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Logan County Board:
May regular meeting report
[May 27, 2025]
On Tuesday, May 20th, the Logan
County Board met for their monthly regular meeting. This meeting
took place starting at 6:00 p.m. in the first floor courtroom of the
Logan County Courthouse. The room was packed, with extra seats
having to be brought in the minutes before the meeting was set to
begin. All board members were present. This includes Chairman JR
Glenn, Vice Chairman Dale Nelson, Jin Wessbecher, Lance Conahan, Bob
Sanders, Gil Turner, Kathy Schmidt, Hannah Fitzpatrick, Joseph
Kuhlman, Keenan Leesman, and Michael DeRoss.
Judge Jonathan Wright was present to lead the board and those in
attendance in an invocation. Judge Wright led everyone in a prayer
before the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman Glenn then moved the board
on to their regular business.
The first issue that was addressed was the consent agenda. Several
items needed to be added or removed. Here is a rundown of all the
changes made. Two items were removed, these being the summer band in
the park for Latham Park and the Juneteenth festival that was set to
be held at Latham as well. It was shared that the organizers of
these two events had failed to provide proof of liability insurance.
The board had given these events until the evening of the meeting to
have that provided. An extra item was added, that being E3I ventures
being allowed to sell fireworks in Atlanta between the dates June
10th to July 10th.
(It should be noted that the organizers of
Juneteenth and the summer bands got a hold of the board after the
meeting and provided proof of insurance. These two items were
approved afterward.)
The last item that was modified was the Logan County Pridefest.
Turner asked if it could be removed so that it could be voted on
separately. When asked why this was the case, Turner stated that he
wanted to vote against it. Glenn allowed this, but it was not done
so without contention from other board members.
DeRoss immediately brought up the
1st amendment. He argued that, as elected officials, they cannot
vote something down on the basis of content. Regardless of whether
or not they agreed with the event, DeRoss argued, the organizers of
the Pridefest had the right to free speech as much as anyone else.
Nelson agreed with DeRoss, stating that if they were going to vote
against the Pridefest, they would need to be uniform in their votes
from that point forward. Nelson argued that either they let everyone
use the grounds or no one use them. Leesman then asked if there were
any other logistical reasons that they would be voting the Pridefest
down, as they were the only one of the three use of ground requests
to have submitted their proof of insurance. Glenn stated that they
had met all of the requirements.
Sanders then chimed in, stating that in the past, the Pridefest had
hosted a drag show that was quite controversial with the board.
Nelson stated that he could reach out and ask about the list of
activities. The board then decided to send the item down the agenda
for later.
Glenn then opened the floor for public comments, of which there were
two. The first comment was from Cindy Gleason. Until this meeting,
Gleason was in the running to be appointed the newest member of the
board to represent District 3, replacing former member Julie Bobell.
Gleason started by thanking the board for their consideration and
that she enjoyed being a part of the meetings. She also stated that
she plans on continuing to be a part of the meetings going forward.
She then brought up a few concerns of hers that she had learned in
the process. Her primary concern was the lack of communication from
the board to their candidates. She shared that she was set to be
appointed last month, but could not be due to the absence of
Chairman Glenn from the meeting. In the meantime, Kevin Knauer
brought his name forward to be considered as well. She had no ill
feelings toward Knauer, wishing him well, but stated that she was
disappointed in what she perceived as a lack of communication. She
ended with a call to the board for more communication with their
candidates in the future.
The second public comment was one from Michelle Fuller. Fuller had
come to the Workshop meeting last week to talk to the board about
standing against House Bill (HB) 2827. In short, this bill would
require homeschooling parents to report directly to the Illinois
State Board of Education (ISBE). This, Fuller and her supporters
argued, was an overreach by the Illinois government. They called
upon the Logan County Board to approve a resolution standing against
HB2827 and pledging Logan County to be a sanctuary county, refusing
to enforce the bill should it be passed into law. During her
comment, Fuller thanked the board for their support so far for their
concerns.
After Fuller’s comments, Glenn then moved on to the items in the
agenda from each committee, starting with the Building and Grounds
committee. The first and only item on the agenda was for the
courthouse internet. New Chairman of the committee Conahan stated
that this item was actually not ready to be voted on, and was taken
off the agenda to be sent back to committee.
The next committee addressed was Executive and Personnel. The first
item was the resolution to oppose HB2827. Nelson stated that the
letter was sent to Brad Hauge, the Logan County State's Attorney,
for review. Hauge stated in an email to the board that he had some
concerns about when the resolution, as written, could convey about
the board’s intentions. Schmidt was quick to defend the resolution,
likening what the state is doing to the government trying to take
away people’s 2nd amendment rights. Nelson defended the resolution
as well, calling it government overreach.
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Leesman then
suggested maybe supporting a letter of intent, rather than a
full resolution, based on the suggestions made by Hauge. He also
suggested the board passing their own resolution at a later date
once they could write one themselves. Glenn stated that he had
some hesitation on the resolution, as he had not had the time to
read up and come to a full understanding of it by this point. He
supported the idea of passing a letter of opposition to HB2827,
then passing their own resolution later. The board unanimously
approved this plan. The board then pushed the appointment of
Kevin Knauer to the end of the meeting.
Finance was next, with Chairman
Schmidt leading this part. There were five items, four of which were
passed and one of which was sent back to committee. The item sent
back to committee was a motion to support funding in the amount of
$25,000 to the Logan County Tourism Bureau. For more information on
this motion and why it was sent back to committee, read LDN’s
article on this from the May Workshop meeting
here.
Three of the motions were passed unanimously with no discussion.
These motions were to approve a Watts Copy partnership proposal with
the county, to approve a credit card cancellation, and to move GIS
funding from the Zoning Assistant Salary to supplement the Logan
County Supervisor of Assessments Office GIS.
The final item that was voted on was a motion to approve $1,000 to
Nashville Nights from the Community Benefit Fund. This was passed by
a vote of 8 to 3. The three that voted against this were Turner,
Wessbecher, and DeRoss.
The next committee was Transportation, whose chairman is Wessbecher.
There was a quick vote on a motion to award a construction contract
to Illinois Road Contractors for $57,888 for a roadway recycling
project on 600th Avenue in Orvil and Prairie Creek Townships. There
was no discussion and it was passed unanimously.
It was at this time that the use of grounds request for the Logan
County Pridefest was brought back up by DeRoss. This was discussed
for a bit, with the board agreeing that they could decide what the
courthouse lawn could be used for and put those stipulations in
their approval. An amendment was added to the request, stating that
no vendors, bounce houses, or activities that would require JULIE to
be contacted. Nelson appealed to the board again, stating that
depending on how each member votes on this issue, he asks that they
vote uniformly on this issue going forward.
Before the vote was taken, Schmidt asked how the board could keep
them from hosting a drag show. Nelson stated that if it was on the
lawn, they could state that they would not want it to be hosted
there. He also shared that a drag show is set to be held at a
private business this year, and that there is nothing they can do to
stop that. He stated that if anything occurs on the lawn that they
prohibited in their amendment, they could contact the authorities to
put a stop to it.
A vote was then taken, with the use of grounds request being passed
by a margin of 8 to 3. The three members who voted against this were
Kuhlman, Schmidt, and Turner.
Glenn then moved on to the Zoning and
Economic Development Committee. DeRoss led this section, starting
with a quick and unanimous vote to approve an amendment to the Logan
County zoning ordinance regarding personal solar energy systems. The
second item, that being a motion to approve a zoning ordinance
regarding home occupations was a bit more contentious. DeRoss shared
that, at the urging of several groups, they had taken daycare out of
the ordinance. Zoning Officer Al Green explained that this was due
to the fact that there are several organizations outside of Logan
County, such as DCFS, that oversee daycares. Wessbecher brought up
the fact that, in the case of first responders such as firefighters,
it would be good for them to know if they are going to an in-home
daycare. Lincoln Rural Fire Chief Chris Buse was in attendance and
stated that dispatch having information such as this can be helpful
in informing the first responders’ response to a call at that
location. It was unanimously decided to send this back to committee
until this issue could be further looked into and discussed.
The last item on the agenda for Zoning
and Economic Development was a motion to approve making Top Hat
Construction’s laydown yard in Mt. Pulaski permanent. This item was
unanimously approved.
Next was Glenn’s Chairman Report. He started by thanking so many
people for coming with their opinions and support. He then moved on
to the appointment of Knauer. For more information on this, as well
as an interview with Knauer, please see LDN’s other write up on this
meeting.
Once Knauer’s appointment was finished, the board went into
executive session to interview two candidates for the Administrative
Assistant position.
[Matt Boutcher]
[Text received from file] |
