County working on Public Transportation future, new LC President introduces college plans, Integrity Data to support county Affordable Care Act transition

[October 22, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Tuesday evening the Logan County Board met for their monthly voting session with 11 members present. At the meeting, the board approved formation of the transportation committee, heard more information about Affordable Care Act Compliance from Patrick Doolin of Integrity Data, listened to Lincoln College president David Gerlach discuss plans for the college, approved several motions and resolutions, and made the budget for fiscal year 2015/2016 official.

Board Chairman David Hepler motioned that the board approve the formation of a Transportation Advisory Committee and the appointments to the committee. All approved and Hepler said the committee will be formed in November.

Alison Rumler-Gomez said that she will talk with the Community Action Board about the formation of the Transportation Committee and for stipulations for a deviated fixed route at their October 29th meeting. She said that per contractual obligations, once there is a (State) appropriation and grant award letter, Community Action is obliged to lift the suspension of transportation.

Rumler-Gomez said they received official notice from the program review specialist that there is an executed award letter for the federal funding. She said there is not an appropriation for the state money, but IDOT has gone on record saying they are now paying money (as it is a pass-through) out of that state fund. Rumler-Gomez said they would probably lift the suspension November 1.

Bateman said he talked to someone who walks to work, and that person said he would be likely to use public transportation if there was a stop near his workplace. Bateman said the board should ask those who bike and walk to work about times and convenient stops, so the board can help Community Action get the routes going. O'Neill said he agreed that the route would be very beneficial and could help accommodate students from Lincoln College and Lincoln Christian University. He said that the Transportation Committee would be helpful in pinpointing needs.

LC President introduces college plans

Dr. David Gerlach, the new Lincoln College president, introduced himself to the board and updated the board on upcoming changes at the college. Gerlach said he has thirty years of higher education experience and is the 22nd President of the college.

He said he had just read in Stringer's 1911 book that Lincoln College is a gem or a jewel for Lincoln, and added his comment that the college has served the city well for 150 years. Gerlach said that Lincoln College was a Baccalaureate granting college for the first 65 years, offering bachelor's and master's degrees. He said there was "an arrangement we made in 1901 with James Millikin of Decatur where we gave him our charter and he gave us $50,000 to build a new building." Gerlach said that the deal in 1901 "led us not to have the financial resources to survive the depression and drop back to being a two year college from 1930 (up) to about six years ago." He said the trustees hired him to transform Lincoln College and go back to its roots.

Gerlach said that this year the college would bring three or four bachelor's degrees from the Normal campus down to Lincoln including a four year degree in criminal justice, a four year degree in business, a four year degree in sports management, and possibly a T.V. broadcasting/ News Media degree if it is approved by the Higher Learning Commission. He said that in the next twelve years, the college plans to add twelve bachelor's degrees in Lincoln.
 

Gerlach said that in Lincoln, the college has about 600 students and 1100 total between the two campuses, but that Lincoln will likely double in size to about 1500 students. He said they will expand campus housing and residential housing, and said expansion will help the area economic development. Gerlach said that "students who begin at hybrid colleges (colleges offering two and four-year degrees) have between a two and a five times more likelihood of completing a bachelor's degree," which will add to the graduate's earnings.

Health Department cuts costs by closing on Friday afternoons

Don Cavi, administrator of the Logan County Health Department, said that with state budget issues the Health Department has cut costs by closing Friday's at noon. He said in other cost saving measures staff will take one furlough day before the end of the year. Cavi said it is temporary until the budget's resolved through the state. He said it will only reduce about ten percent of their operating time, so it should not hurt the health department that much as far as being accessible to the public. Cavi said that in December, he would reevaluate and see what the state budget looks like.

Recognition of Jan Bowers

Andy Anderson motioned for a resolution to recognize Jan Bowers for winning the Illinois Golf Association Senior Women's Amateur Championship in Decatur highlighting her golfing accomplishments and many years of coaching and playing golf.

Resolution - Recognizing Jan Bowers for golf championship

Enterprise Zone, tax deeds, and raffles

The board also approved O'Neill's motions to establish an Enterprise Zone, several tax deeds, and raffles by the West Lincoln Broadwell School PTO and United Riders Motorcycle Club.

Integrity Data to support county Affordable Care Act transition

Patrick Doolin of Integrity Data shared more information on the Affordable Care Act Compliance with all its forms and what is expected from the county. Doolin said Integrity Data supplies software that for businesses to use to comply with the Affordable Care Act and its mandates. He said he reached out to Logan County Treasurer Vicky Dugan to help make sure the county was doing something about compliance, was covered, and was not going to be exposed to penalties for scrutiny by the IRS over something easy to avoid. Doolin said that Dugan has been "doing her homework" on this issue and he has offered to be a resource to the county about compliance even if they proceed with using their current accounting software through Zorbio.

Doolin said he was not there to persuade the board to purchase Integity Data's software, but that in whatever decision they make, the county should make sure they are confident in what the Zorbio software they use will do and how it will meet the compliance rules. He said that what they are using seems fine, but told Dugan that she should know "how much work you are getting into."

Doolin said there seemed to be some misunderstanding relative to liability and filing. He said" no software company will assume all responsibility for filing of Affordable Care Act or IRS forms" because the IRS does not allow that. Doolin said the employer is "solely responsible for whatever information is reported" regardless of the software they use. He said they "cannot escape that liability." Doolin said the Integrity Data is the only company in the U.S. to receive approval from the IRS for electronic filing of Affordable Care Act data. Doolin said he wants the county to consider his business as a resource.

Dugan said she is comfortable with Zorbio's software, but would likely use Doolin as a resource. She said she feels equipped to be compliant. Dugan said Zorbio already helps them file the W2's electronically, so the room for errors is minimized. She said it is a U.S. mandate that she reports on payroll due to the number of employees (208) in the county.

Bateman motioned for the county to go with Zorbio as the software company, and the whole board approved it.

Board members present at the meeting were David Hepler, Rick Aylesworth, Kevin Bateman, Chuck Ruben, Gene Rohlfs, Robert Farmer, Pat O'Neill, David Blankenship, Andy Anderson, Scott Schaffenacher and Emily Davenport. Jan Schumacher was absent.

[Angela Reiners]