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March Regular meeting of the Logan
County Board moves to the third floor courtroom due to the large
crowd
Employee Insurance proposed revision
garners much interest
[March 21, 2025]
On Tuesday, March 18th, the Logan County Board met
for their regular monthly meeting. Every member of the board was
present, with the exception of Dale Nelson. This included Chairman
JR Glenn, Kathy Schmidt, Gil Turner, Bob Sanders, Keenan Leesman,
Joseph Kuhlman, Michael DeRoss, Lance Conahan, Hannah Fitzpatrick,
and Jim Wessbecher. Vice Chair Julie Bobell recently stepped down
from her position on the board and therefore was not in attendance.
The meeting was held at the Logan County Courthouse starting at 6:00
p.m.
In the minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin, the
first-floor courtroom, where the meeting was scheduled to take
place, really began to fill. As people walked in, some were not able
to find a seat, as every chair was filled. Chairman Glenn informed
everyone that they were still expecting more people to show up, so
they were going to move the meeting to the newly renovated third
floor courtroom. The board and everyone in attendance then made the
climb up to the much more spacious third floor courtroom.
Once on the third floor, the board took a few minutes to get
situated, then Glenn started the meeting. A brief invocation was
given by a Reverend from Holy Family Catholic Church in Lincoln.
After the invocation, Glenn opened up the floor for public comments,
but there were none.
After approving the minutes from the previous month’s meeting, the
board jumped right into the items on the agenda from the Finance
committee, of which there were many.
Finance committee motions
The first item was to remove the $500 cap on the Community Benefit
Fund that had been set by the committee toward the end of last year.
DeRoss asked if this cap was set by the committee, or if it had been
voted on by the full board. Glenn, who was on the previous Finance
committee, informed DeRoss that it was set by the committee.
DeRoss then asked why the board needed to vote on this. Glenn
clarified with Finance committee Chair Schmidt that the committee
had voted to remove the cap. When she informed Glenn that they had,
Glenn stated that then means that the cap is removed without the
need of a full board vote.
The next item on the agenda was a motion to approve a $7,500 request
by the Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois (CAPCIL). No
discussion was had on this motion, and the board passed it
unanimously.
The third item on the Finance committee’s agenda was to approve a
new tax law on cannabis. This new tax, called the County Cannabis
Retailers’ Tax Law, was being considered for building and grounds
maintenance on county owned buildings. The board passed this
unanimously with no discussion as well.
The next item was a $500 sponsorship for the Up in Smoke BBQ Contest
that is going to be held in Lincoln on August 22nd and 23rd. No
discussion was had on this matter either. All board members, with
the exception of Michael DeRoss, voted to approve this motion.
DeRoss voted no.
The board then had to consider a motion to approve “Arc GIS
Migration.” Leesman asked for clarification on the matter. Jennifer
Bryant, Logan County Assessor, was on the Google Meet call and
answered Leesman’s question. Bryant explained that, as it stands
right now, the geographic information system (GIS) that Logan County
uses will no longer be supported as of March 2026. There is a new
system that will be supported after that time. The motion is to
approve the moving of all the current information on the old GIS
system to the new system. Bryant stated that this process should
take about a month. After Bryant’s description, the board took a
vote and unanimously approved this motion.
The board then unanimously approved a motion to
approve “19 memorandums of understanding between Logan County and
the agencies around the state that host generators and trailers.”
The next motion was to approve transferring $2 million in American
Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds from the broadband project to the
jail project. For a rundown on the discussion that was had over that
matter and what the board ultimately decided, please see LDN’s other
write-up on this meeting.
County Board Disagrees on ARPA Funding
Final vote goes to the Jail Expansion Project
https://archives.lincolndailynews.com
/2025/Mar/20/NEWS/today_COUNTY.shtml
[to top of second column] |
The final motion the Finance
committee brought forward was for the approval of $39,100 from
the Community Benefit Fund for the cleaning of jail doors. In
short, it was discovered that cleaning the eighteen doors that
currently cannot lock at the jail could potentially fix them. A
company would come in and give the doors and the lock mechanisms
a thorough cleaning. The cost to replace the doors would be
hundreds of thousands of dollars. Leesman took issue with using
the Community Benefit Fund for this, stating that the Finance
committee still did not have any guidelines on what the funds
are going to be used for. Schmidt stated that the committee is
going to decide that at their April meeting, to which Leesman
stated that they still do not have guidelines now. A vote was
taken and all members, with the exception of Leesman, voted yes.
Leesman voted no.
Transportation committee motions
The Transportation committee was the next committee to bring forward
their motions, of which they had three. All three motions were
unanimously approved without any discussion. The first motion was
one a accept a $440 bid by Brandon Farmer for a four year lease of
the Logan County Airport and Logan County Poor Farm. The second
motion was to award a Township Motor Fuel Tax contract to Illinois
Road Contractors (IRC). The contract is to have IRC apply road oil
in several townships. The last motion was to approve “an
intergovernmental agreement for membership in the Illinois Public
Works Mutual Aid Network.”
Zoning and Economic Development
Zoning and Economic Development was next, with their committee also
having three motions. The first motion was to approve an agreement
for services between Logan County and the Tri-County Regional
Planning Commission. The board unanimously approved this motion. The
next motion was to approve a conditional use permit for Top Flight
Grain. The board then unanimously approved this motion too. The
final motion for Zoning and Economic Development was to approve Top
Hat supplemental sighting. This motion was also unanimously
approved.
Employee Insurance
The final item on the agenda was a presentation by Nathan Whiteman
from American Central Insurance. Whiteman informed the board and all
in attendance that Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) had agreed to lower
their percentage increase for the cost of insurance, but that the
increase was still seventeen percent. He stated that there was
another plan BCBS was willing to offer the employees of the county,
and this plan would come with a much lower increased cost.
This new plan would split health care providers into three tiers.
Previously, BCBS would have two tiers, those being in-network and
out-of-network. The new plan would put providers into three
categories, two sections of in-network, and then out-of-network.
Some in-network providers would require the county employees to pay
a higher out of pocket maximum before BCBS would start to pay. For
the most part, all providers would be covered with a lower out of
pocket cost, with the exception of Springfield Clinic. Any employee
using Springfield Clinic would be required to pay more before BCBS
began to pay for their care.
The discussion over this topic went on for a while, with many county
employees asking about the new proposed coverage and voicing
concerns. It seemed that most everyone present who made their voice
heard was unhappy with the two choices presented to them.
The board made the decision to have several more meetings regarding
insurance soon.
The first meeting is going to be the Finance committee. They will be
meeting on Monday, March 24th in the Blue Room at the Logan County
Safety Complex starting at 7:00 p.m.
The second meeting will be a special regular board meeting, held on
Tuesday, March 25th in the third floor courtroom of the Logan County
Courthouse starting at 6:00 p.m.
The final meeting will be another special regular board meeting on
Wednesday, April 2nd also in the third floor courtroom starting at
6:00 p.m. In addition to insurance, the broadband project will also
be being discussed.
[Matt Boutcher] |
