The McLean County Board voted Thursday to extend a disaster declaration for the county through Nov. 13. The move gives more time for residents to report damage as the county appeals the recent rejection of a federal disaster request.
Speaking after the meeting, board chair Elizabeth Johnston said cleanup is still going on from the Aug. 13-14 storms, and new information will become part of the appeal process.
“Well, we still have residents that are cleaning up. And it is important that as they go through the cleanup process they may be uncovering additional damage, or there may be damage that occurs in the process of fixing things that were broken. And so the continued declaration gives them protection,” she said.
She added the McLean County Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday re-posted requests for residents to report damage that can become part of the appeal.
Johnston said the latest totals she’s seen estimate total damage at $42.5 million, “which is roughly half of what the state impact was. So, McLean County is at the heart of this.”
Tax error loan
Also Thursday, the board voted to provide a no-interest loan to the Octavia Park District for $23,910 to account for a tax error.
The administrative error caused the district to be shorted because a “debt service levy” was misclassified as a “prior year adjustment.” This caused the amount to be seen as exceeding the limits of what the district could levy, prompting a reduction.
This is the second incident involving Octavia, Johnston said, and likely stemmed from the first error.
"Sometimes as complicated as the tax bills are to calculate, when there is an error one year that has to be adjusted for in the second year, it is easy to miss the adjustment," she said.
And while the dollar figure isn't large by county standards, to the local taxing district, it's significant. "These are communities that their budgets are much smaller than ours, and they feel the impact of an $80,000 or $24,000 shortage," she said. "And so avoiding the initial mistakes is priority No. 1."
The district will repay the county with 2027 taxes, payable in 2028.
Sheriff honored
The board also recognized Sheriff Matt Lane for his service to the county.
Lane, who retires at the end of November, started with the department in 1997. He was promoted to sergeant in 2006, and took over the Court Security Unit in 2010, overseeing security for the judiciary and the Law and Justice Center. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2020 and was elected sheriff in 2022.
The board resolution credits him assuming the office “during a challenging period for law enforcement, defined by heightened public scrutiny, evolving expectations, and organizational pressures,” adding he “provided steady leadership, strengthened transparency, and championed partnerships with all citizens of McLean County.”
Johnston credited Lane’s collaboration with the board, calling it “monumental.”
Lane agreed.
“I had a four-year plan, folks, and it was done in a year and a half,” he said.
He also heaped praise on his department. “From my command staff all the way down to the newest deputy, they’ve made me look good.”
Other business
In other business, the board:
- Approved a resolution celebrating the 80th anniversary of the McLean County Health Department. The proclamation celebrated the department’s growth from serving 74,500 residents in 1946 to more than 171,000 today.
- Honored Charlene Beringer for nearly 40 years with the county. Beringer, who retires Oct. 30, started as an intern and part-timer in 1987. She became a correctional officer later that year, then moved to the Juvenile Detention Center in 1997. She became a supervisor there in 1998, moved to probation in 2007, and moved to the Problem Solving Court unit in 2024.
- Honored WGLT senior reporter Charlie Schlenker for his commitment and service to McLean County, Schlenker, who recently retired from WGLT after joining the station in 1997, was lauded as patient, prepared and for his “tough but fair approach.” He won four national Edward R. Murrow Awards, along with numerous other national, state and regional awards. He started his career in Bloomington with WJBC in 1992.
