PROCEEDINGS OF THE
STATE OF
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Proceedings of the regular meeting of the Knox County Board, held at the
Knox County Courthouse,
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Janet Occhi and upon roll call the following members reported present:
District 2 Gayle Keiser
District 3 Janet Occhi
District 4 George Knapp
District 5 Gerald Link
District 1 Allen Pickrel
District 2 Greg Bacon
District 4 Wayne Saline
District 5 Ricardo Sandoval
District 1 Linda Roberts
District 3 Dale Parsons
District 4
District 5 Stephen Johnson
and those absent: District 1 Caroline Porter
District 3 Paul Hevland
District 2 Dana Shallenberger
and also present were James Thompson, Sheriff and Scott
Erickson,
Sheriff Thompson delivered the proclamation, Chairman Occhi led the members in the pledge to the flag and the Rev. David Scholl gave the invocation.
Chairman Occhi asked if there were any changes to the agenda. Member Keiser asked that the consent agenda item for approval of Board Bills be moved to the end of the meeting to allow the Board to hear from Department heads before approval.
Chairman Occhi asked if there were any public comment. There were none.
Chairman Occhi presented the following consent agenda items for approval: 1) Minutes of the Board Meeting held December 22, 2004; 2) Claims against Knox County, Illinois, for the period of December 23, 2004 – January 12, 2005 (ordering that invoices be accepted and approved and that the County Clerk and County Treasurer be authorized and directed to issue County Warrants in payment of the bills.); 3) Claims by Members for per diem and mileage for the Meeting of January 12, 2005. Member Keiser asked about the moving of the bills to the end of the meeting. Chairman Occhi said that a motion would need to be made to do this. Motion by Member Mannhardt, seconded by Member Keiser that the bills from the consent agenda be moved to the end of the meeting. Voice vote – motion carried. Motion to approve items 1 and 3 on the consent agenda by Member Johnson, seconded by Member Parsons. Roll call as follows: Ayes – Keiser, Occhi, Knapp, Link, Pickrel, Bacon, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts, Parsons, Mannhardt, Johnson – (12); Noes – (0). Motion carried.
Motion by Member Parsons, seconded by Member Link to appoint Gene
Saunders as Trustee for the unexpired term on the Elba Salem Fire Protection
District board and voice vote. Motion
carried. Motion by Member Keiser,
seconded by Member Parsons to appoint Members Roberts, Link, and Shallenberger
to the
Treasurer Davis gave an update report on the Direct Deposit Resolution passed by the Board. At present there are 200 of the 440 eligible employees signed up for direct deposit. There will be a memo going out with paychecks reminding people to get their information to the payroll office if they have not done so already. She asked what direction the Board wants her to take with persons who do not comply with the Resolution. Member Johnson stated that the persons who do not comply should not get paid and have that money held in a separate account. Member Bacon asked about the legality of it. Paul Mangieri responded that he has concerns about holding compensation for services provided. There are also issues of rights with collective bargaining agreement groups as to this issue. Member Saline reported that all farmers who were “grandfathered in” to the subsidy program all had to comply with the direct deposit rules or they would not get paid until they did. Mangieri responded that this was a voluntary arrangement with the farmers and not an employee/employer relationship which could cause problems down the road. It could be made a condition of employment when a person is hired, but will be hard to enforce on existing employees.
Treasurer Davis reported about the Real Estate Tax cycle for this year.
As of this point, the Assessor has not yet published, which will mean the
tax bills will be late again this year. The
taxing bodies in the County cannot afford to have delays similar to last year.
Member Johnson asked about the requirement to publish by December 31.
Assessor Skinner reported that it is in the statute but it does have some
flexibility. Joyce handed out
information to the Board and gave an overview of the information.
She stated that she does not set the value, that is a function of the
Township Assessors. The exemptions,
splits and consolidations do take a lot of time to complete.
The owner of a property as of January 1 of the given year is responsible
for the taxes on that property. The Board of Review hearings have to follow
guidelines and require 30 days after publication and 30 days before their
hearings. If you do not given them
that time, then they can go to the State and get the amount the amount changed
to whatever they were asking. Unless
the Board directs her to not hold Board of Review hearings, there is no way they
can roll to the
Treasurer Davis brought up the discussion of the County joining the
United Counties Council of Illinois. We
have been members in the past, and they are having some great incentives to
join. The group does surveys of
benefits and wages for the counties that participate, and they also have an
insurance program that could save us some money.
They are offering a discounted rate to join the group and there is a
chance that the County could receive back even more money than it pays to be a
member. They hold seminars and
workshops on a variety of topics, and any member can attend.
The dues to join for
A motion to discuss a transfer of funds resolution by Member Sandoval, seconded by Member Mannhardt. Treasurer Davis reported that when the budget was created it was based on the Committee format of the Board. Since the Board has changed to the meeting of the Whole structure, the line items for the per diems and mileage are still within the Departments line items. This Resolution will allow for the transferring of these funds from the Department line items to the General Fund to allow for the payment of these items. Member Keiser asked why we are doing this monthly and not a single transfer. Treasurer Davis stated that it would be a hardship on some funds to do it right away. It would be a journal transfer that would not need to come before the Board each time it was done. This item will be voted on at the next meeting.
A Motion to bid and buy up to 7
computers for the State’s Attorney and
Administrator Hallberg reported on the first few days of working on the new system. The bill review took up most of 1 day, but things will get smoother once we can get into a routine. He reported on a letter sent from Judge Mathers regarding a new sound system to be installed in the courtroom. They hope to have the system in by early February. He said we will be able to use these for our Board meetings. The GASB 34 regulations from last year are now requiring us to set values on all our roads, bridges, buildings, and equipment. After a meeting with Blucker & Kneer about the matter, Dwayne, Kris Keimig, and he will work to get the process started. It will be a difficult task to get a base value set for these items and to be consistent in the valuation. We have a software program in the Treasurer’s office now to work with our asset’s inventory and depreciation. A threshold amount will need to be set which is commonly in the $5,000 range with a higher one set for the Highway Department. Hallberg also reported on a GREDA training meeting he attended with Chairman Occhi. It was designed to help make people aware of the selling points of the County when dealing with prospective businesses. It was a very informative program and they are working towards setting up another training session for the whole Board to attend. The personnel policy review is still under way. He will compile the data and have a report at the next meeting. The financial reports will all be done at the second meeting of the month and a revenue and expenditure sheet will be included in the Board packet for review.
The need for a decision on who should be the Knox County Rabies Administrator was discussed. John talked about the state law that says the Administrator should be a licensed veterinarian in the County. If one can not be found, then someone else can be appointed to that position but they must defer all medical decisions to a licensed veterinarian. Doc Kunzer had been doing this for the County in the past, but his term was up in December 2004. He did not want to have to keep closing his private practice to attend meetings during the week and did not want to continue in this position. We have not had an Administrator in position since then. The best option would be to appoint another veterinarian to the position, but the ones that have been contacted do not want to do it. He will try to contact the rest of the veterinarians in the area to see if there was any interest. Paul Mangieri said that the County can hire a non-veterinarian as long as they defer the medical decisions to someone who is licensed. Member Pickrel felt that John could do the job and would refer to a vet without any problem. Doc Joe has expressed to John that he is willing to provide services to the County at his reduced rate as in the past.
The Mary Davis Home business report was given my Administrator Hallberg. As of this date, the State had still not paid the Home, but they have also not had to borrow any money to cover all of their bills. They hope to receive the money by the end of January. They had 35 clients in the Home with 9 of those from within the County. This is high for this time of year. Operations are going fine.
The Assessor and Zoning Business
report was given by Administrator Hallberg.
The publish date from the Assessor has already been discussed earlier.
Butler Manufacturing has filed a protest similar to that of Maytag in
regards to their 2003 tax bill. These
taxes have already been paid, and if they win their case, the County will have
to come up with the money to pay them. We
will need to find some money to fight this, and the account that was set up to
fund situations like this has already been used in a previous instance.
Zoning activity and violation reports are in the packet.
The investigation of a possible violation near the
The bills for the Landfill are larger due to the sand purchases and some engineering work that was needed. They have received a permit to operate for another 5 years, which will expire in October of 2009. The personnel policy comparisons will be coming at a future date. They are also still working on the BioDiesel project and will have a report at the next meeting. The fuel contract bids were discussed. The bidding for fuel will not fit into the bidding procedure passed by the Board. These bids are spot bids that will only hold for a few hours. In the past, Larry has accepted the bids he felt were best. The price per gallon can change from 6 to 8 cents in a matter of hours, and if we make the vendors wait a few hours or longer, they will pad their bids to cover themselves. Member Bacon asked about fuel storage capacity. Larry said they have only 2 fuel trucks but have looked at storage tanks. The bids are usually good for 1 year. Member Johnson stated that he has no problem with Larry conferring with Administrator Hallberg on a good price and then locking it in. Chairman Occhi asked if that was the consensus of the Board and it was.
The Highway Union negotiations are still underway. There have been no developments. The Highway Department wants to purchase a 2005 Ford Expedition through the State contract. The old Explorer had 85,000 miles on it and will be sold by sealed bid. Motion by Member Pickrel, seconded by Member Sandoval to purchase the vehicle through the State contract for $24,277.00 and vote by roll call as follows: Ayes – Keiser, Occhi, Knapp, Link, Pickrel, Bacon, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts, Parsons, Mannhardt, Johnson – (12); Noes – (0). Motion carried.
The
The census at the Nursing Home
today is 151. They found a letter at
the Home dated
The EMA Business quarterly report was included in the packet and any questions can be directed to Chief Cratty.
Administrator Hallberg reported on
the GIS system and fees. We should
receive the system in February and a copy of the proposed policy and fees was
included in the Board packet for first reading.
The policy strives to make sure that a standardized user policy is in
effect in regards to equipment and software.
The method of receiving data from an outside source is also addressed so
as to insure data integrity. Member
Bacon asked if the forms shown are standard forms.
Administrator Hallberg said that all the forms have been borrowed or
modified from other users. There are
some that are specific to
Sheriff Thompson reported that there was a mix up on his report for the Board packet since he was on vacation. He reported that there should be no bids until next month from his department. The daily population is rising again but is not overwhelming. There are currently 23 Federal prisoners in the facility which will be dropping to 20 very shortly. They need to stay around 20 Federals to stay on projected goals.
Administrator Hallberg addressed the Board with his comments and concerns. He stated that the centralized purchasing for office supplies and computers will be addressed in the near future. He also suggested putting an equipment replacement line item in the budget to help defer the costs of equipment upgrades. He would also like to have an Information Technology person on staff to help with the computer needs. They are costly to hire but would be a savings in the long run. TriLutions is doing the work now but they are not always available when needed. When insurance contracts come due, it is hard to determine the amounts for the next year. If they went to a 6 month contract with them the next time, it would put the insurance back on to the front of the budget planning season. He would also like to see county wide meetings with the local officials from the smaller areas on a quarterly basis to keep everybody informed and working together.
Chairman Occhi brought back the payment of the bills agenda item.
Motion to approve the bills as presented by Member Johnson, seconded by
Member Parsons with a roll call vote as follows:
Ayes – Keiser, Occhi, Knapp, Link, Pickrel, Saline, Sandoval, Roberts,
Parsons, Mannhardt, Johnson (11); Noes – (0); Abstained – Bacon (1).
Motion carried
Statements of
General Concern by Members
Member Keiser stated that she was unhappy that the Board packet was not larger and was missing Department overviews. An overview like the ones given to the Committees would be beneficial. She also stated that her packet was out of order and hard to follow. Clerk Erickson was surprised at this and said he would work on correcting the problem. Member Keiser suggested putting page numbers in the packet and to identify the Department behind the agenda item number.
Chairman Occhi had no comments at this time.
Member Knapp would like some discussion on the Nursing Home Ad Hoc Committee.
Member Link said that he felt the same as Member Keiser and would like item numbers on the pages. When he reviewed his packet at home, an index would make it easier to follow. Clerk Erickson stated that we will work on the situation and will try to get it set for next meeting. He also would like more lead time when Departments need to purchase items instead of pushing them through the Board as an emergency. He is impressed with the work that has been done so far at the Nursing Home by the new Administrator and has heard great comments about her.
Member Pickrel was happy with how the meeting went and wanted to commend Marianne for a job well done.
Member Bacon liked the way the bills were presented and itemized. It makes it a lot easier to understand where the money is going. He also thanked Marianne for her work and the Department heads for the work that they do.
Member Saline said we are already over on expenses and under on revenues and wanted to remind the Department heads that we wrote a very tight budget. We all need to work hard to keep control of expenses.
Member Sandoval again commended Marianne and said that if she has found this much already, it will be interesting to see what she comes up with when she has a chance to really dig into the job.
Member Roberts commended Marianne also and said that the Board packet does need some improvements.
Member Parsons had no comment at this time.
Member Mannhardt said that page numbers to refer to would be great. He also did not get his packet until the day before the meeting.
Member Johnson stated he would like to have an update on the cable company resolution that the Board passed a few months ago and how it was going with contacting the illegal operators. Administrator Hallberg stated he has sent out letters and has received no response. He will send out another letter. Member Johnson asked if there are teeth in the Resolution to deal with violators or is it another “Grandfather” issue. Administrator Hallberg said he would continue to work on this and Member Johnson said he would continue to ask about the status.
Chairman Occhi reported that he
next meeting of the Board will be
Motion to adjourn by Member
Johnson, seconded by Member Parsons. Motion
Carried and meeting was adjourned at