with a focus on native wildflowers, prairie plants, and trees.
St Mary's to end some services if their application is approved by the State Board. St Mary's reports in the application significant financial losses. St. Mary's says cutting these services will allow them to move forward with a nearly $100 million dollar plan to demolish an existing building & replace it with a modern facility. St. Mary's wishes to discontinue "advanced inpatient rehabilitation, obstetrics and newborn nursery, pediatrics and inpatient behavioral health services, " writes Taylor Vidmar.
"The hospital listed its obstetrics admissions numbers as 706 in 2020 and 610 in 2021. For mental health care, those numbers were 846 in 2020 and 980 in 2021. For inpatient rehabilitation they were 162 in 2020 and 176 in 2021. The hospital listed no patients as being admitted for pediatric care in either 2020 or 2021."
Schools
LSA Mentor Program pairs high school students with younger kids. Brian Booth, Executive Director of LSA, recruited five high school students at the beginning of the year for this program.
The Lutheran School Association is an incorporated Not-For-Profit in Illinois. The LSA Building Foundation is a 501(c)3 Not-For-Profit providing the building for the LSA school, and is also incorporated in Illinois. The Building Foundation's 2020 tax return lists $112,147 in total revenue, $238,284 in total expenses, $4.8 million in assets, and $840,918 in liabilities, as well as a $108,314 contribution to LSA. I could not find record of Lutheran School Association in the IRS Database.
Local Government
County Engineer Retired - Bruce Bird retired on Dec 31. The County Board appointed Kathy Gerhold of the Macon County Highway Department to fill the role temporarily. Kathy is not a licensed engineer, so the County has $96,000 appropriated for engineering consultation with Springfield firm WHKS & Co, per Illinois Department of Transportation's request.
"Decatur parks to raise admission costs this summer" by 50 cents at several facilities. The District expects about $125,000 in increased labor costs due to minimum wage increases and a $350,000 increase in utility costs. Clay Gerhard, executive director of the Decatur Park District, says the increase would need to be around $4 if the District didn't have a "healthy fund balance" to help subsidize increased costs.
Decatur has no fire inspectors since the last three retired in the spring of 2020. The city hasn't filled these three positions out of concern for costs, so union contract negotiations with Decatur Firefighters are on hold, and Decatur Firefighters are operating on a 2019 agreement.
"In the meantime, the city has shifted responsibilities for routine business inspections to the community development department and has had the Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal conduct most post-fire investigations," writes Brenden Moore. If the third & final round of mediation fails in March, then the City and Union will enter a binding arbitration process.
The City will contribute about $7.1 million to Fire Dept pensions in 2023 and $6.4 million to police pensions. Between the two, the city had about $150 million in pension liabilities unfunded as of January 2022, about 40% short of fully-funded.
This is a complex and important issue, and I recommend reading the full story, as I cannot adequately summarize it here.
State Government
Fraud Charges for State Official "That probe concluded that [Brent] Fischer should not have granted a waiver to [Howard] Buffett, which allowed Buffett to serve as a sheriff’s deputy even though he was short of the 560 hours of training required to be a sworn officer. Buffett had been appointed Macon County Sheriff in 2017 and served for 14 months." Howard Buffett planned to run for Sheriff in 2022, but later withdrew due to training requirements.
Fischer has been indicted on 3 felony forgery counts and a felony charge of official misconduct. Buffett has not been accused of wrongdoing and did not comment.
"The [Buffett] foundation was listed as a generous backer of ILETSB projects and had earmarked $15 million to build the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center which opened in Decatur in 2017." Fischer argues the false certificate was "honorary" and not meant to defraud anyone.
SAFE-T Act: Macon County State's Attorney Scott Reuter and Decatur Police's Deputy Chief Brad Allen spoke at the Decatur Regional Chamber of Commerce's quarterly breafkast, criticizing the SAFE-T act's no-cash-bail provision. Reuter mentioned $1.6 million that's raised from cash bonds that are kept when individuals are convicted, which helps fund the local court system.
Taylor Vidmar (Herald & Review) writes "According to Macon County’s 2022 fiscal year budget, the county’s general fund revenue from the county jail was $1,614,401. Expenses for the jail were listed at $8,192,543. Total general fund revenues for the county were $27,165,638, meaning jail revenue consisted of approximately 6% of the county’s general fund revenue."
Taylor writes, primarily, perspectives of those who oppose the no-cash-bail provision. The article also includes remarks from Allen saying "Police Reform is needed" and that the Decatur Police Department has been proactive in reform efforts.
Other
Noland Farms will be featured in a Super Bowl ad about family-owned farms. The Blue Mound Farm received about $140,000 in PPP loans that were forgiven, and is estimated to have about $1.3 million in annual revenue. In 2011, Noland Farms held about 3,000 acres, which increased to about 6,000 acres in 2018.
Grant Noland is a Republican County Board Member in District 2, and has served as treasurer of Noland Farms since 2009. Duane Noland, Secretary of Noland Farms, served as an Illinois Legislature with four terms in the IL House & two terms in the IL Senate. For more about Grant Noland & Noland Farms, see Grant's 2022 Candidate Profile.
Old YWCA Building received an 'UNSAFE STRUCTURE' notice from the city due to falling bricks, saying the property must be made safe or demolished in 30 days. It was constructed in 1967. Some commenters argue the city should have done more to enforce building upkeep. Other commenters argue that it is private property and not the city's responsibility to upkeek or preserve.
City Department Monthly Reports
Monthly City Department Reports are available on City Council agendas once a month, covering the Fire Department, Police, Public Works, IT, and Economic & Community Development. These reports are for December 2022.
Fire Department responded to 1,216 alarms in December, and a record of 13,108 in 2022. 2022 Saw 143 structure fires, which is the most we've had since 2008. A new engine 5 will be delivered in February. The new Station 7 is delayed due to supply issues. Once it is finished, alarm territories will be adjusted "to coincide with the locations of the three stations that were moved".
Police are budgeted for 148 staff, though have a total of 134. 107 of those are patrol officers, 19 are police sergeants. 7 staff are in training & 4 are injured. Five retirements expected in January. There's an additional 11 civilian staff.
In 2022, there were 260 firearms seized, 253 felony drug arrests, 4,367 criminal arrests, 6,428 traffic citations, 51,024 "Calls for Services", 2,531 traffic accidents, zero "Problem Oriented Policing Projects", and 281 DUIs, among other incidents.
18,117 grams of cannabis were seized, 5,459 grams of cocaine, 60 grams of heroine, 15,767 grams of meth, and a few other drug seizures.
Police had 59 search warrants in 2022 and seized $193,775 in US currency, and 21 vehicles. 1,527 sex offenders registered.
There were 1,298 new criminal investigations cases, of which 879 were closed. New cases included 16 homicide investigations, 495 criminal arrests, 11 suicide investigations, and 57 missing person investigations.
DPD received 2,845 FOIA Requests for 2022.
Public Works nearly completed 3 water main installations in South Shores, has completed rehabilitation of 319 sanitary service laterals with about 181 more to go, finished the Lake Grove Club Retaining Wall with fencing and seeding to be finished in the spring, and the 2022 Manhole Rehabilitation Project was completed. Wood & Chestnut street were paved with asphalt as part of the 2022 Motor Fuel Tax, and additional work will continue in the spring.
The report includes a break down of hours spent on different services, such as stump removal, tree removal, street light maintenance, and more.
There will be a prescribed burn in early 2023 at MLK Jr Drive & Lake Shore Drive. Lake Decatur's water level is normal, at 612.8 feet (87% full). Work continued on a nearly $10 million dollar 5-year Lake Decatur Watershed Management Plan.
Public works "Processed 35 boil orders due to extremely cold weather." 584 million gallons of water were pumped into the water distribution system.
"Staff repaired 27 water main failures, 33 water services and 2 fire hydrants. Inspected 45 system valves, 2 fire hydrants and completed 1,034 Utility Billing service orders and 47 miscellaneous distribution system orders."
Information Technology is installing fiber optic cables for three firehouses and two schools. On-bus wifi work continues. Several software and hardware improvement projects. In December IT processed 69 Help Desk tickets, with 36 being resolved on initial contact.
Economic & Community Development reviewed 18 commercial site plans in December, including 5 Cell Tower Reviews, 6 Commercial Plan Reviews, and 3 Demolition Permits. 68 vacant lots have been sold (one sold in December), mostly to adjacent home owners, and some others by churches and non-profits.
85 permits were issued in December, with two valuing over $250,000. 281 inspections and 28 consultations were conducted. Permits were granted for 3 commercial buildings, 14 residential buildlings, 7 demolitions, and 20 Electrical jobs, among others.
Neighborhood Revitalization Division staff continue several efforts toward revitalization. This incluces meeting with community groups, approving homeowners for home rehab grants, and several other efforts. The report includes a breakdown of Neighborhood Inspections cases.
Disclaimers
- I was previously a member of the Macon County Community Environmental Council (CEC). I was an active member in their sub-organization SONA, served as a chair of SONA, and served on the Board of the CEC while I was SONA's chair. I am no longer involved.
Thank you
Thank you so much for reading. This week's recap is a bit different. I spent more time on the City Council agenda and City Department reports, and much less time on Herald & Review. I skipped crime news alltogether and my list of 'Not Covered' is very short. Some of the city council stuff was covered in Herald & Review articles as well.
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Not Covered
I have no new candidate or election news. I should have written up Will Wetzel this week, but I took time off work for personal reasons, so he will be included next week.
These are other articles which may be of interest, but I did not cover.
- Pritzker announces $40 million to develop 'megasites'
- Storyteller brings African folk tales to Hope Academy in Decatur
- Letters to the Editor - I didn't see a page compiling this week's letters, but I think there are 6 new ones since last week's recap.