By JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post
There are few headlines or television commercials promoting candidates running in next Tuesday’s election.
But from a local perspective, the vote that will be conducted on April 1 for school boards, township positions, mayors, village trustees and other grassroots positions still has a very direct impact on our lives.
How else to explain the standing-room-only crowd that gathered March 11 in Monica for a meeting of the Princeville Township Board?
Among the topics discussed was mowing and maintenance of Princeville Township’s 20.5-acre cemetery. That issue and how it played out since last fall led to the resignation of township trustee Tom Webber and cemetery board president Veronica Haskell at the March 11 meeting. Cemetery board member Rich Knapp also resigned previously.
That issue is also a hot topic in the race for Princeville Township supervisor, which pits current supervisor Kathy Humphreys against write-in candidate Terry Rasmussen.
Humphreys was appointed last April to fill the role vacated by Summer Rice, who had accepted a full-time position in the Princeville School District.
“When I took over in April, I was looking for ways to save taxpayers dollars by reviewing all records,” Humphreys said.
She also contacted attorney John Redlingshafer of Washington to review some records. Among those was employment of Mike Nauman, caretaker at the cemetery since 2016.
“The mowing contract really should have been put out for bid because for several years the earnings were over the bid threshold,” Humphreys said. “After careful consideration and with advice from the attorney, the board decided to terminate the contract and explore all options.”
That was last Oct. 24 and Nauman, who hired an attorney after the contract was terminated, had not done maintenance at the cemetery until last week.
On March 19, Nauman signed a new job description that spelled out terms of employment for him and his wife, Janet, as township employees.
Nauman said the deal was brokered not by Humphreys but by Tim Connolly – one of three candidates for four township trustee positions. Nauman also said the township breached his previous contract and claims he is owed four months pay since maintenance work was completed by last Oct. 24.
“That is something being dealt with by the two attorneys,” Humphreys said. “I’m not doing this by myself. I am regularly consulting with the township board, the township attorney, the township insurance, and the previous supervisor has been assisting me as well.”
Several who spoke at the March 11 meeting criticized Humphreys and the board for not communicating better and for a lack of upkeep at the cemetery after Nauman was let go.
Countered Humphreys, “The board has heeded the advice of our attorney by not speaking publicly about what was going on because there were two attorneys involved.”
Mixed in with all that is the race for supervisor.
Humphreys, who has lived in Princeville since 1994, has a job as a social worker with at-risk youth. She has two children.
Since last April, Humphreys said she has connected with other township supervisors and clerks to better learn the job. She also attended an annual township conference and is a member of the Peoria County Township Supervisors group.
One of her main goals is to save taxpayers money, and she said an intergovernmental agreement signed with Road Commissioner Darrell Fuchs is accomplishing that. Instead of paying $120 every time snowplowing is needed, Fuchs handles plowing and is reimbursed only for gas.
Humphreys also hopes to start a diaper program for township residents and to bring more resources into the area for seniors.
She has already enrolled Princeville Township in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program, through which children under the age of 5 receive one free book per month. Sign-up information is available at Princeville Village Hall and at Lillie M. Evans Library in Princeville.
Rasmussen said the cemetery dispute led him to run for the supervisor position.
“I decided to attend a township meeting back in January and, after I attended that meeting, it was apparent to me that there seemed to be a little chaos going on,” he said. “The more I’ve experienced in the last three months, the more apparent it has become to me that something needs to change.”
A former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy who has lived for 35 years in Princeville, Rasmussen has family ties to the community dating back to his grandparents, who farmed in the area. He and his wife raised three children who attended Princeville schools. He has also worked as an engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation and as a manager in the digital-technology group at Caterpillar Inc.
Rasmussen said his platform is to restore order and common sense to the township. He would also like the township to have a Facebook page or website to increase communication.
“It shouldn’t be this hard,” he said. “There needs to be a means to communicate to the community and be responsive to their needs and requests.”
Rasmussen said he also hopes to see the cemetery board restored, since Peggy Delbridge is the lone member still serving.
Humphreys said the fate of the cemetery board is up to the township board to decide.
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