Kankakee Times

Iroquois County Board met Feb. 11.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The Iroquois County Board met in Recessed Session at the Administrative Center, in Watseka, IL at 9 A.M. Chairman Shure called the meeting to order and asked County Clerk Lisa Fancher to call the roll.

Roll call and votes in Iroquois County

Recessed Session, February 11, 2020

Chairman Shure

On motion to call the roll

Aye: Alt, Bard, Behrends, Bowers, Coughenour, Curtis, Duby, Huse, Johnson, McGinnis, McTaggart, Offill, Shure, Stichnoth, Whitlow, Zumwalt

Absent: Bohlmann, Crow, Ducat, Young

PRAYER & PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mrs. Offill introduced Reverend Joe Hughes, Pastor of Centennial Christian Church in Watseka, who gave the opening prayer after which the Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.

AGENDA

It was moved by Mr. Huse and seconded to approve the agenda. The motion carried by a voice vote.

MINUTES

It was moved by Mr. Stichnoth and seconded to approve the minutes from the January 14, 2020 Recessed Session County Board meeting. The motion carried by a voice vote.

PAYROLL

It was moved by Mr. Zumwalt and seconded to approve the January payroll. The motion carried by a roll call vote.

Chairman Shure

On motion to approve the January payroll

Aye: Alt, Bard, Behrends, Bowers, Coughenour, Curtis, Duby, Huse, Johnson, McGinnis, McTaggart, Offill, Shure, Stichnoth, Whitlow, Zumwalt

Absent: Bohlmann, Crow, Ducat, Young

COUNTY BOARD SERVICES

Charles Alt. $322.50

Lyle Behrends. $340.08

Roger Bard. $105.00

Paul Bowers. $139.50

Kevin Coughenour. $70.00

Ernest Curtis. $156.75

Leanne Duby. $99.90

Steve Huse. $227.35

Sherry Johnson. $175.00

Chad McGinnis (2 months). $340.56

Barbara Offill. $158.58

John Shure. $1004.72

Marvin Stichnoth. $204.40

Jed Whitlow. $156.75

Joe Young. $51.45

John Zumwalt. $181.40

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Robert Kramer of Gilman spoke to the Board about the decline of population in Illinois, more specifically in Iroquois County. He said business needs to be encouraged and feels efforts need to be quadrupled to attract people and business to the area.

CHAIRMAN COMMENTS

Chairman Shure encouraged attendance and participation at the upcoming town hall meeting on Thursday evening. The meeting he spoke about will take place on February 13, 2020 at 6 P.M. at Trinity Church in Watseka, IL. The report of the flood study and work plan for the Iroquois River will be presented by Christopher Burke Engineering. There will be a question and answer session following the presentation regarding the establishment of the Iroquois County River Conservancy District which will appear as a referendum on the March 17th, 2020 Primary Election ballot.

OUTSIDE ORGANIZATION REPORTS

There were no outside organization reports.

POLICY & PROCEDURE

Chairman Shure gave the report of the Policy & Procedure Committee and moved for adoption. The motion was seconded and carried by a roll call vote.

On motion to approve the Policy & Procedure Committee report

Aye: Alt, Bard, Behrends, Bowers, Coughenour, Curtis, Duby, Huse, Johnson, McGinnis, McTaggart, Offill, Shure, Stichnoth, Whitlow, Zumwalt

Absent: Bohlmann, Crow, Ducat, Young

Mr. Chairman and members of the County Board:

Your Committee to whom was referred Policy & Procedure would beg leave to submit the following report on the matters before them:

Your Committee met at the Administrative Center on January 30, 2020 at 9:00 A.M.

Members present were County Board Chairman John Shure, Lyle Behrends, Charlie Alt, Barbara Offill and Marvin Stichnoth. Michael McTaggart was absent. Also present Finance Manager Jill Johnson, County Clerk Lisa Fancher, Supervisor of Assessments Bob Yergler, 911 Director Eric Raymond, EMA Director Eric Ceci, Myron Munyon with Compass Insurance, Tim Drury with Bliss McKnight, and Wendy Davis with the Times Republic.

The meeting was called to order.

It was moved by Marvin Stichnoth and seconded by Charlie Alt to approve the agenda.

Motion carried by a voice vote.

There were no public comments.

The Committee Chairs gave their monthly reports:

● Tax and Zoning Chairman Marvin Stichnoth reported the Tax and Zoning Committee will hear the standard department head reports.

● Highway Chairman Charlie Alt reported the Highway Committee will take action on the recent bid letting.

● Management and Judicial Chairman Lyle Behrends reported the Management Committee will open and approve fertilizer bids along with their monthly reports. The Judicial Committee will hear their standard reports.

● Health Chairman Barbara Offill reported the Health Committee will hear the standard reports and the health department will have a presentation for the committee.

EMA Director Eric Ceci reported over the past month he attended an LEPC meeting on January 14th, hosted an emergency management advisory meeting on January 23rd and attended a MABAS meeting on January 29th. Ceci has been working with the National Weather Service to set up the annual weather spotter seminar for March 11th. Ceci said there have been requests from the public for active shooter training. He is looking into ways to offer this training. Lastly, Ceci continues to work on the hazard mitigation plan

County Board Chairman John Shure gave an update on flood matters in Iroquois County.

Shure attended a meeting on January 16th and also plans to attend a meeting on February 5th. There is an upcoming Town Hall meeting on February 13th at Trinity Church in Watseka. Christopher Burke Engineering will be giving a presentation to the public. Shure strongly encourages those in Concord Township, Belmont Township, Middleport Township and Iroquois Township to attend.

Also, Shure said he communicated with Dave Fisher, the surveyor in Benton County, and he reported work would begin on Sugar Creek. Shure believes this work will effect Sugar Creek in Iroquois County

Senate Bill 75 pertaining to sexual harassment training was discussed. Myron Munyon with Compass Insurance introduced Tim Drury with Bliss McKnight to the committee. Drury told the committee he spoke with a representative from the Illinois Department of Human Rights. The law states the Illinois Department of Human Rights is creating a model training program that is expected to be available on their website by the end of February or early March. Drury also noted the training doesn’t need to be completed until December 31, 2020.

Drury also reviewed the Counties alcohol and drug policy. He requested a copy of the entire personnel policy to review stating other policies may be related to the alcohol and drug policy such as drug testing. Finance Manager Jill Johnson will send Drury the personnel policy and all collective bargaining agreements.

Appointments include Michelle Fairley, Dr. James Tungate and Dr. Rodney Yergler to the Board of Health.

Correspondence was distributed to the committee.

The committee reviewed the claims. It was moved by Alt and seconded by Offill to approve the claims subject to County Board approval. A roll call vote was taken. Motion carried.

There was no old business.

During new business, Supervisor of Assessments Bob Yergler suggested the County look into changing the language in the County Farm lease in regards to payment of real estate taxes. Yergler said he believes whomever cash rents the ground should be responsible for payment of the taxes.

As there was no further business to come before the committee, it was moved by Alt and seconded by Offill to adjourn at 9:41 A.M. Motion carried by a voice vote

http://www.co.iroquois.il.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/February-2020.pdf