The January 29 meeting of the Tazewell County Board started with mixed emotions. We first celebrated the service anniversaries for county officials and employees at the beginning of the meeting (including a special thank you to retiring County Engineer John Anderson), followed by Chairman Zimmerman asking those in attendance for a moment of silence to remember our colleague and friend, Board Member Terry Von Boeckman, who passed away late last year. I did not personally get a chance to work much with Terry, but when he would work with "the new guy," he always had encouraging words for me when I would ask questions or was trying to learn about a county issue. He will be missed.
Among other things on the agenda tonight, the Board:
1) approved numerous intergovernmental agreements for animal control services with municipalities throughout the county;
2) approved a resolution opposing the passage of Illinois House Bill 924, a bill pending in the General Assembly which would greatly hamper the ability of smaller, local businesses to bid on government projects;
3) approved a resolution to waive permit fees for reconstruction of property damaged in the November 2013 tornado; and
4) discussed the efforts undertaken by the Subcommittee on the Pekin Landfill formed from members of the County Health Services Committee. This Subcommittee has worked very hard to ascertain what options are available for containing the landfill, which was left vacant by a private corporation many years ago. After some general discussion, the Board reached a consensus to have the Subcommittee come back with specific cost information and options so a final decision on whether or not to take further action would be in the County's best interest.
