May, June, and July - Oh my!

In what seemed like a blink of an eye, I realized I had not put up a new post on the blog since the April Board meeting!  I have been posting agendas and board packets since that time, but felt it was important to send you all a brief update on a few important items:

1) As with all units of local government, we all are keeping a close eye on expenditures. The County Auditor recently provided us with a Second Quarter Financial Report.  A copy of it can be found here.

2) On a related note, the County is already actively preparing for the Budget cycle for the upcoming fiscal year.  This will include various meetings and hearings of the Finance Committee, and eventually, the full Board.  A calendar of the Budget calendar can be found here.  The public is welcome to attend any and all of these.

3) Finally, on the July Board agenda, you will see two "emergency declarations" for purchases.  The documents explaining the reasons behind the purchases are available on the "Board Packet" page of the blog, but since these involve a substantial amount of money without going out for bids (as authorized under the law in emergencies such as this), please feel free to contact me with any questions on them (or anything else you see on the agenda).

April Board Meeting

The Tazewell County Board convened at 6:00pm on April 26.

The meeting began with the recognition of retiring Board Member, Jerry Vanderheydt. Later in the meeting, Frank Sciortino was appointed to fill the remainder of Jerry's term. I enjoyed working with Jerry (and learned a lot from his level, calm temperament), and look forward to working with Frank.

We then heard from our Finance Director, Craig Peters, with his budget forecasting report for the first quarter of our fiscal year.  Craig reported that for that period (ending February 28, 2017), the total revenue was $93,000.00 over budget.  There are still some unanswered questions as to whether the state will fulfill its obligations on payments to the County, but our Finance Team will continue to monitor the situation and provide regular reports.  To see Craig's full report, click here.

In other business, the Board:

* approved the bid to replace the Wick Building at the Highway Department facility in Tremont.  This building will provide a cleaner, more efficient location to house and clean Highway Equipment, and also offer a storm shelter for the Department's employees; and

* agreed to enter into a Feasibility Study Agreement with the United States Department of the Army wherein the Army Corps of Engineers will undertake a series of tests to determine if there are better ways to protect Wagonseller Road as it crosses the Mackinaw River.

March Board Meeting

Tonight, the Tazewell County Board gathered to debate and vote on a variety of different items.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.  In no particular order, the Board voted to:

1) Establish a Special Service Area for the Heritage Lake Subdivision and provide for the issuance of Special Service Area bonds to pay the costs of certain road improvements and related services;

2) With much regret, accept the resignation of County Board Member Jerry Vanderheydt;

3) Authorize the application for certain funding for We Care, Inc., which provides public transit service in non-urbanized areas;

4) Determine which positions within the County that qualify for membership in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF)*;

5) Revise the terms of the County's Revolving Loan Fund Policy as to the relevant interest rate from "4 points below the prime rate, however the rate shall not be lower than 3%," to "interest bearing as determined by the board"; and

6) Approve the addition and removal of certain territory in the Enterprise Zone location in Southern Tazewell County.

* I am proud to say the Board continues in its belief that the IMRF determination should not include County Board members as those who qualify for IMRF pensions.

February 2017

Friends:

With the start of 2017, the County Board continues to review and consider many unique and important decisions.  As always, my colleagues discuss and debate them with professionalism and civility, and I am very proud to be a part of the team.

During this time, I have also considered how best to utilize this blog for future information from the County.  I will continue to post the Board packets and financial reports for your review, but I will not clog everyone's social media feeds with notices when I do so.  They will always be there before each meeting if you want to review them, and you will continue to receive email notices (if you subscribe to this blog) every time I publish a new post.  However, I will only post to my facebook page to advise of new events for the public that I have posted on the blog (see below), whether offered by the Board or any County agency.  

In terms of what occurs at Board meetings, our local media does an excellent job of informing the community on what we are doing, and I encourage you to read/listen to their work.

However, you are always welcome to contact me at jredlingshafer@tazewell.com for any County-related business or anything you see on the agenda.

With that in mind, I recently received notices of upcoming events:

1) The County's Emergency Management Agency is teaming up to host a Storm Spotters Class (info here);

2) The EMA is also seeking volunteers for many other services it provides (as explained here); and 

3) The County Highway Department learned that IDOT will hold a public hearing to present the current study on the removal and replacement of the eastbound span of the McClugage Bridge (U.S. 150) over the Illinois River.  The hearing will be held on Wednesday, March 15, 2017, from 5-7 p.m., at the Washington Gifted School Gymnasium located at 3706 N. Grand in Peoria.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.  Since I last posted, the County Board had its official "reorganization" meeting in December, where we welcomed our new members, and accepted our new Committee assignments.

Our Committees have already met, and we are now preparing for our first full Board meeting on January 25, 2017.  Accordingly, I have posted the Accounts Payable report as well as the full Board meeting packet on the "Board Packets" page.

With the start of the new year, our County Emergency Management Team made us aware of a new "Daily Briefing" being offered by the Central Illinois office of the National Weather Service.  It provides us with not only a forecast, but a look into upcoming precipitation, severe weather predictions, and current/future river stages.  If you are interested, or want to see what other reports are available through that office, go to: http://www.weather.gov/ilx/DSS.