The Marion County Board received an update Tuesday night on a cleanup of the Moose Annex building that had been filled with broken furniture and other junk that had led to earlier consideration of the purchase of another building for storage and office space.
Sheriff Kevin Cripps said with the help of Circuit Clerk Tiffany Schicker and drug court participants two dumpsters of junk were removed last week.
“Probation is going to come over this Thursday with a group of individuals with brooms and so forth and we are going to actually go around and do a little deeper cleaning around the edges of the walls in the non-secure area only. I think a whole lot of teamwork went into effect and I think we had an outstanding group that worked together.”
Cripps says the security cameras should be installed shortly that will tie into the law enforcement center’s system. He noted you can now see the potential of the building.
The board has agreed to look at who is responsible for the annex and public service buildings as part of next year’s budgeting process so money can be budgeted for cleanup.
The board followed Cripps recommendation to award a $1,465 bid to Henson Painting to fix a hole in the ceiling of a Judge’s Chamber bathroom and then paint the bathroom to make it look new again.
The board passed a $153,000 tax levy for the University of Illinois Extension Service for property tax bills to be issued next year. Board Chair Debbie Smith did agree to ask the service to send a representative to a future board meeting to discuss cutbacks in services. Board member Brock Waggoner expressed concern with limited help now being available in the area of agriculture.
The board approved the three year reappointment of Jeb Jolliff to the Patoka Fire Protection District Board of Trustees and James T. Somer to the Salem Fire Protection District Board of Trustees.
Marion County Highway Engineer Mike McCormick announced the winter ten ton weight limits would come off county maintained roads on April 15th as originally scheduled.
