Macoupin County Board General Administrative Committee met June 8.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
PRESENT: Dunnagan (Remote), Stayton, Adden, Ibberson, Kiel, Kilduff, Schmidt, Duncan, Blank, Tiburzi
ABSENT: Acord
II. AGENDA ITEMS
1. Approve Draft Agenda for June Full Board Meeting
Motion by Stayton, seconded by Kilduff to approve the draft agenda.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Aaron Stayton, Vice Chair SECONDER: Ryan Kilduff, Member AYES: Dunnagan, Stayton, Adden, Ibberson, Kiel, Kilduff ABSENT: Acord |
2. Non-Union Employee Time Sheets
Motion by Ibberson, seconded by Stayton to approve the non-union timesheets.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Jim Ibberson, Member SECONDER: Aaron Stayton, Vice Chair AYES: Dunnagan, Stayton, Adden, Ibberson, Kiel, Kilduff ABSENT: Acord |
3. Annual Lease Report - 2023
Duncan explained the county had 4 land leases in the county. Before he took office, there were some issues with the invoicing and receipting of these lease payments. This report was just the annual proof to the Board that the lease payments had been receipted.
4. Update on Voting Center and discussion of memo regarding options for Voting Center
Duncan gave a quick update on the voting center in that the bid opening had happened and the Building and Grounds committee had awarded the bid to Stutz Engineering for $71,972. This would fit well within the grant budget.
Duncan had also provided them with a copy of the memo from the Election Group regarding options for the Voting Center. They had provided some options for what the county had already discussed in terms of early voting, storage of voting machines, having vote by mail judges do signature verifications, as well as the public test/retabulation. They had also provided some options for having election night return of supplies done at the new building instead of the Courthouse. Duncan said he wasn't 100% sure the logistics of making that work but it was worth exploring. It would for sure include needing to expand the parking lot to the empty lot the county owns between the Voting Center and Old Jail.
5. Public Transportation Programs Fees and Budget
Schmidt said he had met with Blank in regards to the a concern that had been raised with him by MCDD regarding the public transportation program raising their fees significantly. They had met and based on the information she provided, he requested that she come to the committee to update them on it.
Blank said since taking over the department in January she had been looking at the public transportation program budget since the the numbers were not matching up. They went through each contract they had. Some of the special population contracts such as MCDD as well as Illinois Valley were put in place in 2014. These contracts said that they were to provide a bus and a driver and the program would cover the overages. If they needed the county's bus, they were to pay $50 a day. Over time, they lost their drivers and their buses aged out. They are losing about $100,000 a school year for just one of these contracts. These programs had been supplemented by COVID Cares money since 2020 but that money is running out.
Blank also said that for the fees for all riders, there needed to be compliance for Medicaid where everyone pays the same rate. They were cancelling monthly passes, eliminating trips around town, and requiring medical trips to be billed at cost. She said they would be encouraging riders to get their ride pre-approved by the insurance to make it cheaper for the rider as well as the county getting reimbursed by the insurance company.
For the senior rides, all In county rides they can only ask for a donation. For any senior whose Medicare would not cover the costs of a medical trip, they could get the ride supplemented through the Seniors on the Go program through Senior Link. For out of county rides for medical trips for seniors, it is a flat fee of $10 and mileage is .25 cents per mile.
In terms of the MCDD contract, the county provided them 84,000 miles from May 1 of 2022 to May 1 of 2023, 2,907 hourly labor for a total cost for mileage and labor of $99,197.84. MCDD paid $8,575. The proposed fix was to increase their fee from $50 per bus per day, with two buses running a day to $125 per bus per day, with two buses running a day. MCDD said they would not be able to afford even half of that increase. Something would have to happen in order to keep this program going or else it would go bankrupt within six months. Blank said in order to keep the program with a balanced budget, these changes were necessary and she was asking the Board for their support since the public as well as some drivers were not happy with the changes.
Motion by Kiel, seconded by Stayton to have Blank present these changes to the full Board on Tuesday night.
| RESULT: MOTION TO RECOMMEND [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Bernie Kiel, Member SECONDER: Aaron Stayton, Vice Chair AYES: Dunnagan, Stayton, Adden, Ibberson, Kiel, Kilduff ABSENT: Acord |
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