|
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] |
