Logan County Board briefs: County to seek public transportation provider, and votes and other updates

[October 19, 2017] 

LINCOLN

On Tuesday, October 17, the Logan County Board held its regular monthly board meeting to vote on motions and resolutions and hear committee updates. Other updates came from Nathan Whiteman of Work Titan LLC, Community Action Executive Director Alison Rumer-Gomez, and Logan County Department of Public Health Administrator Don Cavi.

Transportation Committee update

The board unanimously approved Transportation Committee Chairman Kevin Bateman's motion to accept the Termination of Operator Agreement letter from Community Action Partnership Central Illinois. CAPCIL will stop being the county's pass through operator, but have agreed to run the transportation operations through December 31.

Board member Gene Rohlfs said their letter stated CAPCIL would continue offering transportation for seniors and critical medical patients, and he asked for comments.

CAPCIL's Executive Director Alison Rumler- Gomez said the Area Agency on Aging will continue to provide senior and critical medical transportation, which has been offered for over 40 years. She said senior and critical medical transportation had been rolled in with the public transportation once they took that on.

As part of the consent agenda, the board approved a motion to begin looking into a different provider for public transportation. Bateman said they are looking into three possible providers out of nearby counties.

Health Department update

Logan County Department of Public Health Administrator Don Cavi said their home health department will be closing at the end of the year. He said the home health department has been serving the community for 35 years.

Cavi said the home health department closing is due to competition from hospitals and largest home health agencies providing these services plus increased administrative and regulatory demands. They stopped taking in new patients October 1.

Cavi said there are other home health agencies in the community, so there will still be resources for those needing it. There are six employees affected by the closing and Cavi said some are retiring and others have jobs they can move into.

Cavi said the health department is offering both high and low dose flu shots and takes all major insurance. They will be giving shots to county employees at the courthouse on Thursday, October 26.

Cavi also said they have several free services like blood pressure testing and Hepatitis C screening.

Executive Committee update

Executive Committee Chairman Emily Davenport made a motion to approve placing a sign at the courthouse declaring Logan County as a Purple Heart Community.

Board member Kevin Bateman amended the motion to erect Logan County Purple Heart signs at any thoroughfare entering the county. Bateman said in discussion with Joe Schaler of the Veteran's Assistance Commission, Schaler said he has signs to place on county roads pending IDOT approval. Tourism paid for all the signs.

Davenport then made a new motion to approve signs at the courthouse and any thoroughfare entering the county and this motion was unanimously approved.

Logan County Highway Engineer Bret Aukamp said they would definitely need approval from IDOT to place signs along the roadways. For signs on county highways and township roads, he could look at it on a case-by-case basis and have it approved by the appropriate highway authority.

Insurance/Legislative/Liquor Committee update

The board unanimously approved Insurance/Legislative/Liquor Committee Chairman Annette Welch's motion to accept recommendations from Nathan Whiteman to move Vision, Life, and Accidental Death Insurance to MetLife, and also combine Accidental, Critical & Hospital Insurance by moving them to Colonial. The renewal dates of all of these will be moved to the spring renewal date to go with Medical & Dental renewal dates. Nathan Whiteman will be the agent for the policies.

Whiteman said moving Vision, Life, and Accidental Death Insurance to MetLife consolidates carriers and renewal rates. The rates are locked in for three years.

Whiteman said moving to Colonial consolidates Accidental, Critical, & Hospital Insurance. He said Colonial will provide a teladoc service for free with no co-pay. The teladoc offers telephone and videoconferencing technology to provide on-demand remote medical care via mobile devices, the internet, video and phone.

These consolidations will reduce Whiteman's administration of insurance to just MetLife, Colonial, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

Whiteman said those who have had AFLAC coverage for many years can choose to keep AFLAC and he will assist them in keeping it on a direct bill basis.

Whiteman will be available to assist anyone with questions about the changes as the new enrollment period approaches.

Finance Committee update

The board unanimously approved several motions from Finance Committee Chairman David Hepler:

1. A motion to approve the Annual Abatement Ordinance .

2. A motion to approve Clifton, Larson, Allen Engagement Letter.
 
3. A motion to approve compliance with the State of Illinois Comptroller letter on audit reporting.

4. A motion to remove 2017-2018 budget from display.

After the board voted to take the budget off display, Hepler made a motion to postpone action on the 2017-2018 budget until the November board meeting.

Hepler said every year, there are questions about revenues and expenses and this year, there is a question of the likelihood of permit fees coming in. He said they can discuss alternatives in terms of potential amendments at the Finance Committee meeting in November. That way, they have alternatives in preparation if there is not assurance of permit fees coming in. The board unanimously approved the motion to delay voting on the budget until November.

The board then unanimously approved Hepler's motion to delay voting to approve the Levy Ordinance until after the budget is approved.

The board also unanimously approved Hepler's motion to disband GIS Committee and transfer such duties from Finance to Planning and Zoning Committee.

At last Tuesday's Finance Committee meeting, Zoning Officer Will D'Andrea said the GIS Committee was created in 2004 to help with the county infrastructure and the Geographical Information System. He said there is poor attendance at meetings now, and it would make sense to dissolve the GIS Committee.

D'Andrea said the GIS page is up and running and the site has migrated to a GIS platform. He will now report anything related to the GIS directly to the Planning and Zoning Committee and they will share the information with the board.

Liquor Ordinance update

Last month, the board voted to take the amended liquor ordinance off display. The liquor committee had worked on amending it over the summer because it hadn’t been updated since 2004/2005.

Changes made to the ordinance:

The Board changed the words Liquor Commission to Liquor Committee. The committee also updated the paragraph on dram shop insurance according to the state’s attorney and the updated laws. The dram shop insurance is liability insurances establishments must have before getting a liquor license.

The updated ordinance also increased all of the liquor license fees by $50, since those hadn’t been changed since the original ordinance was established in the 1990’s.

Finally, the ordinance was amended to include wording to allow alcohol on Logan County property with the permission of the Logan County Board since events like the Balloon Fest already serve alcohol on county property.

Planning and Zoning Committee update

Planning and Zoning Committee Chairman Scott Schaffenacker made a motion to direct the Zoning Officer to draft an initial ordinance outlining public utility solar panel projects. Zoning Officer Will D'Andrea said he has received many calls from solar energy companies.

Board member Kevin Bateman asked about removing the word "panel" because some projects are towers rather than a grid of panels.

Board member Dave Blankenship said referring to these systems "photovoltaic systems" is the industry standard.

After the brief discussion about the wording, the board unanimously approved the motion to have D'Andrea begin drafting an ordinance related to photovoltaic systems.

Road and Bridge Committee update

The board voted three motions by Road and Bridge Committee Chairman Bob Farmer.

One motion was to approve a county engineer contract with Bret Aukamp that outlines the conditions and salary for a six-year term, which passed unanimously.

A motion was made to reappoint Bret Aukamp as county engineer.

Bateman had made an amended motion to postpone voting until next month on Aukamp's reappointment, but his motion failed with only Hepler and Bateman voting yes.

Aukamps reappointment was approved by an 11-1 vote with Dave Blankenship, Janet Dahmm, Emily Davenport, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Gloria Luster, Chuck Ruben, Gene Rohlfs, Bob Sanders, Scott Schaffenacker, and Annette Welch voting yes; and Kevin Bateman voting no.

The last motion was to enter into an agreement with IDOT to use federal funds to pay a portion of the county engineer salary, which passed unanimously.

Appointments

Three appointments were approved as part of the consent agenda:

Debra S. Alberts was appointed to the San Jose Fire Protection District.

Todd Walker and Mike Rohrer were re-appointed to the Board of Health.

Board members present were Board Chairman Chuck Ruben, Vice Chairman Emily Davenport, Kevin Bateman, Dave Blankenship, Janet Dahmm, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Gloria Luster, Gene Rohlfs, Bob Sanders, Scott Schaffenacker and Annette Welch.

The next Regular Board meeting will be held Tuesday, November 21, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the Logan County Courthouse.

[Angela Reiners]