County board approves enterprise zone amendment

Adds 3 new projects - 1 in Carroll and 2 in Whiteside

By Tom Kocal, TKocal@prairie-advocate-news.com

MT. CARROLL - A proposed amendment to the Whiteside-Carroll Enterprise Zone was approved during the Thursday, Sept. 20 Carroll County Board meeting. The proposal, approved by the State's Attorney/Finance committee and brought to the board for approval, will add three new projects.

The first project, in Carroll County, is Carroll Industrial Molds in Milledgeville, a project expected to add 20 new jobs. The other two in Whiteside County is for the expansion of a Rock Falls dental clinic (10 jobs) and a new retail development in Sterling (100 jobs). The Whiteside-Carroll Enterprise Zone encompasses contiguous portions of the cities and villages of Sterling, Rock Falls, Morrison, Fulton, Prophetstown, and Lyndon in Whiteside County, and Savanna, Thomson and Mt. Carroll in Carroll County.

PTFA funds

The board unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the intention of requesting Public Transportation Financial Assistance from the Illinois Dept. of Transportation (IDOT). This will make funds available to help offset certain operating deficits and administrative expenses for "public transit service in non-urbanized areas," according to the resolution. The county will apply for $40,000/year for three years.

Board member Chuck Wemstrom (D-2), as a board representative to the Carroll County Senior Services Organization (CCSSO), researched the Capital Assistance funding request. "Funds received will need to be utilized within three years," he said. "They will need to be transfered to a third-party public transportation company - which is unlikely - or they could go to a county entity, such as the CCSSO toward the Senior Bus fund."

Wemstrom added that the worse-case scenario would be to return the money to IDOT after 3 years. He said the CCSSO bus service has some dialysis patients that could use the bus, but the CCSSO can't afford to pay a driver to wait for the 4-hour treatment, which would also tie up bus usage during that time. "More funding would definitely allow CCSSO to offer more services, too, such as extra trips to stores and doctor visits.

Jerry Bork (D-2) suggested that the funds could also be used for the county Veterans Assistance programs' transportation needs.

Budget item for administrator

A County Administrator's salary of $75,000 was added to the budget at the request of Board Chairman Sharon Hook The subject generated a few questions, such as: Why an administrator was needed? Doesn't the county run just fine without one? Does a small county like Carroll need that kind of overhead? Grants are available - why no look into it? None of the questions were answered, as more research into the issue is currently being conducted.

Wemstrom asked to clarify a comment reported in another paper about whether or not it was possible that funding for the Carroll County Economic Development Corp. (CCEDC) could be cut in lieu of the administrator position. The county had previously funded the CCEDC $80,000 in 2006 and 2007, and agreed in principle to a third year of funding. Hook stated that that was not a consideration.

Bork then asked why the GIS position was being considered as a permanent job. "I thought it was only part-time to assist in the Assessor's office."

Rod Fritz (D-3) said that in the future, a GIS person will be needed as the web site will be developed, utilized, and interfaced with GIS maps of the county for updated data searches.

South Savanna Development re-zoned

The Zoning Board of Appeals approved the request of Tom Messer of South Savanna Development Inc. to rezone the site of the former Gould property south of Savanna in Savanna Township from I-1 (light industry) to I-2 (heavy industry). The issue was brought to the full board to approve.

Edie Block (D-3) said Messer told her that the property "would be more marketable if more uses were possible." I-2 zoning would allow for uses such as chemical plants, fertilizer plants, trucking companies, warehousing and shipping, commercial storage, retail sales of ag fertilizers and chemicals directly to the end ag user, and other similar uses which are of heavy industrial nature. The board unanimously approved the measure.

Twenty-one building permits were issued in August with fees of $1560 collected. That brings the total for 2007 up to 193.

In other action:

- Carroll County Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) participated in the creation of the District Comprehensive Economic Development plan, and the county board formally adopted the Annual Report of the plan for the six-county region;

-Approved the transfer of $3059.50 from the social security fund and $4515.50 from the IMRF fund to to the health dept. fund, as established in the budget;

- Agreed to share GIS boundaries data with Jo Daviess county;

- Approved out-of-state travel funding to Des Moines, IA for appraisal training for the Supervisor of Assessments;

- Approved adding a line item to the budget for "Court House Improvement," and allocated $52,000 to allow for tuck pointing on portions of the building, gutters, painting, and tree work next year. As part of the Mt. Carroll Beautification project, volunteers will paint 15 light poles, and repair lawn erosion by this fall;

- After surveying salaries for other GIS personnel, and at the request of Supervisor of Assessments Vivian Eaton, the GIS salary will remain at $36,500.

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