On Thursday, October 10 the Jasper County Board met for the regularly scheduled October meeting. Board members present included: Bollman, Leffler, Fehrenbacher, Hall, Heltsley, Hickox, Kerner, Pickens, Swick, Warfel, Michl and Weddell.
All votes are unanimous unless otherwise stated and the minutes are considered unofficial until approved at the next meeting.
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by proclamation according to law by Sheriff Francis.
Sheriff Francis led a moment in silence and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Public comments: No Public Comments
Warfel made a motion to amend the agenda to add amend 2019 Budget to New Business. Bollman seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote.Chad Miller explained the amendment explaining after the budget was passed there were wrong numbers inputted into lines regarding the probation department. The administrative office of Illinois courts uses those numbers to determine what money the county receives. There are situations where there can be a shortfall and it could be covered, however, since this is reported to back to the courts it needs to be fixed.
Weddell made a motion to approve the agenda. Swick seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote.
Committee Reports: (directly from the unofficial notes)
The Road and Bridge Committee met on September 9th at the Highway Office. Foreman’s mileage for Sept was 1,068 miles.
The Sheriff’s Committee met on September 30th .
Deputy Garrett Finn is working on his own. This Sheriff’s Office now has 6 full-time working Deputies. Part-Time dispatcher Brittany Pride gave a letter of resignation on September 30th , 2019. Pride will continue to work her scheduled days during the month of October with her last working day being October 28th .
Sheriff Francis is currently accepting applications for part-time Correctional Officer. The application deadline is October 11th . The new squad from Kansas is ready. The Sheriff will be leaving on October 1st to pick it up. Sheriff Francis has received a quote from Barbecks for new Starcom radios. Police Chief Mike
Swick and Sheriff Francis are planning on purchasing these radios. Sheriff advised the committee that he has money in his Spillman line item that he would like to use for the radios. The committee discussed changing the line item. Leffler made a motion to combine the Spillman, Radio Purchase, and Radio Maintenance into
1 line item called Radio Purchase / Maintenance. Fehrenbacher seconded the motion. Motion passed on a voice vote. Sheriff Francis and the committee discussed applying for grants to help pay for some of the cost
of the new radios. Weddell mentioned that Snedeker Insurance offers an ICMRT grant. Sheriff advised that he will check into that as well as other available grants. Deputies are attending some training courses over the next couple of months. The training is offered through the Mobile training Unit and meets state mandates.
On September 30th the 911 phones were down. 911 calls were going to Cumberland County. Cumberland would then direct the call back to our Dispatch. Indigital was contacted and fixed the problem within a few hours. 911 calls are now working properly.
The Finance Committee met on October 7th . Griffith, Probation, stated her numbers were not put in the 2018-2019 budget and will be over budget. Fehrenbacher made a motion to take out of contingency for probation.
Hall seconded the motion. Motion carried on a roll call vote. Clinton stressed department heads need to look at the budget, so will not have this problem next year. Treasurer’s Report: Clinton reported the 2nd distribution will be this week. The county is running in the positive for the year. Dial represented SRM for
insurance renewal. Diel said we are doing a good job with managing the counties funds. Other counties are struggling. The insurance Renewal Rate was up 4.9%. The increase from work comp was reflected for the first time for the new ambulance schedule, it did not reflect it last year. The county has paid the premium all at once but have other options of different payment plans. Heltsley asked if privatizing the ambulance would make the rate go down. Diel said it would go down, there are different rates for different jobs. Hall made a motion to approve the Insurance Renewal. Fehrenbacher seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote. Fehrenbacher made a motion to approve the State’s Attorney Appellate Prosecutor Fee Resolution for 2020. Bollman seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote. Fehrenbacher made a motion to
approve Personal Property Replacement Tax transfer to IMRF. Hall seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote. FY2020 Budget changes have been made. Clinton went over the changes made.
The Building Committee met on October 3rd . Pickens will get ahold of Mitch Lustig to get a quote on the escape doors for the County Building. Jeff will be refinishing the floors of the courthouse the weekend of Oct. 12. Ron Diel fixed the ramp on the southside of the jail to make sure it is safe, the deck boards along
with the bolts had rusted were fixed. Gary Michl reported Henry Carpenter has been busy and will get to the courthouse to seal the bricks soon. Discussion of floors in the Circuit Clerk’s office on LVT flooring looking like tiles or wood, needs to be commercial grade. LVT is water resistant and can be glued down or click down. The front office part of the office needs to possibly done at the same time the carpet looks worn. Doug Dhom will come and do measurements and estimate the cost, split up estimate to see what cost to replace the carpet in the front office. Possibly have a week when not having a jury there to install that week. Roy to get samples and see on the cost. Nothing to discuss on the Sheriff Department Project. 5 year Plan working on it. Need to see if judge has money to help fix up the court room. Need to check with Smithenry when will do concrete work in front of the County Building.
GIS committee did not meet.
The Ambulance Committee met on September 2 nd . 2356 had both batteries replaced along with 2 LED emergency lights and a valve stem extinction. Lucas Ruholl has accepted an EMS teaching position in our
EMS system through Sara Bush. He will be staying on with us part time to help fill open shifts and 3rd crew when he is available. This will also help our connection with the EMS office. Stephanie Jayne will be hired on in the open full time position and Molly Schmidt will be attending the Paramedic program starting in April of 2020. This move allows us to invest into our current employees and local residents. Daniel reported on the information obtained at the ISAA conference.
The Insurance Committee did not meet, but will have a meeting October 28 th at noon at Parklanes. Several attended Hope Trust and Snedeker Risk Management meeting. Updates were given, and there was a sessions on liability, active shooter, cannabis and labor relations.
EMA met on October 10 before the board meeting at 6:00 pm. Mitigation Plan should be done by June. EMA
has been out on a couple of searches and the drone has been used. There have been air vac calls. EMA is ordering shirts to be more visible in an emergency situation.
The Animal Control did not meet.
JEDI met on October 1 st . Monthly updates were given by Jennifer Hinterscher on the Corvette Road Tour. Amber Volk, Executive Director, Mark Bolander, Mayor of Newton, Jason Warfel, County Board , Andy Johnson, Superintendent of Jasper County Unit #1, Beth Probst, High School/Jr. High Principle, and Sara
Kinkade, Queen of Hearts.
Personnel Committee did not meet.
Health Department report is in the board packet.
Swick moved to approve the County Clerk’s report. Kerner seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
Old Business:
Hall made a motion to appoint Amber Volk to Southeastern Illinois Economic Development Authority with a term expiring the third Monday of January 2022. Fehrenbacher seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
Sheriff’s Department Project and Jasper County Personnel Policy will be held over to after closed session.
New Business:
Fehrenbacher made a motion to appoint Patricia Burtch to a 2 –year term on the Board of Review (2019-2020 assessment year). Michl seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
Fehrenbacher made a motion to appoint Norbert E. Ochs as Commissioner of the Captain Pond Drainage and Levee District with a term expiring on the first Tuesday in September 2022. Warfel seconded the motion.
The motion carried on a voice vote.
Everyone is invited to attend Oct 22 at Newton Community High School auditorium to have a discussion with City and County on Cannabis Tax & Other Ordinance. On Jan 1, 2020, individuals 21 years and over will be able to purchase and possess 30 grams of cannabis within guidelines such as storage and use. Local governments could opt out or add zoning.
Only restriction is establishments need to be 1500 feet from each other. Cities and Counties can tax the sale of cannabis. There can also be social use spaces. The County needs to decide if opt out or tax cannabis. State’s Attorney will prosecute on transportation and if taxes were paid. Maximum tax on medical cannabis is a 3% tax. Non-medical marijuana can be taxed above 3%. This is above the set sales tax.
Social use spaces were also discussed. These places can allow the use of cannabis in their facility but not the sale. These facilities can be set up unless there is zoning prohibiting them.
Darrell Hickox asked the question, ” So basically what you are saying is you can’t smoke in public now a cigarette, but if they pass this law you can smoke a joint?
Miller responded, “No, because they did not modify or amend the Clean Air Act. Illinois Clean Air. For example bars won’t be allowed to allow cannabis consumption on their properties because they are subject to the Clean Air Act. You are going to have to set up a private club for the social space use and there will still be restrictions. There are restrictions in the statute about how you can transport it, where you can purchase.”
“I will now be prosecuting people, not for the possession of the drug, I’ll be prosecuting them for whether or not they appropriately paid taxes on that drug and whether or not they transported it appropriately within their vehicle.” Miller also stated.
Fehrenbacher made a motion to approve the Annual SRM Insurance Renewal for 2019-2020. Bollman seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
Fehrenbacher made a motion to approve State’s Attorney Appellate Prosecutor Fee Resolution. Hickox seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
FY2020 County Budget is ready to be looked over if have questions please go to finance meeting on November 8 th . It will be voted on at the November Board Meeting. Pickens made a motion to lay over Fiscal 2020 proposed budget. Hickox seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
Warfel made a motion to amend the 2019 Budget. Fehrenbacher seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
Fehrenbacher made a motion for approval of flu shots for county employees at Jasper County Health Department. Hall seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
Weddell moved to approve the minutes. Pickens seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
County Board Comments:
Weddell gave a copy of Chamber of Commerce minutes for Board Members. Ben and Melissa Borgic stepped down from the Chamber board.
Chairman’s Comments:
UCCI Fall Conference will be October 25 & 26 at Springfield. Let Amy know Friday if attending. Heltsley attended the UCCI Fall Conference in DC and obtained a lot of good information. Grants are available that could be used. A Mitigation Plan which we are working on is what gives us the option to get some of the grants. Shimkus was asked if there is Federal money for the new jail not Federal money but there is grant money available and was given a contact.
No action will be held after closed session.
Pickens made a motion to go into closed session at 7:57 pm. Michl seconded the motion. The motion passed on a roll call vote with Bollman, Leffler, Fehrenbacher, Hall, Heltsley, Hickox, Kerner, Michl, Warfel, Swick, Pickens and Weddell voting yes.
9:00 pm came out of closed session.
Swick moved to allow the claims. Kerner seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
The next board meeting is November 14 th , 2019 at 7:00 pm.
Leffler moved to adjourn at 9:05 pm. Pickens seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote.
