Logan County Board welcomes new member J. Lance Conahan

 

[December 25, 2024] 

On Thursday, December 19th, the Logan County Board met for their December regular board meeting. This meeting was their final one of 2024 and the committee ended the year by filling the vacant position left after the resignation of former board member and Chairman Emily Davenport. All members of the board were present except for Julie Bobell.

The meeting started off with the newly appointed Chairman JR Glenn asking Gil Turner to lead the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. Turner did so after giving a brief prayer. Glenn then made the decision to move the nomination of J Lance Conahan up on the agenda and get that done first.

Frequent readers of LDN’s coverage of the Logan County Board may recall the difficult discussion that was had at November’s board meeting, in which former Chairman Michael DeRoss attempted to nominate Conahan. DeRoss received pushback from about half of the board on this decision, as the members did not believe he had accurately considered the two candidates that were brought forward. Glenn made it known in this December meeting that the other candidate, Tim Uphoff, had to withdraw his consideration of joining the County Board due to health reasons. Glenn stated that, after Conahan was officially appointed, he could take his seat and join them for the rest of the meeting.

Conahan was unanimously appointed by the ten members of the board present. He then stepped to the front of the courtroom and was sworn in by County Clerk Therea Moore. After his appointment, Conahan took a seat among his peers.

With this out of the way, the board approved revised minutes from the May 21, 2024 regular board meeting. It was brought to the board’s attention that, of the ten items that were brought forward by the finance department at that meeting, only five of them were listed on the meeting minutes. This was approved unanimously.

The board then moved on to action items from their five committees, these being Building and Grounds, Executive and Personnel, Finance, Transportation, and Zoning and Economic Development.

Building and Grounds did not have any items, and so Executive and Personnel was next. The two items that were voted on, and both unanimously approved, were a motion to approve the 2025 regular board meeting schedule, and a motion to approve an intergovernmental agreement between Logan and McLean Counties for the Court Appointed Special Advocates Program (CASA).

Next was Finance, with only one action item. This item was to approve a contract with Menard Consulting from a line item that was approved in the budget last month. After Finance was Transportation. The first item was a motion to approve a Motor Fuel Tax for payroll related expenses in 2025. This tax would be in the amount of $95,000. The next item was the approval of an engineering agreement with WHKS to design and plan for the installation of a bridge replacement in Mt. Pulaski. This bridge would be located at 1325th Ave. and is set to cost $38,649.50. The last item was a motion to approve a new wheel loader using $155,831.20 from the County Highway Fund. DeRoss asked if this vehicle had been test driven as it was discussed it was going to have been in the December Workshop Meeting. Committee Chairman Jim Wessbecher stated that it had. All three of these action items were approved unanimously. Zoning and Economic Development did not have any action items to vote on.

Glenn then gave his chairman’s report, where he informed the board that there were two openings available on the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). He stated that, if someone was interested in filling one of those positions, they should either contact the board office or Glenn himself. The board then voted to go into executive session.

After the meeting LDN was able to catch Conahan for a brief interview. When asked what it means to him to be appointed to the board, Conahan had this to say: “It’s a privilege to serve the constituents of District 6. I want to make sure we are being fiscally responsible and being good stewards of our hardworking taxpayers’ money.” Conahan was then asked about why he wanted to be on the board, he had this to say: “to leave Logan County a better place than where we found it.” Next, Conahan was asked if he has any specific goals now that he is a member of the board, to which he had this to say: “to work with our constituents and make sure they are properly represented. [I look to] address any issues that come before the board in a timely and expedited fashion.” The final question Conahan was asked was, if there was anything he would say to the people of Logan County or District 6, what would it be. Conahan responded with the following: “If [you] have any questions about anything, feel free to give me a call or email me. I’m willing to sit down with [you] and talk on the phone. I’m readily accessible.”

[Matt Boutcher]