The Village of Chapin continues to see turnover in its elected officials.

The Cass County Star Gazette reported on Thursday that village trustee Kevin Scott had resigned.

Scott becomes the 3^rd individual to resign from the village. Village President Ken Drake and Village Public Works Superintendent Dalton Surratt announced resignations on August 13^th. Rex Brockhouse took over as interim Village President back in September.

Long-time Treasurer Wendy Bridgewater resigned on June 9^th.

No reason was listed in the report for Scott’s resignation.

The Illinois Commerce Commission wants low-income customers struggling to afford their utility bills to be aware of changes in state law that offer relief from deposit and late payment fees, and clarifies who is eligible for these new consumer protection benefits.

The Illinois General Assembly added provisions to the Public Utilities Act in the recent Climate and Equitable Jobs Act that prohibit electric utilities from charging late-payment fees or charges to low income customers and prohibits low income customers from having to pay a deposit to have service connected, reconnected or to continue to receive service. Gas and electric utilities must also refund deposits to low-income customers who have paid them.

The law defines a low-income customer as (i) a member of a household at or below 80% of the community or county median household income; (ii) a member of a household at or below 150% of the federal poverty level; (iii) a person who is eligible for the Illinois Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP); (iv) a person who is eligible to participate in the Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP or PIP Plan); or (v) a person who is eligible to receive Lifeline telephone service.

If you qualify and have been charged a late-payment fee on a recent electric bill, you should contact your electric utility first to find out whether the fee can be removed off your bill. Similarly, low-income customers who have been charged a deposit by their electric or natural gas utility to have service connected, reconnected or to continue to receive service should contact the utility first to find out whether the deposit can be refunded.

The ICC’s Consumer Services Division has English and Spanish speaking counselors available to help customers needing further assistance between 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday by calling 1-800-524-0795. More information can be found at the ICC utility assistance webpage.

An area Congressman is hoping to revive a key farm program.

13^th District Congressman joined New Hampshire Democrat Annie Kuster yesterday in introducing the bipartisan Veteran and Beginning Farmer Assistance Act, which would reauthorize the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas program, know as ATTRA, to members of the House Ag Committee.

Davis says he’s hoping to revive ATTRA with some key improvements by providing resources, training, and technical assistance to veterans, young people taking over family farming operation, and those entering the farming profession for the first time.

Davis says the ATTRA sustainable agriculture program provides practical educational resources, training, individualized technical assistance, and farmer-to-farmer learning networks for farmers who are seeking to expand and diversify their business while at the same time strengthening sustainability efforts.

The ATTRA program taps the expertise of more than 30 sustainable agriculture specialists across 10 states and is developed and managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT). The majority of funding for ATTRA is through a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service.

Davis’ bill would expand the ATTRA program with an additional $3.5 million in funding. It would also codify in the law that the program would work for and “assist beginning, socially disadvantaged, and veteran farmers and ranchers, support farm business viability planning, and advise farmers working to protect their crops from extreme weather events.”

Jacksonville Police were called to a two-vehicle collision at a restaurant drive-thru early this morning.

Police received reports of a collision in the McDonald’s drive-thru located in the 500 block of West Morton Avenue at approximately 2:08 this morning.

Upon arrival and after a brief investigation, police determined that a vehicle driven by 21 year old Jacob T. Roderick of the 100 block of Sunwood collided with the rear end of a vehicle driven by 32 year old Penny L. Grant of Champaign.

Both units sustained only minor damage. No injuries were reported. Roderick’s vehicle was towed from the scene.

Roderick was cited for two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and operating an uninsured motor vehicle. He was later booked into the Morgan County Jail, posted bond, and was released.

Two people were taken to Jacksonville Memorial Hospital after a two-vehicle crash yesterday evening on Walnut Avenue.

Jacksonville Police and LifeStar EMS were called to the intersection of Walnut Street and Sandusky at 6:27PM Friday to a report of a two-vehicle crash.

Subsequent to an investigation, police determined that a vehicle driven by 20 year old Melanie Trusler of the 800 block of Illinois Avenue was traveling westbound on West Walnut Street at the intersection of Sandusky Street when a vehicle driven by 21 year old Valeria N. Hernandez of Meredosia allegedly disobeyed a stop sign and collided with Trusler’s vehicle causing disabling damage to the driver’s side front and rear quarter panels. Trusler, and a passenger, 19 year old Thomas A. Mullett were transported to Jacksonville Memorial Hospital for undisclosed injuries. Hernandez and a female juvenile passenger reported no injuries. Trusler’s vehicle was towed from the scene.

According to police reports, Hernandez told police that she did not see Trusler’s vehicle because Trusler’s vehicle did not have headlights. A witness told police that Hernandez failed to yield at the stop sign due to being on her cellphone. Mullett also allegedly told police that Hernandez failed to yield at the intersection.

Jacksonville Police issued Hernandez a citation for disobeying a traffic control device. No further information has been released.

The Village of South Jacksonville is looking at increasing their hotel-motel tax in the near future.

The hotel-motel tax is the sole revenue the village pulls in for its tourism funding.

Trustee Paula Belobradjic-Stewart, Chair of the Village’s Parks & Tourism Committee, informed the board on Thursday during a committee of the whole meeting that the Tourism committee discovered that the village’s ordinance governing the tax percentage isn’t on par with the tax rate of nearby towns: “Right now [our ordinance] says our hotel-motel tax is between 3 and 5 percent. That’s what the ordinance reads. We are going to change that to 8% to match the hotel tax rates in surrounding areas. Now, Chicago is 10.5%, which is obviously too high. The majority of communities and Jacksonville is 8%. We are going to raise ours to 8% because people aren’t just staying here because we are at 5%. The way we are going to re-write the ordinance…the 3 to 5 is going to be out. It’s going to say 8% upon passage, and then a half percent increase for each year up to 10%. Then, the board at that time in 4 years will re-visit that, because if the rate at 10% is too high, they obviously are going to change that. You don’t want to price yourself out of the market, but we are also leaving too much money on the table right now.”

The tourism committee is also looking at setting flat fees for hotels and motels who are late paying their tax to the village, and also having an accountability measure for the hotels and motels if they purposely under report their revenues.

The possible changes to the hotel-motel tax ordinance are on the table for action items at the December board meeting.

The Jacksonville area will have the chance to hear the premiere of a new musical piece by a noted local composer.

Tim Kramer, professor emeritus of the School of Music at Illinois College, will have a flute and piano piece debuted on Saturday at Rammelkamp Chapel as a part of the college’s Fine Art Series.

Kramer says the Music Wall Duo of Pei-I Wang on piano and Abigail Walsh on flute will bring life to a pandemic inspired piece he wrote in the middle of last Spring: “We were about midway through the pandemic. It was sort of maybe May or something like that…and I said I think I’m going to write a piece that uses flute and piano and has several small pieces. The way it ended up was basically in 8 movements, and each one of these movements represent kind of an emotional state that we have probably all felt over the pandemic, certain kinds of moods and feelings. I’m calling them stelae – these memorial stone monuments, and these are short movements.”

Walsh says as a performer, she enjoys getting into the minds of the composers of the pieces that she performs. She says with Kramer’s piece, she has a special connection because she can interact with him and his ideas in real time: “Now, I have this connection with these living composers that are sort of experiencing this modern world at the same time, and they might be inspired by some of the things that composers have always been inspired by, but there is sort of this extra-emotional connection. I just look at my flute as this sort of extension of my voice. In the same way I can talk to someone a certain way and then say the same things softly, I look at [the flute] as a sort of tool that sort of doesn’t have any limits. It’s kind of like trying to just process that and create that emotion [of the piece]. It’s just really fun to do that and be able to speak with the composers, as well, and be able to get that message out.”

The program will also feature music from other living composers that are a part of the Composers Alliance of San Antonio, a group that Kramer helped to found in 1999.

The music starts at 7:30PM at Rammelkamp Chapel on Illinois College’s campus. Individual tickets are $15 for adults. Students and children are admitted free. The concert will also be livestreamed. For more information, visit ic.edu/fas.

The Illinois Farm Bureau says there may be sticker shock on that turkey and grocery list this holiday season.

The American Farm Bureau Federation’s 36th annual survey indicates the average cost of this year’s Thanksgiving feast for 10 has risen to $53.31, or less than $6 a person, a 14% increase since last year. The Illinois survey was slightly higher than the national average with the cost of a Thanksgiving feast for 10 coming in the state at $58.15, or an 8% increase from the national average.

AFBF Senior Economist Veronica Nigh said in a press release that the increase in cost this year can be attributed to the dramatic disruptions; to the U.S. economy and supply chains over the last 20 months; inflationary pressure throughout the economy; difficulty in predicting demand during the COVID-19 pandemic; and high global demand for food, particularly meat.

Nigh also says that the trend of consumers eating more at home during the pandemic also added extra stress on supermarket demand and higher retail food prices.

13^th District Congressman Rodney Davis’s office announced two projects that have been funded in the area by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Office. The funding is part of the Community Facilities Direct Loans and Grants Program.

The City of Carrollton was awarded $9,000 with a $16,716 local match to purchase a pickup truck for use by the city’s street department for city projects. Their current 18 year old truck, which is in need of costly repairs, will be replaced.

Scottville Township received a $25,000 grant along with a $159,000 low-interest loan to be used to purchase a replacement road grader. The townships’ road grader has reached its useful life and can no longer adequately serve the community. The township will purchase a 2019 road grader, maintaining 46.1 miles of roads and ditches within the township.

Davis says the federal dollars are a great example of support the federal government needs to continue to make to support rural communities throughout the country.