The June meeting of the Lincoln City Council was called to order at 6:00 PM in city hall with all aldermen present.
Following routine approval of the agenda, minutes and bill paying, the meeting moved to reports from the Police Chief, Public Works and the City Clerk as there was no old business and JoAnn Lane had not arrived as she was attending another meeting before coming to Lincoln.
Police Chief Breshears reported he and his officers took 14 reports, made 186 traffic stops, did reports on 2 vehicle accidents, issued 38 summons, and made 4 arrests. Chief Breshears stated the department has been working hard to provide 24/7 coverage as they are now fully staffed. He noted one of the arrests made was at 3:00 AM and that is the time that needs coverage as much as the daylight hours.
Chief Breshears touched on the importance of the Blue Shield award the department has just received. It will allow Lincoln access to funding for law enforcement training and equipment from the state.
Breshears stated they had worked many long hours following the recent severe storms/tornado that hit the area. He publicly thanked the Cole Camp Police Department for pitching in to help with “wellness checks’ on area residents following the storm.
Public Works Director Josh Cole listed the work created by the storm. They had worked at repairing stop signs, fixed washouts, removed dugout damage, patched roads, assessed damage to dugouts, pivots and solar panels at the sewage plant.
There has been non-stop burning brush at the compost area, and had a lift station tree down. They also had a generator installed and managed to paint the well house #3 floor. All this coupled with the regular mowing and responding to work orders.
City Clerk Sabrina Brown announced there would be a blood drive in City Hall on August 8 from 10:00 AM-2:00 PM. If you wish to donate, you will need to make an appointment.
Mayor Nelson gave mid-year budget updates and the most important news is the general revenue isn’t just up, its way up! The down news is so are expenses, but not enough to create problems.
Under the topic of storm cleanup and claims, the city is still waiting on the insurance company. Motion was made and passed for the renewal of the airport liability insurance. Council made the motion and it passed to approve renewal of all the liquor licenses but one will be with held until paid in full.
Mayor Nelson and City Clerk Brown met with the Kaysinger Basin Regional Planning Commission. The news concerning grants was not promising but the city said it would go ahead with the sewer expansion with or without grant dollars. Sewer expansion has to be done to handle the new housing project that is coming to Lincoln. Concern was voiced if grant money would pay for the third tornado warning siren. It was agreed to table and wait for word on the success or failure of the grant application.
With no further business the meeting adjourned.
