Month: March 2012

Finance Committee agrees to cede private bonding capacity

Posted by mhopf – March 27, 2012

The Quincy Finance Committee has agreed to cede its private bonding capacity to the Illinois Housing Development Authority and the Western Illinois Economic Development Authority.

The city has $3.86 million in private bonding capacity. The Illinois Housing Development Authority will receive $1.2 million in bonding capacity, which it will use for first-time home buyer assistance in the area. The Western Illinois Economic Development Authority will receive $2.66 million, which can be pooled with other dollars for large economic projects.

Chuck Bevelheimer, director of planning and development for the city, said the city has ceded its bonding capacity to other jurisdictions for a number of years.

If the city does not cede the capacity, it will lose it. Bevelheimer said there have been no requests to use the city’s bonding capacity in recent years.

“If there is ever a bigger project that exceeds the $2.6 (million) that we have available, (WIEDA) will let us access that cash from the region,” he said. “So it basically gives it to a bank-type pooling bond capacity, where if we need it, they’ve agreed to give it back to us.”

The committee also:

• Approved the low bid of $4,948 from Skirvin Excavating and Trucking to demolish 401-403 State, which is part of the city’s “fix or flatten” program. Estimates to repair the building were $70,000.

• Agreed to sell 923 N. Fifth to Ron McKenzie for $2,000. McKenzie plans to rehab the house.

Aldermen will receive update Monday on police contract negotiations

Posted by mhopf – March 9, 2012

The Quincy City Council will go into executive session Monday night to receive an update on contract negotiations with Quincy police officers and patrol officers.

Quincy Police Chief Rob Copley confirmed Friday afternoon that the police contracts will be discussed but would not provide any further details until aldermen are briefed.

Police officers and supervisors represented by the Police Benevolent and Protective Association Local 12 have been working without a contract since April 30, 2011. The previous one-year deal included no general pay increases. The city and the union are scheduled to go to arbitration in March.

This will be the second time the city has gone to arbitration since union contracts expired April 30, 2011. In November, an arbitrator ruled that Quincy firefighters with Firefighters Local 63 should receive raises of 2 percent this year, 2.5 percent next year and 3 percent in the final year of a three-year contract.

The city was able to reach an agreement with the city’s two other bargaining units — Machinists Local 822 and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1108 — earlier in 2011.

The Machinists union represents employees at Central Services, the water treatment plant, the wastewater treatment plan and Quincy Regional Airport, as well as animal control officers and clerical workers at the Police Department. The three-year deal provides a 38-cent raise in hourly pay each year. Transit drivers will get a 2 percent raise in the first and second years of the contract and a 2.25 percent raise in the third year. Non-union city employees received a 1.5 percent raise this year.