State of the County
| First Ever State of the County Address By: Williamson County Board Chariman Brent Gentry January 16, 2007 |
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| Good Morning I would like to thank all of you for attending today. I would also like to thank Principal Steve Smith for having me. When I ran for office in 2004, I knocked on hundreds of doors to meet the residents of Williamson County, and there were few questions that I heard quite a bit. People asked me, “What does a commissioner do?” and “Where do our tax dollars go?” At that time, the only response I could give them was, “When I find out I'll let you know.” This may be the first time a chairman has given a state of the county address, but I feel it's necessary because I want to be up front with the citizens of Williamson County and to have a transparent government. Citizens have a right to know how their tax dollars are being spent. It's impossible within this time frame to get into details, however this “State of the County” address should serve as a barometer of how our county is doing. First, let me tell you about a few of the positive things going on in our county. Secondly, I'll let you know about several things that could have a big impact on our county. And lastly, I'd like to tell you about my vision for the county's future and what we hope to accomplish. We are very blessed to live in Williamson County because it is a county of continuous growth and opportunity. I have been commissioner for two years and I can tell you that every day in our office is unique and challenging because of the various county issues we deal with. The job of a commissioner is far more than 9-to-5. No matter where we go or what we do, citizens will approach us with issues, and it is our job to listen. We must make our decisions based on what is best for the people of the county, setting politics aside. I've always been a believer that people who never make an effort will never make a mistake. In this job, we are going to make mistakes, but we must learn by them. Every night I pray that I will do what is best for our county, and every day I look forward to the opportunity to help someone with a problem, which could make a difference in their life. Being a public servant is about gaining the trust of the people and never promising anything that we cannot deliver. We must listen to the citizen's problems and to do everything in our power to help them with their issues. While being a commissioner, I've learned that we need to have an understanding family. When we go home at night and our kids ask if we have to go to another meeting, we have to explain to them that this is part of our job, and hope they understand. I appreciate my family very much. I look forward to working with Commissioner Barnett and Commissioner Glenn. I know that each one of them has great qualities, and bring their own unique skills to the board. I want to thank them for giving me the opportunity to serve as board chairman. I believe this board will work well together. There may be times that we will disagree, but we do not have to be disagreeable. Now, let's get to the first order of business - a few positive things going on in Williamson County. When I was first seated on this board in 2004, I wanted to hit the ground running with an issue that was really troubling to me. I asked our local law enforcement if we could crack down on illegal dumping, and during the first month there were two arrests. That was just the beginning of our county's clean up efforts. I worked closely with the Beautify Southern Illinois campaign, and across the county, as well as the rest of Southern Illinois, it's obvious to see what a difference we're all making. I sat down with several local trash companies and asked for their support in a county-wide clean up campaign. With their support, we began offering free dump days to help the citizens of our county clean up their communities. During the past two years, we have held seven free dump days. I'd like to take a moment to thank the folks at CWI, the Southern Illinois Landfill, Allied Waste and Burris Disposal, as well as area people who let us use their property as collection points. We also started an Adopt a Williamson County Road program so that families, groups and organizations could work together to clean up designated roads. Today, we have 31 adopted county roads, and Mr. Gary Pearson, of the Southern Illinois Landfill, donated many of the signs for this project. I want to publicly thank him and also the media for their coverage of this program. This has truly been a team effort with everyone coming together for one cause - to show pride in our county by keeping it clean. Hopefully, this project will continue for years because we are making a visible difference. In 2005 my fellow commissioners and I worked extremely hard to bring coal mining back to our county. We had to make some very tough decisions, but today Williamson County Energy is up and running; bringing good paying jobs to our area. Just recently, Williamson County moved into the 21st century with our own web site. Having a county web site provides citizens another way to connect with their county government. The web site is still in its early stages, but gradually we'll add more information to the site. This was definitely a step in the right direction. Our highway department, which employs about 50 people during peak construction time, maintains approximately 640 miles of county roads. Just recently, our highway department received a $2 million dollar grant from the federal government and the Illinois Department of Transportation. Those grant dollars will allow for safety improvements on South Market Street and Spillway Road - two of our county's main roads where there are frequent accidents. The highway department is also utilizing federal funds to resurface 62 miles of county highways. These projects are funded 80% from federal dollars and 20% Motor Fuel Tax. At our highway department, we try to put safety first. The last few years we have been using the facilities at John A Logan College for our safety training. We do this in an attempt to reduce our workman's compensation costs, but more importantly to keep our employees safe. In recent years, we have been very aggressive about maintaining modern equipment at the highway department, and by doing so we are able to be more responsive to the public's needs. One of our biggest assets in this department is county engineer Jim Webb. I can call on Jim any time of the day or night and know that I can rely on him to get the job done. We are fortunate to have him. In our courthouse we have union and non-union offices, and we try to be fair and consistent with all of our employees, keeping in mind the amount of money we have to work with. I am proud that our county is able to have a balanced budget. Many years ago our county had a nice monetary reserve, and we are working hard to get back into that positive position. However, it is extremely difficult because our county's needs continue to grow. We will continue to work toward that goal and I am hopeful that someday we can accomplish this. Our general budget this year will be just under $10 million, with the majority of our budget going for salaries. This is not counting the millions of dollars that come through our county treasurer's office each year. County business is a big business. We have roughly 220 employees. Our job as county commissioners is to make sure that we do not project overspending of the revenues we have coming in. It is our job and responsibility to watch every penny spent and to see that it is spent wisely. I have often said that a commissioner's job is like the captain of a ship. We would be nothing without good shipmates like our elected officials and county employees. I truly appreciate every one of our county's employees for what they do, and realize that every one of them is important to the success of our county government. Now, I would like to address issues that could affect our county in the future. There is one potential problem, which all three current commissioners have inherited. I am talking about ICIT, which stands for Illinois County Insurance Trust. ICIT is a group self-funded insurance program made up of several other Illinois counties. Williamson County makes up 35% of that trust, and our county's property, auto, liability and workman's compensation is provided by ICIT. Contributions to ICIT were funded by bonds and the county has a debt obligation on these bonds through the year 2017. As our workman's compensation claims rise, more money is paid out of this trust, but that's not the only problem. The financial health of the ICIT trust has come into question. Workman's compensation claims and lawsuits, relating to our county's past employment practices, have resulted in greater claims than anticipated. If the ICIT program should fail at some point in the future, our county may have to bear the expense of securing insurance while still retiring the debt related to ICIT. Commissioner Barnett has been attending ICIT meetings for several years, bringing back information to his fellow commissioners. While looking at the claims history, we feel that ICIT could be in a troubled status long before 2017. We are obligated to this bond payment, and there is no easy way out. Even though Commissioner Barnett, Commissioner Glenn and I have inherited this problem, I can assure you that we have been and will be looking at all options to help cure this potential pain. I am proud to say that we have had fewer workman's compensation claims the last of couple years, so hopefully we are on the right track. Our county faces many unfunded mandates, the most critical being IMRF, the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, and GA, General Assistance. These are things we are required by federal or state government to pay for, but the government doesn't provide us the necessary funds to comply. Unfunded mandates could affect our county in the future. Four years ago our county levied half a million dollars for IMRF. This year, we levied more than $2 million. Another unfunded mandate is with General Assistance; For example; if we levy $100,000 and the actual amount we must pay out comes to $300,000 - that $200,000 difference comes directly from our county's General Fund. It is impossible to predict how much we'll have to pay out for General Assistance and no county should be put in this position. Another critical issue we face, just like other businesses, is increasing health care costs. Health care benefits are something we are proud to offer our county employees and hope we can continue to do so. In October, I sent out many letters to legislators pleading for some help and guidance with these unfunded mandates and the rising health care costs. I have spoken to other county chairpersons, mayors and other elected officials. They feel the pain as well. I am planning a one-day bus trip to Springfield and I am inviting other elected officials, our legal team and the media to go along. I hope to meet with Governor Blagojevich and possibly Speaker Madigan, to voice our concerns about these issues. It is crucial that we get some help and relief if our counties and cities are going to survive financially. I'd now like to spend a few minutes talking about my vision for our county and things I would like for the county board to consider. We have made great progress with the hiring practices in our county, offering every person a fair chance at a good job. It should not be about whom you know, it should be about your qualifications. This is something I feel very strongly about. I want to bring to this county board a nepotism policy, and I hope they will consider putting it in place for this board and the good of this county. I would encourage other office holders to consider doing the same thing. In my opinion, hiring family members to these jobs is a poor practice, and in many cases, could be considered a conflict of interest - especially when taxpayers' dollars are involved. Folks, we all know this has not just been a problem at the local level. This has been a nationwide problem. I hope this board will consider passing an anti-nepotism policy. In other matters, I want to take a closer look at our nuisance ordinance to see if it needs to be tightened up and where we can start cleaning up our county. We should expect residents to keep their weeds mowed and junk cleared away. Old cars and trailers in the yard need to be cleaned up. It's time that we take pride in our county by keeping it cleaner and safer for our children to grow up in. I am working with Sheriff Cundiff to bring back the Neighborhood Crime Watch program that the county had years ago. Everyone should know their neighbor and know their phone number. It's important that county residents can work together and take care of each other, especially our most vulnerable - our children and senior citizens. This county board will continue our hard stance against Methamphetamine. This drug has ruined many users and their families. We will do everything in our power to support our Sheriffs Department and State's Attorney's office, as they try to put a stop to this terrible epidemic. In our county jail today, roughly 60% of the inmates are in for meth-related charges. Our county jail is yet another issue we need to address. It's in terrible shape. Sheriff Cundiff and I are going to be talking with jail specialists and our legislators to see if there is any possible way that we could get funding to build a new jail in the future. There have been many times that inmates in our county jail, on the third floor have overflowed toilets, which leaked down into our county offices. This is totally unacceptable and we need to continue this push to look at all options for a new jail. As I look around Williamson County, I see schools that are crumbling. I also see schools like Marion High School that are completely out of room. Even though, as a county commissioner, I am limited as to what I can do, I promise you that I'll continue a push with Springfield to try to get the capitol bill passed so that we can build new schools. Just recently I spoke with two local legislators, Senator Gary Forby and Representative John Bradley, and they feel hopeful and optimistic that the capitol bill could be passed in 2007. In my opinion, it's time to quit playing politics and come together with a compromise so our kids can go to safe schools. Ladies and gentlemen, what I have tried to accomplish today is to talk about, not only good things that go on in our county, but all of the things we face on a daily basis that could affect our county. I realize that I do not have all the answers, but I do have a vision. Commissioner Glenn, Commissioner Barnett and I want to see good things happen in our county and we want to do what's right. We must work together and work hard to try to see these things through. A young preacher named Joel Osteen gave a great analogy that I would like to close with. He was talking about driving down the road and looking ahead through the big windshield. Up above you is a small rear a view mirror, a symbol of things behind you or things in the past. Those things in the past are things beyond our control. The only thing that we have any control over is what we see through that big windshield. We do have some control over our future by the wise decisions we make on a daily basis. As your board of commissioners, we will continue to look through that big windshield, constantly looking to the future, and making the very best decisions on behalf of our county. I want to thank everyone for coming today and may God bless you all! |
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