OPINION: County board getting out of hand: Page A4 NEWS: Jersey County Historical Society annual meeting Jan. 19: Page A7
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JERSEY COUNTY
JERSEYVILLE, IL 62052
INSIDE NEWS
JSB Grafton facility recognized by Toys for Tots. See page A3
FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS
Henke~Wetzel engagment. See page A8
NEWS
Royal Neighbors make donations to Oasis Women's Center. See page B1
SPORTS
Lady Birds improve 16-1. See page C10
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TOP STORIES ONLINE Week of Jan. 8-14
1) Goetten plans on getting to the bottom of leaked letter 2) School board reviews five-year plan 3) Snow, cold hamper daily routines 4) Dow home devastated by fire 5) Concealed carry applications rolling in to ISP
COUNTY BOARD
County argues over confidentiality of leaked letter By BOB CROSSEN Jersey County Journal There were few open seats in the audience at the Jersey County Board meeting Tuesday night, during which members argued whether to discuss a letter leaked to the public describing in detail why the county terminated the county code administrator’s contract. State’s Attorney Ben Goetten claimed the letter could not have been leaked to the public by anyone other than a member of the county board, but some members refuted that claim during open session Tuesday. Board member Jeff Ferguson said the letter was not given to the members during closed session, but was rather left in their mailbox in a public office unattended for up to five days. He said
any member of the public could have grabbed a copy from one of the mailboxes and distributed it to the public. “This was laying in my mailbox. It was not marked confidential in any way, shape or form, and it was not in a sealed envelope,” Ferguson said. Board chairman Jerry Wittman said reading the material made it clear the letter was to be confidential, and said he made a mistake not putting the letter in a sealed envelope. Acquired by the Jersey County Journal from a member of the public, a copy of an email from the Illinois County Insurance Trust with the attached letter detailing the issues surrounding the termination of county code administrator Mike Prough’s contract noted otherwise. “Attached are the notes I had planned
on presenting from in tonight’s executive session,” the email – sent to both Goetten and Wittman – states in its first sentence.
“This board has gotten so far off base I don’t think it’ll ever come back.”
Jerry Wittman Board Chairman The email also notes that it does not claim the complaints pressed against Prough are valid; however, it does claim the issues “were not handled per regulatory guidelines.” The first
JCH looking to get out of baby delivery business By ROBERT LYONS Jersey County Journal By summer, there may be no more babies being born in Jersey County, at least not at a hospital. Jersey Community Hospital is looking to discontinue maternity services, but first must get
“It’s heartbreaking, really. With Carlinville not having an OB department, pretty well all the small towns around will have no OB departments in their hospitals if Jerseyville closes down.”
Marci Osborn Carlinville Resident the approval of the Health Facilities Planning Board. The decision to get out of the baby delivery business is a disappointment to Marci Osborn, a Carlinville resident who gave birth at JCH on Jan. 12. “It’s heartbreaking, really,” Osborn said. “With Carlinville not having an OB department, pretty well all the small towns around will have no OB depart-
ments in their hospitals if Jerseyville closes down.” JCH administrators, past and present, cite waning usage of the department, as well as budget shortfalls for the decision to close the maternity wing. Hospital CEO John Wade said, in a press release, the hospital went from delivering more than 200 babies in 2008 to just 130 in 2013. “The average daily census in the six-bed unit was less than one.” Wade said in the statement. “We’ve been fortunate to preserve the quality and intimacy for our patients as long as we have. This is not a move we wanted to make, but with falling volumes the amount of subsidy required to run the service is not sustainable.” Between the OGBYN clinic and the maternity services offered at the hospital, JCH lost around $1.4 million last year, according to Community Relations Director Jen Bell. “I believe there are a lot of hospitals looking at their maternity services. I think where the healthcare industry is going is kind of unknown right now,” Bell said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen with reimbursement, and we don’t know what cuts the state and federal levels are going to make.” The CEO said competition with larger regional hospitals put JCH’s maternity offerings at a disadvantage. (See, jch, A2)
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investigation into how the letter was leaked to the public rather than the other avenues he has taken. Goetten filed for a temporary restraining order against the county board for a temporary injunction to prevent board members from further discussing the details of the ICIT letter. The first hearing for the restraining order was held Jan. 13 in front of Jersey County Judge Eric Pistorious, but was moved to Jan. 15 at 9 a.m. with a change for a judge at the request of Houseman's attorney. Dave Cherry is the replacement. The judge requested both parties step back to gather (See, county A2)
THE LEARNING BEGIN
JERSEYVILLE
Lingering lawsuit decided in city’s favor By ROBERT LYONS Jersey County Journal An opinion in the final pending lawsuit brought by a group of five citizens against the city of Jerseyville’s mayor and city council found the plaintiffs to lack standing. Robert Higgins, Cliff Coats, Kenneth Isringhausen, Tamara Sutton and Tim Kuebrich sued the elected officials in Jersey County
Circuit Court for an alleged Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) violation. The case stemmed from a December 2011 FOIA request sent to the city by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Thomas Kelty, of Springfield. The plaintiffs alleged the city’s system for handling FOIA requests is insufficient and not in line with laws of the state. Specifically, the complaint states, it was learned that the city does not have a designated and trained FOIA
officer as required of municipalities under the act. The complaint states it is Richard Perdun’s duty, as mayor, to designate such an officer. The complaint further states the city failed to respond to requests within the allotted timeframe provided by the act. Macoupin County Judge Joshua Meyer, who presided over the case, found the plaintiffs (See, lAwSuit, A2)
Server crash slows down voter purging By BOB CROSSEN Jersey County Journal The number of registered Jersey County voters is greater than the number of people of voting age, according to a report issued to the Illinois State Board of Elections. Jersey County Clerk Steve Pohlman said the discrepancy – which only exists in Jersey County – is due to technical issues, which slowed down the county’s efforts to purge people from the voting system. Pohlman said he purges the system every year to remove people who have moved out of the county and registered elsewhere or those who have died. He said women who change their name upon marriage are sometimes double registered under their maiden and married names, which is also reason for the annual purge of voters. “We purge our data every year, and this year when we were doing it, our server crashed, so we had to get a new server,” Pohlman said. Pohlman said the old equipment was purchased in 2001. He said repairing the server was not possible, so a replacement had to be ordered. However, the replacement was on back order when the office attempted to make the purchase which delayed additional purging. During the delay from the back order, Pohlman said he contacted the Illinois State Board of Elections about the issue and learned of a grant – for which he applied – to replace the machine. And after finally receiving the replacement, he said he had to have a specialist transfer the data stored on the old server onto the new one. He said some programs didn’t run correctly
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B3, C2,C 3 Obituaries . . . . . . . . A6 Editorial . . . . . . . . . . A4 Our Town . . . . . . . . . A6 Public Notice . . D1, D4 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . C10 OBITUARIES:
Bob Crossen/Jersey County Journal
A home in Dow was devastated by a fire Jan. 8 while a thick sheet of snow still covered the ground. By the time responders made it to the scene, the house was already a total loss. Fire fighters battled the flames for five hours in the snow which turned to ice with the heat of the flames, water from the trucks and freezing temperatures that swept the area last week.
Dow home devastated by fire All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
• Board's legislative committee takes up public comment rules See Page A2
Robert Lyons/Jersey County Journal
News . . .A2, A3, B7, B1, B2
© 2014 Jersey County Journal
sentence of the letter itself claims that nothing in the ICIT letter “is directed at ‘proving’ anyone or anything to be true or false.” A voice from the audience asked if members of the board sifted through information on Prough’s computer during normal hours or as part of an official investigation. The chairman brought the room to order, and no members answered. “This board has gotten so far off base I don’t think it’ll ever come back,” Wittman said. “I hate to admit it, but it’s just been a zoo.” Ferguson said the claims made by the state’s attorney that only a county board member could have leaked the letter is an affront to his and all other board member’s integrity. He said Goetten should conduct his own
Chelsea Sams, of the Jerseyville Public Library, assists Janice Hart early in the Internet Basics course Tuesday night at the library. The branch held its first laptop classroom course following a ribbon cutting. See story on A2.
Court. . . . . . . . . . . . . C7
jerseycountyjournal .com
VOL. 12, NO. 3 - 75¢
JANUARY 15, 2014
INDEX
BREGENZER, CRONE, GRANT, KNIGHT, MOHR, SADLER, SCOGGINS, TONSOR, WEISHAUPT.
JOURNAL
By BOB CROSSEN Jersey County Journal A house fire in Dow last week left a sheen of ice on the ground after firefighters contained the
flames and the home was declared a total loss. QEM fire district received the call at 12:23 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, and firefighters took almost exactly five hours to contain the fire (See, fire, A2) C
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after the data switch, and further troubleshooting of the server was necessary before his office could continue the purge. By statute, the county clerk said his office cannot change voter records within 90 days of
“We purge our data every year, and this year when we were doing it, our server crashed, so we had to get a new server.”
Steve Pohlman County Clerk.
an election, and because of the delays the clerk’s office was not able to complete the purge. With the extra voters in the system, there may be some worry of voter fraud, but Pohlman said that would be nearly impossible given the size of the county. “We’re small and everybody knows everybody,” Pohlman said. “The election judges know just about everybody that walks into their precinct. I don’t really see how somebody could vote twice or come in and vote from another county. Our judges are very good about checking all the information.” The same core voters turn out for every election, he said, noting voter turnout remains about the same each time. Judges recognize the faces because of the relatively small size of the voting districts, and Pohlman said the concern may be (See, crASh, A2)