Commissioner LaColis Reed was late, and Commissioner Sandra Burke was absent. 
   The Board approved training pay for election judges to rise from the current $25 to $35, dependent on the approval of the 2020 budget.  This would bring judges' pay in line with the pay raise in Tazewell County and encourage attendance at training sessions. 
   Approval was also granted for using part of the Election Security Grant to add two indoor cameras and two access control doors in the Election Commission office and warehouse.  This will cost $8840 of the $36,000 grant, still allowing for future needs. 
   Also approved was the use of election data by Larry Aspin for a study of cumulative voting.  (The League is hoping to use Larry's expertise in its study.)
  

The Peoria County Board met on its regular second Thursday of the month, which was May 9th, at 6 p.m. on the fourth floor of the County Building.
Although there were five proclamations and presentations, the actual meeting agenda was comparatively short. Most items were contained in the Consent Agenda and were approved. There were several other business items and a zoning approval. There was recognition of Allen Mayer at the end of the meeting, as the announcement was official of his resignation from the Board effective the following week. He and his family are moving to Springfield because of his job. His years of service on the County Board were noted with multiple statements of thanks. His leadership in many key efforts and improvements for the County were praised. Allen's wife Carey was present in the audience and they were given many comments of appreciation.   
​Joyce Blumenshine, Observer

​The PHA Board of Commissioners regular meeting was held May 6, 2019 at the Frank Campbell Community Center, 312 S. Merriman, Peoria. The meeting started on time at 4:30 pm. All members were present.
   A resident of Sterling Towers spoke during the Community Comments time; he was very complimentary to staff member who has assisted many of the residents and was concerned about changes in employee roles.
   Hedy Elliot Gardner recognized memorial garden at Harrison Homes; thanked volunteers, maintenance staff for assistance in project. She also expressed concern regarding Trespass List sent from PHA Security and how list is updated. PHA Office can assist with how list is updated.
  Appointment of Kadar Heffner as Commissioner and Treasurer was made. Minutes of the regular session of April 1, 2019 were approved.
   Director Jackie Newman requested that regular monthly meetings be changed to PHA office, 100 S. Richard Pryor Place. PHA offices have been remodeled and have space for these meetings.
   Director Newman reported PHA continues to focus on updating internal operations, policies and procedures to meet federal guidelines.

The Peoria City County Landfill Committee met on April 17th, its regular third Wednesday of the month at 
3 p.m. in Room 404 of Peoria City Hall. Committee member Rick Fox was requested to lead the meeting
by Chairman Steve Morris, who could not attend.  
​  County Sustainability staff member Karen Raithel announced  several E-waste and other collection events and April Earth Day/Month promotions, which are posted on the County website.
   The Foth Engineering report included that the 2018 Landfill #1 annual report was being completed and approval was requested for signature when done as this landfill is under the responsibility of the City/County for ongoing maintenance and monitoring.
  PDC has already completed their report for what will be Landfill #3, which they will operate when completed.
  The Illinois EPA Bureau of Air made a site visit to Landfill #2, the current operating landfill, which is run by Waste
Management (WM). The last IEPA air inspection was in 2016.
  Work continues to repair landfill gas flares that were impacted by the extreme winter weather. Foth and WM are submitting a joint report. WM noted that the amount of garbage for the previous month is again down. There was discussion that the budget for the year may need to be adjusted if this downward trend continues. Committee Member Pat Nichting asked if this could be due to the City of Peoria going to twice a month recycling pick-ups. Comment was that it could be a slight impact. Mr. Nichting said industry news shows landfill receipts are down 5% but Peoria is seeing a 15% drop and he asked for a report at the next meeting to better monitor the decline so the
Committee can discuss what can be done. One comment was waste haulers may be going to other locations.
    There was discussion of an offer from an adjacent landowner to sell property to the landfill among several
other items.
   Solar energy was still listed on the agenda, however there has been no action or updates. 
Joyce Blumenshine, Observer

​The main order of business was finishing up the April consolidated election. 
   Donations were approved to Limestone ROTC and the Peoria County Auxiliary Police.  They helped on election day to facilitate the collection of ballots that night.  Chairman Collins expressed his appreciation of their work. 
   The official canvas was scheduled for April 17, with all ballots counted.  The total count was down from two years ago, probably because two jurisdictions in the County had no contested races. 
   Where there were contests, voting was up. 
   Mail-in voting was up 175%, but on site voting was down. 
   It was reported that precinct voting results can be found on the County GIS site which can be reached from the Election Commission website.  When I checked, I found results for last November's election, but not the ones in February or April of this year.  Hopefully they will be up soon. 
​Irene Pritzker, Observer

​Linda Daley chaired the meeting 

• The meeting was convened, no additions were made to the agenda and the March 19 Minutes were approved.
• Jon Hodel from CloudPoint gave an update.  He reported that the GPS points for almost all graves have been stored using first and last names.  Also, all drone flights for mapping purposes are final.  Upcoming activity will include the mapping of the Mausoleum and on-site training for staff in June.  July 1 will be the official start date of on-going services by CloudPoint as a five year agreement.  Mr. Hodel also mentioned a pilot project that CloudPoint would be initiating which would involve the 3D Mapping of the interior of the Mausoleum using GEOSlam technology.  He showed a video demonstration of the technic and suggested that possibly SCMA would be a possible pilot partner.
• Mike Rucker gave an update regarding the volunteer work being done at the Scattering Garden.

The Peoria County Board met on April 11th,their regularly scheduled second Thursday of each month, at 6 p.m
in Room 403 of the County Building with Chairman Andrew Rand presiding. County Board has public 
comments near the beginning of the meeting.
  Two agenda items brought a large number of people and there were many commenting. One topic was a County Board resolution to the Illinois Department of Agriculture (DOA) with four proposals for improvements to the Livestock Management Act. Current state regulations do not allow counties any authority regarding large facilities confining hogs, cows or other animals; counties can only request a public hearing if the number of animals is above
1000 animal units; no assessment of adequate water supply is required for a new CAFO and CAFOs 
have only a .5 mile setback from most towns. 

​The Board of Commissioners meeting was held April 1, 2019 at 4:30 pm.
This Observer was unable to attend meeting due to set up of election equipment at polling place. Review of PHA website shows meeting Agenda available; no Board Packet was found nor prior approved minutes. Website continues to be in progress. Highlights of Agenda for this meeting: CEO Report, approval of intergovernmental agreement between PHA and Springfield Housing Authority (SHA) for management services, and 2018 Agency goals.
Next scheduled meeting of PHA is May 6, 2019 at 4:30 pm. At The Frank Campbell Community Center, 312 S. Merriman St., Peoria,

​
            Linda Daley chaired the meeting 
            Mark Matusak presented the Manager’s Report:
            o Burials were up in February although still slightly under last year’s numbers.
            o The CloudPoint GIS project is coming along well and is on target for completion in the Fall..
            o There has been an early return of two “seasonal” employees to start cleanup of leaves that are remaining from last year.  Clean up was postponed until Spring because of last Fall’s inclement weather. Grounds staff build-up is tentatively scheduled for April 22.
            o The Pet Cemetery – Whispering Woods.  Mark Matusak reported that calls have been made to a number veterinarians in the area and most now have flyers in their offices explaining the services Springdale Cemetery offers.  Pet owners will have a number of options regarding burials or scatterings for their deceased pets. 

​The Peoria County Board of Election Commissioners met on Thursday, March 14, 2019.  Everyone was present except LaColis Reed.  All of the bills that were approved were standard.  The Verizon bill was a little higher because the hot spots are on.  There was a bill for software support, and a bill to Amazon for something that could not be found locally.
The Board approved moving Precincts 02 and 20 from Hollis Grade School to the Bartonville Christian Church.  This had been discussed at the February meeting but could not be approved at that time because plans were finalized too late to be included in the agenda.
In the updates on the primary and general elections, Director Tom Bride said the judges liked the pollbooks, and the drop off changes that were planned after the November election went very smoothly.  Turn out at the primary was 10.8%, which was higher than two years ago.  As of March 14, 761 ballots had been mailed out (which is ahead of two years ago), and 233 people had voted early.  Tom is expecting a turn out of over 20% for the general election.
​Irene Pritzker, Observer