County Board Opens Ambulance Bids

(EFFINGHAM COUNTY BOARD CHAIRMAN JIM NIEMANN READS THE 4-H WEEK PROCLAMATION. TO HIS LEFT ARE ELY VAN DYKE AND ALEXIS VAN DYKE OF THE DIETERICH TRAILBLAZERS 4-H CLUB)

Bids for 911 ambulance service in Effingham County were opened Monday at the County Board's monthly meeting.

Bids were submitted earlier this month to the Board's Ambulance Oversight Committee. 

The only information shared Monday dealt with the number of ambulance units to be made available. Committee Chairman Rob Arnold said that while the bids will be reviewed by members of the committee, the committee meetings will be open to the public. The goal is to make a recommendation to the County Board at their October 18 meeting. The current contract with Abbott EMS expires in April 2022. 

Abbott is one of the three bidders, along with Lakeside EMS and Rural Med.

Also Monday, the Board approved a pension withdrawal liability settlement. Employees from several county offices had unionized some 20 years ago and decided to join a pension plan at the employees' expense. The County agreed to handle the payments and when the employees disbanded the union, they also attempted to withdraw from the pension plan. That attempt was not successful and since the County at the time agreed to handle the payments for the employees, the County is on the hook to make the payments. A settlement has been reached, but after several months of $16,000 payments to the pension system, the County will still have to pay $320,000 to settle the matter.

The Board voted to transfer any title to Newman Cemetery to Tom Newman. The cemetery is located in Mound Township. Also, Larry Taylor, Ed Hoopingarner and Todd Hull were named to new terms on the County's Economic Development Advisory Board; the Board rolled from Guardian to Blue Cross/Blue Shield the voluntary life, critical illness and accident insurance and rates; approved county employee health insurance coverage at a 9.64% increase in rates and approved renewing dental and vision rate renewal at no cost to the County; approved payment of $100/month to qualifying employees 65 or older to encourage the employees to insure elsewhere; approved GIS contracting with Sidwell for strategic enterprise planning services; allocated $2,000 to support Manufacturing Day in October; approved a letter to the Illinois Department of Employment Security encouraging the Department to focus on job training efforts rather than disbursing claims; finalized the reapportionment of Effingham County with the county still to be made up of nine board districts and one board member from each district; approved IDOT compliance reviews for 2020; and approved a petition from Jackson Township for a portion of the cost for three culvert replacements under 1175th Street.

The Board was updated by Cortney Yockey on services being provided by the Effingham Regional Growth Alliance and proclaimed 4-H Week. Alexis VanDyke and Ely VanDyke of the Dieterich Trailblazers 4-H Club were on hand for the proclamation by County Board Chairman Jim Niemann.