Jasper County Board Minutes
COUNTY OF JASPER NEWTON, ILLINOIS
County Office Building 204 W Washington St, Newton, IL 62448
January 12, 2023
The County Board met in regular session on Thursday, January 12th, 2023. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by proclamation according to law by Sheriff Francis. Sheriff Francis led a moment in silence and the Pledge of Allegiance. Members present were Bollman, Deckard, Geier, Heltsley, Judson, Pickens, Spiker, Warfel, and Weddell.
Public comments: None
Geier made a motion to approve the agenda. Bollman seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote.
Reports:
County Departments
Ambulance – 171 calls for service, 101 911’s, 28 pt refusal to transport, 2 MVA’s, 14 Transfers, 9 Standby, 17 Mutual aid assists. Quote for 2357 & 2358 will be the same ($138,068.24). Waiting for a quote to replace 2356 since it would be a brand-new unit. This needs to be approved this month so that the quotes do not raise in price. Unfortunately, the ambulances were not replaced when they should have been and now each ambulance will be 18months-24months out and 2 of them are approaching 200,000 miles. John Phillips is resigning and will be taking a position at Sarah Busch; his duties are being dispersed among some of the employees.
Highway Department – The following resolutions need Full Board approval: BLR 09221 – Resolution Appropriating Funds for the Payment of the County Engineer’s Salary; 23-00000-00-CS – Resolution Appropriating Funds for Payment of Expenses and Salary of County Engineer A grant has been applied for to fund a soil cement project for the West Liberty Road. IDOT has not responded regarding the award on this grant. Options are being looked into on replacing the existing chipper which is 27 years old. The highway department has been looking for a good used chipper which are hard to find. A new chipper would cost approximately $400,000 and would take approximately 6 months to get. We have budgeted $145,000 for this year. MFT Rock & Pipe Letting for County & Township is scheduled for January 19th. The last information received on the arrival of the new Solid Waste truck will now not arrive until June 2023.
Board of Health – Monday January 23 at 5:30 next meeting
County Positions/Services
Building Maintenance – Ryan Kruger is new hire for the position. Pickens contacted Martinsville roofing patched and sealed. Brick and roof main problem. There will be a door placed in the board room to treasurer’s office. Matson office cabinetry and door to have key to interior office. Judson went around to other offices and spoke with them about their offices.
County Jail and Sheriff Office – Inspection / last walk through was done with small items needing to be addressed and 911 is the biggest issue radio to get out of building. Open house was held a good turnout and positive feedback.
Information Technology Consultant – McDonald presented estimates and gave a report on how to clean up the network and backup and reroute and power backup. Reduce the internet providers and wireless bridges between the buildings. Server and network points wireless to courthouse and county building points in basement. Money in court modernization grant may be a way to pay for upgrade. 3 servers down to one server makes backup and management easier. Need to consider doing things better. Spiker said he would highly recommend doing at some point. Jail phone system Mike Ochs and Clay Curtright have done a great job with helping with this. Ambulance and Sheriff department is finishing the onboarding process. Anti-virus is on all computers. Grants for upgrades in court technology. Spiker and Weddell could bring recommendations to next board meeting.
Supervisor of Assessment Office – Matson are a week and half to printing out abstracts. Exemptions letters are being mailed out. Ahead of schedule from last year. Lisa the assessor from Clark County came and directed Matson on what needs to be completed which was of great assistance. Moultrie County assessor pointed Matson in right direction because he had signed up for 4 classes and that there were 2 more classes he needs to sign up for. Classes start in March and will end in June.
Animal Control – Report was presented
Elected Officials
Treasurer: Reports from Bigard was sent in the board packet. Bigard stated the income for state/general fund income of $195,882.66, and the personal property income of $47,830.72 with a total income for December of $243,713.38. The expenses for December $249,014.63. Total income less expenses for December in the negative of $5,301.25. Interest income low money coming due will try to put in CD with better rates. 6-month reports due by February meeting.
Other Elected Officials/Offices
The County Clerk/Recorder stated Cott is currently here scanning documents which are permanent records which include deeds, mortgages, leases, releases, deaths, births and miscellaneous. Cott will compile and organize the records to be accessible to the public which will take a while to complete.
Geier made a motion to approve the consent agenda containing the following items: Approval of County Board December 15, 2022 Minutes; Adoption of Resolution Appropriating Funds for County Engineer’s Salary; Adoption of Resolution Appropriating Funds or Payment of Expenses and Salary of County Engineer; Approval of SCIRPDC Grant Writing Services Agreement for Energy Transition Community Grant; File County Reports and Allow Claims. Spiker seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote.
Old Business: None
New Business:
Item A – Approval of Kemper CPA Group LLP Jasper County Audit Fees for 2023
The County of Jasper yearly pays an independent agency to conduct a thorough review of the County’s finances, this is required by State Law. Since 2017 Kemper CPA Group, LLP has been contracted by the County of Jasper to perform an annual audit. In the past, these contracts have been on a 3-Year basis with the Kemper contract having been renewed in 2020 and the current contract expiring this year with the completion of the upcoming audit ending the fiscal year on November 30, 2022. For the audit ending fiscal year November 30, 2019, the fee for the standard audit was $23,500 and over the years the fee has increased to the current rate for the fiscal year ending November 30, 2022, to $29,850. This fee is only for the standard audit performed and does not consider any additional audits that may be required. When Federal Awards (Grants) Expended exceed $750,000 in any fiscal year it automatically triggers an additional single audit. For the past 3 fiscal years, this has been the case. While not spelled out in the initial contract (it rarely happened before FY2019) with Kemper’s the amount for FY2019 and FY2020 was around $5,000 annually with the amount for FY2021 being billed at $10,500. Kemper CPA requested a phone conference on Friday, January 6 to discuss the fees would be assessed for the FY2022 audit. While the contract amount of $29,850 is unchanged to honor the existing contract the single audit triggered by the Federal Awards (Grants) Expended will be billed at $30,000. This reason for the increase given by Kemper’s was, “our single audit fee was increased for 2022 as a result of additional time spent on COVID programs and compiling the SEFA information for all departments”. Total Audit fees for FY2022 will be $59,850. Looking ahead to subsequent years should the County wish to enter into a contract beyond FY2022 with Kemper’s the initial quote for services would be: Audit Fee, CYEFR (GATA), and preparation of SEFA $55,000 (Historically we have included the cost of compiling the SEFA information with our single audit fee, however since this information MUST be compiled to determine whether a single audit is required we now included it with the base audit fee…i.e. it is required whether or not a single audit is performed). Single Audit 1st Major Program $20,000 (each additional major program is an extra $15,000, if applicable) The County only had one major program in 2019, 2022, and 2021, we do not expect the County to incur an additional $15,000 in subsequent years. Beyond FY2023 fees will be adjusted for the consumer price index (minimum increase at 3%, but no more than 7.5%) For the Fiscal Year 2022 audit, the County levied $31,500 in Jasper County taxpayer monies to cover the cost of the standard audit but will be $28,350 short of the total $59,850 cost of the audit. A discussion will occur regarding this issue with the departments that have been recipients of these Federal Awards (Grants) Health, Highway, EMA and see if funds are being set back (which is allowed) from these Awards (Grants) to cover the additional audit expenses and make sure all County award (grant) recipients are aware of this added cost when applying for grants. The agenda item before the board is whether or not to accept the fees for the audit this year. We have a contract with Kemper’s for the standard audit this year which they will honor the question is regarding the additional single audit fees. Keeping in mind that the large ARPA Fund [$1,866,630] grant expenditures will hit over the next few years. So, although the Health Department has been responsible for many of these grants in the past for FY2022, FY2023, and potentially FY2024 the ARPA funds will account for a large percentage of the Federal Awards (Grants) Expended.
| FEDERAL AWARDS (GRANT) EXPENDED FY21, FY20, FY19 | |||||
| FISCAL YEAR | TOTAL | HEALTH DEPT. | HIGHWAY DEPT | EMA | OTHER |
| FY2021 | $1,460,102 | $1,203,671 (82%) | $244,444 (17%) | $4,713 | $7,274 |
| FY2020 | $1,920,157 | $1,452,442 (76%) | $352,316 (18%) | $86,874 (5%) |
$28,525 (1%) |
| FY2019 | $773,059 | $517,315 (67%) | $252,520 (33%) | $3,224 | $0 |
If the board would not approve the Audit Fees for 2023, we will quickly need to find an alternative auditor and in prior bid processes the number of firms available and willing to provide the work is small. My opinion as chairman is that we approve the audit fees for 2023 and enter a discussion with the various departments mainly the Health Department about setting a % of any grant received back to pay for the additional audit fees that will occur (this is allowed). The bulk of the extra $28,350 for this year will most likely be the result of the large amount of ARPA funds the county received along with the additional grants received by the Health Department. The Board over the next few months will need to open the bid process for the County Audit for subsequent years even if the only bidder is Kemper’s. As these costs begin to climb yearly, we need to make sure we seek to utilize Jasper County taxpayer money most efficiently. AnnMarie stated Kemper has given huge significant discount to government agencies but rising costs accrued by the company need to increase fees. Recommendation to have departments contribute to the cost of the single audit, so taxpayers do not have to pay for the cost of single audits because of grants, not currently a line item for departments for audit for single audits. As we spend ARPA money it will be the cost of the county. Weddell made motion to approve Kemper CPA Group Jasper County Audit Fees for 2023. Bollman seconded the motion. The motion was approved on a voice vote. The county will be opening for bids for the county audit in the next few months.
Item B –Discussion on Replacement of Jasper County Highway Department Chip Spreader
The Jasper County Highway Department’s chip spreader (originally purchased in 1995) has for the last few years had several issues that have required extensive repairs. At various times over the last few years, the discussion of when to purchase a new chipper has been discussed. A chip spreader’s primary use is to distribute chipping material over asphalt layers uniformly for road maintenance. Chip spreaders help extend a road’s lifecycle by filling in the gaps and giving it more traction and binding to withstand heavy traffic loads and harsh weather conditions. Chipping spreaders help do a job that otherwise cost a fortune with asphalt or concrete overlay. The County uses its chip spreader for all county highways as well as used in conjunction with all 11 Jasper County townships and small municipalities (the City of Newton and Villages in the County). A new chip spreader will cost about $400,000. For FY2023 the Highway Department has $145,000 budgeted for the cost of the chip spreader. There was discussion with the Highway Engineer Deters about options for paying for the purchase of the new chip spreader. $138,000 was the cost of the chipper in 1995. Every 4 years the roads are chipped. Rent a chipper would be $2.75 ton which would be $50,000 a year which does not include city and villages. Money was taken away 20 years ago personnel property if county wants to reimburse some of the money, consider a loan from the county. Repay fully from highway less money towards roads but more money for equipment. Township and county works well together and the county has good roads. $1.20 a ton to chip reimbursement from townships and cities / villages. Judson said need a line item to put money so when repairs would need to be done in the future. Money from townships is $10,000 to $15,000 and trade labor. Health insurance is coming out annual $150,000 and now IMRF must be paid 6.9% of every personnel property tax dollar. Department has done a great job of keeping it going. Only worth $15,000 may keep because could be used for certain rock tougher on equipment. Other counties do not have it like Jasper County where county and townships work together. County has done loan to departments with no interest. 6 months to get a chipper, need to go get bids for a new chipper.
Item C – Adopt Amendments to Jasper County Liquor Ordinance
The current Jasper County Liquor ordinance was revised and adopted in February 2022. BJ’s Saloon has asked that the County consider a revision to Article VI Regulations Section A Hours of Operation. As the ordinance currently reads: “The closing hours for all establishments licensed under this ordinance shall be from 2 A.M. to 7 A.M. every day of the week, including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.” BJ’s Saloon has wanted to pursue the idea of opening earlier for breakfast service with no alcohol being served. The proposed language would be inserted at the bottom of the section to address this: “This does not apply to hours of operation for restaurant or food service. For restaurant or food service, an establishment may open up 2 hours (5 A.M.) prior to the 7 A.M. time with the understanding no alcoholic beverages in any form shall be served until 7 A.M.” In addition, Irene’s Vineyard and Winery had expressed interest in moving from their current Class D license to a Class B license so they could sell hard liquor at events. Upon review, Irene’s is currently the only establishment with a Class D license with no others available. If we were to move them to a Class B license the language that deals with Wine Maker and Wine Manufacturers would need to be added to the Class B license and thus apply to all current Class B licenses issued by the County. A simpler and cleaner method to resolve the issue is to amend the language dealing with the Class D license to allow all alcoholic beverages sold under this license. Article V Section B Item 4: Class D, which shall authorize the sale and offer for retail sale alcoholic beverages wine, and beer in the original package, for consumption on or off the premises, as well as other retail sales of such wine only in the original package, which shall be consumed on or off the premises. A person possessing an Illinois State Wine Maker’s License, or Illinois State Wine Manufacturer’s License, and a Jasper County Winery License may also sell wine in its original package to distributors and retailers in Illinois to the extent by their Illinois State License. The fee for a Class “D” license shall be Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) per year. One available unless modified by the County Board. Additionally, there are some changes in Article V Section B to correctly match up the term alcoholic beverages as it is stated in the definitions section. The proposed language is being submitted for your consideration and discussion tonight. Heltsley said Irene’s would not like to be a bar but want to serve with meals. Weddell made motion to adopt the amendments to the Jasper County Liquor Ordinance. Geier seconded the motion. The motion was approved on a voice vote. Liquor Commissioner Ron Heltsley and the State’s Attorney will meet with establishment owners soon to review the ordinance and address the changes.
Item D – Authorize Allocation of Remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds
At the February 10, 2022, County Board meeting an Ordinance to “Elect the Standard Allowance Method of Lost Revenue (American Rescue Funds ARPA) was approved. The United States Treasure in the final ruling regarding these funds allowed Counties to opt for Stand Allocation for Lost Revenue. What that means for Jasper County claimed all $1.8 million received as “Revenue Loss” and were free to use those funds for projects seen fit as long as they didn’t fall into one of the six restricted categories: Allocations of ARPA funds were made at the March 2022 and May 2022 County Board meetings. All counties and municipalities in the United States received ARPA funds based on population. Jasper County received a total of $1,866,630 in funds. Funds awarded $1,866,630.00; 911 Dispatch System $436,361.00; County Jail HVAC System $376,878.00; County Clerk Digitalize Records $230,920.00; Assessment Office Digitalize Records $240,792.00; Highway Department Truck Cab/Chassis $100,000.00; Circuit Clerk Digitalize Records $41,157.00; Treasurer Office Drive-Up Repairs $6,199.00; SCIRPDC Grant Fees $7,500.00 All the above items have been paid for or obligated. Remaining funds $426,823.00 Proposed usage of remaining funds Remaining funds $426,823.00; Ambulance Service Remount Unit $138,000.00; County Jail Remaining Balance $212,900.00; County Buildings Improvements/Repairs $75,923.00 remaining funds $0 The proposal before the board is the allocation of the remaining ARPA Funds. To help the financially strapped Ambulance Service the proposal is to pay for the ambulance remount from the ARPA Funds. To help lessen the burden on the County’s General Fund the proposal is to take the remaining payment of the County Jail from the ARPA Funds. To help address some of the needed repairs on the County Courthouse and County Building the remaining money will be put towards improvements and repairs. With this final allocation, Jasper County’s ARPA funds should all be allocated. Jail amount remaining balance due on the project. Need to increase Circuit Clerk by $5,000. Weddell expressed his concern on not having EMA not receiving in the funds for building and animal control. EMA is still looking for a building. Weddell thinks the county could afford the $200,000 for the jail. Grant could be possible for
Geier made motion to authorize the allocation of remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds as follows: $138,000 for the Ambulance Service Remount Unit, $212,900 for the remaining balance on the County Jail and Sheriff’s Office, $75,923 towards county building improvements with a decrease for the amount circuit clerk has incurred additional. Deckard seconded the motion. Motion passed with Bollman, Deckard, Geier, Heltsley, Judson, Pickens, Spiker, and Warfel voting yes. Weddell voting no.
Item E – Approve American Response Vehicles Jasper County Ambulance Remount $138,068.04
Item D on the agenda approved by the Board, allocated $138,000 for a 2023 AEV Remount Type III Custom Ambulance Chevrolet G4500, LWB, 4×2, Gas. During the December Board Meeting, Jennifer Hargrave spoke about the need to do something with one of the current rigs 2358. It is costing a lot of money in repairs monthly. This quote would be taking the existing box of rig 2358 and having it re-done… (stripped down to bare metal and repainted and inside the box cleaned with the floor replaced) it would then be placed on a new chassis. New ambulances are running $200,000 currently and there is a huge saving on just remounting the box. The current lead time is approximately 18-22 months for the remount. There will be a chassis trade, but no quote is given at this time because of the long lead time. The American Response Vehicles Quote is included in the board packet. Box will be good as new and there will be a warranty. Deckard stated as good as a new one. States Attorney stated there is an EPA regulation and prior approval from EPA, show urgent need approved by case by case. Geier made motion to approve American Response Vehicles Jasper County Ambulance Remount Quote of $138,068.24. Deckard seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote. Weddell would like to explore removing until could afford new unit.
Board Comments:
Bollman liked Brandon’s statement and stand behind him.
Chairman Comments: UCCI Calendar of Meetings and Conferences get with Amy she takes care of arrangements; Points of Contact have heard good things and keep reaching out to departments; Six Month Reports are requested from the required elected offices for the February Meeting. County Offices closed on Monday, January 16th for Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.
Executive/Closed Session: None
Geier moved to adjourn at 7:35 pm. Pickens seconded the motion. Motion carried on a voice vote.
Next Regular Board Meeting will be Thursday, February 9th at 6:00 p.m.
Amy Tarr, Jasper County Clerk
