Logan County to purchase portable recreational ice rink, facilities manager hired and other voting matters

 

[June 07, 2022] 

At the Logan County Board’s voting meeting in May, several action items were approved.

The board approved the following two motions from Building & Grounds Committee Chairman David Blankenship:

The purchase of a portable ice rink in the amount of $46,220 plus freight to be paid out of the Community Benefit Fund. This vote was unanimously approved.

Hiring Christopher Wilson to serve as the County Facilities Manager at a salary of $52,000 per year.

Board member Dale Nelson had a question about this position. After the workshop in April, his understanding was the facilities manager position was a contract position for the courthouse paid for through courthouse restoration funds. Therefore, he was not sure why the full-time facilities manager position was being brought forward in May.

The way board member Steve Jenness interpreted it was different. He said if the county contracted out for the work, he was not sure who they would call up if there were problems with the new systems like the furnace. Jenness said the closest person would probably be in Chicago.

With the facilities manager position, Jenness feels somebody could be trained to know how the [heating and cooling] system works.

In talking to the vendor for the new system, Nelson said he was told they would provide support for the network. This support would be for up-to-three years.

Other than the new heating and cooling system, Nelson said he not aware of other new technologies being installed in the courthouse.

Originally, Blankenship said the position was intended to be contractual. The committee later decided to make the position full time.

When the facilities manager does work related to the restoration, Blankenship said he would be paid out of the restoration fund. The facilities manager would do work at other facilities as well, though. That would be paid out of a different [maintenance] line item.

Even with facilities outside the courthouse, Jenness said having someone in this position would be helpful. This person could address problems more quickly.

One question board member Keenan Leesman had was about funds aside from courthouse restoration funds paying for different work. He wanted to know if those funds would augment the $52,000 salary for this position.
 

There was already funding set aside for this position in the restoration funds. Therefore, Blankenship said other funds would not augment it.

Board Chairman Emily Davenport said the position is something they have been talking about for over a year. It will help take some of the extra work off Blankenship’s plate too.

The Facilities Manager would work for the county board. He would answer to the Building and Grounds Committee, the board chair and board members. Blankenship said doing a review of their work after 60, 120 and 180 days would be good. That way, the capabilities of the person in the position could be analyzed. The work would be at will.

To board member Annette Welch, it is not a bad idea to have someone on call to assess these other buildings. If there is too much down time. Welch said the board could have the Facilities Manager assess other facilities. She felt reviews would be helpful too.

Based on what Blankenship has seen, he did not think there would be down time. He feels we need to start modernizing maintenance. The further facilities degrade, the more it will cost taxpayers.

After the discussion, the vote on this motion was 9-2-1.

Dale Nelson and Bob Sanders voted no.

David Hepler abstained.

Finance Committee updates

The board approved several motions from Finance Committee Chairman Steve Jenness, which included:

A resolution establishing the salary for Logan County Sheriff. This motion passed 10-2 with Bob Farmer and Scott Schaffenacker abstaining.

A resolution establishing the salary for Logan County Treasurer and Logan County Clerk.

Last month at board workshop, Nelson said he wanted to look at what is fair and level for these salaries. In the past four years, neither [the county clerk nor treasurer] had a pay raise. He asked what others thought a set salary for these positions should be.

Jenness said Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas had shared information with him about what other counties do. The salaries Jenness came up with for these positions were comparable to other similar sized counties. Some smaller counties paid even more.
 

With the original motion, salaries for the county clerk and treasurer would increase to $74,000 as of December.

What the county clerk and treasurer would be getting is just over a $1,000 a year increase. Hepler said the increase would be less than two percent. At the Finance Committee, Hepler had proposed $80,000 for their salaries. That would be less than a three percent increase.

After discussion and questions about the salaries, Nelson made an amendment to set these salaries at $75,000.

Both the amendment and main motion as amended passed 7-4-1.

Janet Estill, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Dale Nelson, Bob Sanders, Scott Schaffenacker and Annette Welch voted yes.

David Blankenship, Steve Jenness, Keenan Leesman and Jim Wessbecher voted no.

Emily Davenport abstained.

The following three Finance Committee motions were unanimously approved:

- Payment of $100,000 from the contingency fund line item for Exela document storage, with the remainder amount needed paid by the Document Storage fund line item. These will allow the Circuit Clerk to scan documents and save them electronically.

- David Rumley for Public Defender.

- Increase in the Victim Witness Advocate Salary to $45,000 beginning July 1, 2022.

A proposal for additional salary for the State’s Attorney from July 1, 2022 – December 1, 2022 of $21,823.71 was sent back to committee for more discussion.

Road and Bridge Committee updates

Road and Bridge Committee motions unanimously approved included:

- A joint agreement with IDOT to use federal funds for the design of a bridge rehab project near Atlanta and to appropriate $34,000 from the County Bridge Fund for our local share.

- Road Use agreements for Top Hat Wind Farm. Logan County Highway Engineer Bret Aukamp said the agreement is being negotiated. He plans to bring it to the Road and Bridge Committee next month. The developers have worked with outside developers to strengthen the roads that will be used.

Executive and Personnel Committee

The board approved a motion from the Executive and Personnel Committee to use of $2,000 from the Community Benefit fund for June 3rd Friday – Nashville Night to be held June 17, 2022.

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

[Angela Reiners]