PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNTY BOARD

KNOX COUNTY , ILLINOIS

ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING

December 04, 2006

STATE OF ILLINOIS )

                                    )           SS

COUNTY OF KNOX )

            Proceedings of the Organizational Meeting of the Knox County Board held at the Knox County Courthouse, Galesburg , Illinois on Monday, December 4, 2006 at 6:00 p.m.

            The meeting was called to order by County Clerk Scott Erickson and upon roll call the following members reported present:

District 1          Caroline Porter            

District 2          Greg Bacon

District 3          Paul Hevland                           

District 4          Lowell Mannhardt                   

District 5          Gerald “Jerry” Link                              

District 1          Allen Pickrel                            

District 2          Paul Stewart                            

District 3          Dale Parsons               

District 4          George Knapp            

District 5          Ricardo “Rick” Sandoval         

District 1          Lyle Johnson                           

District 2          William “Bill” Abel                               

District 3          Janet Occhi                             

District 4          Wayne Saline              

District 5          Stephen “Steve” Johnson         

            County Clerk Scott Erickson led Members in the pledge to the flag.

            County Clerk Scott Erickson administered the oath of office to the following Board Members who were elected in November. William Abel, and Lyle Johnson who were newly elected, as well as returning Board Members Paul Stewart, Janet Occhi, Dale Parsons, Lowell Mannhardt, Ricardo Sandoval, and Stephen Johnson.

            County Clerk asked for nominations for Chairman Pro Tem. Member Pickrel nominated Member Steve Johnson. There being no further nominations, the County Clerk declared the nominations closed. Voice vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—(15). Noes—(0). Motion carried. Member Steve Johnson assumed the chair.

            Chairman Pro-Tem Johnson asked for nominations for Chairman. Member Stewart nominated Member Porter. Member Mannhardt nominated Member Pickrel. Chairman Pro-Tem Johnson asked if there were any other nominations. Since there were no additional nominations, he declared the nominations closed. County Clerk Scott Erickson asked that as he called the roll that Members respond by stating which Member they were voting for. Those voting for Member Porter for Chairman are recorded as follows: Porter, Hevland, Stewart, Knapp, and Lyle Johnson—(5). Those Members voting for Member Pickrel are recorded as follows: Bacon, Mannhardt, Link, Pickrel, Parsons, Sandoval, Abel, Occhi, Saline, and Steve Johnson—(10). The nomination of Member Pickrel for Chairman carried.

            Motion was made by Member Porter and seconded by Member Hevland to make this a unanimous vote. Voice vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—(15). Noes—(0). Motion carried.

            Chairman Pickrel assumed the chair and thanked the Members for this nomination. He then asked for nominations for Vice-Chairman. Member Sandoval nominated Member Saline. Member Lyle Johnson nominated Member Stewart. There being no other nominations, Chairman Pickrel declared nominations to be closed. County Clerk Scott Erickson asked that as he called the roll that Members respond by stating which Member they were voting for. Those Members voting for Member Saline are recorded as follows: Bacon, Mannhardt, Link, Pickrel, Parsons, Sandoval, Abel, Occhi, Saline, and Steve Johnson—(10). Those Members voting for Member Stewart are recorded as follows: Porter, Hevland, Stewart, Knapp, and Lyle Johnson—(5). The nomination of Member Saline for Vice-Chairman carried.

            Chairman Pickrel reminded Members that in the past the County Clerk has served as parliamentarian for the Board, and Chairman Pickrel would like to see that policy continue. Motion was made by Member Occhi and seconded by Member Link to appoint County Clerk Scott Erickson as parliamentarian for the Board. There being no other nominations, Chairman Pickrel declared nominations to be closed. Voice vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—(15). Noes—(0). Motion carried.

            Chairman Pickrel introduced for discussion the meeting method for the County Board . Motion was made by Member Steve Johnson and seconded by Member Link to return to the committee system with a minimum of four permanent committees and Ad Hoc committees to be assigned as needed. Member Saline stated that this would give the Board some degree of flexibility to add another committee as needed. Roll call vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—Porter, Bacon, Hevland, Mannhardt, Link, Pickrel, Stewart, Parsons, Knapp, Sandoval, Lyle Johnson, Abel, Occhi, Saline, and Steve Johnson—(15). Noes—(0). Motion carried.

            Chairman Pickrel distributed copies of the proposed committees and assignments to the Members and various elected officials and department heads that were in attendance. Each Member would be assigned to two committees in addition to the full Board meeting once each month. That business meeting will be held on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Initially there will be four committees with six members and a chairman assigned to each committee. Additionally to start with there will be two Ad Hoc committees. The Board Chairman will serve an ex officio of each committee, and will attend a minimum of two committee meetings each month. The committee meetings will be held prior to the third Thursday of each month, to allow time for the bills and other information to be turned in to the County Clerk ’s Office and Treasurer’s Office, in a timely manner to be included in the packets. The chairman of each committee shall appoint a secretary who will take the minutes. Long detailed minutes are not necessary, just the highlights of each meeting. Member Porter suggested that each committee appoint a vice-chairman.

Chairman Pickrel stated that it would be best to complete the month of December while meeting as a committee of the whole, with the normal meeting dates of December 13 and December 27 at the normal meeting time of 6:00 p.m. To make this transition go as smoothly as possible, he plans a meeting to be held December 19, 5:30 p.m. at the Annex with department heads, elected officials, committee chairman and Board Members. This date would allow the committees to have time to organize their meetings dates and places, without overlapping meetings. At this meeting, committees should come prepared with a suggested meeting night. He hopes to begin January 1, 2007 with the committee system. However, he is willing to discuss the matter. The Members gave this consensus to accept this timetable.

Member Link stated that this is the right approach. With this timetable the members of the committees can communicate with each other to avoid meetings being held at the same time. It could easily take a couple weeks to get the details worked out.

Motion was made by Member Steve Johnson and seconded by Member Bacon to accept the following committee assignments:

            COUNTY BOARD ASSIGNMENTS

Sheriff-Jail-Courthouse-Mary Davis Home-Animal Control-Annex

CHAIRMAN Steve Johnson

            Rick Sandoval, Paul Stewart, Bill Abel, Jerry Link, Lyle Johnson and Paul Hevland

 

Finance-Insurance-Treasurer-Judicial-Clerk

CHAIRMAN Wayne Saline

            Steve Johnson, Lyle Johnson, Jan Occhi, Bill Abel, George Knapp, and Paul Hevland

 

Nursing Home-Landfill

CHAIRMAN Lowell Mannhardt

            Greg Bacon, Caroline Porter, George Knapp, Paul Stewart, Dale Parsons, and Wayne Saline

 

Highway-Assessor-Zoning-GIS-Recorder

CHAIRMAN Jerry Link

            Rick Sandoval, Greg Bacon, Caroline Porter, Dale Parsons, Lowell Mannhardt, and Jan Occhi

Ad Hoc-Negotiations

CHAIRMAN Greg Bacon

            Wayne Saline, Jan Occhi, Bill Abel, and Dale Parsons

 

Ad Hoc-Building and Construction

CHAIRMAN Steve Johnson

            George Knapp, Jerry Link, Greg Bacon, Wayne Saline

 

Roll call vote to accept these committee assignments is recorded as follows: Ayes—Porter, Bacon, Hevland, Mannhardt, Link, Pickrel, Stewart, Parsons, Knapp, Sandoval, Lyle Johnson, Abel, Occhi, Saline, and Steve Johnson—(15). Noes—(0). Motion carried.

            Chairman Pickrel suggested that a memo be sent to all department heads and elected officials informing them of the December 19th meeting. He would also prefer that each month a notice including all committees meeting dates and times as well as the date for the full Board Meeting be mailed to Board Members. In the past he has missed some committee meetings because he does not check his e-mail. County Clerk Scott Erickson stated that the regular e-mails would be followed up with a paper notice.

            Chairman Pickrel reminded Members that the per diem sheets will be returning, and the sheets will be available as needed. Also he would encourage each member of each committee to thoroughly review the bills. Members are not to be cheerleaders for their committees. Since the County has no administrator, Chairman Pickrel is happy that the Board is returning to the committee system. He had tried to assign Members to committees that interest them. It is healthy to disagree. However, that doesn’t mean that we should disrespect someone for a question, comment, or idea that they have. We should all work together as a team and move forward. There will not be easy times ahead of us. The finance committee this year really had their work cut out for them. They deserve so much praise for their work this year to accomplish a balanced budget.

            Chairman Pickrel announced that the next regular meeting will be held Wednesday, December 13, 2006 , 6:00 p.m. at the Knox County Courthouse, Galesburg , Illinois . Another organizational meeting will be held Tuesday, December 19, 2006 , 5:30 p.m. at the Annex.

            Motion was made by Member Abel and seconded by Member Parsons to adjourn. Voice vote is recorded as follows: Ayes—(15). Noes—(0). Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 6:34 p.m.