Quincy Reporter

Adams County Board met Dec. 12.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

The County Board of Adams County, Illinois met at the Courthouse, Quincy, Illinois, on Tuesday, December 12th, 2023 at 7:00 P.M., pursuant to recess.

PRESENT: Bret Austin, Vice Chairman

Ryan Niekamp, County Clerk

Vice Chairman Austin called the meeting to order.

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

The County Clerk called the roll and the following members were present: Jon McCoy, Tim Finlay, Brad Poulter, David McCleary, Les Post, Theresa Bockhold, Joe Zanger, Brent Fischer, Todd Duesterhaus, Bret Austin, Keith Callaway, Mark Sorensen, Barbara Fletcher, Ryan Hinkamper, Dave Bellis, Marvin Kerkhoff, Mark Dietrich, Steve McQueen and Travis Cooley.

Total Present: 19 Absent: 2

Absent were: Robert Reich and Kent Snider, both excused

Vice Chairman Austin declared a quorum present.

Officeholders, department heads, and/or their representatives also present were: Todd Eyler- Assistant States Attorney, Georgene Zimmerman- Supervisor of Assessments, Lori Geschwandner-Circuit Clerk, Anthony Foster- Director of Court Services, John Simon-EMA & Ambulance Director, Jim Frankenhoff- County Engineer, Jessica Douglas- Director of 911, and Sheriff Anthony Grootens.

Mr. Bellis moved to approve the minutes of the November 14, 2023 county board meeting as printed and distributed.

Mrs. Fletcher seconded the motion.

Motion to approve the minutes of the September 15, 2023 meeting as printed was

Transportation, Building & Technology

Committee Report (Mr. Bellis)

Bills – The committee met on Tuesday, December 12th and reviewed the bills for the Highway Department, the Maintenance Department, and the Technology Department. All the bills were in order.

Reports

The highway department updated the committee on various road projects.

Resolutions

a. 2023-12-501-021 - Resolution reporting bids and awarding a contract to County Contractors, Inc., Quincy, Illinois in the amount of $447,475.70 for the removal and replacement of the existing structure (SN 001-3167) with a 68.00 ft. bk-bk abutment precast pre-stressed concrete deck beam bridge (SN 001-3439) with the necessary bridge approach embankment, aggregate surface and ancillary work, located on TR 343 (N 1400TH Place) approximately 4.5 miles southeast of Columbus in Columbus Road District, known as Section #21-05117-00-BR, from the December 5, 2023 Township Bridge Program Fund Letting. The clerk read the resolution by title only.

Mr. Post made a motion to approve the resolution.

Mr. Zanger seconded the motion.

Resolution 2023-12-501-021 was approved.

b. 2023-12-501-022 – Resolution to use Surface Transportation Funds to pay one half of the County Engineer’s salary from December 1, 2023 through November 30, 2024 and

The clerk read the resolution by title only.

Mr. McCleary made a motion to approve the resolution.

Mr. Bellis seconded the motion.

Resolution 2023-12-501-022 was approved.

New Business

Mr. Bellis took the time to thank Mr. Dave Bockhold for all the years that he’s taken the notes for the committee.

Legislative & Judicial

Committee Report (Mrs. Bockhold)

Bills – The committee met on December 12th and reviewed bills from the Circuit Clerk, Juvenile Detention Center, Probation Department, Public Defender, State’s Attorney, and the Supervisor of Assessments. All the bills were in order.

Reports

There were no additional reports.

Resolutions/Ordinances/Action

a. Resolution Number 2023-12-001-001 – Change to the County Code for Employee Reimbursements

The clerk read the resolution by title only.

Mrs. Bockhold made a motion to approve the resolution.

Mr. McCoy seconded the motion.

Resolution 2023-12-001-001 was approved.

b. Resolution Number 2023-12-001-002 – Change to the County Code for Sheriff Ranks

The clerk read the resolution by title only.

Mrs. Bockhold made a motion to approve the resolution.

Mr. McCoy seconded the motion.

Resolution 2023-12-001-002 was approved.

Appointments

a. Clayton Sanitary District appointments of Harold Wilson, Dennis Padgett, Larry Schaf

Mrs. Bockhold made a motion to approve the appointments.

Mr. McCoy seconded the motion.

The appointments were approved.

Event Liquor Licenses

There were no liquor licenses to approve.

Pyrotechnic Displays

There were no pyrotechnic display permits to approve.

Other

a. Approval of the 2023 Adams County Juvenile Detention Center Inspection Report Mr. Duesterhaus made a motion to approve the report.Mrs. Bockhold seconded the motion.

The report was approved.

The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for January 9th, 2024.

Public Health & Safety

Committee Report (Mrs. Fletcher)

Bills – The committee met on December 12th and reviewed the bills for the Sheriff’s Office, Coroner’s Office, Emergency Management Agency and Animal Control. All the bills were in order.

Reports

Mrs. Fletcher read the following department reports that were given to the committee: From John Simon, Director of Ambulance and EMA: There will be a first responder EMR course the first week of April and they are doing active shooter rescue task force training with QPD. Their current supplier of the CAD system is going out of business and they are being forced to look into a new system within the next year.

From Scott Graham, County Coroner: There were 62 reported deaths, 2 autopsies, 1 abandon remain, 23 cremation permits issued and 0 suicides in the month of November. From Sheriff Grootens: There were 2 new hires and a jail population of 102.

Resolution

There were no resolutions to approve.

The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for January 9th, 2024.

Executive Committee

Committee Report

The committee did not meet in the month of December.

The committee’s next meeting will be January 2nd, 2024.

Finance

Committee Report (Mr. Cooley)

Bills – The committee met on December 11th and reviewed the bills. All the bills were in order.

Report

There were no additional reports.

Resolution –

a. Resolution Number 2023-12-161-001 – Increase Salary for Supervisor of Assessments.

The clerk read the resolution by title only.

Mr. Cooley made a motion to approve the resolution.

Mr. Callaway seconded the motion.

Discussion: There was no discussion.

Resolution 2023-12-161-001 was approved.

Finance

There was no finance discussion.

Insurance

There were no insurance discussions.

At this time, Mr. Cooley made a motion to suspend the December 12th, 2023 meeting and resume the September 12th, 2023 meeting for the purpose of setting the levy. Mr. Mr. Finlay seconded the motion.

The September 12th, 2023 meeting resumed.

Discussion and Possible Action

a. Resolution Number 2023-12-001-003 – Adoption of the Adams County Tax Levy

The clerk read the resolution by title only.

Mr. Cooley made a motion to approve the resolution.

Mr. Poulter seconded the motion.

Discussion: Mr. Cooley reported that what they reported last month with the EAV has changed and went up. He stated that means property values are going up. He stated they do not need to raise the levy any further and they came in under the 5% truth in taxation threshold.

A roll call vote was taken to approve the resolution. Those in favor were: Jon McCoy, Tim Finlay, Brad Poulter, David McCleary, Les Post, Theresa Bockhold, Joe Zanger, Brent Fischer, Todd Duesterhaus, Bret Austin, Keith Callaway, Mark Sorensen, Barbara Fletcher, Ryan Hinkamper, Dave Bellis, Marvin Kerkhoff, Mark Dietrich, Steve McQueen and Travis Cooley.

Total in favor was 19. Total opposed was 0. Total absent was 2.

Resolution 2023-12-001-003 was approved.

Mr. Cooley made a motion to suspend the September 12th, 2023 meeting and resume the December 12th, 2023 meeting.

Mr. Finlay seconded the motion.

The motion was approved.

The December 12th, 2023 meeting was resumed.

Mr. Cooley brought up the ARPA discussion and asked for an update on any mold remediation that would be taking place. He stated they put projects on hold while figuring out the mold remediation plan. Mr. Bellis stated that they will be sending out notifications to employees before the remediation steps take place. He also stated this may affect where the Transportation committee meets next time. Mr. Cooley stated that since the mold situation is costing significantly lower than what it could have been, he would like to present lifting the hold on the 4 ARPA projects that the board chose to put a hold on. Mr. Cooley made a motion to lift the hold on the four highlighted ARPA items. Mr. McCoy seconded the motion.

Mr. Hinkamper made a motion to pay the existing bills that are due before authorizing any other spending. He stated they do not know where the final remediation bill will be. Mr. Bellis stated that they will have people to look at our boiler system in the building because companies cannot believe it is still operating. He stated we need to keep in mind that a new heating and air system may be needed in the next year or two. Mr. McCleary stated that they have all the governmental agreements for the village restrooms and they are trying to get bids in the next month. He asked about the money that is allocated for the riverfront line burial. He asked if they could reallocate that money to have on hold for mold remediation. Mr. Bellis stated they should hold off on that. Mr. Austin asked which communities have said yes to the restrooms. Mr. McCleary stated that Golden was in transition of a new mayor and he believes they still want to but are going through transitions. He also stated the Village of Coatsburg backed out which was $90,000.

Mr. Post made an amended motion to release the money on the Adams County Restrooms project that we have intergovernmental agreements with and leave the rest on hold.

Mr. Callaway seconded the motion.

The motion was approved.

Mr. McCleary stated the villages we have an intergovernmental agreement with were Liberty, Camp Point and Plainville.

Mr. McCoy stated that the Fairgrounds restrooms project has started removing trees and concrete work and sewer work should be done by the spring.

Mr. McCoy made an amended motion to lift suspension on use of funds on the Adams County Fairgrounds project as well as the Village of Liberty, Camp Point and Plainville restroom projects.

Mr. Bellis seconded the motion.

The motion was approved.

Mr. Cooley and Mr. Post withdrew their original motions.

Mr. Callaway asked about the mold remediation and stated that he got a hydrometer from Home Depot that reads humidity and other things for a room. He stated that they could put these in rooms for maintenance could monitor. Mr. Austin stated the liability may be pretty severe but he referred them to the Building, Transportation and Technology Committee.

The committee’s next meeting will be January 8th, 2024.

Unfinished Business

There was no unfinished business to discuss.

New Business

Approval of Board Member Travel Vouchers

There were no travel vouchers to approve.

Monthly Reports

Supervisor of Assessments/Board of Review, Juvenile Detention Center, the County Clerk & Recorder’s office, the Public Defender, the Circuit Clerk, and Probation Department, Monthly check register for November 2023, and Funds Summary report for November 2023 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.

Resignation

There were no resignations.

Appointments

Vice Chairman Austin entertained a motion to approve the following appointments. a. John Summers to the Sheriff Merit Commission

Mrs. Fletcher made a motion to approve the appointment.

Mr. Cooley seconded the motion.

The appointment was approved.

b. Mike McLaughlin to the Board of Directors for the Western Illinois Economic Development Authority (Expires the First Monday of January 2029) Mr. Bellis made a motion to approve the appointment.

Mr. McCleary seconded the motion.

The appointment was approved.

Report

There were no additional reports.

Announcements

There were no additional announcements.

Discussion and Possible Action

There were no additional discussion and possible action.

Correspondence

a. Ameren Illinois – Notification of Future Tree Trimming

b. MLCR 1A – Central Stone Company Surface Mining

Mr. Duesterhaus moved to receive and file the correspondence with the appropriate committee.

Mr. Zanger seconded the motion.

Motion to receive and file the correspondence with the appropriate committee adopted.

The December 12th, 2023 meeting was recessed until Tuesday, January 9th, 2024

https://www.co.adams.il.us/home/showpublisheddocument/9013