Jasper County Board Minutes
COUNTY OF JASPER NEWTON, ILLINOIS
County Office Building 204 W Washington St, Newton, IL 62448
October 13th, 2022
The County Board met in regular session on Thursday, October 13th, 2022. 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. Members present were Fehrenbacher, Geier, Heltsley, Kerner, Leffler, Pickens, Swick, Warfel, and Weddell. Bollman, Hall, and Hickox were absent.
Public comments: Tiffany Keller was here to address the board about lighting and electrical on the court house lawn. Chamber hosting an event Dec 10th and wanting lights strung across the street. They would like to decorate the flower pots. The black pole lights around the square have electricity and the court house does not have them so there is no electricity on court house with the poles. A picture was shown as an example of what it would like. There is a lack of electricity for the court house lawn for festivals and events. Pickens will discuss this during the next buildings committee.
Heltsley made a motion to approve the agenda. Geier seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote.
Committee Reports: Standing Committees
Ambulance Department: Old Business: Did Ambulance Committee find out if the county maintenance employee could spray weeds for us also? New Business: E-Schedule will be up and going this month, will help reduce any payroll issues. “New” refurbed copier/printer/fax machine installed. FirstNet phones are now in the rigs, this will give us better technology capabilities. PR events being scheduled. Some transfers are coming in, staffing has been a struggle due to a few out on surgery leave, 1 FT basic quit night before shift to be a stay-at-home mom. We hired 2 FT basics, – another one is interested. Building is getting a facelift – John Curtright is painting and fixing things around the station that was long overdue – I believe this is boosting morale and people are happy that someone is listening to them and making life around here easier. Give him a thank you if you see him. Still waiting on credit card from bank. Clinton working on this. We are seeing payments from insurance companies (Medicare just paid over $35,000) and patients that have been invoiced. I will send out another round of invoices later this month. $121,470.82 that should have been sent to collections since 2015. I will begin to work on paperwork for these and get these sent to collections. Not sure how much we will be able to collect as these patients could have had insurance and now it’s too late to bill the insurance and then you cannot bill the patient. $168,571.02 is the current amount at our collection’s agency. I have researched that payroll here is the same/comparable to other ambulance services. Fuel prices are what they are – there is no contract available for reduced rates. 124 calls for service: 71 911’s, 17 refusals, 11 transfers, 5 standby, 20 mutual aid. Woody’s contract and questions
Buildings: No meeting. Concrete work is planned to be completed at the court house and county building. Weddell should meet with the committee on the LED sign on the court house which is currently not working.
Finance: The Finance Committee met on Monday, October 7th, 2022. Technology consultant report – Claims on page 5 $9,600 a lot of additional costs. Needs to be a breakdown of charges. Treasurer’s Report: Bigard reported the income of $674,696.68 and the expenses of $328,423.97. Fiscal year to date totals are State/General Fund Income $2,924,835.26, Personal property income is $571,531.78, total income $3,496,367.04. Expenses to date $2,625,694.59 with a net profit of $870,672.45. New Business: Annual tax levy was discussed with lowering IMRF and Unemployment Insurance while increasing Audit because of the single audits, Tort and Social Security and Workers Compensation. The highway department will have some changes to the levy and the ambulance has not given any amount of change. Asset Forfeiture Account is being required by the state for the Sheriff Department. Fehrenbacher made a motion to open the Asset Forfeiture Account. Bollman seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote. Fehrenbacher made a motion to make Election Day a Holiday. No action was taken on the Election Day Holiday. The Court House will be closed but other offices will remain open. The Snedeker Risk Management Annual Insurance Renewal was discussed. Department heads need to look over and see if items are listed and should not be listed. It needs to be looked at to see if we can decrease the $40,000 increase in premium. Old Business: FY2023 Budget work was presented. The budget will never be balanced. A breakdown of the budget was given. The State of Illinois is mandating new variable reporting for probation, and someone will need to be hired part-time. Not sure where the office space will be for this position. Questions on the budget need to be brought to November finance. Fehrenbacher made a motion to lay over the budget. Swick seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote. Department heads need to look over their budgets and sign off if correct and return to the treasurer. Next meeting Monday, November 14th, 2022, at 8:30 am at the County Building.
Highway Department: The Jasper County Road & Bridge Committee met on Tuesday, October 11, 2022, 7:00 a.m. at the Highway Office. Old Business: Discussion was held on the Solid Waste Program. The Committee agreed to some cost cutting by eliminating all free dumpsters. The Committee was updated on the HSIP Grant Guardrail Project. 8 of the 26 locations have been completed. The contractor is planning on being finished this year. New Business: The Pavement Preservation Day Labor is completed with the oiling of 25.14 miles. The next regular Road & Bridge Committee Meeting will be held on Monday, November 14, 2022.
Operations: The Operations Committee met on September 19, 2022, at 7:00 pm. Old Business: The committee reviewed a design for employee recognition plaques. New Business: The committee discussed the current insurance premium for the county and how the budget would be affected if the committee paid an additional amount towards employee health insurance, with Tarr and Bigard. The county currently pays $600 toward employee health insurance. Weddell made a motion to raise the amount that is covered to $655.50. Heltsley seconded the motion. The motion carried on a voice vote. Fehrenbacher gave the committee the county’s current personnel policy and S.A.F.E. assessments for the county building and county courthouse to review. Discussion on each will be held during next month’s meeting. Next meeting October 17, 2022, at 7:00 pm.
Public Safety: The Public Safety Committee met on Monday, September 19th, 2022 at 6:30 pm. Monthly Reports: Long and E. Francis attended the IEMA conference to undergo training. New Business: The committee reviewed the renewed animal control budget with Ferguson and Bigard. Geier made a motion to add $1,200 to the animal control budget, which will be split into two payments each year, for his cell phone expenses. Leffler seconded the motion. The motion carried with a voice vote. The committee discussed the current billing system for when dogs have been impounded within the villages. The committee agreed on a new system, where the bills get sent to the county clerk, where she will send the bills to the villages. Next meeting October 17th at 6:30 pm.
Informative
Law Enforcement Center Pay/Progress: Furnishings will be here next week. Training for staff this week and next.
Board of Health- Sandra Zumbahlen has been selected to be the new administrator.
Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development – Nov 10th possibility of having a meeting with Apex.
Swick made a motion to approve the consent agenda containing the following items: Approve County Board September 15, 2022, Minutes; Approve September and October Standing Committee Minutes; Authorize Opening Asset Forfeiture Account – Sheriff’s Office; File County Reports; Allow Claims. Kerner seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote.
Old business: None
New Business:
The Finance Committee approved sending the current proposed budget to the full board to display/layover for 15 days before a final vote at the November 17, 2022, County Board meeting. A full copy of the budget will be on display in the County Board room before, during, and following the meeting for any board members or members of the public to inspect. A copy of the full 144-page budget will be available for inspection, please contact or stop in the Treasurer’s office. A Budget Summary and General Fund Summary were included in board packets. Warfel encouraged all board members to review the proposed budget. Any changes or suggestions can be addressed the Finance Committee meeting (November 15). The board is permitted to amend the budget at the full board meeting (November 17) however Warfel encouraged any changes or suggestions to be addressed prior if possible. (55 ILCS 5/6-1001) Counties Code Annual Budget. The County Board shall adopt each year an annual budget under the terms of this Division for the succeeding fiscal year. Such budget shall be prepared by some person or persons designated by the County Board and such budget shall be made conveniently available for public inspection and provided to the public at a public meeting at least fifteen days prior to the final action thereon expect that nothing in this Act shall restrict a County Board from acting at a public meeting to amend a budget after making that budget available to the public and prior to the final adoption. Weddell made a motion to display the Jasper County Budget for FY2023. Pickens seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote.
Board Comments: The discussion of law enforcement and cyber security was covered at the conference
Chairman’s Comments: UCCI 2022 Fall Conference will be held October 28 & 29 at the Abraham Lincoln Museum and Library in Springfield, Illinois. Warfel gave an update on the County History/County Board History Project. There is a display in the county board room showing the history of county organization of county government. Warfel did all the research on this. The November board will meet as with several retiring. Reception will be held after the meeting for families and others.
Geier made a motion to go into closed session for Discussion of Personnel 5ILCS 120/2(c)(1). Kerner seconded the motion. Motion passed on a roll call vote with Fehrenbacher, Geier, Heltsley, Kerner, Leffler, Pickens, Swick, Warfel, and Weddell. Bollman, Hall, and Hickox were absent.
The board had closed session with no action following the closed session, the board adjourned from closed session at 8:28 pm
The next regular Jasper County Board meeting will be held on Thursday, November 17th at 7:00 p.m.
Amy Tarr, Jasper County Clerk
