The Peoria County Board of Election Commissioners met on Tuesday, November 13, 2018, with commissioner LaColis Reed absent.
While going over the month's bills, Director Tom Bride asked for permission to spend up to $70,000 to pay for election judges. He might not need that much, but he wanted to be sure to have enough to cover all the judges, including early voting, election day, troubleshooting, and check-in judges, and their mileage. That was approved. A budget amendment was also approved to align it with the County's budget. The Election Commission budget was reduced by $20,000, but because of the uncertainty of costs involved with the move and the November election when the Commission budget was first approved, the lower figure was easily met. The Brandywine building will have the moveable wall installed on November 15, except for the panel including the door. Everything should be unpacked and stored in the very near future. The canvas of the November 6 election will be held on November 21. Fourteen ballots from out of state and out of country were received the day of the meeting, and some challenged ballots were still to be determined. A few minor glitches occurred during voting due to split precincts. Some people in a few precincts were to vote on the Park District referendum, and some were not. It was explained in great detail how these glitches were handled, and that no votes were missed or counted when they should not have been. Procedures have been put in place to assure that these problems will not arise in the future. The Commission's attorney said that the owner of the Brandywine building has threatened to sue over real estate taxes for the building. This should not be a problem because there is nothing is the lease saying that Peoria County must pay a share of the taxes. A new subcommittee has been formed to study the November 6 election, to determine what worked, what did not work, and find ways to implement efficiencies for the next election. Irene Pritzker, Observer Board of Commissioners Meeting held 11/01/2018 at 100 S. Richard Pryor Place, Peoria, IL. Meeting started at 3:10 PM and was led by Mr. James Fassino, Chair. Anne Fox, Renee Andrews were present; Helen King was introduced as new Board member. Absent: Carl Cannon, Alma Brown and Tekia Childs. Two members of public in attendance; no reporters present. Agenda and board reports available on line. Minutes of Special Board Meeting of Commissioners held on 10/12/2018 were approved. No public input items.
Ms. Newman, Executive Director was not present. Finance report was reviewed. Auditor report for 2017 fiscal year completed. Accounts receivable position filled. Discussed Financial Policy updates regarding software security, petty cash, credit card limit and use, recollection process, and purchase approval. Beginning Jan 2019, rent collections will change to Central Office instead of individual locations. Continue to focus on faster turnover of units when vacated. 874 total units; goal to be 95% occupied. Contracted painter to assist in turnover of housing units. Meeting adjourned at 4:05 PM. Next meeting scheduled 11/29/2018 at 3:00 PM due to Thanksgiving holiday. Connie Romanus, Observer On September 18, 2018, the Peoria County Election Commission held its first meeting at their new location on Brandywine Drive. All commissioners were present except for Sandra Burke.
Tom Bride, executive director, is looking into getting a covered bus stop outside the office. The new location gives the employees much needed organized storage space. They will be trained on using all of the smart utilities in the building. The door/wall allowing more or less space in the main part of the facility will not be installed until after the election because it would cause disruption for a whole day. Vote by mail ballots were to go out on Friday, September 21. The office has already received approximately 5000 requests. On site voting will start at the satellite locations on October 22. The procedure for the mail-in ballots was explained. Signatures are checked as they come in—within two days. They are scanned and processed when enough come in to warrant calling in judges. Irene Pritzker, Observer 5/16/2018: The Peoria City County Landfill Committee met their usual third Wednesday, May 16, at 3 pm, in Room 404 at Peoria City Hall.
Public comment included a request for explanation of some of the chemicals showing up in groundwater monitoring and how some are determined not to be not site related and others have continued testing. Committee Chair Steve Morris asked that Foth engineering address the questions during their Groundwater Update report. Some test wells are affected by migrating landfill gasses. Other things that happen are contaminants that are from the coal mining done at the site before it became a landfill or testing at the lab. If a level of concern is detected, there is a time-frame for follow-up testing, which often shows no further action is needed. If levels remain of concern, the next step is a determination of the source and assessment monitoring is done. The testing looks for a statistically significant change as they want to know if the landfill is affecting groundwater. 8/14/2018: Interesting that Councilman Cyr participated in meeting by phone. Mayor Ardis asked the Councilman if he had questions or what his vote was at the beginning of discussion or vote.
Consent Agenda item 18-236, which was "pulled," was a contract with Change and Innovation Agency, LLC for a 3 day Innovation Academy Training. But the Peoria Innovation Team - which was financed by a grant from Bloomberg Foundation- has an uncertain future since the Bloomberg grant runs out of grant funding soon. No discussion on CEO Council MOU or the Water Due Diligence - holdup is from CEO Council. No discussion on EPA feedback on the Combined Sewer Overflow. Most discussion was about the budget hole. (See PJStar for more information on that.) Cheryl Budzinski, Observer 8/22/2018: The Peoria County Election Commission held its annual meeting on August 22, 2018. Matt Bartolo and David Collins were reappointed and Sandra Burke was seated as the replacement for outgoing member Camille Gibson. David Collins was also reelected as the Chair of the Commission. A resolution was passed unanimously to honor Camille Gibson for her years of service.
Moving day for the Commission will be September 11, and is expected to take two days. The new phone number will go live on September 13. The staff will do their own packing, in part to save money, but mostly so they will know where everything is as they start to unpack. Signage should be up already. Refinishing the parking lot was a concern that was discussed. 3/13/2018: The Election Commission this month welcomed back director Tom Bride.
In going over the month's bills, it was explained that the Commission receives a utility bill for the whole Brandywine building, but the owner reimburses the County for his share of the building. As of March 13, there have already been close to 1300 early voters in the primary. This is much higher than in 2014 when the last gubernatorial election was held. The Brandywine remodel is current on the projected timeline. There were some very minor changes in design, but the project should be let out for bids in April. The bidding process will include a September 1, completion date. Dewberry's estimated cost of the remodel is $620,000, but that includes contingencies and is not based on bids. Over the summer, satellite locations for early voting will need to be found. One location must, by law, be the Commission office. That location is very close to the current ICC Peoria spot. Some place close to the current office will need to be found that is convenient to residents south of the interstate. Irene Pritzker, Observer 9/18/2018: Bob Manning chaired the meeting - Chair Steve Kerr and Pat Powers were absent.
Manager Matusak reported:
9/27/2018: Township Supervisor Frank Abdnour reports that Peoria Township's budget request will include a 22% decrease and can meet their client's needs with that decrease.
Discussion included that property values in Peoria may be expected to continue to decline for 2-3 years as there is "no indications of the kind of economic stability needed ...to prevent a continued decline in property values", according to Township Collector Patrick Nichting. Also discussed was that General Assistance participation has declined since implementation of the voucher system and according to Abdnour is in line with other townships of similar size. And, if the Affordable Care Act were to be eliminated, the township would again need to cover costs (prescription drugs) currently covered by the ACA. LOGO Chair, Cheryl Budzinski 10/16/2018: Bob Manning chaired the meeting –
Manager Mark Matusak reported: · Mike Ruker gave a report regarding the Prairie Gardens and his projected involvement. He also mentioned the possibility of the Peoria Chapter of the DAR becoming the “monitor” for the forthcoming planting in the cemetery area designated as the “natural area” by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. · Jon Hodel from CloudPoint gave an update and demonstration using the program used to map of the cemetery. · Burials are still down – no new interments during October. · |
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