Jasper County Board Discusses UTVs on Roadways

Jasper County Board members discussed UTVs on county roadways at this month's meeting, but made no decision on the issue.

The Board has been discussing whether to allow UTVs to use county roads and last month reviewed guidelines for when and where they could be used. They are still seeking Illinois accident stats as a possible barometer.

The Board voted to allocate $12,000 for an application for a county highway safety improvement program grant. There is no guarantee of receiving the funds, but there are ways to leverage the County's costs. It's a 90/10 grant, meaning the County would only have to pay 10% of the costs of any projects for which grant funds are received. Had they not applied now, it would have been a year before a grant could be sought. The application deadline is June 10.

The sheriff's commttee reported the department nees a part-time dispatcher and a jailer, and shared that they are working on 911 mapping. The highway engineer has been asked to oversee that the U of I Extension office lease in Newton is approved. The Board voted to lease office space for Extension and for Jasper Economic Development. They also voted to pay dues to Jasper Economic Development for $10,000 for the coming year.

Jasper Economic Development heard at their monthly meeting from Craig Nielson, head of the Alliance, which is seeking to expand economic development in the area. Nielson discussed a computer coding school he would like to bring to the area in hopes of creating jobs.

Also on hand were Casey Tibbs and Amber Wakefield of Image Squared Marketing on a community marketing project. The proposal is that the county, the city of Newton, Jasper Unit schools, economic development, tourism and other entities would participate in the joint marketing effort. Social media pages would be developed that would serve as a clearinghouse of information on activities in the county. The cost to the county is $100/month. The Board voted 10-1 to begin the program on a month-to-month basis.

The Board voted to approve maintenance work at the ambulance service, approved a bridge aid petition with North Muddy Township