East Central Reporter

City of Newton Jasper County Board met Oct. 1.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

Attending: Lea Creadore, Mindy Hartke, Marlene Harris, Brett Lessley, Jennifer Hinterscher, Amber Volk, Ed Webb, Larry Brooks, Tom Brown, Beth Probst, Doug Weddell, Jason Warfel, Andy Johnson, Mark Bolander, Louis Ochs, Sara Kinkade.

1. Call to order, Executive Director Amber Volk.

2. Motion to approve previous meeting minutes made by Larry Brooks, second by Mark Bolander, motion passed.

3. Jennifer Hinterscher to speak on behalf of the Corvette Road Tour.

a. Newton hit it out of the park. Mike’s number one highlight and one of the best Funruns. Pleased with parking and signage coming into Newton. Only issue was the itinerary ended up changing a little. Only 50 shirts left from the original 150. They are still being sold at Mid-America. Newton is definitely in the running if they decided to do future Funruns and if Newton is open to it.

4. Monthly Updates

a. Amber Volk, Executive Director

i. The new Dollar General is open. We will possibly have a JEDI tour for our November meeting. 

Doug: Possibly look into doing a ribbon cutting with Dollar General that day.

ii. City of Olney Code Enforcer and Enterprise Zone Supervisor Mike Mitchell has retired. Dallas Colwell has taken his position.

b. Mark Bolander, Mayor of Newton

i. Currently working on getting a daycare. Unable to disclose details.

ii. Corvette Funrun was well done & well attended. The Fall Festival also went well. Great job everyone!

c. Jason Warfel, Jasper County Board Member

i. 2020 fiscal year budget on display next Thursday. Next meeting is next Thursday @ 7pm.

ii. U of I Extension Council has 4 vacant spots and looking to fill one from Jasper County. They meet 4 times a year. If interested, contact me or Carl baker, the extension office in Effingham.

iii. Mike Hall invited me to the recent Dieterich Mapping session. The majority of Dieterich’s success can be attributed to this program. We are looking to possibly bring the mapping program to Jasper County but will need the commitment from the community to attend. The program is 5 weeks long, one 3-hour night meeting per week with no less than 25-30 people attending. The program is to learn as a community what we need or want and then talk about how to facilitate. The cost would be $3,500.

Mark: We have done something similar in 1998. 200-300 people attended. We also have revised the Comprehensive Plan in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2017. This planning is always a good idea but just concerned if actually any new information will be obtained with what we already have.

Andy: We would like to see the school system be a larger part of this community. How can we do that? Possibly with this program or do something similar?

Mark: Maybe something like this would be a good exercise because entities need to work together and need to be rolling in the same direction.

Andy: For businesses, what is it going to take for the future? What can the school do to help kids stay here?

Mark: Possibly a simple survey for employers may be helpful.

Tom: How many people read the Comprehensive Plan Mark handed out at Marilyn’s last meeting? It’s fairly comprehensive and does include the rest of the county and a little of the school. All of this is done, but then no one reads it.

Beth: These face to face meetings are important. We have to get people in attendance or otherwise it does just sit on a shelf and nobody reads it and it doesn’t get done. It will take some leaders to step up.

Tom: Before we jump into this program, lets look at what we currently have.

d. Andy Johnson, Superintendent of Jasper County Unit #1.

i. We have 30 days to fill the vacant school board seat due to the death of Rob Street. We have it advertised right now. If you know of someone who would be interested, send them our way. We had 5 including Rob apply previously. I’ll be reaching out to them to see if they are still interested. Please reach out to anyone you think cares about the future of our kids and what to play a role in it. We could us the prayers. Rob Street was very impactful and very important to us.

e. Beth Probst, High School/Jr. High Principle.

i. High School fall sports are in full swing. Cross County is running very well. Volleyball is playing really well. Football is seeing success and Friday is a home game. Tennis is having a great season. Soccer has only lost one. Band placed 1st in pretty much everything at Robinson and Grand Champion last weekend. They go to EIU this weekend.

ii. Jr. High baseball went to the regional championship against T-town. It was a really good game but they ended up losing. Cross County has 3 more meets then they have their sectionals next Saturday. Softball placed 4th in state. We are very proud of the girls. Girls basketball starts Thursday with their opening home game at 6pm.

iii. Next week is Home Coming. The parade will be on Friday at 2:30pm.

f. Lea Creadore, Chamber Vice President.

i. We were under budget for the Corvette Funrun and invoices will probably be sent out Monday.

ii. October 12th is Scare on the Square 3pm-5pm.

5. Comments from those attending the meeting. a. JenniferHinterscher:

i. Thursday is pack the place night at the High School home Volleyball game.

ii. Thursday at St. Thomas, the Jasper County Cancer Support Bingo door open at 5pm and game starts at 6pm. (flyer with more information is attached to email). 

b. Sara Kinkade: Queen of Hearts – Over $500,000 in 39 weeks came through Jasper County $5 at a time. They were also buying other things. Newton Animal Health Center sold a set of Amish patio furniture because the people came to buy Queen of Hearts tickets. We wanted to do something to not only bring money to the athletics but also bring money into the community and we accomplished that. The VFW is now rehabbing the building. They painted outside and redid their ceiling. Thank you for all the support. We are doing it again and we will see what happens this time.

6. Motion to close meeting made by Andy Johnson, second by Louis Ochs, and motion passed.

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