Logan County Board August briefs

 

[August 20, 2021] 

The Logan County Board Regular meeting was held on Tuesday, August 17. At the meeting, the board approved action items from the Finance, the Planning and Zoning / Economic Development, and the Road and Bridge Committees.

Finance Committee

The board approved a motion from Finance Chairman Steve Jenness for purchasing CIC Software upgrade not to exceed $10,000. This amount will come from a contingency line item in the general fund.

CIC is the software currently used by the county. At the finance committee meeting, Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas said the software upgrade has three different modules. One module is for inventory and assets. Other modules have payroll and employee portals.

Thomas said the upgraded software would track every asset from a pen to a truck. When someone purchases a truck or generator, that is good for seven years, there is a part of the software which will notify you close to the end of those seven years the equipment needs to be replaced.

Having payroll available electronically would help every department. Board Chairman Emily Davenport said it would keep paperwork from going back and forth and everyone’s time submission would look the same. Davenport said doing payroll electronically would be more efficient and a huge time saver.

With payroll, Thomas said the software would enable one person to do the payroll in each department and there would be fewer mistakes that way. Every department will have their own reports and payroll.

Employees will be able to login and access a portal to see their paystubs, vacation days, sick days and W-2s. Thomas said that would keep them from having to print W-2s and would keep employees from having to come ask about their sick time. There would be a $2,000 annual expense for this software, but Thomas said having the portal would be beneficial.

The cost for the module that tracks inventory is $2,000. To purchase the whole upgrade package, Davenport said it would be $9,000. Training on how to use the software is included in this amount.

Planning and Zoning/Economic Development Committee

The board approved two motions from Planning and Zoning/Economic Development Chairman David Hepler:

The first one was to allow Chairman Davenport to sign and send a letter to State Representative Tim Butler and State Senator Sally Turner regarding reported deficiencies at Logan Correctional Center.

The letter asks Representative Butler and Senator Turner to address several deficiencies said to exist including plumbing, electrical, structural and other areas related to the health of both the staff and residents.

In the letter, Davenport and the board also “encouraged further programs to improve outcomes, humanize living conditions, decrease risks to staff and reduce recidivism.”

SEE:  County Chair letter to Senator Turner and Representative Butler

The board next voted to allocate $5,000 to Life Skills Program at the Logan County Safety Complex from the Economic Development Fund.

The Life Skill Program was started earlier this year by the Sheriff’s Office and Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois (CAPCIL) for inmates at the Safety Complex. The training offers life skills coaching targeting behavioral changes.

In January 2021, the board voted to provide $2,500 from the community support line item for the pilot program. After hearing about the program from Hepler, Invenergy, who is developing a wind farm project in the county, expressed interest in supporting it. Invenergy provided $2,500 in matching funds.

Reports from this spring showed eight detainees in progress with the program, one who completed the program and is in treatment and three detainees who have been released.
 

A recent report showed the program has continued to demonstrate success.

The $5,000 the board is allocating will assist in keeping the program going and make training available to more inmates.

Road and Bridge Committee

The board approved several motions from the Road and Bridge Committee including:

- Guidelines for removal of snow/ice from roadways.

- A resolution to award a contract to County Contractors, Inc. in the amount of $557,324.50 to rehabilitate a bridge on 1725th Avenue in Mount Pulaski Township

- A resolution to appropriate $7,500 of additional funding from the County Bridge Fund for a culvert project on 1100th Street in Broadwell Township

- A resolution to award a contract to Klein Excavating in the amount of $51,087.23 to replace a culvert on 1100th Street in Broadwell Township

- A resolution to appropriate $126,000 from the County Bridge Fund as our local share to rehabilitate a bridge carrying County Highway 12 over Lake Fork Ditch, east of Broadwell.

The next Regular Board meeting will be Tuesday, September 21 at 6 p.m. in the Orr Building.

[Angela Reiners]

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