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Logan County Board
October Workshop Meeting
[October 19, 2026]
The Logan County Board met for
their monthly workshop meeting on Thursday, October 15th. The board
holds this meeting each month before the regular meeting to discuss
and work out details on items they may be voting on at said regular
meeting. Ten board members were present for the workshop. This
included Chairman Lance Conahan, Vice Chairman Joseph Kuhlman,
Hannah Fitzpatrick, Kevin Knauer, Keenan Leesman, Dale Nelson, Kathy
Schmidt, Gil Turner, Jim Wessbecher, and newest member Andrea
Hinton. Bob Sanders and JR Glenn were absent.
Public comments were one of the first items on the agenda, and they
started with a couple who had been coming to meetings for the last
several months. Lonnie and Robin Nichols have been coming to full
board meetings to make public comments regarding their daughter's
violation of her constitutional rights by the Logan County Sheriff’s
Department. According to Lonnie Nichols, this issue was taken to the
Illinois Attorney General and several corrective recommendations
were given to the Sheriff’s Department. For the last few meetings,
Nichols had been asking when these recommendations were going to be
implemented, asking the board to hold the Sheriff's Department
accountable. During this meeting’s comments, Nichols stated that the
recommendations were being implemented and asked for an update as to
when they would be completed. Kuhlman, who was leading the meeting,
later told Nichols that he would look into the matter.
The next few comments came from several individuals speaking on an
issue that came up in the public comments of September’s workshop
meeting. Hartsburg mayor Darien Ritterbush spoke first, casting
doubt over whether Norma Bates had been properly appointed as a
trustee to the Hartsburg Fire Protection District (HFPD). Ritterbush
claimed Bates had been serving as a trustee since 2022. He
additionally stated that Hartsburg Fire Chief Chris Cowling has
stated Bates has replaced Chad Osborne but could not get a hold of
any meeting minutes to confirm this for himself.
Ritterbush continued, stating that part of his concern around
Bates’s appointment was the fact that she had been getting paid for
serving on the HFPD. He asked the board to postpone appointing
Bates, something that had been on the Executive and Personnel
Committee’s agenda previously, until the matter could be further
investigated.
Tom Anderson, president of the HFPD, spoke next. He stated that
Bates had served as the HFPD’s secretary since 2022 and that she was
appointed after Osborne’s passing. Anderson stated that he was not
sure the county board needed to approve Bates’s appointment,
claiming that Illinois law says no. Anderson then speculated that
Ritterbush’s interest in the HFPD was rooted in a desire to transfer
funds from the HFPD to the city, but admitted that he had no
evidence to back up that claim.
Chief Bowling presented information from their attorney. According
to a written statement from the attorney, Illinois statute has term
limits on elected boards but not appointed boards. While the
trustees of the HFPD serve three-year terms, they do not have limits
on the number of terms that can be served.
Nelson stated that this issue
seemed to be more an issue with the Open Meetings Act and less one
regarding county board oversight. Conahan wanted to hear back from
the election authority on the matter. Kuhlman then moved on to the
next public comment.
The next comment was regarding Latham not wanting a data center. The
commenter, who identified themselves as “a regular,” made several
claims. Among these were that the power station nearby would not
have enough power for a data center and that data centers would “cut
down” residents’ yards to build power poles.
Public comments came to an end so Kuhlman moved on to committee
reports starting with Building and Grounds. Wessbecher introduced
Jessie Jarvey with the company SpyGlass. Jarvey had a presentation
on a service her company could provide for the county. She said that
her company is a “tech cost auditing firm.” SpyGlass investigates
areas where companies that provide technology services to the county
may be overcharging. They then provide the county with a free
analysis of the charges and the savings they could get.
If the county agrees to enter into a contract with SpyGlass, they
would pay the company the amount in savings they would get for one
year. After that year, the county would start seeing the savings for
themselves.
Nelson asked Jarvey what savings she had found for the city of
Lincoln, as she stated she had worked with them. Jarvey shared that
they found about $7,500 per year for them. Wessbecher said that he
felt they should send this through committee first before voting on
it in workshop to follow proper protocol.
The agenda had a couple more items from Building and Grounds, and
Wessbecher brought a few more items off the floor. Two use of
grounds requests were approved for the regular meeting. One was for
a Family Fun Day at Latham Park hosted by Lincoln Elementary School
District #27, and the other was for a Winter Wonderland Festival by
Kathie Williams from November 20th to January 1st. The final three
items off the floor were approval of bills and a $5,400 bid from
Hallelujah Holiday Lights to set up holiday lights at Scully Park.
Executive and Personnel was next. Their first item was a raffle for
the Emden Historical Society and Museum. Their second item was a
presentation from the county’s insurance broker Alera Group. Michael
Englehardt from Alera Group gave the presentation.
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Englehardt shared
that Blue Cross Blue Shield’s loss ratio had risen pretty
significantly since last year. The loss ratio for the year was
116 percent, with August alone having a loss ratio of 314
percent. Most of the claims were pharmacy claims, which
Englehardt stated is usually lower. While there were no items to
vote on, Englehardt said that the county should expect large
increases to premiums next year and might want to consider
self-insurance.
The last few items were a motion regarding the Logan County
Shrine Club, a raffle for Carroll Catholic School, and the
appointment of Ryan Edgecombe, Leah Welsh, and Rebecca Dule to
the Logan County Housing Authority.
Before moving on to the next committee report, Nelson made two
more motions to appoint Dennis Clemmons and Annie Coers to the
Regional Planning Commission (RPC). Nelson was told that the RPC
was having trouble getting a quorum, or the minimum number of
members that must be present for business to be conducted.
Conahan said that he was going to hold off on making those
appointments until after the November election and a new board
is seated. Nelson asked why they would vote at all if the
chairman makes the appointments, and Conahan responded that the
appointment is made by the chair but confirmed by the full
board. Nelson then accused Conahan of having an issue with RPC
Chairman Kevin Bateman and that he would be talking to State’s
Attorney Brad Hauge.
Kuhlman then moved on to the Finance Committee. Their first item
was regarding the FY27 budget. This committee had a special
meeting on Tuesday, October 13th to discuss the budget. There
were several budgeted items that were brought up, many of which
the committee was unsure about. One of these items was about a
$8,000 increase in the Zoning Office’s budget. Conahan shared
that this increase was due to a bill being taken out of the
Zoning budget that should not have been. He stated that they are
going to be working with Treasurer Penny Thomas to identify what
happened, but that a budget increase is not necessary.
Next on the agenda was a discussion of a flyover to update
imagery on the county’s Geographic Information System (GIS).
While there were several plan options that were presented at the
Finance Committee meeting, the one that was moved on was the
more expensive option with clearer imaging. Jennifer Bryant of
the GIS Officer stated that the Sheriff had shown interest in
this option, as well stating that it would make it easier for
the Assessor’s Office to measure things. She said that the
option would cost about $47,000 per year, but that the money
would come entirely from her office’s fund. This item was
approved and sent to the regular meeting for full board
approval.
Several more items were brought off the floor. Three trustee
scavenger sales, one parcel, and audit services from
Clifton-Larson-Allen. Conahan then brought one more item off the
floor, that being to create a part-time position for the Logan
County Board office.
The Safety Committee was next. Four Emergency Telephone System
Board changes were made. Aaron Johnson was made the Lincoln Fire
Chief representative, Caving Knauer was made the Logan County
Board representative, Joe Meister was added as the Lincoln
Police Chief, and Anthony West as the Mt. Pulaski Police Chief.
Transportation was after, with four items on the agenda. The
first item was the creation of a Program Compliance Oversight
Monitor (PCOM). Wessbecher shared that the county must have a
PCOM in order to keep their grant through the Illinois
Department of Transportation (IDOT). Next was the purchase of a
new pickup truck for $42,500. Third was a funding agreement with
IDOT for construction on the final section of 5th Street Road.
The final item was for county aid to Mt. Pulaski to assist with
work on three bridges.
Zoning and Economic Development was the last committee report.
Turner shared that Leesman had been added to their committee,
bringing their total membership up to six. He also gave a brief
update of the data center ordinance. Turner shared that it would
move on to Hauge for review, then to Zoning Officer Al Green to
be written into a formal ordinance, then back to the Zoning
Board of Appeals and the ZBA, and finally back to the committee
and then board for final approval. He said that he is hopeful it
might be before the full board next month.
Conahan then gave his Chair’s Report.
He shared that they received an intent to retire early from
Treasurer Thomas. The board will fill the vacancy until after the
election. They are going to have candidate Rendi Ray fill that
position for the time being. After this update, the meeting was
adjourned.
[Matt Boutcher]
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