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Logan County Board
October Finance Meeting
[October 16, 2025]
On Tuesday, October 14th, the
Finance Committee of the larger Logan County Board held their
monthly meeting in the Blue Room at the Logan County Safety Complex
at 6:00 p.m. All five of the committee members were present
including Chairman Kathy Schmidt, Vice Chairman Joseph Kuhlman, Dale
Nelson, Keenan Leesman, and Lance Conahan. Many of the department
heads were also in attendance, as were board members Jim Wessbecher
and Kevin Knauer.
Once attendance was taken and the guests introduced themselves,
Schmidt moved on to the only piece of old business on the agenda, an
update on the budget and how Bellwether is helping put it together.
Schmidt informed the committee that Justin Harmon of Bellwether is
going to be coming for a meeting on Friday. Following this meeting,
he will be sending out what was decided for the budget to each of
the department heads. Finance will then meet with each of the
department heads.
Bret Aukamp, head of the Highway Department, asked about being
contacted by Bellwether. He stated that he was told they would
contact him, but they never did. Conahan asked if Aukamp had reached
out, but Aukamp said that he was not able to, as he was never given
any contact information, and that all he knew is that Bellwether was
helping to put the budget together.
Next, Logan County Treasurer Penny
Thomas asked about a potential discrepancy in the budget. She stated
that the board has voted to move a lot of money back and forth from
the broadband project to the county jail project and back. Conahan
stated that $1.2 million had been found in the general fund for the
broadband project, but following this comment there was some
confusion over where Thomas stated this shortage was. Thomas showed
that, according to her records, the county had placed that same $1.2
million in both the broadband and county jail expansion projects.
About this time, Leesman chimed in with an update on the broadband
project. He stated that, after much back and forth on whether the
project was going to happen, things seemed to be back on track. The
company WASRack, which partnered with the county initially but
stepped back after some disagreements on the financing of the
project, had come back to the table. Additionally, the state had
been involved with Leesman trying to get the broadband project back
on its feet, something Leesman said the state would like to see
succeed.
Leesman also said that the financing had been reworked. Where
WANRack initially wanted the county to put forward $2 million up
front to help fund the project, they had agreed to let the county
make smaller payments over the course of ten years. These payments,
which would be around $15,000 per month, would amount to about $2
million after ten years. Leesman did say that an initial payment of
about $300,000 would still be required, however.
This led to further discussion about where that $1.2 million should
go, with most seeming to agree that it should go back to the jail
expansion. The county was sure that it would be able to find
$300,000 when the time came. Thomas also stated that a budget
amendment would need to be passed for this $1.2 million to be moved
back.
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Thomas then listed
another concern that she had. She stated that, if the county was
considering giving five percent raises for one department, they
should do so for all departments. There was a bit of initial
confusion over this comment, and Nelson clarified that one of
the departments (but he declined to state which one) was
planning on giving their employees five percent raises
internally using the money from their budget. Conahan stated
that he had spoken to Bellwether, and this was not something
that was allowed. Departments can request funding in the budget
for a five percent raise, but they cannot simply decide to do
that themselves.
The budget discussion continued, with a lot of time being spent
on insurance, something that the county does not have an
official number for yet. Nelson stated that they are working on
it and will have more information in two weeks.
Once the budget discussion ended, Conahan moved the committee on
to new business. The first item was labeled “Resolution LO 24/25
Chester Township.” The motion was approved, and after it was
mentioned that this was a tax sale, and that the agenda for
future meetings would need to reflect the owners of the
property.
The next item was regarding investments. This conversation was
largely led by Thomas. She mentioned several amounts of money
that could be moved into certificate of deposits (CD) to
generate interest. The first amount was about $3 million from
the general fund. Money from the county farm account, as well as
the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) were also agreed
to be put into CDs. The matter of where to place the money was
mentioned as well. With some saying to invest locally, while
others stated they wanted to look for the best interest rate.
Nelson stated that, since this money would be coming back to the
county for its citizens, he felt they should look for the best
interest rate. Thomas said she would check with Illinois Funds.
The last of the new business was an update from the Logan County
Tourism Bureau (LCTB). Conahan stated that he had gotten his
months mixed up, and that the LCTB would be coming in next month
to give an update on what they have been doing.
Before the meeting adjourned, there was time for public
comments. Logan County Circuit Clerk Kelly Elias thanked the
board for the donation they had made to the Circuit Clerk
conference she attended. She also stated that the people in
attendance were “blown away” by the amount that Logan County
chose to donate. Schmidt asked Elias if she was now the
president of the Illinois Association of Circuit Clerks, and she
stated she was. With this, the meeting was adjourned.
[Matt Boutcher]
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