There has been another change for White County from the State of Illinois, mainly in the Probation Department. The guidance for their special funds will now be spent out of the County’s general funds. Bellwether representative Dustin Harmon explained to the board what the entails,
Dustin: “Yeah, so the State is changing the rules on feeable services for probation. So a lot of the fees that they charge for drug testing and all these other things went into special funds, and we were able to pay for operations of the probation department from those funds.
The State says you can’t do that. General operations for probation must be paid for by the county general fund.”
Pigg: “So where will the fees go then? Like, will they still charge the fees?”
Bellwether: “A lot of those fees are gaining faster than they can be spent down because they don’t, they’re very specific in what they can be used for. So some of the bigger counties that got opioid funds must use the opioid funds on rehab centers on treatment for specifically impacting individuals, so they’re worded very specific.”
The White County Probation Department currently has four employees, including one Supervisor who works in multiple counties and is only in the office a few days a week.
The county will need to prepare for this future situation. Which government body will claim the cost of the fee services? The State is no longer paying, so the White County general fund will take a significant hit.
With the possible spending of the general fund to cover probation costs, the County approved spending more money with Bellwether. A Solar Permit Analyst agreement gave Bellwether 10% of each solar farm project in White County. They also agreed to donate $103,954.77 to SIC from the general fund, hoping the State would reimburse the County, but the only setback would be how long it would take.
There have been no updates on the possibility of a new White County Courthouse since August 2024. Jeff Vaughan, a Greater Wabash Regional Planning Committee representative, attended the White County board meeting and offered some advice.
The ETC grant deadline is currently June 30th. The County can ask for a one-year or two-year extension, but with the latter, the board would need a timeline for the project to be complete. The board could have another year to get the ball rolling on continued renovations of the old Carmi Times building to make it into a modern and structurally trustworthy courthouse. The board agreed to extend it for another two years.
In old business news, the appointment for an individual to be on the Downstate Illinois Board was tabled yet again due to no one interested. One item, after months of being tabled, finally saw a conclusion. The Carmi Affordable Solar Project failed due to a lack of motion. The solar company approached the board in December with a road use agreement signed by the Carmi Public Work Supervisor Brad Attebury. The White County board members explained that they would also need one for the County because the only way to the location was by county roads. Since then, it’s been crickets from the solar company.
Dustin: “These applicants have come on multiple opportunities. We’ve emailed them requesting to finalize a road use agreement and clarify a few items with neighboring properties and they haven’t followed through on the road use agreement or these other properties. So they still haven’t fulfilled all of the requirements of your ordinance.”
Cannon: “So do we just table it or deny it?”
South: “Table it indefinitely.”
Due to the failure to produce a road use agreement, the company would have to spend another $25,000 to re-apply.
Lastly, in old business, approval to purchase a new squad car out of the opioid funds was granted. The vehicle would only be used in situations involving the use of Narcan.
For new business, the board members agreed to remove Shannon Johnson from all banking accounts for White County, the Wilson 2nd Addition to the Marshall Ferry Cemetery in Emma Township, and to continue their agreement with the Illinois Extension Office for the fiscal year 2025.
The next White County board meeting will be on April 16th at 7 PM.
