McDonough County Law & Legal Committee met Feb. 3.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
The Law & Legal Committee held its monthly meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was held at the McDonough County Courthouse in the Law Library. Committee Members present included Committee Chair Rod McGrew, Lee Calvert, Joe Erlandson, Michael Kirby, Bob Mahr, Julie Melvin and Paul Trimmer. Other persons in attendance were Chief Deputy Adam Cremer, County Clerk Gretchen DeJaynes, Ric Smart, Tim Lobdell, Dana Walker, Travis Hiel and Patrick Stout.
Chair McGrew called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Review & Approve January 6, 2020 Minutes
Member Calvert moved, seconded by Member Trimmer, to approve the January 6, 2020 minutes. Motion carried on voice vote.
Waste Management Update
David Schaab was unable to attend, but sent the report. In January they received 3889.46 tons of various waste.
Tri-County Recycling
Tim Lobdell reported township clean ups are starting in April. Board meeting scheduled in March; we didn’t have one in January. Every five years, we do an analysis with every site we have. Committee Chair McGrew expressed there was a woman wondering about recycling in the country. Lobdell explained that they are working with the McDonough County women’s club, they took on an organization and rural recycling options are an issue for folks everywhere throughout the state of Illinois, he doesn’t know if much will come of it, but where we are at right now, we are doing a study, working with the Extension Center to put out a survey, gather information. Information is all we are after at this point, for plans for the future. There are all kinds of models, we are just looking at feasibility right now, it doesn’t hurt to gather information to see what the residents want. County Clerk DeJaynes explained there was talk of putting up a dumpster in Bushnell, but their biggest concern is people dumping trash in them. It isn’t cost effective, if residents want them, they will have to pay for them. County Vice Chair Cox was unaware that people out of town didn’t have that option.
Veteran’s Assistance and Van Report
Ric Smart reported that five veterans were given assistance in January. Total assistance amounted to $1,262.87. The transportation van made 11 trips to Iowa City. We made one trip to Quincy. We transported 17 veterans total of 2,757 miles. Our drivers contributed 79.25 hours of their time. Ric is needing drivers for the program.
Sheriff’s Report
Chief Deputy Adam Cremer gave report. Average jail population is 27, fairly normal for January. Still averaging 28-30 inmates. Parts were delivered for the jail sliders. Huge meth bust in Arizona two weeks ago, by Texas DPS, they were both arrested because they had 362 lbs. of meth amphetamine in their vehicle. Which one, they’ve never seized that much of meth amphetamine before and that is what they focus on there, they have a very good program. The female in the car was from Burlington, IA and the male was from Peoria, IL, so the bulk, if not all was coming to our area. It just shows that it is not slowing down, we have a serious problem. As we have told you before, we are working on it, it just takes a lot of time, and money, we are going to keep after it. Also, we had a burglary arrest with Warren County, we had a couple burglaries on the west side of the County, up north of Blandinsville. Two nights later the suspect was caught in the act in Warren County, one of their deputies caught him in the act. They have recovered in total over $100,000 in tools, concrete saws, chain saws, etc… Want to commend our guys, our investigators along with Warren County, Henderson County, and the State Police, they went over to Burlington, IA and tied it over there. This guy and a friend of his, were on the run for probably eight or nine months. One of them had an addiction and he was out every night taking stuff to feed his addiction. I can’t say for the incident in our County, but I think they got a majority of their stuff back.
Now the bulk of the work is figuring out where this stuff came from. We have had a lot of good cooperation with the other counties involved and their investigators, a lot of networking. They were taking a lot of it to the Quad Cities to sell, they would just get a car full and go.
Assessor’s Office Update
Tammy will be rolling taxes on Thursday.
Discuss Ordinance Concerning Cannabis sales in County
Committee Chair McGrew would like everyone to look over and discuss at next month’s Law & Legal meeting, so they can get it to full Board. County Clerk DeJaynes explained that on the cannabis discussion, you need to choose whether to have it or ban it, and then tax it and at what rate, those are the two big questions. Member Erlandson stated that we would have to rules on the Work Comp carrier, with the use of the cannabis, that will need to be incorporated to our handbook. County Clerk DeJaynes told them to look at other models to go off of. Member Kirby talked about the tax rate, looking at Fulton County, it is 3.75% for unincorporated areas and for municipality, it is just.75%, does that mean that’s the max they can tax, because he was under the impression it was up to 3%. Of all the examples we have, they show a no to cannabis and how to tax. County Clerk DeJaynes explained that they need some kind of guidance for States Attorney Kwacala to go off of so he can explain it to you and what to tax. Member Erlandson stated, he agrees with Gretchen and if you’re wanting to take action with the Board in March, I think we need to give Matt guidance on what we would like to see in the draft resolution to look at it in the March meeting. Committee Chair McGrew asked if anyone had any suggestions. Member Erlandson said his thought is, we are probably going to allow it and tax it at the maximum rate, 3% in city and 3.75% in unincorporated. Committee Chair McGrew asked other members how they felt on that, seemed to be a general consensus to allow.
Claims Review and Approval
Member Kirby moved with a second by Member Mahr to approve the claims as submitted. Motion carried on a voice vote.
Other
None
Executive Session
None
Public Comment
Dana Walker was present to talk to Dave Schaab about Earth Day, I did ask for $500 to support Earth Day, his initial reaction was positive, then we do not have a 5013C status and I haven’t heard anything since, this is mainly for recycling education. Member Kirby asked a question on Census, is there anything that the County is doing to get ready for the Census, because I have a person who has been asking me repeatedly what we are doing to get ready for Census. County Clerk DeJaynes explained, she had been contacted and dealing with Diana Blue. It is harder to get counties engage because with municipalities, their funding is based on Census numbers, a lot of their tax reimbursement is based on Census numbers, the County is not. We get it on Motor Fuel Tax, we get it on road miles, not on the number of people who live on those road miles, so it’s a little harder to engage counties to participate in the Census, because directly it does not affect our financing. However, I will tell you that WIRC, Diana Blue, is working on the Census, and there is a grant that is $6000, that the County had to implement, we have to be the overseer of it, it is going to go to the municipalities to use in case they need to pay for something. She will be here for HR.
Adjourn
With no further business to discuss, Member Mahr moved, seconded by Member Calvert, to adjourn at 7:50 p.m.
http://mcg.mcdonough.il.us/countyboarddocs/minutes/2020-02-03%20Law%20&%20Legal.pdf
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