County Board Approves County Building Repairs, Committee Realignments

Effingham County board members Monday approved maintenance work on the County Office Building.

County Sheriff Paul Kuhns said the work will include replacing the tile caps over the parapet wall to keep any storm water out. Kuhns said the work will also fix joints that are bad for six feet down on the south and east walls. The third part of the work involves the northwest corner of the jail portion of the building as some of the wall in that area is leaning out from the building.

Kuhns said Holland and Holland Masonry of Shelbyville has quoted a price of $61,452 to complete all three portions of the work. He said replacing the tile caps is needed prior to replacing the roof on the building.

The County Board approved some realignment of board committees. The action by Board Chairman Jim Niemann was prompted by a lack of attendance by some board members at committee meetings.

The makeup of three committees was changed. Doug McCain will chair the Health Committee with Heather Mumma as vice chair and Joe Thoele as the third member. Norbert Soltwedel will chair the Insurance Committee with Mumma as vice chair and Niemann as the third member. Dave Campbell will continue to chair the Economic Development Advisory Board with Mumma as vice chair and Rob Arnold as the third member.

Additionally, McCain will serve as the Board's representative on the CEFS Board, and Campbell will serve as the Board's representative on the 708 Board.

The Board supported officially naming a waterway south of Effingham to north of Heartville as Muskrat Creek, and also disbursed $15,250 in ARPA funds to Effingham Regional Career Academy for its initial term. The Board earlier earmarked $350,000 in ARPA funds for the Academy, but with the provision that separate votes would be needed to spend the funds.

County board members removed a vote on a bridge aid petition from Jackson Township after board member Joe Thoele said the township wants to revisit the allocation of funds.

County Treasurer Paula Miller reported that her office is in the final stages of the property tax cycle and hopes to have the tax bills in the mail by the end of July with due dates for payment of the bills tentatively set for September 2 and October 28.

The Board also heard from representatives of Global Medical Services and Abbott EMS, and from Alliance Executive Director Courtney Yockey on the progress of the Effingham County Childcare Research Committee.

Niemann also called a special meeting of the County Board for this Wednesday, the 20th, at 4pm to discuss public transportation issues.