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February Regular Board Meeting
[February 27, 2026]
On Tuesday, February 24th, the
Logan County Board held their monthly meeting in the second-floor
courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse at 6:00 p.m. Eleven of the
twelve members of the board were present. Members present included
Chairman JR Glenn, Vice Chairman Dale Nelson, Lance Conahan, Michael
DeRoss, Keenan Leesman, Kevin Knauer, Bob Sanders, Gil Turner, Jim
Wessbecher, Joseph Kuhlman, and Hannah Fitzpatrick. Kathy Schmidt
was absent.
The courtroom was crowded with some members of the audience forced
to stand. Normally in this situation, the board would move the
meeting to the more spacious third-floor courtroom. Glenn stated
that there was currently a court case going on up there, and he had
promised one of the judges of the county that he would not go into
the courtroom.
Turner was then asked to introduce the local pastor giving the
invocation. Jacob Cranston of Park Meadows Baptist Church said a
prayer over the meeting. After the invocation, the room performed
the Pledge of Allegiance before the board got to business. The board
voted to approve the consent agenda, which was passed with a
unanimous vote.
Glenn opened the floor to public comments. Comments continued for
over 45 minutes. To read more about the public comments from the
meeting, please click here.
Next, Glenn moved the Board on to the action items from each of the
committees. The first committee addressed was Building and Grounds.
Conahan, the Committee Chairman, started with a motion to approve
the Widmer Interiors proposal for new furniture in the first-floor
courtroom at the cost of $29,571.59. Conahan immediately made an
amendment proposing that the money come out of the county’s
contingency fund. A vote was taken on the amendment and the amended
motion, and both were unanimously passed.
Conahan had several other motions, the next being a motion to
approve an amendment to the county’s budget. This item was
unanimously passed as well.
Next came a motion for the county to make a final payment to
American Scaffolding, the company that provided the exterior
scaffolding around the. Conahan shared that American Scaffolding was
waiting for Logan County to make a draft agreement that both parties
would sign. The agreed amount for payment was $140,000. Knauer made
an amendment that the payment would only be made after State’s
Attorney Brad Hauge approved the draft agreement. Both the amendment
and the amended motion were unanimously approved.
The next item proved to be more
contentious. At a previous meeting, Pastor Ron Otto of Lincoln
Christian Church came before the Building and Grounds Committee to
offer a $15,000 donation to the county to use on new playground
equipment at Latham Park. Nelson had suggested that the county match
that amount to help cover the cost.
Nelson shared the new equipment would be covered under the county’s
umbrella insurance, and he and Fitzpatrick had identified a good
location for the new equipment. This equipment would include plastic
musical instruments and a floating carousel ride. Nelson suggested
the county contribute $20,000 rather than just matching, as that
would cover the cost.
Conahan stated that he was concerned with liability, stating that he
would need in writing that volunteers from the church who would help
install the equipment would be covered should someone get injured.
Nelson stated that the $20,000 would include coverage and
professional installation.
Wessbecher then stated that he was concerned with the price, stating
that the church could donate a little more since the items they
selected were more than their $15,000 donation. Nelson stated that
he is more concerned with helping to build a relationship between
Logan County and Lincoln Christian Church. He mentioned that the
county has set aside $70,000 for the year to be used for the parks.
Conahan stated that he would want a note from their insurance
provider that their rates would not go up due to installing new
equipment. Nelson proposed an amendment that stated that the
proposal would only be approved so long as notice was given from
their insurance company. A vote was taken on the amendment and the
amended motion; both passed with a vote of 9-2. Sanders and
Wessbecher were the ‘no’ votes each time.
The final two action items on the agenda for Building and Grounds
had to do with getting a new server at the courthouse. Sheila Feipel
of Heart IT was at the meeting to discuss the upgrade. She stated
that Heart’s proposal is to replace two very old servers with one
new one, calling the new one an “enterprise grade server.” The other
portion of the upgrade would be to migrate all the information to
the new servers. Leesman stated that he wanted to have all the
department heads sign off that their information was all transferred
once this process got underway. The new server was priced at
$23,857.94 and the migration at $52,606.60. Both items were approved
unanimously.
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Next came the
Executive and Personnel Committee. The first two action items
were to approve a resolution for a “State’s Attorney Appellate
Prosecutor” and a motion to approve Alera Group as the county’s
new insurance broker. Both items were unanimously approved.
The next item was to change the March Regular Board meeting to
Tuesday, March 24th. Glenn stated that he would also entertain a
motion for another regular board meeting on March 5th to have
Alera Group present the new insurance options the county has. An
amendment was made to the motion to add a March 5th meeting, and
the amendment, as well as the amended motion, were approved
unanimously.
The final motion from Executive and
Personnel was to change another regular board meeting, this time the
April meeting, to Wednesday April 22nd. Like the other motions, this
was unanimously approved.
The Finance Committee would follow as Kuhlman presented their action
items in the absence of Committee Chairman Schmidt. The first of the
three was to approve a credit card policy for the county employees.
This was unanimously approved.
Next was to make the Logan County Tourism Bureau (LCTB) “Logan
County’s Agency of record for tourism promotions for the Illinois
Office of Tourism” in fiscal year 27. Conahan shared that this
motion was to allow the LCTB to renew their certified visitors
bureau status. This was unanimously approved. The final Finance
action item was to approve a list of certified banks, also approved
unanimously.
The Safety Committee, chaired by Knauer, had only two items. First
was a motion for an updated agreement with the Illinois Emergency
Services Management Association and the second, a motion to send the
Animal Control contract with the City of Lincoln back to committee.
Both items were approved unanimously.
The Transportation Committee followed. Committee Chairman Wessbecher
presented four items, all of which were unanimously approved. The
first item was to “approve an intergovernmental agreement with the
Village of Middletown to allow for a radar indicated speed sign to
be installed on County Highway 15.” Next was a joint funding
agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation. This
agreement would allow for the use of state funds to replace two
culverts close to Elkhart. Third was a motion for an engineering
agreement with WHKS for “preliminary engineering on a bridge
rehabilitation project.” This project would be for a bridge on
County Highway 1. The final motion was to “approve a contract with
County Contractors, Inc. of Quincy, Illinois for $10,450 to repair a
bridge on County Highway 14 north of New Holland.”
The final committee was the Zoning and
Economic Development Committee. They had only one action item, the
motion for a 90-day moratorium on all data center applications. This
discussion and vote is covered in another LDN article found
here.
The final item of the meeting with Glenn’s Chair’s Report. The main
piece of business here, which Glenn had foreshadowed earlier in the
meeting, was about the insurance proposal the county was going to
receive from their new brokers, Alera Group. Glenn shared that Alera
Group was able to get the county their same benefits on the same
plan with only a 5 percent increase. This is significantly smaller
than the previous year’s 20 percent.
With that, Glenn thanked the public for coming to the meeting and
entertained a motion to adjourn.
[Matt Boutcher]
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