Logan County Board Finance Committee
Lack of quorum means no actions taken but plenty of issues discussed


 

[September 11, 2024] 

At 5:45 p.m. on the evening of September 11th, the Finance Committee of the Logan County Board met for their monthly meeting. This meeting took place in the Blue Room, which is in the basement of the Logan County Safety Complex. Only three committee members were in attendance, those being Chairman Dale Nelson, JR Glenn, and Joseph Kuhlman. The other three members, Vice Chairman Keenan Leesman, Emily Davenport, and Bob Sanders were not in attendance. This meant that there was not a quorum, the minimum number of people needed for official business to take place. Even though nothing was able to officially be done, lengthy and heated discussions were still had until well after 7 p.m.

Most of what was discussed related to next year’s budget, as that has not yet been worked out. The first thing discussed was a $7,000 increase to Judge Jonathan Wright’s budget to get a Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) employee in Logan County. CASA is a program that handles cases of juvenile abuse and neglect. The plan is for our county to partner with McClean County, which already has a CASA program. The CASA employee would work in Logan County but would be paid for by McClean County and be an employee of their county.

Nelson also gave an update on the financial side of the Courthouse Project. He shared that, with the projects the Board has approved and that have been started, they would cost about $1-$1.1 million in total. The Board currently has about $1 million in cash flow now for that project. Nelson also stated the Board has approved another $1.3 million in Courthouse projects that have not yet been started, as there is not enough money to afford them right now.

Several different grants and other methods of funding were then discussed. It was brought up that the Board does not have a comprehensive list of these grants or how they are to be spent. Penny Thomas, Logan County Treasurer, brought up that some of the grants have specific stipulations on how that money can be spent. If grant money is not being spent the correct way, that grant can be pulled, causing the county to lose that source of funding.

Nelson also gave a timeline on when the project manager working on the Courthouse, Bill Walter, said certain parts will either be finished or started. According to Nelson, Walter told him the third-floor courtroom will be finished by next week, but that the other two courtrooms and the security office will not be started until the first of next year.

At this point, Circuit Court Clerk Kelly Elias made her voice heard. She loudly and angrily addressed the Board members present. She shared her doubt that the courtroom would be finished next week, stating “I would be shocked if they make it by the end of the year.” She asked the Board members when they were going to stand up and say, “no more.” She also asked why the Board isn’t being responsible with the taxpayers’ money. A bit later in the meeting, Elias spoke up again, stating that the Logan County Courthouse was soon going to be having four judges in it at the same time with only two functioning courtrooms. She also shared that one Logan County court case was going to have to be held in McClean County just so it could get finished. She also argued that, with all the renovations going on, the Courthouse employees are not able to do their jobs very efficiently.

Nelson heard her concerns, stating that he was planning to bring many of these issues up either at the Workshop meeting tomorrow, or the Regular Board meeting next week Tuesday, September 17th. He shared that the Building and Grounds Committee is responsible for overseeing these Courthouse projects, stating he plans on bringing these concerns to the members of that committee at one of those two meetings.

The prospect of employee insurance being paid for by the county was brought up again. Frequent readers of this publication may recall that, at the Regular Board meeting in August, the board voted down a motion to start paying 100% of the non-union county employees’ insurance for individuals so the department heads could talk to the employees and see if that is something they wanted. Elias and Thomas stated that they had talked to their employees. Lisa Bobb, another county employee working at the Courthouse stated that this is the first time she is hearing of this and is unhappy insurance related matters are being discussed without bringing the employees in on those discussions. Glenn brought up that someone should reach out to every department head and have them talk to their employees before the Tuesday night Regular Board meeting to get their opinions on the matter. Nelson stated he would get the ball rolling on this.

All of these issues, and many others, will be discussed at the Workshop meeting tonight, Thursday, September 12th. This meeting will take place in the first-floor courtroom of the Courthouse starting at 6 p.m.

[Matt Boutcher]