County Highway Committee hears reports
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Lucas Domonousky
Breeze-Courier Writer
TAYLORVILLE — The Board Room on the second floor of the Cristian County Courthouse was the setting for the Highway, Building, Grounds, Environmental, Zoning and Welfare Committee of the Christian County Board meeting on Monday, Nov. 13. This was the first of three committee meetings that will be held in the month of November. One committee member, Clint Gabriel, was absent.
With no comments from the public the meeting moved right into the first of five reports slated on the agenda, Zoning. Administrator Blake Tarr provided insight on the goings on for the month of October which included the collection of almost $13,000 through permit revenue (28 submitted applications) and three on-sight inspections conducted. Tarr also gave a Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) update for this month, in which he informed the East Point Energy Battery Storage Project (Sangchris Energy Center) and GreenKey Solar (North Pana Solar LLC) being topics of discussion.
Shawn Hammers, Solid Waste Director, was next administrator to relay the October information to the committee. His report included seven new open burning cases and two landfill inspections. He provided 2023 waste reduction data to the committee as well as informed he is organizing the many files of reports, violations and inspections.
The third report came from Dwanna Kelmel, Animal Control Director. For the month, the facility reclaimed two dogs (one adopted), two cats (two adopted) and fee income included rabies tag ($7, 630), adoptions ($205) and reclaims ($135). Donations for last month totaled $465. She also provided the donation total year-to-date, $5,575.57. Kelmel also said Animal Control facilities passed their inspection which took place last month.
Highway Engineer Cliff Frye gave a detailed explanation of the need for a rock, sand spreader. He highlighted two in particular, but singled out one for the price of $22,900 with installation bringing the total to $25,000. Frye also added the department still has a $30,000 line item budgeted for this year available. The committee voted to purchase the spreader for the estimated price.
Members then approved the three yearly Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) Resolutions. Those include budgets for maintenance, retirement and County Engineer’s salary. all three were unanimously approved.
Courthouse Engineer Bill Kennedy gave updates on the government building and county jail. First, he brought the committee up to speed on the HVAC and window projects. The forms for the windows have been filed out, but operation cannot begin until the HVAC is replaced. He estimated the project will begin “fairly soon.” As for the Christian County Jail, the roof project has experienced a “minor setback.”
“The contractor we’ve been working with, the only guy in this area that does the Conklin roof, sold his business and the new guy is afraid to do anything,” he reported. “So we are sort of up in the air. We’re hoping in a day or two we will have some direction to go, but right now we’re spinning our wheels.”
Kennedy also gave an update on the newly replaced boiler which he is “very pleased” with its operation.
The last item Kennedy discussed was the need for a County Board approved document on how the Christian County Courthouse building is to be handled by various contractors. Kennedy explained he will search for more information regarding the manner and bring it to committee next month.
The motion for adjournment came at 7:03 p.m.
