Board - Regular Meeting

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all right. Good evening. I have 7 o'clock. We go ahead and call the August 14th, 2025 Shelby County Board meeting to order. Um, we stand for pledge, please. I pledge algiance 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.

Heavenly Father, we thank you tonight for being with us. We ask you to watch over our families, friends, and all the good people of Shelby County. We ask you for guidance with wisdom tonight to make good decisions and we pray that everyone gets home safe. Amen.

Move on item two. Roll call, please. B present. Tim Brown here. Carol Cole here. Julie Edwards here. Chrissy Grant here. Jeff Greg here. Clay Hardy here. Keith McCormick here. Christine Matlaw here. Tad Mayhall here. Trisha Miller here. Tim Moors here. Jean Price here. Austin Pritchard here. Sunny Ross here. Larry Cipher. Don Tate. Christy Waford here. Brett Wallace here. Judy Wood here. Chad Gennis here. Form.

Thank you. On item three, discussion of vote to approve the minutes from the July 10th, 2025 board meeting. Have a motion, please. Miss F. Second, Mr. Hantis. Any discussion? I see none. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Minutes pass. Item four, public body comment. I have first here on the list, I have chairman. Um, I'm asking regarding item number 12, the rescue squad. And I know you can't answer me or won't answer me during public comment, but I wish you could bring this up during that when you get to that item. And I I want to know if the rescue squad developed their own SOPs and when the changes were made, was it an open discussion? Did the board tell them how they had to change it? you know, how open was it? How much input was put by all of them? Um, you know, so that's what I would like to know is how much input there was so that it's not just the board telling them what they have to do that they have input into how they run their operation.

Thank you. Public body comment. Public body comment. Yes, sir. My name is Peter Otus. I'm the president. There's an ordinance that's going to get voted on tonight about the shipping containers, and I'm opposed to that. The stated rule of this ordinance is to encourage land development and economic growth. And let's be clear, banning shipping containers does not create development. It restricts flexibility. It removes a lowcost, versatile option for property owners, many of whom use containers for storage, workshops, or even innovative housing solutions in rural and semi-ural communities like ours. These uses are not only practical, they're often essential. Let's talk about economics. There's no evidence that banning containers will stimulate investment or attract developers. In fact, it may do the opposite. By limiting affordable options for land use, we risk discouraging smallcale entrepreneurship, farmers, trades people, and residents who rely on these structures to support their livelihoods. Development doesn't come from restriction. It comes from opportunity. Let's talk about fairness. The ordinance disproportionately affects working-class residents who may not have had the resources to build traditional structures. It sends a message that aesthetics matter more than utility, that innovation must take a backseat to conformity. If the concern is about light or safety, then let's address those issues directly with standards for maintenance, placement, and screening. But a blanket blank ban is a blunt instrument. It punishes everyone for the potential misuse of a few. We should encourage creative land use, not stifling it. We

should be empowering residents, not limiting them. And we should be making policy based on evidence, not assumptions. I urge you to reconsider this amendment. Let's work together to find a balanced solution. One that respects property rights, supports economic diversity, and reflects the values of our community. Thank you. Thank you. Public body comment. Yes, sir.

John Pennington. I just want to also for the shipping container ban. I just want to also speak out that I'm opposed to the shipping container ban as he had also commented. It's a an affordable solution. Sometimes with especially with the current building cost with lumber and everything, sometimes it's not economical to build a a permanent structure. Also, it allows that if you move, you can actually take your structure with you. Um so, and it's more of a permanent that it's actually yours. Um, and I as a shipping container owner, um, you know, I'm against it. Thank you. Public body comment. Public body comment. Public body comment. Okay. Excuse me. On item five, discussion of vote to approve the proposed update to pay structure and compensation for deputy corners. Can I have a motion on this item, please? I have Miss Matlock. I have Mr. Pritchard. Yes, ma'am.

Just anybody has any questions? I thought or had the readouts for Ed. So, just making sure anybody didn't have any questions. Any questions or discussion for Mr. B? Yes, sir. Go ahead. Sorry. Yes, sir.

My question is, are you wanting this to be now or on the next budget? Best case scenario would be now. Um because you know I have seen um I've seen history and time cards and I know what was being done and it wasn't necessarily done um with approval or knowledge of anyone. I think it was just being done and so I'm trying to avoid any criticism in that moving forward and doing it in the right steps. Thank you. Thank you.

Um thank you Mr. Chairman. Um do is the money in the budget to cover your expected expenditure? It should be. Yes. Okay. And then secondly, is this vastly different from what was being done or is it

It really isn't. Um so with two things here is one I am asking to change the deputy stipen from $1,000 annually to $1,200 annually. Um with instead of being um paid bi-weekly, it'd be paid monthly. Um just appears a little better that a $38 check coming at you than $100 looks a little better with that increase of an hourly pay as well. um just because they're being paid minimum wage to be out all hours of the night for multiple hours at a time generally as well as I'm issuing or not issuing I'm starting a tiered pay structure and so we'd have entry- level deputy coroners um that would be in training or ones that are not as as active and so the stipen increase would be the ones that are the active deputy coroners.

Thank you for that. um this per hour um that starts when they get the call or when they're on the scene or

um so my I have created um kind of my own office procedures and how I expect them to go um my their handbook for them states that from time to call they should be on the road within 30 minutes um and I'd like them to be on scene within an hour and a half. That seems like a big number, but if you're down in the southeast corner and you have to go to Mikua and it's December and it's snowing, an hour and a half goes really quick. So, that is my goal is to be on scene in an hour and a half. Um, their pay generally starts when they leave to go on the call. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. How many deputies do you have? It's going to sound like a lot. Um, I currently have eight, but I only have four that are um I have two that are brand new within the last two weeks, and I only have two that are actually really active that have done much or anything. How many were there?

So, with Brad, he had four. Um, but he kind of had the same problem that only one or two were really active. Um, and it's and I'm trying to reduce reduce, I'm sorry, burnout in them. Um, and that's one thing that I'm trying to reduce. And so, um, I have of my eight, like I said, two are brand new within the last couple of weeks and have not gotten really any training yet. Um, two have been my right hands since January. Um, the other four have done very, very, very little or nothing. And so I'm trying to positively encourage the ones that are helpful and you know and not reward but you know show them that I do appreciate them because they are out however long at night and whatever weather.

And are they located around the county so they really don't have that much travel time unless someone isn't available. Correct. I have kind of the south west corner covered. Um I have west over towards Tower Hill. I have um north up by Moa covered. Windsor is covered. And then of course I'm kind of the southeast corner of the county. Any other questions, discussion? No. Okay. Yes, sir. You did say it was in the budget. In your budget to

Well, for 1.5 in the hole, I mean, how do we keep hiring people and paying with being in the budget? Do you know how much they're making? Huh? Do you know how much they're making? $15 an hour. Well, I I got it, but I I know what they do. We're.5 in the hole, too. No, I I don't think that's an accurate statement. budget ain't in the hole. It is not. I'll address it later if you'd like. Uh I can address that later if you'd like during my update. Yes, sir.

U how many I don't know. Uh how many people pass away in a month or so? In a given month, it it varies. We can't guess. Um, since I have been on in January, we've had as high of as 45 in a month. Um, July thankfully was a little bit slower and we only had 15. So, thank you. It just And with that being said, not all of those do you have to actually go on scene. Um, a good chunk of hospice ones you don't have to even go. It's a a phone call to take the information. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else?

Okay. See another roll call vote, please. Mr. Chairman, point order. Will this be approved as written so that she can implement it immediately or does that need to be two pieces as we vote? The the the request, as I understand it, is that this be the pay schedule. Additionally, that we start it now. So, when we vote, we're voting to approve it and start it now. Yes. Yeah. As presented. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. And I will say some of her people haven't I think did we get you counted up on payroll? All but one, but we were waiting to see what we needed to do with this. Okay. Okay.

He's caught up on like hourly and payroll. It's the siphon side that he's not caught up on. Okay. All right. But Liz and I already have everything and ready to go. Teresa Bane. Yes. Tim Brown. Yes. Carol Cole. Yes, Julie Edwards. Yes, Chrissy Grant. Yes, Jeff Gray. Yes, Klay Hardy. Yes, Christine Matwalk. Yes, Tad Mayhall. Yes. Trisha Miller, yes. Tim Morris, yes. Austin Pritchard, yes. Sunny Ross, yes. Christy Wford, yes. Brent Wallace, no. Judy Wood, yes. Chad Yanis, yes.

Motion passes. Um 16 eyes, one neighbors. Thank you. On to item six. Discussion vote to approve the following. A the intergovernmental agreement with Kain County and B the annual firearms approval all four. The probation office. I have a motion on this please. Mr. Greg. Hi. Hi. Which one are you taking a motion on? because the intergovernmental agreement we'll do both. We'll we'll just put them together.

Okay. I I've asked for a change on the intergovernmental agreement. Um the email that I sent you, I know that the judge requested possibly a one-year contract, not a three-year. This was a three-year. Um I did some I talked to Kane County and we'd like to do a two-year because in the contract there are um there's a place where you can give 30-day written notice. So if we wanted out of the contract after a year, um we could get out of it. Okay.

So the two factors were that the rate increased from 175 per day to 225 per day and then the length of the contract were the only differences in what we already are currently in. And I also know that the sheriff has requested that we find somewhere closer. Um so I had my juvenile officer call all the detention centers in the state. Um they're actually not giving them out. Champ Champagne County. Madison County won't give an IGA. Mlean County won't. Peoria County is maxed out. They won't give any. St. Clair, these facilities are either understaffed or not giving out contracts. Some of are actually changing their contracts to where you pay them monthly whether you have a juvenile there or not. This guarantees us a safe place for our kids if they have to be detained. Last year was a little expensive. Um, this year we've only detained one minor for four days at a cost of I think like $1,400. So that's what I'm asking for. It's actually being presented to Kain County Board tonight and so they're going to kick it back with a two-year and then I would present it to you at that time. So

Okay. And if anybody has any other questions. So So make sure I get this right. So you're asking for an amendment from three years to two years. Yes. And then the dollar amount per day is goes from 175 to 225. Yeah, that's in the contract. That's that's the difference. That's what they're charging them. And Kate County is one of the best in the state. So I know it's travel time for our officers, but they do have Zoom court. So if the court allows, they do not have to be brought here. They can do court by Zoom. So trying to help the sheriff as well.

Appreciate that. Okay. So with that, there is a request for an amendment in the IGA with King County for the term of the contract to move from a three-year to a 2-year and for the daily um payment to go from 175 to 225. A motion on that amendment, please. Mr. Pritchard, serve Morris on a second. Any discussion on the amendment for the IG? Seeing none, all those in favor say I.

I. I opposed. Amendment passes. Back to the original motion. Any further discussion or questions as it relates to the IGA with Kane County or the annual firearms approval for Miss Wade.

So per policy, just so everyone knows, policy procedures weapons of solid policy for Shelby County approved requires annual signatures from the chief judge, the circuit judge, and then the county board chairman. So, I'll bring it to you guys every year so you can discuss it if you have any questions. I'm up to date on all my training. I am due for reertification sometime this month. Um, hoping to get that done, but um, everything else is in place. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or discussion? Okay. Seeing no or seeing none, go ahead and do roll call on this one since there's some money involved. Okay. Teresa Bank, yes. Tim Brown, yes. Carol Cole, yes. Julie Edwards, no.

Chrissy Grant, yes. Jeff Gray, yes. Clay Hardy, yes. Christine Matlock, yes. Tad Mayo, yes. Trisha Miller, yes. Tim Morris, yes. Austin Frerier, yes. Sunny Ross, yes. Christy Walker, yes. Brett Wallace, yes. Judy Wood, yes. Chad Yanis, yes. Motion passes. 69's one Edwards.

And since I'm here, I thought I typed up a few things. If you don't want to hear it right now, I'm going to have just a few updates for you that I thought everyone I know I communicate with Mr. Mayh Hall quite a bit. Um, but I just ran through a few things from the office to let you all know that we received our allocation for fiscal year 2026. Our allocation from the Supreme Court is $172,677. That's for salaries for probation officers. Um, and I'm happy to say the sixth straight year our salaries will be 100% funded. So, we'll be funded by the Supreme Court. If there were a SHA shortfall due to raises or anything that were have been approved by the chief, um, they can be paid through the probation service fee fund. So, it wouldn't come from the county fund. So, we're still being fully funded by the by the state. Um, I completed my proposed budget and gave it to circuit or county clerk. Sorry, Jessica. Um, I do expect to make a few changes. I don't know if any of you have reviewed it yet, but I will be making changes based on the fact that the annual plan for the probation department is due on August 31st. I have it approximately 75% complete. I hope to finish it this next week, depending on my scheduling. Um, and part of that with the detention that we just asked for today, the Shelby County Juvenile Detention policy and procedures were recently updated. new standards came out from the AIC for detention in February, I believe. So, we redid their policy and we redid our procedures and that's been submitted to the chief judge and approved and we'll go in with the annual plan to the administrative office for final approval. And after that, I'm hoping to meet with all local law enforcement in Shelby County to do an updated training on the new detention screening for juveniles. So, the the tool that been used for as long as I can remember has been completely revamped. um probation are typically the ones that are going to detain. If they're going to be detained, it has to be a probation officer. So, we want to get those new regulations out to local law enforcement so we can help

them um know when to detain and when to release. And then the other piece is the drug court has admitted two new clients recently. We're up to five. We have two more pending referral roles. Um our program is only certified for 13. Um, but the drug our drug court officer, Angela Durban, she completed I don't know if you've been on the Shelby County website on the probation portion, but she completed a brand new pamphlet that's being distributed throughout the county for individuals to have information on the drug court program. So, I know a lot of you come to our graduations. We're hoping to have two graduate in December, bring us back down to three if we don't get those other two in. Um, so that pamphlet's out there for everyone to review. It's accessible. my tech put it on the website so you can click and get a link to that and also the referral form. So she got that done pretty quick and my tech got it on the website for us. So um hopefully you can all come watch a couple more people graduate in December. So that is all.

Are you hanging around or you taking off? What's that? I said are you taking off? If you want to hang around any questions while I'm here. If not, I'm going to take off. Okay. Thank you. Thank you all for your support. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. On to item seven, discussion of vote to approve item A, a map amendment for Greg and Rosemary Bower to reszone parcel 249-36-00-400-008 from residential to general business for the use as a commercial self storage facility. Motion motion, Mr. Ross. I have a second Mr. Of course, I'll let you lead off. Okay. I mean, this is a pretty basic uh map amendment that we've these kinds of map amendments we've had before. Again, everyone here got a map or already had a map. Okay. Uh the only thing I really have to say is I do have one letter of opposition that I would like to read. To whom it may concern is our desire to keep the land within the blue line on the map. Zone is agriculture. At best, we feel that only the area needed for a proposed building be changed to general business. The balance remaining as agriculture. We feel any such resing will increase taxes on surrounding property. Best regards, Don and Linda Dorian. And then on the map, the opposite, the people that were opposed, I have their property listed on that map. Okay. Any questions or discussion? Has legal looked at all this?

No, but that's not a normal even when somebody opposes something. I mean, we more I'd more than you have to have at least look at it, but some point it's just an administrative decision. It's right on the highway. Right on the highway. Yes, it is. just just past on the south side of the road.

Do Dorian live in that the opposed do they live in that opposed place? Not that I'm aware of. They just own that property. No, they do not. They do not live there. No, they don't. They live half a mile half mile a mile south. Okay. And there wasn't the whole 41.57 acres reszone. That that's how it works. There's no there's no legal authority in our zoning ordinance to portion off a section of it to zone just one or the other. It has to be the whole thing unless they go through the process of separating it into a separate parcel.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Um simply because we changed this from residential to commercial doesn't mean they cannot maintain farming the parts that are not right. So uh you know one of the objections was that it stay farm ground and I think Mr. bar is going to maintain a lot of this in farm ground, but it has to be converted in order for him to build business that's close to Windsor to provide uh storage units for different things. So, I would urge a yes vote to uh help some growth. Thank you. Yes, sir.

Well, will that do anything to the taxes to the other I'm not a tax expert. I'm a land use expert, so I I can't Okay. On have you has this been done before? I mean, it's been done multiple times. We've changed many areas of land. Has it on the properties that you've done it to? Has it affected the taxes on the other people's property? I don't know. You don't?

I I don't know what their tax bills are. Uh, I I can only guess that the answer is it just depends on what the if people next door think that that property is not worth more, that's really all that's going to change. I have a question. Um, there these people just aren't against uh storage containers, right? I mean, you can have a storage container anywhere in town. Is that correct or not? We're not talking about the shipping containers. This is a commercial uh storage facility. Okay. Yes. Okay.

Any other questions, discussion? All right. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. Opposed. Motion passes. Thank you. Move on to item B. Discussion. Vote to approve a text amendment prohibiting shipping containers in areas of Shelby County zoned as residential and rural residential. Have a motion on this, please. Mr. Yandis have a second, Miss Grant. Back to you, M.

You all have received the information about this already, so if you have any questions, more than happy to talk about it. Uh the idea behind this is for very small parcels of land that are like 21 acres for a neighbor to put a shipping container next door might feel a little tacky. So it's up to you guys what you want to do with it. I have no emotions about the amendment myself. Mr. Yantis, have we had legal look at this? No, we have not. It is within the authority of the county to prohibit structures, but I'm more than happy to forward this to Ruth.

I I personally think we need to have Ruth look at this cuz if you're starting to talk about portable buildings, I think you're on a slippery slope as any portable wooden shed could be drugged into this in some legal aspect on down the road. I think we need a legal opinion on this and review.

Okay.

Um I did do some followup with Mr. McKe and the original situation that brought this about and you correct me if I'm wrong was an anonymous complaint to the health department. I spoke to the health department to the individual that took the complaint and I said was there a health concern and his response was no. Um, I don't think that in a rural community we can enforce what people put on their property. This is a free country last I knew. And you know, people use it for various things. They use it for storage because it's typically rodent and weather type. They lock up fertilizer, chemicals, for their kids pony. Um, and if they're building something, a lot of times they use a storage container because they can lock that thing up at night. Nobody can steal stuff from them. When I was discussing with this with another member of the board, I looked around where I was sitting in my car and I thought, there's a building there that's not worth $50. There's another one. There's another one. And in my way of thinking, I would tear them down, but I don't have the right to tell them to tear it down. I do think there could potentially down the road be the tiny home thing that comes here, just like our coffee shop out west. I think that there's probably something going to, you know, start with that soon. But I don't think it's our business to tell someone as long as they're not on the easement for utilities. They're following the setbacks. They're not obstructing their view of a road. Um I don't think we can really I don't think we should get into that. If a neighbor has a problem with a neighbor in their shipping container and or their dirty yard or their shed that's have fallen over, they need to discuss that with them, not bring it to the board. I don't think this is something the board should act upon as a one-time anonymous complaint with no housing concerns. Now that doesn't mean in the future we might decide that for instance a lot of a certain size can only have so many or that it needs to be beyond the front face of the home where the interest is. A lot of HOAs will have that. But I think at this present time we need to leave this lie. This is

probably something we don't need to get involved with. I get the details right? Okay. All right. And if there were a health concern, say people were living in it and they shouldn't have been, that is when the health department or family services or anybody else can get involved. And I agree with Christine. This one off I can't roll with it right now.

I I also agree. I think it's too much intrusion on people's they they need to be able to make the decision what they want on their property or else we might get into the situation where somebody might make a complaint because somebody has some of those 30 pink flamingos on their yard and people don't want them on their yard. You know there's homeowners associations that people can move into that limit what you have. This is somebody there's, as far as I know, there's no homeowners association. Correct. Not that I'm aware of. And no ordinances that would no subdivision covenants that would prohibit it.

Yeah. But but I mean, you could get into that kind of a, you know, if somebody's unhappy with somebody, which usually when they make an anonymous complaint, they typically are unhappy in some way, not always, but in some way, shape, or form. And what will be next? you know, somebody doesn't want 10 um lighouses or gnomes or or something like that. So, I absolutely agree. It is the board's decision to decide how intrusive they want to be with the zoning ordinance, right? Again, there's a lot of good that can come from the zoning ordinance, but you want to be very careful about the regulation, right? You don't want to be too intrusive on a homeowner.

Okay. Um, isn't it up to the towns for the ordinances to be I mean the county shouldn't be regulating. So municipalities so we don't have any authority over municipalities like the city of Shelbyville for example. It has its own zoning. We have zero authority there when it comes to zoning. So uh Shelbyville, Finley, Windsor, those areas they're off limits from anything that we do in our zone. So, we'd be talking Okay, I guess I'm confused of where we're exactly talking.

Well, this would affect subdivisions that are within the county, such as the subdivisions out past Walmart or um the subdivisions at Lake Maton um that are I mean tiny little parcel like 21.

I um thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. No way. two parts. You're when you bring up subdivisions, if I go out here and I have 20 acres of ground in the rural area and I want to subdivide it, whenever I'm building that, that is my decision or facade, whatever, I can sit there and say the front of your home has to be brick when you build new construction. You have to have a 20 foot breeze right between a twocar garage. That is where this needs to be put in place. That this cannot be allowed. I don't think the board here should be taking this up at all. I I think it should be left to the subdivision or subdivisions and the individuals building them. That's just my opinion. And then the other part of that is if part of that with what you sent was due to economic growth, if I if I remember that correctly, if I'm going out here to look at a piece of property to subdivide and build a subdivision, I'm looking at everything around it for a mile. If I see a hog farm on it, I'm not going to try to develop 20 acres. It's just not going to happen. So I think there you want you being a developer would want to look at the area better if you wanted to develop it economically.

The word development there was not necessarily about developers. It was about providing opportunities for economic growth. Thank you Scott.

Yes. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Um I see this is with a couple of issues. Number one the county to my knowledge doesn't issue permits for these in the first place. So then we have an issue of enforcement on the backside if someone decides to put one in that they didn't tell anybody. Um I don't know that we have the mechanisms in place to force them to remove it. So there's an issue there. I personally am a private land owner rights person and uh you know if you're blocking obstructing the view of your neighbor those things can come into play. um if there's an issue, you know, in one particular area, I think maybe we need to go at it more surgically and less blanket. So, um I'm opposed to this and I would strongly urge a no vote. I yield back.

Just a side note, Scott, even if we did vote yes, we want to do this, which I think most of us have expressed our opinion, we don't want to do this. Even if it was done, we did pass it, those storage containers that were complained about will go nowhere. Correct. They're grandfathered. So the purpose of the complaint was to get it removed and even if we pass it, they will not neither will any of the other ones.

This would only affect again this would only affect new attempts to put storage or shipping containers in and it would only affect areas that are uh zoned as residential and rural residential which is a very small portion of the county. I put the map up later in the hallway so everyone can see it. And rural residential is typically 5 acres or less outside of the city limits. No, the purpose of rural residential is to be between farms and residential and the typically the five acres is supposed to be the minimum. Um, however, they can be as big as 80 acres. Okay. So, okay. Thank you. Call the vote.

Great. All right. Both can call. Make sure everybody understands. A motion yes would be to approve the text amendment. So with that in mind, all those in favor say I. Oppose. No.

Thank you. Okay. Moving on to item eight. discussion. Vote to approve job posting, excuse me, posting a job notice for the zoning administrator position. Have a motion on this item, please. Mr. Second would Everybody received the um resignation letter from Mr. the key from zoning um here not too long ago, but he's graciously agreed to stay on to get us through the rest of the year to give us some time to to fill a spot. Um and today the the actual posting was was emailed out to everybody. So if you have a chance to see it, we might have somebody with a copy of it here. Um, but basically we're just putting this position out there um to advertise it so we can start gathering some interest for anybody that might want this position. So with that, I'll entertain any questions or discussions. Okay, seeing none, all those in favor say I.

I opposed. Thank you. Motion passes. Move on to nine. discussion. Vote to approve Shelby County Hazard Mitigation Plan. Have a motion on this item, please. Mr. Ross, Miss Miller, Scott, you're on. I am fortunate enough to be joined today by Allison Hudson from MCL's County Regional Planning. She is one of the people that spearheaded this and to put this hazard mitigation plan together. Again, it's a 200 p 202 page document about the hazards that affect the county and mitigation practices for those hazards. Does anybody have any questions about this document?

No. And thank you for getting that out well in advance so we can go to two pages of the item. I will say there's a lot of a lot of good information in there. Yes. Yes. Any other questions or comments? Thank you. None. Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor say I. Opposed. Great.

Thank you. On to item 10. Discussion of vote to approve the request from the sheriff's department to surplus a 2013 Ford Explorer. BIN number 1 F M5K8 B88DG024 61 with approximately 178,000 miles. have a motion on this item, please. Miss Malock, I have a second, Mr. Pritchard. Any discussion, questions? Not seeing none. All those in favor say I.

Opposed. Thank you. Item 11, discussion of vote to amend the budget for the PCON public transportation administrator upon recommendation of the budget audit legislative committee. I have a motion on this item, please. Miss Bane, Mr. Yantis. um open it up for discussion or questions. So with this as we know early in the year we were asked to get this position hired that was uh vacated I think in 2022 um so per the request of I do. CFS um we get the position hired for uh but the budget did not have um line item line line items associated with it. So the money is the same. It's just the allocation for the items. Um so to include, you know, telecommunications, mileage, pay is taking the the the money and actually allocating those for the rest of the fiscal year. Um so they actually have a line item, which was one of the audit findings. So um the amendment doesn't change the money, it just changes where the money would go. Yes,

I have a question. So, I talked to you today. You explained it very well. I also had a conversation with the treasurer. Her concern, it sounds like, is where is the money coming from? So, is it coming out of the general fund or is it going to come out of the CFS grants? Because it's going to be reimbursed somewhere. And I think her concern is that if we don't take it out of the CFS grants, there's going to be some confusion as to when when the audit comes as to where that money came from, where that money's going, things like that. So that's that's kind of where the clarification, I guess. I don't know if everybody else got all the emails and it confused, you know, I wasn't really sure what was going on by the time I read them all. So that was what her concern was. Not that should we do it, would we do it, can we do it. It's are we going to label it I think might be the right word correctly so that it's coming from where the grants come from rather than out of the general fund. Did I explain that?

Sure. Okay. Sure. That way everybody's even more confused. So um and the clerk has been involved in this discussion as well and so there there's been fair amount of communication okay on how that would happen to clarify that. If you have any input, I'll take your input on that. Exactly. But all of the money will be from the grant. Right. So the county is not paying for anything. Right. Correct. Now, as it relates to all the expenses exactly how that works out, I know that Miss Watkins has worked with the logistics with CFS, I do, and the treasurer on that. So, I can't say that I specifically know the answer to that question, but I do know as far as pay, benefits, technology, right, the fringes, everything is coming from the grant.

The grant. That's correct. The CFS grant. And I think that was the concern is where where are we going to put I'm not I'm probably not going to explain this right, but where are we going to put is is the money going to show that it's coming from the grant or is the money going to show that it's coming from the general fund? Um so now so I actually have with me the um the budget. Okay. As is now. And so being 68.76% of the year it's coming from the grant. Okay. Perfect. So if that makes sense. Do you have any feedback? No. I It's fine.

So it's coming from the grant. And so the money's again it's all passed through. Um uh again I've learned a lot more I think on this topic than I thought that I would possibly want to know. Um but again for good housekeeping is making sure we have the right line items in the respective spots. So um as they're actually spending money in those spots they do are appropriately lined out. Okay. Yes sir. Thanks sir. We're not changing essentially anything other than we had one line item with a lot of money in it. Now we're going to have five little bitty amounts that equal the one amount from previously which we should have had those line items in the first place.

Yes. And and again per our discussion um this afternoon is when we were doing the budget last year um we knew CFS was on here but I don't think any of us knew what PECOM was. That's safe to say. And so when when approached early in the year and this became something that we now are aware of um to go in and to add the various line items um is the proper accounting that that we need to make sure that we give Miss Watkins that opportunity to have the proper accounting as well. Sure. And so then the money question is going to be essentially the money that was going into the big line item is just going to be going into the several different line items.

It's it's all yet so so the answer technically is yes, right? So there still the big line items here. You just took smaller bites and put them in their appropriate spots. Sure. Thank you. Yes. I I would just like to raise a concern that our treasurer is not being included in this. And you know, tonight at this meeting alone, I think on three separate topics, it was asked if um we've consulted with our legal counsel. Why aren't we consulting with our treasurer? That's Miss going to consult. What would we ask her?

We we would communicate with her. I understand that and we have been there's been a lot of emails but No, no, we haven't. You can address. Okay. Sorry. Um there were a lot of emails going back and forth including um auditors being asked if this was the appropriate way to handle it and well okay right there I order Mr. Chair point of order multiple members interrupting members. The gentleman here had the floor first. I want to entertain healthy debate, but the going back and forth is nonproductive. Thank you.

Well, I I just wanted to make the point I I'm not so concerned about what the auditor says. In fact, I initially I wanted to ask who is this auditor? And then I thought, who cares? We have a treasurer. And if and if you read my email, I I think we have a very competent, capable, ethical treasurer. But we we don't consult with our treasur. We don't communicate with our treasur. And I think we should I I think it's a big problem in this county. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Good.

So, it's my understanding the money was already in the budget and the treasurer is part of that. Um, she makes sure that the money's there and that we're able to pay the bills when they come in. Is that right? So, help me understand if we're not communicating with her and we can solve that problem, what questions would we have asked her? Um I mean on this topic I can I can confidently say that Miss Watkins who's responsible for this budget did communicate regularly and that's how these line items were created.

So between the generosity of CFS and then Miss Watkins the items were pulled from an old budget so we at least had the right line item numbers in there and then then the treasurer was consulted with to confirm that these would still be the line items. So, um, she was communicated with all. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I was understanding all that. Yes. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments? So, as this process works, um, for those that were here last year, um, through the budget process, um, this is this is a two-part process. is the vote tonight is to put it on public display to be viewed by the public for 10 days, 15 days and so that we're allowed to provide the community can provide us feedback. At that point, we then bring it back at a separate meeting to vote to finalize the So, any other questions or discussion? Well, I excuse me. I I would just like to say if you know the treasurer has a conflict or an issue with it, I I wish we would invite the treasurer here or or or have a meeting with the treasurer like she asked for instead of basically trying to ram it through behind her back.

Mr. Brown, this was brought to the attention of the treasur July 7th. It's not ramming it through. Okay. But she did ask for a meeting. Sure. and meetings can still take place. This again, this is for the public to view and just as we did last year, our amendment can be made at the next meeting. I I would like to have the treasur's blessing. Okay. And we have 30 days. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. I like to ask one question. Who was in the pe role before, Miss Watkins? the the the role itself. I mean, it was vacant, but I think it was it was um it was assigned to the treasurer at that time. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Yes. And our meetings are scheduled every second Thursday of the month. We, you know, our EMA director was here and we were able to ask questions. So, it's not a surprise that these meetings happen on Thursday. And I think if there was discussion um people know when to show up so we can ask questions to them. So and you're saying that there will be an opportunity for questions later. Sure. And and again I encourage anybody to to to ask questions. Um and again we we will have subsequent meetings between now and and next month to make sure that it again you know the the the clerk's office also needs to make sure that that everybody is on the right page on exactly where they will pay the bill from if there's a reimbursement exactly how that's going to work what that process would be

and I will say the treasurer and I have treasurer and I have had several conversations about this because her office will create these line items so I had asked these were going to come out of there was a lot of confusion with a lot of line items that were thrown out there. So, I think that everyone's on the same page now that these line items will all be under the CFS budget. So, nothing's going to change from a general fund standpoint and you know, the treasur's office creates the line items. Once those are created and this budget amendment has been approved, then the claims will run through the AP process. But until those line items are actually created, um, you know, it's we can't really do anything. But she and I have had several conversations. So,

so there there's been quite a bit of communication with the treasurer through email or through I've talked to her simply because, you know, that office always has to create the line items and I just wanted to make sure she and I were on the same page as these will fall under CFS, right? because there were times when I was like, you know, this can't come out of general fund and and that's what we she and I were trying to come to terms that yes, the these will all come out of CFS, they so essentially instead of the one big number like Sunny said, the rest of the line items will come out of that so it'll be easy to track. Jessica, when I spoke to the treasurer today, she confirmed exactly what you just said that you guys had been talking about it to get clarification on things. So,

call the vote, Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. All right. Uh, roll call, please. Teresa Bane, yes. Tim Brown, no. Carol Cole, yes. Julie Edwards, yes. Chrissy Grant, yes. Yes. Jeff Gray, yes. Clay Hardy, yes. Christine Matwalk, yes. Ted Nel, yes. Patricia Miller, yes. Tim Morris, yes. Austin Pritchard, yes. Sunny Ross, yes. Christine Wford, yes. Brett Wallace, yes. Judy Wood, yes. Chad Yanis, yes. Motion passes. 16 eyes, one nay brown.

Thank you. Move on item 12. discussion of vote to approve the rescue squad SOPs, SOGS as recommended by the public safety committee. I've got Mr. Ross on the motion. I have a second by Mr. Pritchard. So, uh I want to thank uh the people who were involved in this directly or indirectly. Uh this was a group effort. um the rescue squad and a lot of the members were were there at our safety uh meeting Tuesday night. They were heavily involved. Um Jordan and Cody and Cody and and several others, I'm sure. Um and it was a group effort. Um thank Sunny for his input. Uh he worked with this group. Uh thank Austin for his his input. It was a group effort with those two guys and several people from the rescue. and um I asked them to have this finalized by the August meeting and here we are and and it is done. So I appreciate appreciate their efforts. Um and as I told them, if we have amendments going forward, something we need to tweak, that's not a problem. We see something we you know, but the bones of this agreement are are really good and really well written and thought out and um I appreciate the efforts.

Thank you. Anybody else to add? U just echo a lot of his uh comments. Um it was a group effort. Um I know a public body comment that was a question. Um there were questions from the board to the rescue squad, but the rescue squad um very heavily involved in the entire process from really start to finish. So um yeah, and I appreciate the help of Mr. Pritchard and uh Mr. Greg for allowing me the opportunity to work with the guys on that. So, thank you. Thank you.

Okay. So, at the meeting of the night, there were some misspelled words and did all that get taken care of because the new one sent out still had sorority instead of seniority? Are you kidding me? On page fiveority, Mr. Chairman, it's not as impressive as Mr. McKe's document. It is only 30ome pages, but it says seniority on mine on the one that I got from Jessica the other day. Does it say uh PSC approved draft in gray in the back? Uhhuh. On which page? Five.

I'm not denying it. The off the officer. Oh, yeah. There's I missed that one. My apologies. Okay. I could make an amendment that I could change that word. And then on page seven is the same thing. No, no, this is a different one. This is driving requirements. And I did read this. Um, under the driving requirements number three, it says members who have rode along. I'd like to have that changed to ridden instead of road. Just a grammatical error. Page seven. Whereabouts?

Number three, members who have written. You wanted it to say ridden, right? It It's Well, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what we're discussing. Uh, Mr. Chairman, I have a live document here that I can change those and I will get that to and those are the only two things that I saw. Thank you. You good? I'm great. But I have to admit after you went through this sorority thing several times, I guess that be my competitor. Let's get Carol. You want to make amendment to make that?

Uh I'd like to make an amendment to adjust the two words on one on page five and one on page seven to uh reflect proper grammar. Would you like to second that? I'll second that. All those in favor of the amendment say I. Any opposed? All right. Back to the original. Any further discussion on the SOPs?

Seeing none, all those in favor say I. Any opposed? Thank you. Item 13, discussion of vote to approve the 2026 holiday calendar. I have a motion on this. Wood, Miss Cole, any discussions or questions on next year's calendar? Do we have a say or isn't this negotiated in the contract? Yeah. Okay. So, we we just need to say that holiday change all of that, but but most of this comes down to the courthouse closes, right? Yeah, it's understand. Thank you.

Anything else? Any questions? See none. All those in favor say I. Opposed.

All right. Any committee updates? Okay, moving on to chairman appointments. Um, I was informed by the clerk that we did not receive a name um for the appointment to the 708 board due to the uh replacement of Miss Carwell. So, we will move on and um hopefully get a name next month on that. Um chairman updates and correspondence. What I will do is I will start with Mr. Wallace's um mention. So, as far as the budget, we review the budget once a month in committee. And I think that the clerk sends it out once a month. And the last one I received, we were two/ird of the way through the year, I think, if that if that's not too far off. And we were slightly over um like 52% spent on the year. So, as far as the spending, right? So the projected versus the actual is the spending is lower and that includes all back pay has now been made as well. So union contract didn't get settled ne the union contract got settled till fiscal year 25. So we took a quarter of last year's pay raises that should have been paid on last year but since the contract wasn't done they were actually paid in this fiscal year. So even with those being paid into this year, we're still under budget on spending.

So if we keep going, we'll re we will have erased the 1.5. Uh as far as the exact number, I don't know exactly what that number, but I mean if we keep going right now, the way it's going right now will at least be we'll close the board. We'll close the gap is closing. Yes, if that makes sense. So we spent half two/ird of the way through the year, give or take. So projections stay right. We shouldn't be we shouldn't be in the hole at all. Fair. Fair.

Maybe wait. Without Without the exact numbers, right? Okay. Then where are we saving the money at? Where where where is where I mean how was we so far off? I mean I mean I could get opinions of this all day, right? A lot of it comes down to we had to get that thing done in short order with

limited data. Make sense? I mean we didn't have you as far as you know as we look at the the income projections. Um, and I don't have it all as part of but but but again so so we'll go through as we get through the year we continue to look at what were the income projections right so did we end up with more or less income than what we that was projected but then also on the spending side. So, I know a lot of the department heads did the best they could to factor in what payraises could possibly look like, right, for for this year with a guess, not knowing what the end result could be for union contract negotiations and the settlement, all that. Um, but I think again, I think a lot of it too is we have to look at our department heads and their fiscal responsibility. They're being fiscally responsible on where they're spending. So, you can look at the the line items for payroll, right? I To be fair, I look at the clerk's payroll every month to see how far we ended the month because their pay is equal every month.

That's my baseline. Know how far we ended with the month with the reports that she sends out. I go down from there and I just look at everything that's either over or under spending. And so when we started the year, one of the biggest outputs that we had was our initial insurance payment. Yes.

And and it it really skewed what the budget was going to look like. But the further we get through that through the year as we pay our premiums, it levels out. So now being 2/3 or even further that through the year anything below that number right we just look at um you have to lot contribute to whether it's office supplies or or any other spending but they are spending below what the forecasted amount was but again I think that some of the spending possibly was just numbers were put in there going well this is my best guess without good historical data we're trying to work on that now to be a little bit more proactive in the budgeting process for fiscal year 26. And if we need the help, we contracted with Sikage to help us get through that process a little smoother. The the clerk sent something out almost two months ago asking for projections for next year. So, we're we're further ahead. So, hopefully we can drill down, get that number just a little bit closer this time. But, as far to to your point, if I was to to put my my bet out there, we're not going to end up spending the 1.5 million over the the revenue side.

Well, if we're twothirds through the year and we got we've only spent 50 half of it. I mean, you'd have to spend a lot of money that shouldn't be spent, right? I mean, to go I mean, if we can break even, that'd be great. I mean, if we could have some surplus, that'd be fantastic, you know.

Yeah. And the trend analysis for the year, right? I mean, if I was to plot point that and put that on a trend analysis, the trend analysis been there is where, you know, the expected spending and we we've we've trended below that. I mean, there was a small spike when back pay was paid out. So, FOP was first earlier in the year and then we just wrapped up here within the past 6 weeks the back pay on those contracts. So, there's a small spike. So, those lines do converge, get a little closer, but we're still trending below what was forecasted. Mhm. Well, that's better than looking at one. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you for that,

Joe. Thank you. Um, I do have a couple of pieces of correspondence. I will apologize in advance. They appear to be fairly lengthy. Um, first one is from the Illinois Environmental Protections Agency. gets public notice that proposed renewal of the clean air act permit program permit. Shelby County Energy LLC in the yoga. Shelby County Energy LLC has requested that the IEPA renew the Clean Air Act permit program CAP permit regulating air emissions from its facility located at 3575 East 400 North Road in Neoga. Chevy County Energy LLC operates combustion turbines for the purposes of generating electricity in addition to natural gas fired preheaters. Based on the review of the permit application, Illinois EPA has made preliminary determination that the permit application meets the standards for issuance and has prepared a draft permit for public review. Illinois EPA is accepting comments from the draft permit. to submit comments by 11:59 p.m. on August 25th, 2025. If sufficient interest is expressed in the draft permit, a hearing or otherformational meeting may be held. Request for information, comments, and questions should be directed to Sarah Brewbaker, Office of Community Relations, APA 2520 West Isles Avenue, PO Box 19276 in Springfield, Illinois 62794. Um, she also provides her phone number. The repository for the draft permit and associated documents is available at the Illinois EPA office at 2125 South First Street in Champagne. Um, they ask that you decide to show up. You please call ahead and ensure that someone will be available to assist you.

Copies of the draft permit statement of basis and public notice are also available at a website that we will publish and provide. Copies of the documents will be made available upon request. The CAAWP is Illinois's operating permit program for major sources of emissions as required by title five of the Clean Air Act. The conditions of the CAAWP permits are enforcable by the public as well as by the US EPA Illinois EPA. In addition, by implementing title five of the act CAP permits may contain title one conditions, for example, conditions established under the permit programs for new and modified emission units pursuant to title one of the act. The permit contains no T1 conditions that are being newly established or revised by this permitting action. The beginning of this public comment period also serves as the beginning date of the US EPA 45day review period provided by the US EPA does not seek a separate proposed period. Next is from Linda Vorhees chairman May Hall County Ford. I'm writing about the ambulance subsidy tax that was collected on our property taxes. The Windsor area ambulance service has not received any payments from this since November of 2022. It is my understanding there was a freeze put on this. The voters of Shelby County passed a referendum for this tax several years ago when Kathy Lance was county court. This tax was collected for 2022 with the property taxes we paid in 2023 but has not been distributed. I believe as a voter that this money was collected should have been distributed for the purpose it was collected for. When our ambulance service was formed in

1975, we were set up to cover the Richland Township, Ashgrove Township, Windsor Township, all in Shelby County, and Whitley Township. In 2024, we not only covered all of our territory, but we did 32 runs for Shelbyville. And at the end of April 2025, we had already done 15 runs for Shelbyville. I am sure that other ambulance services in Shelby County are also helping cover Shelbyville. I sent a letter to Mr. Orman, excuse me, I sent a letter when Mr. Orman was chairman and I received response back from Mr. Ross telling me that there was a freeze on this tax and that they did not know that they are able to do this. He said that this would show up on my 20 2023 taxes payable in 2024, but there would not be a charged. I was charged a penny. I know this is not much and I had no problem paying this, but everyone in Shelby County got charged a penny. That would add up to a few dollars. Mr. Ross also said that they may refund this money back to taxpayers. Do you know how much time and money that would cost to do this? If you are not going to distribute this money to the ambulance services, then what are you going to do with it? I believe this money was collected under false pretense. Thank you for your consideration on this matter, Linda Borhees and Chief Riser address. So, both of these have been filed with the clerk. Um, other updates, I spoke to the auditor today. they are prepared to um submit everything to sorry the pre-own firms think it should be prepared to hand off to Labbach um in September and then immediately begin their work on 2024 um to do the pre- audit services there. So I think some of it took a little bit longer initially that we found out the

AFR wasn't done. They completed the AFR for us and then um right now she said they're just going through the grants and they should have everything ready to go to hand off for Monterbach. U Monterach says that their their goal would be to get the rest or to get 2023 done um hopefully by year end and then um jump straight into 2024 and get us caught up so they can do 2025. Um so with that they also were um very generous with their their assistance. I was contacted again by I do and DHS to get a status update um for where our audits stand just kind of a periodic check-in as they requested uh and both firms did reach out to both of those entities to let them know that the progress is being made um which is critical to keep our funding going. Um and then Sikage is also working on getting access to data because there was a request from DHS to request an extension for 2025 since we're past the window. We're passing the window I think this month for that. So Sage will take care of making sure that all of the um extension requests have been submitted through the portal as well. There might be more But I can't remember by now. So, but that was a lot. Um, so any old business? None. All right. Move to approve the payment of claims. Have a motion. Miss Matlock. Miss B. Anything? Any notes or there?

Any questions about claims? No. See how Bane? Yes. Brown. Yes. Cole, yes. Edwards, yes. Grant, yes. Greg, yes. Hardy, yes. Matlock, yes. Mhm. Yes. Miller, yes. Morris, yes. Frederick, yes. Ross, yes. Waford, yes. Wallace, yes. Wood, yes. Janice, yes.

Thank you. All right, move on to item 19, public body conf. Mr. P, I'm just going to relay some information I've been given. Caroline went to county board meeting for board members in Bolina, Illinois. Uh, we haven't had a financial statement, I don't believe, from our treasure. Uh, I think the way he put this is he can't come up with a financial statement at the end of the year. She could be without a job. So there is no annual report for 2024. There's no one on the website. Uh I spoke to the member of the the state treasur's office a day or two ago. I showed them her balance statement for the end of February and their opinion was this balance statement with no beginning or ending balances and no totals doesn't really have any meaning. So, this is nothing I decided on. I'm just relaying it. Anything else? You good?

J, you good? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Public body comment. Yeah. Just one real quick thing. if you could remind folks when they receive a foyer request, they need to respond to it. If they're not the FOY officer, they need to forward it to the FOY officer. Thank you. Thank you. Public body comments.

So, you know, we talked a lot about money in in in the budget and, you know, I I have a concern and I I voiced it before about our investments um of money. Uh the treasurer did show up at last month's meeting for a a cameo and talked about that 3.2 million dollars of our money is outperforming the Illinois funds. Well, that is correct. I mean Illinois funds is at 4.49% as of today. Um there is 3.2 billion invested and it is marginally better than that maybe 2/10 of a percent but it is better. Um, and that money adds up to u about $700 a year um in outperformance of the Illinois funds. Um, my concern is is the other $16.5 million that wasn't mentioned that is underperforming the Illinois funds by in the neighborhood and this is very ballparkish of about 3%. That on the other hand adds up to $480,000. So, on one hand, we got $480,000 that we are leaving on the table, but we heard about the $700 that we that we are that we gained. Um, so that's one point. The other point real quick, you know, recently the treasurer um um talked about that the money was kept locally to invest with the local homeowners and the local businesses and that that was good for our county. um she encouraged the two local banks to put out a statement um to that effect that that money was used within the county and they did and that is a main reason that she has one of the main reasons she has um said that she leaves

the money locally. But that money in the neighborhood of $20 million by law has to be collateralized. Um the banks have to collateralize that and they have it by all appearances. Um they have letters of credit from each uh each of them do. They also have each purchased about $10 million in bonds as collateral pledged to us in the event of a catastrophe. So my question is if we have $20 million in deposit on uptown in these two banks and these two banks have spent $20 million to purchase bonds as collateral for our deposits. Where's the money to loan out to the community? You can't spend money twice. That $20 million has been used to purchase securities in our name, held at the bank, tied up in these collateralized bonds. So my question is, where's the money to loan to the community? But that's just not a direct question, but just just a concern, a thought.

Thank you. public conference. Um, Jeff, could you elaborate on what collateralize really means? Can I You want to do it the fancy way or you want me to do it the egg counting way? Well, this is not your comment section.

Okay, I'm I'm going to give it a shot. This is my understanding of collateralization. Um, they basically guarantee to this $10 million per bank. Our money is $10 million of our money is protected. invested in bonds elsewhere at a couple percent. Um that money cannot be also tied to loans in the community or anywhere else. It's one or the other. You don't get a collateral and it then the purpose of the collateralization is to protect our assets. So it's not tied up in anything that's real sensitive that's very um got a lot of fluctuation tied in something very um even like bonds. So if they say that it's collateralized, it cannot be loaned to people in the community. Period. Is that accurate?

I understand.

Public body comment. Public body comment. Public body comment. All right. Motion to motion. A second by Mr. Ross. All those in favor of German say I. I opposed. Thanks for coming out. Thanks very much guys. [Music]