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Logan County Board
New Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Logan County Board
[September 09, 2026]
The Logan County Board held a
special regular meeting following the two committee meetings on
Tuesday evening, September 8th. All eleven board members were
present, including Lance Conahan, Dale Nelson, Kathy Schmidt, Hannah
Fitzpatrick, Jim Wessbecher, Gil Turner, Keenan Leesman, Joseph
Kuhlman, Kevin Knauer, Bob Sanders, and JR Glenn. The latter was
present remotely via phone call.
The board called this special meeting to pick a new chairman and
vice chairman. At last month’s regular board meeting, both former
Chairman Glenn and former Vice Chairman Nelson resigned from their
positions but retained their positions on the board and in
committees. Clerk and Recorder Theresa Moore led the meeting to
start in the absence of a chairman to do so.
The board’s first agenda item was
to pick a temporary chairman to take over from Moore. The board
selected this “chair pro-temp” via nomination. Conahan nominated
Knauer, and the rest of the board unanimously approved. Knauer then
assumed the chairmanship so a vote could be taken for a new
full-time chair.
Sanders started the chairman
nominations by nominating Conahan. Wessbecher seconded this
nomination. Nelson then nominated Turner, and this was seconded by
Schmidt. Glenn mentioned that, in the past, they have allowed the
candidates to speak before a vote was taken.
Conahan started, speaking on the
many changes that were going to be coming to the county in the next
few months. He stated that they have the budget and the data center
ordinance before them. Conahan stated that one of his strengths is
the time he has and has given, in addition to knowing the day-to-day
operations of the county board office. He said that he wants to see
them “get aligned as a board. No more divisions.”
Turner spoke next and started by
saying that this is not a “popularity contest.” He stated, “I say
what I mean and mean what I say,” and that he keeps his word. Turner
admitted that he can be a bit “rough around the edges,” but as
chairman would ensure that things were getting done right.
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After the
speeches, the board members took a vote. They started with
Conahan since he was the first nomination. The vote was seven in
favor and four against. Glenn, Nelson, Schmidt, and Turner all
voted ‘no.’ For Turner’s vote, it was four in favor and seven
against. Conahan, Fitzpatrick, Knauer, Kuhlman, Leesman,
Sanders, and Wessbecher all voted ‘no.’ Conahan won the vote and
then assumed the chair’s seat.
The vote for the vice chair was next.
Like with the previous vote, there were two nominations. Nelson
nominated Kuhlman and Sanders nominated Knauer. Both candidates were
given a chance to speak, and both kept it short. They each
recognized the other as a good pick and stated that they would do
their best.
Kuhlman’s vote was first, with only Knauer voting against and
Conahan abstaining. For Knauer, Glenn, Fitzpatrick, Kuhlman, Leesman,
Nelson, and Schmidt voted ‘no.’ This left Kuhlman as the winner of
the vice chairmanship.
Conahan, now leading the meeting, moved on to public comments next.
Andrea Hinton was the first to speak. She brought up the fact that
DeRoss’s seat had not yet been filled and that she was interested in
filling it. She called the vacancy “unfair” to the people of
District 5 and said that someone should fill it if not her. Conahan
responded to this comment stating that he was going to make it a
priority to hold interviews either this month or next to fill the
seat.
The next commenter shared an update on Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
requests that she made. She shared that, after three months, her
request was denied. She modified her request to meet the denial and
claimed that she had to threaten legal action to get a response. She
said this response did not include any additional information. She
also stated that, while she does not want to move forward with legal
action, feels that this is the only way to get the county to fulfill
her FOIA request.
The board then moved on to their action items. The first two were
voted on in the Finance meeting held before the start of this
meeting. These items were a resolution for a small law change that
Circuit Clerk Kelly Elias needed to make due to a law change, while
the other was a resolution for a tax year 2025 tax sale. The board
unanimously approved both items.
Wessbecher spoke on the final action item. He shared that there is a
grant that the county can apply for that will let the county afford
three new buses for the Show Bus program. This action item would
allow the county to apply for this grant. The board unanimously
approved this item as well.
Before the end of the meeting, Nelson
shared that the board is looking at holding another special meeting
on Monday September 14th. The purpose for this meeting, Nelson said,
was to get some items passed for the Pike Creek Wind Farm. Nelson
also shared that this project would bring in millions of dollars in
tax revenue for various taxing bodies across the county. The meeting
was adjourned after Nelson’s comment.
[Matt Boutcher] |
