County Sees Change at Animal Control

Effingham County Board members Monday approved a change in leadership at Effingham County Animal Control.

Brent Budde, who has headed the department for 13 years, announced his resignation. Budde said before the meeting he is planning to concentrate on his real estate work fulltime, but admitted he likely won't be able to give up Animal Control "cold turkey". 

(INCOMING CHIEF ANIMAL CONTROL WARDEN KAITLIN KESSLER AND DEPARTING WARDEN BRENT BUDDE)

Kaitlin Kessler was appointed Chief Animal Control Warden by the Board Monday.

Animals were a topic of another Board item. A claim was approved for three sheep killed by a dog running loose, at $30/sheep. 

There was some discussion since both parties involved knew the owner of the dog involved, but the owner of the sheep decided against pressing charges. The vote to pay the claim was 8-1 with Dave Campbell voting No.

The Board also had a split vote on the pay schedule for County Coroner for the next term that begins on December 1. Coroner Duane Guffey presented figures at an earlier committee meeting that indicated the rate of pay in Effingham County is less than some neighboring counties, but some Board members contended that the raise should be the same as the raises granted other county officeholders. Campbell argued for a $6000 increase over the four years of the next term, but other officeholders are receiving a $4800 increase over the next term.

The vote was 5-3 in favor of the $4800 increase, with Jeff Simpson, Doug McCain, Joe Thoele, Lloyd Foster and Karen Luchtefeld voting in favor, and Rob Arnold, Mike DePoister and Campbell voting No. Chairman Jim Niemann did not vote since his vote was not needed to break a tie.

The Board appropriated $4,710 to the State's Attorney Records Automation Fund. The money is already in hand, it just needed allocated. The Board honored Pam Rieman and Rob Rich of the Effingham County Sheriff's Department, each for 25 years' service. 

(PAM RIEMAN WITH COUNTY BOARD CHAIRMAN JIM NIEMANN)

(SHERIFF'S DEPUTY ROB RICH WITH COUNTY BOARD CHAIRMAN JIM NIEMANN)

The Effingham County 4-H Youth Ambassadors honored elected officials for Local Government Week with homemade cookies and a report on their activities through the year, as presented by Youth Ambassadors President Taylor Hartke. Also received was the annual report from Denise Willenborg of the Effingham County Soil and Water Conservation District.

(4-H YOUTH AMBASSADORS DISTRIBUTE HOMEMADE COOKIES TO SAY THANK YOU TO COUNTY ELECTED OFFICIALS AS PART OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT WEEK ACTIVITIES)

The Board awarded a bid to low bidder Kemme's Effingham Heating and Air for an air conditioner for the dispatch room at the sheriff's department, approved a resolution on the county partnering with the State on public transportation, and approved a plat of one lot in Burke Subdivision.

Thoele reported work to replace a culvert three miles north of Teutopolis on the Teutopolis-St. Francis Township line should begin within the next month.

The Board held a closed session on litigation, but took no action.