June Board Meeting

On June 24, the Tazewell County Board held its monthly meeting.

As we were brought to order, Chairman Zimmerman led the Board in a moment of silence for both Board Member Dean Grimm and past Board Member Jan Donahue (wife of current Board Member Jim Donahue), whom we both lost in the last several weeks.  

Among other things, the Board voted:

1) to approve of the plan of the Superintendent of the Regional Office of Education to operate independently of the County effective July 1, 2015, as required by state law;

2) to approve a "subordination agreement for refinancing."  The initial agreement (an economic development tool) consisted of two loans from the County to Millennia Professional Services for land expansion in Morton and for vehicle/equipment purchases for a related construction project.  Sally Hanley of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council explained that because of the refinancing, the County will now be second (instead of third) in priority to be paid back, as the refinancing will be done through Morton Community Bank only, and eliminate prior loans extended by PNC Bank and the Small Business Administration; 

3) to approve the annual rate of prevailing wages as required by Illinois law; and

4) to approve amendments to Tazewell County Code - Title 6, Subchapter A, regarding sewage disposal.  The proposed language was in the board packet (available on this blog), and I would like to thank members of the County Health Department and Board of Health for their diligence in holding meetings and hearings with contractors, realtors, and the public regarding the proposed changes, many of which were required by changes in Illinois law.  In the end, several of us voted against the proposal (for example, I had concerns over the potential of someone being charged with a misdemeanor for a violation of the Code), but I know a lot of work went into developing what was presented to us.

June Board Packet and Latest News

As has been my custom, I have received the packet for the upcoming board meeting on June 24, and have posted it along with the Accounts Payable.  Those are available on the "Board Packets" tab.

However, more importantly, our board lost another fine gentleman.  Board Member Dean Grimm passed away this week, and I will truly miss what many have already called him - "one of the good guys."

The first time I met Dean he asked if I came from a family with its own TV and appliance business.  While it had been decades since he and my grandfather talked "shop" about Grimm's (in Morton) and Countrywide (in Farmington and Canton), it meant so much that he took the time to share some memories of him (as my family had just recently lost him).

I will miss the times Dean would go out of his way to see what the "young guys" thought about a particular issue and the institutional (and insightful) input he would share during board and committee debates.  

I want to add my sincere condolences to his family.  We are all going to miss him.

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During this past week, our Finance Committee met and established a schedule for the upcoming budget hearings/adoption for the Fiscal Year 2016 budget.  While these dates are subject to change, I wanted to share the initial version, as these meetings are open to the public:

Tuesday, September 8, 3:30pm

Wednesday, September 16, 3:30pm

Monday, September 21, 3:30pm  

Monday, October 12, 6:00pm*

Wednesday, October 28, immediately following regular County Board**

All meetings will be held in the Carius Community Room, and the October meetings will be to review the tentative budget (12th) and formally adopt the budget (28th).

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During the same Finance Committee meeting, we were fortunate to receive a report from the Supervisor of Assessments and his staff related to the continued efforts on updates to our County's GIS (Geographic Information System) webpage.

If you haven't tried out the GIS page, I encourage you to do so.  From that page, you will be able to research real estate throughout the county, and add/delete various "layers" (e.g., municipal boundaries, topographic data, etc.) to view the exact information you want to see.  This website is a very valuable addition for property owners.

To use the GIS website, click here.

May 2015 Board Meeting

On May 27, the Tazewell County Board held its regular monthly meeting.  While many items were approved as part of the consent agenda, several bids for bituminous road surface treatments throughout the county were pulled for further discussion.

In short, the numbers on the bids came in higher than expected, so they were rejected with the hope that subsequent bidding will bring in lower, more efficient numbers.

The Board also, among other things:

1) Approved an agreement for a substitute Hearing Officer for the Code Hearing Unit when needed;

2) Approved the purchase of network and email licensing for employees; and

3) Approved of the auction of surplus county property.

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On Friday, May 29, County Administrator Wendy Ferrill and I met with Travis Sterling, the Outreach Coordinator for the office of Senator Mark Kirk. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss general issues facing Tazewell County, and we appreciate Senator Kirk and his staff reaching out to units of government throughout the state to talk about matters of importance and to see how his office can be of assistance.

While we talked about numerous topics, the main focus of our conversation was infrastructure and transportation.  We explained our commitment to keeping the roads and bridges of the County safe, and Mr. Sterling welcomed the idea of us creating a list of local projects that may need additional funding from the federal level (whether through a "TIGER" grant or as part of a federal transportation capital bill).  Once we have a list together, we can reassess how Senator Kirk's office can help our efforts (e.g., letter of support, assistance with grant writing, etc.).