6:30 PM we will go ahead and call the meeting to order if you would please go ahead and acknowledge your presence on the voting machine looks like everyone is present except Mrs. Deineger and Mr. Fricke.
Mr. Jogerst, would you please lead us in prayer and Mrs. Baker the Pledge of Allegiance.
Work with the people of Stevens County, we just ask for your guidance to make the right decision or come to the right decisions for what's best for this county.
We just appreciate your help.
We just ask you to help us work together as a team and move forward.
We love you Lord and we thank you for your grace.
Amen.
For which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Can I get an approval for tonight's agenda, please?
By Mrs. Baker, is there a second?
By Mr. Diddens, is there any discussion on the agenda?
Seeing none, if you would go ahead and vote for approval of the agenda.
I believe that passes unanimously.
Thank you.
As far as the consent agenda, are there any items that would be or any board members would like to have removed?
Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda by Mr. Newton?
Is there a second by Mr. Brandt?
Any discussion on the consent agenda?
Seeing None, if you would please go ahead and vote for approval of the consent agenda.
I believe that passes unanimously as well.
Is there any public comment tonight?
Okay, seeing none, we will move on to Sheriff Stovall's employee recognition.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Thank you board members.
Once again, it gives me great pleasure to recognize our 2025 award winners.
In 2022, I boasted that I wanted to be the law enforcement agency and that all agencies measured against.
Last week I attended the Illinois Sheriff's Association Training Conference and we are the talk of the state.
From being full-staffed to our professional recruitment video, our office transparency, and hiring the best and brightest employees, we have the secret of law enforcement, corrections, and telecommunicator success and I'm not This would not be possible without the Chairman, the Public Safety Chairman Mr. Bush, the Public Safety Committee, and all of you as County Board Members.
I want to thank you for the cooperation and the trust you have given me and my office.
As I move into the presentation of the awards, you will see the Sheriff's Office Best of of the Best of 2025.
Civilian Employee of the Year Clerk.
Civilian Employee of the Year.
I proudly present the Civilian Employee of the Year to Social Service Administrator Erica Erickson for an overall willingness to go an extra mile while exhibiting an exceptional work ethic, positive attitude, and respect for all members of the community and the office.
Thank you, Erica.
Correction's Officer of the Year, I present Correction's Officer, Jacob Hine, for an overall willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty, exhibiting an exceptional work ethic, positive attitude, and respect for all members of the community and the office.
Thank you, Jacob Hine.
Exceptional Service Award.
I'm proud to present Deputy Matt Carpenter.
Deputy Matt Carpenter is the exceptional service medal for his courageous and selfless actions at Willow Lake on December 24th, 2025.
Without Hesitation, Deputy Carpenter Alongside, a Citizen, utilized a rowboat to navigate a partially ice-covered lake and successfully rescued a dog that had fallen through the ice, resulting in the animal's safe recovery without injury and without harm to any citizens or responders.
The family was very happy getting their dog back.
Thank you, Matt.
Aggressive Criminal Enforcement Award, or better known as ACE.
Once again, the second in a row, Deputy Jordan Brickson.
For exceptional dedication and outstanding achievement in the aggressive criminal enforcement program, Deputy Brickson is recognized for his commitment to enhancing traffic safety and criminal apprehension through proactive enforcement and Investigative Efforts, Diligence in Looking Beyond the Ticket has significantly contributed to the safety and security of our community.
Thank you, Deputy, for your excellent work.
The Sheriff and Deputy of the Year.
This is something all of you had something to do with.
I'm very happy that you decided to go this route with our Special Victims Unit.
I'm proud to present our Special Victims Unit Investigator Corinne Brickson for an overall willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty while exhibiting exceptional work ethic, positive attitude, and respect for all members of the community and office.
Now with that said, not that anyone else here has done anything less, but Corinne has taken that program that all of you voted allowed me to have a position there and taken our Special Victims Unit to all of the survivors of crimes and has done a wonderful job keeping the Stephenson County and its citizens safe and prosecutions moving forward against these people.
Corinne, thank you so much.
Last is the Manager of the Year.
I'm proud to present Lieutenant Michael Bacchus this award for consistently going above and beyond the call of duty while exhibiting strong leadership qualities and exceptional work ethic, positive attitude and respect for all members of the community and this office.
Just to show he's down at the conference, bettering his skills to all of these people.
So I'm proud to give Mike that award tonight.
In closing, I made a big deal out of SPU, but all of you were a big part of getting us our victim's unit, our crime suppression unit, and our social services person.
All of you voted for me and had the confidence in me to start those programs, was able to Thank you, Sheriff Stovall.
I appreciate you setting the level of excellence and making Director, Director, Williams, Zoning Board of Appeals, Zoning Board of Appeals held its hearing on Thursday, February 12th, 2026 with a full quorum.
The first hearing for the evening was for Mike and Nicole Kalos, who are requesting a special use permit to allow for the construction of a single-family dwelling located in the Egg District, located at 9251 West Cedarville Road, Lena.
Testimony was received and neighboring property representative raised a concern.
The ZBA recommends approval of this board, subject to condition that the soil burying be completed.
Is there a motion to approve by Mr. Jogerst, is there a second by Mr. Newton, is there any discussion?
Could you fill in on what the objection was?
Yes, she was just concerned with property adjacent to the property in question.
She has a creek that runs through it and livestock.
They wanted to make sure that the drain field for the septic wasn't going towards that creek.
They will be getting their spell warning.
Yes.
The second hearing for the night was Vinny Lingle, who is required a special use to operate Day Dog Boarding, Daycare, and Grooming Facility, located at 9350 North Unity Road, Winslow.
Testimony was heard and one objection was raised, the ZBA recommends approval by this board.
Is there a motion to approve by Mr. Diddens, is there a second, Mr. Jogerst, Mrs. Williams, did you have a question?
My question was from the last one, but it will apply to this one, what's the objection?
Sure.
Landowner was concerned of the parking.
They were going to coordinate with each other and exchange numbers to make sure they had each other's contact if something did happen like there was excessive parking.
Any other discussion?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and vote.
That also passes unanimously thank you and the final item please excuse me the final hearing of the evening was for Kyler and Dana Mears they're requesting a special use permit to build a single family dwelling excuse me in the AG district located at 8706 East right out Illinois testimony was heard and no objections were raised the ZBA recommends approval by this board sir Senator, motion to approve.
Mrs. Williams, second by Mrs. Hayes.
Mr. Newton, did you have a question?
Okay.
Any other discussion?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and vote for this item.
And that passes unanimously.
Any other information?
No, sir.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Appreciate it.
We honor the Chairman's report.
The NACO Legislative Conference is being held February 21st through the 24th.
Ms. Newton, thank you very much for representing Stephenson County out there.
Look forward to hearing what what you learned from out there.
As I mentioned last month, the UCCI Legislative Conference is scheduled for April 14th and 15th.
They are accepting registrations already.
It's a pretty well attended event, so if you have interest in going, I know Mr. Bush has already reached out to me.
I would recommend that you let me know sooner than later so that we make sure we can get accommodations.
And then finally, the and 2026 Leadership Academy program scheduled for May 31st, June 2nd, June 28th through the 30th.
Many of us have attended that in the past worthwhile event, so I would recommend if anyone has interest to please let me know and we'll get you registered for that as well.
With that, we'll move on to the appointments.
There are two, I would like to have these separated if that is okay with the board.
So we'll move to the first one, the approval of the appoint- and the first one is the approval of the appointment of Renata Hepler to the Mental Health Board by Mr. Bush, second.
Second by Mrs. Baker.
Is there any discussion?
Seeing none, you may Go ahead and vote.
That passes unanimously.
The next is the approval of the appointment of Diane Yokum to the Mental Health Board.
Motion by Mr. Moderow to approve.
There a second second by mr. Newton is there any discussion let me let me get your microphone on mr. Newton if you can give me just a second here there thank Quick question, has she served on this board or any other board before?
I can't speak to any other board, but no, she has not served on the 708 board previously.
Anything else, Mr. Newton?
No.
Thank you.
Mrs. Hayes, go ahead.
Thank you, Chairman.
I'll be voting no tonight.
Ms. Yocum, a couple years ago during a political campaign drove by my house and she took a picture of it and put it up on Facebook with my address.
I questioned the safety of that judgment call and I questioned, well the judgment too, who does that?
Thank you.
All right, I would also like to speak with this Mr. Whalen, would you mind coming up and sitting in my seat while I address this podium?
Pretty sure most of you know this, but the role of the 708 Board is to evaluate the need of agencies in Stephenson County County, and how those dollars they are levied for the 708 board are distributed.
There's currently nine local agencies.
If you look at this resume, the skills that would be brought to the 708 board, a calm and thoughtful demeanor, cultural sensitivity and intelligence, deep empathy, compassion and good listening skills, concerns for just and fair treatment of all human beings and their needs, the ability to work with different people from a variety of different backgrounds.
Comments that I have personally read on social media over the last several years would say otherwise, especially if you do not align politically or ideology.
Labels seem to be far more important than the overall All Need of the People.
Terms like fascist, Nazis have all been used on social media to describe people of an opposing political party, regardless of the person.
I very much have in doubt the judgment of any individual that would use terms like that when it comes to mental health or the betterment of the community.
So I too will be voting no on this tonight.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Whalen.
Any other discussion?
Seeing none, you may vote.
And it appears that motion is to approve is defeated if I'm looking at this correctly there was only one yes vote and that was Mrs. Williams.
Is that correct?
Did anyone else vote yes besides Mrs. Williams?
Okay thank you.
All right Alright, we'll move on to action items and information from standing committees.
First up is Mr. Whalen for Finance.
No action items.
Do you have any information out of your committee, sir?
Not at this time, sir.
Alright, thank you very much.
Move on to public property and safety.
Mr. Bush, it appears you have three action items.
I have three pretty much all combined together here.
Let me get your microphone turned on real quick, Mr. Bush.
Sorry about that.
Go ahead, sir.
Yeah, we have three, but they're pretty much all combined together here.
What it is, the contract, FOP was supposed to be included in the new union contract for the sheriff, which wasn't.
So it had to be implemented.
And also, it was talked about the no employee will receive Seniority Credit.
No employee will receive seniority credit if they all are not getting paid for a extended amount of time.
That's in case of an officer or something to get injured and used up all their FMLA's and sick leave and everything else that now that they will not receive seniority.
There were some concerns with some committee members, but the union agreed with it, so we had no other choice.
There was also a mention of Officer Erin Kordy, I think I hope I'm pronouncing her right, who was mistakenly placed on the list due to an incorrect number of service years contracted.
The emergency response team will now receive time and a half comp time for training.
So with that, can I, on all three contracts, I so move.
Okay, so the motion is to approve all three memorandums.
Is there a second by Mr. Jogerst?
Is there any discussion?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and vote.
And that passes unanimously.
Thank you, Mr. Bush.
Any other information out of your committee, sir?
No.
All right.
Thank you very much.
Move on to administration.
Mr. Jogerst, you have three action items, I believe.
Yes.
Thank you, Chairman.
First one is approval of agreement with DevNet for KAMA and with EDGE license maintenance and support.
This, this is our assessor says this is a renewal contract we've had in place for about 15 years.
Her office, the County Clerk's office and the Treasurer's office all use this software for their work.
This is a five-year contract was reviewed and will be good through 20, 2030, excuse me.
And 2026 cost is $13,911.92 and it goes up to $14,067.24 in 2030, which is only a $156 increase over those five years, which is barely a 1% increase.
So with that, I'll make a motion to approve.
Thank you.
Is there a second?
Second.
And Mr. Moderow.
Is there any discussion on this?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and vote for this.
And that passes unanimously 13-0.
Thank you.
Your next item.
Yes, Chairman.
The second one is approval of agreement with Empower Health Services for Employee Wellness Screenings.
This is a another duplicate we've done for the last four or five years here and the cost has stayed pretty steady.
I think there's a slight increase here a little bit this year, but it's something that we want to do to reduce our overall health care costs.
So I'll make a motion to approve please.
Thank you.
Is there a second?
Mr. Whalen, is there any discussion on this item?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and vote for this item.
And that also passes unanimously.
Your next item, please.
We have a new approval of agreement with Empower Health Services for a walking program for the county employees.
And I think the basic cost here is like $700 flat fee and this will help our employees get moving and reduce health costs and get them motivated and active.
So I'm gonna make a motion to approve.
Thank you.
Is there a second by Mr. Whalen?
Is there any discussion?
By Mr. Whalen.
Is there any discussion?
Mr. Newton, go ahead.
Quick question.
I mean, it sounds very interesting.
So, is there some sort of a reward for the employees?
What is it doing?
Yeah.
You want to speak to that, Georgia?
Let me shut my microphone off here for you.
Do you want me to shut mine?
There we go.
Yes, we at the department head meeting discussed how what everyone would feel would motivate their employees to take part.
We're going to do teams by department.
There's a way to average scores so it's fair across the board.
We've also decided to do like a top earner individually, top team, and kind of one random draw so that it'll motivate even the people that may not think they're going to be one of the top achievers.
As long as you meet the expectation of the program, you'll be in a drawing for a reward as well.
I did talk this over with Ms. McWright from Diamond Brothers, and she thought it was a good, good incentive, good program to start, so.
Thank you.
Anything else, Mr. Newton?
That's all.
All right, Mrs. Williams, go ahead.
So how many people do you think that are going to do this?
What are we talking?
How much money are we talking?
So, $700 per person?
No, no.
Black, total, $700 total.
Great Per-Participant in Eligible Living.
So it's $700 for the county as a whole.
We gave the employee numbers.
There was a request also made for the County Board to have a team, if they so choose, involved.
I don't want to steal Mr. Jogerst's thunder there.
I mean, I hate to say it, but I don't need the program, this program to get me motivated to walk.
That's my point.
I was just gonna tease everybody to get on board let's have a team here for the County Board to also participate I know a lot of us walk every day and and hey let's see how good we can do you will do us something good too so thank you all right just so you know I walk ten miles on Sunday well you're on our team then Go ahead, Mrs. Newcomer.
Just to kind of add for those of you that were not in the committee when we discussed this, it is an app that everyone who takes part will download on their phone.
It will automatically track it, log into a website, and keep track of everything.
So, we're going to do a virtual course through different sites within the county.
All right.
Anything else from anyone?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and vote for this.
That also passes unanimously.
Thank you all for that.
Mr. Jogerst, any other information out of your committee, sir?
No, that's it.
Thank you, Chairman.
All right, very good.
We'll move on to court services.
Mr. Diddens, no action items.
Any information out of your committee?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just want to commend the individuals that are running our court system.
They're doing a wonderful job.
We have a very dedicated staff, and I'm very proud to be on this committee.
So thank you.
No, I appreciate the comments, and I appreciate your leadership on that committee.
All right, we'll move on to Nursing Committee.
Mrs. Baker, no action items, information?
Yes, Census is at 78, and they hired a new ADON, Assistant Director of Nursing, and they hired a new Business Office Manager, and other than that, that's all I have.
I think the Census was 70 last month, does that sound about right?
Correct.
So now it's up to 78.78.
Highest it's been in about five years, I think, so that's great.
Alright, thank you very much.
We'll move on to Planning and Development, Mrs. Baker.
No action items, any information?
No, because we did not have a meeting.
Because of lack of quorum, correct?
Correct.
Alright, very good.
Thank you.
Finally, we'll move on to Public Works.
Mr. Brandt, you have a few action items.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First one is our resolution for the Highway Department 26-03, which is a full depth reclamation of the Cedarville Road, 6.64 miles.
It is being fully funded 100% by the federal, from federal funding back in 2024, local project funding grant.
So with that, I move to approve this resolution.
Thank you.
Second by Mr. Jogerst.
Any discussion?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and vote for this.
That passes unanimously thank you all.
Your next item please.
The next item is HD 2604 which is a resolution to purchase a new truck.
This is a cab and chassis through Sourcewell.
Sourcewell is a company that allows us to do Request for Proposals and whatnot through SourceVal, SourceVal, it was checked with Mr. Larson before we went out for a bid on this, the bid was awarded to Truck Country of Iowa for $134,906, we'll see how long it takes us to get the truck, I think the current estimates right now is it might take the rest of the year, so with that I move to approve this Thank you, is there a second?
Second.
By Mr. Moderow, any discussion?
Mr. Hadley, go ahead, sir.
What's this truck gonna be used for?
This is a truck that will be a snow plow truck.
I have a truck chassis on the back and plows.
So, can I go ahead?
Yes, go ahead, sir.
So, there was only one bid or this is the best bid or?
Because I was wondering why we didn't go through, you know, Monroe truck bid or something like that.
I see we're getting out in this truck from Iowa.
I think we'll let Mr. Rasmussen talk to about the benefits of source well.
He's more familiar with that than I am.
So, and I might just say something before I see that they're adding on tariffs.
I see we got to pay for that.
Source well is a method of purchasing.
It's similar to a state bidding.
It's a joint purchase agreement that we got a clear with Mr. Larson that we can go ahead and purchase stuff through that.
Can we get those type of trucks through state bid also or they don't have those on state bid?
No, state bid has not been really advantageous for us, but we feel so far as well works out better for us.
Have we talked to anybody that's done this before with this company and stuff, that they've been very successful.
With Sourcewell or the?
Yeah, I mean, you know, somebody that's used them before, Sourcewell.
Yes, yes.
And they like them and everything.
Yeah, the county engineers talk a lot with each other.
And I remember a series of emails a few months ago about using Sourcewell.
Some counties allow it, some counties don't.
Just depends on.
And this is the first time we used them?
I think we'd used it before.
Correct.
We bought a John Deere tractor a couple years back.
Okay.
Thank you.
Anything else?
Okay.
Thank you.
Thank you, Dale.
Appreciate it.
Mr. Modeler, go ahead.
Sorry, give me one second here.
I just wanted to add on to that.
So we said the estimate for this truck, probably end of the year, if we start looking at other sources, when we have looked at other sources, The committee has seen a lot of estimates that are measured in multiple years and when a truck like this is needed, it's needed now.
So a year, other options, there's lots to look at, but then we're looking at lots and lots of wait time.
All right.
Thank you, sir.
And if I may, Chairman, thank you for your addition there, Adam.
But this is to replace a truck that's 1999.
So we're moving up in the year.
I'm sorry.
No, he's keeping the truck for now and then we will be looking at selling it privately ourselves with once we declare it surplus property.
So that's down the road a little bit.
All right, anything else?
All right, seeing none, you may go ahead and vote for this item.
That passes unanimously.
Any other information of your committee, sir?
Just a quick comment.
Of your committee, sir?
Just a quick comment.
I want to thank everyone for their support for these resolutions, and I will be briefed because I know Mrs. Baker is chomping at the bit here.
But the surefire signs for spring, I saw it this week.
Robin's in the yard, and the road postings went up on 210 miles of highway in the county.
So if everyone doesn't know what that means, We've put lightweight restrictions on all of our roads and that's to preserve the pavement.
So yes, springs on its way.
That's it, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you.
Very good.
Thank you.
No new business listed on the agenda.
Is there anything anyone else would like to bring up?
Seeing none, is there.
I would say that was a motion to adjourn by Mr. Bush, seconded by Mrs. Baker.
Is that Correct?
Any discussion?
If you would please vote for adjournment.
That passes unanimously.
Thank you everyone.