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Logan County Board
February Safety and Finance committee meetings
[February 12, 2026]
On Tuesday, February 10th, the
Safety Committee and Finance Committees of the Logan County Board
held their monthly meetings in the newly renovated first floor
courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse. The Safety meeting was
first, followed by Finance.
At the Safety meeting, four of the five committee members were
present. This included Chairman Kevin Knauer, Bob Sanders, James
Glenn, and Lance Conahan. Absent was Vice Chairman Kathy Schmidt.
Also present were Sheriff Mark Landers and Josh Pharis, Logan County
Treasurer Penny Thomas, Logan County Clerk and Recorder Kelly Elias,
and Jane Whiteman of Animal Control.
The meeting went very quickly, lasting just shy of fifteen minutes
and starting with the approval of the previous meeting’s minutes.
There was no old business, but two items under new business.
The first item under new business was regarding an insurance claim
for the Logan County Safety Complex expansion. According to Sheriff
Landers, the scaffolding fell over during a storm, causing $14,000
in damage. The county has builder’s risk insurance, but the
deductible is $10,000. This would mean that a claim would only net
the county $4,000 of that amount. Landers suggested that the county
just take the $14,000 out of the contingency fund and not take an
increase to the premiums they pay for the plan for such a low
amount. The committee agreed and took a vote to take the amount out
of the contingency fund, voting in favor of this action unanimously.
Landers next talked about a change order for the Safety Complex
expansion due to the fact that the detention grade doors and windows
will not be ready in time for installation when they thought they
would be. The total project has been set back about a month and a
half, now being projected to be finished around mid-August. O’Shea
Builders, the company overseeing the project, informed Landers that
this is a common problem with these types of projects. He also
stated that O’Shea is working on the sally port and interior walls.
Landers then gave a brief Sheriff’s Report. He said that the
Sheriff’s Department is looking to purchase a new transport van
after their last one was totaled when colliding with a deer. They
are currently using two 2015 Explorers, however, they might wait
until next year’s budget season to buy one given how expensive they
are. Landers stated there was nothing for the EMA Report.
Next, Whiteman gave her Animal
Control Report. She shared that there were no big changes, but that
she was dealing with some hoarder situations. Knauer asked about the
situation with all the dogs that had contracted parvo reported last
month. Whiteman stated that, unfortunately, all those dogs had
passed away. Conahan had some questions about a few bills that had
come through but did state that their Comcast internet bill went
down.
Knauer stated that the coroner had to leave the meeting, but that
his report was in their packets. The bills were approved, and with
no public comments, the meeting was adjourned.
The Finance meeting started about twenty minutes later. This meeting
was attended by three of the five committee members, those being
Vice Chairman Joseph Kuhlman, Dale Nelson, and Lance Conahan.
Chairman Kathy Schmidt and Keenan Leesman were not in attendance. In
between the meeting, Amy Wertheim of the Atlanta Public Library and
Museum came to speak about a Community Benefit Fund (CBF) Request.
This meeting began the same as the prior, with the approval of the
previous month’s minutes. This meeting also had no old business, and
so Kuhlman, who was leading the meeting in Schmidt’s absence, moved
on to the four new business agenda items, the first being a
potential new policy on the reviewing of bills before they are paid.
Currently, the Finance Committee only reviews bills after they have
been paid. Schmidt wanted to change it so that the committee could
review and approve bills before they were paid by each department.
Treasurer Thomas stated that, since many department heads are
elected officials, they do not need board approval to pay their
department’s bills. She stated that she chooses to send her bills
for approval for the sake of transparency, however. Glenn stated
that with other departments that were owned by the county, such as
Animal Control, they could require them to have their bills approved
before any payments were made. The item was eventually moved to old
business to be discussed at next month’s meeting.
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The next item on
the agenda was regarding credit card policy. The committee
members discussed putting a policy in place that would require
department heads that had a department credit card to sign
something that stated they would use it responsibly and only for
government business. Conahan had a policy that was modeled after
the Logan County Tourism Bureau’s policy. Thomas stated that she
thought Conahan should take debit cards out, stating that no one
should ever be given a county credit card. Everyone in
attendance agreed.
The idea of having each department
have their own credit card, with the County Board having their own,
was brought up. Elias stated that to get a credit card she needed
meeting minutes that stated she could have one for her department,
as well as what the limit on that card would be. Conahan asked what
would happen if a department head used their credit card in a way
they were not supposed to and then left office. He wanted to know
who would be responsible for paying the amount. Thomas stated that
she did not know how to answer that question, and Conahan stated
that this was another reason a policy like this was needed.
The board continued to discuss this for a while before deciding to
have Thomas, Glenn, and Schmidt look over the policy and make some
changes before the Workshop meeting next week. The committee also
stated officially that Elias could get a credit card for her
department with a limit of $5,000.
The third item on the agenda was the CBF request from the Atlanta
Public Library. Wertheim, who was at the Finance Committee and
Workshop meetings last month, was back with her request. Her request
was sent back to committee after some concerns were addressed. Her
request was for financial assistance to renovate a meeting space
that the Museum could use for tourism and to rent to the community.
Wertheim stated that she did what the board asked her to do and did
go before the Atlanta City Council with her request which was voted
down unanimously. She stated that Atlanta Mayor Tom Young was still
in favor of reallocating funds from tourism to fireworks for the
Fourth of July. She further elaborated, stating that the mayor said,
“city funds should only be used for what the city wants to use them
for.”
Wertheim stated that the night before this meeting, they opened
their space to “pro-chicken” people in Atlanta, showing that there
is a need for a larger space in the community, even though theirs is
not done yet. She also stated there are seventeen tourist buses
scheduled to come to Atlanta this summer, and all of them have
requested the use of that space.
Wertheim spoke on the budget for the museum, stating that their tax
money goes toward the programs that the museum hosts, and that they
do not have room in their budget for their kitchen, chairs, or
tables.
Nelson then confirmed that they were not non-profit, to which
Wertheim informed him that they were government, not non-profit.
Nelson stated that he may be more supportive if they were a
501(c)(3). He mentioned a CBF request that was made last month by
another government organization that the committee voted down
because they already receive taxpayer money for their facility.
Wertheim then stated that they are consulting with an attorney that
specializes in non-profits to get a museum foundation established.
Conahan stated that they could send the request before the full
board again at the Workshop meeting.
The final item on the agenda was a
bank resolution for 2026. Thomas stated that this resolution was
only to choose what banks the county can use, and that the list is
the same every year. She also stated that all the banks are in Logan
County. A motion was made and approved. Shortly after this, the
meeting was adjourned.
[Matt Boutcher]
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