Council approves shared-use path projects, nuisance ordinance and bank-account transfer; special-use permit vote recorded with contradictory transcript note

At its Oct. 13 meeting, the Lebanon City Council approved multiple committee recommendations and actions, including authorizing shared-use path projects, adopting a nuisance-vegetation ordinance as presented by the committee, and moving forward with a bank-account transfer and related policies.

Committee items and roll-call outcomes recorded in the meeting included: - Shared-use path projects (committee recommendation): roll-call recorded primarily yes votes; item came from committee and was approved. - Nuisance vegetation ordinance (committee recommendation): council recorded yes votes and approved the ordinance designating overgrown grass and weeds as a nuisance in the cited section. - Resolution with findings of fact for a special-use permit at 10929 Sylvan Vista Drive: the committee’s resolution and the council roll-call were recorded as approved. - Special-use permit for a small community home at 10929 Sylvan Vista Drive: the roll call recorded two yes votes and five no votes (Belkin no; Barrow yes; Marcinkowski yes; Kramzick no; Smith no; Washington no; Bennett no). Immediately after those tallies, a council member made a contradictory remark in the record stating “Oh, that’s passing.” The transcript therefore contains inconsistent statements about whether the permit was approved; the recorded tallies indicate it failed on the vote count.

Other business: The council moved to transfer municipal accounts from Citibank to Bank of Springfield and established policies related to those accounts; Treasurer Jessica provided a letter from the branch manager and the item was approved from committee. Jessica also recommended renewing three maturing CDs for 12 months at 4% to keep funds local; council authorized the treasurer to execute the renewals.

The council also authorized staff to request a city-attorney-prepared resolution to dispose of surplus items (including an old wood chipper, an older tornado siren and a 1956 gas generator) via sealed bids, and authorized city staff to negotiate an intergovernmental agreement with the local school district (LCUSD/McKendree) for shared equipment and manpower and to involve the city attorney in drafting terms.

Finally, the council voted to enter executive session to discuss purchase or lease of real estate under the cited statutory authority; the mayor directed all but specified staff to leave the chamber.