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Logan County Board
July Regular Logan County Board Meeting
[July 23, 2026]
On Tuesday, July 21st, the
Logan County Board held their regular monthly meeting in the rotunda
of the Logan County Courthouse at 6:00 p.m. Nine of the eleven
members of the Board were present including Chairman JR Glenn, Vice
Chairman Dale Nelson, Kevin Knauer, Bob Sanders, Gil Turner, Jim
Wessbecher, Lance Conahan, Joseph Kuhlman, and Keenan Leesman.
Hannah Fitzpatrick and Kathy Schmidt were absent.
Before roll call was taken, Turner invited John Cross of St. Peters
Lutheran Church in Emden to give the invocation. Cross gave a prayer
over the Board and the county. This was followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance, roll call, and guests being given the opportunity to
introduce themselves. The consent agenda was then approved
unanimously.
Public comments were next on the agenda. Glenn asked those who were
going to speak to remain respectful, stating that, “so far we have
done that… except maybe one or two committee meetings.” The public
was asked to keep their comments at about three minutes each.
Rachel Stechman spoke first, reminding everyone in the room that she
is still waiting for five overdue Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests. She made sure to explain she does not blame the new
secretary but said she blames the Board and stated that at least two
members were FOIA trained.
Kelly Aylesworth was the next speaker. She brought items with her
when she stood. She started by stating that she was either going to
“ugly cry” or “need bail money.” Aylesworth then said, “since I
really hate crying, hopefully I can simply tell you all to go to
hell in a way that will make you enjoy the trip.”
Aylesworth then introduced herself by stating that she owns a
Christmas tree farm near the “monstrosity,” referring to the
proposed Hut 8 data center. She encouraged everyone in the audience
to start an “annoying hum” while she was speaking, alluding to the
noise that the data center would make.
Aylesworth showed off some items
starting with well water from their faucet followed by flowers from
around their home. She claimed that the flowers would not grow
anymore because “there won’t be any bees.” She showed off a
vegetable from her garden, stating that these would not grow anymore
due to no pollinators and “ruined” soil. The last two items were
ribbons that her daughter had won from showing off her animals.
Aylesworth talked about how she and her family had worked hard on
their farm and did not want a “piece of crap data center” being
built nearby. She then referred to Hut 8 as a “pimp” and the Board
members as their "prostitutes," alleging that they were accepting
money from Hut 8. She ended her time by stating “anyone in favor of
this, damn you all to hell.”
Lisa Edwards introduced herself as Aylesworth’s neighbor and spoke
next. Edwards’s comments were less aggressive, speaking on the sound
that would travel on wind from the data center to her and her
neighbor’s homes. She claimed that people who live near data centers
experience cortisol spikes, stating that she has a disease that
keeps her cortisol low. In stressful situations, her disease can
cause mild to fatal symptoms. She does not know how her body would
respond to the noise. She encouraged the Board to “squash” the data
center.
With public comments completed, Glenn moved on to the committee
action items, starting with Lance Conahan of the Building and
Grounds Committee. Conahan had two items to bring forth, the first
being a request for proposal (RFP) to get a new roof for the Logan
Building. This item was unanimously approved.
The second item was to approve the hiring of Chris Neaville as a
part-time facilities worker. Leesman asked if Conahan had confirmed
the use of equipment, and he stated that he had been working with
the Sheriff’s Department on that. Deputy Sheriff Josh Pharis spoke,
saying that Neaville would be allowed to use the new lawn mower his
department purchased. Pharis said that they would work with Neaville
in the winter on snow removal. This item was then voted on and
approved unanimously.
Nelson was next with the Executive and Personnel Committee. The only
item Nelson brought forward was approval on increasing the coverage
of the family health insurance plan that the Board pays for county
employees. The increase would be $1,560 in total. Conahan asked if
something had happened with the new insurance broker the county
recently hired. Glenn stated they were still looking into that.
Conahan asked if they were going to ask for compensation back, as
the extra amount was not accounted for when they signed the contract
at the beginning of the fiscal year (FY). Glenn stated that it was
too early to say, and they would want to know where the error was
made before taking any further actions. The item was then voted on
and approved unanimously.
Joseph Kuhlman of the Finance Committee was next. The first item was
a motion to approve a Board credit card for new Board Secretary
Angela Sullivan with a $2,000 limit. Conahan requested that they get
a copy of the credit card contract that Sullivan would have to sign
and put it in her personnel file, as they require other departments
to do. This item was then unanimously approved.
The next action item was to approve
a service agreement with Bellwether to assist in the creation of
their yearly budget for FY27. Conahan stated that, while he would be
voting in favor of this, he would like to see the county go back to
doing their own budget in the future. Glenn stated that they
initially brought Bellwether on to help streamline the process and
clean up the budget a bit. If the Board felt that things were
sufficiently in order, they could proceed with doing this on their
own going forward. The item was then voted on and unanimously
approved.
Kuhlman informed the Board that, because of the way the resolution
was written, items three and six on the agenda would be voted on at
the same time. Glenn clarified that they were both put on resolution
59, meaning they would vote on the full resolution. Resolution 59
was for a probation budget amendment to add $9,000 out of the
contingency fund, and $15,000 out of the courthouse contractual line
item to the Building and Grounds budget for the new facilities
maintenance position. This resolution was voted on and unanimously
approved.
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The next agenda
item was for the consideration of an increase in the County
Clerk’s salary.
Sanders started discussion by sharing that he would be voting
against it. He stated that the increase to $95,000 would put the
County Clerk at about $20,000 over other elected officials whose
salaries were set by the county, and he wanted to try to keep
them all about equal. Conahan made an amendment for a
cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) rather than the current $15,000
increase. He stated this would be 2.8 percent and would be a
$2,240 increase.
Leesman clarified that this COLA increase would be total and not
per year left in County Clerk Kelly Elias’s term, to which
Conahan stated it would. The Board then discussed past salary
increases to that office, and whether a COLA increase would be
enough. Nelson confirmed that the last two increases to the
salary were in 2022 after the midterm elections, followed by a
$5,000 increase when extra geographical information system (GIS)
duties were added.
Elias was then invited to speak, stating that the Clean Slate
Act has added a lot of work to her office, and she is
responsible for expunging records back to 1970. Nelson made an
amendment over Conahan’s to set the salary at $86,000 for the
remainder of Elias’s term. This amendment was voted on and
passed by a vote of 6-3. Conahan, Sanders, and Wessbecher all
voted ‘no.’ The full amended motion was then voted on and was
passed with an identical vote.
The final three items out of Finance were passed unanimously.
First was for a letter of agency for Snedeker Risk Management,
the next to approve a RFP for county insurance, and the last to
approve advertising for the Logan County Fair.
Next was Knauer with the Safety Committee, and he informed the
Board that there were no action items. This brought the Board to
Wessbecher with the Transportation Committee. He had three
items, and all were passed unanimously and with little
discussion. The first item was for an intergovernmental
agreement with Elkhart for a culvert project on County Highway
11. Next was another intergovernmental agreement, this time with
Broadwell to install “no soliciting” signs on County Highway 12.
The final was a tree height study along airport road that would
affect two runways. Wessbecher made an amendment to this final
motion for a limit of $5,000 on the study.
Wessbecher gave an update from the Transportation Committee. He
said that they have been making some progress on Show Bus and
meeting the needs of the people of Lincoln and Logan County. He
shared they are looking into adding a stop at Hope on 5th. They
would like to add special, dedicated days to take people to food
pantries around town. According to Wessbecher, people could call
and schedule a pickup that would take them directly to the
pantry rather than having to take the full route to get to the
food pantries and back.
Zoning and Economic Development was the final committee, and
Turner introduced two items. First, a motion to approve letters
of support to county groups that were applying for the Viper
Mine grant in September. This was unanimously approved.
The second item was for the county to
act as sponsor and give authorization to Kuhn & Trello to apply for
the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP) grant. This
grant would potentially identify some funds that Logan County could
use to build a bike path that connects to the one in Williamsville
and runs north along I-55. Leesman asked, based on the wording of
the motion, if the county would be giving Kuhn & Trello the power to
authorize the acceptance of the grant, potentially leaving the
county “on the hook” to partially fund the bike path. Logan County
local Karen Conn, who has been working with Kuhn & Trello on this
item, stated this would not be the case. She recommended potentially
making an amendment that would reflect that Kuhn & Trello would only
be seeing what state funding would be available and would then
report back to the Board with their findings.
Glenn explained that he spoke to State’s Attorney Brad Hauge after
the Workshop meeting, and Hague recommended Glenn speak to the
County Treasurer on the matter, as Kuhn & Trello would have to use
Logan County’s employer identification number (EIN), to apply. He
did not have the chance to do that yet and felt he should before the
Board approved anything on the matter. After the Board ensured with
Kuhn & Trello representative Kevin Kuhn that they would have time if
they pushed the item to next month, Leesman made a motion to do so.
It was approved unanimously.
Glenn shared that he did not have a Chair's Report and asked the
Board if there were any other items. Nelson spoke, stating that he
wanted to first recognize the elected officials that opened the
courthouse to the public on the previous 3rd Friday. He said that it
seemed to go over well and they may do that again on future 3rd
Fridays.
He then tried to clarify some misinformation that was posted on
Facebook. He shared that he did not meet with Hauge before the Board
was informed that the data center moratorium might be invalid. He
said that, while he met with supporters of the data center, they did
not discuss the moratorium. He explained that he has also met with
people who oppose the data center outside the courthouse. Nelson
explained that the misinformation was posted by Logan County
Indivisible on July 1st.
With no other items or comments, Glenn called for a motion to
adjourn.
[Matt Boutcher]
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