Logan County officials and board members sworn in and board reorganizes
Ruben chosen as chairman, Davenport vice-chairman

[December 02, 2016]  LINCOLN - On Thursday, December 1, seven members of the Logan County Board and three elected officials were sworn into office.

The officials and three of the board members were re-elected in the November election. The board also has four newly elected board members

The elected officials sworn into office were:

State’s Attorney, Jonathan Wright;

Circuit Clerk, Mary Kelley;

and Coroner, Bob Thomas.

County Board members sworn in were:

Chuck Ruben,

Kevin Bateman,

and Gene Rohlfs,
plus newly elected members Janet Dahmm,

Bob Sanders,

Adam Schmidt,

and Annette Welch.

Schmidt was appointed earlier this year when Andy Anderson stepped down from the board, and was elected to the position in the November election.

After the ceremony, an organizational meeting was held by the county board members to designate a new chairman and vice-chairman, as well as a parliamentarian.

The positions of chairman and vice-chairman had been filled by David Hepler and Bob Farmer for the past two years. They completed their terms November 30.

Board member Chuck Ruben nominated David Hepler as chairman pro-tem and Hepler then presided over the first part of the meeting. Having a chairman pro-tem for the meeting helps in the event of a tie.

Emily Davenport nominated Chuck Ruben for chairman, which was seconded by Adam Schmidt.

No other nominations for chairman were put forward.

The motion for Ruben as chairman was unanimously approved by all the members.

The second appointment voted on was for vice-chairman. Chuck Ruben nominated Emily Davenport for the vice-chairman position, and Adam Schmidt seconded it.

Gene Rohlfs nominated Bob Farmer for the vice-chairman position, and Dave Blankenship seconded it.

In the organizational meeting, the first nomination is voted on first, and the second nomination is voted on if the first one fails.

Davenport was approved as the new vice-chairman by a vote of 8-3 with Kevin Bateman, Janet Dahmm, David Hepler, Chuck Ruben, Bob Sanders, Adam Schmidt, Scott Schaffenacker and Annette Welch all voting yes. Dave Blankenship, Bob Farmer and Gene Rohlfs voted no.

Following the votes, Ruben was seated as the new chairman.

Logan County Clerk and Recorder Sally Turner thanked Hepler for his work as chairman and the board gave him a round of applause.

Schmidt thanked Hepler for "being there for us" as chairman.

The last appointment of the meeting was Ruben's appointment of Hepler as parliamentarian to the board, with all voting yes. Ruben said the parliamentarian helps the board follow Robert's Rules of Order.

Ruben said at the last Regular meeting, he was impressed by Gene Rohlfs' statement that he would have voted against the wind farms if they came up for a vote again. Since the board had already passed the recent wind farm, however, Rohlfs said he would be voting for an amendment to change a minor part of the wind farm agreement so they could continue.

Ruben then said, "I hope everybody takes that to heart. When the board has voted, it then becomes a board decision. If that same subject comes up again, I would not fault anybody for voting against it the second time, but for small changes and the policy of the board, it's our policy." He said,"therefore you as a member, it's your policy from that point forward."

Ruben made a motion to adopt the county financial policies with a new per diem policy. He said members will now need to turn in two vouchers for meetings, one for per diem and one for mileage to and from the meeting.

Ruben said a few committees are being combined to eliminate some of the per diems and help save costs. The combined committees include Executive with Personnel, Safety with Law Enforcement/EMA, and Liquor with Insurance Legislative. All members voted approval to combine these committees.

One of the board chairman's key duties is to appoint board members to committees and name the committee chairmen. The board chairman serves on all committees as a voting member, yet does not act as chairman on any committee.

New committee appointments

Committee assignments were handed out to the board members. The appointments are as follows:

• Airport/Farm: Gene Rohlfs, chairman; Bob Sanders, vice-chairman; Dave Blankenship, Bob Farmer, Chuck Ruben and Scott Schaffenacker.

• Road and Bridge Committee: Bob Farmer, chairman; Dave Blankenship, vice-chairman; Gene Rohlfs, Chuck Ruben, Bob Sanders and Scott Schaffenacker.

• Transportation: Kevin Bateman, chairman; Annette Welch, vice-chairman; David Hepler, Gene Rohlfs, Chuck Ruben and Adam Schmidt.

• Building and Grounds: Kevin Bateman, chairman; Annette Welch, vice-chairman; David Hepler, Gene Rohlfs, Chuck Ruben and Adam Schmidt.

• Planning and Zoning: Scott Schaffenacker, chairman; Emily Davenport, vice-chairman; Kevin Bateman, Dave Blankenship, Chuck Ruben and Annette Welch.

• Safety, Law Enforcement, EMA: Bob Farmer, chairman; Scott Schaffenacker, vice-chairman; Emily Davenport, Gene Rohlfs, Chuck Ruben and Adam Schmidt.

• Executive and Personnel: Emily Davenport, chairman; Kevin Bateman, vice-chairman; Dave Blankenship, Chuck Ruben, Bob Sanders and Annette Welch.

• Animal Control: Bob Sanders, chairman; Kevin Bateman, vice-chairman; Dave Blankenship, Emily Davenport, Chuck Ruben and Annette Welch.

• Finance: David Hepler, chairman; Janet Dahmm, vice-chairman; Dave Blankenship, Bob Famer, Gene Rohlfs and Chuck Ruben.

• Insurance, Legislative and Liquor: Adam Schmidt, chairman; David Hepler, vice-chairman; Kevin Bateman, Janet Dahmm, Emily Davenport and Chuck Ruben.

[Angela Reiners]