[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?

Tazewell County Board Meeting 08-26-2026 - 1

Transcript