County Board Sets Chairman Salary

Effingham County Board members Monday approved a $30,000 annual salary for whoever will be the board chairman as of December 1, 2022.

There is one person who won't be receiving that salary. Current Board Chairman Jim Niemann made it official at the meeting that he will not be seeking re-election to the Board next year.

Niemann has been working as board chairman for $85/meeting, equating to around $18,000/year. He said he made $20,000 one year.

The $30,000 amount was recommended by committee. Member Norbert Soltwedel suggested $25,000 at Monday's meeting, but that was voted down. The motion to approve the $30,000 salary was then approved.

The Board also approved a $100/diem pay rate for the other eight board members. There was back-and-forth over the amount, as well as whether the pay should be per diem or per meeting. Heather Mumma and Elizabeth Huston voted against the rate and John Perry abstained from the vote.

There was no action Monday on a vendor to provide 911 ambulance service to the county as of when the current contract expires in April of 2022. The Board's Ambulance Oversight Committee is still obtaining information from the vendors, so was not prepared to make a recommendation as to who should get the contract. The goal was to have the process completed by the October meeting.

The Board did finalize the map to redistrict the county to get as close as possible the same population in each of the nine board districts. The work is done each 10 years following the receipt of census data. The average per district population is 3,852. Here's how close to the average each district comes: District A--3,740...District B--3,864...District C--3,806...District D--3,868...District E--3,935...District F--3,915...District G--3,848...District H--3,839...District I--3,853.

Board members approved Ken Wohltman to fill the unexpired term on the Effingham County Airport Commission of the late Stan Bahrns, but did not approve the appointment of Dr. Jennifer Dust to the County Board of Health. The matter will be revisited. Board members also accepted the audit of the past fiscal year, and approved a per capita payment of $4,583 for services of South Central Illinois Regional Planning and Development Commission.

Member Dave Campbell reported that approximately $25,000 is available to startup or expanding businesses through a revolving loan fund and that more information is available by contacting the County Board office at 217-342-4990. 

Member Rob Arnold reminded that a meeting on the coming fiscal year's budget will be held this Thursday at 6pm.