State official: County should run LOTS
Some board members want outside agency
Comments (...)DIXON – Some Lee County Board members want an outside agency to run the Lee-Ogle Transportation System.
Tuesday, a state official advised against that.
The board took up the issue at its monthly meeting, but it didn’t take any action.
Last year, the county took over the transit system, known as LOTS, because of problems with an outside agency, officials said.
LOTS provides low-cost rides to the public and free transportation for seniors and the disabled.
Gary DeLeo of the state Department of Transportation told the County Board that the state is urging counties to take direct control of their transit agencies. Doing so provides greater accountability, he said.
If the county puts a management contract out to bid, social service agencies will compete for it, DeLeo said. But in a couple of recent cases, the state rejected selections of management agencies because “we weren’t happy with the response” to the request for bids, he said.
The issue about management recently came up when Kathy Lalley, LOTS’ acting administrator, requested a salary of $60,000 to $80,000 for the administrator and $50,000 to $55,000 for the deputy.
Some County Board members considered those salaries too high. Still others wondered why the board had to make such decisions in the first place, pushing for an outside agency.
The county is the fiscal agent for the federal and state grants for the transit system.
With federal stimulus funds, the county plans to soon begin construction of a transit building in the industrial park at Interstate 88 and state Route 26 in Dixon.
County Board member Dick Binder, R-Compton, said he doesn’t want the county directly running the agency. He said the board was led to believe that it would be a conduit for the funds, not the direct manager.
Member Bernie Buckley, R-Dixon, complained that the transit system hadn’t provided its financials and other information to the County Board.
“I would like to see the LOTS board give a full report quarterly. We need to have more accountability from LOTS,” he said.
Member Marvin Williams, R-Dixon, said he wants the County Board to take control of the transit system.
“A social service agency won’t look out for the county. They’ll look out for themselves,” he said.
Last week, the board’s Finance Committee voted 3-2 to recommend that an outside agency take charge.
The board must make the final decision, but members didn’t say when they would address the issue.
In other action
In other Lee County Board business Tuesday:
–Members approved a contract with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, which represents Highway Department employees. Under the agreement, workers will get a 40-cent-an-hour retroactive raise for the fiscal year that started Dec. 1, 2010. They also would get the same increase for this year.
David Gusse and Ed Fritts were the only members to oppose the contract. Fritts said afterward that, because of the tight budget, he doesn’t believe the county should give raises to employees.
But he said he was glad the county is aligning the contracts to expire near year’s end. County officials said the alignment would allow them to start a countywide wage freeze.
–Members approved a new 6-year contract with County Engineer David Anderson. He makes $98,770 a year.
–Five members didn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting – Vern Gottel, R-Sterling; Kathy Hummel, R-Dixon; Allyn Buhrow, R-Ashton; Joe Patzer, R-Dixon; and Charlie Thomas, R-Dixon.
Hummel has been missing meetings for nearly 2 years, reportedly because of health issues.
Comments
Total Comments 0 View/Add Comments |
There have been no comments made about this story. |
