Railroad support for GLBT project unclear

 

While two of the railroads that were supposed to be served by Great Lakes Basin's proposed freight line have publicly stated they will not participate, the remaining four appear uncommitted to the project.

Officials with the railroads have either said they were not involved in GLBT's proposal for an $8 billion, privately funded freight train line that runs 278 miles from Milton, Wis., to LaPorte County, or had no comment. One of those railroads acquired a rail line that already provides a bypass around Chicago and the other furloughed 4,600 employees earlier this spring because of a drop in cargo traffic.

Officials also noted their railroads support the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE), an ongoing project to alleviate rail congestion in Chicago that's already in place. Frank Patton, GLBT's founder and managing partner, has said his freight line would alleviate rail congestion and take trucks off the roads.

"We have supported CREATE since 2013," Patton said in an email. "We believe, along with many others, that CREATE is not the single solution to the projected 60 percent growth in traffic in the next 25 years."

He said the description of a second phase of CREATE in a Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning document that notes developing a program "so that the regional rail system has the capacity to efficiently handle potential future traffic loads and meshes with an efficient system for local pick-up and delivery" describes GLBT's proposal "perfectly."

Patrick Waldron, a spokesman for Canadian National, had no comment on the proposal but in 2009, the railroad purchased the former Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway, which, according to CN's website, "allows us to seamlessly connect our five rail lines entering the city, avoiding those crowded inner city rail corridors."

According to a company news release from January 2015, CN has invested more than $1 billion in its Midwest operations in the past several years.

The purchase of EJ&E, company president and chief executive officer Claude Mongeau said in the release, "frees up capacity for other carriers on the Belt Railway of Chicago and Indiana Harbor Belt – a benefit for the entire greater Chicago rail network."

A spokesman for BNSF, Andy Williams, also had no comment, though an April 1 article on Bloomberg's website notes the railway put 4,600 workers on furlough because of declining cargo traffic.

The article notes that traffic for large U.S. railroads dropped 6.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, rail cargo fell 2.5 percent in 2015, and that most railroads responded by reducing workforces.

Canadian Pacific "is not affiliated with the Great Lakes Basin proposal," Andy Cummings, a spokesman there said.

CSX has not made a formal decision, said Gail Lobin, spokeswoman for that railroad, though the railroad supports CREATE and its efforts.

"CSX is always looking at opportunities to increase efficiency and capacity in and around Chicago, and across our entire network. Our efforts include working with other railroads to capture those efficiencies, including through support of the CREATE initiative, which has had a positive impact in efficiently moving freight not only in Chicago but throughout North America," she said in an email.

Patton has said that property owners whose land is impacted by the freight line could pay for rail spurs and switches and provide boxcars for pick-up and delivery of goods.

Union Pacific representatives said in March that they would not take part in the proposal. Norfolk Southern submitted a letter late last month to the federal Surface Transportation Board stating it already has bypasses around Chicago and is not inclined to use the proposed route.

Opposition to GLBT has been fierce across three states and opponents have flooded the STB with letters against the project in what a representative there has called an unprecedented response to the project.

They have repeatedly questioned the needed for the rail line, particularly in light of the news that neither Union Pacific nor Norfolk Southern would take part in the proposal.

"(GLBT's proposal) seems unnecessary and it just backs up what our group says," Kathleen Honl, one of the organizers of the Porter County opposition group Residents Against the Invasion of Land by Eminent Domain (RAILED), said last week.

Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

Above is from:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-rail-line-support-st-0605-20160603-story.html

Senator Steve Stadelman calling on Governor to release funding for services

 

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) -- Thousands of families across the state are suffering because of the budget stalemate in Springfield, but some local legislators say there's a solution, and all it needs is Governor Rauner's signature.

Toyya Young lives in one of the apartments owned by Shelter Care Ministries, a group that aims to help families overcome homelessness. Young says the help the group has given her family has been enormous.

"We were homeless, and they actually helped us get stable housing," she says.

However, the budget impasse in Springfield is preventing non-profits across the state to help families like Young's. Senator Steve Stadelman is urging the governor to sign bi-partisan legislation, which would provide 700 million dollars in funding for services like Shelter Care, Meals on Wheels and programs for kids. Stadelman says the legislation has been sitting on Rauner's desk for the past month.

"The past year or so, we've have many non-profit organizations that have gone out of business. Their future's in jeopardy and then they had to cut back programs. This would provide immediate relief for these providers to continue these services so they are not cut in the future," says senator Steve Stadelman.

Shelter Care says they've had to scale back on families they can help, because the cuts.

"It seems harder to get help all around. Everyone is kind of holding onto what little money they have. I think the residents and the people we serve are feeling the pinch because they can't access the same amount of services that they could before," says Sarah Parker-Scanlon of Shelter Care Ministries.

Young hopes the governor takes action.

"With homelessness, there's a face. We have faces. There's people hurting. There's children to think about. They're innocent. People are trying to do their best," says Young.

The bill passed the house by a 111-0 vote and passed the senate by a 56-0 vote. A spokesman for Governor Rauner told 23 News that this human services funding is part of a more over-reaching stop gap budget that he was pushing yesterday in the Stateline. And that's where the democratic leadership should be concentrating.

Above is from:  http://www.wifr.com/content/news/Senator-Steve-Stadelman-Calling-on-Governor-to-Release-Funding-for-Services-381823591.html

Will Boone County Board approve an actual “resolution” regarding GLB RR?

 

Below is Cathy Ward’s Facebook account of  the Health Committee meeting.  Apparently a resolution will be discussed at the county board meeting if it can make the June 15 deadline. 

Cathy Ward

June 2 at 8:21pm ·

TRAIN TALKS - After much heated debate about the value of a Resolution objecting to the proposed freight train, the Boone County Board's Health Committee tonight (June 2) approved a motion to submit a Resolution to the Feds (STB). Board member Sherry Branson led the discussion, which I strongly supported, noting hundreds of our Boone County residents asked for this and we have been legally advised that a Resolution is stronger than the letter the board approved in May. Board ...members Sherry Giesecke and Ray Larson said they did not believe the feds want a Resolution. They voiced strong opinions that the letter is all that is needed, but in the end, all five members supported the motion to draft a Resolution. At least the first step won approval. So frustrating. This should be a no-brainer. After it is drafted, it will go to the full County Board for final approval. Deadline is June 15.

Cathy Ward quoted in Tribune on GLB RR

 

 

Amy LavalleyPost-Tribune

Three states. Eleven counties. Two-hundred-seventy-eight miles.

Those are the oft-repeated numbers in Great Lakes Basin Transportation's proposal for a freight train line from Milton, Wis., to LaPorte County, a project GLBT founder and managing partner Frank Patton has said would be the largest rail project in this country in 125 years.

But the numbers don't tell the story of the response to the proposal.

In letters and comments to the federal Surface Transportation Board, people from Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana express their concerns, their fears, and what the project would mean for their lives.

There's the board of Emerald Grove Cemetery in Rock County, Wis., who note the freight line will go through the cemetery. Officials from the Shults-Lewis Home in Porter County, which serves troubled youth, fear the at-risk children will see a rail line one-tenth of a mile from their facility as an escape route for running away and risk being injured or killed. The Ogle County, Ill., Farm Bureau decries the loss of valuable farmland, and the rail line would run perilously close to historic Buckley Homestead and the Calumet Astronomy Center in Lake County.

Patton, however, is not swayed by his opponents' concerns which, beyond eminent domain, include loss of productive farmland, drainage issues, disruption at local schools, and traffic and safety worries.

"They simplify the arguments to such a degree that it's deceptive. They say no freight rail. We say no freight rail, more trucks. It's that simple," he said.

The stated purpose of the proposed freight line, an $8 billion project Patton has said will be privately funded, is to alleviate congestion at the freight yard in Chicago and speed transport times by providing a bypass. Patton also has said the rail line will take trucks off highways.

Yet, John Yonan, superintendent of the Cook County, Ill., Department of Transportation and Highways, objected to the project, too, in an April 14 letter to the STB, which included concerns about using the rail line as a potential bypass for hazardous material, whether first responders in rural areas could adequately respond to a hazardous spill, and the impact a spill could have on Chicago and his county.

He notes the momentum and resources built in the last 15 years by the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program, or CREATE, to support the freight industry in Cook County and Chicago "could be jeopardized by the construction of the GLBT, which will induce the construction of new freight facilities at the edge of the Chicago metropolitan area and beyond."

Opposition groups have sprouted up along the counties along the route, turning to social media to share updates, stories from area newspapers, contact information for the federal Surface Transportation Board, which held environmental impact hearings on the proposal in April and will determine whether it will proceed, and let people know about fundraisers and where to pick up yard signs.

"It's very telling when you have all three states and 11 counties working against this," said Susan Sack, who handles education and outreach for Block GLB Railroad, an opposition group based in LaSalle County, Ill., adding she has more than 1,000 people in her database for email updates, and many more receive those messages when they're forwarded.

Block GLB Railroad serves as a clearing house for opposition groups involved, and Sack has shown up at other group's opposition meetings, including one held in early May in Hebron by Residents Against Invasion of Land by Eminent Domain, or RAILED.

For her and many of those opposed to the proposal, "it comes down to eminent domain for private gain," she said, adding no one has determined a need for the rail line, which, if approved, would use eminent domain to acquire land for the project.

"There's no one in a checks and balances system protecting the landowners," she said, adding residents don't seem to have a way to stop the proposal. "Uniting is a way to say we have a voice."

The STB is accepting comments on the proposal through June 15 and then will begin preparing an environmental impact statement, which agency officials have said could take two to three years.

An STB official has called response to the proposal unprecedented, generating 30 comments a day.

Patton said he's hearing the same arguments against the rail line from the same group of people, noting that when he spoke at a public meeting in Morris, Ill., there was a traveling group of protesters who also were spotted at a meeting in Seneca, Ill.

Calling them "the traveling minstrels," he claimed they are not local and are being brought in to different meetings.

"The arguments are identical. 'You're raping my ground. You're taking my farmland.' Some of them I understand, some of them I can dismiss," he said. "What I don't hear in these arguments is a national purpose, and we think we're working with a national purpose," to take trucks off the roads by increasing rail capacity.

And while dozens of municipal and county boards, planning and parks departments, and agencies including the National Cattlemen's Beef Association have filed resolutions and letters with the STB against the project, Patton said he will not be swayed.

"I hear that over and over again, they want this pastoral lifestyle and that's great, but the population is growing. Hopefully, we don't stay in a flat economy, and business is expanding," he said. "Our contention from Day 1 is we're tightening the logistics for the farmer to ship his product, and nobody but the traveling minstrels argues with that statement."

Others have come out in support of the project, or at least want to give it more consideration. Some LaPorte County officials have said the project could be a boon to an intermodal transportation facility there, bringing industry and businesses to the rail line's end point.

After inquiring about the project in early April, Diane McNeilly, a member of the Rochelle, Ill., planning and zoning commission, submitted an April 5 letter to STB in favor of the project.

"I think this is a wonderful project and very necessary," she wrote. "(I) don't really want any more trains in our community but this is the right thing to do for lots of reason."

The project has even spawned an opposition newspaper. Richard Allen joined forces with a couple of other people against GLBT's proposal to come up with their own form of protest, a free, 16-page, full-color newspaper.

"Great Lakes Basin Rail: News and Views," with the motto, "Working together and sharing, we make a difference," had an initial run last week of 4,000 copies, which Allen, who lives in Winnebago County, Ill., said was distributed to opposition groups in all three states, and left at coffee shops to inform people who don't have Internet access.

"People are thinking this is anything from an Amtrak train to general freight. They don't know," he said, adding the paper's message is that the freight line isn't needed.

In the era of social media, Allen said he went with a print edition for the elderly or others who are not Internet savvy.

"You put something in their hands, and it strikes a chord with them," he said.

In Janesville, Wis., the proposed rail line will cut through one of the three parcels that comprise Emerald Grove Cemetery. The land, said Jill Bier, secretary of the cemetery's board of directors, is for future expansion and is up on a hill, which also creates drainage concerns.

The cemetery was established in 1850 and contains Civil War gravestones that already are deteriorating.

"The rumble from the rail line would destroy them," said Bier, who grew up in the area and whose father is buried at the cemetery. She added that every Memorial Day, the cemetery has a longstanding tradition of a parade with local school children who decorate veterans' graves.

"We would ask when addressing this proposal, you would realize that this project is not worth the sacrifice," the cemetery board wrote in its March 28 letter to the STB.

Boone County, Ill., has 55,000 residents, but 400 people showed up to a meeting about the project, said Cathy Ward, a 14-year member of the county board. The response was great enough to convince one of the county's elected officials that the rail line wasn't needed.

Like other officials in other counties, Ward sees no economic benefit to her county from the project, and envisions only a freight train coming through her area.

"It seems to me we are the path of least resistance. We don't have a voice in Springfield. We don't have a voice in Chicago. We don't have a voice in D.C.," she said, "but the opposition has pointed out numerous ways it's not going to benefit Boone County."

Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

Judge unseals documents on Trump University

 

 

A federal judge has unsealed 381 pages of documents relating to Donald Trump's controversial Trump University for-profit real estate program, which became public Tuesday afternoon as part of a lawsuit seeking damages and accusing the company of fraud.

The documents amount to the "playbooks" used by the company in convincing prospective students to join the program, which promised real-estate training blessed by Trump himself. But it soon found itself embroiled in controversy, with a number of students claiming that they had been misled.

Trump's political adversaries have seized on the controversy surrounding his real estate classes, where some students who paid upwards of $35,000 dismissed the program as a fraud. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz lambasted Trump on the issue during the Republican primary, while Hillary Clinton has already begun to use the issue against the presumptive GOP nominee.

Trump University faced a handful of legal challenges, as well as scrutiny from the New York Department of Education, before it shut down in 2011.

But Trump has trumpeted his innocence, releasing reviews from students lauding the courses and arguing that he won't settle because he'll be vindicated in court.

Lawyers for the real-estate magnate turned likely GOP nominee had argued to keep the documents secret after a request by The Washington Post to turn the documents over to the public. But Judge Curiel swatted their arguments down on Friday, asserting that the defense had not met the bar to keep the documents out of the public eye.

He also added that Trump's station as the GOP frontrunner, as well as the fact that he's "placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue" bolstered the argument to make the documents public.

Trump has launched a tirade against Judge Curiel in the days before the release of the documents. He chided the judge as a "hater" and "very hostile" on the stump on Friday and has implied that he's biased because he's "Mexican."

Curiel is of Hispanic heritage but was born in Indiana.

The release of the documents came hours after Trump held a press conference on his donations to veterans groups, where he chastised the media for criticizing him on the donations. A flurry of media reports noted discrepancies in the money promised by Trump and the money he actually sent to groups.

Above is from:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/judge-unseals-documents-on-trump-university/ar-BBtI3P3

Tuesday Trump details his donations to Vets

 

 

Tomorrow, Trump will give more details about his donations to vets. Here’s what we still don’t know.

© Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post undefined

Last week — after intense pressure from the news media — Donald Trump made good on a promise he had made in January. He gave $1 million of his own money to a charity for veterans. (Trump called this reporter "a nasty guy" after I asked him whether my questions had prompted him to finally give the money.)

On Tuesday morning, the day after Memorial Day, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has scheduled a news conference at Trump Tower in New York. He is expected to announce that he had made good on a separate promise to veterans, made at the same time as the $1 million pledge.

Now, he is giving away other people's money.

In January, donors big and small had entrusted funds to the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a charity he controls. Trump had promised to act as a middleman and give their money away to veterans charities. All the gifts relate to a Jan. 28 fundraiser that Trump held in Iowa, on a night when he skipped a GOP debate as part of a feud with Fox News, the debate's host.

At Tuesday's news conference, Trump has a chance to clear up several lingering questions about his handling of this money meant for veterans.

This episode began as a demonstration of Trump's patriotism, wealth and organizing savvy.

Now — after weeks of delays, stonewalling, and repeated false statements from Trump and his campaign — it has become a test of the candidate's ability to deliver on a promise.

Which groups are receiving the new gifts?

Trump's aides have said that he could announce new gifts to up to two dozen charities. But the recipients will not all be new. Some of them have already received donations out of the money Trump raised in January.

Even before Trump's announcement, The Washington Post has identified five groups that appear to be on Tuesday's list.

— Achilles International received $100,000 last week. It also received a $100,000 check, also derived from the Iowa fundraiser, a few weeks ago. This group helps wounded veterans train to compete in athletic events. One of its leaders, Mary Bryant McCourt, knows Trump because she is a member of his Mar-a-lago club in Florida. A few years ago, she persuaded Trump to help the group by stopping him once on the exclusive resort's grounds. "When I saw Donald, I said, 'Donald, they’re coming, they’re going to be here this weekend, I wanna give 'em hamburgers at the pool,'" McCourt recalled. Trump's foundation has since given several donations to the group. "He’s been just generous and wonderful and caring," she said.

— Racing for Heroes uses auto racing to help veterans with brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. It received a $100,000 donation in the first weeks after the Iowa fundraiser. Last week, the group reported that it received another "large" check from the Trump Foundation, but it declined to specify the amount.

— The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund received a $75,000 check last week. It had previously received a $100,000 check in the first weeks after the Iowa event, sent directly by a donor who supported Trump's effort. This fund has paid for new centers for rehabilitation and treatment of injured military personnel and provides benefits to the families of fallen U.S. and British personnel.

— The Boston Wounded Vet Run received $75,000 from Trump's foundation. This group holds an annual motorcycle ride and raises money to help disabled veterans. Its founder served in Iraq with the son of one of Trump's bodyguards. It had not previously received a donation from the money raised in Iowa.

— The Bob Woodruff Foundation received a $75,000 check last week. This foundation, founded by the ABC News anchor who suffered a traumatic brain injury while on assignment in Iraq, funds better care for wounded veterans. This group has no obvious connection to Trump and had received no funds from his Iowa fundraiser. "We were a bit surprised," the foundation said in a message to The Post.

So how much money, in total, did Trump actually raise in Iowa?

On Tuesday, we may finally know for sure.

In January, on the night of the fundraiser, Trump was (seemingly) clear about the night's total haul. "We just cracked $6 million, right? Six million."

But that figure appears to be false.

Earlier this month, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said the fundraiser had actually netted $4.5 million, because some big donors had not paid up. Then, a few days later, Trump said Lewandowski's figures were wrong. In fact, Trump said, the total fundraising haul was $5.5 million, after he had made good on his own pledge to give $1 million from his pocket.

The figures released by Trump on Tuesday should make clear what the actual number was. The Post has found evidence that at least $4.1 million in donations have been distributed. Whatever gifts are announced Tuesday could be added to that $4.1 million. That would be the true grand total.

Why did Trump say he had raised $6 million if he had not?

Even if the figure is $5.5 million — or less — Trump still raised millions for veterans groups. The groups that have received donations say that the gifts had a huge impact and that they were enormously grateful.

But the fact remains that Trump said he had raised $6 million and now says it was less than that.

Trump has not provided an explanation for this. In fact, in recent days, both Trump and his campaign manager have flatly — and falsely — denied that Trump had ever claimed he raised $6 million.

Lewandowski said Trump had cited the $6 million figure only as a goal he wanted to reach. "What he said was, 'We hope to get $6 million,'" Lewandowski said,

Trump said he didn't remember ever using the number. "I didn’t say six,” he said in an interview, meaning $6 million.

But both claims are incorrect. Trump did say the number. Multiple times. On video.

In a video from the fundraiser, Trump is seen telling the crowd, “We just cracked $6 million! Right? $6 million.” He repeated the figure for several days afterward, both at rallies and on TV morning shows. On Feb. 3, on "Morning Joe," Trump repeated the figure four times in six sentences. For more than three months afterward, his campaign gave no hint that the $6 million figure was wrong.

Why did it take four months to distribute the last of this money?

In an interview last week, Trump said the delay was caused by the need to scrutinize the veterans' charities he intended to help. "It’s actually turned out to be lot of work," he said.

On Tuesday, that explanation could be proven — or disproven — by the full list of groups to which Trump gave the final round of gifts.

Are they small, startup charities whose legitimacy actually needed to be researched and confirmed?

Or are they groups to which Trump already had a connection — charities run by his friends or acquaintances, or groups he had already cleared for donations months ago?

If the list is mostly groups that had preexisting connections to Trump, then his explanation for the delay may not hold water.

Above is from:  http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tomorrow-trump-will-give-more-details-about-his-donations-to-vets-here%e2%80%99s-what-we-still-don%e2%80%99t-know/ar-BBtE61g?ocid=spartandhp

Cathy Ward’s View on Boone County Veterans

• My View: Boone County veterans face land mines on home front

 

• By Cathy Ward

  Rockford Register Star

  By Cathy Ward

  Posted May. 28, 2016 at 5:40 PM
  Updated May 28, 2016 at 5:40 PM

• Cathy Ward
• 

  By Cathy Ward

  Posted May. 28, 2016 at 5:40 PM

•  

• Boone County’s 3,900 veterans, who lived through life-and-death challenges, never expected to come back home to fight for basic assistance, but that’s what happened.

  And today, they are still on the battle front.

  For decades, while veterans with special medical or financial needs throughout the state, including Winnebago County, received money from county coffers for basic housing, utilities and medical assistance, it never happened here.

  In Boone County, veterans’ volunteer groups such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars or the American Legion held bake sales, raffles, rummage sales and dipped into their own pockets to help their veterans in need.

  Finally Commander Greg Kelm, who found these groups pressed to their limits, approached the Boone County Board for the same help other county boards gave their veterans, as state law required.

  Kelm, a Vietnam veteran and native of Boone County, remembers well the response from some Boone County Board leaders. He was told, “Get in line.”

  Kelm was not pleased. He and other Boone veterans organized and placed a referendum on the ballot. He and supporters were thrilled when the referendum passed in 2013 assuring them of yearly revenues.

  Kelm next went to county leaders and asked for office space, office equipment and money for utilities. He was told by some county leaders there was absolutely no office space nor equipment available in any county building.

  But, Kelm was told, the county would give the veterans a loan for these needs until the referendum money came in. Then, said some county leaders, the veterans would be required to repay the county with the referendum proceeds.

  Kelm took that opinion to his veterans and they decided to come to the County Board meeting in full dress uniform and dispute the decision. Not surprising, county leaders, faced down by the veterans at that meeting, reconsidered. They said the “loan” would be forgiven.

  But Kelm and veteran leaders knew another battle needed to be fought. They knew, after hours of studying state law, that the law specifically said the county was responsible for all rent and office expenses, but some county leaders still said no. They said the money should come from the referendum. (The Boone County Veteran’s Administration office is currently on the second floor of the PNC Bank in downtown Belvidere.)

  Kelm and veteran leaders decided they were tired of groveling and took their battle to the office of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. A couple weeks ago, Madigan sent her opinion, supporting the veterans. These expenses total about $1,500 a month. County Board members received a memo two weeks ago from Chairman Bob Walberg that the county would be paying these expenses.

  But now the battle is with the Boone County Health Department. A couple months ago, Kelm attended the Health Board meeting and learned the VFW, a not-for-profit organization, overpaid the Health Department for years of food permit fees by about $2,500.

• - So earlier this month, Kelm came back to the Health Board and asked for the $2,500 over payment. Instead the Health Board offered just $400.

  To no one’s surprise, Kelm’s board said no. So back in the trenches, Kelm and the VFW will fight on. They are in the process of hiring an attorney, hopefully a veteran, to help them win this battle in court. Now they will ask for the full $2,500 plus all related court costs.

  Kelm is again confident the veteran’s will win this skirmish, too, but said, "It's just sad for our veterans who fought for our country that we keep finding land mines here at home, just one after another. All we asked for is to follow state law with a little fairness and common sense."

  Cathy Ward is a member of the Boone County Board.

Above is from:  http://www.rrstar.com/opinion/20160528/my-view-boone-county-veterans-face-land-mines-on-home-front/?Start=2

 

To view the informal opinion of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, the advice of Boone County’s States Attorney and Mr. Walberg’s letter go to:  http://www.boarddocs.com/il/boone/Board.nsf/files/AA3RXZ6CD2CB/$file/VAC%20Expenses%20Paid%20by%20the%20County_201605181440.pdf