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.

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.