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Logan County Board
June Workshop Meeting report
[June 17, 2026]
On Monday, June 15th, the Logan
County Board held their monthly workshop meeting. During this
meeting the board decides items that go on the agenda for the
regular board meeting. This meeting was originally scheduled for
last week but that was canceled due to the severe weather.
This workshop meeting was held in the second-floor courtroom of the
Logan County Courthouse at 6:00 p.m. Of the eleven current board
members, eight were present including Vice Chairman Dale Nelson,
Lance Conahan, Hannah Fitzpatrick, Kevin Knauer, Joseph Kuhlman,
Kathy Schmidt, Gil Turner, and James Wessbecher. Chairman JR Glenn,
Keenan Leesman, and Bob Sanders were absent.
The meeting moved on to the Pledge of Allegiance and an invocation,
which was given by Turner. Guests were allowed to introduce
themselves. Several did, but there were many who chose not to. This
was followed by a time for public comments. While the room was
fairly full, there were none.
This brought the board to committee reports. Nelson, who was
presiding over the meeting, invited Conahan to share what the
Building and Grounds Committee was bringing forward. Conahan started
with a use of grounds request from the WCIC Radio Station. They are
requesting to host a summer fun days event at Scully Park on July
13th. Conahan stated that the motion would be pending proof of
liability insurance from the event coordinators. The motion was sent
on to the agenda for the next regular meeting.
Conahan stated that he was waiting
on Leesman for the next item, which was a quote from Stratus. This
would be for the backup internet provider that the county has been
searching for in case Xfinity goes out. Conahan next brought forward
a motion to send out a request for proposal (RFP) for the courthouse
server replacement. Heart IT, the county’s IT company, determined
the server needed to be replaced and the county is planning on going
out for bid to find a company that can replace them.
The final item Conahan brought was not a motion, but an update. He
stated that the Scully Park fountain is working again. He informed
everyone that the county phones are going to be switching over to
Gibson Teldata this Wednesday (June 17th). That being the case, some
people may not be able to get a hold of some county departments via
phone call (apart from the Sheriff’s Department) for some of that
day.
Next was Turner with the Executive and Personnel Committee. Turner’s
first motion was for a raffle for the Atlanta Public Library and
Museum Foundation. His second motion was for a liquor license for
217 Roadhouse in Atlanta. The third motion was for the appointment
of election judges. Conahan then asked about the liquor license,
stating that, at the meeting, there were some issues he was not sure
were addressed. Nelson stated that the issues had been addressed and
that all legal matters were worked out with the State’s Attorney,
Brad Hauge. Conahan stated that he remembered there being two liquor
license applications, and Turner discovered that he had missed one.
He then made a motion for the approval of that second liquor
license, that second for Lawndale Tap.
Next was the Finance Committee. This committee’s report was
presented by Kuhlman. His first motion was for an Illinois opioid
agreement of $10,000. Hauge explained that this motion would be to
move funds from the opioid fund to a fund for drug courts. The money
would then be used by participants in a program.
Kuhlman’s next motion was to make a matching donation with the city
of Lincoln for the Balloons Over 66 event. Nelson spoke on this
motion, stating that after the back and forth as to whether the
event would have balloons this year, he reached out to Lincoln Mayor
Tracy Welch to see what the county could do in regard to helping
with this event. The matching donation would be $2,000.
Mayor Welch’s wife, Annette, was present to speak more on what the
city was developing. She stated that the city is working to develop
a non-profit to oversee the balloon festival. They are already at
about 65 percent of their funding goal, with more possible donations
rolling in.
After Welch spoke, Kuhlman
continued with four more motions. The first was for a tax sale
resolution, followed by another motion for a two percent
Cobra/retiree insurance administrative fee. Neither of these were
discussed. The last two items were both brought off the floor. The
first was the payment of a $1,000 bill for Logan County Soil and
Water, and a $500 request from the Community Benefit Fund for Dock
Dogs during the Balloons Over 66 Festival.
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Nelson moved on to
the Safety Committee with Knauer. Knauer stated that he did not
have any motions but did have one update on the Logan County
Safety Complex expansion. According to Knauer, the project is on
schedule and currently coming in under their projected cost.
Logan County Sheriff candidate Josh Pharis stated that he
believes the project to be about $120,000 under.
Next was Wessbecher with the
Transportation Committee. He had three motions and one update. The
first two motions were an engineering agreement for public roadways
near the proposed Pike Creek wind farm, and another engineering
agreement for load rating analysis on various bridges around the
county. Wessbecher’s third motion was off the floor and was a joint
funding agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation for
engineering on a bridge rehab project on County Highway 1.
Wessbecher stated since Maddie Hinton resigned from her position as
Administrative Assistant, Conahan has stepped up to assist with work
that needs to be done for Showbus for Logan County to get everything
in order for their grant for that program next year.
Nelson moved the meeting on to the Zoning and Economic Development
Committee. Turner presented these motions, starting with either
accepting, modifying, or rejecting a total of nine recommendations
made by the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) on the data center
ordinance the county has been working on.
After the motion was made and seconded, Conahan voiced some
confusion. He stated that the board put a one-year data center
moratorium in place so that they can go back and make sure their
ordinance is “top notch.” He additionally stated he was unsure why
the committee seemed to be rushing the ordinance through. Turner
stated that they should have the chance to pass data centers and
need something in place before they can lift the moratorium.
This led to a lot of back and forth, especially between Conahan and
Nelson. Conahan continued to argue that he felt the committee was
moving too fast and even went so far as to call their actions
“backhanded, underhanded business.” Fitzpatrick also chimed in
briefly, stating she felt the same and called the actions “shady.”
Nelson pointed out that, with the official announcement of the
closure of the Logan Correctional Center, many jobs and much tax
revenue is going to be lost. He stated that Hut 8’s data center
could help fill the gap of what was lost.
Conanhan additionally argued that the
impact study that the county was going to try have done was never
started. Nelson stated that they do not know what to study. He
shared that he had a meeting with some unnamed supporters of the Hut
8 data center and that this was the conclusion they came to. Conahan
told Nelson that he had said he wanted to try to get data centers on
the ballot in November and that, should the moratorium be lifted and
the data center approved, there would no longer be a reason for
putting it on the ballot. Nelson stated that his plan was still to
get data centers on the ballot, but he had not had a chance to start
the process yet.
Conahan argued that the public opinion of the county board was at an
“all time low.” He argued that they told the public they were going
to do things during the last 60-day moratorium that never
materialized, and that this seems to be happening again. He also
wanted to know what else the Zoning and Economic Development
Committee had been doing to bring new business and money to the
county, making several suggestions. Nelson stated that he had done
some of what Conahan suggested and, besides the data center, was not
sure what else could be done. He stated that he wanted to be
"proactive, not reactive.” Nelson shared that, since he has been on
the board, they have always been trying to solve issues after they
pop up. With the closure of Logan, he is trying to take steps to
minimize the negative effect it will have on the county beforehand.
After all the discussion, Nelson moved on to announcements, stating
that there were three people present who were going to be
interviewed for the Administrative Assistant position. The board
voted to go into executive session to conduct these interviews.
After the executive session was over, they made an offer to hire one
of the three individuals.
[Matt Boutcher]
[Text received from file] |
