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Logan County Board
September Building and Grounds meeting
[September 09, 2025]
On Monday, September 8th, the
Building and Grounds 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. Four of the five committee members
were present, including Chairman Lance Conahan, Vice Chairman Hannah
Fitzpatrick, Jim Wessbecher, and Dale Nelson, who arrived about
twenty minutes late. The only member not present was Gil Turner.
Also in attendance were board member Kathy Schmidt, Administrative
Assistance Madelyn Hinton, Courthouse Restoration Project Manager
Bill Walter, and Marilyn Craig of the Daughters of the American
Revolution.
After attendance was taken and guests introduced themselves, the
committee approved previous meeting minutes. This time, they
approved minutes for the months of June, July, and August.
Next, Conahan moved an item from the bottom of the agenda to the
top, this being a use of grounds request by Craig. Seeing as how the
agenda had seventeen other items on it that would likely cause the
meeting to take a while, Conahan did not want Craig to have to wait
until the end to speak.
Craig was representing the Abraham
Lincoln Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the
American Revolution. Their use of grounds request was for a bronze
plaque commemorating the patriots who fought during the American
Revolution. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was signed,
formally separating the former Thirteen Colonies from England and
establishing them as the United States. Next year, in 2026, will be
the 250th anniversary of the event.
Craig continued stating that her organization would like the plaque
to be outdoors on the Logan County Courthouse lawn. She also
informed the committee that, in order to get authorization for the
plaque from the company that makes them, she needs a letter from the
property owner.
Some concern was brought up over the courthouse restoration, as
outside renovations are expected to begin sometime next year. The
committee was not opposed to the idea but only concerned that it may
become damaged or may need to be removed if the lawn is altered.
Walter asked about how permanent the plaque would be, and if it
would be able to be installed in a way that would allow it to be
safely removed and put back into place later. Craig did not have
answers for these.
Fitzpatrick also brought up the idea of placing it outside of the
John Logan building, since the building is largely occupied by the
Veterans Assistance Commission. Craig brought up the idea of holding
a ceremony for the plaque next year but not installing it until
renovations were complete. With all the different ideas and
questions without immediate answers, the committee decided to table
this grounds request for now, taking a look at it next month once
they have had a chance to get answers to some of their questions and
work out more details.
The committee then moved on to old business, of which there were two
items. The first was deciding on a backup internet provider for the
courthouse. In the last couple of months, the committee was made
aware that when the internet goes down in the courthouse many of the
daily functions of the departments that operate out of the building
cannot be performed. Last month it was shared that Comcast would be
willing to install a backup modem, but only if the county signed
another contract with them or updated their current contract.
Conahan shared that they were in the courthouse last week but were
unable to get things set up due to court being in session. He did
share that they would be back.
The other item for old business was regarding a retention policy for
county emails from Heart IT. In previous months, it was discovered
that the county does not currently have anything in place to save
emails once they are deleted. Since all county emails are subject to
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), deleting emails can cause a
problem since they cannot be recovered. Heart IT is working to set
up a system where, once a county email account receives or sends an
email, that email will be saved on a cloud storage system. Conahan
shared that there is going to be a meeting between Heart, the
county, and all the county department heads on September 18th.
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This then took the
committee to new business, of which there were thirteen items.
The first six items were all about the courthouse or the
restoration project. To read about those six items, please read
LDN’s other article on this meeting.
The seventh item was about approving
and setting a date for Santa in the park. Wessbecher stated that he
was approached last minute before the meeting about booking someone
who does this during the Christmas season. From what he was told,
the guy was good with kids and came recommended. He shared that the
person who would be Santa is not associated with the company that
had Bluey and the princesses from Frozen last year. A motion was
made to send this item through to Workshop. Conahan stated that they
would nail down a date with this person via email.
The next two items were regarding lights in the county parks.
Christmas lights were discussed, but Wessbecher shared that the
company that usually puts up lights for the holiday season had not
yet reached out to him. Globe lights were also discussed, with
several board members not wanting to replace them if they may get
broken by local kids. Neither of these items were voted on and the
committee moved on.
The next item was an approval for putting carpeting in Logan County
Treasurer Penny Thomas’s office. An amount of $13,590.88 was given
as the estimated cost. Conahan also shared that Thomas’s office has
holes in the floor from where pipes used to come through the floor.
After some discussion regarding tile and what is under the floors,
the committee decided they would come back to this item next month.
An item about having a discussion regarding the courthouse alarm was
then taken off the agenda without any discussion since Sheriff Mark
Landers was not present.
The final item on the agenda under new
business was regarding finding bids for county mowing. The current
person who is mowing county properties is no longer going to be
doing so after this year. Nelson was in favor of going out for bids
now, that way whatever they decide on can be put in the new budget
before it is approved. It was decided that the committee would go
out for bids and see what comes back for next month.
After all the new business was discussed, there was one more use of
grounds request to discuss. This was for the Trick or Treat with the
Mayor that Lincoln holds each year. The request would be for Latham
Park, where Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch was for the last few years
during the event. Trick or Treat with the Mayor is scheduled for
October 25th. The committee approved the request without any
discussion.
After the approval of bills and with no public comments, a motion
was made to adjourn.
[Matt Boutcher]
[Text received from file]
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