Wednesday, December 08, 2010
 
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County board reorganizes after swearing in officials

(Originally posted Tuesday)

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[December 08, 2010]  Following swearing-in of recently elected county officials on Monday morning, the Logan County Board met briefly for its biennial reorganization.

HardwareThe 12-seat board welcomed three new board members: M.E. "Gene" Rohlfs, District 4; Arthur "Andy" Anderson, District 5; and Andrew L. Meister, District 3.

Kevin Bateman, District 6, won his first election. Bateman had been appointed to fill the unexpired term of Michael McIntosh after McIntosh became Logan County's state's attorney two years ago.

Veteran board members sworn to new four-year terms were Charles "Chuck" Ruben, representing District 1, and Robert "Bob" Farmer, from District 2.

The newly elected and re-elected officials join the following board members who each have two years remaining: Bill Martin, District 1; Jan Schumacher, District 2; Rick Aylesworth, District 3; David Hepler, District 4; Patrick "Pat" O'Neill, District 5; and Terry Carlton, District 6.

Opening the reorganization meeting, Carlton conducted his last duty in the public eye as two-year chairman by calling for nominations for chairman and vice chairman. There were no contests. Board members offered only one name for each position, and with full board attendance both nominees received unanimous approval:

  • Chairman: Bob Farmer -- 12-0 vote

  • Vice chairman: David Hepler -- 12-0

In other business the board also made the following approvals:

  • Parliamentarian: Hepler

  • Finance and policies -- unanimous acceptance of the document as amended in 2010.

The chairman of the county board appoints the chair for each committee and assigns all board members to county committees and commissions. The chairman then attends and oversees all county committees and may combine, separate or form special or temporary committees.

As new board chairman, Farmer asked board members to continue on the committees where they have been, and he asked that the new members attend the committees of the board member they replaced until he would have the opportunity to assess the committees and make changes.

Farmer made two temporary committee chairman assignments:

  • Airport: Gene Rohlfs

  • Building and grounds: Terry Carlton

Committees are airport and farm, road and bridge, buildings and grounds, insurance and legislative, planning and zoning, law enforcement, emergency management, coroner and ambulance, executive and economic development, personnel, safety, animal control, and finance.

Most county committees have five board members. Committee assignments are generally made recognizing experience and skill sets of individuals and their interests as much as possible.

Committees are arranged when possible to meet back-to-back with two committees, keeping as many of the same members as possible. This saves time for board members and costs for the county.

Board members are paid per diem, $35 per day, for meeting attendance. Whether they attend one or two meetings in the day, they receive $35 for that day plus 50 cents per mile to and from meetings.

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Board members also serve as liaisons to other local and state entities. Those include waste management, public health board, work force investment, tourism, Main Street Lincoln, government education, chamber of commerce, General Assembly, Community Action, regional planning commission, development partnership, community governments and other groups as needed.

In addition to assigned committee work, all board members are expected to attend the two meetings of the full board that occur each month. During the board of whole, committee chairmen report important information, and at the adjourned session, official voting may take place.

The new board's first order of business as a full board is at a special board-of-whole meeting called for the hiring of a new administrative assistant. Applications have been reviewed for the position currently held by JoAnne Marlin, who plans to retire at the end of December.

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Other Logan County officials sworn to office for four-year terms on Monday morning were Sally Litterly, clerk and recorder; Vicki L. Dugan, first-term treasurer; Steven Nichols, sheriff; and Jean Anderson, regional superintendent of schools.

Mary Kelley was sworn in after being elected to fill the remaining two years of the circuit clerk's term. The vacancy was created when Carla Bender took a state position.

[By JAN YOUNGQUIST]

Past related articles

2010:

2008:

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