With
summer officially here, the County Board began addressing some "hot"
topics during its meeting of June 26th. Specifically, the Board (among
other things) looked at new precincts and discussed its continued
participation in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund ("IMRF") pension
system.
1) New Precincts for Morton and Washington
On
the "Consent Agenda," the Board was asked to (and did) approve the
addition of precincts to both Morton and Washington Townships. The hope
is that these new precincts best address the growing populations in
each area, and in turn, can lead to shorter lines at your polling
place(s) during elections. We greatly appreciated the fact that the
Township officials in those areas were advised of the proposed changes
to make sure their input was received and considered.
For your reference, here are the "before" and "after" maps for each area (if you are unable to view them on your computer, let me know, and I can email them to you):
Morton Township
Washington Township
For your reference, here are the "before" and "after" maps for each area (if you are unable to view them on your computer, let me know, and I can email them to you):
Morton Township
Washington Township
2) Continued Participation in Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF)
The Board also
considered its continued participation in IMRF. This is a pension
system authorized by state statute for elected officials and employees
of various units of government. Presently, Tazewell County Board
members have the right to participate in IMRF (although Andrew and I do
not participate). In light of the (understandably) heightened scrutiny
placed on public pension systems, IMRF has begun a series of audits, and
have asked government bodies to reassess their continued
participation. Essentially, the governing boards are being asked to: 1)
vote to continue participation, but members be prepared to document
their time and/or certify in a sworn statement that they work the
requisite number of hours on official business per year (1,000 hours for
Tazewell County); or 2) vote to discontinue participation.
After
some spirited, yet respectful, debate at our meeting, the Board voted
11-10 to table this issue so further questions could be asked of the
local IMRF representative. Both Andrew and I were among the 10 members
who were prepared to vote to discontinue
participation. We feel that by voting to discontinue participation in
the IMRF pension system, we could immediately put an end to the threat
of an audit and any potential penalty that could arise for the
County, individual board members and ultimately, the citizens of
Tazewell County.
Of
course, we encourage you to let us and the other board
members that represent you know how you feel about the
IMRF pension system for the Tazewell County Board.
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