Quincy Reporter

Adams County Board Legislative & Judicial Committee met Jan. 7.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

The Adams County Board Legislative & Judicial Committee held their regular meeting in the Adams County Board Room at 507 Vermont Street, Quincy, Illinois.

The following members were present:

Ryan Niekamp

Theresa Bockhold

Raquel Piazza

Todd Deusterhaus

Others present:

Valetta Franks

Todd Eyler

Becky Weed

Bob Reich

Sue Hester

Chris Sprague

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. by Ryan Niekamp.

Bills

The committee reviewed bills and stamped as “Checked.”

Minutes

Mrs. Bockhold made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 3 meeting. Mrs. Piazza seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.

County Code

 Article VI – Adams County Ambulance System. Mr. Niekamp presented the committee with two changes that are up for discussion in the Ambulance code: the union requested that an Ambulance employee has a seat on the board as a non-voting member. The board currently has 5 members, and this will be a sixth, non-voting member. The bargaining unit will provide the Chairman of the County Board a list of five employees, and the Chairman will appoint one member from that list.

Mr. Reich provided the committee with information related to the second update, which will provide that the Adams County Ambulance service remains the sole authority in Adams County to provide ground transportation for emergency medical services. This allows the County to maintain quality control over a service that the taxpayers are expecting.

 Mileage Rate – Mrs. Hester provided the committee with a recommendation from the Executive Committee to adopt the IRS mileage rate. The current mileage rate is $0.35/mile, and by adopting the IRS mileage rate, the rate may fluctuate up or down depending on the rate set by the IRS. The 2020 IRS rate is 57.5 cents.

 Article IV 3-4-2 Rabies Inoculation – Mr. Reich explained to the committee that the state is now requiring cats to be vaccinated and they will be required to have a County tag, similar to the current dog tag process. The City charges $6.00 for cat tags, and he recommends that the County charge the same. He also strongly urges that the County exclude the tag fee inside the city limits so not to “double tax” the City residents. Mr. Niekamp agreed that the City should be exempt from the County tag fee since they are already paying for a City tag, and he agrees that charging the same amount the City is charging seems fair, at $6 per tag. The revised language for the County Code updates will be available before the County Board meeting next week.

Mr. Niekamp asked Mrs. Hester to provide an update on her office, and talk about the 2020 Goals that were discussed at the Executive Committee meeting. Mrs. Hester stated that her office is going to continue to look for technological solutions to streamline processes within the County. Ms. Piazza asked if she had an update on the website, and asked if she can reach out to John Frankenhoff to provide the committee with an update and a timeframe of when the website will be live. Mr. Deusterhaus recommended that we livestream the County Board meetings, and mentioned that he believed the infrastructure was already in place to do that with the exception of adding a camera.

Mrs. Bockhold made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Ms. Piazza seconded the motion. Mr. Niekamp adjourned the meeting at 6:30 p.m.

https://www.co.adams.il.us/home/showdocument?id=3973