Logan County Board adds employee premium pay to ARPA fund uses; Health Alliance and Guardian insurances and CTS Services for the courthouse restoration approved, and other business

 

[April 30, 2022] 

At the Logan County Board’s Regular voting session on Tuesday, April 19, the board voted on action items from several committees.

One focus of discussion was one-time premium pay for non-union county employees who worked for the county between March 2020 and March 2021.

Finance Committee Chairman Steve Jenness brought forward a motion to approve one-time premium pay of $1,500 for each full-time employee and $750 for each part-time employee.

There was a question by Board Chairman Emily Davenport about what line item these funds would be taken from.

While that needed to be voted on too, Jenness said the premium pay could come out of the contingency fund line item.

The next question Davenport had was how much was in the contingency fund.

This fund started out at $400,000. Jenness said he thinks it still has over $300,000 since nothing other than election equipment has been paid out of it so far.

The contingency fund was originally set aside for emergencies only. Therefore, board member David Blankenship was concerned about using these funds for premium pay.

Another area Jenness said premium pay could come from was some of the American Restoration Project Act (ARPA) funding dedicated to the Safety Complex.

Using the ARPA funds is something board member Annette Welch said she would support. The only reasons the ARPA funds would be tied up is because the board decided to dedicate them to broadband and the Safety Complex.

Last week, Logan County Sheriff Mark Landers said he would understand if some of these fund [dedicated to the Safety Complex] were used for premium pay.

There is a substantial list of expenses coming the county’s way. Board member Keenan Leesman said the money being spent on premium pay is a one-time thing. However, he feels it is something that does not need to be done. Since everyone in the pandemic faced the same issue, Leesman wanted to know why the government needed additional pay.

With other expenses coming down the pike, Leesman said he is not sure how the county can afford to give premium pay. He thought when the board voted to give pay increases, it would take the place of premium pay. Leesman said a pay increase is better overall than a one-time bonus.

Elected official salary adjustments, election equipment, a scanner and jail improvements are some expenses coming up. Leesman does not feel the county needs to detract from jail upgrades either. He would like to see the ARPA funds be put into a CD to gain interest, which could help accommodate these worthy projects.

Since there are some anticipated permit fees later this year, board member Jim Wessbecher asked about dedicating some of those fees to jail upgrades.

While board member Dale Nelson understood Leesman’s point, he felt the decision about premium pay needed to be made. The decision had been pushed back many times, so Nelson said the board owed it to the employees to vote on premium pay.

Board member David Hepler said he would be voting against premium pay not because he necessarily opposes it. Hepler would rather see the county subsidize the health insurance premiums for employees. That way the insurance does not cost them anything.

Although Welch understood the idea of helping with insurance, she said the list of employees eligible for premium pay was much larger than the list of those covered by insurance.

Once the contingency funds are used to pay for the election equipment and a scanning project, Davenport said this fund would be down to around $53,000 [out of the original $400,000].

The amount needed for premium pay totaled $192,000, so Davenport said $142,000 more would be needed for this pay. She did not feel the county should necessarily rely on the permit fees either.

Davenport then asked whether the resolution for ARPA funding needed to be amended since money had been designated to the jail and broadband.

Because the resolution has every bit of the money designated for these projects, Logan County Treasurer Penny Thomas said an amendment would probably be needed.

To allow premium pay to come out of ARPA funds, Welch motioned to amend the resolution for ARPA funding.

The amendment passed 7-3-1.

David Blankenship, Janet Estill, Bob Farmer, David Hepler, Dale Nelson, Annette Welch and Jim Wessbecher voted yes.

Steve Jenness, Keenan Leesman and Scott Schaffenacker voted no.

Emily Davenport abstained.

Bob Sanders was absent.

The main motion as amended then passed 7-3-1 with Jenness, Leesman, and Hepler voting no and Davenport abstaining.
 

Other Finance Committee motions approved included:

Paying off election equipment from the contingency fund.

Allowing the Treasurer to hire new full-time employee. This position has been open for several months.

Other updates:

The board approved a motion from Building and Grounds Chairman David Blankenship to secure CTS Services as the performance contractor for the courthouse restoration in the amount of $5,713,562.00.

After many negotiations with CTS representatives, courthouse restoration project manager Bill Walter said they were able to get a lower cost.

The board approved the following action items brought forward by Insurance, Legislative and Liquor Committee Chairman Annette Welch:

Accepting Health Alliance for our carrier for Medical Insurance.

Accepting Guardian for our Dental, Vision & Life carrier.

Changing the employee contribution for medical to from $500 to $530. Welch said the base plan rate for insurance is now $559, so no one is covered in full. Of the $559, Welch said the county absorbs around $30 of the added cost and the employees the other $30.

These costs are based on the least expensive insurance plan. Welch said the employees pay the difference for other plans.

Planning and Zoning/Economic Development Committee Chairman David Hepler brought forward the following motions:

• A Tri County GIS contract.

• Retaining TWM/Serena Page for wind and solar engineering consults.

The board approved both items.

Schaffenacker voted no on retaining TWM/Serena Page for wind and solar engineering consults.
 

• The board unanimously approved five Road and Bridge Committee:

• A resolution to award a contract for a new snowplow/dump bed package to Rahn Equipment Company for $79,341

• A resolution to award a contract for Bituminous Materials for the 2022 County Motor Fuel Tax sealcoat program

• A Letter of Engagement with Klein, Thorpe, and Jenkins for assistance to negotiate a road use agreement for the Top Hat wind farm project

• An amendment to the Joint Agreement with IDOT for construction of a bridge over Lake Fork Ditch near Broadwell

• A utility agreement with Ameren to move power poles along 5th Street Road. The county’s share is $1,162,361.63 payable from Motor Fuel Tax funds

• The final item approved was Transportation Committee Chairman Janet Estill’s motion to approve a resolution authorizing an application for capital assistance grant for a paratransit vehicle.

At the end of the meeting, the board went into executive session to discuss the candidate being brought forward for the position of a facilities maintenance manager for the Courthouse Restoration.

[Angela Reiners]