County
board questions tourism financing obligation and Sysco salary offers
Send a link to a friend
Planning
commission reorganization postponed
[FEB. 17, 2006]
Logan County Board members struggled with a couple
of issues brought to their attention during the board-of-the-whole
meeting on Thursday evening.
Paul Gleason, chairman of the tourism committee, read a letter that
had been sent to the Lincoln/Logan County Chamber of Commerce on
Dec. 16, 2004. It regarded the move of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism
Bureau of Logan County. The tourism office shared rented space with
the chamber office, as well as Lincoln & Logan County Development
Partnership offices, which made the move together to their own
building at the corner of Route 66 and Fifth Street. The chamber
assumed the loan for the move and tourism's portion was $30,000:
$5,000 per year, over a six-year period.
The letter signed by
finance chairman Chuck Ruben and board chairman Bob Farmer appeared
to make a commitment of $5,000 per year, for a total $30,000 in six
years.
Ruben said that as he recalled, they never intended to make a
yearly commitment of $5,000 to the full $30,000. They committed for
the first year and hoped to do that each year. He accepted
responsibility, saying that he may have worded the letter poorly.
He added that it was not brought up during budget discussions for
the 2005-2006 fiscal year, which began on Dec 1, 2005. "The county
did not have the funds to put it in the budget," he said. "We're not
budgeted for it this year."
Board member Dick Logan wanted to know exactly what the
commitment was that was made back then. He said, "We need to dig up
the minutes from that meeting, see what happened."
"I think $30,000 to move tourism from one building to the next
building is very expensive," Gleason said.
Right now the agency is trying to overcome and making headway on
correcting some difficult times. "If tourism has to absorb this
cost, then we're going to have to drop back and punt, in terms of
dropping advertising and everything," Gleason said.
On another matter, board member Pat O'Neill said he had a
question that he needed an answer for. "It concerns the Sysco
high-paying jobs that were promised to all of us," he said. "I've
had over two dozen phone calls from people that are really
disappointed that went to the job fair. I quote Rob Orr, 'Good jobs
that average $46,000 per year and $11,000 in benefits.'" Needless to
say, we're talking $32,000 to $33,000 jobs, O'Neill said. The
callers who went to the job fair are saying they felt misled.
O'Neill asked if the county board economic development chairman,
Terry Werth, or someone could answer this so he could answer the
callers.
Finance chairman Chuck Ruben said: "From a financial end, I think
they were transferring 85 jobs from Springfield that are going to be
people that have multiple years with the company. And as most
companies work, people that have been there longer have considerably
higher salaries. They did say an average of all the salaries. So,
you go all the way to the person running it. That's what they were
talking about as an average."
But that's not what was presented to us, O'Neill said.
"Well, they're going to be our jobs, Pat," Ruben said. "I think
that is exactly what was presented to us. [It] was the average
salary at that plant, not necessarily the starting salary of new
jobs there."
Dick Logan and John Stewart agreed with O'Neill that they felt
misled about the salaries. Stewart felt that the county economic
development committee should figure out if the salaries were
misrepresented and used as a bargaining chip.
Dewey Colter, county coordinator, said that when the county board
decided to fund the debt certificates, that information was from
total payroll of the corporation, plus the sales tax from retail
sales. This is what went into the presentation packet on economic
impact return on economic investments, he said. He reiterated via
phone conversation that the decisions were made by each unit of
government to provide funds for the successful development of
Robert's Sysco Foods, based on an independent economic impact study
performed by Rural Economic Technical Assistance Center of the
Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University.
Dale Voyles announced that a major reorganization of the Logan
County Planning Commission will be postponed until March. The county
planning committee and the commission approved the new structure
earlier this month and intended to see the final action taken by the
board this month. However the proposal was just returned from the
state's attorney Thursday (Feb. 16), and it had some revisions,
Voyles said.
Chairman Bill Glaze said that the restructuring of the commission
falls in line with its mission and is incorporated in the new
comprehensive plan. He, Atlanta Mayor Bill Glaze and Lincoln Mayor
Beth Davis have also been working on writing bylaws, which the
commission has never had. These two measures will strength the
organization for years to come.
Dale Voyles explained that the restructuring consists of reducing
the commission from 17 to 15 members and reducing the number of
county board members on it from six to two. Doing this broadens the
representation from the county.
The restructuring involves a two-step process that must be done
simultaneously. All members will be terminated in the first step.
Then there would be nine at-large appointments to be made by
chairman of the county board, subject to confirmation by the board.
[Reorganization
in Logan County Regional Planning Commission's future]
Glaze added that the comprehensive plan is on schedule for an
April draft presentation. The full document will be online here at
LDN. This will make it easier than printing and everyone can see it,
Glaze said. He hopes everyone will take time to look it over when it
becomes available.
[FEB. 17, 2006]
Sysco Food Services reported in early 2005 that
average annual wages of employees at what could be a new operation
in Lincoln would be in the mid-$40,000 range. This information was
provided to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic
Opportunity and Illinois Department of Transportation. The Lincoln &
Logan County Development Partnership shared this information with
the Logan County Board, Lincoln City Council and Lincoln/Logan
County Chamber of Commerce board during negotiations with the
company. These figures were based upon averages realized in the
Robert's Food Springfield operation and at other Sysco operations.
Information provided by the company at that time revealed that the
average annual earnings of retained employees would be approximately
$50,200. The average annual earnings for new employees were
projected to be $47,600. On Jan. 27, the company was again asked by
the development partnership to review the projected wages, which it
did by afternoon of the same day. For 2005, drivers at the Robert's
operation averaged $47,620 and night warehouse personnel averaged
$46,824. These earnings include overtime. The development
partnership requested and received verification of this data on
multiple occasions both before and since the project development
agreements were finalized.
A fiscal impact study was completed by the Rural Economic
Technical Assistance Center of the Illinois Institute for Rural
Affairs at Western Illinois University. This study analyzed and
projected the total impact of the proposed operation. These findings
were shared with public officials, who strongly supported and
cooperated in the successful recruitment of this major new employer
to Logan County.
Wages reported are gross average annual earnings of all
employees, new and retained. Some jobs pay less and some pay more.
There is no way the company could be sure of exactly how many jobs
were needed and the exact wages that each would be paid until it was
prepared to hire employees. They weren't even sure they were coming
to Lincoln. This is a new division of Sysco and a new facility. New
duties and new jobs with new job descriptions are now being created.
Jobs that transfer are also affected. Hopefully, this company will
continually grow, with more jobs being created that also provide
good wages and benefits.
The development partnership's role is to facilitate these types
of projects by providing information and researching questions for
business prospects. It extends confidentiality to the fullest extent
possible but shares information as needed with the parties who need
it. It responds to every inquiry from public officials in fulfilling
this role and works closely with county and municipal officials
through appropriate channels.
Over 3,000 applications are on file for the 100-plus jobs
currently being filled at Robert's Sysco. Over 1,600 people attended
job fairs to apply for these positions. Approximately 70 employees
will transfer to Lincoln. The development partnership welcomes the
new employees and this new employer to Logan County.
For more information, contact Rob Orr at 737-2880 cell phone
(call anytime) or call:
Ron Schilling,
president of the development partnership, 732-4776 or 871-9073
Beth Davis, mayor of
Lincoln, 735-1612 or 737-5272
Dewey Colter, Logan
County administrator, 732-5927 or 871-3454
Bobbi Abbott, chamber
of commerce executive director, 735-2385
Robbie Robert,
president of Robert's Sysco Food Services, 793-3054, ext. 1160
Elaine Higgs Parn,
human resources director, 793-3054, ext. 1113
