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County Board sends budget back to
committee - November 30 deadline looms
[November 03, 2026]
On November 2nd, following the
Zoning and Economic Development Committee meeting, the Logan County
Board held a meeting to discuss, among other things, the fiscal year
2027 (FY27) budget. Their meeting started just after 7:00 p.m. and
was held in the first floor courtroom of the Logan County
Courthouse. Ten of the twelve members were present, including
Chairman Lance Conahan, Vice Chairman Joseph Kuhlman, Gil Turner,
Kathy Schmidt, Kevin Knauer, Keenan Leesman, Hannah Fitzpatrick,
Andrea Hinton, Dale Nelson, and Jim Wessbecher. JR Glenn and Bob
Sanders were the only two members not present.
Unlike the meeting that preceded it, public comments came first in
this one. Nelson chose to speak, stating that he sent an email to
the members of the board on launching an investigation into Chairman
Conahan. He said that he received confirmation from Greg Irwin of
Hut 8 that Lance Conahan had met with two Hut 8 representatives in
February to discuss “quid pro quo,” a Latin phrase meaning
“something for something.” This all started when former Chairman
Glenn received a call from Hut 8’s lawyer informing him that this
had occurred but not revealing a name at the time.
“During that discussion,” Nelson stated, “it was requested that
$300,000 of community benefit funds be contributed to the courthouse
project in order for his support for the data center.” Nelson stated
he is requesting the State’s Attorney Brad Hauge and the Attorney
General conduct an investigation.
Nelson continued, stating that another part of his investigation
request is from Conahan not following proper bid procedure on
courthouse restoration projects. Nelson mentioned a previous meeting
where he challenged not putting a project out for bid on installing
lights on the courthouse. Nelson additionally mentioned ethics
concerns and listed some of those.
A community member spoke next, stating that Nelson’s comments were a
“low blow.” She said that she could not believe “you are going to
pull this crap now.” She also stated that this works in Hut 8’s
favor and accused them of trying to “divide and conquer” the board.
Conahan responded to Nelson’s comment with one of his own. He stated
that Nelson’s investigation is “ironic” that he knew a name and did
not say anything. Additionally, he called Nelson’s investigation a
“witch hunt” and said that he would join a list of other government
officials that he claimed Nelson had “targeted.” Conahan finished
his comment, to which Nelson informed him that he still had a minute
and a half of this three minutes. Conahan waved the rest of his
time.
With public comments over, Conahan moved the meeting on to the
action items. First was to approve the appointment of Rendi Ray as
Logan County Treasurer. The board voted unanimously to approve her
appointment. Second was a trustee’s scavenger sale, and this too was
approved unanimously. The third item on the agenda was the FY27
budget. Nelson started by stating he did not understand why the tax
levies had been raised so high. He also said he felt that there was
a lack of communication with this budget, as the current version was
only emailed at 5:30 that evening.
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Conahan responded,
stating that there had been no changes made since the Finance
Committee approved it at their last meeting. He then mentioned
an error on the Logan County Animal Control budget.
After discussing the Animal Control issue, Nelson said he had a
problem with a revenue line item that he said was wrong.
According to Nelson, this item only brought in $35,000 to
$40,000 per year, and it had been increased to $100,000 for
FY27.
Hinton spoke next, asking if they could ask Mary Conrady, a
candidate for District 1, for her opinion. Conahan allowed it,
and Conrady said she agreed with Nelson. She said that not
having enough time to look over the budget was not fair to the
board or the public and mentioned a few ways the budget could be
improved. Nelson then made a motion to send the budget back to
committee. He said that they should have plenty of time to amend
it, approve it, and have it posted for public review for the
required 15 days before approval by the November 30th deadline.
Conahan said Justin Harmon of Bellwether made it seem like this
item needed to be approved at this meeting. A vote was taken and
it was unanimously approved to send it back to committee. This
left the fourth item, posting the budget for public review,
unnecessary.
For Conahan’s Chair’s Report, he
brought forward a motion to appoint Karen Conn to the Regional
Planning Commission. The board unanimously approved her appointment.
After Conn’s appointment, a brief discussion was had over whether
sending the budget back to committee was the right choice. Some
stated that the budget would have been allowed to be amended while
it was up for public review. Nelson defended his motion of sending
it back to committee. Logan County Circuit Clerk Kelly Elais stated
that the board had three special meetings and has not gotten this
done. “We have already spent an awful lot of hours in this
courtroom, and I still don’t have an answer of how my office is
moving forward.”
With no other items to vote on or comments to be made, a motion was
made to adjourn.
[Matt Boutcher]
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