Split Vote by County Board on Appointment

The Effingham County Board voted 5-4 Tuesday to appoint a new individual to the County's Mental Health 377 Board.

The vote was to appoint Sue Heth to the 377 Board rather than re-appoint Michael Tate. Tate had indicated he wanted to be re-appointed, but board member Rob Arnold, also a member of the 377 Board, said there are some issues that need to be addressed on the 377 Board, leading to the push to name Heth. Board member Jeff Simpson said it was unusual that, if there are no objections, the full Board concurs with the recommendation that comes from committee, and the Legislative Committee made the recommendation to appoint Heth.

The vote was 4-4 on the motion, with board members Karen Luchtefeld, Joe Thoele, Doug McCain and Lloyd Foster voting against, and members Simpson, Arnold, David Campbell and Mike DePoister voting for the motion. That left Board Chairman Jim Niemann to break the tie and after several moments weighing the options, voted for the motion to appoint Heth. He was told before voting that other spots on the 377 Board are to be filled later this year, and said Tate could be considered again at that time.

Thoele said he wanted in the minutes that he's had no complaints on Tate's performance on the 377 Board.

There were also indications that the County Board is considering enlarging the five-person board. 

Also Tuesday, the County Board named Larry Taylor of Altamont to replace Norm Miller on the County Housing Authority at Miller's request due to his ill health, and named Julie Stephens to fill out the remainder of Rebecca Merten's term on the 911 Board through the end of June due to Merten's departure from the county.

The Board approved going halves with West Township on the $5,000 cost of a culvert south of 500th Avenue near the Fayette County line, approved paying the $206,229 bill for property/casualty and liability insurance coverage, heard more concerns that rural fire districts are having difficulty with their radio systems, heard that there is more than $20,000 available in the County's revolving loan fund for startup or fledgling businesses, and approved the release of some closed session minutes from several meetings held over the past six months.