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Funding for Logan County Jail
project takes a sharp right turn
[March 18, 2025]
The Logan County Board will meet tonight (Tuesday,
March 18th) for its regular voting session meeting for March. There
will be several items on the agenda, most all of them as previewed
and presented by respective committee chairs at the Thursday
workshop session.
There is one motion that will be on the agenda that is starkly
different than what was decided at the committee meeting. On
Thursday, Finance Committee Chair Kathy Schmidt read off the list of
items that will be placed on the agenda for the voting session with
no objections from any members on the full board.
All but one of the motions was exactly as discussed
at the committee meeting. At the Finance committee meeting, the
committee members had whittled out a plan for funding the Logan
County Jail project utilizing funds that would be borrowed from the
Community Benefit Fund, cashing in a CD that also is from the CBF,
utilization of funds to be received from windfarms, and interest
earned on the remaining balance of American Recovery Plan Act funds.
Couple with ARPA funds already designated to the jail and grant
funding, the full dollar amount needed to complete the project was
found “in house” with no need to borrow money.
During the committee meeting held on March 11th, Dale Nelson, who is
not a committee member but was present to observe and offer input,
suggested that the county could take away the ARPA funding
designated for the broadband internet projects and re-assign it to
the jail project.
He pointed out that the county has been hearing from a company
called WANRack, but that to date, there are no signed contracts with
the company and no timeline for the internet project. He also said
that over time the scope of the project has changed. Couple that
with the fact that there are a number of independent companies
moving into the area and installing and marketing their broadband
products, he felt that the project was no longer necessary for the
county.
County Treasurer Penny Thomas had also been present that evening and
told the committee there was one hitch in that idea. The county had
been required to submit final details on how the balance of the
funds in hand would be used. The deadline for that submission had
been the end of the year 2024. The plan submitted indicated that
there would be $2 million designated to the jail and $2 million
designated to broadband. She indicated that it might not be possible
to change the game plan at this late date.
Nelson said he would be willing to look into it and
see if there was anything that could be done.
In the meantime, the committee moved forward with the bits and
pieces plan and by the end of their discussions had all the money in
house that they would need for the more than $6 million project.
On Thursday evening, when Schmidt read the motion it was to
re-assign $2 million from the ARPA broadband project to the jail
project, thus once again bringing the project to fully funded
without borrowing.
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Nelson explained what had
happened. He said he had reached out to Bellwether LLC, the
third party firm the county hired to help navigate through the
ARPA rules and restrictions. From them, Nelson learned that the
obligation of funding had to be accompanied by signed contracts
with the county and the project firm. He said that there is no
signed contract with WANRack for the broadband. However,
commitments have been made for the jail.
Nelson had learned that the county
has until the first of April to submit a revision, and that the
revision could and should transfer the broadband money to the jail.
The original plan discussed at the committee meeting indicated the
county needed 1.2 million to fully fund the project. Board Member
Michael DeRoss on Thursday evening asked what was going to happen if
the county took the $2 million then didn’t need it.
Board Chairman JR Glenn said that the county had started with a
higher figure, then whittled it down to what they hoped they could
afford. Some things had been cut that might be added back in, for
example repairs of the parking lot had been removed from the
project. It was also noted that Sheriff Mark Landers had brought a
plan for the sliding jail doors that would save considerable money.
That plan had been for an extensive cleaning of the doors and their
locking mechanisms. The quote for $39,100, however, did not include
any replacement parts that might still be needed after the cleaning.
At the end of the conversations, the workshop members, by nod of
head, agreed to the revised motion which will appear on tonight’s
agenda.
In other motions
The board will be asked to reverse the $500 cap placed on the
Community Benefit Fund and to approve $7,500 for the roofing project
at Community Action partnership of Central Illinois.
There will be motions for a conditional use permit for Top Flight
Grain for an expansion of the Johnson Siding Elevator.
The board will be asked to vote on a motion from Top Hat Wind to
turn one of their temporary storage lots into a permanent storage
for blades and other equipment.
They will also entertain a motion to appoint Troy Rawling as a New
Holland Fire Protection District Trustee.
Requests will be voted on for the use of the Logan County Courthouse
lawn for two pinwheel events. Organizers are asking to be able to
place pinwheels on the lawn on April 13th for National Crime Victims
Week, and on April 30th for Child Abuse Awareness Month.
The Logan County Board will meet for its voting session tonight at 6
p.m. in the first-floor courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse.
[Nila Smith] |
