County meeting minutes

Executive, economic development

[March 29, 2014]  Below is a copy of the minutes from the Jan. 20 meeting of the Logan County Board Executive/Economic Development Committee.

Executive/Economic Development Meeting
Logan County Safety Complex
January 20, 2014

Present: David Hepler-Chairman; Bob Farmer; Chuck Ruben; Gene Rohlfs

Absent: Rick Aylesworth; Bill Martin

Guests: Jonathan Wright; Jan Schumacher

Mr. Hepler called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.

A motion was made by Mr. Rohlfs, seconded by Mr. Farmer, to approve the minutes from the November 18, 2013 meeting as printed. Motion passed.

Old Business

1) EDP Activity: A firm from New Mexico has been retained to act as consultant for the efforts to eliminate duplication of efforts. Mr. Hepler reported he had spoken with Stan Komperda and the options are being converted to leases next month for the wind farms. He also indicated an agreement has been approved for the transmission lines by IDOT and IDNR. Mr. Martin passed along information regarding a recent organizational meeting for CEDS.

New Business

1) Enterprise zone extension: Mr. Hepler received a call from Mr. McClure and the enterprise zone extension request has been reduced by one-third. He plans to attend the Regional Planning meeting, so this will be reviewed by Planning & Zoning at their committee meeting.

2) Policy and procedure revisions: Mr. Wright had some comments regarding the revised Board policy document he was previously sent for review. There are a number of paragraphs (#3, 4 and 6) that address conflicts of interest and benefits received from public funds. This is already addressed in the County ethics ordinance, so they may not be necessary. It may be sufficient to reference the ethics ordinance in place of those paragraphs. He suggested the paragraph regarding the protection of privileged information be worded more strongly to actually prohibit the disclosure of private or confidential information in order to protect both the County and board members. He also suggested that the committee consider altering the language in paragraph seven of the preamble since it would be difficult to require individuals to "forget" any conversation when considering a matter. He suggested a prohibition against an elected County Board member using their title or position in any manner not related to their duties as a County Board member. This would be a protection for the County and the County Board.

Item I. E. discusses matters should be addressed at a committee level; however it could be difficult to determine what would constitute "extenuating circumstances". Mr. Ruben explained how this comes into play and the committee determined they were satisfied with this portion, as written.

Item I. H. mentions actions can be reconsidered at any time during the meeting or at the next meeting held thereafter. If this is consistent with Robert’s Rules of Order, listing it in policies may not be necessary. Mr. Ruben indicated he believed this was included for clarity.

Item I. J. talks about the Chairman directing and controlling the agenda for meetings and public and employee comment. Mr. Wright expressed concerns that a written policy has not been developed previously with requirements and time limitations for public comment in an effort to provide uniformity.

Item I. K. talks about agenda items that require a roll call vote. Mr. Wright suggested sub-item "iv" in that section be separated into two separate items.

Mr. Wright expressed concern about item I. L. not setting a clear requirement that his office review contracts before votes are taken. He suggested the policy be that his office review all contracts, unless a committee decides it is not necessary. This would be the opposite of the way the policy is written, where no policy is reviewed unless the committee decides it should be.

Mr. Wright also suggested Section III. A. include some tie-breaker procedure for the election of chairman and vice-chairman. The committee provided direction to Mrs. Schumacher to draft language to include this in the revised policies.

Item IV. B. b. indicates competitive bid letting can be waived with certain requirements. Mr. Wright discussed that state statute requires this only be possible in emergency situations. The committee agreed to add this stipulation to the paragraph.

Item IV. B. d. references a statutory act that has been repealed. The committee agreed to delete this paragraph.

Item VI. addresses obtaining opinions from the Attorney General’s office. The draft indicates Board Members can ultimately request an opinion after a vote. Mr. Wright indicated the Attorney General’s office will not accept requests from County officials unless they come through the State’s Attorney’s office. He also expressed concerns with members getting an opinion from him and then contacting the Attorney General’s office to try and obtain a different opinion. Ultimately, the State’s Attorney is legal counsel for Logan County. Mr. Wright also requested the committee consider including some procedure for requesting opinions from his office. Requests can be made by any Board Member, in writing, with a copy to the Chairman.

Mrs. Schumacher will revise the document with the suggested changes for consideration by the Board in February.

A motion was made by Mr. Ruben, seconded by Mr. Farmer, to adjourn the meeting. Motion passed. Meeting ended at 7:38 pm.

(See PDF version.)

[Text copied from minutes from Logan County Board website]