DECATUR - The Decatur City Council will vote Tuesday on a cable franchise agreement with Comcast.

Insight Communications and Comcast in recent weeks completed an agreement to divide their partnership involving cable systems in the Midwest. Under the deal, Comcast assumed ownership of cable systems serving customers in Decatur and other communities in Illinois and Indiana.

The Decatur City Council in November approved a new cable franchise agreement with Insight Communications.

Under the agreement, the city will receive about $750,000 to go toward public programming over the next decade and will recover legal fees used to iron out a new agreement.

Mayor Paul Osborne said to his knowledge the details of the agreement with Comcast are essentially the same as those with Insight.

The city had been negotiating a cable franchise agreement with Insight since an agreement expired in 2003.

The city council rejected an earlier proposed franchise agreement because it lacked adequate funding for public access programming, among other shortcomings, council members said.

In other business, the council will vote whether to spend up to $150,000 for sculptor Preston Jackson to create a bronze and stainless steel statue to commemorate Abraham Lincoln and African-American Civil War soldiers.

The sculpture is part of an effort to promote the community's Lincoln heritage in time for a national celebration of the former president's 200th birthday in 2009.

The council also will vote on whether to allow council members to attend meetings electronically.

The Illinois Open Meetings Act was amended to allow elected officials to attend meetings electronically under certain limited circumstances.

Council members also will consider whether to reimburse Councilman Dan Caulkins more than $2,700 in legal bills he incurred to ensure that he could participate in a recent city council debate about health insurance.

Consociate Inc., the former administrator of city's health plan, filed a defamation lawsuit last year against Macon County Shared Vision for comments posted on the citizen group's Web site. Caulkins said the group's attorney challenged his ability to participate in a debate on health insurance because of his involvement with Shared Vision.

"That required a written, legal, researched opinion, and the city's corporation counsel does not represent me or any other council member," Caulkins said.

Osborne opposes reimbursing Caulkins for private legal bills.

IF YOU GO

The Decatur City Council meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. on the third floor of Decatur Civic Center.

Mike Frazier can be reached at mfrazier@herald-review.com or 421-7985.