Good evening, everyone. We will go ahead and call the meeting to order. I am going to initiate the vote for attendance. If you would please mark yourself as present. Nate, I don't see it counting down. We have 12 present and two absent. Before we begin, just so we can hopefully eliminate any internet issues with the voting system, if you currently have your phone set on Wi-Fi for the courthouse, if you wouldn't mind please shutting that off. We're just not certain that the bandwidth is enough to have everything on at one time. If you have any windows other than what we're using for the county board, open on your laptop or iPad, if you wouldn't mind closing those. We're trying to do whatever we can to make sure that we don't lose connection. So thank you for that. I appreciate it. With that, Mr. Jogerst, would you please lead us in prayer? And Mrs. Baker, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? 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. May I please get an approval for tonight's agenda? By Mr. Bush, is there a second? Second. Second by Mr. Diddens. Is there any discussion on the agenda? Seeing none, if you would please mark your vote for the approval of the agenda. And that was passed unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to the Consent Agenda, does any board member like to remove either A or B for discussion? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve A and B? By Mr. Newton, second by Mr. Busker. Is there any discussion on A or B in the Consent Agenda? Seeing none, if you would please go ahead and vote for the approval of the agenda. That also passes unanimously. Thank you. Is there any public comment this evening? If you wouldn't mind coming up to the podium, then there'll be three minutes for you. There's a clock right in front of you up in the ceiling. Okay, thank you. First of all, thank you to all of you for your public service. I appreciate it. My name is Teresa Smith. I'm a consulting dietitian with a nursing facility. I have provided dietary consulting services to the nursing center for over 25 years. I'm here tonight to make you aware that several of my invoices have not been paid, including one from as far back as December of 2024. The total for all of the invoices is $8,450.52 In October I became aware of the sale of the building not happening in September. I was told invoices could not be paid for that reason. In November I was told there was no ruling from the judge regarding the potential sale. Again told no invoices could be paid. In December I was told that the judge ruled the sale must go to the referendum with no timeline on payout of the invoices. Could be up to two years. In January, I was told that emergency situations came up and the invoices could not be paid. In February, I was told the county was holding money to pay for a potential federal fine that the attorneys were hoping to waive. Also was told by others in the community that invoices had been paid. In March, I was told that the county was still forwarding the money or still holding the money for the potential fine but I was offered the opportunity for a settlement. A settlement was offered with a March 31st deadline but as far as I know it was not shared with the Finance Committee of the Board. In April I was again told the county was reserving funds for that potential federal fine. I am being told by outside sources that I can file a small claims court since I have good documentation that the county does have the money and that they owe me the money. I'm a small independent business person I would hope to settle outside of the courtroom with mutual discussion happening I would ask that you allow all of these invoice to be paid within the next 30 days thank you for your time and for your service thank you very much is there anyone else I'm Karen Rivers since there are new board members here or I thought there would be I'll quickly review I'm going to do some of my comments from past meetings. In 2018, Stephens County Board approved soltage renewable energy out of New Jersey to build a number of solar sites in the county. After six years, no After six years, no information from anyone, and no news EBA hearing, the site next door to me named Zimmerman North was built What was built is not what was approved. Approved was a 2 megawatt site with fixed south facing panels on a 10.23 acre space within a 24 acre area. Built was a 2.58 megawatt site with east-west rotating panels on 13 acres. The site extends outside of its boundaries and is 30% larger than approved Very high pollen content toxic junipers were planted as a concealing border A year after requests were made that non-toxic spruce be planted instead The junipers are planted single row 20-25 foot apart and conceal nothing It took me a year to get stacks of panels labeled broken removed from the fence next door to me The site is mowed only once a year at the end of August when the weeds are above head height and the invasive plant seeds have blown throughout the area Since fall of 2025, multiple panels no longer rotate and are stuck at a reflective position facing west Over a month ago, a partial row of panels broke off or just fell off their posts and have been lying shattered and broken on the ground ever since Last month, I spoke with inspectors at the site who said they were hired by the present owners, Harrison Street, due to construction violations and legal issues involving the original owner-builder's soltage renewable energy. I have here photos of the newest issues I just mentioned. A properly built and maintained solar site should not be falling apart. I again request the site be required to be properly maintained I also ask that the county hire a certified inspector to determine and correct the issues are any other saltage renewable energy built sites in the same deterioration condition it's not even two years old I don't know if you folks can see these very well as the panels have fallen Fallen, West Facing, Stuck, and Fallen, these are, some of these are from my front yard, so the reflection in my front yard, this one is fallen panels covered by snow, these are the reflection and fallen panels, so this is out of my hands, you guys have the power to correct this. sharing your three minutes. Thank you. Is there any other public comment this evening? Adam Mottero, I sit over there. I've been here before to give public comment about the various environmental uniqueness to our county, whether it's the whooping cranes that pass through and very few others can boast, or the pasc flowers that grow every spring right across from our new animal control facility. Part of the reason I'm able to talk about those things is because we're in the middle of a very unique area, the Driftless. And very, very simply, 12,000 years ago, a little plus, there was a big glacier around everything except us. And along the Mississippi, Wisconsin, this unique area has some of the oldest and most unique botanical and geological and aquatic area that you can find within a day's drive. We're known around the world by people that study these kinds of things, and it's been very exciting growing up looking at the environment in this area. And if you're as excited about that kind of thing as I am, you should come to the library on April 27th. There's a movie all about the unique features of this driftless area, which includes the land right outside your door. Again, April 27th, 6.30pm. right across the street at the library. I hope to see you there. Thank you, Mr. Moderow. Any other public comment? All right. With that, we'll move on to the appointment of Cindy Lawfer to fill the vacancy in County Board District I. This was brought forward by, this nomination was brought forward by the Republican Central Committee. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. By Mr. Diddens, is there a second? By Mr. Jogerst, is there any discussion? Seeing none you may go ahead and vote for that appointment that passes unanimous congratulations Cindy Judge McClannathan would you mind administering her oath I Cynthia J. Woffer I Cynthia J. Woffer having been appointed to the Stevenson County Board District I to the Stevenson County Board District I in the county of Stevenson to solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Illinois and the Constitution of the State of Illinois and that I will faithfully discharge I will faithfully discharge of the duties of the Stevenson County Board of the duties of the Stevenson County Board to the best of my ability to the best of my ability I'm nervous I'm shaking, actually Thank you Yeah. All right. Thank you, Cindy. And if you'd like to take your seat next to Mr. Hadley. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Judge. All right. The next item is the nominations for Vice Chair. As you're all aware, with the resignation of Mr. Whelan last month, we did announce that vacancy in the opening for that. So we will open up the floor now for nominations for the position of County Board Vice Chair. Each nomination must receive a second. After a nomination is made and seconded. The nominee will be asked whether they accept or not. Once all nominations are completed and closed, we will proceed with a roll call vote conducted by name. Is there a motion to open the floor to nominations? By Mr. Jogerst, is there a second? By Mr. Dins, is there any discussion on opening the floor to nominations? Seeing none, you may go ahead and vote for that. Georgia can you show her please that passes unanimously are there any nominations for the role of vice chair of the Stevenson County Board mr. Jogerst go ahead okay is there a second for that by mr. Diddens any discussion on the nomination any other nominations mrs. Baker do you accept the nomination all right very good seeing that there are no other nominations is there a motion to close the nominations by Mr. Busker, is there a second? Mrs. Hayes, any discussion on closing the nominations? Seeing none, you may go ahead and cast your vote. All right, so the vote to close the nominations has 12 yes and 1 no. So with that, we'll call a roll call vote for the nomination of Nicole Baker as Vice Chair. Madam Clerk, would you would you call that vote please? Larry Jogers. Aye. Scott Helms. Aye. Nicole Baker. Aye. Steve Frick. Yes. Sydney Woffer. Aye. Ronnie Bush. Aye. Samuel Newton. Samuel, Newton, aye, LouAnn, Hayes, aye, Patrick, Busker, aye, William, Hadley, yes, Dale, Diddens, aye, Lynette, Williams, no, Adam, Moderow, aye, 12A, 1A, motion carries. Congratulations. And if you wouldn't mind coming up and taking my seat for a moment. You're going to have to do that. This one? Just like that. Oh, it's on. Delbert, would you mind coming up? Thank you, sir. Tonight is one of the nights I really enjoy when I get to do this. I'd like to recognize an extraordinary act of generosity, the gift of a vehicle to the Stevenson County taxpayers and more specifically to our animal control department. To me, at least, this is not just a set of keys and four wheels. This is one of the finest examples of giving back to the community that I've witnessed in 23 years of being in and Public Service. Delbert, your employees and yourself, Baccarata Group, the generosity that you've shown speaks volumes about the character of yourself and all of your employees. You didn't just see a need, you acted. You didn't just offer help, you set the example. And in doing so, showed us all what it means to truly invest in our community. Moments like this should remind us that generosity is contagious. One act of kindness can ripple outward, inspiring others to give, to help, and to believe in the power of community. So I would like us to celebrate this incredible gift, not just with applause, but with a renewed commitment to look for ways that we can each make a difference. whether it's through time, resources, or simply lending a helping hand, we all have the power to be someone's turning point. Thank you again, Delbert, and to everyone here, let's keep building a community where giving is not the exception, but it's the expectation. So on behalf of the Stevenson County Board, I would like to present to you and the Employees Bacher Auto Group this token of our appreciation. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate you. All right, with that, we'll move on to new business and into executive session, 5ILCS 120-2C11 litigation, when an action against, affecting, or be on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal or in the public body finds an action is probable or imminent. is there a motion to go into executive session by Mr. Didden, second by Mr. Jogerst. Any discussion on going into executive session? Seeing none, you may go ahead and cast your vote. And that passes unanimously. Thank you. Turn this over to the administrator. April 16th, 2026. Okay, we are now out of executive session and no action was taken. Next on the agenda is the Greater Freeport Partnership quarterly presentation presented by Andrea Schultz-Winter and Nicole Haas. Sure. I'll let you pass this out one. Good evening. Thank you for thank you in advance for having us come and present to you. Very shortly, we will be passing out a hard copy of our strategic or quarterly report, excuse me. And as you see, they are, our areas are outlined by our strategic, our strategic focus areas. But also this evening, we will be highlighting some economic data. We will be talking about a workforce alignment initiative, and we'll be highlighting a few other initiatives and highlights from the first quarter. So national economic trends, we see that inflation is at 3.3%, and that's as measured by the consumer price index. And while consumer sentiment has plunged 11 percent, this is the lowest point since post-World War II. So what we see is that there is a lot of uncertainty in the market. How that translates is when there's uncertainty in the market, consumers typically will delay or not make larger discretionary purchases. It will affect their behavior. We'll also see within businesses that they might hesitate to make larger investments because they're waiting and see. As we have the cost of everyday goods are increasing. We don't know when that will relax or weaken. People will most likely delay making any investment. We saw that reflected in our business retention visits as we talked with businesses that they are thinking about and planning for some investment in the future, some expansion, but they're not making any immediate plans to do so because of these uncertain times. With that, we also track economic development or economic employment data. Each month we report to our board figures that we get from Illinois Department Department of Employment Security. Highlighted on the screen tonight is unemployment numbers for January of 2026, both for Stevenson County as a whole and Freeport, City of Freeport. What we have consistently seen over the last 12 months is that there are more people unemployed looking for work. There are, I'm sorry, less people looking for work than there are unique job postings within Stevenson County. So there's a disconnect. We have more open positions than we do people looking for work. Our unemployment has raised just slightly from a year or from January of 2025 but we have consistently again seen over the last 12 months that we will have more unique job postings in Stevenson County than we do have than we have people looking for work and oftentimes those median wages in the last 12 months have fluctuated anywhere from the upper were $28, $27 per hour to in March of 2026 it was $32.16 per hour. So that equates to a $66,900 annual salary, so almost $67,000. Just to keep that. $47,000. Just to keep that in perspective, a median household income for Stevenson County is $64,000. So what I often hear people say is that there are not good jobs, well-paying jobs in Stevenson County. What I'm here to tell you tonight is that yes, there are. It is our job as the partnership to help with that disconnect and help provide a linkage between our talent here and our employers as well to try to make that match. Moving on, we've consistently seen this over the last 12 months and we have embarked upon a workforce alignment strategy. We had a kickoff meeting last to really start bringing all the partners around the table, education, manufacturers, larger employers, healthcare, education institutions, to talk about the difficulty in finding employees. What we've consistently seen are elevated turnover rates, retirements are outpacing workforce entry, and commuter workforce is not translating into residency. so this isn't just a blip on the radar we're seeing this as a structural workforce imbalance so we need to do something different if we want a different result and I would say ultimately always remembering that we want the job here in Stevenson County but we also want that job to translate to a paycheck that comes to a driveway of Stevenson County it's a bigger ROI that paycheck helps pay for property taxes sales tax generation people reinvesting in local communities. We also know that talent retention and recruitment is complex work besides jobs, people, housing, childcare, and transportation, quality of life. All of these problems and solutions are mutually reinforcing and they need to be worked on concurrently to reinforce our workforce talent recruitment and retention strategies. So we established some shared goals to stabilize and grow our our prime workforce age 25 to 44. We want to reduce that industrial turnover, increase that working age population, that 25 to 44 age cohort, expand workforce training programs. That could include apprenticeships. We know that we need housing here as well. We need a place for those workers to live. And we want to reduce that commuter leakage by 10%. When someone commutes into the community for a job, it's more likely that they might leave that job to work for a place that's closer to their home. So if we can convert those commuters to residents, they're more likely to stay. In our meeting, these are the proposed next steps in our current work. Highlighted on the screen, you see our two bolded bullet points. That's where we started to focus our work, to review the responsibilities of employers, our public partners, and educational institutions and how we retain and attract that talent. And we dove into that in the meeting. The other thing that we're looking at is educational and training alignment for current needs and our future opportunities. How do we really connect with seniors that are going to be graduating in a month? We know that many of them have different paths ahead of them. Some of them will be entering into the workforce in a month and they'll be looking to connect and to get to gain a job. Also how do we help employers tell the story of career laddering they have within their own institution? At this meeting was shared by a Freeport-based manufacturer that of his five shift leads that are making over $100,000 a year, four of them started on the floor and their highest formal education is a high school diploma. Any additional training they've received on the job. So there are wonderful opportunities here, but how do we make sure that those are talked about and that seniors, high school students, and even younger students understand that there are great opportunities here? And while we know we need to continue building a workforce, shovel-ready sites is still a strategy of our long-term economic development plan. We have received a site readiness grant from the state of Illinois. We are continuing work on executing that grant and currently are in environmental assessment on greenfield sites. That will help us in terms of when we go to market those sites. We know that due diligence activity is already done. So the timeline for an investment or shovels getting in the ground is shortened because that due diligence work is already done. Additionally, the city of Freeport has broken ground on well 12, which opens up another area of the community for potential retail and commercial industrial corridors. We are actively having conversations with those landowners to get their appetite and temperature on potential development. And next but not least is Opportunity Zones. So part of our work in the Greater Freeport Partnership is always advocating for our region if there are additional economic development tools that could come to our area, such as the Opportunity Zone. This will be coming up for renewal in June, and the partnership has secured several letters of support from local businesses, developers, companies to demonstrate the economic potential of having an opportunity zone if it were to be expanded into the other eligible census tracts within the city of Freeport. Ultimately, the governor will decide which tracts are added into the opportunity zone later this year. Highlighted on the screen tonight are the eligible census tracts that could be included included in the Opportunity Zone. It is our goal as the partnership to do everything we can to position the community and Stevenson County so that those census tracts are added into the Opportunity Zone as a potential investment tool for future development in those areas. And with that, I'm going to turn it over, presentation over to Nicole, who's going to talk about hotel and conference center attraction. I'd feel left out if I didn't continue the conversation about development and building things so that's what we're going to talk about even though I usually talk to you about tourism things you have seen in your packets that our occupancy rate our rate at which our hotels are full fluctuates quarter one they were down a little bit and I'm going to tell you too that that number is reflected also by the fact that one of our hotels has been undergoing major renovation so they haven't had as many hotel rooms available but with all of that said the graph that you see up on the screen tonight actually represents our hotel leakage numbers so when you see it dip down low those are in and I apologize on that screen it's really small but it goes from January of 2019 up until January of 2025 when it dips low that's the first quarter so we don't have as many visitors staying in Freeport in the first quarter in the years that that doesn't dip as low. It's primarily because we have more commercial stays, more business stays midweek. On the peaks where you see it being a little higher, that is during the peak tourism season, usually May through October or somewhere in there about. That number that you're seeing is actually the number of hotel rooms that we lose to other cities because we don't have room for them. If you to count the three major hotels that we have here in all in Freeport but also all in Stevenson County there's only 202 so when we have a major event and I'm not talking that it has to be that major we are totally selling out of hotel rooms and we're pretty much giving that revenue to Stockton Monroe you'd have to go all the way south to Dixon or Sterling and then vacation rentals as well that's not taken into consideration here so it has become apparent that we are losing revenue to other markets and we want to try to broaden the scope of what we can offer visitors by attracting another hotel. In addition, we don't just want any new hotel. We would really like a conference center. We all go to conferences for our jobs or you get attracted this time of year. We don't have anywhere here in Freeport or Stevenson County that we can host a meeting with an attached hotel. Our meeting room for any of our existing hotels is only 25 people. That is one way that we can attract new business here in that off time and then the overflow from that hotel will generate business for our other existing hotels We are working on identifying sites where the incentives that Andrea just spoke of would come into play as well as additional amenities We don't want to put a hotel where there's nothing else to do We want you to have food, gas, or maybe having another attraction nearby so that you get out and see the rest of the area Also, we had to use a little reason to give you food So I wanted to talk about our sister city partnership, the city of Freeport with Lidditz, Pennsylvania This is something that Tim Connors, we dubbed him our community liaison You'll see in the pictures right there, he's actually in Lidditz right now We have presented Lidditz with a key to the city that has a gold pretzel on the end and in turn I hope you can't and in turn, I hope you can't see because my picture is in the way, if you can over there, they gave us one made out of a pretzel and that should be returning to us hopefully in one piece. This is a really great feel-good moment because Lidditz is home to the oldest commercial pretzel bakery in the country but if Bill or Beck would have stayed in business they would have been older but this one is still running. So we want to continue to build this sister partnership because it helps engage us with a new audience of people out there. It's bringing new promotion and positivity to the region. We're getting people from Pennsylvania now who know about Freeport, Illinois. And it's one more way to continue our idea of Pretzel City, USA. With that in mind, we start talking a little bit more about that because we will actually have pretzels. We will start to distribute Tom Sturgis pretzels right here in Freeport as well as having the Freeport Pretzel Company which is a soft pretzel small business that is going to be opening and selling pretzels at Pretzel Fest and a lot of other festivals coming this summer. So please mark the great pretzel bite along with Pretzel Fest on your calendars for April 25th. We're gonna all take a bite together at 10 o'clock downtown Freeport on Chicago Avenue. Also our community guide the community guide should if I was a Benton woman I'd say it's going to show up on Monday because I'm not going to be here and that's usually when those big deliveries show up but the community guide is forthcoming that is the cover that we have for this year simply Stevenson County is also the name of our tourism campaign for 2026 in that guide we are highlighting 100 years of Highway 20 along with 100 years of Freeport High School those are two of the editorials in that book also for the tourism campaign we continue to promote exactly what we are which is relaxing, a place you can explore and definitely a place where you belong. So it's outdoor recreation, retail restaurants and events to those who are 25 to 45 in major metros more than 50 miles away from here. We use a lot of social media tools but also billboards, a little bit of print and a lot of other really scrappy ways to get our name out and about for Freeport and Stevenson County. Thank you. Any questions? Mrs. Hayes, I'm going to have you go first. Mr. Dennis, if you wouldn't mind pressing your button. Mrs. Hayes, go ahead. Thank you, Chairman. Hi, ladies. I just have a quick question. I've actually been getting some questions from some of my constituents about this. Downtown Freeport, we keep losing business. What is the plan that you have in place to turn that around? Sure, okay. So one of the things that we are actively working on is there was a visioning session done with downtown business owners and building owners to talk about how to, what's the vision that we have for downtown? So coming out of that, we're part of a recast program this year to work through that visioning and looking at how we can support existing businesses in downtown, as well as bring in some small-scale manufacturing. and I'll give an example of some small-scale manufacturing we're thinking of like a Langley and Company right where they're fabricating and they're making their own goods and then they're selling them as well. What we're seeing is it's a period of transition but I know of eight different projects probably nine since the storm affected Steve Schlumpf's building unfortunately eight different projects of private investment of buildings that have been recently purchased applications that have been filed because there's going to be investment being made so while it has been dormant in some areas we do see that that's going to start turning around because people are investing money and that there are some new businesses opening. I know that we have been working with a couple of key locations to move people into so we're hoping that there will be exciting news on that front but better days ahead. and the other thing that we are also looking at there will be more to come on this because we're looking at we're evaluating we had applied for a grant to develop a small business incubator we did not get that grant so we're going back to that business plan and looking at how we could still put together an incubator space without grant dollars and so we are evaluating some existing spaces in downtown to see what would work and how it would cash flow. We have to run that like a business as well. Thank you for your question. Anything else, Mrs. Hayes? Nope, that's it. Mr. Diddens, go ahead. Thank you. Mr. Diddens, press your button. Thanks for the presentation. You're welcome. Just to kind of piggyback on Ms. Hayes' remark, I've heard some complaints about the rents going up downtown, so I'm wondering if the city is spending a lot of money or grants to improve downtown. If that's the reason why the rents are going up, are we kind of shooting ourselves in the foot? I don't know that I've had any property owner tell me that the reason that the increase in rent is due to infrastructure improvements in downtown. Okay. So without having specific examples, I probably can't answer your question directly, but what I would say is oftentimes we're asked by a business who might be evaluating spaces for lease. Again, we don't act as a realtor, but we can look at data and say this is on average price per square foot and give them guidance in terms of this is what we're seeing within the market. If you're being asked to pay more or less than that, it's something that you should evaluate. Okay. Yeah, this is all third hand. So I don't have any specifics. Sure. But my question is When you are meeting with the business owners, do you include the high school, the teachers, or the education and the government agencies to talk to them about what they need for employees? So yes and no. I'm going to answer that question in two parts. Typically I will have a one-on-one meeting with the business and I will go to their place of business and I would treat any information that they share with me as confidential. Okay. And that's why I would report out in aggregate if they have plans for development. I look at it akin to somewhat of a pregnancy announcement, if you will. It's not my news to share, but it is my, the partnerships work to support their goals and endeavors. That being said, if one of those meetings I hear they're really struggling and they need training programs or they want to connect with certain regulatory agency, then that's my follow-up task. I make sure that those connections are made and those conversations are being had also I would say in this workforce alignment meeting and other meetings we have geared towards specifically manufacturers we do have everyone in the room we have representation from Highland Freeport School District City of Freeport and as well as HR or president plant managers of those employers so that everybody's in the room everybody can hear from one another it means a lot more for the educational institution or government to hear it sometimes directly from the employee or the place of business than it might be from us. Okay. Very good. So both of those conversations are happening. Okay. All right. Just one more quick question. Nicole, I think you said that we have three hotels in town. When I reference three, I can break back and bring my pretzels with me. When I reference three hotels, that is, yes, we have three more. However, the, what do I want to say, fluctuation in the number of rooms that are available or consistently available or ready for occupancy varies greatly in the other three. So it's really hard for me to give you comparison data using those other three hotels, if that makes sense, because I couldn't get a very, it would be skewed Okay, because what, there's a Holiday Inn out by Semino's, isn't there? Well, it's being torn down No, not the one that they tore down, isn't there? There's a Super 8, there's a Super 8 Right Yeah, I was going to say, are you making a joke? No, I thought it was a Holiday Inn of some, you know, one of those offshoots Yes, it was, yeah Super 8. Super 8, okay. Yep. There's a Super 8 out there as well as Townhouse and West End. I wasn't talking about the old holiday. All right. Well, thank you. Anything else, Mr. Diz? No, thanks. Mr. Newton, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Quick question. In my district, I'm going to say District B and maybe others' districts too, there are a lot of homes that have been torn down. and I'm sure that that adds to the the misery of not having enough homes. Is there any discussion about building anything on the maybe 100 lots that are just empty? Good. Yeah, it's a good question. So the partnership has been participating for probably over a participating for probably over a year with the NAACP which is leading this effort and other organizations on a housing coalition group. From some stakeholder engagement sessions that we had with the public last year, feedback we heard from that, we really distilled the larger coalition's work into three main focus areas, housing improvement, housing growth, and homeowner, tenant, education. I would include in that would be financial literacy as part of a homeowner or first-time homebuyer program. Where the partnership is focusing its effort is in the housing growth. We see having housing units that are affordable and safe are key to having workers here in economic development as well as providing jobs in the construction of those homes and units. So what we're actively doing right now is working with the and the City of Freeport in evaluating what areas of the community should be added into the Enterprise Zone. Currently, the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone is the only incentive tool we have to spur residential development. So we're looking at areas of the community that already have infrastructure, that there's already water and sewer, that there's roads, so on and so forth. part of that work is looking at infill lots so you're going to have different types of housing different size of housing is allowed by zoning in different areas based upon size of the parcel so it is an ongoing conversation in terms of different types of housing units are going to be more appropriate in different areas if that makes sense based upon the size of the lot what the in what the enterprise zone will do is work with some property tax abatement as a benefit of the zone. Three years at 100% the level of that investment. You don't have to pay sales tax on the building materials. And within the city of Freeport, the building permit fee is waived. So those are all three benefits that come with the enterprise zone that help draw down that cost of infrastructure, that cost of that investment. Because we know there is still a disconnect between the cost of construction and what the home will go for here. So that gap needs to be bridged, if you will. Right. So what I would anticipate, you're going to see me later on this year coming back to you as one of the participating units of government in the Northwest Illinois Enterprise Zone asking for your approval to amend the boundaries of the Enterprise Zone to incorporate more areas of Freeport. We're also doing the same thing in Lena and I've just had a conversation with German Valley about the same. Thank you. You're welcome. Sorry, that might have been a 50 cent answer for more than you wanted to know. Yep. Anything else, Mr. Newton? Thank you, Chairman. Anyone else? Okay, ladies. Oh, sure. Chairman's report, Mr. Bush, Mr. Newton, thank you very much for representing students counting down in Springfield. of this week greatly appreciate your effort with that do want to make a quick comment the solar panels that were referenced in the public comment have confirmed with director Beth Williams those pictures were quite old and any tests repair or broken items are no longer out at this field and they all have been fixed finally I want to express my appreciation to Cole Baker willing to step up as vice chair of the board. I appreciate that very much. I'd also like to express my condolences to you and your family for the loss of your father-in-law about a week ago or so. With that, I'll move forward to the proclamations. The first is an approval of the proclamation declaring National Economic Development and National Travel and Tourism Week of June 3rd and the 9th, 2026. Andrea, would you like to read that? I would. It's awareness time. All right, the Greater Freeport Partnership works on behalf of Freeport and Stevenson County as the economic development and tourism partner to promote and grow our region and whereas economic development and tourism promote economic well-being and quality of life for their communities by creating, retaining, and expanding jobs that facilitate growth, enhance wealth, and provide a stable tax base and whereas economic development and tourism fuel industry and will continue to be an essential part of Freeport and Stevenson County's economy development and workforce as an essential industry that leads to economic growth benefits businesses and fosters mutual understanding and whereas economic development and tourism enable success for all industries including manufacturing agriculture defense health care and more by driving sales growth innovation education and operations that move our economy, our nation, and Freeport and Stevenson County forward, and whereas economic development and tourism stimulate and incubate entrepreneurism in order to help establish the next generation of new businesses, which is the hallmark of the American economy, and whereas economic development and tourism are engaged in a wide variety of settings, including rural and urban, local, state, provincial, and federal governments, public-private partnerships, education, and a variety of other institutions, and whereas economic development and tourism attract and retain high-quality jobs, develop vibrant communities, and improve the quality of life in their regions, and whereas economic development and tourism support vibrant and safe communities in Freeport and Stevenson County by generating state and local tax revenue and support essential services such as education, emergency response, public safety and more and now therefore be it resolved that the Stevenson County Board does hereby proclaim May 3rd through 9th, 2026 as National Economic Development Week and National Travel and Tourism Week in Stevenson County and urge the residents of Stevenson County to recognize the critical role these industries play in the sustainability and growth of our Region. Thank you. Is there a motion to approve? So the move from Montero, seconded by Mr. Dins. Any discussion? Seeing none, you may cast your vote for the approval of the proclamation. Thank you. All right, thank you. Thank you, Andrea. Appreciate it. We have three other proclamations. I will go ahead and read those quickly. The first is a proclamation of abate declaring May as Motorcycle Awareness Month. The county of Steven Illinois, proclamation by the chairman, whereas safety is the highest priority for the highways and streets of our county, excuse me, let me get my microphone on, all right, whereas safety is the highest priority for the highways and streets of our county and state, and whereas the great state of Illinois is proud to be a national leader in motorcycle safety, education, and awareness, and whereas motorcycles are a primary common and economical means of transportation that reduces as fuel consumption and road wear and contributes in a significant way to the relief of traffic and parking congestion and whereas it is especially meaningful that the citizens of our county and state be aware of motorcycles on the roadways and recognize the importance of motorcycle safety and whereas the member of Abate of Illinois Incorporated, a brotherhood aimed towards education, continually promote motorcycle safety, education, and awareness in high school driver's education programs and to the general public in our county and state, presenting motorcycle awareness programs to over 120,000 participants in Illinois over the last nine years, and whereas all motorcyclists should join Abate of Illinois in actively promoting the safe operation of motorcycles as well as promoting motorcycle safety, education, awareness, and respect of the citizens of our county and state. Whereas the Motorcyclists of Illinois have contributed extensive volunteerism and money to national and community charitable organizations, and whereas during the month of May, all roadway users should unite in safe sharing of roadways within the county of Stevenson and throughout the great state of Illinois. Therefore, I, Scott Helms, Chairman of the County of Stevenson in the great state of Illinois, in recognition of 39 years of Abate of Illinois, and over 352,318 registered motorcyclists statewide, and in recognition of the continued role Illinois serves as a leader in motorcycle safety, education, and awareness, do hereby proclaim the month of May this year, 2026, as Motorcycle Awareness Month. Is there a motion to approve? By Mr. Jogerst, is there a second? By Mr. Frick, is there any discussion? Seeing none, you may cast your vote for the approval of that proclamation. And that passes unanimously. Thank you. Next is a proclamation for the National Day of Prayer, whereas Stevenson County Board recognizes that the United States of America was founded on the precepts of freedom, liberty, diversity, and the right of people to acknowledge God according to the dictates of their own consciousness, and whereas since our nation's founding, Americans have turned to God in times of trial for wisdom, courage, direction, comfort, and at the same time to express gratitude, and whereas this is a time of international distress we give thanks for the men and women of our military who stand as watchmen on the wall to defend our nation and the future of democracy and civilization and whereas even though this is a time of uncertainty and distress we give thanks that the United States of America has been blessed beyond measure we are continually grateful for our families the abundance of our land and our unalienable rights and liberties. and whereas the president of the United States of America has called on all citizens to seek God's continued guidance, grace and protection for this land and to reaffirm the role of prayer in our society and to honor the religious diversity that our freedom permits by recognizing the first Thursday of May 2026 as National Day of Prayer with a theme of glorify God among the nations seeking him in all generations and text of tell of his glory among the nations. the nations his wonderful deeds among all the peoples. Therefore, in recognition of Stevenson County's need for inspiration, strength, guidance, and divine direction, I, Scott Helms, Chairman of the Stevenson County Board, do hereby proclaim Thursday, May 7, 2026, as National Day of Prayer in Stevenson County. I invite all Stevenson County residents to pray for God's protection, for peace throughout the world, and to seek a moral and spiritual renewal and to express gratitude for our blessings. I urge the citizens of Stevenson County to join in observing this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities. Is there a motion to approve this proclamation? Mr. Newton, seconded by Mr. Busker. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, you may cast your vote. And that passes with one no vote. The final proclamation is for National Telecommunications Week, whereas emergencies can occur at any time that require police, fire, or emergency medical services, and whereas when an emergency occurs, the prompt response of police officers, firefighters, and paramedics is critical to the protection of life and preservation of property, and whereas the safety of our police officers and firefighters is dependent upon the quality and accuracy of information obtained from citizens who telephone the Stevenson County Communications Center and whereas the public safety telecommunicator is the first and most critical contact of our citizens that they have with emergency services whereas the public safety telecommunicator is the single vital link for our police officers and firefighters by monitoring their activities by radio providing them information and ensuring their safety and and whereas the public safety telecommunicators of Stevenson County Communications Center has contributed substantially to the apprehension of criminals, suppression of fires, and treatment of patients and whereas each dispatcher has exhibited compassion, understanding, and professionalism during the performance of their job over the past year. Therefore, be it resolved that the County County of Stevenson, Illinois, declares the week of April 12th through the 18th of 2026 to be National Telecommunicators Week here in Stevenson County in honor of the men and women whose diligence and professionalism keep our county and citizens safe. Is there a motion to approve that proclamation? Cindy, thank you. And seconded by Mrs. Hayes. Any discussion? You may cast your vote for the approval of that proclamation. and that passes unanimously thank you very much. We have two appointments. Would the board like to take these together or separately? Together? Anyone have an objection to that? Alright, the first is the approval of the appointment of Warren Laub to the Otter Creek Utility District and the second is the approval of the appointment of Nicole Baker to the Extension Board. Is there a motion to approve both? By Mrs. Hayes, second by Mr. Diddens. Any discussion? on those appointments. Seeing none, you may cast your vote. And then both appointments pass unanimously. Thank you. Moving on to action items and information from standing committees. First up, finance. Mr. Jogerst, you're filling in that role this month. It appears you have three action items. I'm going to get your microphone turned on. Don't push anything. There you go. There we go. All right, the first one up is the approval of manual claims for the Sheriff's Department. There was two claims, one for Motorola and the other one was training expenses and the total is $28,829.80. Mr. Bush, is there a second? Second by Mr. Busker. Is there any discussion on this? Seeing none, you may go ahead and cast your vote for approval. and that passes unanimous your next item please yeah we're gonna have a discussion on the resolution establishing the salary for the office of County Treasurer first one and administrator passed out the packet for that we did talk about that as finance that you want to come up with a number here and get this passed for both these positions in May, correct? That's correct. 180 days prior to being sworn in for the rolls. Right, so we're actually establishing the salary for the office, not the person. So, all right, so I think the last, in the finance meeting, we didn't have the last page there. We'll talk about that one next, but we've got a, basically, the two positions are currently on the same schedule. However, I think two years ago, the county clerk, county clerk was, it says county circuit clerk. I'll have the county administrator address. I had asked to have these discussion items placed on the agenda for the treasurer and the county clerk, just so that the entire board has a chance to weigh in on this prior to it going back to finance for approval next month. I did ask that the resolutions for the treasurer and the county clerk be put in there for the prior four years as well as what was approved two years ago for the circuit clerk to give everyone an idea of what had been done previously. So if Mr. Jogerst, if you'd like the administrator to discuss it further or if you'd like to handle it either way. She can go ahead. Go ahead. So if you look at the current resolutions for county clerk and for treasurer, where they're starting was, each year it was a 3% annual increase. A note in there is that they were bumped up to 24% of their insurance premiums, because this would have been back in 2022 prior to the rest of the county. coming up to that percentage, the resolutions prior to that they had a 4% increase year after year and were paying 20% of their premiums. The circuit clerk's resolution is in there showing that when her new resolution was put into effect it was bringing it up to where the other two positions currently were. The remaining years on that resolution Solution are 3% increases as well. And the insurance for the circuit clerk has already set at 24%, correct? Correct. Correct. So we're doing it a little differently this year. It's still going back to finance in May and we'll still come back to the board for final approval in May, but giving the entire board an opportunity to weigh in prior to it going to finance as opposed to just having one opportunity per se in May. If anybody has comments, questions, anything Thank you. declare that we have to have our elected officials at any particular level? Not for these elected Not for these elective positions. No. Okay. And you're saying that the difference between, let's say, 2024 and 2025 was just nothing more than a cost of living increase, is that correct? In their current resolutions? Yes. Yeah. Okay. So we didn't necessarily bump them up to get them to a level. so the circuit clerk's resolution, they're staggered by two years. Right. So that's why we included the previous resolutions as well. So for the circuit clerk, the previous one was 2020 through 2023. Right. The new one is 24 through 27, whereas the other two positions were 2018 through 2021. Well, and I also, another question, please. Go ahead. just maybe more of a comment I see that we are well above you know well maybe five thousand dollars above the 2026 statewide salary in fringe benefit so it's not like they're being none of them are being underpaid at this point it's my it would be my comment based on this report it appears that's all okay I guess I would I would just say one thing when you talk about cost of living I would deal in percentages not necessarily what you may consider to be cost of living and also reference the budget policy that's approved every year when you think of it in those terms as opposed to just cost of living that could be if you're counting the CPI or what you're looking at. Okay. And as Mr. Joker said keep in mind you're valuing the position not the individuals that are within that. Anything else, Mrs. Williams? Nothing. Okay, Mr. Hadley, go ahead. So my big concern is, is over the years, we've seen where the state regulates us to pay the state's attorney a certain amount of money, then the public defender, and now the sheriff. I know there's been bills in Springfield to set salaries for the rest of the county elected officials too but they've been defeated down in Springfield. All I can say to the finance committee, slow down. We need to slow down here because these jobs could all get up over $100,000 a year. and the public is complaining when we have legislators giving themselves raises and this is not the time I've seen where Ogle County went during the four year period zero zero and then maybe a two percent a two percent you know but all I can say is I will not next month support anything that's going to inflate these raises up real high and stuff like that. So that's all I've got to say, Jim. Thank you. Mrs. Hayes, go ahead. I'm going to agree with Mr. Hadley. I do think that we need to take into consideration what the cost of living is. I think we need to decide that first, right? The cost of living, if we're saying that we're giving them a cost of living increase, I don't know. I mean last year we were very, very generous with cost of living increases. Didn't feel like that compared to what the economy did, but we will work our way into some exorbitant salaries that are not sustainable if we continue to give every year the maximum. And once we give them to the elected officials, we have to give them to everybody. So I'm not sure which comes first, the cart or the horse, but I'm just, again, cautiously saying to the finance committee, please be careful with that. We don't want to get too much too fast. We will go bankrupt. Anything else, Mrs. Hayes? That's it. Thank you, Chairman. Anyone else? Mr. Jogerst, do you have anything to add? Well, we've got to think about the rest of the budget that we're going to be working on here in the middle of the year, and then all the supplementals and all that other stuff that comes with it, so hopefully we get out in front of it this year instead of, you know, we come down the end of the wire, we have nothing for supplementals, you know, for roads and the things that a lot of people want, so yeah, there's more needs than there is money, obviously, so. That's all I have for the Finance Committee. Anything else, Georgia, on this item? I don't have anything else really to share, but if anyone has questions, reach out. Yeah, next month we'll also be considering the budget policy, which will be for non-elected and non-union employees. And what did we do the last few years? Four percent? Three. Three? Okay. The year before it was four. Year before. Okay. So, again, please reach out to the Finance Committee. Finance Committee. Reach out to the administrator if you have thoughts or ideas. So thank you for participating in this tonight. I know it's not normal, but I think it's good and worthwhile for us to do that. Anything else out of finance, Mr. Jogerst? That is all, Chairman. All right. Very good. Thank you. Appreciate you filling in this month. We'll move on to public property and safety. Mr. Bush, no action items. Information out of your committee, sir? No. No? Okay. All right. Very good. Go ahead, Mr. Hadley, if you want to press your button Just one quick question Has the sheriff talked anything about the gas prices going up and his line item and Everything's going all right with his line item on the gas. Yes. Is he monitoring that close? It doesn't look like in the near future the prices might not go down the rest of the year a little bit So although I think yesterday the price oil went down below $100 a barrel. I didn't check today, but no fingers crossed Okay. Thank you. You bet. One quick thing with the sheriff. It was brought up in public works about overweight trucks, specifically, I think, Kent Road. And Dale, you can correct me if it's not the right road. I did reach out to the sheriff and ask if we have people that are certified to operate scales. They're putting trucks on that road going to the cheese factory, I believe, in Kent that are well Well over the 80,000 pound limit. Way over. I believe the state police pulled someone over, and Dale, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they issued a $35,000 ticket for being overweight. Different case, but it's still a $35,000 fine, correct? Gotcha. All right. The good news is the sheriff reached out to the state police who does the training for that, and they are willing to train the crime suppression unit to operate Scales. The option, or the, I'm sorry, the object is not to issue fines. It's to make sure the trucks are not destroying the roads. They're overweight. We're not trying to make money on this, but it seems like the only way to get them to stop overloading these trucks is to hit them in their pocketbook. So just to give you an update on that, the sheriff is working on that. With that, we'll move on to administration. Mr. Jogerst, no action items. any information out of your committee? All right. Thank you. We'll move on to court. I can't talk after all those proclamations. Court services. Mr. Diddens, do you have any items? And if you do, could you please press your microphone button? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I don't have any action items, but we did hand out $10,000 for the youth diversion fund that we collected. We had six businesses that applied for that met the criteria for the grant, High Hope, Hope Wins, Ramp, Sounds of Good News, Voices, and that's five. There should be six. Which one? Boys and Girls Club. Thank you. I had Ramp twice. Anyway, they all got $1,666.66. since. We just gave everybody an equal amount. Last year I think we only had one or two that applied, so this year it was much better turnout, and it's all good for the community. It's all aimed at children, so it's all good. Thank you. That's it. Good. Thank you. That's it. Thank you, Mr. Diddens. Move on to Nursing Center. Mrs. Baker, no action items. Information? Yes. So the report was in your packet. Census is 71. The facility completed their annual survey. The team has reviewed all the findings and the POCs were submitted and assisted by the regional team. Agency hours remain low of 250 hours for the month of March. And they had their annual Easter egg hunt on September 4th with the fair turnout. And that's it. Very good. Mr. Bush, did you have any questions? Yeah, I just kind of want to piggy off what the... Can you speak into your microphone, please? I can have it on. You can just speak into it. Just want to talk about, continue talking about this lady that came and asked him concerning of not getting paid. Funding-wise, she mentioned that there is funds to get paid. I will let Administrator Newcomer address that. I believe she had communication with that individual? Yes. Currently, the unspoken for balance is $1,978.68 in that fund. Okay. There is money that comes in and out because that is still the fund where the Medicare, Medicaid money comes in that goes to Serenity. there is also the money that is being held for the IDPH fine and there's a payment agreement with one of the vendors that was approved through the board that those dollars are sitting in that account but unspoken for funds that is the balance is there any way that we could reach some kind of agreement or compromise or whatever with her so She was asked with the rest of the vendors if she wanted to offer a settlement the month that we went back to the local vendors that did, the committee had decided to prioritize the local vendors that offered settlements. At that time, she said she wanted to wait and get the full amount that was owed to her. Okay. after that, the next round, she is still in the category as prioritized next for payment. She did offer a settlement. It was just the next month when the funds were not available. She's in the prioritize next category, but there's a number of people that I think the committee or there would need to be discussion if we make an exception for one person, how do we decide which person in that category is the person that gets paid. Well, I'm in agreement with that, but, you know, she has sent email out to, I know I received the email, I don't know about nobody else, but I think that at least she came tonight and expressed her concern, so at least we could at least have some type of communication or something, you know, to talk with her to see how we can solve this, you know. Part of the issue we have as well is she has threatened litigation once she does that. anything we say or do is potentially held and we do defer to our liability company anything else mr. Bush all right mrs. Baker anything else all right let's shut some microphones off here real quick we will move on to planning and development mr. Frick you have one action item I believe and I'm going to turn your microphone on there we go Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I do. I'm excited to ask for this approval of a temporary use permit for the Pearl City Historical Organization for the use of Black Hawk Park to celebrate their 100th year of being the organization of history for Pearl City in the area. and they're excited to be able to use our park to promote the Blackhawk Monument and that area as well as part of what they do at the Pearl City Historical Organization. This temporary use permit was passed in our committee and with that I would move to approve. There you go. Is there a second to Mr. Fricke's motion by Mr. Hadley? Is there any discussion? One thing I will say, if you've checked your email this afternoon, a large oak tree did blow over out at the monument. We did contact liability. We're just making sure that getting a heads up from them if we need to close the park up until it's removed. We're working with Township to see if they can find someone to help us remove it. It's too large of a tree for Mr. Remmers to remove. We've had this happen in the past, so we're moving quickly to see if we can't get that resolved. We're not saying we're closing the park We're just finding out from liability what their recommendation is until it's removed Any other discussion? Okay, seeing none, you may go ahead and cast your vote for the approval And that passes unanimously. Mr. Frick, do you have any other items? I do not at this time, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. All right, very good. Thank you. We'll move on to Public Works. Mr. Newton, I believe you have two items. I need to turn your microphone on here. You have the floor, sir. Thank you, Chairman. For your consideration tonight, we have HD 2606, approval of bid for Township Bridge Preparation. It's a covert replacement on North Shippey Road in West Point Township, and I so move. Thank you. Is there a second by Mr. Jogerst? Is there any discussion on this? Go ahead, Mr. Hadley. How many bids did we receive on this? Four or five. Oh, okay. So this was the lowest bid then? Correct. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other discussion? Seeing none, you may cast your vote for approval. That passes unanimously. Your next item, Mr. Newton? Thank you. We have also a bid or one bid for that was passed or that came in for kennels for the new Animal Control and I so move to approve those that bid. Okay. Is there a second by Mr. Busker? Any discussion? I believe that was the only bid that was received, correct? It was. Okay. All right. Seeing no discussion, you may cast your vote for approval. That also passes unanimously. Any other information out of your committee, Mr. Newton? No, I've asked the engineer to stay on for five years, but he has not agreed to that. So thank you, Mr. Chairman. That's it. All right. Thank you. All right. Is there a motion to adjourn until 6 30 p.m. on May 21st, 2026? Which permit? We did not vote. Permit. We did. I thought we did. I'll check with the I was certain we voted. Yeah. All right. Is there a motion to adjourn? Mr. Bush seconded by Mrs. Hayes. You may vote to adjourn. in return. That is approved unanimously. Thank you, everyone.