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 New County Website
On the topic of the new county website, Schumacher said she has been
in touch with all of the heads of departments that are under the
county. Schumacher said she has been gathering photographs for the
front page.
Kevin Bateman said they should try to find pictures from all over
Logan County for the website. Dave Blankenship said he would like to
see pictures showing activities in Logan County, such as the various
festivals that are held throughout the year. Blankenship also
suggested getting pictures of various emergency staff, such as fire
departments or ambulance staff.
“Do we want to include attractions and events? The question is:
Who’s coming to the website?” asked Schumacher. The committee
members expressed that it would be a good idea not only to put
contact information on the website, but to try and include a
calendar of events.
“It is so hard to get a calendar of events,” said Andy Anderson.
Schumacher also said it would be a good idea to put Freedom of
Information Act info on the website. Bateman added that they could
also include a better calendar for committee schedules.
County Appointments
On the topic of appointed positions, Schumacher said she has wanted
to see a better process for finding appointments to the various
boards in the county for the past few years. Meagher added that the
county needs to be more diligent in checking backgrounds for new
appointees.
Bateman said he would like to see new appointees come forward to
committee meetings before they join a board or committee. “I’ve been
here since ’08, and I haven’t talked to a single person I’ve ever
appointed,” said Bateman. “I would ask a simple question of ‘Why are
you wanting this?’ and they could give a simple answer.”
Schumacher asked if it would be possible to create a simple form
that holds information on board and committee members. Blankenship
asked if such a form could be put on the website so interested
parties could learn of such positions when they come up.
Committee members present at the meeting were Jan Schumacher, Andy
Anderson, Kevin Bateman, Dave Blankenship, Scott Schaffenacher, and
Dave Hepler. Supporting Local Organizations
Bateman said he would like to see the county create a policy for
supporting small local organizations and events. As an example,
Bateman pointed towards a barbeque event hosted by Chris Graue every
year in which donations are generated for the Humane Society.
Bateman said it might be nice for the county to make a small
donation to events such as this.
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Schumacher said it might be better if the county board members donated
personally to such an event instead of using tax money. Schumacher said that in
the past, the county used a fund for Historic Sites that was generated by the
motel tax for similar things, but now Tourism collects that money. Anderson said
if people wanted to seek such donations, they should go to Tourism.
Blankenship said he is against using tax money in such a way. “I think you could
be opening a can of worms,” said Blankenship. Blankenship added that there
should still be some kind of policy in place, especially with a higher number of
events in the county coming up. Blankenship said it would make sense to give
support for events that generate “a moderate amount of sales tax.”
Bateman said his thought on the matter is that it would be good to show county
support for smaller, local events. “But is that what the taxpayers would want?”
asked Schumacher. “If they want to, they’ll just support the event themselves.”
“I see where Kevin’s coming from, to a degree,” said Anderson.
Another problem with the idea talked about by the committee is choosing which
events get financial support. When the topic of giving money to the Balloon Fest
was raised, Bateman raised the question, “You just picked an event. The Balloon
Festival. But you shoot down every other event? We use tax payer dollars, pick
an event and give it to them. But you don’t want to use tax payer dollars for
the other events?”
Anderson said the county helps the Balloon Festival because it generates revenue
for the county. “How do you know the other events don’t?” asked Bateman.
After a very heated twenty minute discussion on the matter, the committee moved
on to other business briefly before the meeting was adjourned.
Committee members present at the meeting were Jan Schumacher, Andy Anderson,
Kevin Bateman, Dave Blankenship, Scott Schaffenacher and Dave Hepler.
[Derek Hurley]
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