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Logan County Board
May Building and Grounds Meeting
[May 07, 2026]
On Wednesday, May 6th, the Building
and Grounds Committee of the larger Logan County Board held their
monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the first-floor courtroom of the
Logan County Courthouse. All five of the committee members were
present; Chairman Lance Conahan, Vice Chairman Hannah Fitzpatrick,
Dale Nelson, Gil Turner, and Jim Wessbecher.
The meeting started with the traditional call to order, attendance,
introduction of guests, and approval of prior meeting minutes. The
committee voted on the minutes from the January, February, and April
meetings.
Next, Conahan moved through the first few pieces of old business
rather quickly. The first item was regarding the county purchasing a
backup internet provider, something this committee has been working
on for a while. Conahan stated that he had information regarding
this in new business and would come to it later in the meeting.
Next was a request for proposal (RFP) for a replacement server at
the courthouse. This was something that the county’s IT company
Heart IT was going to do, but due to an error on their part, the
county legally must go out for bid as the server replacement is now
estimated to be over $30,000. Conahan shared that the RFP is being
worked on by board member Keenan Leesman.
There was an update on the new park equipment being purchased
jointly by Lincoln Christian Church and the county board for Latham
Park. Nelson shared that one of the two pieces of equipment has been
paid for and they are waiting on an estimated date of arrival. The
other item they are still waiting on both a price and a date of
arrival.
Fourth was an RFP for a new roof for the Logan Building. Conahan
shared that he was working on this item and moved on. The fifth item
referenced a proposal from the company American Scaffolding for
concrete damage that was caused during their setting up and taking
down of the scaffolding that was used to restore the courthouse
copper dome. According to Conahan, the American Scaffolding
representative was “flabbergasted” at the original quote and is set
to have word on how much money the company would be giving the
county for the concrete repair, hopefully by June’s meeting.
Next was a discussion on trees at both Latham and Scully Parks.
Conahan said that more trees need to be planted at both parks. A
draft RFP is finished, and he said he is going to call the arborist
soon. Until then, the item was left on old business for June’s
meeting.
The final item under old business
was work that needs to be done on the fountain at Scully Park.
Conahan stated he called four companies out of Springfield to see
about getting work done, but all of them refused to travel as far as
Lincoln. Conahan did reach out to P&W Spa and Pool in Lincoln but
wanted to have at least three quotes to compare prices. He stated
that he was going to reach out to some businesses in Bloomington
next to see about getting quotes from them. Nelson suggested that
they might also see about getting quotes for a regular maintenance
service on the fountain, considering how dirty and clogged it gets
over the course of the season. He said that he has been in the
fountain on several occasions trying to clean it up. Conahan was
open to this idea.
The committee then moved on to new business, moving the schedule
around a bit, as both Nelson and Turner had to leave at a set time.
The committee had a long discussion about hiring someone to do some
general maintenance. Conahan started by suggesting this person be
part time. He explained that this person could do the mowing of the
properties and other general maintenance, such as trimming trees and
bushes. He stated this person could do maintenance inside of county
buildings rather than outsourcing the labor to other companies.
Additionally, Conahan said that this person might also help work on
some small courthouse restoration projects, such as installing the
new blinds.
Other members of the committee shared doubt that this person could
be part-time due to the amount of work Conahan was saying they would
be responsible for. Conahan shared that he was not opposed to hiring
someone full-time but needed help managing all the things that need
to be repaired. He shared that he has spent many hours on the phone
with companies trying to get them to come and do work at different
county properties. He shared that all this organizing and directing
requires a lot of time out of him and sometimes requires him to
leave work. Having a person he could work with directly on many of
these projects might help to keep his workload down as well as the
amount of money the county was spending on having this kind of work
done by outside professionals.
Turner cast some doubt that having a full-time employee would keep
Conahan’s workload down. Conahan explained that he felt it would due
to having to only be in contact with one person rather than several
companies and workers. It was around this time that Nelson had to
leave to get to the Regional Planning Commission Meeting that was
being held across town. He suggested that this person be hired at
$40,000 per year before leaving. A motion was then made and seconded
to hire a full-time employee at Nelson’s suggested salary. A roll
call vote was taken and passed unanimously.
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Bill Walter, with
Masonry Restoration Technologies & Services (MRTS), then gave an
update on the exterior elevator work, as well as the courthouse
restoration project at large. According to Walter, the company
TK Elevator was coming along very well on their work, stating
they told him they were “substantially complete.” He called
their work “phenomenal.” An arm for the elevator door needed to
be custom made but was set to arrive the day after the meeting.
He said the elevator should be ready for inspection by Friday,
May 8th.
Walter stated that the blinds for the courthouse were being
ordered, and that the bench extension for the first floor
courtroom to extend seating for the county board members was
being constructed.
Conahan added that he had received some very positive feedback
from the new HVAC company and that the complaints from county
employees working in the courthouse had started to subside.
Next, Conahan spoke on the interior elevator that has been down
for the better part of a month. Apparently, TK Elevator is
having trouble sourcing the part that needs to be replaced, so
there is no update on when it will be fixed. He said that,
should the committee want to hold off on the exterior
renovations to the courthouse set to be done later this year in
favor of getting the elevator finished, he would be in support
of that. The committee wanted a quote for the new elevator first
before deciding. Walter stated he would be able to get that for
the committee.
Conahan then returned to the backup internet provider. He said
that a company called Stratus used to provide the fiber internet
to Lincoln Christian University. He said that Nelson told him
their quote was a bit pricey compared to other companies.
Conahan said that, while i3 Broadband could not work with the
fiber that the courthouse already has, Stratus can. Seeing as
how the county recently made the decision to transition their
phones to cloud phones, they were going to need a strong
internet connection. He stated that Stratus might be able to be
their main provider, while Comcast could be their backup.
Conahan tried to talk about the three plans that Stratus
suggested (ranging from $1,050 to $2,025 per month) but was
unfamiliar with the terms. Wessbecher suggested putting this off
another month and invite Leesman to the next meeting, as he was
more familiar with the different kinds of fiber. The committee
made the decision to move this item to old business for June.
Next was a use of grounds request for a Juneteenth Festival at
Latham Park on June 19th. Conahan said that the organizer of the
event had not yet filed liability insurance. Fitzpatrick made a
motion to approve it upon the condition that the insurance
paperwork was submitted. She was confident that it would be,
seeing how this person had previously organized this event and
has always had insurance in the past.
Conahan also made mention to the committee that the Love They
Neighbor community fest that was scheduled for May 16th was
canceled. He then realized that he missed one item under new
business and so came back around to it.
Fitzpatrick shared that she wanted to
conduct a community survey to see if the people of the county were
interested in updating the park equipment at the county’s several
parks in Lincoln. She said that, when she travels out of town with
her family and they go to parks, the ground the playground equipment
is on is always a rubbery material rather than the woodchips that
the parks in Lincoln have now. She argued that this rubbery material
is easier for people who need wheelchair accessibility, such as
parents or guardians, to access. Additionally, she said that the
wheelchair swings are starting to rust and may need maintenance.
These are things she wanted to see if community members were
interested in before she just went ahead with them.
Turner then asked about the pictures for the county website that the
committee was looking to purchase. Conahan shared that the photos
the photographer had were mostly of Lincoln, and they were hoping
for more pictures around the county. The committee briefly discussed
either hiring the photographer to take some photos in communities
outside Lincoln or possibly purchasing some from the Lincoln Tourism
Board.
After this, the bills were approved and the meeting was adjourned.
[Matt Boutcher]
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