Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1954 [PAGE 778]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

1953]

June 25, 1951

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

775

Share of maintenance expense of the LinThis plan is not coin Avenue storm sewer; payments to the yet in effect city of Urbana It seems reasonable that the University should contribute this proportionate maintenance cost of street lighting and fire hydrants for the following reasons: 1. The street lighting and fire hydrants are located on streets contiguous to the main campus. 2. University-owned property receives the same benefit from these installations as adjacent private property, and currently the entire operation and maintenance costs are financed by taxation of private property. 3. The University has its own campus lighting and fire protection system for the main campus for which it assumes the entire cost, not only for the initial installation but also for the recurring operation and maintenance expense. However: a. The University campus lighting system has not been extended to serve its property fronting on the streets adjacent to the campus. The installed municipal lighting system, therefore, provides benefits that relieve the University from the cost of extending its own system and of subsequent operation and maintenance costs. b . The University's fire protection system is not considered adequate to combat major fires in the vicinity of Busey-Evans Halls on Nevada Street, or the Lincoln Avenue Residence Hall and McKinley Hospital area on Lincoln Avenue. The six installed municipal hydrants, therefore, provide benefits that relieve the University from the cost of extending its own system and of subsequent operation and maintenance costs. c. The extension of such University facilities would result in an unnecessary duplication and require a major capital expenditure on the part of the University and recurring operation and maintenance costs perhaps equal to, if not in excess of, the payment now requested by the city of Urbana for proportionate share of such costs. It is proposed that an agreement be entered into with the city which will include these provisions: 1. The city or the University may request a recalculation and redetermination of the cost to the city of the operation and maintenance of the street lighting and fire hydrants, so that if either cost increases or decreases, the amount to be paid by the University will be adjusted accordingly. 2. Adjustments will be made from time to time if changes in ownership of property by the University or extension of the University's facilities result in a reduction of the benefits the University is receiving now from either the street lighting or the fire hydrants. 3. Either party may terminate the agreement at the end of any University fiscal year by giving at least ninety days' prior written notice to the other. 4. Applicable constitutional and statutory provisions which limit the power and the authority of the Board of Trustees of the University to enter into agreements extending beyond a fiscal biennium will be recognized. 5. The fact that the University's contributions are on a voluntary basis and not a legal obligation will also be recognized. I concur in this recommendation and request that the Comptroller and the Secretary of the Board be authorized to execute an agreement approved by the Legal Counsel.

On motion of Mrs. Holt, this recommendation was approved and authority was given as requested.

AUDIT OF UNIVERSITY ACCOUNTS (35) The Comptroller has prepared the following statement of recent discussions concerning extension of the scope of audit of the University transactions and accounts by the Auditor of Public Accounts. Since 1904 the Board of Trustees has regularly engaged a firm of outside independent certified public accountants to make an examination of the accounts of the University for each year. In recent years it has been the practice of the Board to make a change of such auditors every five years. On January 21, 1953, the Board, upon recommendation of the Finance Committee, authorized the en-