No State budget temporarily hits Public Transportation Program, ZBA to expand, and Wind Farm to help college students

[August 13, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Tuesday, August 11, the Logan County Board's Executive Committee met to discuss several old business items and one new item--the possibility of going paperless through the use of tablets at board meetings.

Summary of old business:

On the issue of public transportation, Pam Meagher, Project Compliance and Oversight Management officer, mentioned a letter in the committee member packets from that had come from Community Action. Due to the state budget crisis and lack of grant award this year, Community Action has elected to exercise the suspension option of their agreement to provide transportation starting September 8. They provide nearly 2,000 rides each month to individuals - rides to dialysis, chemotherapy, etc.

In response, Meagher has suggested that the board consider the following options:

Do nothing, let them suspend the service and wait for a state budget to be in place.

Opt for Logan County to operate it in some capacity. The board owns eight of the vehicles. It would take some coordination to get it in place.

Establish a transit district, appoint members to the district, and put a referendum on the ballot to fund the transit district to be able to have a stream of funds to offset what the grant does not cover.

Consolidate with other districts such as SMART (Sangamon and Mason Counties) or with Tazewell County. Her concern with SMART is that it is new and may not be fully operational.

Committeeman Kevin Bateman said there may not be much we can do, but wait until the state budget passes. Anderson agreed that he is not sure how much we can do. Bateman feels the new budget will settle it and it will not happen again. It is a service the Logan County Board does not fund, they are just a managing partner.

Meagher says she met with Representative Butler and let him know how important such programs are. Meagher noted that Rauner had previously said he supported a bill that would allow funds to flow through even without a budget-- she read this morning that the Senate added more agencies and more grants that needed state funding, and Rauner no longer supports it.

Board Chairman David Hepler noted the state may have it worked out in a couple of weeks. For now, the board will leave public transportation as it is. Committee may contact Community Action about amending agreement. Bateman suggested covering for 30 days and that once funds are available, the agency be required to re-engage in the program within the next 30 days.

The next item discussed was events at the airport and Bateman said an event is in the works for the first weekend in June next year. The group will need to get permits in advance and some had wanted to know if there is an empty hangar or building for remote controlled planes and jets to be stored inside at night or in the event of bad weather. If hangars are not available, they would need a tent. The group will also need to make sure nothing else is going on that weekend. Hepler suggested that a committee should be started and Bateman said the event coordinator should come to meeting. He said it should be put on the agenda for the August 31 airport/farm meeting.

In discussing the county website, Schumacher said it will be done by September before she moves.

The Zoning Board of Appeals recently expanded from three to five members. The ZBA meet last week and agreed that it would be best to increase to seven representatives. The request is expected to go before the Logan County Board for approval this month.

Chairman Hepler said that one recommendation to fill the two seats had already been made. Schumacher suggested a news release to let people know there is an opening. Bateman said that the appointee would still need to come before the board. Schumacher said the applications should be submitted by Friday, September 4.

On appointment policy, Meagher said that the Board of Health had re-appointed someone to the tuberculosis board, not realizing that the county board needs to do it.

The Relight Wind Farm is looking for direction on awarding higher education funds. Schumacher stated that she and Hepler had heard from Heartland Community College that they would possibly want use a bulk of the money to expand Heartland Community College classroom space and programing in Lincoln. Bateman would like to see some more vocational class offerings. Schumacher suggested they could coordinate with the Workforce Development Program. Hepler said those funds are directed according to population.

HCC would like to also have money for scholarships. Bateman said he would like to see a renewable energy scholarship. Schumacher plans to share that scholarship criteria with HCC. Hepler suggested some kind of naming of scholarships, which he feels are more meaningful.

New business:

Meagher noted that if each board or committee member had a tablet to use at meetings, it would save the county paper and money, and time. The information for the meeting could be preloaded onto the tablets. Bateman said some might want to take information home and read it, so some copies may still need to be provided. Meagher figures total cost would be $1,000 - $2,000, and said that is lower than the costs of all the copies they make in a year. Bateman suggested board members could use thumb drives for the information. Meagher feels they could go almost paperless. Blankenship said he thought it was a good idea, but felt that some would still want paper copies. Hepler said paper for even one meeting a month would save money. Hepler asked about where the money for tablets would come from and was told it is under office supplies in county board budget. He suggested a motion to allow up to $2,000 for the tablets, and that motion was seconded by Bateman.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

[Angela Reiners]