Logan County Board Regular Meeting
Members hear update on Latham Bandstand, discuss violations by Top Hat Wind Farm

 

[November 25, 2024] 

On Thursday, November 21st, the Logan County Board met for their monthly regular meeting. This meeting started at 6 p.m. and was held in the first floor courtroom of the Logan County Courthouse. With the exception of Gil Turner, all members were in attendance. This includes Chairman Michael DeRoss, Vice Chairman Dale Nelson, Kathy Schmidt, Keenan Leesman, Julie Bobell, Joseph Kuhlman, JR Glenn, Bob Sanders, Jim Wessbecher, and Hannah Fitzpatrick.

The meeting began, as all do, with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by an announcement by DeRoss. DeRoss shared that our Logan County Clerk, Theresa Moore, received the ‘County Official of the Year’ award from the Illinois Association of County Officials. Moore received a round of applause from everyone in the room.

[See press release - Logan County Clerk and Recorder Theresa Moore receives the Illinois Association of County Officials ‘County Official of the Year’ award
https://archives.lincolndailynews.com/
2024/Nov/25/NEWS/today_MOORE.shtml]

The floor was then opened up for public comments, but there were none. DeRoss then moved the meeting on to the agenda items from the board’s five committees, starting with Building and Grounds.

Wessbecher, the Chairman of the Building and Grounds committee, had no official business to be voted on, but he did have some updates to give. According to Wessbecher, the ice rink at Scully Park opened on Friday night. If people brought toys to the rink to be donated to Toys for Tots, they would be able to skate for free. Wessbecher also shared that the bandstand at Latham Park is just about finished. The stone caps and the door need to be installed, but that is all there is left. Wessbecher informed everyone that the carpet that is going to be installed in the Courthouse offices by Carpet House should be ready soon. Carpet House is supposed to be reaching out soon to schedule a date for installation.

DeRoss moved to Nelson, the Chairman of the Executive and Personnel committee. There was only one item on the agenda, and that was the vote to approve a 2025 contract with Dynamic Lifecycle Innovations Recycling. The board voted and approved the contract unanimously.

Next was the Finance committee, of which Nelson is also the Chairman. All of the following items were approved unanimously. The first two items on their agenda was the abatement of two taxes that were levied in 2024. The next item was to approve an increase in ambulance billing costs in the county. Next was the vote to approve funding for the Logan County Jail/Grow Me Project in the amount of $3,333. The board then voted to take the annual budget off display, followed by a vote to adopt the annual budget. Each item of the budget had to be approved individually. See below for each item on the budget and its corresponding budgeted amount. Also, for the sake of space, the American Rescue Plan Act is shortened to ARPA.

• Transfer from General Fund: $1,262,841

• Illinois State Grant: $1,500,000

• ARPA - Jail: $2,823,859

• ARPA - Broadband: $2,000,000

• ARPA - Broadband Expenditures: $2,000,000

• State Grant Expenditures: $1,320,570

• Capital Improvement Expenditures - Jail: $1,262,841

• ARPA - Jail Upgrades Expenditures: $2,823,859

The board then voted to approve the following amendments to the annual budget.

• Transfer from ARPA: $12,500

• Broadband Expenditures: $0.00 (This is the “zero out” the same line item from above)

• Jail Upgrades: $180,230

• Transfer from General Fund - Jail: $180,230

• Transfer from ARPA - Jail: $ 12,500

The last thing the Finance committee brought forward was to adopt the budget as amended.

The next committee that was called upon for action items was Transportation. Wessbecher, who is the Chairman of this committee, brought forth two items. These were, like the other items, approved unanimously. The first was the approval of the 2025 Motor Fuel Tax for the County Highways in the amount of $1,435,770. The second item was to approve an engineering agreement with Veenstra and Kimm to design a replacement for the bridge on 1500th street. The amount of this item was $44,894.

Finally, DeRoss called on the Chairman of the Zoning and Economic Development committee, Leesman, who had no items to bring forth. Leesman did want to address the three members of Top Hat Construction who were in attendance, as they wanted to speak on some issues that have come up in the past month.

The three representatives from Top Hat were Dan Berni, Will Hidson, and Ed Reder. Al Green, of the Logan County Zoning Office, started off by giving an overview on what had occurred. A report had come to the county that Top Hat was working on one of their projects “well past sunset.” This is in violation of the contract they signed with the county. In cases like these, Top Hat is required to give the county notification, specifically to the Chairman of the board, DeRoss. No notification was provided in this case. A violation notice was then issued from the Highway Department. This issue was several weeks ago, but another violation was made on the weekend of November 16th and 17th. This occurred at a separate site from the first incident. Another violation notice was then sent. The county also ensured that they had cell phone numbers for DeRoss, as well as several others who could get word to DeRoss. Green shared that exceptions can be made in the case of equipment failure or emergencies, but that did not appear to be the case here. Green also shared that the contract they currently have with Top Hat is difficult to enforce without simply pulling the permit. He encouraged the board to “put some teeth” in the contracts they make in the future.

Hudson then spoke on behalf of Top Hat. Hudson did not deny any of the violations. He did state that the first issue was caused by equipment failure, but then they failed to follow the protocol of letting the county know they would be working late. They are still looking into what happened this past weekend with the second violation. Hudson also assured the board that they have been “hammering home” the protocol of letting the county know about any work that would need to be done in violation of the contract.

Reder then gave an update on the progress that Top Hat has been making at their construction sites. Reder stated that the foundations are about 85 percent completed. As of the night of the meeting, there will be ten more windmill foundations to be poured. They are planning on being done by December 23rd.

Board member Sanders then spoke up. “Talk is cheap [when it comes to] abiding by the permits… If we keep hearing about permit violations, I don’t have a problem going nuclear.” Reder understood, wanting to make sure the county knew they were doing what they could. He shared that one of their contractors came upon a large amount of gravel on Route 54. He was not sure if it was gravel that was dropped by Top Hat but pulled over and cleaned it up anyway. Sanders stated that he also understood, but if the violations continue, they will have to “take the next step.”

The last thing the board covered at this meeting was the nomination of J Lance Conahan to the board. This turned into a contentious issue, with many members wanting to hold off on a vote. To read more about why the board members felt this way and what ended up happening, read LDN’s other article on this meeting.

Logan County Board Regular voting meeting
Nomination for new board member put on hold
https://archives.lincolndailynews.com/
2024/Nov/25/NEWS/today_COUNTY.shtml

[Matt Boutcher]