|
June Regular Board Meeting
[June 20, 2025]
On Tuesday, June 17th, the
Logan County Board met for their regular monthly meeting. This
meeting was held in the second floor courtroom of the Logan County
Courthouse starting at 6:00 p.m. All beard members were in
attendance. This includes Chairman JR Glenn, Vice Chairman Dale
Nelson, Lance Conahan, Michael DeRoss, Jim Wessbecher, Kevin Knauer,
Kathy Schmidt, Gil Turner, Keenan Leesman, Hannah Fitzpatrick,
Joseph Kuhlman, and Bob Sanders.
The meeting began with an invocation given by Warren Smith, a pastor
at Atlanta Christian Church. Warren gave a prayer, which was
followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Next, Glenn moved the board on to the consent agenda, of which
several items were addressed. On the consent agenda were three use
of grounds requests that were passed at last month’s meeting. In
short, these items were passed upon the contingency that they would
each provide proof of liability insurance before the date of their
event.
Turner asked about Logan County Pride, wondering why it was on the
agenda again. Sanders explained that they got the insurance after
the board’s meeting in May. Turner continued to express his
confusion as to why they were voting on it again, to which Glenn
offered to remove it from the consent agenda. Turner was agreeable
to this. Upon some questioning as to why it was removed, Glenn
explained that since this event has already passed (Logan County
Pride was held on June 7th), he saw no need to vote on it. A roll
call vote was then taken and the consent agenda was passed
unanimously.
Next, the board voted to go into
executive session. This executive session was to discuss an
Executive and Personnel committee item. The board did not explain
exactly what this item was for, but the agenda had it labelled as
“motion to take disciplinary action against county employee.” The
board voted unanimously to enter executive session. All members of
the public were asked to leave during this time.
What followed was an unusually lengthy session, lasting over an hour
and forty five minutes. When the executive session ended and
everyone had been reseated, the time was nearly 8:00 p.m. Glenn also
realized that they had not done introduction of guests, and so
introductions were conducted at this time.
This then led to a time for public comments, of which there were
several. The first comment was from Mike Block. Block informed the
board that the Sheriff’s office is going to be holding a meeting
regarding the county jail expansion project next week Monday, June
23rd. He informed the board that the meeting will be held in the
Blue Room, but did not have a time.
The next comment was from former Administrative Assistant Katie
Newman. Newman’s question was about the Executive and Personnel
committee. Newman stated that she did not see anything about the
committee on the Logan County website. She then asked, “is Executive
and Personnel committee an open committee to the public? If so, who
is on it, when does it meet, and where does it meet?” Glenn started
his answer by explaining that Executive and Personnel is a committee
of the board. He further explained that the committee handles issues
relating to county employees. Glenn then stated that this committee
was the reason the board went into executive session. Glenn then
asked if there were any other public comments.
The next comment was from Michelle Fuller, who wanted to know about
a letter of support from the board. Fuller came to several full
board meetings in May to ask for a letter of support regarding an
Illinois bill that would further regulate homeschooling curriculum.
Nelson stated that he is currently working with Glenn on reviewing
the letter. Fuller continued, asking if there is anything more the
board needs from the homeschool group, and who to contact if she
does not get the letter. Glenn stated that they do not, and that
they will be in contact with Fuller by Friday.
The next comment was from Bobbie Taylor. Taylor does not approve of
the Black Jack solar project that is being proposed. Her primary
argument has to do with its proximity to her property. Taylor
further explained that she runs an in-home daycare, and that this
project would block her view of the bus coming down the road. She
also stated that the front and side door of her property would be
facing the solar panels.
The final public comment was from Dylan Walton, representing Apex
Clean Energy, the company proposing the Black Jack solar project. He
stated that he had talked to the Taylors about financial
compensation due to the fact that the vegetative screening would not
be ready and blocking their view of the panels for several years
after the project finishes.
Once public comments were over, Glenn moved the board on to action
items from each committee, starting with Building and Grounds.
Committee Chairman Conahan only had one item on the agenda, that
being the approval of payments to American Scaffolding upon the
contingency that the Treasurer’s office could get all of the
invoices to Bill Walter before this meeting. Conahan informed the
board that the invoices had not yet been acquired and tabled the
item.
Next was the Finance committee, which had four action items.
Committee Chairman Schmidt started with the approval of the
Community Benefit Fund (CBF) guidelines. Since the Workshop meeting,
Leesman had gotten the guidelines and intake/application form to the
board. The board took a moment to review the forms. DeRoss then made
a comment, stating that he would like to see 501(c)(19)
organizations added to the guidelines as groups that can apply for
funding from the CBF. He further explained that these are veterans
groups, and proposed an amendment be made to add them. This was
seconded by Fitzpatrick. The board then took a vote to pass the
motion as amended. This passed with a unanimous vote.
Schmidt then moved on to her second item, which was to approve
liquor license applications for the Korn Krib and the Lodge off 66.
One vote was taken for both items, and it passed unanimously as
well.
The final two items that were discussed by the Finance committee
were relating to funding for the Logan County Tourism Bureau (LCTB)
and applying for the Energy Transition Community Grant Program, also
known as the Viper Mine grant. For a rundown of the discussions had
on these issues, amendments made to them, and how the board voted,
please see LDN’s other article on
this meeting.
[to top of second column] |
After the Finance committee came
the Transportation committee, whose chairman is Wessbecher. The
first item on their agenda was a motion to use federal funds from
the Illinois Department of Transportation to pay for half of a
County Engineer salary for 2025. Bret Aukamp of the Highway
Department was present to explain. He stated that the other half of
the salary would come from the motor fuel tax. This way, the county
does not have to pay the full salary out of the motor fuel tax,
saving some money for other county highway projects. This motion was
passed with eleven yes votes and one abstention. Knauer was the
abstained vote, stating it was due to conflict. A second vote was
taken shortly after, this time to approve the other half of the
salary funding from motor fuel. The vote went the same way as the
previous vote.
The final item from Transportation was a motion to accept a snow
removal bid for the airport in the amount of $113,000. Wessbecher
started with an amendment to change the price. He stated the exact
price was $113,703. Schmidt then asked if they would still be paying
the full fee for snow removal if the winter was light on snow.
Wessbecher explained that this was to purchase the equipment for
snow removal. He further explained that, if they can get a made in
America form to prove that all of the items were produced in the
United States, they would receive a 100 percent reimbursement for
their expenditure. Two votes were then taken, one for the amendment
and one for the amended motion. Both were passed unanimously.
Next on the agenda was Zoning and Economic Development, with DeRoss
as this committee’s chairman. The first item was not on the agenda,
and that was to pull the home occupations amendment to the Logan
County zoning ordinance from the table. This was passed 11-1, with
Turner voting against it. DeRoss then called for a vote to approve
the ordinance, which was passed with the same vote, Turner again
voting no.
The next item DeRoss brought forward was for the Black Jack solar
project. For a rundown of this item, why it ended up being the most
contentious issue of the night, and how the board voted on it,
please see the aforementioned other article LDN published on this
meeting.
After the Black Jack solar project, the board moved on to an item
that was skipped over earlier, that being the approval to add more
storage units for American Patriot Pyro’s fireworks storage
facility. This item was passed unanimously.
The next item on the agenda from Zoning and Economic Development was
another solar project from Apex, this one called Water Point Solar.
This item proved to be much less contentious, with Glenn reading a
letter from the landowner where the project was proposed to be
built. The landowner gave his full support of the project. A vote
was taken and was approved 11-1, with Conahan being the only no
vote.
The final item on the agenda from Zoning and Economic Development
was the creation of a permanent entrance by Top Hat at one of their
wind farms on Route 121. A vote was taken on this and was passed
11-0. While there were not any no votes, Conahan had stepped out of
the room briefly and had missed this vote.
Next, the board moved on to their final committee, Executive and
Personnel. Glenn asked if there were any action items the board
wanted to bring forth. No one spoke up, and Glenn let the silence
hang for several long moments before moving on.
Glenn then moved on to his Chair’s
Report. He shared that a new Safety committee had been formed, with
the members being Glenn, Schmidt, Knauer, Conahan, and Sanders.
Zoning Officer Al Green also stated that he would be making a
nomination to fill the vacant seat on the Planning Commission.
Leesman also spoke, stating that he had been approached by Illinois
Rural HealthNet (IRHN). They stated that they used to have a space
at Lincoln College before the closure. Leesman suggested the board
may be able to find them a space somewhere in the county. He argued
that the benefits to this would be that IRHN would pay all expenses
for the space, and that it could make a currently vacant space
better by having someone operating there. He then stated that he
would be sending this to Building and Grounds.
By this time, Conahan had come back into the room. Glenn explained
that, since he was not in the room when the Executive and Personnel
committee was addressed, he would allow Conahan to bring something
forward if he would like. Nelson then made a comment apologizing to
the county employees present that other county employees were going
to be allowed to be unprofessional and nothing would be done about
it. Conahan asked for clarification that nothing was proposed, and
Glenn confirmed that no motion was made. Schmidt stated that, after
all the time the board spent in executive session previously, they
needed to do something. Conahan made a motion to go back into
executive session. At this time, Turner stepped out of the room. The
vote to go back into executive session was passed 10-1, with Turner
being out of the room and DeRoss voting no.
[Matt Boutcher]
[Text received from file]
 |
