The Marion County Board had been looking at a building near the railroad overpass in Odin for its animal control facility, but it’s back to the start following a closed session of the board Tuesday night.
Board Chair Steve Whritenour instructed members of the Community Relations Committee to look at other options.
“We know that this process has gone on for an extremely long time. We just want to get it right,” Whritenour said. “We know that very soon our contract with the Doggie Den is expiring. We’re going to be very limited as far as where we can take our dogs. At the same time, we don’t want to be forced into a situation where we made a bad decision by just buying something randomly.”
Marion County had been utilizing the Centralia Animal Control Facility before it decided not to renew the contract at a higher cost last November.
The board heard from its Auditor Josh Faivre of WIPFLI on the just completed Fiscal Year 2022 Audit. The board is looking to remove some of the auditor’s concerns including bringing several ‘off the book’ accounts onto the books and adopting a procurement ordinance. Faivre says they hope to complete work quickly on the 2023 Fiscal Year Audit.
The board agreed to seek bids on blinds on recently replaced courthouse and public service building windows. More light is now coming through the windows making it difficult for some county employees to work at their computers. Four new windows missed in the original bid will be replaced at a cost of $4,560 and will be taken from a loan available for building improvements.
The tornado warning siren is now working outside the Alma Village Hall. The cost of repairs was $27,730 which will be completely covered by insurance.
The board was told recently hired Highway Engineer Alex Kreke had passed his Illinois Department of Transportation Test and was expected to begin work in late April. He’ll replace Mike McCormick who resigned last fall. Kreke was an engineer with the City of Wentzville, Missouri but is formerly from this area.
The board approved several appointments over objection of board member Brock Waggoner who wants the names to first be brought before a committee and Dr. Michael Douglas who wants open positions made public so anyone can apply. Those reappointed were Janet Carter-Sullens to the South Central Transit Board, Larry Clark to the Salem Fire Protection District, Rod Hawley to the Odin Fire Protection District and Roger Meyer to the Kinmundy-Alma Fire Protection District Board.
