Board - Regular Meeting

I don't dance. All right. Good evening. There we are. All right. Good evening. Is that coming through there? I have 7:00. So, we're going to call the order July 10, 2025 Shelby County uh board meeting. Um, please stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. 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.

Dear heavenly father, thank you for the opportunity to meet tonight. We pray that you guide us in making strong decisions for our county. I want to also pray for comfort for uh some families in our county um that there was a tragedy a year ago today of three young girls and people are still still suffering and I would like you to wrap your arms around them and give them comfort. I would also like to pray for the victims of the flooding, the families, the first responders, the scenes that will stay with them. I pray for comfort. I also pray that we could remember before we are Republicans, before we are Democrats, before we are independents, we are human beings and we need to treat each other respectfully as human beings. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Thank you. Roll call please. Teresa Bane present. Tim Brown here. Carol Cole here. Julie Edwards. Chrissy Grant here. Jeff Greg here. Clay Hardy here. Heath McCormack. Chrissy Matlock here. Tad Manh here. Trisha Miller here. James Mitchell. Tim Morris here. Jean Price here. Austin Pritchard here. Sunny Ross. Larry Cyper here. Don Kate. Christy Walker here. Brett Wallace. De Wood. Chad Yanis here. We have corn. I believe we have.

Okay. Thank you. Um item three, approval of the minutes from June 12th. Got motion of Mr. Miller. Second, Mr. Gantis. Any questions or discussion on the minutes from June's meeting? Seeing none. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item four, public body comment. public body comment. Yes, ma'am.

Yeah, I'd like to uh on Friday, June 13th, I spoke with Gwen Helton and Tad Brackville and asked them if they would like to make a public statement regarding the deposits accounting money into the local banks. I told them I would read any statement at the next board meeting, and I will read those now. I'll read them in the order that I received them. Gwyn Helton responded, "While we appreciate and understand the desire for the county to receive higher interest rates on its deposits by placing funds with the state of Illinois, please be mindful of the fact that depositing taxpayer dollars in local community banks creates an economic multiplier effect on our local economy. The funds the county places on deposit with the area banks are used to provide loans to help local businesses expand and hire more employees, farmers to purchase equipment, seed, and fertilizer for the growing season, and other county residents to purchase goods and services. This reinvestment circulates money within the community and boosts economic activity, which contributes to the financial health of Shelby County. in some. It's not a one-sizefits-all proposition, and there is certainly value in both approaches by keeping some deposits local while taking advantage of higher interest rates offered by the state. Tad Brock responded from First Fed, which I believe Mr. Mayal received the same response. On behalf of the of the board of directors and employees of First Federal, we would like to thank the county board for the opportunity to serve you over the years. As a community savings bank, we not only pay interest on your deposits, but we also reinvest your local money. These deposits directly fund loans for residents and businesses, which creates jobs and fosters economic growth. Community banks are vital to the local economy as many small businesses and consumers are unable to obtain financing from larger national and regional banks. Reducing deposits in any local bank would directly reduce the funds available to

lend, which limits growth and would reduce the county tax base. As a Shelby County business ourselves, we are deeply invested in our community success. We are also a mutually owned savings bank, which means we do not have stockholders. We are owned by our customers. We regularly donate to Shelby County schools, events, and charitable groups to further our mission of doing what is best for our stakeholders. We urge you not to ignore the compounding benefits of banking locally and reinvesting in the people of Shelby County. Additionally, our deposits are 100% 100% secured with no risk of loss of principle and we have competitive rates for investable funds as well as transactional and segregated funds. Thank you for the opportunity to serve the county and we look forward to continuing our relationship. Uh per these statements, it seems clear that the removal of county deposits would not benefit the taxpayers of Shelby County. Currently, we have uh $4,300,32457 in CDs in local banks that is earning a higher rate than Illinois funds. My hope is that the county board, being responsible for managing the budget and the levy for the county, will put to rest the false narrative that I am not earning interest on county money or that we can keep making so much more money with Illinois funds because that is simply not true. Thank you. public comment.

Yes, ma'am.

So, I just have um some thoughts on the dive team forensic audit. Um, I understand that it was voted on by the full board to perform this forensic audit with four descending votes. Um, and I'm curious to know why after we paid Benford and Brown thousands of dollars to do our county audits and they were miserable failures at it, why they were contacted to perform a forensic audit, which they are not certified to do. I'm sure you're all aware auditors have to be certified to do per for forensic audits and Bedford and Brown is not. Okay. So, I'd like to know why they were paid $15,000 to do a forensic audit on our dive team when they're not qualified to do so. That's one question I have. Um, and I find it a little disconcerting that a board member was overheard after the last meeting admitting that he or she had voted on that forensic audit without even reading what was in it. I understand that there was some verbiage that had absolutely nothing to do with any type of an audit. Um, from my understanding, it was just more slams on things that have happened in the past that we've put in the past and uncalled for in an audit. So, um I, you know, just think that it

would be beneficial if everyone would be aware of what they're voting on before they vote yes to pass something. I think as elected officials, you owe that to your constituents to be knowledgeable of what we're voting on. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you. Public body comment. Public body comment. Public body comment. Okay. On to item five, which is the county highway report. discussion of vote to approve a 50-50 petition with Clarksburg Township Highway Commissioner to replace a failing pipe with two 36 in x 40ft metal pipes. Estimated costs are $8,764 and will be shared equally between the township and the county. Have a motion on that. Mr. Moore second Bame, anything to add, sir?

I don't you have any questions? I'd be happy to uh answer them. Okay. Any questions for Mr. Papor? Any comments in general? Okay. Seeing none, roll call vote, please. Bane, yes. Brown, yes. Cole, yes. Edwards, yes. Grant, yes. Greg, yes. Hardy, yes. Matt, yes. Mayhoff, yes. Miller, yes. Morse, yes. Price, yes. Pritchard, yes. Cyber, yes. Wford, yes. Janice, yes. Motion passes.

Thank you. Item six, discussion of vote on approval of increase increases in the salaries of the state's attorney, public defender, and sheriff based on the notice of annual salary reimbursement cola for the department of revenue 55cs 5/3-407 raises our retroactive to July 1st of 2025. States Attorney $169,865.981. Public defender of $152,87923 and sheriff's 135,89265. Have a motion on this item, please. Mr. Miller, I have a second. Mr. Pritchard, any questions, discussion? Yes, sir. Um, does anybody have a percentage increase that these numbers represent?

What was attached to the read ahead material was 6.1. Thank you. Is that standard 6.1? Is that what everybody's getting? 6.1. That amended. Pardon? It comes from the state. We don't have any control of that. These are mandated things. Any questions? Roll call vote, please. Bane, yes. Brown, yes. Cole, yes. Edwards, yes. Grant, yes. Greg, yes. Hardy, yes. Matlock, yes. Male, yes. Miller, yes. Morris, yes.

Price, yes. Pritchard, yes. Cipher, yes. Waford, yes. Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you. Item seven, discussion of vote to surplus a 46 in 20 horsepower Toro that is 15 plus years old mower for animal control. Of note, this used to be a mower that had been donated to animal control over 10 years ago, excuse me, and not purchased with county funds. That motion on this item, Mr. Greg, Miss Bane, any questions? If you've seen the mower, it's well in need of disposal. Any questions or comments? I see none. All those in favor say I.

I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item eight. Discussion of vote to surplus a 1981 International VIN number 1HT AA17 BXBHB2476 used by the Shelby County Rescue Squad. Also unknown, county funds were not used to purchase the vehicle which was $1. I have a motion on the M. Miller. Mr. Greg, any questions on this? Did the title get straightened out with this truck?

Did I hear a truck? This is a 1981 International pickup truck. It's a big Is it a pickup? No, it's not a pickup truck. It's like a international maybe a like a 5500 series or a 6500 series. It's a bigger truck. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions? I see that. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Passes. Item nine. Discuss and vote to allow the rescue squad to work with public safety committee to determine how to dispose of the 1981 international which is willing to accept bids or scrap. A motion on this. Mr. Morris. Any questions? I see that. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Item 10, committee reports.

I've got a short update from the corner that she sent me uh during the month of June, starting June 1 through 6:25. They handled 17 death calls, met with families to go over preliminary autopsy reports, handled many other corner office related calls, continue to organize the office, finally seeing all the lights at the end. Finalize. She's finalizing the job descriptions, media policy, and on call policy with approval will be implemented hopefully. She wanted to do it this month, but Ruth's not here and stuff, so we pushed it off another month. And she's coming up with pay structures for the others that work for her and stuff. So, I look for us to get read ahead material before next month's meeting to look at ahead of the meeting. So, if we have any questions, Ruth and her can both be here.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Um, I talked to Steve at the health department today to see if he had any updates. He wanted me to let everybody know, sorry I'm reading this off my text because um that they had applied for a competitive maternal child health grant with the department of human services called better birth outcomes and um a comprehensive program and it was awarded and fully funded at 800 at $185,000 beginning July 1st 2025 and that is an increase in $85,000 from the prior family case management program grant that they had that has ended. And then he I also wanted to mention that August 7th at 9:00 a.m. starts Shelbyville High School um at the Shelbyville High School cafeteria start with sports physicals. Um and students can attend, any student can attend as long as they register ahead, he said.

Thank you. Anybody else any reports? Okay. Item 12, I'm sorry, item 11, um, general appointments, discussion of vote to approve mental health 708 board Sean Collins, uh, to replace Dick Loy, uh, which determines to expire 130 of 2030. Please second lock. Any questions? Seeing none, all those in favor say I.

I. Opposed. Thank you. Uh item 12, chairman updates and correspondence. Um I do have information here that I will give to the clerk to be um scanned and sent. Um one of which is the letter that was emailed to me and also just read aloud from first bed. Um the other is a list of the county deposits um at first bed fed with their appropriate um just nomenclature as well as their function group account numbers, interest rates and balances. So I will provide that to Jessica to be uh disseminated to the board. I also have a thank you card here. Shelby County board members, thank you for your ongoing support of Illinois Extension and Shelby County. Your investment helps us bring programs and learning opportunities to people across the county. We truly value your partnership and look forward to what this next year holds. Sincerely, Jesse Street. And I believe that's all I had to do. Thank you. All right. Item 13, any old business?

John, I just have a question. So, there's been some discussion about the credit card policy that we just passed. Can you give for clarification an instance where a board member would need to apply for a county credit card? Did you discuss this before I came in? I'm sorry. Okay.

Now, when that policy, the purpose of the policy was just correcting language, shortened up a little bit. Um, did you get that mailer? Um, I think we talked about it last meeting. Do you all get that newspaper? That's what is it? Illinois County, Illinois County Board members or something. There was an invitation to all of us if we wanted to, they could send I believe it was up to three board members to Pennsylvania to a national meeting. And um the reason that was put in the policy was so for instance, if one of us or a man and two women went um and let's say someone doesn't have a credit card, if one of us went um they would be able to use they would be able to apply for the card to the clerk's office before they would go, they would have at least that with them to present at the hotels and stuff because many times to get the hotel or the government rate, you got to have a government issued card and you also have to present a credit card at the desk to confirm your reservation. So the only intention was if there was a um an issue where we needed to go way to training or something, we would have the ability to use the card from here just like an employee would need to if they went on a trip and then the card would be returned. So it wasn't for everybody

individual board member. It would Yes. Yes. and it would have our individual name on it if we needed to do that because I don't think I'd be comfortable going to Pennsylvania for four or five days and carrying our cash. Um, you know, it just it's a little more helpful to have a government issued card when you're going to a government conference. So, that was the intention. Yeah, that was just for clarification. Yes.

Any other business? Okay, moving on to 14. Approval of payments of claims. We have a motion to approve payments of claims, please. Miss Bane, Mr. Yantis. Um, I am going to go in and amend the claims because you guys approved some bills the other night for the water project. Um, sorry closer. So I met with the the um management teams from the different entities working on the EJ water project that we approved I believe last month and it was decided and they they were able to facilitate it with um the grant provider that EJ Water will front the money as we go and then they will reimburse us. We will reimburse them. So rather than us cut a check from county funds and then have to rely on the money to come back from the grant provider um they EJ water will um pay upfront and then we are still the pass through for the money. So they will send us a check we will send EJ water then reimburse on that. So um it takes the burden off us. It also takes um takes us out of the loop of using county funds from the general fund to pay for something and then wait 30 60 days for reimbursement in this process. So um I don't know we have that on top of that checks. I know there's a few

actually there's just one but it's like $600,900. Yes. Uh, so I'm going to make the motion to remove the the check for the water project. I'll second that motion.

Any questions on the motion second to remove that? Any clarification I need to make on that topic? Okay. All those in favor of the motion say I. Opposed. Great. Thank you. Now, back to the original payment of claims as amended. Any questions, comments on our finance on claims? No, I think we did pretty smooth this month. Okay. See none. We'll call them. B, yes. Brown, yes. Cole, yes. Edwards, yes. Grant, yes. Greg, yes. Hardy, yes. Matt, yes. Mayhoff, yes. Miller,

yes. Mors, yes. Price, yes. Pritchard, yes. Cipher, yes. Wford, yes. Yanis, yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Item 15, public body comment. Public body comment. Yes, ma'am.

I just wanted to thank you all for the work that you've done since you all took oath last December. I know there were several dollars of ARPA funds that had to be obligated by the end of the year. The previous board couldn't find their way to do that and um I was looking over the list from the December 12th and the December 19th meetings last year and you guys did a great job obligating that money. You've not only set money to make repairs to the courthouse, our courthouse looks like the grand lady she should look like. Now, when you drive up that hill, when you're coming into town and you see this beautiful building that we're preserving for future pro post prosperity, it's awesome. um the equipment that you purchased to help the highway department, uh the animal control department, our rescue squads, our first responders, the sheriff, um and I'm just thinking off the top of my head because I don't want to flip through all these pages. um the probation office. Um you know, it takes also the burden off of future uh monies that we would have to spend for those things by by obligating them for things that needed to be done now. So that was so fiscally responsible and thank you so much. Um, you know, you guys went in and and got the negotiations with the union completed, um, which were supposed to be done last year and weren't. And you're just making really

good things happen for this county. And I want you to know that people do notice and we do appreciate it. And we appreciate all of you who are working to make our community the best place it can be. Thank you. Thank you. Public body comment. Public body comment. Public body. No, I'm sorry. No, I just wanted to say real quick, you know, you and I got a letter from Scott about an incident that that happened at the spillway on top of the dam the other night. And, you know, I just want to say how how blessed we are with the with the groups that we have and and he talked about how well they work together. and we had a positive outcome. Uh someone possibly wanted to harm theirelves and climbed over a barrier and the sheriff's department, the local PD, um the rescue, uh the dive, the core of engineers, um and Scott summized it by saying, you know, they it was a positive outcome and all of those folks, you know, they worked well together. And I just want to say we're blessed to blessed to have the group of people that we have in this county. Thank you.

Before I go on, you reminded me of something and I probably should have provided that in my in my update. So, I mentioned last month that the following day of the meeting I was going to meet with um city officials um Mr. McKe Hospital and some others regarding the ambulance and it was a good meeting. I think we were there probably an hour and a half and there was just a discovery between the entities on finding shortfalls and gaps. um on where we could be a little bit better in response and again I think the hospital and the ambulance service was able to connect really well and facilitate a lot of that amongst themselves. Um we learned a lot of lessons especially from you know getting some insight from city uh of what they do and I'm sure the sheriff's office also has their fair share of stories of of where they provide some some assistance in those situations. But um Mr. I think he is is also now as a result of those conversations uh assessing the the county um emergency management overall. Right. So we have we have some some directives that we're following and there's been a committee that's been formed. But he's also looking at what do we stand as far as um emergency response on a either a mass casualty event, right? just a major event where we might end up tasking our emergency services in in different parts of the county that would require additional um assistance. And so he is working with the the ambulance providers, the uh fire chiefs to get some data so he can help facilitate uh what that could look like uh within the county and then try to help provide solutions um to the different providers and and you know, however we can help enhance those services. um we'll try to provide, you know, whatever resources we can to do that. But I appreciate um everything Mr. McKe has done to this point to assess that and look at every corner of the county on how we can help facilitate better response times and better services and access to um first

responders. So, thank you for that reminder. Public body comment. Public body comment. Yes, ma'am.

Just a quick one. In my prayer, I mentioned the te Texas clubs victims and I I am grateful that we have a dive team because Swiftwater Rescue was so important to save people there. Uh I don't know how many times I turned on the news and talked and listened to Swiftwater Rescue and I'm grateful that we have that in our county because you never know. I'm sure those people went to bed that night not realizing what was going to happen. And so I'm grateful that thing that healing is taking place in our county because we need our teams and I'm thankful for that. That's my call.

Thank you. Public body comment. Public body comments. Question actually is to Jessica. When is the first day to pick up petitions for August 5th? I I've notified the party chairs. Um but August 5th is the first day to pick up petition packets and um the filing periods October 27th through November 3rd. It's also I also have that posted on the county website, but I don't have the packets together yet. So thank you.

Thank you. Public body comment. I would like to comment. I would like to comment motion to adjourn the second. All tonight. [Music] because that's going to certify they are not what they