The ongoing saga of Lincoln's search to find a new city council member and create a city administrator position found no resolution at Thursday's regular meeting, so the now six-member board scheduled another special meeting for next week.

There have been two formal applications for the open council seat, vacated by the resignation of Sharon Baisch in January. But with no deadline for turning in applications, auditor Kim Kramer asked how long the city will continue to take applications. She said that while there were two formal petitions for appointment, two other residents had indicated interest.

The council then set a deadline for Feb. 18. Those interested in the appointment must have been Lincoln residents for at least six months.

Councilman Pete Hoerner tried to table further action on creation of a city administrator position until it is determined the city has the money in its budget to fund the hiring. Hoerner was one of four council members to vote to create the position at the council's previous meeting. Councilwoman Kathy Schneibel, who's been the driving force behind hiring a city administrator, said the council wasn't in a position to move forward on the issue until it publishes notice of its intent to amend the budget to include the position.

Schneibel says the money for the job is available. Earlier she said funds had been misused in the past budget and were again budgeted for this year. She said those funds are available to fund the city administrator. Schneibel detailed $5,460 spent on employee overtime and $10,080 expended for an "as needed employee," in 2004, as areas where there is no accountability. She added these figures to the $8,840 paid annually for the part-time administrative assistant position to come up with nearly $25,000 that can be used to pay a city administrator.

Some question whether $25,000 is enough to entice a qualified candidate, and councilwoman Karen Daly said a significant amount will have to go for benefits, Social Security and unemployment. She and other council members said they thought $30,000-plus was a more realistic salary expectation.

Mayor Glenn Christmann said he was having a problem with the accusations of "misuse" of city funding. "This money has been OK'd again for this year and if there was a problem it should have been brought up before this. I'm not sure if we see paying of overtime as a misuse. I don't think there is really any way you can budget for overtime," he said. Christmann also said the job description the city provides to potential candidates "is vague" and should be further detailed.

Since the discussion was on the budget and employee pay, Kramer brought up the assessor's salary, indicating that inadequate funding of the position is a major reason why the city has had three assessors over the past three years. It was noted that the Lincoln assessor receives $150 a month compared to the Apple Creek Township assessor receiving $5,000 annually and the Hay Creek Township assessor receiving $11,000.

"What we pay is not near enough for the growth we're experiencing out here," Kramer said. "The assessor puts in a lot of time and is not fairly compensated for those hours."

The council agreed to address the subject at Thursday's special meeting. Other agenda items for the special meeting are a budget amendment and revisions to the policy manual, which the council took up at a special four-hour meeting on Jan. 28 but did not complete.

In other activity, the council:

* Noted that there are a reported 19 fire hydrants that are too low, not allowing the wrenches employed to open them to spin an entire 360 degrees. The city will look into how the hydrants can be raised.

* Held a first hearing of Ordinance No. 129 that reorganizes the city's ordinance codes and requires two copies to be made available to the public in the auditor's office. The council will likely adopt the ordinance at its March 3 regular meeting.