Saline County Board candidate profiles
SALINE COUNTY - Seven seats are available on the Saline County Board. The Harrisburg Register/Eldorado Journal asked each candidate their opinions about what they think are the most difficult challenges facing the county and what makes them the best decision for voters. These are their responses (some were by telephone and some were by email). Responses were edited for space.
Saline County Board candidates
<h3 class="breakHead">Greg Hodson (Democrat)</h3>
"The biggest thing we're facing is money. The county is stretched to the limits on finances as it is. If we don't find a way to get new businesses or attract some kind of income, I don't know what's going to happen to us. That's no secret. I think everyone knows that. The county's broke. We don't have any money.
"I think maybe if we get some new blood in here, we could change some things, and maybe get some fresh ideas. The main thing I'm concerned about is, we don't where to go from here. What avenues do we have? The coal money has gone down. There's hardly anything left from coal mining. We had so many years where we were gracious enough to have that.
"I taught 35 years at Gallatin County and from 1975 to 2000 I taught music at Southeastern Illinois College. I was on our negotiating team while teaching, and I know how to negotiate. I'm also the commander for the Sons of the American Legion and held just about every position with them."
<h3 class="breakHead">Justin Travelstead (Democrat)</h3>
"Right now, we need to grow local business. We've got to get more local business in Saline County, with all the coal mines shutting down. We need to learn how to generate revenue successfully. That's the main issue right now. If we don't do this successfully, we won't have a county anymore.
"I spent six years on the Galatia school board, running a successful school district. I'm 28 years old, so I bring a fresh perspective. I've been the plant manager at Barnett Redi-Mix for three years now, which means I'm running a multimillion dollar concrete plant on a daily basis. We need younger people to get involved and be included at the county level. We don't need all the members on the board to be in the 60 to 70 age group. I don't mean anything bad about that. The people in that age group who are on the board have a lot of experience, but we need to be training some younger people how to handle those responsibilities as well."
<h3 class="breakHead">Roy Oldham (Republican)</h3>
"Everyone always has the same talking point, "we need jobs," when asked about the critical issues facing Saline County. What we need is a new industry to move into the county. We need the tax revenue it would generate. We need the money from the new salaries stimulating the Saline County economy. We need a plan and an "incentive package" to entice new business to move here. If elected, I will request a committee be formed to develop a "canned" incentive package that any Saline County Board member would be authorized to mail out to potential employers.
"What I bring to the table is 45 years of solid business and managerial experience, of which 12 years was being with a Fortune 100 company. I have experience developing and maintaining budgets. I know how to ONLY SPEND what I have. And most important, Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior!"
<h3 class="breakHead">Jeremy Maloney (Republican)</h3>
"I'm on the ticket still, but I've been appointed treasurer. I can't serve as both, obviously. Our challenge is obviously economic. Anything to promote our country we need to be doing. That's what I'd like to see. In my job as treasurer now, I'm doing the best job I can at reducing expenditures. We desperately need people and want people to invest in Saline County. Anybody willing to do that is good in my book. Like Sen. (Dale) Fowler has done, we need more of that at the county level. We're losing tons of coal mine jobs. I don't care who's in political office. We have to think about things in other ways and build education skill sets."
<h3 class="breakHead">Todd Horton (Republican)</h3>
"I want to use my God-given talents to further lead Saline County into the future."
<h3 class="breakHead">Chris Penrod (Republican)</h3>
"I think we need to figure out something to bring more revenue into the county and do what's best for the community.
"Recently we brought new health insurance into the county for employees and saved a considerable amount of money. We have to find more solutions like that.
"I'm currently also the school board president for Harrisburg Unit 3 schools and have served six years. I've also served on Saline County Board for four years."
<h3 class="breakHead">Mike McKinnies (Republican)</h3>
"The biggest issue is the county still providing services as a cost to the public that they can afford. As soon as COVID hit, we started talking layoffs, but I took a stand and said let's take this a month at a time and see how this thing rolls. Now, we're actually just a little bit ahead.
"Our officeholders tightened things up and saved us money and now we're running under what we were a year ago. I'm not going to say we didn't have concerns.
"We're still concerned about paying the bills, keeping everybody employed and provide all the services we should. I will say this, though. Last year on our tax bills, the county reduced its portion by 2 percent.
"As a county board member and Eldorado Fire Chief, my phone rings off the hook. Unlike a lot of board members, I know sometimes you have to put on kid gloves to work out some problems, and the budget is one of those areas. I've spent 17 years on the board, and quite a bit of that time has been on the budget committee. I know what we can and can't do, and what we have to do."
<h3 class="breakHead">Rick Lane (Democrat)</h3>
"I think our biggest issues are that our economic structures collapsed in the last few years. I have the intent of trying to let the county be more functional in that economic environment to see any opportunity for advancing any type of new industry into the county to make the county as attractive as possible with the amount of funds we have coming in. I think the big thing is getting all the automation finished at the courthouse. That has the potential to save us a lot of money.
"I visited Massac County recently to see how their county offices run. They have half the population of Saline County and they do more. They use technology efficiently, and that's what we have to start doing. Problems don't do anything but abscess if we don't fix them.
"One example is our county health insurance. We had on the budget $800,000 for health insurance and it would have gone to $1.2 million. We found a new plan that ended up costing about $600,000, which will be about $300,000 under budget and about $600,000 below what it would have been the next year. It took me a year and a half to get a better package, so that kind of change takes time.
"Being on the county board is probably the most thankless job there is, but it won't stop Rick Lane from doing what is right."
<h3 class="breakHead">Ryan Lambert (Republican)</h3>
"Our issues have been the same issues the last several years. It's a decreasing economy, a lack of population growth and revenue is probably our No. 1 issue.
"I think what helps benefit me is experience. This is my eighth year on the Saline County Board. Fifteen years ago I ran and was elected and stayed on six years. I was the budget chairman when the county was struggling and I made decreases in the budget to get it under control.
"We got a lot of help from the public safety tax.
"One thing that I think will be a big benefit to us will be when the money comes in from Thrive. Looking at the governor's reports, I think it will be quite a bit of additional money and it's going to benefit us.
"I understand how government works in Saline County, I have the experience of how budgets work and I know how the money flows from the taxpayers through the county offices."
<h3 class="breakHead">David Phelps (Democrat)</h3>
"I think being born and raised and living here, I know the uphills and downhills of unsurety and instability. Just when coal was working for us, we find times change. Natural gas almost put them out of business, plus other things influenced it. Whether you want to call it climate control or climate change, it has had a negative effect on coal-based economies.
"One thing to bring diversity to the economy is tourism here. It seems to be growing, without a lot of recognition for the people who have promoted it for years. It's almost like we don't push it enough. If you get out on these beautiful days we've had here lately, you can see that. I think if it was not for this pandemic going on, more people would get out and recognize this more. Tourism here is great, but we can make it greater.
"We have to have ideas to have goals to work together. I think I've been able to do that. Even before my Christian life, I've always tried to worth together and see how we can unify people, whether that's a singing group or a community college.
"A lot of people have the idea that we can find what's out there that works for business and bring it here. We might be able to work together to bring something here. We need to recognize what we already have here as a value, which a great labor force with a great background work ethic that fits the economy we've had and what we could have.
"Our property tax is prohibitive. The less people we have, then those still living here have to take up the slack even if expenses are still the same. One of the biggest thing we invest in is education. Our schools are the place where we're going to teach our young people who are going to govern in the future and find security in the workforce.
"That's the biggest challenge that's getting out of our grasp. The taxes required to be able to support a home are incredible. Those who are in education value the very best and biggest attribute we have, our young people. I'm hoping we can have a unity of force whether it's political parties or volunteers reaching out through social services. That's a good reason for all of us to work together every way possible."
<h3 class="breakHead">Casey Perkins (Republican)</h3>
"The biggest challenge facing the county is the fact we've lost so many jobs and our income is not where it used to be. That's the biggest thing I can see. We can't keep going the way we're going. When the money runs out, we're going to be in trouble.
"I'm willing to spend the time to analyze this and make that tough decision on what to do and I'm totally against raising taxes on the Saline County taxpayer. The public can't afford any more taxes. We just can't do it."