[0:02] uh it's recording I'm not promising that
it's live okay the is
[0:16] on okay it's 601 we'll call this bar
meeting
[0:21] order and roll call everybody's here
Jeremy Heath Tim Sean and Carol yeah
[0:28] that's great
so uh I didn't agree to have anybody
[0:41] comment we'll go first okay um last
meeting we had a lot of discussion about
[0:48] um Investments of the the money off the
sale of the
[0:52] farm we have how many ACR is it total
two it's it's like 197.4
[1:00] close to 200 some of them been calling
it two and it's okay let's call it two
[1:05] let's
say we get this money from the sale of a
[1:10] farm and uh we're going to invest it
what kind of investment numbers are we
[1:16] talking over the last let's say a couple
years what's like what's a what's a
[1:20] common number right now do you know
anybody C easier make than 6 and a half%
[1:25] I think okay they are yeah I'd like to
see one six month
[1:33] ones I've seen are like
5.4 and that might be un likee we were
[1:39] discussing at church I think and they
were six and a half or seven six seven
[1:43] months 54 I was just that all the banks
up here yesterday 5.4 okay so let's say
[1:49] it's an even 5% for fairness um I mean
yeah I guess that sounds like a good
[1:57] number compared to the 01 we were
getting a few years ago I mean there was
[2:01] nothing and of course savings doesn't
draw nothing um but when you look into
[2:06] the way that our monies are being
invested I just happen to have a whole
[2:10] stack of
statements so we've got a
[2:16] 1.1 0 1 1.0
[2:23] 1.12 um and these are two different
banks 0. five. five let me just put in
[2:29] the middle here
1.01 another 1.01 here's a 1.12 again
[2:34] 1.01
1% um lots of
[2:39] ones5 1.26 there's a biggy so we've got
millions of dollars and I think it would
[2:46] be fair to say that byy and far based on
those just you know going through there
[2:51] you can look through them if you want
but they're mine um the we're talking
[2:55] about
1% okay we're not talking about 15%
[3:00] when you pull a crop off that farm and
you put it in the bank and you can
[3:03] invest in it let's say 5% put in C for
5% um every year you know you can add to
[3:09] your dollar amount make more money but
the current state of our investment
[3:15] policies is not to make money apparently
because all of our accounts could go
[3:20] through the Illinois first program I
think the last I knew was 5 25 something
[3:25] like that so we're already missing out
on 4% there so if you take the 4% let's
[3:30] say just let's say an average of 4%
on I don't know how many millions in the
[3:36] budget right now I I can't tell it's
Millions it's more than more than enough
[3:41] to pay our bills a couple years over um
and then we've got tax money coming in
[3:45] that's a lot of money when you miss 4%
on that kind of dollars you know if you
[3:50] got 50,000 you miss 4% not a big amount
but you start putting a million behind
[3:55] it you got a lot of money so you take
that you take um
[4:01] you know everybody's talking about
liability I don't know how the rest of
[4:04] y'all I think some of you guys know
about cash rent and know about what kind
[4:08] of liability there is if you own a piece
of ground Jeremy you should know I know
[4:11] he knows um there is no liability there
no it's 200 Acres times whatever the bid
[4:19] was and you put the money in the bank
it's done there's no liability if
[4:23] everything dries up and goes to crap
that's just the risk the farmer takes
[4:28] it's not the risk on the count count is
risk of a farmer so that liability issue
[4:32] is gone with cash R and that's what I
advocate for because we all can't seem
[4:35] to get along to negotiate anything else
we kind of we've kind of made our local
[4:40] vendors angry because we don't want to
pay our bills that's our fault we have
[4:43] to correct that but when you start
talking about this man account this
[4:47] isn't all of them and that kind of
dollar amount and then our Treasurer
[4:51] said over here a couple meetings ago and
said um well but we don't really need
[4:57] 40,000 I got news this is a community
what 25 26,000 people you take that
[5:05] 40,000 all the interest lost on this all
that interest adds up and I doubt very
[5:12] much that anytime soon any of you or
anyone on the board that has Farm ground
[5:17] or has Stander at Farm ground a lot of
us have Farm ground in our family I
[5:21] doubt anyone of you is going to put a
sales sign in the front of your field
[5:25] so uh this notion of it not being you
know not having a public purpose and all
[5:30] that
nonsense I haven't seen anybody with
[5:34] actual the actual sorry but the actual
balls to go to the state and say look
[5:39] here's the deal I want to sit down with
somebody I want to R this get this done
[5:42] once and for all what you know is has
there been a determination that it's
[5:47] unlawful there hasn't and the next thing
we could do is if we're concerned about
[5:52] that being an issue I mean we've had a
rescue squad issu solved recently um
[5:58] using our legisl later so why not
propose an amendment that you know it's
[6:04] been determined that the purpose of the
um income off the farm is to supplement
[6:09] the the running of our government and
then we're done but nobody wants to do
[6:13] that they want to sit and tear little
piece of paper in a strips and say why
[6:17] they want to sell it um I've had
constituents I'm not currently a board
[6:20] member but I will be I've had more than
I can count call me and say what is the
[6:25] end
game this has been going on since 21
[6:29] this is just a fleeting thought and my
way of thinking if you're here to sell
[6:34] our farm you probably need to you
probably need to resign because people
[6:39] are not going to put up with it and that
goes for all y'all I'm not looking at
[6:43] Carol because I know where her heart is
I think I know what Tim feels about it
[6:47] and Heath and I have talked about it
jeremi have had words Sean I'm sorry I
[6:50] don't know you very well you you come to
meetings we appreciate you being here I
[6:54] hope you listen to each of us and ask us
if you have questions but when it comes
[6:58] right down to it if you're on our Farm
committee you don't want to see our farm
[7:01] tended to as it has been you need to
find a different committing or quit
[7:06] because these people out here is a
pretty good representation of what your
[7:10] constituents expect and my constituents
are HED and these are people that farm
[7:16] and they know what the risks are they do
it every year they do it every season
[7:20] they take a risk every time but you know
what they keep doing it and there's
[7:23] going to be years they're not going to
make a lot of money and then there's
[7:25] going to be years they do but the
easiest way to get through this is to
[7:29] start farming our ground put our money
in the bank and when the state's
[7:33] attorney or when the U attorney general
if there would be a time that they would
[7:37] come at us and say Here's your letter
it's not
[7:40] constitutional The Next Step handle that
the way the law works is you go to your
[7:45] legislator and you ask for how do we
make it constitutional solve the problem
[7:50] we all somehow lose our our problem
solving abilities I think we need to
[7:55] start thinking about how we solve
problems we don't quit give up and sell
[8:00] what the hell would our world be if we
just quit every time said well somebody
[8:03] told me I couldn't so I couldn't I mean
you know it's it's time that we really
[8:08] think about realistically what your
constituents want and I know what mine
[8:12] want they want they want this nonsense
to be over I mean what are they going to
[8:17] do there's been all these threats about
what they would do here and there and
[8:20] know they they file charges against us
what they going to do send it to Vietnam
[8:25] you're County Board member you're
supposed to do with the r rules that you
[8:29] see your your job is not to determine if
it's constitutional that is their job
[8:35] and if you need help with that there's
numbers you can call there's people you
[8:38] can sit down with and I'm sure that
there would be a couple people even that
[8:42] are non- board members that would go
with you to ask some questions that
[8:45] would be
important so I think we need to try a
[8:48] little bit harder to find a solution
because boy if you give up in life that
[8:52] easy that's that's really a
problem any other public body comment
[9:00] as Farm chair are you able to put on the
agenda to resend the sale of the County
[9:04] Farm for the next board
meeting I don't know I don't know the
[9:09] answer to that
question and my question is is anybody
[9:13] that voted to sell the farm would you
consider resending the sale Mr
[9:19] Marks I'd like I wanted to table it so I
could get some M from my new State's
[9:25] Attorney and do some more research and
it didn't go twice so well it's already
[9:32] recent I mean it's already been voted to
sell so it would need to be enable to do
[9:37] that we would need to resend the vote so
would you be a willing to vote to resend
[9:41] the sale of the farm if that was on the
agenda I cannot com I cannot commit to
[9:47] that at this time but you you you're
saying that you want better legal advice
[9:54] or different legal advice our new States
Attorney advice I wanted to postpone so
[9:59] the new State's Attorney could provide
her legal advice I always like to have
[10:03] as much legal advice as you can get I I
understand thank you for your for your
[10:09] maybe I can find out I don't I don't
know the rules on that
[10:13] sorry but I mean I my uh so my my
purpose of asking that question is I
[10:19] remember a meeting oh I believe it was a
couple years ago maybe three uh where
[10:25] decision was made on EMA and then I
believe you were sended the vote uh I
[10:29] can't quite remember what that was over
but I think it had something to
[10:33] do with
um Ambulance Service of some sort and I
[10:39] believe a boat was resented anybody
remember that I do I remember yep so
[10:45] that is a possibility and I think Carol
as Farm chair you could put that on the
[10:50] agenda and I'd like to see it there and
so like Christine said the people that
[10:55] live in her districts which is the same
district as Mr Williams don't want to
[10:59] see our farm
sold and I would I would like to see
[11:02] Bruce send the sale of the farm on the
next agenda you have a new State's
[11:08] Attorney and you would have time to get
legal advice on what her opinion is if
[11:12] it's
constitutional uh and and her view on
[11:17] public
purpose and so if you could get I I'm
[11:21] requesting and I know she's busy because
she just came into off came into office
[11:27] but I would hope
that maybe she could give a few words on
[11:33] what her position is on
Farming and then put that back on the
[11:38] well put it back on the agenda and see
what the advice is and then let's see
[11:43] what happens because I think it's
important
[11:48] uh to to let the people have a an
opportunity to think about the decision
[11:53] they made I think some people went home
after they made the decision were not
[11:57] really comfortable with it when they
found out the consti is were not uh
[12:02] happy so just something to consider okay
thank you I'll find
[12:07] out any other public body
[12:12] comment I feel like Christine does it
should be um
[12:18] farmed um once it's
sold there will never be any other
[12:24] income off of that land it'll be gone so
I just think it should be
[12:33] fed any other public body comments I
have a
[12:37] question I recently received my tax bill
you did it
[12:43] yes interesting I'm wanted a but anyway
it's gone up
[12:50] $400 is my tax bill gone up because
there's no money coming in off this Farm
[12:56] why is my tax bill going up that much I
have a townhouse I don't have a farm I
[13:01] don't even have a freestanding
house that my tax bill went up
[13:07] $400 that would be a question for Debbie
dway in the assessor's office did you
[13:13] see where I'm coming from her tax bill
tells her where it went
[13:18] up the multiplier or it's usually this
it's usually the school stuff driving it
[13:24] up or this that kind of thing but the
state mandates
[13:32] yeah the state mandates that and the
multiplier is that what you're I think
[13:36] that's is that right
[13:41] anybody
we as a county we voted on that 20 years
[13:46] ago didn't we to go to be yeah and
that's we don't have control over
[13:54] that so the budget you have for next
year has nothing to do with our tax
[14:01] we don't have a budget for next year
yet I thought it was already agreed on
[14:06] not not 2025 we don't do that till July
I believe every Department then gives
[14:13] their budget
to um what's his
[14:21] name BR budget committee will begin
putting next year's budget together
[14:26] there's a long there's a guy that does
it with us that calls us and tells us
[14:30] bther yeah bellweather yeah Bruce Bruce
bellweather he goes
[14:35] over um the budget with all the
committee people like they called me
[14:39] last year about the farm budget you know
how how I wanted what I wanted in it and
[14:45] just decided to have it the same as it
was the year before it was kind of easy
[14:49] for me but you know other departments
have a lot bigger budgets um Carol but
[14:55] bellweather yeah Teresa the last time I
talked to bellweather he hadn't gotten
[14:58] the letter from a return letter from the
county requesting his services does
[15:03] anybody know if they've even contacted
him about
[15:07] helping last time I talked to him he
hadn't been contacted but the 25 budget
[15:12] will be worked on in July I believe and
then the new year starts December 1st so
[15:19] what we're working on now goes through
November 30th the 2024 budget use the
[15:26] mic sorry
people around here saying they can't
[15:31] hear did you all hear me did that answer
your question somewhat okay but I would
[15:38] suggest you talk to Debbie dway and the
assessor's office and I think they can
[15:42] explain
it or the board of
[15:48] review they're back in session okay and
I think they're there on Wednesday
[15:53] Thursday Friday they're not here every
day they're not here every day Wednesday
[15:57] Thursday Friday certain days only till
noon and they're the I believe they're
[16:03] the ones I expected it to go up some
what nothing STS to say in this economy
[16:09] but well a few months back we all got
like a projected tax thing and I think
[16:16] everybody's went up and it was because
of that multiplier and something else
[16:21] I'm
sorry I'm not a tax person
[16:26] so any other public m
[16:42] there is so we'll go to number four I
know if you all have an agenda or not so
[16:46] number four is to discuss and V to send
to the full Lord two foxes offered to
[16:51] plant beings again um the county will
have to P for the chemicals amounting to
[16:58] about 23
468 and the insurance is $83 actually
[17:04] the insurance is in with I sent you all
that projection that he sent me the
[17:10] chemicals and the brought Insurance
together he came up with $
[17:14] 22,4
70 did you all get
[17:19] that um he has the SE beans
donated we had noxious weeds at the farm
[17:27] if we um
if we plant beans it will take care of
[17:31] the noxious weeds we won't be in trouble
with the health department he has also
[17:36] offered to mow the waterways the road
the
[17:40] cemetery the lane at no cost to the
county which is quite a saving I mean
[17:48] this is this is huge I think what he is
offering just because
[17:53] he loves to farm and doesn't want to see
doesn't want to see the farm
[17:59] so I'm going to make a motion that we
send this offer to the full
[18:04] board do I have a
second I'll
[18:10] second can I make a comment second just
a second we'll
[18:24] talk sorry I have to write all this down
that's all right tra
[18:30] now now we comment discussion thank you
m
[18:36] um but do we not need that
resolution to go to the board first to
[18:44] farm the farm and then this could go we
aren't hiring a farmer okay all right he
[18:51] isn't this isn't a private farmer that
is making a profit from this this is
[18:57] what I understand not making a
profit he is donating his
[19:03] time and his
resources and what we're paying for are
[19:09] basically the
[Music]
[19:11] inputs so my question is this if the if
he plants this crop and the farm gets
[19:18] sold he gets he gets the the harvest
okay we would have to make
[19:25] a something in there that he plans it he
would get the Harvest from that well he
[19:31] would get it because he would sell it
and give it to the
[19:34] county okay okay just like he did last
time we got
[19:38] $174 for left two years ago when he did
this so he would Harvest
[19:43] it have a check made out to the county
so the county is not losing anything I I
[19:50] was more worried about him being
offended or upset because of something
[19:55] in there so
what what you mean well if if you know
[20:02] if he planted the crop and was taken
care of it and then it sold and then oh
[20:06] and that person got the got the crop or
whatever you know he had donated his
[20:11] time and and equipment and then but with
you I think we put that in his provision
[20:17] that he gets that the county gets the
proceeds
[20:23] from yes so this is a this is a type of
custom farm uh arangement
[20:29] then I guess last time gave us a dollar
it was a
[20:34] [Music]
dollar um has has this has this been bit
[20:41] out doesn't have to be bit out he's
doing it for free do you know somebody
[20:45] else is going to do it
for no what I what I what I do what I do
[20:53] understand is that it needs to be bit
out the law says it needs to be bit out
[20:56] it wasn't last time it wasn't last
that doesn't make last time right it
[21:01] still needs to be bit
out think so not I mean he he's offering
[21:08] he could go out there right now and pl
those be he's offering to do this for
[21:12] free it's a donation no money it's a Don
but I believe the law requires it to be
[21:17] bit out can you show me that law I don't
have the statute right in front of me I
[21:21] just it just occurred to me I believe
just you might you might want to ask
[21:26] before we take anything to the board or
anything here I might want to ask the
[21:30] state attorney about that statute there
[21:37] too why wouldn't you be that it's a it's
a free
[21:41] donation it is it's a donation it's a
free donation he is saving do you know
[21:45] how much many he's saving us by
[Music]
[21:50] mowing it's $500 every time K Compton
moves out there and he mowed
[21:56] twice the cemetery looks like H I'll
call Bru and ask
[22:03] her theary needs to be Tak care of we
have two Civil War veterans that are
[22:09] buried out there that we're just we
don't pay any attention to these people
[22:14] these 75 people that we know of that are
buried there there at least 100 that are
[22:20] buried
than we're showing no respect whatsoever
[22:25] by letting that Cemetery but I was there
the other day and and the weeds are past
[22:29] my
knees I can't even find Melinda fluky
[22:33] Stone and I have a metal flag in there
to show her her spone is and I can't
[22:38] find it to me that's so
disrespectful Sue has offered to mow
[22:46] that Cemetery as many times as needed
right now he could probably bail hay up
[22:51] there it's so it's so tall so um and you
can't drive down Lane because the weeds
[22:59] are taller than your knees it's you
can't go down get a
[23:04] car so I I I I believe this may still
need to be bit out um but one I think
[23:13] she I think Miss mlock stepped out to
call the state's attorney and that's
[23:17] that's fine but I want to um I want to
in encourage us to get uh to get
[23:26] something in in writing and not taken
off the cuff opinion that hasn't that we
[23:33] know of been thoroughly
researched um so you know taking an
[23:39] offthe cup opinion winds up getting me
in trouble sometimes
[23:44] because I I think if an opinion what's
that what are you talking about an
[23:49] opinion a written legal opinion on
whether or not it needs to be bit out uh
[23:55] so because if it does and we don't then
then that's that's a violation of the
[24:01] law canot be done and still added on
next week's agenda Carol is it time for
[24:05] you to do that actually next week is
about the last week we can probably plan
[24:10] meetings and he knows that and you know
that this is this is a stall IDE you not
[24:18] want to farm you're a correct I do not
want step off the F because we would
[24:24] rather spend 10 $220,000
[24:29] you we would rather spend 10 to $20,000
to burn the
[24:35] weeds and and to disc we have to get rid
of the weeds yes we are going to get
[24:40] fine if we do not get rid of the weeds
so we're going to spend money and get
[24:46] nothing in
return or we're going to spend money and
[24:50] and be guaranteed about
$100,000 with insurance we are
[24:55] guaranteed $100,000
the other the other concern that I had
[25:00] was um the county will pay for chemicals
and and insurance so those those are
[25:07] part of the inputs which are part of the
investments in in operating a farm and
[25:14] um any any any farmer will tell you
there is some risk associated with
[25:18] farming and any any investment into the
input would be an
[25:24] investment into a
risk we have have no risk because if we
[25:29] buy insurance we're
guaranteed in insurance insurance does
[25:34] not mean you're not taking a risk
Insurance everything's a risk Insurance
[25:38] actually acknowledges and admits that we
are taking a risk and that risk would be
[25:43] taken with taxpayer money there is there
is no permission
[25:47] $74,000 there is no permission anywhere
in statute that I'm aware of to invest
[25:54] taxpayer money in anything that bears
any risk so you want to so you want to
[25:58] $20,000 to kill the weeds and that's
taxpayer that you don't
[26:03] care it's that means nothing that would
be that would be maintaining our
[26:07] property which we have statutory
authority to do and it's not a
[26:12] risk it's was money how do the how do
the rest of you guys see this that are
[26:17] sitting there quiet what do you guys
think on this the uh the only kinds of
[26:21] things that the public funds investment
act permits investment in are things
[26:25] like interest bearing accounts things
that bear no risk to the principal oh
[26:29] there's risk in Shelby County there's a
lot of risk like 4% worth the risk there
[26:33] so 4% minimum it's things like bonds and
I've got it pulled up right here it's
[26:39] it's bonds it's going to be savings
accounts it's going to be CDs things
[26:43] that bear no risk to the principal but
taking out insurance yes is a risk
[26:48] mitigation
tool but it acknowledges and admits that
[26:53] we still take the
risk it it it is it is proof that we are
[26:59] taking a risk with taxpayer money and
this is your legal
[27:03] opinion no
[27:06] actually yeah I
[27:12] am I feel like it's a mistake to sell
the farm
[27:17] however at the last board meeting there
was a vote
[27:21] taken and the majority voted to sell the
farm I don't agree with it I think it's
[27:28] a
mistake but that's what the vote was 12
[27:35] to9 I believe 12 to
S okay there were 19 people there
[27:43] okay
I but that doesn't mean we can't have a
[27:48] crop this year before it
sells we don't know when it's going to
[27:53] sell it could be next winter
[28:01] I mean right it hasn't been appraised it
hasn't been surveyed you make a good
[28:06] point I I feel like the vote was taken
to sell
[28:13] it you voted the for we did without
legal
[28:18] opinion I'm sorry I voted yeah yeah I
voted yes yes I did yeah but we lost we
[28:27] lost
so do you feel like we shouldn't grow a
[28:31] crop while it's while we have all the
weeds out
[28:36] there get as much as we can and then
when it setts it
[28:44] yeah what would it hurt to have Ruth
come and discuss the options and the
[28:49] legalities of it I don't know if you I
don't know if that matters Crystal we
[28:55] well not we but the board the board
voted to sell the farm but without a but
[29:01] without a current legal
opinion do you think that's going to
[29:04] change the vote I think it could Sean
expressed concern that he'd like to
[29:08] speak with Ruth about it and I he didn't
really elaborate on how he tried to do
[29:11] it twice and it didn't happen but I
would think Ruth would be approachable
[29:15] for him to discuss it with her and to
get some answers because I think
[29:18] everybody needs some answers because
Jeremy's legal opinion is not a legal
[29:22] opinion it's his opinion he's not each
of you should be Ruth on your own but it
[29:26] would be prudent I think for everyone to
step and say well we got to stop this in
[29:29] his tracks this is a very Bal issue we
need Ruth to come in and sit down and
[29:33] let us answer some
questions what we have on the agenda
[29:37] right now is about St it isn't about
selling the
[29:41] farm can I say some I am on the board
sure why is it such a hard thing to
[29:50] think that you could have stew farming
you can get some Revenue off of it and
[29:55] even if you sell it that money goes into
into the general fund to help pay bills
[30:01] how hard is that for people to
understand I don't if any one of you had
[30:07] that option with your own personal
finances you would walk away from
[30:12] it yes you would no I wouldn't oh God
then why are you doing that with our
[30:17] farm
J because it is
[30:21] not Mr chairman if I if I
may it is not the role of the government
[30:28] to be a proactive player in the private
sector it is not the role of government
[30:34] to compete
economically with its own
[30:40] constituents legal
[30:44] opinion it is if it were private ground
as was just just said then a private
[30:50] citizen would not have this problem they
could do any of the above options that
[30:55] we've discussed and probably a lot that
we haven't but I I am going to make the
[31:00] motion to table until we can do exactly
what has been suggested and that is get
[31:06] a written legal opinion from the state's
attorney on on specifically
[31:14] addressing uh whether or not we can
invest taxpayer funds in in in a in a
[31:22] risk and whether or not the uh whether
or not it needs to be bid out if I could
[31:30] get a second take a vote there's already
a motion on the table
[31:35] sorry I think Jeremy talked to Mr
Handlin more than anybody sitting up
[31:40] there and he I know that they've had
conversations about
[31:46] it okay Jeremy has made a motion to
table is there a second
[31:56] [Music]
[32:01] so we just so let me State your motion
again I I made the motion to T until we
[32:07] get a written legal opinion from the
state's attorney on whether or not we
[32:11] can invest and knowing if you too
late money into into a risk investment
[32:19] no risk and on on whether or not it
needed to be
[32:26] out there was no second
table it don't go on the meeting next
[32:30] week too late can you table it and have
have call meeting next week before the
[32:34] board
meeting why is he so generous to do this
[32:39] because he's a farmer he's always been a
farmer he's like a third generation
[32:43] farmer May before he hates to see the
ground and girl in Weeds he did this for
[32:51] two years
ago the county ended up with
[32:56] $174,000 which more than paid for uh the
St the assistant States Attorney
[33:00] severance package and other person um
$12,500 that nobody knows
[33:10] um who and it's not taxpayer money that
is revenue from the crop it is not
[33:16] taxpayer money and I know Jeremy likes
to say once you put that money into the
[33:20] general fund it's taxpayer money but it
is not we sold that crop it went into
[33:27] the F and it goes out and pays for all
sorts of stuff it is public funds it is
[33:33] public funds it is public funds it is
not taxpayer money those those tax it is
[33:38] not taxes on your tax form that paid for
any that that is free money from the
[33:45] sale of that crop but those two terms
are
[33:48] interchangeable but it's not taxpayer
money like you said okay so it's public
[33:52] so it's public funds it's still public
funds but it is not taxpayer money so
[33:56] taxpayers if you look on your tax bill
it did not say that this money went to
[34:02] the farm it just went into the general
fund and it paid for the State's
[34:06] Attorney's Office it paid for a de
gunway or anybody it it was a huge
[34:11] amount of money who was
donating
[34:17] somebody I don't know who it is but if
you want me to
[34:25] call up
any more discussion on I'm kind of
[34:31] leaning toward let's go ahead and plant
B
[34:35] yes
[34:39] sense the public purpose of doing so is
what the public purpose of the use of
[34:45] the land when planting beans is what she
just told is to pay
[34:50] for um County expenses and to relieve
the burden of the taxpayers
[35:01] so so so making money then we're going
to call making money a public purpose
[35:06] that's that's what you're saying we're
going to go into private business when
[35:09] when the Supreme Court has already ruled
that counties are not are not authorized
[35:14] to go into private business the Illinois
Supreme Court has held that the statutes
[35:19] are presumed to be constitutional and
the Supreme Court has held that the
[35:23] legisl decides what a public
purposes so in uh dun versus the county
[35:29] of Rock Island and versus Johnson when
the Supreme Court ruled that counties
[35:34] are not authorized to enter into private
business we're going to compete with our
[35:39] own constituents our local
farmers with
[35:45] anybody with you absolutely we
are the new Farm Bill recognizes the
[35:51] farming as serving a public purpose in
that the revenue is used to pay County
[35:55] expenses and it relieves a burden on the
tax taxers ex ex there you GOP didn't
[36:04] they didn't they didn't they remove that
wasn't that in this first the first
[36:09] amendment in the Senate CU they had in
there funding the operations of the
[36:13] government like was said earlier and the
Senate removed that
[36:17] language they removed that before they
passed HB 1076 because they saw the
[36:22] Constitutional
concern I do remember that the they
[36:26] asked the senator
if he was trying to change the
[36:29] Constitution and he said no he was not
trying to change the Constitution I do
[36:33] remember reading that when I did all the
research on that 1076 bills yeah Senator
[36:38] Plummer was asked that in in in
Springfield in session right before they
[36:41] voted on that no we still 76 says you do
not have to have a specific purpose
[36:47] correct and that that is uh that you
don't you don't designates like a couple
[36:53] years ago the board considered farming
the farm and allocating
[36:58] the profits to courthouse maintenance
right you can't you
[37:02] can't do that just go the general Cas
for stuff it's paying is $74,000 to what
[37:08] name so law designating designating the
profits from the
[37:15] farm is a specific public purpose you
don't designate a specific public
[37:19] purpose we're not desting going to put
your we're not designating anything it's
[37:23] going into the general I didn't say we
were I'm giving an example while I lead
[37:27] into
something if we were to designate that
[37:31] would be a specific public purpose die
there's no second that would be a
[37:36] specific public purpose but we can't do
that and that's why that's why you don't
[37:41] have a specific public purpose it
removed the requirement because you
[37:45] never have a requirement for that so but
you still have to you have to have a
[37:50] public
purpose you don't you don't put it
[37:53] toward this or put it toward that or put
it toward the next thing it has to have
[37:56] a public purpose in a in a general sense
okay we're going to vote on this yes
[38:02] could I I
yeah wouldn't farming the farm be a
[38:06] public purpose in itself it's um well
the noxious weeds are a problem if we
[38:12] knock down the weeds that serving a
public purpose so you dis the weeds
[38:16] under that's another option yeah that's
$6,000 yeah my challenge is
[38:24] is with everything that Stew's offering
to donate it's like our our cost is
[38:29] almost equal like I agree in principle
with everything but I'm like well we're
[38:33] going to have the same you know disc in
the weeds yet solves the problem today
[38:37] but a month from now the weeds are
back the cover crop solve the same
[38:41] problem you do not cover till the all
but but we're spending you know we're
[38:46] spending money that will not generate
any income I'm like
[38:50] well so if your principle of public
purpose is over here and the donation is
[38:55] over here how
how much how much are the principles
[39:02] worth are they worth the farm inputs are
they worth the Constitutional violation
[39:06] are they worth it's not a constitutional
are they worth abandoning the oath of
[39:10] office to honor the Constitution or
uphold the Constitution we've voted to
[39:15] sell it Jeremy we're farming it one more
time yeah then then let then let's PL a
[39:23] cover crop let's do something good for
the so
[39:30] okay I'm going to call for a
vote Jeremy what exactly are we oh we're
[39:35] voting on number four for Sue to plant
the beans the county will pay for the
[39:43] inputs the chical and the
insurance um the SE be are donated St
[39:50] will mow the waterways the roads the
cemetery at no cost to the county
[40:00] I vote
Yes T yes Jeremy no Carol yes Sean yes
[40:08] ke yes four yes one
no
[40:20] passes so we will put that on the agenda
for an hour we talk to that stuff number
[40:25] five is discuss and go the County Farm
only if it isn't Farms I don't even know
[40:30] if we need to go to this um I talked to
Candy Compton
[40:36] he he mowed twice last year at $500 each
time but he did not mow the cemetery
[40:41] more than twice and I feel like the
cemetery needs to be mowed more and St
[40:46] says he would take care of it as many
times as it needs to be mowed do we need
[40:51] which I think is quite generous do we
need to vote to send this to the board
[40:55] in case item four fails at the full
board cuz if item four fails at the full
[41:02] board then we're back to square one with
nobody Mowing and everything else do we
[41:08] need to vote I'm I'm just trying to
cover all our bases here cuz we're going
[41:12] to have a mess we got a mess out there
now we need we do have a mess so let me
[41:16] read this so it's discuss and vote on
wearing County Farm only if the ground
[41:19] is not farmed can you pump waterways in
Cemetery for $500 each time to diss your
[41:24] entire Farm approximately 28 Acres he
charged us $6,000 last
[41:31] fall
so
[41:37] if if we don't Farm
it and we have to mow it I believe it's
[41:42] still has to have a burn
down I'm not sure the dis being
[41:49] would take care of that's just another
burn down
[41:56] $1,000 and that's basically the first I
don't know that
[42:00] you when he dissed it last year it
was so hard because we hadn't had any
[42:06] rain the there there actually we have
wheat growing out of the farm right now
[42:12] it's volunteer weed from you have to
walk through the weed to get to the
[42:17] cemetery and the weeds aren't actually
as tall as the weed but you're
[42:21] tall
um yeah if you just it now to get rid of
[42:27] that it would have to be done again
unless you get a crop unless you get a
[42:31] cover crop or beans planted in it but
you don't do a cover crop you can do
[42:36] cover I I read from the ufi that you can
do cover crops in both warm season and
[42:42] fall there's cover crops you can do in
the spring and the summer and then
[42:46] there's cover crops that you can do in
the fall so I was researching that cover
[42:50] crop because um it was on the agenda
okay well let's go back to let's wait
[42:55] and do that that's
there so does somebody want to make a
[43:00] motion to put the
mo on the agenda or do you want to skip
[43:06] it
that's I'll make a motion that we that
[43:10] if it's not put if the county Farm's not
is not V on to be farmed this year that
[43:16] we entertain this well we need do we
need to take bids for mowing no cuz
[43:21] normally I thought we had to take bids
for everything as long as it falls under
[43:26] the bid so I'll make a motion that we if
the if the County Farm is not voted on
[43:31] to be farmed
it we send this to the county board for
[43:34] approve second okay 10 seconds we got to
do something right something has to be
[43:40] done okay any other discussion on
can
[43:49] any if not we'll take a
vote all those in favor yes yes yes
[43:58] opposed Samson
[44:02] all number six is a discuss vote to
receive bids for a cover crop including
[44:07] chemical seed applications planning
hiring a
[44:11] farmer
[Music]
[44:15] um on st's proposal he also had cover
crop estimates on his estimate came up
[44:22] to $116,000 low over
$16,000 that was to spray the chemical
[44:29] because you have to have a burn down
first you have to get rid of the
[44:34] weeds and then the crop the
[44:40] drilling you have to hire a farmer this
just doesn't get done by
[44:45] itself I Jeremy had a
proposal but it didn't say anything
[44:51] about hiring a farm yeah um I uh I
reached out to K and he didn't get back
[44:58] with me with an email but he did um he
he did he did discuss with me um uh he
[45:06] and several others uh mentioned kitchen
seeds which is the place in Arthur they
[45:12] uh they specialize in small seed like
that uh there were there were a few
[45:17] options um the one that he recommended
was to do uh uh he said barley is good
[45:23] ahead of corn because uh Ry and corn can
carry the same kinds of diseases so you
[45:29] put Rye ahead of beans and barley ahead
of corn uh he said barley at 49 cents a
[45:34] pound at 50 lb an acre and he also
recommended uh to mix some radish in
[45:40] there because that will help put some
nitrogen back in soil that will be that
[45:44] will be uh good for the soil uh radishes
at $2 a pound at 5 lb an acre uh so and
[45:52] I I told him just to use the rough
average at 200 200 acres and that came
[45:57] out to uh
6,900 for for that mix to help put
[46:01] nitrogen back in the soil it would also
keep the weeds down and for application
[46:06] purposes I spoke with Kenny and he uh is
not going to do
[46:12] it
no
[46:18] okay okay that's he told you something
different than he told me did he tell
[46:23] you he do
[46:27] I see from what I understand the farmers
IO
[46:32] um radish and the
other green cannot be sewn at the same
[46:40] time so that's different passes that's
not just one
[46:44] pass I believe you can mix those in
that's what I've been told I've always
[46:49] did it together
but did radish turnips and red clovers
[46:55] together just a spinner truck and then
we dissed it
[46:59] in and then I also heard that radishes
smell really bad and it's like somebody
[47:04] died they that that's actually then were
turnips one or the other can but you'd
[47:10] have to have a really thick stand like I
don't I really don't think at that rate
[47:15] it'd be a problem yeah so Kenny uh Kenny
said uh there were there were different
[47:22] options you can you can drill those in
or you can broadcast them and dis them
[47:28] in and he doesn't drill what's that he
does not drill I believe didn't he
[47:34] drilled the
wheat I don't think yeah he farmed a
[47:39] wheat crop last year he drilled the
wheat in did did he drill it though like
[47:43] I me we used to just just weed it too I
mean I don't know how he did it okay did
[47:48] he said he would do it he said uh let's
see here uh if you want me to disc in
[47:54] The Barley turnips and radishes which is
your just barley and radishes I could do
[47:58] it for $30 an acre and again the same
offer as last year for the mowing that
[48:03] that you you already had in there so and
I I've uh I've discussed the possibility
[48:10] with uh with some different folks
and because there because of the weeds
[48:15] you could disc the weeds
down broadcast the seed disc it
[48:22] in or you could disc the weeds and drill
the seed in
[48:28] [Music]
the the drilling is the better the
[48:31] better option for it to take root and
come up and germinate and all that
[48:37] um but a second pass with the disc isn't
a bad idea
[48:42] either can someone clarify what it costs
an acre all total versus beans that's
[48:48] what I want to know because you're
coming up with all these numbers and by
[48:51] the time you're got all said and done
may as well just put beans in and got
[48:54] income off of it because the cover crap
get till
[48:58] under girl
left I mean they're saying 30 bucks an
[49:04] acre to disc so yeah so that's what he
charged last year so that's six grand
[49:09] and then if you do if you either disc it
in again or drill it assuming that's 30
[49:14] bucks an acre a second time so there's
another six so there's 12 if you got to
[49:17] make two passes and then you I guess you
wouldn't have a burn down then you'd
[49:21] have your seeg cost which was what 7,000
almost yeah 7,000 so that's
[49:27] and what are beans what would bean price
be just for beans knowing you're going
[49:30] to get a profit off of it cuz the
intention of a cover crop correct me if
[49:34] I'm wrong people that don't know it's to
improve the Organics of the soil if you
[49:38] got a really heavily clay sometimes
they'll do things like they Trad K and
[49:43] all these other mixes and turnips and
stuff to add some of that back to the
[49:46] soil so you don't you don't get a crop
off of it you don't sell anything
[49:50] typically correct sometimes people bail
it but I mean erosion control in our
[49:54] case the cover crop my mind is to choke
the weeds out so that we're not spraying
[50:01] it or dis if we're going to settle it
why would we
[50:05] have it would put nitrogen back in the
[Music]
[50:10] soil
why back in if somebody's going to buy
[50:15] the prop which would make it which would
make it more
[50:19] marketable
[50:23] as over the
I say from a nitrogen standpoint I don't
[50:29] necessarily care but buying 200 Acres
that's got you know noxious weeds This
[50:34] Tall versus buying 200 Acres that has
some cover crop there is to Jeremy's
[50:40] point value in there being cover crop on
it and it not having that weed bank so
[50:46] how much value does it have when there's
a when it's producing a crop though eth
[50:50] it's producing let's say I don't know
eight a bush acre beans yeah 260 Bush an
[50:55] acre corn how much that got versus
govern you know it'll produce something
[51:01] it depends on which point of view you're
looking at are you're looking at it from
[51:04] the County's point of view as income or
you looking at it as somebody buying it
[51:08] I mean we shouldn't be worried about
somebody buying that's the whole point
[51:12] would be P you know if we this about
what's best for all if we justed it
[51:15] twice and then put the cover crop in the
radishes and and barley right then
[51:22] that's
[Music]
[51:24] 19k and chemicals alone according to
St is 21k so that's and then the crop
[51:34] insurance here 22 you spend 22k or you
spend 19k you get Revenue with the 22k
[51:41] you get you get
money only if go yeah
[51:48] only I got4 cover crop I
would what you say
[51:56] Mark
[Music]
[52:06] you so do we have a motion for
[52:12] this I'll make the motion to do the the
the cover crop with the uh from from
[52:20] Kitchen seed with the uh with the
numbers provided for barley and radishes
[52:26] um and uh and for Kenny to to do what he
said he would do unless he told you
[52:33] something different
since since he spoke to
[52:38] me Carol can you text him and see Ken
says he cannot drill the seed he would
[52:44] need somebody else to do that all he can
do is dis the ground and he could he
[52:50] could broadcast it in disc this the
ground and I have no way of planting he
[52:54] said I how did he plant the we then he
probably just used a he would dis for
[53:00] $30 an acre and mow the grass and water
weights
[53:05] for so he will not do the
cut um he could uh I think he told me he
[53:14] he could broadcast it and disc it in or
or we could have um we could have I
[53:20] think South Central has done our our
stuff before hasn't it but we don't know
[53:24] how much that is
no
[53:27] idea all we know is
that the the seed
[53:34] is6 than that we don't have any other
numers would have to be out
[53:43] I and to me that's like
farming you want put that that's farming
[53:50] just like he did he did tell me on on
Monday that he would he would dis in
[53:56] turnips and radishes which this is just
barley and radishes and he do it for $30
[54:00] an acre the same as discing that's
that's what he told me he would
[54:04] do and then we have an application fee
for somebody to spread it right for FS
[54:10] or whoever to spread
[54:14] it do
[54:19] that is that farming because it's
farming like just like st's farming that
[54:25] would that would
that would just be maintenance of the
[54:29] property would that have b out like the
lab and stuff as long as it falls
[54:35] beneath the bid threshold and no that's
farming Jeremy that's not
[54:41] M far for nothing it's the bid
threshold for nothing
[54:47] threshold you just said you were going
to have to put it out for bid and stew
[54:50] was going to farm it for free m but if
it falls underneath the bid threshold
[54:55] you don't have to bid it out so what's
the bid threshold st's going to do it
[54:58] for nothing so what's the bid threshold
you got to give you 10 bucks it was a
[55:03] dollar last oh
sorry well I mean come
[55:08] on we got to put it out for bid no we
don't for Christ's sake talking out both
[55:15] sides of your
mouth okay so Jeremy's made a motion on
[55:19] this I I thought we already had a motion
to plant beans and we did this is a
[55:27] motion cover we're sending it to the
full board what if full board doesn't I
[55:32] think we need to send options I mean
okay if we send one thing in the boat in
[55:37] the board boats no one farming be or
putting the beans then we're screw then
[55:42] we're back to square one and another
down the
[55:46] road if somebody decides they
[55:51] don't I'll second Jeremy's motion on the
cover crop just in case the beans don't
[55:57] okay we got to do something with that
land
[56:07] out but we still don't have
[56:13] numbers we can't have probably by the
board me absolutely what's that we can't
[56:18] have by the board meeting sure so that's
next
[56:22] Thursday by Tuesday to have it on the
agenda to have it by Tuesday for the
[56:31] agenda all those in favor of covered
crop I I
[56:37] yes how
[56:45] manys four yeses and one no I'm going to
vote
[56:51] now
okay um
[56:58] we have any old
[57:04] business we
have
[57:09] L old business we a new
[57:19] business
[57:24] bu no
are we
[57:28] done motion to Sean makes a motion
[57:34] to did somebody second it I'll second 10
seconds all those in favor hi
[57:44] opposed this okay an hour hey
that's that's good thank you everybody
[57:52] we have Public Safety tomorrow evening
guys saf
[57:56] at
6:30 I 6 I won't either okay I told um
[58:02] you told Tad that I would not I got to
teach class tomorrow final
[58:12] class I appreciate you standing up and
advocating last board meeting for that
[58:17] and I wish the other two could come with
you and make a passionate oh as
[58:22] passionate of a thing and I think more
people might come along if it wasn't
[58:25] just Mom sorry about last month I was
tired when I was talking to you at the
[58:32] at the cookout and I didn't forgot all
about I had to be I had an officer
[58:36] meeting and and association meeting I
forgot thank
[58:43] you thank you yeah I can't move those
chairs there and put that up there over
[58:48] the road
[59:00] I can probably get it you not yet not
yet I I will here just a
[59:06] minute should be off while
everybody yeah it
[59:15] should
[59:20] off please