Macon Reporter

DeWitt County Board met Dec. 19.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

Meeting was called to order at 6:00pm by Chairman Witte.

Roll call was answered by Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Deerwester was absent.

Robert Kreitler addressed the Board with his concerns of the Board passing a motion at the November meeting to spend $10,000 for a study of fines and fees for the County. He said he feels as a taxpayer it is a waste of money. Mr. Kreitler said he was able to find several other county’s fees in a matter of 30 minutes (some of the counties he mentioned included Champaign, Piatt, Macon and Logan) and doesn’t feel the money should be spent to conduct the study when the Board can easily and quickly find other county’s fees to compare. He thanked the Board for their time.

Patrick Weiler from the Clinton Lake Sailing Association wanted to give the Board some updates. He said the new owner at the Marina will not let them host any event, so they have been working with IDNR. He said in the future if they need access to Sailboat Rd, they may have to make it a township road. He wasn’t sure if it would come to that but wanted to give the Board some updates.

County Clerk Harris informed the Board that there will not be a need for a Primary Election for the City Mayoral race. She said because the city is a commission form of government, they do not have to have primaries. This was confirmed by 3 people at the State Board of Elections and the attorney for the city. The only election will be the Consolidated Election held on April 1, 2025. She also wanted the Board to know that her staff appreciated their Christmas Bonus.

Clerk Harris verified with the Board that everyone received the correspondence letter from IDOT that she had emailed out. Witte addressed the letter and asked County Engineer, Mark Mathon, to fill in the Board on what has been figured out about the letter. Mr. Mathon said that he had met with Board members Prestegaard and Werts to discuss the letter. He said some of the findings in the letter had overlapped the date of the letter and had already been submitted/completed and the others mentioned in the letter have now been submitted and he is just waiting on correspondence from IDOT that they have been received.

Motion by Tilley second by Werts to approve the November 21, 2024, County Board meeting minutes. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried.

Motion by Ferguson second by Tilley to approve the November 25, 2024, Ambulance District Truth in Taxation minutes. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Abstain: Prestegaard. Motion Carried.

Motion by Tilley second by Ryan to approve the November 25, 2024, DeWitt County Truth in Taxation Minutes. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Abstain: Prestegaard. Motion Carried.

Motion by Ferguson second by Carter to approve the November 25, 2024, County Board special meeting minutes. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Abstain: Prestegaard. Motion Carried.

Motion by Werts second by Tilley to approve the December 2, 2024, County Board Re-organization meeting minutes. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Abstain: Prestegaard. Motion Carried.

Motion by Witte second by Carter to appoint Brian Riddle to the Regional Planning Commission to fill the unexpired term of Tyler Wallace with term to expire April 30, 2026. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried.

Motion by Witte second by Farris to appoint Chris Sharp to a 3-year term ending April 30, 2027, to the Clinton Sanitary District to fill the expired term of Neil Whitted. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried.

Carter gave the Board a brief description of what was discussed at the current month’s Land Use meeting. He said they had completed interviews for the zoning administrator position. Minutes from the Land Use meeting are filed with these minutes.

Motion by Carter second by Ryan to offer Elizabeth Weikle the part-time zoning administrator’s position contingent upon passing the pre-employment testing. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried.

Myers gave the Board a brief description of what was discussed at the current month’s Public Safety meeting. Minutes from the Public Safety meeting are filed with these minutes.

Motion by Myers second by Werts to offer Grace Moore the animal control administrator’s position contingent upon passing the pre-employment testing. Witte informed Grace the Sheriff said background checks will be performed so letting her contacts know might help them respond quicker. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried

Ferguson gave the Board a brief description of what was discussed at the current month’s Property meeting. He said the diesel fuel polishing has been completed and is ready to be taken to the highway department. He also said the standby generator is being worked on, but they need a Saturday to finish work on it because the power needs to be shut off and they need that to happen on a day when the Courthouse is not open. Also, the tuckpointing crew will be back to finish the landscaping walls and dumpster areas. Minutes from the Property meeting are filed with these minutes.

Prestegaard told the Board that the Road and Bridge meeting was cancelled, and they did not meet. He had nothing to report.

Tilley gave the Board a brief description of what was discussed at the current month’s Finance meeting. Minutes from the Finance meeting are filed with these minutes.

Motion by Tilley second by Ferguson to pay all bills submitted for payment out of the FY2024 budget (these will be the final bills paid out of the old budget FY2024). Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried.

Motion by Tilley second by Myers to pay all bills out of the new FY2025 budget (all bills going forward this fiscal year will be paid from the new FY2025 budget). Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried

Motion by Witte second by Ryan to move June 2025 full board meeting, originally approved for June 19, 2025, to June 18, due to the 19th being a holiday. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried.

Motion by Witte second by Carter to accept committee reassignments for Melonie Tilley and Chris Hammer (Tilley off Land Use and put on Property and Hammer off Property and put on Land Use). Witte explained that Hammer had a scheduling conflict with the meeting time of the Property committee. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried

Motion by Witte second by Ferguson to establish new Ad Hoc Committee, referred to as Compliance and Information Technology, with a committee termination date of 12/31/2025. Witte explained that Ad Hoc Committees are not usually forever, so he felt a termination date needed to be in the motion. He said if the Board felt the need to renew the committee they always can. Witte also cited a few of the committee’s duties such as creating manuals for new County Board members, Elected Officials and employees that help stay current with laws. He stated the technology part of the committee would oversee county technology infrastructure. Witte also said this committee would have no authority to spend money and any action would go to the full board for approval. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried.

Motion by Witte second by Ferguson to accept committee assignments to the Compliance and Information Technology Committee. Witte said Ryan would be Chair, Myers would be Vice Chair, and Witte and Dee Dee Rentmeister would be the other 2 members. He explained that he chose members who were not on any other committee together so that the open meetings act was not in violation. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried.

Motion by Witte second by Farris to approve Letter of Support for the Constellation Project Team in Response to Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA): DE-FOA-0003585. Aye: Farris, Ferguson, Hammer, Myers, Prestegaard, Ryan, Tilley, Walters, Werts, Witte, Carter. Motion Carried.

Witte informed the Board of some openings that needed filled. The County Ethics Officer needs filled along with the Ethics Commission, which is formed of 3 members. Code 32.04 refers to the Ethics Officer and Code 32.05 refers to the Ethics Commission. He also stated that RPC has a 6th spot that needs filled and then he would like to step down from RPC which would then create another spot needing filled. He told the Board if they had any suggestions or people they would like to bring forward for any of the openings to please do so. Witte also wanted the Board to know that once an application is filed, Siting Permit hearings must take place 45 days from when the application is submitted. Motion by Tilley second by Werts to adjourn at 6:34pm with all in favor.

https://cms2.revize.com/revize/dewitt/Documents/Government/Agendas%20Minutes/Board%20Meeting/2024/DEWITT%20COUNTY%20BOARD%20MEETING%20MINUTES%20DEC%2019%202024.pdf