Playing Nice – Sort Of : Carroll County Highway Committee Meeting Notes

By Mick Parsons For The Prairie Advocate News

Mount Carroll – When the Carroll County Animal Control/ Highway Committee met this past week, the Animal Control Department portion lasted longer than usual – a whole half hour as opposed to the five or ten minute run down of stray dogs it generally is. That’s because this past week was the first committee meeting after the new County Board and committee shake-up by Chairman Rod Fritz who, in spite of the faith demonstrated in him by the minority party on the board, managed to push all but one – Highway Committee chair Shawn Picolotti – out of any position to do anything that might make Fritz’s political life difficult. Don Mantzke, who was sworn in last week on a return trip to the county board was not in attendance. Joe Payette was, though, which meant that much of what is taken for short hand at meetings needed to be explained.

And there was quite a bit to go over: everything from the Animal Control Fund to the tabled Weights and Measures Ordinances was laid out for the Freshman Board Member’s dutiful consideration.

Animal Control Officer Joe Grimm reported that he picked up 20 dogs in November, which was more than he normally picks up that time of year. He said that most likely people who would normally let dogs go to die in the winter held onto them longer because of the warmer weather. Grimm also reported that Thomson will be signing an agreement that will allow him to write up animal related violations in Thomson when another officer isn’t on duty. Animal Control currently has this same arrangement with Chadwick; and while it doesn’t mean any additional income for the county – money from these violations go to the community in which they were written – Grimm maintains that it has cut down on many problems.

Payette then asked about the county’s policy on cats. Grimm didn’t even get a chance to answer before Highway Engineer Kevin Vandendooren said “We don’t do cats.” The county only deals with cats when the animal is sick or if someone gets bitten. In that case, the county would then quarantine the cat. But Grimm pointed out that his department would deal with with any animal, including a raccoon.

Grimm also brought up the county’s Pet Population Control Fund, which has just over $10,000 sitting in it currently. The county established this fund to avoid having to go through a state-based program, the funds being supplied by the counties. The thinking at the time was that it was better for the county to establish the fund and control the money here rather than risking it going to Springfield and – in the words of Kevin Vandendooren, “going POOF” and disappearing. The money in this fund, according to Grimm, comes from pet registrations, and can only be used for specific things. For example a low-income resident with a dog or cat that hasn’t been spayed or neutered can go through the Health Department and request help with the expense.

But, Grimm says, this hardly happens, if it happens at all. He said he spoke to another county – that he would not name, he indicated, because of the press representatives sitting in on the meeting – and found out that simply changing the county code from saying that “every animal must be registered” to “every animal must be licensed.” That small language change, he maintained, would allow him to stop putting money into the fund – currently $10 out of every pet registration goes into the fund – and put that money straight into the Animal Control Fund.

Chairman Fritz, who was in attendance at the meeting, recommended talking to State’s Attorney Scott Brinkmeier about it; but he also pointed out that it probably wasn’t as simple as changing the language. He also recommended giving the funds to “the people who hang out at the four way stop begging for change. That’s what they use it for don’t they?” Grimm said that was one possibility. Currently the county works with the Carroll County Humane Society and Heartland in Savanna, both of which could use the funds; Mount Carroll’s St. George’s Pet Rescue could also use the funds, but Grimm has stated in the past that he would prefer not to work with them. Grimm says it would take a while to get rid of $10,000 even if the fund doesn’t get any bigger. “So why keep bumping it in there,” he asks “when I could build my garage out back?”

During the Highway portion of the meeting, County Engineer Kevin Vandendooren went through the laundry list of funds his department deals with on a daily and weekly basis, and explained for the benefit of Payette how the various monies can and cannot be spent. After that, he went into some of the projects he would like to begin planning for, as well as talked about one that he and the majority of the highway committee would rather not mess with.

Vandendooren listed seven roads that he considers in poor condition, two of them being the Shannon Route and Timber Lake Road. The Shannon Route, he maintains, needs to be widened because of safety issues and, of all seven, is the most in need of repair. Part of the cost of repairing the Shannon Route would also be replacing the eight culverts under the road. The total estimated cost of repairing the road is around $1.4 million.

But in order for Vandendooren to begin repairing the road as soon as 2012, he needs to begin getting the paperwork and plans in order now. That means meeting state and IDOT deadlines for matching funds, among other things. He pushed the committee to make a decision that could be taken before the board; but no decision was made. Though it is likely that it will be discussed again in January.

The project that the Highway Department would rather not deal with is the Galena Street Bridge in Mount Carroll. The historical structure needs to be replaced in order to make the bridge safer for vehicles with loads heavier than 36,000 pounds. Because it’s a historically significant structure, however, it cannot simply be scrapped – which is the preference of Vandendooren, Chairman Fritz, and the majority of the Highway Committee.

The city of Mount Carroll has petitioned the county for assistance, and between the city, the county, and Federal monies, the project – which includes moving the Galena Street Bridge to the Burning Grounds so that it can be converted to a foot bridge or tourist attraction – is being paid for. The county is on the hook for 10 percent. The total cost of the engineering – which does not include either moving the Galena Street Bridge or building a new one – is $160,946.36. This means that Carroll County will pay around $16,000 of this portion.

Overall, the meeting of the new Highway Committee began polite and more or less stayed polite, in spite of the short discussion towards the end of the meeting about the county’s Weights and Measures Fines, Ordinances 54b and 55, which have been tabled by both the committee and full board since July.

Vice Chair Annette Rahn began by complimenting Kevin Vandendooren and the highway department for the job putting down salt at the major intersections in preparation for the first snow that hit this past week. Joe Payette, newly elected to the County Board and appointed to the Highway Department by Chairman Fritz, said that it makes sense for the county to simply mirror the fines that the state establishes, since enforcement is more or less up to the officer who pulls the offending truck over.

Carroll County fines have traditionally been lower than the state’s, and there are a few who want to keep it that way: Chairman Fritz, for one, and Annette Rahn for another. That the fines impact their livelihoods – or might, if any of their trucks were found to be over the 80,000 pound limit currently enforced on all state roads unless otherwise stated – seems not to be part of the discussion, nor is th fact that three of the former members of the committee – Kurt Dreger, Gerald Bork, and Sharon Hook – were all in favor of changing the county overweight fines to match the state. Annette Rahn, who has been a vocal opponent of changing the fine structure, maintains that increasing the fines will strangle the farm business. “We’re not out to destroy the roads,” she defended. The discussion didn’t go any further, however, because Vandendooren stated that given what he has going on and with winter coming on, he hasn’t had time to take a serious look at the issue and wasn’t really ready to talk about the impact of farm trucks on county roads.

The only other business of note was when the new Animal Control and Highway Committee agreed to change the time of their meeting from one in afternoon to nine in the morning.