The Wayne County Board met for their regular monthly meeting last (Thursday) night. The board approved the October minutes and welcomed guests. Vaughan Law Office, representative for the Drainage Districts in the county requested the following appointments for 3-year terms ending September, 2027. Big Mound-Earnest Sork, Elm River-Ray Glover, Golden Gate-Roger Mann, Leech-William J. Vaughan and Woods-Jamie Pollard. The board approved all the appointments.
Board Chairman, Daryl Hargrave recommended Carrie Halbert be re-appointed to the Illinois South Tourism Board for a 2-year term from January 2025-January 2027.
The board discussed and approved several financial matters, including the purchase of a generator for the Coroner’s Office ($19,098), new financial software for the Treasurer’s Office ($94,690), and digitization software for the County Clerk’s Office ($28,850). The board also approved a $5,000 donation to the Fairfield Park District for the pool fund.
Department heads provided updates, including the State’s Attorney, Kevin Kakac discussing the impact of Judge Valentine’s tragic death, County Clerk, Liz Woodrow reported on the recent election with a 75% voter turnout in the county and preparations for the April consolidated election are underway. Treasurer, Yvette Anderson updated the board on tax collection and distribution. Anderson will finalize the second tax distribution, expected to hit tax-paying districts by Monday or Tuesday of next week. Dennis Seidel of the Wayne County Highway Department presented resolutions for maintenance, salary and motor fuel tax funds. The board approved the resolutions.
The board approved the service contracts for Wayne County Ambulance, Wayne City Ambulance and Clay County Hospital Ambulance services. The board discussed early retirement incentives but did not approve them due to the high estimated cost of $949,713 for eight eligible employees. The board discussed the potential implementation of a grocery retail occupational tax in response to the governor’s executive order abolishing grocery taxes which the board will look further into the matter. Bryan Williams from CSI Insurance appeared before the board and presented the insurance proposal for the county, due in December. The board approved the county insurance proposal.
The finance committee recommended payment of all bills. The board approved the claims and concluded the meeting with a motion to go into executive session to discuss personnel matters.
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