Meeting Place: 257 W Lincoln, Lewistown, IL 61542
Time: 5:00 PM
Date: June 2nd, 2026
1. Call to Order
Time: 5:07 PM
2. Roll Call
Roll call was taken, quorum was present
MEMBERS:
Susie Berry (Present)
Landon Smith (Present)
Andy Steck (Present)
Matt Vogel (Present)
David Widger (Absent)
OTHER BOARD MEMBERS: James Barclay, Chris Southwood, Lauren Southwood
ELECTED & APPOINTED OFFICIALS: Kim Mayberry – Zoning Officer, Julie Russell – Assessments
STAFF: Halle Tindall– Fulton County Board Administrative Assistant, Audra Miles – Comptroller
GUEST(S) – Jennie Grove – Marketing & Tourism Executive Director – Spoon River Partnership for Economic Development
3. Call for Additions/Deletions to and Approval of the Agenda
Assessor Julie Russell called to table item “Approval of “Keefer Properties Subdivision”.
Short Legal: Two lots, being a part of Outlot 2, located in the Southwest quarter of Section 2 in Township 8N, Range 4E of the Fourth Principal Meridian in Fulton County, Illinois.” to next month’s meeting (July 7th)
Member Smith moved to approve the amended agenda with a second from Member Berry. Motion carried by voice vote with all ayes.
4. Approval of Previous Minutes from May 5th, 2026.
Member Smith moved to approve previous minutes with a second from Member Berry. Motion carried by voice vote with all ayes
5. Announcements, Communications and Correspondence
a. Jennie Grove, Marketing & Tourism Director, Spoon River Partnership for Economic Development.
Jennie Grove reported last year the partnership started a housing stock survey of the county, specifically looking at Canton, Cuba, and Lewistown and the communities were very involved in the survey. Following that year long process, a Fulton County Revitalization Plan is currently in process. The Fulton County Revitalization Plan will essentially be how the county can step forward with solving current issues once issues are identified. Jennie also reported that Illinois currently has a Community Development Block grant out and getting funding for Lewistown is being worked on. The Community Development Block grant has 3 parts to it, housing rehabilitation, economic development, and public infrastructure. Jennie expressed that they are working very closely with the Illinois Housing Development Authority and she passed out a handout and reported that the Illinois Housing Development Authority is doing blueprint survey around the state. Jennie Grove will be representing Fulton County and invited any of the board members that may be interested to the meeting in Peoria on June 17th. There is also a demolition grant that was released on Monday June 1st, and it is being discussed with the cities mayors. Lewistown is the first city in Fulton County to be part of a Land-Bank and more information about this will be discussed in the future.
6. Public Comments – None
7. Claims/Financial Report
Member Smith moved to approve with a second from Member Berry. Motion carried by roll call vote (4,0)
8. Zoning Office Report
Zoning Officer Kim Mayberry passed out copies of the new Ordinances that were recently passed. Zoning Board of Appeals met on May 6th and 7th where they approved the conditional use permit for Buckheart Solar which will be the largest to date in Fulton County. Zoning Board of Appeals also met on May 27th and approved 1 conditional use permit for a destination bar and a variance for a garage and there was an appeal on the zoning departments decision to deny a building permit, but the Zoning Board ultimately voted to uphold the denial. There will not be a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting in June.
9. Old Business
Discussion/Action: Abandoned House Ordinance Research Update
Member Steck expressed wanting to create a draft Ordinance. Comptroller Audra Miles expressed that the draft Ordinance needs to have details about who would be in charge of each step of the process. Member L. Southwood expressed that they could possibly work with the partnership and discussed where funding would come from. Member Smith expressed he will get copies of comparable county’s abandoned house Ordinance to brainstorm. Assessor Julie Russell discussed setting up a process of what steps should be taken before an Ordinance is drafted and Jennie Grove added on information of possible ways to receive funding.
Discussion/Action: Data Center & Commercial Crypto-Mining Facility Task Force Update
Assessor Russell reported that she will be sending out an update on the timeline to the task force as the Buckheart Solar meeting took 2 days and the FOIA requests that came in after the Buckheart Solar meeting pushed back the timeline. Assessor Russell will possibly ask for an extension as August gets closer.
10. New Business
Discussion/Action: Approval of “Keefer Properties Subdivision”.
Short Legal: Two lots, being a part of Outlot 2, located in the Southwest quarter of Section 2 in Township 8N, Range 4E of the Fourth Principal Meridian in Fulton County, Illinois.
Tabled to next month’s meeting (July 7th)
Discussion/Action: Approval of Agreement with Pleasantville Solar LLC, to set the annual Conditional Use Permit renewal fee.
Assessor Russell expressed when Pleasantville Solar originally pulled their conditional use permit, the annual fee was only $25 and it is not adequate to cover the work that is involved yearly for this renewal. Pleasantville agreed to pay $5,000 a year and it will pay for legal fees and any type of external engineering.
Member Steck moved to send to the full board with a second from Member Smith. Motion carried by roll call vote (4,0)
11. Executive Session – None
12. Misc. – None
13. Adjournment
Member Smith moved to adjourn at 5:36 PM with a second from Member Vogel. Motion carried by voice vote with all ayes.
