Logan County Board to seek new zoning officer

 

[July 13, 2022] 

On June 29, the Logan County Board held a special regular meeting to discuss the zoning office.

Board members present were Board Chairman Emily Davenport, Vice chairman Scott Schaffenacker, David Blankenship, Janet Estill, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Keenan Leesman, Dale Nelson, Bob Sanders, Annette Welch and Jim Wessbecher. Steve Jenness was absent.

At the special meeting, the board went into executive session to discuss personnel matters regarding the zoning officer.

At the June Board Workshop, Logan County Zoning Officer George Mencken said he had a decommissioning agreement from Top Hat in his hands. It was only the second copy he had seen, and it had not been directly sent to him.

In recent planning and zoning meetings, Mencken talked about the state required agricultural agreements which require a 10% bond for the first five years. After five years, the bond is to be 50%, and after 11 years there should be a 100% bond to the county. The agreement Mencken had with him did not have 10, 50 or 100% percent bonds.

Because of that Mencken was irritated. He said that in previous jobs he has dealt with contractors like that. When contractors pull “games” like that, Mencken feels they disrespect everyone on the board.

Additionally, Mencken said they had taken out the Agricultural Impact Mitigation Agreement. He had spent many hours of research to find the agricultural agreements.

Both Mencken and Planning and Zoning Committee Chairman David Hepler had met with a Top Hat representative the day of the June board workshop. Mencken was upset that the representative did not mention any changes when he met with him earlier that day.

The county would give up the rights under the agricultural agreement if it were approved.

Because it did not have these areas, Mencken recommended against the board passing it. He did not think the county should do business with a company that treats them this way.

Later in that meeting, Planning and Zoning Chairman David Hepler said he planned to bring forward a motion to approve the Decommissioning Plan for the Top Hat Wind Farm.
 

When that happened, Mencken stormed out of the room.

At the Regular Board voting session in June, the board voted to send the decommissioning agreement back to the planning and zoning committee.

The board later went into executive session to discuss the personnel matter relating to the zoning office.

After some discussion, Sanders made a motion to follow the advice of Logan County State’s Attorney [Brad Hauge] legal counsel to terminate Mr. Mencken from the duties of zoning officer. The motion included removing Mencken as a member of the construction technical committee for the courthouse restoration.

The 11 board members present then voted with Hepler, Nelson, Sanders, Welch and Davenport voting yes.

Blankenship, Estill, Leesman, and Wessbecher voted no.

Schaffenacker and Farmer abstained.

At the conclusion of the meeting Blankenship submitted a letter of his resignation from the board.

Planning and Zoning Committee update

With the Zoning Officer position open, the position was listed on the agenda for the July 6 Planning and Zoning Committee.

Before the committee discussed the issue, Logan County Highway Engineer Bret Aukamp provided some feedback on the zoning officer position. Aukamp said over the years he has worked for the county, he has seen the county use both part time and full time zoning officers. Several different people have worked in that office.

When there was a part time zoning officer in the position, Aukamp said it has worked well when they were just handling permits for houses, garages, fences, and simple issues like that.

Now that the county is dealing with large wind farms and solar farms, Aukamp said the work is more complicated. He said hiring someone who is qualified to deal with these [big projects] will make everyone’s lives easier.
 

What Aukamp said needs to be done is making sure the officer meets deadlines and working with developers to make sure everything goes smoothly.

As the board is looking to fill the position, Aukamp asked them to put some thought into trying to hire the best possible person. He told the committee he would be happy to provide more information if needed.

Planning and Zoning Committee member Dale Nelson asked Aukamp to email him if he had names of anyone that could fill that position.

Though Aukamp did not have any specific recommendations, there is a zoning officers’ group they could contact. In the past, Aukamp said people had reached out about openings through EMA to the previous Logan County Zoning Officer Will D’Andrea. There is a Geographical Information System organization and other statewide organizations Aukamp encouraged the committee to reach out to.

The committee then went into executive session to discuss the subject. Committee members present when they went into executive session were committee chairman David Hepler, Board Chairman Emily Davenport and Dale Nelson.

[Angela Reiners]

The position is currently posted in the Employment ads of Lincoln Daily News
as follows:

The Logan County Board is seeking to fill the position of Zoning Officer / Regional Planning Commission Director. This position is responsible for various routine and complex zoning tasks, which include administering permits, understanding local ordinances, as well as, state & Federal regulations, scheduling public hearings for the Zoning Board of Appeals, working closely with the county's Economic Development Director, and serving as the Director of the Regional Planning Commission. GIS work may also be assigned.

Required qualifications include:

- bachelor's degree in urban planning, economic development, business or public administration

- two years of experience in urban planning, economic development, or a similar field

- exceptional written and verbal communication skills

- efficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, Access, PowerPoint)

- knowledge of GIS mapping

- ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure

- develop and post agendas for the Regional Planning Commission meetings

- submit monthly reports to the county board

- attendance at monthly committee meetings

Full-time benefits include health/dental/life/vision insurance, paid holidays and vacation/sick/personal time off, as well as, IMRF pension participation. Salary is negotiable depending on experience. Please email a cover letter and resume to knewman@logan
countyil.gov  no later than Friday, July 22nd, 2022. Applicants will be subject to the passage of drug screening and a background check.