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Logan County Board
November Regular Meeting
[November 20, 2025]
On Tuesday, November 18th, the
Logan County Board held their regular board meeting in the
second-floor courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse at 6 p.m. Ten
of the twelve board members were present including: Chairman James
Glenn, Vice Chairman Dale Nelson, Lance Conahan, Joseph Kuhlman,
Keenan Leesman, Gil Turner, Michael DeRoss, Kathy Schmidt, Kevin
Knauer, and Hannah Fitzpatrick, with Fitzpatrick coming in a bit
late. Absent members included Jim Wessbecher and Bob Sanders.
Glenn first introduced Pastor Larry Crawford of Open Arms Church to
give an invocation. Crawford asked if there were any things the
board wanted him to specifically pray for, and Glenn stated
“guidance.” Crawford then read a Bible passage before praying over
the board and county.
After this followed the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Turner.
Attendance was taken and guests were introduced, and then the
consent agenda was voted on. Glenn asked if there were any
amendments to be made, to which Nelson stated that he needed to
change the wording on two of the line items. The items stated that
Kara Davis and Kara Curry were going to be appointed to the Logan
County Board of Health, but Nelson amended them to state that these
women would be appointed to the Logan County Board of Mental Health.
Both the amendment and the amended consent agenda were approved
unanimously.
Next was a time for public comments, of which there were none. Glenn
then introduced two individuals from WANRack who were present
virtually to give a presentation on the broadband project that the
county seems to be getting close to finalizing. Due to some
technological issues regarding the room being able to hear
representatives Steve Bergeron and Blake Mayfield, the presentation
was pushed back while the issues were resolved. Glenn continued the
meeting in the meantime.
This then took the board onto their
first set of action items from the Building and Grounds Committee.
Committee Chairman Conahan started with a motion to approve a bid
for lawncare for county properties by A5 Lawncare. Conahan stated
that he wanted to send this motion back to committee. Turner asked
if there was a reason for this, and Conahan stated that, due to the
work that is going to be done to the exterior of the courthouse next
year, it does not make sense to start lawn care that year. No one
objected to sending it back to committee.
The next two items were approved unanimously. The first item was a
motion to approve a bid from B&B Electrical for $10,880. This bid
was for lights at Latham and Scully Parks, as well as the John D.
Logan Building. The second motion was to approve the acquisition of
a kiosk on the courthouse from the Logan County Tourism Bureau.
Two more motions were unanimously approved regarding computers and
laptops for various county employees as well as members of the
board. The desktop PC’s cost $23,008.64 and the laptops were
$15,366.87. Twelve of the fourteen laptops were for county board
members. All of these devices were to be purchased from Heart IT,
the county’s IT company.
The final item from Building and Grounds was for a quote from Carpet
House for the Logan County Treasurer’s Office. This quote was for
$13,590.88 and would cover the cost of the carpet as well as the
installation.
Glenn then moved on to the Executive and Personnel committee, whose
action items were presented by Nelson. The first item was to approve
closing the courthouse, the John D. Logan Building, Animal Control,
and the Highway Department on December 26th. What followed was a
ten-minute discussion over whether this is something the board
wanted to approve.
Turner started off by asking how the motion went from including only
the courthouse at the Workshop meeting to several
buildings/departments at this meeting. Nelson stated that it was an
error, making a motion to add the other buildings.
DeRoss then stated that he has no problem giving the employees the
day off, but that he wanted to see a longer-term solution. He
brought up the idea of floating holidays, something he mentioned at
last week’s Workshop meeting. He wondered if people would start
asking for the day after New Years. He also stated that, if the
board voted against this, they would be “Ebenezer Scrooge
personified,” a comment that got a few laughs from the audience. If
they voted yes, however, this would open the doors to more days
requested off later. Nelson stated that they would try to come up
with a solution at the next committee meeting for 2026.
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Turner asked what
would happen if there was a big snowstorm and the Highway
Department would be needed for snow plowing. It was stated that
the Highway Department would be on call, and should such an
event come to pass, they would be paid overtime.
Conahan then asked how this would impact the union, as they get
days off that non-union employees do not via their contract with
the county. He also asked what is wrong with them using PTO to
take the day off. Nelson replied by stating that many of the
non-union workers are salaried and often work longer hours than
they are required to. A vote was then taken on the amendment
that Nelson proposed, with that passing unanimously. The next
motion was to pass the amended motion, which was passed with a
vote of 9-1, with Conahan being the only ‘no’ vote.
The next two items from Executive and Personnel were approved
unanimously. The first was to approve a contract between the
Tri-County Regional Planning Commission and Logan County. The
second motion was to approve a few changes to the Logan County
Employee Handbook that addressed a few law changes.
This then led the board to action items from the Finance
Committee. For a rundown on what was discussed here, see LDN’s
other article on this meeting.
Next was the Safety Committee, to which Knauer stated there were
no items.
After was the Transportation Committee, whose action items were
presented by DeRoss in committee chairman Wessbecher’s absence.
For a breakdown of the Transportation action items, please see
LDN’s other article on this meeting.
The final committee addressed was Zoning and Economic
Development. DeRoss presented these action items as he is the
chairman of this committee. There was only one item on the
agenda, which was to amend the Logan County Zoning Ordinance,
specifically Appendix G. This was to replace the current wording
on permit fees for wind turbines and commercial solar and
battery storage farms, making them $5,000 per megawatt. This was
unanimously approved.
By this time in the meeting, the laptop was set up to speakers
in the room, making it so that the presenters from WANRack were
more easily heard by the board and the audience. Mayfield
presented, stating that Logan County was given a $6.5 million
grant from the state to help fund the broadband project. He also
stated that counties that do not get grants like this are
generally not able to afford these kinds of projects. Mayfield
also mentioned that, once the project is finished, it will make
the county more appealing for grants to get fiber connected
directly to the homes of Logan County residents.
Nelson asked about the plans WANRack
shared of where they are going to build. He suggested that they run
down 1550th Street, as they may be able to get some revenue from
Menard County, should they ever use some of the system. Mayfield
explained that the current plan is only a draft, and that it can be
changed. The state has approved the project up to 80 miles, so it
can go anywhere the county wants so long as it does not exceed that
length.
When the presentation ended, Fitzpatrick made an announcement,
thanking the Lincoln FFA, Nelson, and Madelyn Hinton for helping set
up the ice rink at Scully Park, stating that they are going to open
for the season this weekend.
This then led to Glenn entertaining a motion to adjourn.
[Matt Boutcher]
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