Friday, April 11

County withholds economic development funds over Open Meetings Act

[APRIL 11, 2003]  The Logan County Board Thursday night heard an appeal to purchase land for a north-side industrial park, set a special meeting to discuss economic development and then tentatively voted to withhold money budgeted for the economic development office.

In November the board earmarked $25,000 of income from the county farm for economic development. The farm fund, viewed as discretionary money, was chosen instead of the general fund, which is collected directly from taxpayers through real estate taxes.

In February State's Attorney Tim Huyett, in response to an inquiry, put out an opinion that meetings of the Economic Development Corporation board of directors are subject to the Open Meetings Act. Since the meetings are in fact not open, Huyett advised the two county board members who sit on the EDC board, Dale Voyles and Dick Logan, not to participate unless the EDC complies with the act.

Bobbi Abbott, executive director of the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce, cited a contradictory opinion from the chamber's attorney, John Gehlbach. He concluded that the Economic Development Executive Council (what Huyett termed the EDC board) is a committee of the chamber, which is legally independent of the county board and the city of Lincoln, and as such is not subject to the Open Meetings Act. Abbott said the EDEC is not a public body and is not required to hold open meetings but is purposely structured to share information with the county through its two county board representatives.

 

Board chair Voyles, who at November budget meetings was instrumental in keeping the county contribution to economic development at $25,000, made the motion to withhold payment. He stressed that Huyett is the county's attorney and the board must follow his opinion unless it is challenged or reversed. Voyles was countered by Logan and Terry Werth, who urged their fellow board members not to renege on the commitment made in the budget. In the straw poll the motion to withhold payment until the EDC meets open meetings criteria passed by one vote, with Dave Hepler abstaining.

Earlier, after Economic Development Director Jeff Mayfield's energetic plea to move forward on creation of a commerce park, the board set a special meeting for 7 p.m., Monday, April 21, in the courthouse first-floor courtroom to debate economic development priorities. Mayfield is invited to the public meeting, along with owners of land developed for industrial uses. Hepler, Mitch Brown, Bob Farmer and Chuck Ruben voted against holding the meeting.

Mayfield cited three businesses that are ready to come to Lincoln as soon as a north-side park is developed, if the deal is right. They are Carroll Distributing, auto wholesaler Mike Stude of Chicago and Daron Whittaker of Lincoln for a Cub Cadet dealership. He added that other businesses are interested but are not yet ready to be named publicly. Though emphasizing that he wants to develop all parts of the county, Mayfield said he has no current leads interested in a site on the west side.

Commending Decatur's "We like it here" campaign, Mayfield challenged public officials to help transform negative attitudes. Despite the weak economy, he asserted, it is a good time to develop industrial sites because interest rates are at a 30-year low.

Saying, "I'm recommending a new spirit or level of cooperation," Mayfield asked the county to purchase the north-side industrial park site and the city of Lincoln to provide the infrastructure. A spec building is no longer part of the plan. He calculated the city's interest payment at $33,550 and the county's at $20,684 annually for the first three years, with higher payments later. He also proposed asking utility companies to lower their charges further. As an inducement, Mayfield said the Economic Development Council would pay the county's first year's interest. Then the county would have two years before its first payment.

Mayfield is providing board members with several documents to consider before the April 21 meeting.

 

 

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In another contested vote the board tentatively decided to bid out its commercial liability insurance, with a June 1 due date set for bids. Insurance and Legislative Committee chair Gloria Luster said she could not find anyone to prepare bid specifications in the time available, so the board will have to go with specs from the last time the insurance was bid.

St. Paul is the county's current commercial liability carrier, with Jerry Palmer as agent. The company has not yet communicated its rates for the policy year beginning July 16. A 60-day notice is mandatory if the increase is 30 percent or more. Voyles said there has been no problem with St. Paul.

In a straw vote the board favored bidding out the insurance, with Hepler and Brown opposing. A specialist in preparing bid specifications will be invited to speak to the board in the summer or fall. Specifications need to be completed by January, Luster explained.

In other business Logan County Health Department Administrator Lloyd Evans announced that as of July 1 the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is cutting its $80,000 annual contribution to the Rural Health van operated by Healthy Communities Partnership. SIU uses the van in its educational program. The money, which comes from an Illinois Department of Public Health grant, is largely used to pay a nurse practitioner's salary.

Evans said he and Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital Chief Executive Officer Woody Hester are pursuing other sources of funding in an attempt to save the nurse practitioner's job and the van. If these are lost, Evans affirmed that the Health Department is still committed to serving the 14 communities the van visits. In the worst-case scenario, a full-time nurse will continue to work in the communities but on a reduced schedule.

In other straw polls the board voted to:

--Cap the county HMO single rate at $284 effective May 1. The employee health insurance contract approved in April had an HMO single rate of $284 but no cap. Finance chair Chuck Ruben said absence of a cap created problems for Treasurer Mary Bruns. The insurance is with Health Alliance of Champaign through the R.W. Garrett Agency.

--Allow signing of an intergovernmental agreement to receive Geographic Information Systems money through the Illinois Department of Transportation. County Engineer Tom Hickman said he requested approximately $65,000 for high-resolution digital aerial photography to scale covering the entire county. Other items such as software and training bring the package to about $100,000. In addition to Highway Department needs, he expects that Supervisor of Assessments Rosanne Brosamer will utilize the information to apply new land-use criteria for assessing farmland. Hickman said that according to his request, which has been approved, IDOT will pay 80 percent of the cost and the Highway Department 20 percent. To cover the department's share, he will ask for contributions from other governmental bodies such as the assessor's office.

 

--Experiment with Saturday hours at the animal control facility for 60 days beginning April 28. The new hours are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays. Only registration, payment of fines and animal pickup can be accomplished on Saturday. Adoptions must take place during the week.

--Pay R.L. High of Clinton $8,200 to make emergency repairs to the courthouse roof to stop a leak in the state's attorney's office. High will match original roofing materials.

--Building and Grounds Committee chair Dick Logan said the county expects a $38,800 grant from the Department of Natural Resources to repair the courthouse dome.

[Lynn Spellman]


Wet spring needed following deficit precipitation over northern Illinois

[APRIL 11, 2003]  With precipitation totals 6 inches below typical amounts over the last seven months
-- 69 percent of average -- Illinois has experienced the seventh driest September-March period since 1895 and the driest such period over the last 46 years, according to the Illinois State Water Survey, a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Regional precipitation conditions in Illinois for September-March also have been very dry. The northwest and northeast Crop Reporting Districts, or CRDs, were the driest on record (50 and 52 percent of average, respectively). The west and central CRDs were the second driest (57 and 53 percent of average, respectively). The east CRD was fourth driest (57 percent of average). With 73 and 77 percent of average, respectively, the west-southwest and east-southeast CRDs were the 15th driest. Precipitation has been near average to above average in the southwest and southeast CRDs, and they are not currently experiencing a deficit.

Technically, these data place the northern half of Illinois in a climatological precipitation drought, and impacts are beginning to be observed in other water resources of the state. Surprisingly, soil moisture conditions within the uppermost 6 inches of soil are relatively near average across Illinois, but subsoil moisture conditions vary considerably. Observations from the southern third of the state indicate above average moisture levels between 40 and 72 inches below the surface, but conditions in parts of central and northern Illinois in this layer are only 25 percent of normal.

Without a large snowmelt this year, combined with the low precipitation, stream flows along selected rivers and streams are showing below to much below normal flows for this time of year in all but extreme southern Illinois. Overall, current statewide flows are just 37 percent of the median flow rates for the end of March and have been below median rates since last October.

Shallow groundwater water table levels in observation wells away from pumping stations are also well below average levels and have been below the statewide average for the last seven months. Overall, shallow groundwater levels were below average levels for March by 2.2 feet. In northern Illinois, the well at Mount Morris (Ogle County), where readings began in 1961, reported a record low for March, and the well at Fermi Laboratory (DuPage County) reported the lowest monthly level in the 15 years of observation at that site.

 

 

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Reservoir data have shown only slight impacts from low precipitation totals, primarily because there are no public water reservoirs in the northern third of the state. Some northernmost reservoirs are below normal levels by a few feet, which is not considered a concern at this time, but these conditions should be monitored closely for those reservoirs not filled by the end of April.

Reduced precipitation is present not only in Illinois but also over much of the Midwest. Consequently, the water level in Lake Michigan this spring is at its lowest since 1964. The lake is 2 feet below the normal for April and only 8 inches above the record low level observed in 1964.

Fortunately, the precipitation deficit has occurred during a period when monthly rainfall totals in northern and central Illinois are typically low, crops are not using water, and evaporation rates are considerably lower than in warmer seasons. Thus, the primary potential impact of the precipitation deficit currently is on agriculture. Above average rainfall over the next several months is needed to recharge subsoil moisture in dry areas as crop roots begin to tap into these depths later in the summer. However, without a return to average precipitation, rapid reductions in other water resources within the northern half of Illinois may soon follow.

If history is a guide, only two years of the remaining years in the top 10 driest September-March periods had slightly above average statewide precipitation amounts in the April-June period that followed (14 and 18 percent above average). Six of the years observed slightly below average rainfall (6-16 percent below average), and precipitation in Illinois within the following three months was less than 50 percent of average in 1934.

For more information on current precipitation conditions in Illinois, see the following:

[Illinois State Water Survey news release]

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