Early voting polling place considered
The Saline County Board during Thursday night's meeting discussed a request from the City of Eldorado for an early voting polling place in that city.
County Clerk Kim Buchanan informed the board that she had received a request from Eldorado Mayor Rocky James to have a polling place in Eldorado for the upcoming county elections. James stated that he was offering the use of the Eldorado City Hall and two judges, the city clerk and city treasure for no fee to facilitate the polling place.
Buchanan said her understanding of the statutes was that there had to be a minimum of three judges and there had to be a fee paid to these judges. Saline County States Attorney Mike Henshaw spoke in favor of accepting Eldorado's offer. The board can advise the county clerk, but the clerk has final authority on these matters, serves all the municipalities in the county and has to provide a fair distribution on access to polling places.
After the meeting Buchanan said she had several concerns on the topic. If Eldorado was allowed to offer a free service in establishing a polling place, this might set a precedent for other municipalities. Also, Buchanan has a remaining budget for the year of $67,000 out of which staff salaries, operating costs and expenses must be paid and is concerned the cost - if required by law - would put the county clerk's office over budget.
"I am responsible to all the municipalities in the county and though I plan to do my best to accommodate Mayor James, there are a lot of factors involved in making the decision, particularly in light of a new set of laws governing this round of elections recently passed in Springfield," Buchanan said.
Buchanan added that a number of services exist to accommodate voters such as absentee ballots and free transportation by the RIDES Mass Transit Service to take voters to the Saline County Courthouse to vote early.
Finances
The board heard positive news on the county's financial situation from County Treasurer Danny Ragan. Ragan prefaced his report with the statement that, "The county did real well this month."
However, he cautioned the board sales tax revenue was not what the county had hoped it would be.
"Expenditures were right in line with revenue and office holders have done a good job on holding the line on expenditures," Ragan said.
Ragan stated that prisoner housing costs were $77,000 last month and for the last six out of eight months the county has brought in less revenue than was projected.
Board member Bruce Tolley's said tax payers needed to be aware that there is an early payment program for taxes. Taxpayers can come in to the courthouse and make payments on their taxes in any amount from the minimum $25 to their whole tax bill if desired.
Contract agreement
The board approved a two-tiered contract agreement for workers in the State's Attorneys Office, highway department and county government. The effect of this contract agreement will:
Reduce leave time by half for new hires;
Reduce vacation time by half for new hires;
New hires pay 10 percent of their insurance premium
Reduce starting pay by $4 for the highway department
Reduce payout of accumulated time for new hires by 100 days.
In other action the board:
Approved a resolution to reappoint Jeff Jones as County Highway Engineer and to determine from the state his appropriary.
Appointed Joe Bramlet to the Eldorado Drainage District, a 3-year term to expire in September 2017.
Appointed Winona Alvey to the Black Branch Drainage District, a 3-year term to expire in September 2017.
Appointed David Harrawood to the Public Building Commission, a 5-year term to expire in September 2019.
Appointed to the Southeastern Illinois Regional Planning & Development Commission board Otis Reynolds, Ollie Brown and Phyllis Ferrell, all for 3-year terms expiring in September 2017.
Appointed Keith Bean to the Saline County Housing Authority, a 5-year term expiring September 2019