County Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening everybody. It is 5:30. So I'm going to call the regular meeting of the MLAN County Board to order this uh September 11th. Um and I will uh turn it over to the clerk for a roll call. Oh, I'm sorry. We're going to go to the invocation. Item number two, member Hansen, you are up for uh invocation. Um, given the recent events of yesterday in Utah and Colorado and 24 years ago to this day, um, I think many of us are very very overwhelmed by pain. Uh, and in times such as these, I find art to be the best way to capture feelings. So, uh, I found a poem by Amanda Gorman called Him for the hurting. Everything hurts. Our hearts shadowed and strange, minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet, none of it is new. We know it as home, as horror, as heritage. Even our children cannot be children. Cannot be. Everything hurts. It's a hard time to be alive and even harder to stay that way. We're burdened to live out these days while at the same time blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know we must be altered, that we must differ or die, that we must triumph or try. Thus, while hate not hate cannot be terminated, it can be transformed into a love that lets us live. May we not just grieve but give. May we

not just ache, but act. May our signed right to bear arms never blind our sight from shared harm. May we choose our children over chaos. May another innocent never be lost. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Now we will turn over to roll call. Thanks. Sean Fagan here. Buck Farley here. William John Frederick here. Eric Hansen present. Val Layman present. Brian Leler here. Mike O'Neal here. Adam Reeves. Jim Rogal. Absent Natalie Roseman Mendoza here. Jeff Tommpkins here. Andy Zebarth here. Crystal Ael, absent. Brian Bangert, here.

Corey Burn present. Beverly Bell, present. Mark Claus, here. Leah Klene, present. Alex Duffy, here. Elizabeth Johnston,

here. Having conducted the opening roll call and declared a quorum as physically present, I would like to inform the board that members Rogal and Ael have requested to participate remotely under county board rule 2020 and in accordance with the open meetings act. Notice was received from members of Rogal and AEL in accordance with our rules. Per board rule 2020, members Rogal and Abel will be authorized to attend the meeting electronically if a motion to approve the members electronic attendance is made. Seconded and adopted by a majority of the members of the committee. May I have a motion to approve member Rogal enables remote attendance. Uh moved by Fagan, second by Duffy. All those in favor say I.

I.

Any opposed? Motion passes. Um so now that the motion has passed, the record will show that members Rogal and Abel are present for the meeting. Thank you very much. Uh moving on to item number five and this is appearance by members of the public and the county employees. Uh we have three members um that are here today. Um, and before we get pro get moving on to item five, I'm going to go ahead and read the decorum rule under the MLAN County uh, chapter 20-13 procedure at meetings. L decorum during the proceedings of the county board and all committee meetings. Decorum defined as behavior that is calm and polite shall be maintained at all times by members, interested parties, the public, and the media. Decorum includes treating members of the board, county staff, and all others in attendance with civility, recognizing that others may have differing perspectives, and allowing other members and visitors recognized by the chair to share their view without interruption. The use of vulgar or obscene language and or gestures will not be tolerated. So with that, I will go ahead and ask uh Mr. Brendan Andrews to come. Um he is a representative from DAR and we have five minutes at the podium. Uh good evening everybody. Uh Brendan Andrew from Deriva Energy. I won't take five minutes I don't think. Um I just wanted to come up here as the Dawson Solar Project is appearing on the agenda tonight. I wanted to first thank the board uh for your time. Thank the zoning board um for their long nights and thoughtfulness in kind of working through the deliberation uh and hearing all the evidence. Uh we're very excited about uh the project about the uh zoning board uh recommendation to approve it. Um, you know, the benefits of the

project, significant tax revenues for the county, Dawson Township, and other taxing authorities, a thousand direct, uh, indirect, and induced jobs during construction, and, uh, bringing a quiet neighbor to the community that won't require a lot of county services, but provide a steady stream of of tax revenue. Um, I did want to acknowledge uh that this is, you know, a change for the community and we did hear a lot from uh some of the neighbors of the project uh throughout the zoning board process and I wanted to just emphasize our commitment to continuing to work with these neighbors. Um we've uh since the zoning board hearing last week, we've met with seven of the uh neighbors of the project and are working through kind of what we call good neighbor agreements or participation agreements with them to address specific concerns uh related to the project and we intend to continue those discussions going forward. Um, one other thing I wanted to just uh mention is we did hear testimony of one uh episode of unsafe uh practices from one of our consultants during uh development and we've since talked with the survey uh contractor and they have a root cause analysis and process and we're working through resolution to make sure that that doesn't happen again. So, we are very committed to kind of taking the feedback we've heard throughout the zoning board process as well as going forward with the neighbors and trying to work to uh make this a beneficial project for everybody involved. So, again, we appreciate the hard work from the zoning board. We appreciate all of the testimony that we heard uh throughout that process. Um, and we're excited about the possibility of moving forward with this project in the county and we kindly ask the county board to approve the special use uh as recommended by the zoning board. Thank you.

Thank you for coming. Um, next up number two is Mark Oor and Mr. You will have three minutes. Oh no, I thought I'd get five like the last gentleman, so I was changing things. Anyway, thank you for your time and attention for the next three minutes. I am Mark Ror. I'm a resident of Dawson Township and a direct neighbor of Dawson Solar LLC, which is currently proposed to border my property on three sides. I respectfully ask Mlan County Board to vote no regarding the approval of Dawson Solar LLC. Here's a a couple of reasons why. One, property values. When we went through the whole process of the zoning board, at that very same time, there was a property in this area that went up for sale. We learned through the realtor that the net sales price ended up about $100,000 less than the asking price. Those are our 401ks, our properties. It may not be the case that will happen eventually as this project is done and they've got all their barriers up around us, but in from now until we get the construction done, we could realize a lot less value if and there are some of us who are likely looking at selling our property within the next 5 years. I'm one of them. like to retire somewhere and go go live the peaceful life instead of growing uh fruits and vegetables all the time and bringing them to the farmers market here at at Bloomington. Uh that's hard on the body. So through the construction phase, we can expect, you know, who's going to want to come out, drive through the construction phase and look at our property if it's for sale. What can we expect? What we've seen is a dramatic reduction. Uh I've done done a little research. We have very little time to come up with all to

counter all the information, the 1400 pages of information that Dariva has presented for approval. We all have jobs that we got to work. They they got 5 to 10 people that are doing this full-time as their job. And just doing some research lately, I found that one of the works that they cited has been revised and must have been misqued because this work initially in 2020 showed a negative reduction, a reduction in property values by one and a half% within one mile and 7% reduction in property values within 1/10enth of a mile. All of our 27 properties around this, I'm going to be within obviously onetenth of a mile. So then I reach re reached out to that gentleman who did the survey or this this work and so that's old information. It's been updated and it's actually a higher amount in reduction in property value that they've realized now. They've been hit and miss with the the neighbors. I just have a few minutes left, seconds left. Seven of us, there's 27 of us. They need to reach out to all of us and they haven't done that. It's kind of an afterthought to try and reach out and be a good neighbor and present these participation agreements and that just hasn't happened across the board. I appreciate that they've talked to me, but there are others that need to be addressed. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Um, last one up is Mr. Joe Zeers. You also have three minutes. I can echo everything Mark said and take a lot less of your time. So, um, basically, um, I I would ask that you don't vote for this. Um, I am not against solar. I am against putting Chinese solar panels on prime United States farm ground, especially in MLAN County. And I say that very deliberately because that's what it is, right? This isn't made in the USA thing. This is solar panels made in China on our farm ground that's going to replace it. What I'm more concerned about is if once this starts, this will be something that every one of these energy companies will come in and they'll have an easy path. They'll have a fast track to being right here in some future meeting with you voting against it. and they'll play the card that you did it for them, so you have to do it for us. Durbiva did this last week, so I mean it's, you know, it's not something I'm making up. So, getting getting to the property value thing, um, I don't think any of us should or could take a $100,000 hit on our properties. And I think that a lot of us are going to have to. I'm gonna retire in less than a year. So, I know that I know that I'm going to be impacted some way. And it's not going to be like the two studies that Derea put out that said no impact. One of them said no impact and one of them seriously said that people will pay more for property that is next to solar farms. And I'm going to I'm going to say I

don't agree with that and be nice about it. Um I found five I found five studies that said negative property value impact. That five plus the real life scenario that Mark talked about where somebody took a $100,000 hit just a couple weeks ago is is enough to say that there's a problem for me. Now, outside of that, um, Deriva Energy did contact me early in the earlier in the week. I, uh, I had paint on my hands and it wasn't going to answer my phone. But the truth of the matter is these agreements that they're making with people, the money involved will not cover a fraction of my property taxes and would very likely from what I've heard and we all talk um the there would be stipulations on what I could do and what I could say, which I have a problem with. And I'll I'll never sign an agreement that does anything like that. So, I'm really not interested there. Um, you know, in all honesty, there should have been a buyout option for some of these properties that are that close. And if if you've actually seen one of these, uh, and I'm out of time now, aren't I? If you've seen the Sabbrook site, you'll know what I'm talking about. It is not nice at all. So, I'm going to stop and, you know, I'll stick to my three minutes. So, I believe I've made my point. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Zeller. All right, moving on. Um, we have item six, uh, for the consent agenda. Can I have a motion? Wait, I got to get on the floor first. Can I get a motion? Motion by member Klene, second by member Burn. Are there any questions or comments? Yes. Member Friedrich. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to pull from the consent agenda 6C1A uh Dawson Solar Project and also ask for a roll call vote

when we get to it. Thank you. Um so that will go to uh land use and transportation. Any other comments or questions regarding the consent agenda? Seeing none, all in favor of item six as amended uh as pulled say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. We have no resolutions of congratulation or recommendations this month. So, we'll move on to item seven, executive committee. And as member Rogal is um remote, I will turn it over to member Friedrich.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Executive Committee brings two action items before the full board and that is 7A1A request approval of a resolution of the MLAN County Board affirming comment to honor the recommendations of the mental health and public safety fund advisory council and I so move. May I have a second?

Second by member Burn. Comments or questions? Member Klene. Thank you, Chair Johnston. Um, I asked Chair Johnson for the chance to speak on this resolution that we co-authored concerning the mental health and public safety fund. I represent District 8, which includes three wards of the city of Bloomington. When questions arose about the balance of the shared sales tax fund and how it was being spent, I, like many of my colleagues from city districts, spoke directly with members of the Bloomington City Council to better understand their concerns. My goal then, as now, was to find ways we can work together to improve both our processes and our relationships. Those early conversations weren't always easy, but they gave us a clearer sense of how our municipal partners perceive the processes and usage of this shared sales tax fund. Since then, we've tried to move forward, not only by preparing for the audit of the fund, but also by looking carefully at how we can strengthen the procedures first set in place by former Chair Mezer. One recurring issue is the county board's role in approving expenditures from the fund. Every expenditure must by law come before the board. This step is unavoidable, but it can create the perception that the board can override the recommendations of the behavioral health coordinating council, the criminal justice coordinating council, and the fund advisory council, undermining the collaborative spirit that this process was meant to foster. It's important to note that neither the state law nor the intergovernmental agreement requires this open collaborative process. We choose it because we want to be strong partners and because we value the relationships that it has built. This resolution before us doesn't change the or the process for using the fund. It simply affirms our commitment to respect and honor the advisory council's funding recommendations. By adopting it, we seek to affirm that this is a shared process, not a unilateral one. and we express our appreciation for the thoughtful collaborative work of the fund advisory

council in advancing mental health and public safety initiatives in our community. Thank you, Member Klein. Any other comments or questions regarding the resolution? Member Burn. Thank you, Chair Johnson. Just want to echo and 100% agree with everything that member Klein said. to somebody else who represents large sections of Bloomington. Uh we are in favor of this being a collaborative process and believe this is going to be a positive step in that direction. I look forward to voting yes on it. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of item 7 A1A say I. I.

Give our online people a minute. Any opposed? Motion passes. Back to you, Member Friedrich. Thank you, Madam Chair. Our second action item is 7A1B. Recommend that the county board open the minutes so designated and distributed to the board members and determine that a need for confidentiality exists for those minutes so designated on the attached list. And I so move. Do we need to do I need to read that? Not yet. Okay.

Um, so we have a motion by member Friedrich. Can I have a second? Second by member Leler. If there are comments or questions, we would need to move into close session. Any comments or questions regarding this item? Seeing none, we'll go ahead with the vote. Um, all in favor of item 7 A1B say I. I opposed. Motion passes. Member Friedri. Thank you. Uh have nothing else to report and our general report can be found in the unapproved minutes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh moving on to item 7B and that is finance committee with member layman.

Thank you very much madam chair. The finance committee has one item to be presented for action this evening. We have item number 7B1A. That is the request approve of an ordinance authorizing boundary modifications to the area known as the Bloomington Normal Enterprise Zone. Amendment five and ISO move. Excellent. May I have a second? Second by member Fagan. Comments or questions? All right, seeing none, all in favor of item 7B1A say I. I.

Any opposed? Motion passes. Member Layman. Thank you again, Madam Chair. Uh the finance committee has no other items to be presented for action. for information. We do have our general report that's found on pages 15 to 20 of the unapproved minutes packet and I'd be happy to field any additional questions. Thank you, Member Layman. Uh moving on, item 7 C, Health Committee, and that is Member Burn.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Health Committee has no items for action tonight. Uh we do have a couple pertinent updates that I'd like to share. While Health Committee had a pretty light month, there were several other public health items related that have moved forward recently. Last night, the board of health met and passed its annual budget, which uh came in 2.4% lower than fiscal year 2025, which at the same time providing across the board pay increases for the dedicated professionals in the MLAN County Health Department and increased allocations to mental health initiatives by 2%. Also discussed were the availability of vaccines in MLAN County. There have been some conflicting messages from the federal government and have caused some concern about such availability, but I'm pleased to share that flu and RSV vaccines will be available to MLAN County residents as usual as we get here into flute season. Regarding COVID vaccines, the department is awaiting guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health and anticipate by the end which they anticipate by the end of a month and which which at which time the health department expects that eligible recipients can get a COVID vaccine. Uh in other news, you may recall a recent news story about a neighborhood in southeast Bloomington dealing with a catastrophic water and sewer issue. Recent discussions with state legislators, McClan County officials, and the fabulous professionals at the Bloomington Normal Water Reclamation District have brought awareness, funding, and action to help mitigate this unique crisis. Thanks to state senator Dave Kaylor, state representatives Daring and Sharon Chung, and Benward director Tim Urban for taking decisive action and helping to move things forward. A new planning grant has been approved and the next steps in the planning for an addition of sewer lines and infrastructure upgrades have been approved. We are very very excited about that.

That is actually very exciting to get them on onto the sewer and off of the septic systems out there. Indeed. All right, thank you so much for that update. Uh we'll move on to item 7D and normally that is member Rogal. Again, with him being remote, we'll turn it over to his vice chair of that committee, and that is member uh Roseman Mendoza. Thank you, Chair Johnston. The justice committee has two items to be presented for action today. We have D1A, request approval for an intergovernment governmental agreement between the counties of Mlan and Ford for the courtappointed special advocates program. IO move. Do we have

May I have a second? Second by member Hansen. Comments or questions? Member Hansen.

It'll surprise nobody that I'm have a comment, but um I just really want to commend the work uh of our uh our fantastic employees within the CASA program. Uh it speaks volumes to the leadership that MLAN County brings to central Illinois uh to be able to increase advocacy for children in foster care um in rural counties where we don't see as much uh advocacy. And so this is this is really fantastic news uh and a great step for children in foster care everywhere. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Any other comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of item 7D1A say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Back to you. Thank you, chair. Um, our second item for action is D1B, request approval of the violent crime victims assistance program grant agreement, grant 26 10:30. Thank you. And I so move. Thank you. We may have a second. Second by member Duffy. Comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of item 7D1B say I.

I. Any opposed? Motion passes.

Thank you. Um our items for to be presented for information. There are no other um items. You can find this in the general report. I do not have the page numbers. My apologies. That's okay. Thank you. We have them in there. Um, thank you so much. Uh, we will move on item 7E. Uh, member Ael is also, uh, was voted to participate remotely. Um, so for property committee, we will turn that over to her vice chair, member Layman. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. The property committee has one item to be presented for action this evening. Item number 7E1A is the request approval of a tenants release of lease and ISO move.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by member Bell. Any comments or questions regarding this? I think in all my years on the board, I've not seen anything quite like it. So, it's an interesting one, but glad to be moving this forward. Uh, seeing no other comments or questions, all in favor of item 7E1A say I. I.

Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you again, Madame Chair. Uh the property committee has no other items to be presented for action this evening. Uh for information, our general report can be found on pages 10 through 11 of the unapproved minutes packet. And again, happy to answer any additional questions. Thank you, Member Layman. Moving on to item 7F, that is land use and transportation committee uh with member Klene. Thank you so much, Chair Johnston. The land use and transportation committee brings two items for action this evening. the first uh 7F1A request approval of updates to county ordinance imposing weight limitations and I so move.

May I get a second? Second by uh member Reeves. Comments or questions? I'll say what I said in executive. This is a demonstration of of how uh busy our highway department has been getting these roads upgraded um for the safety of our rural residents and I'm very grateful for all of their efforts. Um, and glad to be bringing this forward. Um, there are no other comments or questions. Uh, all in favor of item 7F1A say I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes.

Okay. Thank you, Chair Johnston. Um, having also pull something from the consent agenda which will now be 7F1B. um approved the application of Dawson Solar LLC by Deriva Energy is requesting a special use to allow a 300 megawatt commercial solar energy generating facility in the agricultural district on properties in Dawson Township and is generally bounded by by the west by 2400 East Road to the north by 1400 North Road to the east by 2800 East Road and to the south by 875 Northro and I so move.

May I have a second? Second by member Hansen. Now for the comments and questions for people. We actually have a new member here tonight. Um we do go in rounds and so everybody will get a chance at the first round and then if you have follow-up comments, it will need to move into the second round of of discussion. Okay. Um so comments or questions regarding item 7F1B? Member Friedrich.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. Um we'll start with the basics of the Dawson solar project. Um ZBA heard about 12 hours 3 4 days worth of uh very unpopular project in the area. I kind of found it um interesting that there were no land owners at the the hearings in support of it from what I could tell. Um, it's also concerning to me that the Dawson Township trust board of trustee trustees chose not to support this project in the in the township. They were concerned about emergency service uh school bus traffic may be affected and so on and so forth. It is unclear at best uh what the impact on the solar devel development will have with the neighbors uh participating and certainly non-participating like our uh other speakers said there's 2 20 to 27 people land owners non-participating residents with five acres or less that are surrounded by the development and it's it's tough. Um I've been fielding gobs of calls uh met with the derivian energy people. Um so we have some issues. You know they cite some expert witnesses and some of them uh people don't agree with and agree with it. But I implore common sense uh would indicate hey this

2700 acre solar solar farm. So the needs are different and the evidence presented was not on the same scale that we're looking at here today. So I'm going to hit on two points uh concerning the resolution before us. I'll start with the second one. ZBA, they you're given seven criterias in which they judge. Um, and they're all listed on pages 11 through 14. So, I'm not going to go with reading all of it. Uh, but I am going to focus on standard number two. Uh, because we've had people speaking and I've spoke with the individuals who did uh sell a property below. So the proposed special use will not be indigous to the use and enjoyment of other property in the immediate vicinity for purpose already permitting or substantial diminished property values in the immediate area. Then it states that this standard is met and I state that this standard has not been met because of this this case. uh there is diminished value and there was property sold and there will continue to be property sold and it's it's going to have effect and it will be a negative effect. Um and I'll just leave it at that. Uh the first standard which the amendment is is the proposed special use will not be a detriment or endanger the health, safety, morals, comfort, welfare of the public. Um

safety being one that I won't touch on. Um hopefully some others will chime in on safety with a a project like this. There was some questions that weren't answered by ZBA members uh that bothered me and that was the economic impact or the loss thereof. So, you know, you talk about the study assesses the impact on MLAN County community of 2700 acres of prime farmland currently under 50/50 corn soybean rotation. Well, when you have that kind of u that many acres, you put in a solar farm. Again, common sense, you're removing the farms and farmers from it. They were asked what the economic impact was on it and it was basically blowed off. So, I'm taking a stab at this and maybe I could have some help from some other people. Um,

member Friedrich, I just want to remind you that we can't introduce any new evidence outside of the hearing. So we can only consider what was what was given during the hearing. I'm not introducing any evidence. I'm just making this You're making your comments. Okay. I just wanted to be careful that we don't stray into no any evidence. Thank you. Yes. Duly noted.

Um so we're removing farm ground. Um and those have effects on the economy. annual direct gross revenue losses and that is figures up like 2.7 acres the the numbers that I've come up with another key finding for me this is mine is total annual economic output losses so we have uh the solar farm stating you know the I don't know $563 million dollar of gain, but yet we have to subtract out the losses and those are 3.7 million. Um they're talking about impact for employment, you know, uh 35 people. But look, when you us farmers work, we work the ground. So you're going to displace our workforce which would displace and actually net it out to 11 people with that would have employment because they're not farming. These jobs are temporary long-term. Uh so we have items like that. um broader economic community effects and that's that involves a lot of different things doesn't mount to much but the comparison of the project um there are economic loss and that's my concern. uh there's no reversion back to farming

and the numbers that I've used are based on your average yields, you know, um that we typically see. So in my viewpoint this this standard standard number one um because of the safety and and I'll stop talking and let some others chime in if they so would like to do that. Thank you. Thank you. Other comments or questions? Member Leler.

Yes. Thank you to the safety issue and this is just brief but you know Maro was struck a month ago by 60 mph winds kind of wrecked the farm. I'm not sure the territory it traveled and stuff but I know from our wind event we had on our farm last summer you can move things very far. So all of a sudden you take these 27 properties around that then they could be impacted by solar panels made in China stuff in their yard dangerous debris. You know the the the wind effect is one of them. The other one goes to the Olympia fire I think three years ago on top of the roof. The fire departments couldn't get to it and put it out because every panel was still producing energy and stoking the fire and that caused significant damage to the structure. that goes to then a car that may crash through the fence of the thing. First responders can't get to that vehicle. If he was in a ditch, fine. But if he's in the solar field, that's a live wire event until they get somebody out there to shut it down. So, I guess I haven't been able to look through all the minutes and everything, but as far as a safety standpoint, those are just some points I want people to be aware of that it's not uh kid-friendly. Other comments or questions?

Member Bangard? Yes. You're in a unique position.

Thank you. I um as a freshman to this table here, I I do want to uh share comments too. U again maybe reiterating some of what um member Frederick talked about the U economic impact presentation um was not complete and their their expert witness that they brought in under oath was even talking about how the numbers didn't match up because it was presented as a 2700 acre solar farm when in actuality it's a 1 1700 acre solar farm. So there was some confusion. I think the board has their work cut out for them on a you know the ZBA has a work cut out for them on a on a case like this and um waiting through all this information. It added some confusion to it. But I think it would would have really helped everybody understand better if they had come with a robust economic impact study. you could actually see on both sides of the aisle what what's actually happening and I think that would have cleared up a lot of confusion. Um ZBA is also tasked with measuring the productivity of this the soil that's impacted. It doesn't matter if it's a a house or um a project like this. All the land is measured under EcoAT score or Lisa score. And in order to minimize the impact to highly productive land, it's the effort is to um try to keep that land in a productive state where it's actually producing food. um you know food food scarcity you know we're all fairly well fed but in

you know in the efforts by um former administrations in the 70s they would take land out of production when there was overp production when that production over supply was remedied those programs would be eliminated and one of the things that you know on a solar farm of this size the concern that would come up is that this is a very focused area. The impact to the the community is is potential. So I think it would really help ZBA if a more robust economic impact study was done. You know you utilizing third party information so that you know it can really feel like you're you're getting the information. Um you know another you know many solar farms have been approved to the state. many and many of those are on land that is irregular shaped or lower productive soils and the impact um you would not foresee anyone losing their job on something like that. It's a it's a lower productive soil, you know, highly ruralable land potentially, but it's there's some things and gaps in the information I think would really have helped um convey the best message for the applicant. And I think some of that was a struggle. So, and I um I think there's other mitigating options too. Um a fancy word is called aggravaics. Um there's opportunity for solar farms to um raise them higher off the ground and animal agriculture could be in conjunction with some of these where animal agriculture has really been run out of a lot of family farms. Given that this is such a large farm, there could

be opportunities to to mitigate with the tenants, with other suppliers to give other opportunities, whether it's vegetables, beekeeping, you know, livestock production. There's other there's other things that I think would really help um mirror a partnership with the community that's that's already in place. So, um, I'll I'll stop now. Thank you. Other comments or questions? Member Claus.

Thanks, Madam Chair. This will be pretty quick, but uh, he's stuck on one of the points that I think I've struggled with. Solar has probably been the number one issue on my mind since I joined the board of what is the right answer, and I don't know that I have it figured out yet. Um, I'm not against solar, but the key that he said was putting it in better, more appropriate places in my opinion. Those irregular shaped fields, the lower producing fields, that would make me feel much better about these or putting them on buildings. I know we've had the school issue with the fire, so maybe there's still some safety issues with trying to figure out where it goes. Um, now I see from the farmer perspective, uh, you know, landowner rights and and I understand that from our role or my role, I'm trying to look at it through the lens of what's best for the community. And I I'm not so sure that, you know, that big of a farm uh, in our particular area because of the agriculture impacts. I just not sure that it's the right right choice.

Other comments or questions? I'll say that at the end of the day, um, a lot of the determination about this has been taken out of the county board hands. Um, if they have met the seven standards, um, then we really do not have the opportunity. I mean, we can turn it down. Um, but that does leave us open, uh, legally uh to action. Um, as I'm reading through the report, and as I sat through the many hours, and I wasn't here all the nights, but I sat through the hours of listening to the testimony, um, and reading the report, um, all seven, uh, standards were met. Um and so uh that is the the question that we're putting to you is the partnerships that they developed with the land owners happen to be on land that is not maybe what you feel is ideal but it is still within the rights of the land owner to make those choices and for the ZBA to do their due diligence in reviewing uh the proposal to determine does it meet the standards and um therefore uh is it uh something that we should be approving under the state law and regulations. So, there are no other comments or questions, we can move this for a vote. All right, seeing no other comments or questions, moving on. Um, all in favor of item 7F, roll call vote. All right. Uh, I will turn this over to the clerk clerk for item 7F1B. I will not be voting.

Yes. Yes is uh to approve the ZBA. Um and no is to decline. Sean Fagan, I Buck Farley, yes. William, John Frederick, no. Eric Hansen, yes. Val Layman, yes. Brian Leler, no. Mike O'Neal, no. Adam Reeves.

Jim Rogal, yes. Natalie Roseman Mendoza, yes. Jeff Tommpkins, no. Andy Zebarth, no. Crystal Ael, yes. Yes. Brian Bangert, no. Corey Burn, yes. Beverly Bell, yes. Mark Cos, no. Leah Klene, yes. Alex Duffy, yes. And I'm sorry, chair, are you voting? Only in case of a tie.

Okay. So, with 11 yes and eight nos. The item passes. Uh moving on to um I guess I can turn it back over to member Klene for her general report.

Thank you so much, Chair uh Johnston. Um the uh general report for the land use and transportation committee can be found from pages 2 to six of uh the unapproved minutes or I guess the approved minutes. Um but for other items I do uh want to share something with the with the body. Um tonight I want to share an update on a very disappointing de development. Earlier this week, we were informed that the US Department of Transportation has withdrawn the $675,000 build raise grant awarded to MLAN County last year. That grant was intended to fund the engineering and design of the Route 66 trail segments between Towanda, Lexington, and Shenoa. We are told that the project no longer aligns with the department's priorities. This decision is a serious setback. For more than 20 years, this trail project has brought has had broad bipartisan support at the local, state, and federal levels. It is not just about recreation and tourism. It is about safety, economic development, and quality of life. Between 2018 and 2023, six crashes involving bicyclists or pedestrians occurred within a half mile of this proposed trail corridor, including the tragic death of a bicyclist near Toanda last year. These are not isolated events, and separated paths like this one are proven to save lives. At the same time, Route 66 is a historic and economic asset. Millions of visitors travel it each year, and trails like this bring real dollars to small towns that have been bypassed by the interstate. This is an opportunity not only to protect residents and travelers, but to strengthen the economies of our rural communities. Although this federal funding has been withdrawn, I urge our state and federal legislators to work with us to identify alternative sources of funds. This project remains a priority for MLAN County, and we will

continue to pursue every avenue to see it completed. Thank you, Member Klein. Uh, so we'll move on to item 7G, and that is the county administrator, Miss Taylor.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I do not have any items to present for action, but I do have one item for information and I have a PowerPoint presentation to share uh with all and that is the presentation of the fiscal year 2026 recommended budget and five-year capital improvement plan. It is my privilege to submit this recommended budget to you all for fiscal year 2026. This budget was created with direction from county board leadership and is an expression of our values. MLAN County has made a commitment to fiscal sustainability. We are committed to serving our citizens and creating resilient communities. We are investing in critical infrastructure to support the county's growth and prosperity. We are growing a better MLAN county. A bit of a review for you all. For the 2025 budget, our total all funds budget was 137,196,831. For the first six months of the year, which is halfway through our fiscal year, 49% of the budgeted revenues have been collected and we have paid 47% of the budgeted expenditures. So, we're on target. Our revenues will show an increase in the coming months with the tax distributions from the second installment when we're able to release those. So for uh where we are, this is a review process of where we are in our budget

cycle. So uh in May uh on May 15th of this year, we adopted our budget policy for MLAN County. Tonight I'm giving you the recommended budget from the county administration office. Uh from September 12th through October 13th there will be the ability for the public to review and our oversight committee meetings will be reviewing um each of the departments they are responsible for in the October committee sessions. Then in November, on November 13th, uh we will uh hopefully adopt a 2026 budget. There were key considerations that were made during the budget development. We considered property tax impact. We considered uh minimizing the use of fund balance to cover general fund operating expenses. We prioritized employees by reviewing salaries, making organizational chart adjustments, and analyzing position requests. And uh we considered uh that we would have no new general fund, excuse me, no new general obligation debt to be issued in 2026. So moving on to uh the all funds budget. Uh so this is a maintenance budget totaling $144,484,63 and represents a 5.3% increase from the 2025 adopted budget. I will also say that it is a decrease from the 2024 adopted budget which was $146,547,030.

This budget is in alignment with our tradition of financial management. This budget strategically allocates resources to priority areas such as staffing and manages costs. We have taken measures to ensure our investments are sustainable and we maintained healthy reserve levels to safeguard against uncertain economic times. It is a balanced budget. This slide will show you that we have had continued economic growth in MLAN County and activity in the housing market and that has contributed to a 7% increase to the county's EAV. The increase to EAV combined with the same tax rate as last year could have provided an additional 3.5 million in property tax revenue. However, conservative budgeting by county departments limited the increase to $751,500, which enabled us to drop the tax rate for the second consecutive year. The FY26 recommended budget proposes a tax rate lower than FY25. We have varied revenue sources supporting our budget. Our general fund revenues consist of property tax revenues, service fees, revenues from courts, uh their fines and fees, uh intergovernmental payments, and interest on funds invested by the county. The county's 39 special revenue funds come from restricted levies, grants, enterprise fees, or special taxes imposed under Illinois law, and combined they support the maintenance of our core county services. Collectively, these revenue sources make

up the MLAN County FY26 budget. Property taxes make up for 34.6% of the total total revenue, which is a decrease from last year's percentage. Other taxes, including sales tax, state income tax, and personal property replacement tax, make up 11.7% of the revenue. Moving on to the use of our uh budgeted funds. Uh this budget includes salary and benefits across all funds, capital expenses, and professional and contractual services. Nearly half of the budget uh approximately 47% is allocated to salaries and fringe benefits for employees underscoring the serviceoriented work of county government operations. Salaries were adjusted in FY26 with attention to recruitment and retainment. Findings from the county's employee compensation survey that was conducted earlier this year in the first quarter of 2025 showed a consistent response from employees particularly along among our employees that are in the lower pay grades. uh indicating dissatisfaction with salary levels and expressing concern that wages were not in keeping with the pace of the cost of living which directly impacts quality of life, morale and retention. Uh these are some of the same positions that show the highest degree of turnover for the county and I know many of the oversight committees have been dealing with requests for uh changes to those salaries. So a uniform wage increase of 70 cents per hour was implemented across all

employee classifications in lie of a percentage increase as we have done in past years. And then we also have merit increases tied to annual evaluation scores remaining in effect in this budget for uh focus on the general fund. Uh the general fund is the primary fund for county operations and it is the largest fund in the county budget. It is used to support operations including general government, facilities, administration, law enforcement, and parks and recreation. The general fund includes a variety of revenue sources to finance the operations of MLAN County. Uh revenues include property taxes, other taxes such as sales tax and state income tax, licenses and permits, intergovernmental revenues, charges for services, fines, interest income, miscellaneous revenues and transfers. The general fund revenues for the FY26 um fund increased 6.7% from last year. And this slide shows you the four major revenue sources for the general fund, not all of them. If we move on to uh capital improvements, this slide shows you some of the highlights. The county continues its focus on integrating energy efficiencies into repairs and updates to our capital assets for current and future use. The FY26 recommended budget proposes 29 projects totaling approximately $17.7 million for renovations to existing facilities and also includes seven county highway projects.

Um planned projects include plumbing and building automation updates, window replacements, elevator modernization, and HVAC and mechanical upgrades. In addition to the FY26 projects that are listed here, the county has developed a five-year capital improvement plan for years 2026 through 2030. And this plan includes the design and implementation of 82 projects and will provide for key improvements to sustain our current quality of service and support the county moving into the future. I'd like to highlight that the majority of departments showed minimal increase to operating expenses which has allowed us to target our personnel costs. Our organizational health depends on our employees who provide service to the community. Personnel costs and benefits increased 6.7% for fiscal year 2025. Key key considerations of the FY26 budget review included revisions to organizational structure review of the employee benefits package and maintaining staff in significantly impacted hardtofill positions. We also looked to system improvements and uh this aligned with our values to provide excellent excellent customer service and maintain our exceptional workforce. The county has invested in a new enterprise resource planning system which will be online in 2026. And this ERP system, which we've talked about before at this board, does improve

our financial accuracy, minimizes data redundancy, and improves efficiencies. The new system will also include components for human resources and grants management that are highly anticipated. Uh we also maintained the fleet management rotation and made additions to our safety equipment, enhanced security software and ADA compatibility software. This is a breakdown of our general general fund expenditures for fiscal year 2026. The total general fund budget is 57,865,990. As you can see, their salaries and fringe make up a a large portion of that. Moving on to our special revenue funds listed in this slide, you can see that we have uh our three largest special revenue funds here out of the county's 39 special funds. Overall, the special revenue funds account for 86,618,613, which is a 4.3% increase from the prior fiscal year. The anticipated revenue for the health department is 10.3 million. Revenue for the nursing home budgeted at 12.4 million and for the highway department 20.5 million. Shown here is a breakdown of types of expenses by category in those same funds. As you'll see, the funds are balanced with the expense totals matching the revenues from the previous chart. For the public health department, the salaries comprise 45% of their budget with contracted services as the

second largest category at 38%. For the nursing home, salaries make up 55% of the expenses. If you add in fringe benefits, the personnel cost account for 70% of their budget. with contractual services making up 20%. For highway department projects make up the lion share of this uh budget as shown in the capital assets portion of the pie chart which is 67% of the budget. Contracted services and salaries are the next largest expense categories accounting for 11.5% and 14% respectively. Um, moving on to levies. The 2025 combined property tax levy is approved concurrently with the FY26 budget and attached is a pie chart to illustrate the individual levies. As you can see, we have several. In summary, the budget recommends 55.7 million for government operations, 42.3 million for public safety, 22.8 million for health and social services, 22 million for highways and community planning, and 1.5 million for recreation and conservation. The FY26 recommended budget totals 144,484,63, an increase of 7,287,772 from the FY25 budget. This budget is

based upon a 0.83759 83759 property tax rate, which is a 5.2% decrease from the tax rate utilized in the previous budget year. The tax amount charged per $100 of equalized assessed value is decreased by 4 cents. And that uh gives you the example of MLAN County's portion of the property tax for a $210,000 home. The MLAN County portion will decrease by $329. Guided by the principles established by this board, the FY26 recommended budget sustains the ambitious work underway across multiple county departments and strengthens the county's workforce as it serves the public. I thank the administration staff. They're in the back of the room and many of our county departments for their input and assistance in developing the recommended budget and capital improvement plan. Members of the county board, I respectfully request the FY26 recommended budget, the five-year capital improvement plan, and the 2025 combined property tax levy be referred to the appropriate oversight committees for review and that the FY26 recommended budget be laid on the table for public review and comment. Thank you.

Thank you, Administrator Taylor. Um we will all have opportunities to dig into your respective budgets um for comments and questions. The October meeting is where the bulk of the work gets done of really digging into the departments and and really understanding what we are funding. Um so your work is ahead of you. Um you have your nice ream of paper to get through. Um if there are Well, I want to open the floor to any other business or communications from the committee. Yes, member Klein. I know you all are tired of hearing from me tonight, but I wanted to not let something that was in the consent agenda go by without um calling it out. Um under the executive committee um we approved a one-year subscription to the mass notification system by onsolve. I want to thank um Craig Nelson with it um sheriff Matt Lane um EMA director um Kathy Beck for their kind of work towards this. Um the county has acquired and will continue a subscription to be able to notify any persons in the county with a cell phone whether they are resident or visitors based on cell phone towers. We can alert them to emerging problems, emergencies, health uh emergencies. Um and we're one of the only counties in Illinois that didn't have one of these. So now with so much um happening in our communities, it's important to be able to um enable the sheriff's office and enable EMA to reach out to people and provide sufficient timely and emerent uh notification. So I'm super thrilled that that is coming. I'm cert at some point we'll have a big roll out. Um so no immediate text messages, right? But we'll have some big roll out. I wanted to thank u Mr. Nelson in particular for digging into his pockets and making it making it happen in our budget.

Thank you, Member Klein. Any other communication for the good of the county?

Um, well, thank you so much for your service to the county. Um, it has been a a longer meeting than usual, so I appreciate your time and your attention to these matters. And we are adjourned.