ABOVE: After being elected Vermilion County Board Chairman, Steve Miller takes his seat next to State’s Attorney Jacqueline Lacy and checks the microphone.
After receiving a nomination at Monday night’s Vermilion County Board reorganization meeting by Gregory Shepard, Steve Miller has replaced Larry Baughn as County Board Chairman. The one “no’ vote came from Nancy O’Kane. Baughn was nominated by previous vice-chair Craig Golden, but Baughn declined it. A tight race for vice-chair saw Tim McFadden edge out Gregory Shepard by a vote of 14-12.
A drawn out process for the Committee on Committees members lead to a five person roster of new chairman Steve Miller, new vice-chairman Tim McFadden, previous chairman Larry Baughn, James McMahon, and Crisi Walls.
(1st Picture) Elected County Board members take their oaths of office (2nd Picture) New vice-chair Tim McFadden shakes hands with new chairman Steve Miller (3rd Picture) Nate Byram is sworn in as appointed Supervisor of Assessments; replacing Matthew Long, who was elected as the new Recorder of Deeds.
Following the recess allowing for the new Committee on Committees to meet; the nine committee chairpersons were announced as Steve Miller leading the Executive Committee, Gary Miller Chairing Judicial & Rules, Mark Steinbach chairing Property, Craig Golden leading Public Safety, Crisi Walls chairing Tax and Elections, Jerry Hawker leading Finance & Personnel, Todd Johnson chairing Technology, Joe Eakle chairing Transportation, and Lon Henderson leading the Health & Education committee.
Miller stated afterwards that anyone worried about him being County Board Chairman while serving in a law firm need not be concerned. Miller says he will continue to abstain where conflict would occur, and has received his own legal counsel on the issue.
AUDIO: And I sought and received a legal opinion from a very prominent lawyer in Champaign-Urbana; and confirmed by an Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission representative; that it is not a conflict of interest for an attorney to serve as the chair, or as a member of a county board; as long as that attorney does not vote on matters concerning his or his firm’s clients.
Zach Knight from City of Danville consultant The Farnsworth Group explains their choice of bidder Homrich out of Michigan for the Bresee Tower – Courthouse Annex Building tear down, being paid for by the city and the county.
An interesting point during the regular portion of the meeting came when Zach Knight from City of Danville consultant The Farnsworth Group explained their selection of bidder Homrich out of Michigan for the city-county Bresee Tower and Court Annex Building tear down. A couple members questioned why the city’s Bresee Tower portion came out only $300,000 more that the county’s annex building portion. But the other question was does the County Board only have to vote on where the money comes from with the city in charge of the entire agreement; or does the County Board still have to approve it all, first by sending it to committee?
Miller says he will be getting legal advice on that. But one thing for sure, a budget adjustment will be needed to get this done.
AUDIO: Well, the State’s Attorney’s Office is going to review that agreement, and is going to give me advice as to whether we need to have subsequent Vermilion County Committee and Board votes in connection with this matter. We will certainly have to amend our budget by a super-majority; because that cost; which we did not know at the time we adopted our budget, has to be approved by the County Board.
Also during Monday evening’s County Board meeting, Nate Byram was sworn in to replace Matthew Long as Supervisor of Assessments, as Long has now been sworn in as the newly elected Recorder of Deeds.
