County board retains leaders

The Fayette County Board welcomed a couple of new faces on Tuesday, but kept the same faces at its leadership positions.

In just a few minutes, the board voted to retain Jeff Beckman as the board chairman and Darrell Schaal as the vice chairman.
The board promoted Beckman, a Republican, from vice chairman to chairman following the resignation of Steve Knebel in July 2015. Schaal, also a Republican, was elected vice chairman at that time.
Beckman and Schaal were re-elected to their posts after individuals winning seats in the November election were formally seated.
The eight elected last month include two new members – Republicans Merrell Collins in District 2 and Joe Wills in District 7.
Collins takes the seat held for 38 years by Democrat John Daniels Jr. for 38 years, and Wills’ seat was formerly held by Wade Wilhour. Both Daniels and Wilhour chose not to seek re-election.
Re-elected in November were Jake Harris in District 1, Chad Austin in District 3, Debra Warner in District 4, Keith Cole in District 5, Glenn Gurtner in District 6 and Glenda Bartels in District 7 (two-year term).
With the addition of Wills, Republicans now hold a 13-1 majority on the board. The lone Democrat is Glen “Whitey” Daniels in District 3.
In his first meeting, Collins had a couple of questions, one about the sanitation ordinance approved at the meeting and one about whether he can participate in meetings while traveling on the road for work.
Collins asked whether the sanitation ordinance includes fines for violations.
Told by Assistant State’s Attorney Brenda Mathis that it did not, Collins said, “If it doesn’t mean anything, why is the county wasting money” to conduct inspections, for example, at community events.
Collins said that he has had personal experiences with this issue in other counties, when he was told that being cited for violations didn’t really mean anything.
Jodi Smith, health inspector for the Fayette County Health Department, told Collins, “We are protecting public health.”
She said that if violations are found, violators are told that their problems need to be fixed, and that correcting the problems is the main priority.
When violations are found, individuals’ permits can be revoked, and if they later meet the requirements, they can have their permits reinstated.
Mathis told Collins that enforcement of the sanitation falls under administrative law. To file a criminal complaint would be a conflict of law, she said.
“The problems would be monumentous,” Mathis said.
Kelly Curll emphasized that the health department conducts inspections solely to ensure public health.
“We don’t want anybody to lose their business,” Curll said. “We want to educate them – that’s the goal.”
Collins also said that he has studied the Illinois Open Meetings Act and saw that the law allows for individuals to participate in meetings electronically. He asked whether that is allowed for county board meetings.
Mathis said that she would have to look at the board’s bylaws, and that the county has the capability of allowing electronic participation.
Also at the meeting, the board agreed to consider changing the time of its monthly meeting.
Daniels asked about the possibility of changing the meeting time on the second Tuesday of each month from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m.
To do that, Mathis said, the board would have to change its bylaws.
Told that they couldn’t vote on a change this month, Daniels asked if it would be worth finding out whether board members favored such a change.
Those speaking on the matter said that they could vote for a change in a meeting time.
Harris mentioned having a seasonal schedule, meeting at earlier during winter months and later in summer months, to accommodate farmers and others working later.
In fact, the board for many decades followed such a practice, meeting at 7 p.m. during winter months and 8 p.m. in the summer.
In other action, the board took care of all matters with three motions, with all but taken care of with consent agenda votes.
The lone issue requiring a vote was the sanitation ordinance.
In a consent agenda vote, the matters approved were:
• A resolution authorizing an agreement relative to payments for services rendered for property of the University of Illinois.
The board initially agreed to table a vote at the request of Beckman, who said that there were still some questions about the agreement.
However, the board decided to take a vote after an explanation by Mathis.
She said that because the university is a non-taxing entity, the county cannot impose property taxes on it. But, she said, it was wanting to pay the tax amount, under a pilot program.
The board approved the resolution for about 10 acres owned by the U of I.
• The board voted to appropriate $4,000 from the county bridge fund for a culvert replacement three miles southeast of Herrick on County Road 1700E in Bowling Green Township.
• The board voted to appropriate $10,000 from the bridge fund for repairs to a bridge four miles east of Loogootee on County Road 2550E in LaClede Township.
• The board approved the renewal of a liquor license for the Fayette County Fair Association.
• The board approved the semiannual reports of the sheriff’s office and county clerk’s office.
For the period of June 1-Nov. 30, the sheriff’s receipts totaled $84,205.80, and the county clerk’s receipts totaled $172,695.25.

Jeff Beckman, left, was retained as the chairman of the Fayette County Board on Tuesday, and Darrell Schaal, right, was retained as vice chairman.