Hancock County Board

Hancock County Board Hears Veterans' Concerns, Awards Housing Grants, Preps for Solar Ordinance Updates

Joy Swearingen, The Quill Correspondent

The Hancock County board heard from two visiting groups as their meeting began Tuesday, Feb. 17.

Mark Sowers, Dan Deshong and Raymond Siegrist, Hancock County veterans, asked the board to clarify how the amount of funds for the County Veterans Office is determined.

Finance Committee chairman, Wayne Bollin, explained that the County Veterans Office submits its budget request to the Finance Committee, based on salaries and other annual expenses.  That amount is included in the county levy request.

This year the state requires offices to have a Veterans Service Officer, with a salary of around $60,000. Bollin said the veterans services budget request was increased from around $30,000 to $105,000 to cover that required expense.

Training is needed for the Veterans Service Officer and must be paid before classes are attended. County Clerk Holly Wilde-Tillman will use her office credit card to register and pay for the classes as needed, and that amount will be reimbursed with money transferred from the veterans fund.

Madisyn Bell, director of Hancock County Economic Development Corp., reported that there were five winners in the county housing grant program. She thanked the county board for their donation of $20,000 toward the program. HCEDC provided an additional $10,000.

Five grants were given to builders creating low-income housing units in the county. They are Andy Finch, Warsaw, five units; Beth Boley, Hamilton, one unit; Bryer Belshaw, Carthage, two units; Donnie Boley, Hamilton, two units; and Deverie Troutman, Ferris, one unit.

Board president Mark Menn noted that the March county board meeting will be Monday, March 16, because of the primary election that falls on the regular meeting night, March 17.

Justin Greeley from Bellwether, a consulting firm for the county, reported that a new Illinois law will make about 1,000 pages of changes to regulations governing solar projects. These will take effect June 1. This could create a need for changes in the Hancock County solar ordinances.

Steve Lucie expressed concern at the loss of local control reflected in these changes. Steve Finney questioned whether the changes would be compatible with federal regulations.

In other action, the board:

- Approved resolutions to use County Federal Aid Matching Fund for Pavement Preservation funds for 9 miles of work on the Ferris Road and 11.1 miles of work on the Bentley-St. Mary Road. No local shares will be used on these projects.

-  Approved a budget amendment to allow the purchase of a scanner costing $13,650 for the treasurer’s office. The scanner will save time and money for the office.

-  Allowed increasing the rabies administrator fee to $6,000, and the bite report fee to $60 per case, as recommended by the Health and Miscellaneous Committee.

-  Postponed acting on an amendment related to the animal control transporter, so that wording can be reviewed, and will correctly define the duties of the position.

-  Approved two tax deeds.