|
Logan County Board
October regular meeting
[October 22, 2026]
The Logan County Board met for
their regular meeting on Tuesday, October 20th. They held their
meeting in the first-floor courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse
starting at 6:00 p.m. Nine of the twelve members of the board were
present, which included Chairman Lance Conahan, Vice Chairman Joseph
Kuhlman, Dale Nelson, Kevin Knauer, Jim Wessbecher, Kathy Schmidt,
Bob Sanders, and Andrea Hinton. JR Glenn, Gil Turner, and Keenan
Leesman were absent.
After roll call and the approval of
the consent agenda, Conahan brought forward a resolution to
recognize Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas. Conahan announced at
the previous week’s workshop meeting that Thomas would be retiring
early from her position as Treasurer, effective at the end of the
month. Conahan read a motion recounting facts about Thomas and some
of her accomplishments during her time in office. These
accomplishments included taking over in 2017, running for two more
terms after that, reducing spending, and finding new revenue streams
for the county. Once the resolution was read and unanimously adopted
by the committee, Thomas was presented with a plaque.
Conahan then moved on to public
comments starting with Rachel Stechman. Stechman started by
providing an update on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request
that she has been speaking on for the last few months. According to
Stechman, the request was fulfilled after several months of waiting,
correspondence, and the threat of legal action. She stated that
Nelson had been accusing her of lying, referring to a comment Nelson
made about the status of her FOIA request at a previous month’s
meeting, and that board secretary Angela Sullivan had refused to
speak to her on matters regarding her request.
Janet Schahl was the second commenter, requesting that the county
pass a twelve-month moratorium on data centers while they are
working on the data center ordinance.
After comments, Conahan moved on to action items, starting with
Wessbecher of the Building and Grounds Committee. Wessbecher brought
forward only one motion, which was for an approval of bills. The
board passed this unanimously. He then gave an update on work that
has been being done at Scully Park. He shared that the ice rink was
finished being prepared and is set for an opening this Saturday. He
also shared that the concrete for the second pickleball court had
finished being poured and that the tile for it should be being
shipped soon.
Kuhlman stated that there were no items from the Executive and
Personnel Committee but said he did have seven motions to bring
forward from the Finance Committee. The first motion was to approve
a GIS aerial flyover from Eagle Ridge to update the county’s GIS map
with higher quality imaging. The board passed this unanimously. The
next four items were all for various trustee’s scavenger sales, all
of which the board also unanimously passed.
The sixth item was for the board to approve audit services from
CliftonLarsonAllen. The board approved this unanimously as well. The
final item from Finance was regarding the hiring of a new part-time
worker for the county board office to assist Sullivan. Nelson said
he was going to be voting against this and would like to see an
evaluation of the duties of the office to see if the position was
necessary.
Conahan responded by sharing that Sullivan was out sick the day of
this meeting and the Broadband grant payment was late by a week. He
went into the office during his lunch to submit it himself but it
was denied due to Conahan not having signing authority. Conahan
called this a “prime example” of why extra help is needed and shared
that the county could be placed on a “do not pay” list, meaning
other offices beside the county board offices could lose access to
grants. He said that, historically, there have been two people in
the office and that Sullivan has been communicating the need for
additional help due to the workload.
Nelson wanted to know the reason the payment was over a week late.
Conahan stated it was due to waiting on reports and other things
that were out of Sullivan’s control. A vote was taken and the
creation of the position was approved 8-1, with Nelson being the
only ‘no’ vote.
[to top of second column] |
Knauer with the Safety
Committee came next. He deferred to Schmidt, as the only motion
from the committee involved him. Schmidt brought forward a
motion to make some appointment changes to the Emergency
Telephone System Board (ETSB). These changes were to approve
Aaron Johnson as the Lincoln Fire Chief representative, Knauer
as the Logan County Board representative, Joe Meister as the
Lincoln Police Chief, and Anthony West as the Mt. Pulaski Police
Chief. Knauer made a small amendment, stating that Johnson’s
appointment should read Johnson “or his delegate.” The board
unanimously approved the amendment, then approved the amended
motion 8-0-1, as Knauer abstained from the vote.
The Transportation Committee was next, with Wessbecher bringing
forward four motions. The first was to approve the creation of a
Program Compliance Oversight Monitor (PCOM). Conahan stated that
this position is needed for the county to keep their grant for
the Showbus program. The board unanimously approved this motion.
After was a motion to approve the purchase of a new pickup truck
for $42,500. The board approved this motion unanimously too.
The third motion was for a funding agreement with the Illinois
Department of Transportation (IDOT) to complete the final
stretch of 5th Street. The county share will be $910,360 from
the federal-aid matching tax fund. The fourth item was a request
from Mt. Pulaski to assist with placing riprap under three of
their bridges. The county would be giving Mt. Pulaski $70,000
from the county bridge fund. The board unanimously approved both
these items.
The Zoning and Economic Development Committee had no items, so
Conahan moved on to the Chair’s Report. He shared that a bill in
the Illinois House of Representatives had just been filed
regarding data centers (HB5826). He said that he is not sure
what the bill is going to look like.
Conahan also brought forward a
motion to appoint Rendi Ray as the new Treasurer for the County. Ray
confirmed that her training under Thomas had gotten underway. The
board unanimously approved Ray’s appointment.
Conahan ended his report by sharing
that they had spoken to the Regional Planning Commission (RPC) and
decided to appoint Karen Conn to the open position. This is
something that Conahan stated at last week’s workshop meeting that
he was going to hold off doing until the new board was seated after
November’s election.
After his report, Conahan made a motion to enter into executive
session to review executive session meeting minutes. The board
unanimously approved and everyone with the exception of State’s
Attorney Brad Hauge and the board members were asked to leave the
room. After the session, Conahan made a motion to keep the 2024,
2025, and 2026 executive session meeting minutes closed, which the
board approved unanimously. This brought the meeting to a close as a
motion was made to adjourn.
[Matt Boutcher]
|
