Quincy Reporter

Adams County Board met September 11.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

Mr. Matt Obert gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Chairman Post called the meeting to order.

The County Clerk called roll and the following members were present: Theresa Bockhold, Duane Venvertloh, Joe Zanger, Todd Duesterhaus, Bret Austin, Steven Demoss, Rebecca Weed, Ryan Niekamp, Dave Bellis, Marvin Kerkhoff, Raquel Piazza, John Heidbreder, Kent Snider, Taylor Rakers, Mark Peter, Matt Obert, Robert Reich, John Brady, Seldon Totsch, and Les Post

Total Present: 20 Absent: 1

Absent were: Ryan Hinkamper

Chairman Post declared a quorum present.

Officeholders, department heads, and/or their representatives also present were:

Lori Geschwandner-Circuit Clerk, Georgene Zimmerman- Supervisor of Assessments, John Simon-EMA & Ambulance Director, Jim Frankenhoff- County Engineer, Dave Bockhold from the Highway Department, Gary Farha- State’s Attorney, Todd Nelson-Public Defender, Terry Asher-County Treasurer, John Frankenhoff- Technology Director, Steve Rowlands- Director of 9-1-1, Wendy Venvertloh- Director of Court Services, and Sue Hester- County Board Executive Assistant.

Mr. Duesterhaus moved to approve the minutes of the August 14th, 2018 county board meeting as printed and distributed.

Mr. Austin seconded the motion.

Motion to approve the minutes of the August 14th, 2018 county board meeting as printed was adopted.

Mr. Obert made a motion to suspend the rules to allow the public to speak.

Mrs. Weed seconded the motion.

The motion to suspend the rules to allow the public to speak was approved.

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The first speaker was Tamitha Ague. Ms. Ague introduced herself to the board as she has taken the position of the executive director at Two Rivers Regional Council. She has been in the position for about 2 months and has been extremely busy with reviewing new developments in regards to what Two Rivers can do to upgrade our area. One thing they are working on is revitalizing their economic development component. She spoke about Eric Brinker is contracted for them for economic development. They will be trying to attend all county meetings on a quarterly basis to hear what they are being involved with and maybe what they need from them. Ms. Ague encouraged feedback from the board. She stated they want to make sure that there is more communication in the region. They’ve written 2 grants in the last two months and want to continue that. They have been approved to be West Central’s land bank.

The next speaker was Shawn Valter. Mr. Valter is the manager of the Adams County Farm Bureau. He spoke about the booklet provided to the board. There are 4 groups that pulled data for this pamphlet that provides an overview of the livestock industry in Illinois. He stated that when they talk about livestock production, unfortunately, emotions get involved. He stated they are not here to debate anything, but just bring good information and provide a resource for them to look at. A lot of times, people giving the information at public hearings are so involved that they don’t realize the people listening don’t fully understand. People think the application of manure will be happening on a daily, but it really only happens about twice a year and when growing crop is not present. Tim Myers, a local farmer, also spoke. He wanted to highlight some of the data in the pamphlet. He pointed out all of the regulations a farmer and all agencies have to meet. The Illinois EPA has jurisdiction over the facilities after they are built. They are constantly regulating the facilities. The complaints that have been formally issued to the Illinois EPA are constantly declining. Adams County had zero complaints last year. The EPA is there to make sure that all issues are corrected and there aren’t any ongoing problems.

Mr. Niekamp made a motion to return to regular session.

Mr. Rakers seconded the motion.

The board returned to regular session.

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Transportation, Building & Technology:

Committee Report (Mr. Snider)-

Bills – The committee met on Tuesday, September 11th, 2018 to review the bills for the Highway Department, the Maintenance Department, and the Technology Department. All of the bills were in order.

Mr. Snider reported that there is resurfacing happening on South 24th St.

The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 9th, 2018 at 6:00.

Legislative & Judicial:

Committee Report (Mr. Niekamp)-

Bills – The committee met on Tuesday, September 4th, 2018 to review the bills from the circuit Clerk, Juvenile Detention Center, Probation Department, Public Defender, State’s Attorney, and the Supervisor of Assessments. All of the bills were in order.

Resolutions-

2018-09-001-016- Resolution to accept the Solar Farm Ordinance and add to the county code. Mr. Niekamp made a motion to approve the resolution. (Attachment A-1)

Mrs. Bockhold seconded the motion.

Mr. Niekamp explained that they approved the county code last month, but did not pass the ordinance to go with it. This is to pass the ordinance part of the code.

Mr. Heidbreder stated that on the way to the meeting he was driving right into the sun and he could not see. He stated that he fears of that coming along with solar farms. He’s seen a couple that tilt pretty far up. He raised concerns on several pages of the ordinance and that the filing fee for one of these should be a lot higher.

Chairman post stated that this is to get the code with the ordinance passed and that we can amend it later if needed.

Resolution 2018-09-001-016 was approved.

Discussion-

Gun Range on 96th and Ellington Rd.-

Mr. Niekamp stated that everyone will receive a full memo after the meeting. The memo did not make it into the packet for the meeting tonight, however, he asked Mr. Todd Eyler from the State’s Attorney’s Office to give a summary to the full board.

Mr. Eyler reminded the board that we had heard from citizens in regards to the gun range. Mr. Eyler summarized the memo: There were 3 main issues including noise levels, use and enjoyment of land, and safety. Historical data that was collected on previous situations similar to this do not show that the board has ever taken action to close down a gun range. The only time action was taken was when the Illinois Pollution Control Board stepped in. The county has very little ability to close down that gun range. Our county does not have any county-wide zoning which has been addressed and debated before. Since there is no zoning, the county has no ability to do anything. There is nothing that is in place to not allow them to operate. He stated that the neighbors of the gun range have more power than the county does for this matter. They can send in formal complaints to the Illinois Pollution Control Board, but no complaints have been filed to date. Safety is something that cannot be arguable, and when the range opened complaints were made and the safety issues were addressed. The owner made changes. QPD has always been very involved with the gun range and its owner and has aided in the process of making changes and addressing issues. This memo is not to pick on the neighbors because there is, indeed, constant gunfire happening. This memo does not take any issue of whether it is, isn’t, or could be an issue. At this point, no steps have been taken and the county does not have zoning which gives them no authority.

Mr. Austin stated that his biggest concern is the ability for the range to have unsupervised visitors. He asked if QPD has done anything to address that.

Mr. Eyler responded that it is a legitimate concern. It opens the doors to a lot of liability on the owner, but that is for the owner and his insurance company to handle. Mr. Eyler stated he is not aware of any more steps taken by QPD to address those issues. Mr. Dempsey stated QPD does not use any type of ammo that could exit the property. Another issues is that there has not been any evidence provided that shows the ammo is leaving the gun range property.

Appointments-

Indian Graves Drainage District- Request for the reappointment of Shawn Lewis to serve as trustee of the Indian Grave Drainage District for a three year term beginning the first Tuesday of September 2018.

Mr. Niekamp made a motion to approve the resolution.

Mr. Peter seconded the motion.

The reappointment of Shawn Lewis to the Indian Graves Drainage District was approved.

Firework Permit-

a. Request from Point D’Vine, LLC for approval of a fireworks permit for September 28th, 2018 for a wedding event held at Point D’Vine, 276 Highway 57, Quincy. (Attachment A-2)

Mr. Niekamp made a motion to approve the Fireworks Permit.

Mr. Venvertloh seconded the motion.

The fireworks permit was approved.

b. Request from Point D’Vine, LLC for approval of a fireworks permit for October 6th, 2018 for a wedding event held at Point D’Vine, 276 Highway 57, Quincy. (Attachment A-3)

Mr. Niekamp made a motion to approve the Fireworks Permit.

Mr. Zanger seconded the motion.

The fireworks permit was approved.

c. Request from Friends of Unit 4 for a fireworks permit for September 22, 2018 for a fundraising event to be held at the Adams County Fairgrounds. (Attachment A-4)

Mr. Niekamp made a motion to approve the fireworks permit.

Mrs. Weed seconded the motion.

The fireworks permit was approved.

The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for October 2nd, 2018 at 7:00 PM.

Public Health & Safety:

Committee Report (Mrs. Weed)-

Bills – The committee met on Tuesday, August 21st, 2018 and reviewed the bills for the Sheriff’s Office, Coroner’s Office, Emergency Management Agency and Animal Control. All of the bills were in order.

Reports-

Mr. Joe Lohmeyer reported to the committee on behalf of the Sheriff’s Office. He reported the medical services contract has been terminated and the department is currently using Quincy Medical Group. A contract is being finalized and the committee referred that contract to the States Attorney’s Office for final review. The new food services is using the county’s facilities to prepare food and there have been no issues more serious than a few late meals. They have received and authorized payment for the last invoice from Adams Pike Medical and Quincy Senior Citizens Center. The population of the jail continues to follow the recent trend.

John Simon, Director of Emergency Management, reported that the installation of the new radio systems is moving along. There will be radio transfer stations at several county locations. The tower is up at the courthouse. They have approved an agreement to terminate the lease agreement with Adams Networks on the tower at the Emergency Operations Center. A new partner agreement which allows Adams Network to continue to have access to our tower and gives us access to their towers with no monitory cost to either was referred to the States Attorney’s office for review.

John Myers, the county coroner, reported that the department has released 4 cremains to family members and continues to try to identify families for the remaining cremains. He suggested that we contact the news to post a list of the descendants asking families to contact his office. An office assistant was hired and works 5 hours per day and 5 days a week. They are cleaning up the backlog of files and data entry. Moving forward, documents will be scanned in and the paper copy will be destroyed. They finalized the last of the 17 cases that were open when he took over.

The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 18th, 2018 at 7:00.

Finance:

Committee Report (Mr. Austin)-

Bills – The committee met on Monday, September 10th, 2018 to review the bills. All of the bills were in order.

Report-

The 377 Board, the director of Transitions and one of their program directors gave the committee information about their programming. They are working with them on their budget requests.

Resolution –

a. Approval of County Board Travel Vouchers. (Attachments B-1 thru B-3)

$149.45 to John Heidbreder for travel on July 12th to Pittsfield for a Two Rivers meeting and July 19th to Bloomington for a SERMA meeting for a total of 427 miles.

$8.75 to Theresa Bockhold for travel to the county board meeting on September 11th for a total of 25 miles.

$42.00 to Seldon Totsch for travel to the August 21st committee meeting and the September 11th county board meeting for a total of 120 miles.

Mr. Austin made a motion to approve the travel vouchers.

Mr. Niekamp seconded the motion.

A roll call vote was taken to approve the travel vouchers. All in favor were: Theresa Bockhold, Duane Venvertloh, Joe Zanger, Todd Duesterhaus, Bret Austin, Steven Demoss, Rebecca Weed, Ryan Niekamp, Dave Bellis, Marvin Kerkhoff, Raquel Piazza, John Heidbreder, Kent Snider, Taylor Rakers, Mark Peter, Matt Obert, Robert Reich, John Brady, Seldon Totsch, and Les Post.

Total in Favor: 20 Total Against: 0 Total Absent: 1

The travel vouchers were approved.

The following tax sale resolutions were approved together. (Attachments B-4 and B-5)

b. Tax sale resolution parcel number 23-0-0564-000-00 in Quincy Township.

c. Tax sale resolution parcel number 01-0-0624-000-00 in Lot 7, Montgomery Survey, Clayton Township.

Mr. Austin made a motion to approve the tax sale resolutions.

Mr. Venvertloh seconded the motion.

The tax sale resolutions were approved.

Finance-

a. Transfer of Budget Appropriation – From John Myers, County Coroner – a transfer of $3,279.00 from line item 001-201-5105 Coroner Salary-Deputy for a new budgeted amount of $7,021.00 and an increase of $3,279.00 to line item 001-201-5110, Coroner Salary- Part-Time Deputies for a revised budget of $11,729.00. (Attachment B-6)

Mr. Austin made a motion to approve the resolution.

Mrs. Weed seconded the motion.

Mr. Austin stated this is a realignment of the salaries that were in the budget before because he is funding this through part-time deputies. This is budget neutral. A roll call vote was taken to approve the transfer of budget appropriation. All in favor were: Theresa Bockhold, Duane Venvertloh, Joe Zanger, Todd Duesterhaus, Bret Austin, Steven Demoss, Rebecca Weed, Ryan Niekamp, Dave Bellis, Marvin Kerkhoff, Raquel Piazza, John Heidbreder, Kent Snider, Taylor Rakers, Mark Peter, Matt Obert, Robert Reich, John Brady, Seldon Totsch, and Les Post.

Total in Favor: 20 Total Against: 0 Total Absent: 1

The transfer of budget appropriation was approved.

b. Additional Fund Appropriation – From Lori Geschwandner – Circuit Clerk – an increase of $25,000.00 to new revenue account 001-421-4994 County general: Transfer from Court Automation Fund for a new budget amount of $25,000.00 and an increase of $25,000.00 to new expense account 426-421-5995 Court Automation: Transfer to County General for Salaries for a new budget amount of $25,000.00. (Attachment B-7)

Mr. Austin made a motion to approve the additional fund appropriation.

Mr. Rakers seconded the motion.

A roll call vote was taken to approve the additional fund appropriation. All in favor were: Theresa Bockhold, Duane Venvertloh, Joe Zanger, Todd Duesterhaus, Bret Austin, Steven Demoss, Rebecca Weed, Ryan Niekamp, Dave Bellis, Marvin Kerkhoff, Raquel Piazza, John Heidbreder, Kent Snider, Taylor Rakers, Mark Peter, Matt Obert, Robert Reich, John Brady, Seldon Totsch, and Les Post.

Total in Favor: 20 Total Against: 0 Total Absent: 1

The additional fund appropriation was approved.

Budget-

Mr. Austin stated that the budget process is in full swing. They have completed collecting data and will start negotiations. It is going well. The budget should be available to the board before the October meeting which will give the board a full month to review it before the November meeting.

The committee’s next meeting will be October 8th, 2018 at 6:15.

Jail Sub-Committee:

Committee Report (Mr. Peter)-

Report-

Mr. Peter reported that there has been a lot of progress over the past month. They have many of the divides in over in the housing area. They have done very well.

He also gave an update from Sid Wilson. The precast panels are all set except for one panel in east wall being left out for material and equipment access to area B. The crane is setting the last of the steel in area B followed by roof concrete planks the rest of this week. The crane will move back to area A on the 17th to finish setting roof planks then demobilize or dismantle and move out by Friday the 28th. A smaller crane will set the last panel in October. The In ground plumbing is 80% complete in area B and 100% complete in area A. The electrical in ground area A is 100% done and 5% done in area B. All of area A concrete on the 1st floor is done except the sally port. The 2nd floor concrete in area A is 50% complete. The project remains on schedule at this time but there will be some loss of time due to a deflection problem adding additional columns and beams under the sally port. These costs will not be absorbed by the project. The project is $547,272 under contracted amount plus $300,000 the county has billed the city for reimbursement of the Vermont Street new utilities.

Mr. Peter pointed out the report the county treasurer provided on the performance from three years of the jail tax. In the last 3 months, the receipts have been higher than last year’s.

He also spoke about a number of change orders presented by Mr. Wilson. There are 15 different items. Two are actually reductions, but the majority is increases. The largest is from the sally-port beam that has deflected. It is a $65,000 increase. There is another increase of $17,000. Out of all of the big numbers, $125, 435 is what we think is reimbursable dollars. They have had informal discussions with the design team about this. They approved a letter to send to make a formal request to get the money reimbursed. The $81,000 of new money is something they think we will be responsible for. $30,000 of that is from the original bid. Basically, the net increase of the project is right around $50,000 from these change orders.

Mr. Peter made a motion to approve the change orders as presented to the board.

Mr. Venvertloh seconded the motion.

Discussion:

Mr. Rakers asked if the beam was an engineering oversight.

Mr. Peter stated that it was.

Mr. Rakers asked about the $125,000 number.

Mr. Peter stated that items in one of the columns that are X’d out are the ones we should seek reimbursement for.

Mr. Heidbreder stated he has been speaking with the insurance company and wondered when the county would take possession of the building. He asked if we would be in the building by late next year.

Mr. Peter stated October 2019 is the target.

The change orders were approved.

New Business:

Monthly Reports – The County Clerk had monthly reports from the Supervisor of Assessments/Board of Review, the Probation Department, Juvenile Detention center, The County Clerk/Recorder’s office, Treasurer’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office, Monthly check register for August 2018, and Funds Summary report for August 2018 including revenue and expenses.

Mr. Duesterhaus made a motion to receive and file the monthly reports with the appropriate committee.

Mr. Zanger seconded the motion.

Motion to receive and file the monthly reports with the appropriate committee adopted.

Discussion-

Chairman Post stated that the county clerk has provided the proposed County Board meeting dates and the holidays for next year for the board to review before they approve them next month.

Correspondence:

1) Letter from Illinois Department of Agriculture regarding the Proposed Gin Ridge, LLC, Swine Facility.

2) Letter from Illinois Department of Agriculture regarding the Proposed County Line Swine Inc., Swine Management Facility.

3) Letter from United Counties Council of Illinois regarding a September 13, 2018 Conference.

Mr. Duesterhaus moved to receive and file the correspondence with the appropriate committee. Mr. Zanger seconded the motion. The motion to receive and file the correspondence with the appropriate committee adopted.

Mr. Kerkhoff asked if here are any updates on the swine facility. Mr. Post stated that the state sent a letter asking for more information, but that’s it. The permit has not been approved.

Chairman Post stated there is another meeting on the 20th for another swine facility that is wanting to open in the county.

Mr. Heidbreder made a motion to recess the September meeting until December 2018 for the purpose of setting the levy. Mr. Venvertloh seconded the motion.

The September meeting was recessed until December 2018 for the purpose of setting the levy.

http://www.co.adams.il.us/County_Board/minutes/2018-09-11-CountyBoardMinutes&Resolutions.pdf