Finance Committee Discusses Funding to Tourism Bureau

[June 12, 2025]  On Tuesday, June 10th, the Finance Committee of the larger Logan County Board met for their monthly meeting. This meeting was held in the Blue Room of the Logan County Safety Complex starting at 5:45 p.m. The meeting was attended by all five members of the committee, which includes Chairman Kathy Schmidt, Vice Chairman Joseph Kuhlman, Lance Conahan, Keenan Leesman, and Dale Nelson. Board member Kevin Knauer was also in attendance.

The board started by having a lengthy discussion on the Community Benefit Fund (CBF) and coming to an agreement on CBF guidelines and an application form. For more information on that, please read LDN’s other article on this meeting.

After the CBF discussion, the committee briefly discussed the new firewall proposal. It was stated that, while this new firewall would provide internet security for the courthouse, it would also provide protection for all county departments. Leesman’s issue with the proposal was the cost. He stated that HART, the company selling the hardware, is asking for $2,053.46. Based on his research, Leesman stated that the hardware they are selling is only valued at $900, and the quote from HART was only for the hardware itself. The issue was sent to old business for the July meeting until HART can provide a business case with more information on the firewall and hardware.

Conahan then mentioned the need for new computers in the board office. He stated that the one the new Administrative Assistant is going to be working on is very slow, and the other one they are locked out of. Leesman stated that he could come and take a look at the computers and see if there is something he can do to fix them without having to buy entirely new computers.

The next issue the committee discussed was the liquor license request from the Korn Krib. Schmidt stated that she had never looked over a liquor license before, and all of the members present took a look at the paperwork that was submitted. Seeing that everything was in order, the committee voted to send their application on to the Workshop meeting. There was one more liquor license application that was not listed on the agenda, this for the Sugar Creek Lodge. Not all of the paperwork and fees were submitted for this application, so the committee decided to send it back.

This then brought the committee to new business, starting with funding for the Logan County Tourism Bureau (LCTB). The board and the Lincoln City Council recently had a meeting to discuss this issue. In short, the city council pulled its funding from the LCTB to start their own Lincoln tourism department. This left the LCTB with little to no funding. The city council agreed to give the LCTB $25,000 worth of funding so long as the county gave at least the same amount. For more information on this meeting, please read LDN’s article on it here.

The motion before the committee was to give $30,000 to the LCTB. Conahan spoke for several minutes of the need for funding for the LCTB. He stated that he would love to see it happen, but there is no telling if it will attract more people or not. The only way for them to know if it is going to work is by trying. If it does not work, then they do not have to continue to give money to the LCTB. Conahan also said that, in his opinion, it would be a great benefit to the county if the new director of the LCTB were to work closely with both the director of the Lincoln tourism department as well as the smaller communities around the county. Conahan also mentioned the need for a memorandum of understanding with the city regarding The Mill. This is where the LCTB is currently moving back to, but there was talk about returning it to the city. If this occurs, the LCTB will have nowhere to go.

[to top of second column]

It was asked why the board’s contribution went from $25,000 to $30,000. It was explained that, due to the discussion at the meeting with the city council, the extra $5,000 would be for events that the LCTB would fund. The idea was that, instead of having the board fund small events around the county through the CBF, these people would then go to the LCTB and get money there. That money would come from the $5,000 extra the board gave them.

Conahan explained that, while he initially liked this idea, he has since had “a change of heart.” He stated that the board should have more oversight on that money, and that people would not know it was actually coming from the board because the LCTB would be the ones giving them the money.

Conahan also brought up the idea of putting a three percent tax on hotels and motels in the county, similar to the one Lincoln has to fund their tourism department. This, argued Conahan, would give the board enough to fund the LCTB without help from Lincoln. This is easier said than done, however. According to Conahan, to do this, they would first need legislation passed through the Illinois Congress, headed by Senator Sally Turner and Representative Bill Hauter.

Leesman then brought up the point that identifying if the money they give the LCTB is having an effect on the tourism in the county would not be easy. After only a year, it would be unlikely that they would see a great increase, as a year is a short amount of time for that information. Instead, Leesman suggested getting letters of support from all towns in the county that do not already have their own tourism departments. This would inform the board if this is something the county really wants or not.

Conahan started that they already have two letters, but that it is a little too late to ask for that now. He stated that he wished he would have known about Leesman’s desire for these letters earlier, as he could have reached out. The current director of the LCTB is set to leave at the end of June, and they will have until the end of July to hire a new director. If they do not have a director by then, they lose their status as a certified bureau, about $40,000 a year in grants from the state, and would not be able to get that back.

Leesman stated that he understood this, and did not want his suggestion of the letters of support to interrupt their vote on funding the LCTB, but that he would like to see them after a vote was made. This would help inform the board if they should continue to make contributions to the LCTB in the future or not. Knauer spoke up and stated that he knows Mt. Pulaski is interested in seeing the LCTB funded, based on what he has been told.

Conahan then made a motion for the board to fund the LCTB at $30,000 contingent on a contract being written up by States Attorney Brad Hauge and accepted by the LCTB for two years. The motion was passed to the Workshop meeting unanimously.

The last item that was discussed was next year’s budget. Schmidt shared that Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas did not know the committee wanted the budget information. She is going to have the information to the committee for July’s meeting. The meeting was then adjourned.

[Matt Boutcher]

 

Back to top