November Board Meeting

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  The Tazewell County Board held its last, regularly scheduled meeting of 2016 on November 16.  Both the board packet and the financial reports are available on the "Board Packets" tab on the blog.

At the beginning of the meeting, Chairman Zimmerman called up retiring Auditor Vicki Grashoff to honor her for the many years of service she gave to the County.  I would also like to thank her for all she has taught me in my few short years serving on the Board.

In other business, the Board:

1) Approved the County Engineer's request to take bids for various new bridge and road projects for the coming year;

2) Approved further intergovernmental agreements for Animal and Rabies Control with additional municipalities in the County; and

3) Moved to reconsider the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget.

The motion to reconsider was to address the need to recalculate the amount in the contingency line item in the General Fund.  The recalculation was actually a reduction in the line item.  The change was approved and the new budget adopted.

The Board was also presented with a "Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Reduction Plan," which outlines many of the parameters put in place for the County electeds and department heads when making financial-related decisions in the upcoming year.  While this cannot be a "one size fits all" plan, I applaud our finance team for putting this together.  Of particular note:

1) There will be no new full-time employee hires in 2017;

2) A freeze on replacement hires of at least 150 days will begin immediately;

3) Department heads will be given the option of not filling a position and distributing the duties to remaining employees;

4) A budget committee will be formed of certain board committee chairs and the county administrator; and

5) A budget reduction committee will also be formed, consisting of electeds and department heads to constantly review the status of the budget and assess other needs throughout the year.

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I will likely post a final update after our Board is "reorganized" with our new members in early December.  However, I would like to thank my fellow Board members who will no longer be serving with us after November 16.  It has been a pleasure working with you.

That being said, I must also say something about another prior Board member, whom we lost forever last week - Paul Hahn.  For those of you who may not remember, I got to know Paul during the 2012 election, and when he resigned to focus on his health, he went out of his way to recommend I take his seat.  As I got ready to be sworn in, I recall many conversations with Paul, both on the phone and one chat as we walked around his beloved winery in Mackinaw.  I will never forget the main theme of all of those conversations - do not lose sight of why you are on the Board - to serve the best interests of the people, and to keep the costs of the taxpayer down when they want to utilize the services of their government.  I will always remember our chats and will think of Paul often.