Hamilton County Board met September 19.
Here is the minutes as provided by the board:
The September 19th, 2017 Regular Hamilton County Board meeting was convened pursuant to law at the hour of 6:00 p.m., courtroom, courthouse, McLeansboro, Illinois.
Chairman Miller asked everyone in attendance to join in the Pledge to the Flag.
On roll call, the following members were noted as being present, which represented a quorum:
John Chapman Here
PE Cross Here
Willie Grubb Here
Chad May Here
Brad Miller Here
5 Here
MOTION by PE Cross seconded by Chad May to amend the minutes of the August 15th, 2017 Regular Hamilton County Board meeting, correcting the statute for entering into Executive Session from 5ILCS 120/2 (c)(7) Contract Performances
to 5ILCS 120/2 (c)(29) Internal / External Auditing Performance. Motion carried by acclamation.
Chairman Miller recognized local funeral director, Jerome Gholson. Mr. Gholson thanked the board for acknowledging his attendance.
Old Business: None
New Business:
Chairman Miller introduced Tom Lech, Private Attorney from the Metro-East.
Mr. Lech thanked the board for allowing him to address the board and to provide information and facts regarding the use of Opioid Drugs not only nationally but on a local level as well. Mr. Lech gave statistics on the use of Opioid drugs in surrounding counties and described how this is definitely a real problem for Southern Illinois.
Mr. Lech asked the county board to join a lawsuit and provided a plan of action that could combat this epidemic issue not only in Southern Illinois but on a national level as well. State’s Attorney, Justin Hood noted that if the county board was to join this lawsuit, money received by the county would go into the county general fund to cover expenses that the county would incur due to this Opioid crises such as public safety expenses, educational awareness and probations fees, just to name a few.
Mr. Lech noted that surrounding counties (Jersey, Union, Bond and Gallatin) have joined this lawsuit and White County is expected to join this week.
The board asked State’s Attorney to provide further information and to prepare a plan of action for the county to join this lawsuit.
Chairman Miller, on behalf of the county board, thanked Mr. Lech for providing informative material on the Opioid crisis facing Southern Illinois.
State’s Attorney, Justin Hood had submitted a letter suggested by Bellwether, LLC acknowledging what percent of his time is spent conducting county business on civil cases. It was noted that a portion of the State’s Attorney salary could and should be allocated to be paid out of the Tort / Liability Insurance fund.
Chairman Miller introduced Bruce DeLashmit and Cathryn Lange, representatives of Bellwether, LLC, to discuss FY 2018 Budget preparations.
Bruce stated that he wanted to clear up some misunderstanding that had recently been reported. Bruce noted “After review of the county’s finances, NO funds were missing but some clerical errors were discovered. But there were absolutely no funds missing”
Bruce noted that through evolution, this would be the first year that county officials and department heads would take ownership of their budgets they have submitted. Bruce turned the discussion over to Cathryn Lange who is in the process of putting together the FY 2018 county budget. Ms. Lange discussed ways that the county could better utilize funding that has and will be levied such as the Tort / Liability fund. Cathryn made note of some expenses that could potentially be paid out of this fund such as a portion of the States Attorney’s salary, Stipend paid to the County Clerk for taking care of county business such as reporting done for IMRF purposes and taking care of the county’s workers compensation and liability insurance issues.
Bruce noted that Bellwether, LLC is currently working with the Finance Committee, Office Holders and Department Heads, gathering information needed to have a draft budget by the October board meeting with the proposal of displaying the budget for 30 days with the final approval at the November board meeting. This would put the county in line to have the FY 2018 budget in place for the beginning of the fiscal year which starts December 1st, 2017.
Board member, Chad May noted that going forward; he would like to see more “trending documentation” within the budget reporting that would give a more accurate picture of the county’s finances.
County Clerk, Mary Anne Hopfinger, provide the board with a copy of an e-mail that was received from the current auditing firm making the board aware of the county’s obligation due to a letter of engagement that was signed in 2015.
Bruce explained that in light of this e-mail, that from most any point of view, the same firm preparing the county’s budget and preparing the county’s audit, is a direct conflict of interest issue.
The county board directed State’s Attorney, on their behalf, to prepare a letter explaining the county board’s position on the “conflict of interest issue” to be sent to the county’s current auditing firm.
Nathan Taylor, EMA Director reported that Lukas Dale, Matthew Bryson and himself had attended an IEMA Conference and plan to attend another conference in October.
Dorothy Smith, ETSB board chairman reported that it is the intent of the ETSB board to repay the $40,000.00 that was burrowed from the county earlier this year at the October board meeting. Dorothy explained that the 911 funding is starting to flow on a steadier basis and that in January of 2018, due to the passage of legislation, that funding will increase. Dorothy also reported that ALL 911 sign installation has been completed.
She also brought up discussion concerning the antenna on the roof being hit by lightning and the damage that it caused to the dispatching equipment in the sheriffs office.
Chad May, board member on the Building & Grounds committee noted that through investigation of the antenna, there was not proper grounding of the antenna. This has since then been resolved. Chad reported that 90% of replacement cost due to damages has been purchased by credit card. He is working with the IPMG adjustor to gather all invoices regarding this claim and hopes to have the claim submitted by the October meeting.
Chad May reported that a committee is being formed to establish a Commission to educate and plan for the State’s Bicentennial Celebration which is expected to be a year long celebration beginning in December of 2017. A 6 person committee consisting of (2) City Officials (Mayor Deitz and City Clerk, Fred Vallowe) (2) Chamber Board members
(Tammy Bowman and Kent Leighty) have already been established and the committee would appreciate the county’s input as well by selecting (2) county board members to represent the Hamilton County board. Chairman Miller noted that he has asked John Chapman and Chad May to represent the county board on this committee and both agreed to do so.
MOTION by PE Cross seconded by Willie Grubb to approve the appointment of Chad May and John Chapman to the State Bicentennial Commission committee.
On roll call, the members voted as follows:
PE Cross Yes
Willie Grubb Yes
Chad May Abstain
John Chapman Abstain
Brad Miller Yes
3 Yes 2 Abstain
Motion Carried
MOTION by John Chapman seconded by Willie Grubb to accept check # 036069 from the City of McLeansboro in the amount of $2,083.34 for monthly fees per the
City / County Dispatching Agreement.
On roll call, the members voted as follows:
John Chapman Yes
Willie Grubb Yes
PE Cross Yes
Chad May Yes
Brad Miller Yes
5 Yes
Motion Carried
Hamilton County Coal, LLC Royalty Summary Report:
A) Check # 1000005136 in the amount of $171,725.75 was received on
August 21st, 2017 for the July 2017 Royalty Payment
B) Expected Revenue for August 2017 is $217,177.38
MOTION by PE Cross seconded by Chad May to accept checks from the Hamilton County Health Department for the month of August 2017: Salaries, $9,173.92
Fringes, $1,272.81 Unemployment, $23.13 and Insurance, $840.95.
On roll call vote, the members voted as follows:
PE Cross Yes
Chad May Yes
John Chapman Yes
Willie Grubb Yes
Brad Miller Yes
5 Yes
Motion Carried
On discussion of the Claims List: County Clerk, Mary Anne Hopfinger, made the board aware that a claim had been received from the Sheriff’s Department (but not included on the Claims List) made out to D.K. York in the amount of $750.00 to be paid out of #1143 (Dispatching Fund) for the installation of 5 GPS Units in the sheriff’s vehicles.
Chairman Miller suggested that this claim be denied at this time, due to the fact that these units were installed by the Sheriff’s Department without presenting a bid that had been requested by the board prior to installation. Arrangements had been made to have Auto Trim out of Harrisburg, Illinois to do the installation of the GPS Units, because they had already installed units in other county owned vehicles and the units were to be installed internally so that the units could not be tampered with. It was explained that the way they are currently installed, the units are mounted on the console of the vehicles and can be altered or tampered with.
Also, County Clerk, Mary Anne Hopfinger reported that communication has been received from IMRF (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund) regarding this claim. It was noted that due to the fact that the person who did the installation of these units is a full time employee in the Sheriff’s Department, that unless the employee provides proof of being self-employed by providing a completed W-9 form and an FEIN number, that this claim should be processed through payroll due to benefits (Unemployment, Taxes, Pension contributions, ect.) needing to be properly documented.
It was also discussed that ALL (5) units invoiced for, have not all actually been installed and that at the August 2017 Regular Hamilton County Board meeting there was discussion of not going ahead with the installation of the units in Deputy Stewart’s and Deputy Wilson’s vehicle due to the possibility of replacing these (2) vehicles. Claim was denied at this time.
MOTION by John Chapman seconded by Willie Grubb to approve the Claims List and Late Claims as presented. Motion carried by acclamation.
Information received from Illinois South Tourism Bureau was placed on file.
Highway Recommendations
None
@7:07 p.m.
MOTION by PE Cross seconded by Chad May to enter into Executive Session citing exemption 5ILCS 120/2 (c)(1) Employee Compensation to be discussed.
On roll call, the members voted as follows:
PE Cross Yes
Chad May Yes
Willie Grubb Yes
John Chapman Yes
Brad Miller Yes
5 Yes
Motion Carried
@7:49p.m.
The board returned to regular session.
No action was taken on Employee Compensation.
Public Comment:
Board member, John Chapman, made everyone aware the Senator Dale Fowler plans to announce his candidacy seeking a second term on Monday, September 25th, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at Farris Family Restaurant and that this event is open to the public.
MOTION by John Chapman seconded by Chad May to adjourn. Motion carried by acclamation.
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