[0:09] Good evening, everyone.
Thank you very much for coming tonight.
[0:14] And if you would please like to call
Wednesday, August 26th board meeting to
[0:18] order and
Thomas Porter.
[0:21] Proper.
>> Here.
[0:23] » Blake.
>> Here.
[0:25] » Goddard.
>> Here.
[0:26] » Graham.
Hall.
[0:28] » Here.
>> Harris.
[0:30] » Here.
>> Hopkins.
[0:31] » Here.
>> Johnston.
[0:33] » Here.
>> Longfellow.
[0:34] » Here.
>> Middle.
[0:35] » Here.
>> Milo.
[0:36] » Here.
>> Mingus.
[0:38] » Here.
>> Niles.
[0:39] » Here.
>> Peralta.
[0:41] » Here.
>> Rich Dickson.
[0:42] » Here.
>> Schmiegel.
[0:44] » Here.
>> Schneider.
[0:47] Send.
>> Here.
[0:48] » Saul.
>> Here.
[0:49] » Stump.
>> Here.
[0:50] » Woodrum.
>> Here.
[0:52] » Chairman Green.
>> Here.
[0:54] » We have a quorum.
[1:01] » Lord, we come before you again this
evening and we thank you once again for
[1:04] all the blessings in our life.
For the opportunity to serve one another
[1:08] and to serve each other and just
to to give of ourselves.
[1:13] Thank you for your son who died for us
have eternal life. So, choose please
[1:18] just help us to honor him and honor you
with our words and actions this evening.
[1:22] Watch over us in this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
[1:24] » Amen.
>> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[1:28] United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
[1:34] under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
[1:44] » Thank you all very much.
[1:47] And we have
communications from members of the
[1:51] public and county employees. And we're
going to start with this here, so
[1:55] Gretchen or Suzanne,
if you'd like to come on up and give us
[1:59] your
Yes.
[2:10] » You want to change the lights cuz I'm
short and blonde.
[2:17] My name is Suzanne Vanderham and I'm
from East Peoria. And I have been
[2:21] attending the last few of land use
committee meetings regarding the writing
[2:24] of a data center ordinance package.
I come before this full board meeting
[2:29] again to ask for the members to do two
things. First, I ask you to stop this
[2:35] cop-out of saying the state told us no
and enact a full year moratorium on all
[2:41] data centers in Caswell County.
I'm sick and tired of seeing city after
[2:46] city do something you are all too
frightened to accomplish.
[2:50] The current ruling of we don't have an
ordinance so no one can build one is
[2:54] weak.
Be brave
[2:57] and follow through with what the
citizens of this county have asked for
[3:01] time and time again and file a
moratorium preferably this week.
[3:07] The second item
is to have the Loudoun County process a
[3:10] copy-paste of the Aurora City data
center ordinance verbatim into a first
[3:15] draft of or their ordinance and pass it
along to their attorney for review.
[3:21] Yes, I understand that not everything a
municipality can do is allowed by a
[3:26] county
but we
[3:28] the only way to start is to take a first
step.
[3:31] Copying what Aurora just passed this
March after feedback from citizens'
[3:35] horrible experience with the current
hyper-scale data centers
[3:39] is the best first step this board could
take to protecting your citizens.
[3:44] Additionally, what I heard the land use
committee say state is that they want
[3:48] experts to talk about data centers from
topics including our precious aquifers,
[3:54] construction, noise pollution, and
closed-loop systems. I am part of a
[3:58] statewide group of
opposing data center developments.
[4:03] And there are dozens of experts to put
you in contact with, most at no cost to
[4:07] the board.
Specifically, I have contacted the
[4:11] Illinois State Water Survey at
University of Illinois, where director
[4:15] and state hydrologist Jenna Shelton is
ready to drive up and speak with you at
[4:20] the next full board meeting or anytime
in between with a Zoom
[4:24] with a Zoom meeting, if you wish.
You have people willing to help you get
[4:28] this ordinance across the goal line if
you would like to take the time to
[4:32] listen and move with haste.
The billionaires are not stopping unless
[4:36] you take the time to put up roadblocks.
Make haste.
[4:42] » Thank you very much.
[4:45] Mr. Odin.
[5:03] » Last Thursday is our at our veterans
meeting in Tremont,
[5:07] uh
I invited those that wanted to come and
[5:10] make this announcement and the room was
silent, so it just stuck with me.
[5:18] Chairman Grimm, distinguished board,
my name is Rick Odin, the founder of the
[5:22] Tremont Grade School Fist Bumping
Veterans.
[5:26] We are now branched out to the middle
school and the high school.
[5:30] We are a band of 23 brothers and one
sister
[5:33] who have just begun our 10th year of
welcoming students to school every
[5:37] Thursday morning.
I'm here tonight to announce that our
[5:42] group will be hosting,
along with the Tremont Winning in
[5:46] communities, the Vietnam traveling
memorial wall September 2nd through 6th,
[5:53] 2027 at Tremont City Park
along the Tiber Creek on Route 9.
[6:00] The last time the wall was in this area
was September 2024 when it was in East
[6:06] Peoria.
This is a big undertaking for us, but
[6:10] one we're excited about to continue to
educate Central Illinois communities to
[6:15] never forget the sacrifice of over
58,000
[6:19] men and women whose names
are etched in granite in DC.
[6:25] » [clears throat]
>> The wall is a 3/5 replica of the wall in
[6:30] DC.
Most of our group are Vietnam or Vietnam
[6:33] era vets and feel a real responsibility
to the heroes on that wall to do our
[6:39] part because we were blessed to come
home.
[6:46] » [clears throat]
>> There's a real responsibility
[6:50] » Sorry.
>> I have placed a handout on the table
[6:55] back there
um with some more information.
[6:59] Our group is also here to support
Tazewell County VAC Superintendent C.J.
[7:05] Polcher. We learned that he would be
addressing the board tonight and we want
[7:09] to throw our support behind him.
A year ago I attended my first Tazewell
[7:15] County VAC meeting.
I asked how long the meeting lasted and
[7:20] I was told 15 minutes.
In 15 minutes we were walking out the
[7:24] door.
No reports were given and only about
[7:29] eight delegates were present. No
business was conducted.
[7:33] Most all of us uh here tonight
Brother Chuck and I
[7:39] um
we're told to go to the Peoria County
[7:42] VAC file our VA claims and that's what
we did.
[7:45] Thankfully, Chairman Grimm, County
Liaison John Hopkins,
[7:50] and others saw the problems and involved
themselves to create changes to address
[7:56] the VA needs of Tazewell County vets.
Since June and the hiring of CJ, the
[8:03] contrast couldn't be more stark or
profound.
[8:07] He has taken a dilapidated body and
breathed new life into it. While our
[8:12] claims were addressed through the P- the
Peoria County VAC, we are Tazewell
[8:17] County vets and we feel connection to
the Tazewell County VAC. Thank you.
[8:25] » Thank you, sir.
[8:32] All right, CJ, we'll have you next.
[8:37] So, CJ, as you guys have met before, is
the new superintendent of the Tazewell
[8:41] County VAC. Welcome in, CJ. We're glad
to have you. What can we do?
[8:47] » Uh good evening, uh distinguished
members of the County Board and
[8:50] Executive Committee. Mr. Odi, thank you
for your support from the phenomenal
[8:54] work that is the Tazewell County vets.
I don't want to take up a whole lot of
[8:59] time tonight. I just kind of wanted to
give you guys a quick address of uh
[9:04] how we exist,
why we exist, and what we're about.
[9:09] Give you a glimpse into the future,
where we're going, and some of the
[9:12] strides that we've made thus far.
>> [clears throat]
[9:15] » The next slide is just a quote from uh
330 ILCS 45, uh straight from subsection
[9:22] nine.
This is uh
[9:25] This is the the how. In counties having
two or more veteran service
[9:28] organizations,
those veteran service organizations may
[9:32] come together to form a veteran
assistance commission.
[9:36] And together that commission is charged
with the responsibility of providing
[9:40] just the necessary assistance to those
veterans in need.
[9:46] I found it interesting in doing a little
bit of research uh in the history. And
[9:50] I'm not going to read all these bullet
slides here,
[9:53] but Illinois legislators in the late
1800s recognized the need to support
[9:59] their veterans.
Primarily, veterans returning from the
[10:03] Civil War.
This is approximately 40 years ahead of
[10:08] the federal government identifying the
need and establishing the Department of
[10:13] uh
Veterans Administration in 1930 as
[10:16] signed by uh
Herbert Hoover in Executive Order 5308.
[10:23] Our progenitor for the modern-day
Veterans Assistance Act is actually the
[10:27] 1907 Burial Act.
That's where 330 ILCS grew from.
[10:33] Go to the next slide.
We've undergone many changes throughout
[10:38] the years. Uh our capacity has grown.
Uh it's expanded upon the the need of
[10:43] providing assistance to Civil War vets,
obviously, but the veterans of all
[10:47] conflicts.
And it's interesting that uh the
[10:50] language within the
the statutes states families and
[10:55] families of deceased veterans, veterans
themselves.
[11:03] This is our proposed vision, our mission
statement. We're still kicking it
[11:07] around. We're
young in our
[11:11] re-imagining
uh life cycle here.
[11:14] Uh we've undergone a lot of growth in
the past 2 and 1/2 months.
[11:18] Not going to read the slide to you, but
I think it's pretty straightforward as
[11:21] far as
[11:24] what we're here to do.
[11:30] The next slide is the one I would really
like to spend a little bit of time on.
[11:34] Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot
of records prior to 2016 or even at the
[11:38] beginning of 2016.
And a lot of this looks like it's going
[11:42] to focus on our discretionary functions,
but I will highlight the the the numbers
[11:46] at the bottom as well.
Currently, we started 2016 with a
[11:51] full-time staff of four personnel.
Two certified and accredited veteran
[11:57] service officers that were able to help
veterans and their families file claims
[12:02] from state and local entities.
We were capable of conducting a total of
[12:08] 25 appointments maximum weekly.
And we were recouping approximately
[12:14] $40,000 monthly.
Our walk-ins up through May, we were
[12:19] averaging about 10 a month.
Since the end of May, this is my
[12:24] projection and this is actually current
as of the end of July. We're going up to
[12:30] a full-time support of six full-time
staff members.
[12:35] By the end of October, we're going to
have six certified and accredited
[12:38] veteran service officers
to meet the the needs of the 7,300
[12:43] approximately 7,300 veterans of the
county.
[12:46] We're already up to recouping about
$85,000 monthly average on the average,
[12:51] and I'm anticipating we're going to peak
over $750,000
[12:55] in federal aid recouped funds by the end
of this fiscal year.
[13:00] That equates to about a 1 to 1.98 ratio.
So, for every dollar that Taz- Tazewell
[13:06] County taxpayers spend on our existence,
we're looking at returning about $2 this
[13:13] year.
Now, the future,
[13:16] what I'm projecting, what our
capabilities are going to grow to,
[13:20] depending on the workload and the op
tempo,
[13:23] will be between eight to 10 full-time
personnel.
[13:28] Every single person is going to be
certified and accredited as a veteran
[13:31] service officer.
We're going to grow to max appointments
[13:35] weekly of 96 to 128.
Steadily
[13:40] recouping, I'm anticipating 425,000
monthly.
[13:45] And I'm looking at a little over 5
million annually. And that's going to
[13:49] give us a return rate of $1
uh $6.25 to every dollar spent on us.
[13:57] Now, the numbers that I'm really uh
excited about right now are our
[14:00] walk-ins.
Uh
[14:03] ever since uh June 1st, we're up to 100
now. That's a 1,000% increase in a short
[14:08] 2 and 1/2 months.
And our appointments being made, we're
[14:11] up roughly 400 to 450%
above. So, we're growing steadily.
[14:17] And we're doing this through
partnerships with uh
[14:20] surrounding county veterans assistance
commissions, building a network of
[14:24] partnerships.
[14:28] So, what is it exactly that we provide?
This is the what.
[14:33] We've got primary functions and
discretionary functions. Our primary
[14:36] function is exactly why we came into
existence in the first place, to provide
[14:41] emergency financial assistance for
returning veterans.
[14:45] We're here to be a a stop gap or a
bridge, if you will, and mentors to to
[14:50] get veterans and their family members to
to where they need
[14:54] uh to be able to sustain themselves.
We'll do that through uh
[14:59] mortgage assistance if they're about to
be evicted, rental assistance if they
[15:02] lost their job,
uh utilities, water, sanitary.
[15:08] Uh indigent burial is also one of our
charters. And I also threw
[15:12] transportation up there as an implied
task.
[15:15] Cuz not all veterans have the ability to
be able to get to and from
[15:19] compensation pension exams, medical
appointments, and what not.
[15:23] Our discretionary functions is really
where we're focusing on growing. That's
[15:28] something that really didn't come into
law until the 2022-2023
[15:31] revision of the act.
That's where we're going to be
[15:37] That's where I'm focusing on the veteran
service officers being certified and
[15:40] accredited to help file claims and every
group, state, and federal benefits.
[15:48] We're also tasked with uh
looking at relocation. I'm not going to
[15:52] get into the weeds here. We are very
busy with
[15:55] identifying the best location uh
both financially and uh
[16:05] uh accessibility.
Uh we want to be easily accessible to
[16:09] all the veterans of Tazewell County.
But, we have so far looked at four
[16:13] different locations in East Peoria, two
in Morton, and one right here in uh
[16:18] Pekin. And, we're getting ready to visit
the the Pekin site again tomorrow.
[16:23] But, more on that to follow. We don't
want to rush to failure. We're going to
[16:26] take our time to select the best
location.
[16:33] I did fail to mention on the last slide
a couple of things I am excited about
[16:37] and
uh the networking, the departmentship.
[16:41] Uh we we've been engaging a lot of
community members, uh a lot of
[16:45] organizations, uh stakeholders that can
help us provide resources to veterans
[16:50] that we may not be able to get for
ourselves.
[16:54] Uh we're going to be visiting all the
veteran service organizations during
[16:58] their meetings and providing easy access
to BSOs, a BSO on your corner type of
[17:03] idea.
Uh we've uh just entered into
[17:06] partnership with uh
uh Trouble Free HVAC and the Peoria
[17:10] Rivermen to
uh recognize one veteran at each home
[17:15] game this year. And, I anticipate going
to uh that extending to Peoria Chiefs
[17:19] next spring.
We're excited about that. We're We're
[17:23] working in conjunction with Peoria
County on that as well.
[17:27] Uh
we're going to be at the
[17:31] Marigold Festival.
We're looking at going to the Pumpkin
[17:33] Festival. We want to get the new image
out there. We want folks to to see us
[17:38] for who we are and who we're going to
be.
[17:41] Any other questions? That's all I've got
at this point.
[17:45] Does anybody have any questions for me?
Okay.
[17:52] Russell?
[17:58] » I don't have a question. I just want to
say welcome. We're glad to have you.
[18:05] » Thank you, sir.
I'm I'm glad you made a comment because
[18:08] I I wanted to throw an invitation out
there.
[18:11] Come by and see us. Yeah, we're We're
We're happy with our new home. We're
[18:15] proud of the modifications we're making
inside our new home. Feel free to come
[18:19] in our door. Come visit us anytime.
We're happy to have you guys.
[18:24] » CJ, for me
[18:31] CJ, for me, I'd like to say
you know, we were able to gather here
[18:35] tonight
speak freely.
[18:38] We did it in English.
And we're able to do all of the things
[18:41] that we can do and that's because of
people who sacrificed so that we could
[18:44] do this. So, our police will serve those
who did that for us.
[18:51] Moving on from there,
we have
[18:54] communications from elected and
appointed department officials. Is there
[18:57] any public comment or anything of that
session?
[19:01] John?
[19:04] » Just briefly, and some may have already
saw it, we announced it yesterday, but I
[19:08] thought it was important enough I wanted
to bring it up for those that missed it,
[19:12] Um my chief deputy Dan Sullivan has been
selected to be the state liaison to the
[19:18] Property Records Industry Association,
PRIA.
[19:22] Um
normally a position like that is
[19:25] withheld for elected officials.
The fact that Dan is a chief deputy has
[19:30] been selected to be the state liaison
for that national organization, I think
[19:34] really speaks volumes to his
professionalism and his dedication to
[19:39] our office through the years. Um Dan has
been vital. I
[19:43] You already know this, but Dan has been
vital in especially two main areas.
[19:49] Uh one is the establishment of the first
e-certified marriage license program
[19:55] within the state of Illinois, allowing
citizens more accessibility to that
[19:59] vital record. Uh it really has laid the
groundwork for other counties that have
[20:03] followed, uh but that took time to work
through the DMV, the Social Security
[20:08] Administration, state federal agencies
to explain why this new e-certified
[20:12] program is more
secure and more accessible to
[20:16] individuals. The other one was our
industry award-winning property fraud
[20:21] alert program. Uh Dan saw the value in
that early on at a conference, said that
[20:27] he really wanted to bring that here. Um
he he really has worked hard on that
[20:31] over the past several years, and uh
again, when other counties are now
[20:36] coming to ask
how is this so successful in Tazewell
[20:39] County, I think that really speaks
volumes to the individual that is
[20:42] leading that effort. So, I just wanted
to make sure that Dan is recognized
[20:46] tonight.
[20:50] » Thank you very much.
And with that, we will need to move into
[20:53] executive session under 5 ILCS 120/2C8.
Do I hear a motion?