The Wabash County E-911 board has extended the contract of 911 coordinator Kyle Smith by another year. County commissioner Scott West is a member of the 911 board and he says Smith is an asset to Wabash County…
West’s comments came at Tuesday’s county commissioner meeting.
The giving spirit of Wabash County shone through with the recent Operation Share campaign. Kevin McGinnis is the chairman of the Wabash County Ministerial Alliance, which spearheads Operation Share with WADI, and he reports 269 families received Thanksgiving meals while 308 local families received a Christmas meal. In addition, 370 Wabash County children were each able to select three toys for Christmas. Funding for Operation Share came from more than $24,500 was that was raised through bellringing and the annual letter campaign requesting support from local businesses, churches and community organizations. McGinnis thanked the many service clubs, sports teams, church groups, 4H groups, school groups, as well as the many individual volunteers who gave of their time to ring bells or volunteer with any of the food or toy distribution.
At the January 2023 Allendale School Board meeting held in the Library of Allendale School, the board:
Approved the 2022-2023 Certified Seniority List.
Approved the Superintendent Evaluation as presented.
Approved a Resolution to Abate a portion of the Tax Levy concerning the Taxable General Obligation Bond the district currently has. The abated portion will come from the 1% Sales Tax proceeds
Wabash County highway engineer Dustin Bunting updated county commissioners Tuesday on the current status of load limits on county roads…
Not much has changed on the COVID and flu front in Wabash County over the last two weeks. Health department administrator Judy Wissel reports that the county continues to remain in the medium transmission level for COVID and high transmission level for flu. She reminded everyone to stay home if you’re sick. Testing continues each weekday at the health department which is continuing to offer the flu and COVID vaccines.
Wabash County taxpayers haven’t wasted any time paying their property taxes. Treasurer Angie Broster told county commissioners this week that over $10,137,719.10 has already been collected by her office. That accounts for about 78% of the total tax that was levied. Now that the deadline has passed to pay the first installment of real estate taxes, Broster said a 1.5% penalty is being assessed. The second installment is due February 17th. Broster said her office is working on distributing the first tax levy to local taxing bodies. She said that should go out late this week or early next week.
The Board of Trustees of Illinois Eastern Community Colleges, voted to fill a board vacancy at the regular meeting held Tuesday, January 17, at Olney Central College, Olney. The Board Vice-Chair administered the Oath of Office to Ms. Susan Batchelor of Clay City. Ms. Batchelor will serve the next 2 years of a six-year term left vacant by Trustee Brady Waldrop in December 2022. Mr. Waldrop has been appointed the Lawrence County States Attorney.
The Board of Trustees is charged with establishing policy for the financing, governance, operation, and administration of Illinois Eastern Community Colleges. Seven voting members are elected from the District at large, each serving a six-year term.
The Board of Trustees elected Sonja Music as the Board Secretary and appointed her as the Ethics Officer for the District.
Changes were made to the current policy regarding the placement assessment process and will include English as a Second Language course. Revisions were also made to the Bereavement Policy to include the recent amendment to Public Act 102-1050. The new legislation has expanded who is considered a “covered family member.”
Affiliation agreements were approved with the following area health care facilities, North Wayne Ambulance Service and Waters of Sullivan.
The 2022 IECC Fact Book containing basic information about the community college district was adopted. The book gathers information from various sources into one central document regarding students, enrollment history, degrees and certificates granted, financial aid received and distributed, and the district’s annual budgets and operation.
Board approval was given for the employment of Cynthia Boyce as Dean of Instruction at LTC effective January 23, 2023. Tonda Brayfield,as the Allied Health Program Facilitator or OCC/IECC, effective January 23, 2023.
The Board accepted the retirement ratification of Dennis Conley as OCC Baseball Coach, effective July 1. 2023.
The next regular meeting of the Board of Trustees will be Tuesday, February 21, at 6:15 p.m. at Wabash Valley College.
Applications for the Albion Moose Family Center #621 “Deceased Pilgrim Memorial Scholarship” are now available from guidance counselor Kelley Biggs at Edwards County High School. Applications must be picked up from the ECHS counselor and are not available at the lodge. Scholarship applications can be mailed to you by contacting Mrs. Biggs at 618-445-2325.
This will be the 23rd year for this scholarship program. The scholarship award is $2000. Applications must be returned or postmarked by Mar 17, 2023 .
The recipients are chosen based on their individual skills in leadership, citizenship, extra curricular activities, GPA, Moose affiliation, and a 500 word essay entitled “The Value of the Fraternal Organization to My Community”. Applications are available to any ECHS senior or any senior attending public high school in the counties of Wabash, Wayne, White or Richland.
Intelligent.com, a trusted resource for program rankings and higher education planning, has included Wabash Valley College (WVC) to its list of the Best Community Colleges in Illinois in 2023. The research identifies top schools in the state based on tuition costs, the number of credits required to graduate, and the online coursework delivery format.
Intelligent.com implemented a unique methodology that ranks each institution on a scale from 0 to 100 across six categories. The scoring system compares each school to tuition costs, admission, retention and graduation rates, faculty, reputation, and the student resources provided for online students.
Studies show that obtaining a degree increases income substantially, with graduates earning 84% more than those with only high school diplomas or those without a completed GED. The percentage difference in earnings continues to grow with higher learning degrees such as master's, doctoral or professional degrees, with the unemployment rate decreasing to as much as 1.6% for those with a doctorate.
An ordinance is being drafted that would ban parking on both sides of the street in the 100 block of Cedar. City Clerk Ryan Turner says the narrow design of the street in that block makes it nearly impassable when cars are parked on each side. Police Chief Mike McWilliams agreed with Turner’s opinion saying the street is no wider than an alley when cars are parked on each side of the street.