 The business owners must make certain that all adjacent property
owners are notified about the meeting and the intent to change the
zoning.They do intend to reapply next month, county board
chairman Dick Logan said.
The Logan County coroner's pay will be increased. The county
board sets the pay for the coroner, treasurer, circuit clerk and
sheriff positions every four years, before the next election. The
treasurer, circuit clerk and sheriff were done two years ago.
The finance committee has been aware that the coroner's pay does
not reflect that of similar-sized counties in Illinois. Starting
four years ago the pay was brought up slightly each year in
increments of $1,100 in 2005 and $700 each of the next three years.
Now at $21,150, the salary still lacks by comparison.
Coroner Bob Thomas was asked what other counties are paying.
Effingham, a like-sized county, pays $36,000, he said. There are
other counties paying less, but I'm definitely at the bottom of the
scale, he said.
It is a part-time job. Thomas said his hours vary week to week.
He averages 35 hours a week. The least might be 20 hours, and the
high side might be 50 hours a week. "I like the job. So I put in
more hours because I want to do a good job," he said.
Finance chairman Chuck Ruben said during this month's finance
committee meeting, "We all realize, if you want to get good people,
you have to pay a decent salary, at least a decent salary for Logan
County."
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We all know the kind of job that Bob's been doing, Ruben said. He's
come up with some innovative things to do. He's done some things
that save us money too. One thing has been that he's been able to
spare the county the cost of an autopsy when working with families
that had no doubt about their family member's cause of death and it
was related to the deceased's medical history. This saves about
$1,800.
Another change that is coming to Illinois soon that will save
time and costs is to process death certificates electronically.
Death certificates will no longer have to be hand-delivered between
coroner, funeral home and doctor's office. California is already
doing this, with 98 percent compliance.
Law enforcement chairman Michael McIntosh said Tuesday night that
he would support the increase. He did a survey and the lowest
average coroner's salary in the least population counties in
Illinois was $29,521. Nine of those counties also included a vehicle
for the coroner.
Logan County does include $1,800 in a line item for vehicle
expense.
An amendment was approved unanimously to increase the coroner's
salary $1,200 in 2009 and $800 each year after for three years. This
would bring it to $24,750 in the year 2012.
[By JAN YOUNGQUIST] |
