The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Hancock County Board
by Joy Swearingen, J-P staff - courtesy Journal Pilot
Public transportation will continue in Hancock County after a contract with Durham School Services was approved by the county board.
The "demand response" transportation service gives rides to clients at the Mental Health Center, rides for anyone within the county, and is available for medical non-emergency trips within two hours of the county.
Hancock County and McDonough County transportation systems are both served by Durham School Services and coordinated by transportation director, Nathan Cobb.
The previous 11-month contract with Durham ended July 1. Cobb had been negotiating with Durham and challenged the proposed five-year contract, saying it was unaffordable.
At the Oct. 16 county board meeting, he recommended a new, revised contract extending to July 1, 2019, which has already been agreed upon by Macomb city and McDonough County transportation systems.
The cost to the county is $128,623 based on the estimated hours being driven in the eight remaining months. Cobb's concern with the five-year contract was Durham's proposal to raise driver wages from $11.73 per hour to $16.69 over the five years. The new contract includes a driver wage raise of $1.50 per hour.
Most of the funding to pay the county's cost of the transportation system is received from state, federal and local funds. Tom Scheetz, Wayne Bollin and Steve Bolton voted "no" on the new contract.
Tami Kaminski of Dallas City, who owns property in Niota, asked the board if they could help with a possible assessment of benefits to land owners in the Niota Drainage District.
She said that assessments were believed to be based on elevation of property, but varied greatly over the district from very little to over $2,000. She and others had not been able to see the list of elevations.
She noted that the assessment list was out-dated, with some of the people named on the list no longer owning property in the drainage district or deceased.
"This is a plea for any help anyone can give me," Kaminski said. "If they are going to dig me, I need to be able to see them (the elevations)."
Financial records of the Niota Drainage District have not been made available to the citizens.
A court hearing on the assessments was held in September and was continued until Oct. 18, two days after the board meeting.
It was recommended that the citizens go to the hearing with an attorney and ask the judge for a continuance because of their need for more information.
The Niota Drainage District is a separate entity, with its commissioners appointed by the county board.
The board approved a draft of the Hancock County Highway Department Drug and Alcohol Abuse Policy book. The changes are necessary due to changes in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act.
A resolution was approved extending the third party administrator contract for health insurance to Nov. 30, 2019, renewing the Symetrea reassurance contract at a $30,000 stop loss and increasing the funding to $807,000 for the year.
The board held a discussion about when and if minutes from executive session meetings should be open to the public.
State's Attorney Rachel Mast stated that the statute is strictly construed against having closed sessions. However, when they are held, the whole board should decide whether or not those minutes should be releassed.
Only certain exemptions can be legally used for going into closed session.
She recommended having a semi-annual opportunity to review minutes to decide if they can be released.
The 2019 schedule of meetings was approved. Meetings will be held on the third Tuesday of each month, except for January and October, when it is the fourth Tuesday.were approved for the FFA to attend the national convention in Indianapolis, the Farm Bureau Youth Conference in Decatur, an FFA freshman/sophomore conference in Decatur, the state FFA Convention in Springfield and the Illinois FFA Leadership Camp in Monticello.