South West Illinois News

Perry County Board of Commissioners met March 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

A regular meeting of the Perry County Board of Commissioners convened at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 16th, 2023 at the Perry County Government Building, Pinckneyville, IL.62274

OPENING

Chairman Bruce morgenstern called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America was recited by those in attendance.

Deputy County Clerk Fallon Cole called the roll. The following members answered the call of the roll Commissioner Folden, Commissioner Martin and Chairman Morgenstern were present.

The following department heads were also present: State’s Attorney Dave Searby, Treasurer Jodi Koester, Jeff Ashauer

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Chairman Morgenstern - Before we approve the agenda, does anyone want to be added to Public Comments? Chairman Morgenstern then called for approval of the meeting agenda.

Commissioner Martin made the motion Commissioner Folden second the motion seconded the motion. On voice vote, the motion was approved.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Chairman Morgenstern asked for the approval of the Board of Commissioners meeting minutes of the March 2nd, 2023 regular meeting. Chairman Morgenstern called for corrections. There were none. Commissioner Folden made the motion Commissioner Martin second the motion all in favor 3 Ayes

1. Resolution – Approve Raffle License Vizia Club of America Commissioner Martin made the motion, Commissioner Folden second the motion on roll call 3 Ayes

2. Resolution -- Approve Raffle License K C Hall Commissioner Folden made the motion Commissioner Martin second the motion on roll call 3 Ayes.

Discussion: Brian Chapman, spoke on what to thank everyone for their service On the board. Jackson county board put back 5 million of their ARPA monies just For broadband the state only has 350 million on reserve for broadband for Unserved and underserved areas in the state.

State of Illinois is going to receive over a billion dollars next year from the federal Government. Chapman added “underserved” is considered a broad band speed Of 25 megabytes per second download and 3 megabytes per second upload. County residents can go to the Illinois Office of broadband website to test the Internet service speed at their residence. Chapman noted that nearly the entirety Of Perry County – with the exception of those living directly in Pinckneyville, Sunfield, DuQuoin, Tamaroa and along a stretch of Route 154 between Pinckneyville and U.S. Highway 51- is underserved and qualifies for state grants. Chapman said under-served counties find it harder to attract residents, harder to Work from home and harder for rural businesses to operate. Its particularly hard For our Ag Industry, Mr. Chapman said Bigham farms is a perfect example. Farms are becoming much more technologically advanced and reliant on Internet services to operate their businesses. Mr. Chapman said the first step for the county would be to identify all broadband providers that are currently in the county and see if they are interested in going after the grants. We then launch a county-wide survey, identifying issues with our county service and identifying the current speeds throughout the county, after we have done that, we put out an RFI (request for information) by the county board and then we had official applications come in by broadband providers who were interested in partnering with us. Chapman stated by partnering with a broadband provider, the county the county would increase its grant score with the state to better its chances of capturing that money. Ninety-nine percent of the grant requires a match and there is broadband providers who are willing to put in there own money as a match, but the county would have to identify them and figure out how much they are willing to put in.

Chapman recommended the county board put together a complete county wide strategy on how to build out the county, it can get a little complicated but the good news it is all doable. It is just going to take some effort to get it done.

Chairman Morgenstern spoke on electrical aggregation with AGE energy service. Which is a subsidiary of Homefield energy. Chairman Morgenstern said the contract is up for renewal with the topic to be reviewed during the boards next meeting.

PAYMENT OF CLAIMS

Board members examined claims presented for payment.

Commissioner Martin moved to approve the payment of bills. Commissioner Folden seconded the motion. On roll call 3 Ayes.

ADJOURNMENT OF COUNTY BOARD MEETING

There being no further business to come before the Board, the Chairman said he would entertain a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Martin made the motion Commissioner Folden second the motion all in favor 3Ayes Meeting adjourned time 5:46 P.M.

https://perrycountyil.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Minutes_2023-03-16.pdf