With the University of Illinois Extension hanging in the balance, Gallatin County voters will determine the future of 4-H there. Since elected, board member Warren Rollman has targeted the program. To be clear, he says he’s not opposed to 4-H, it’s the funding Gallatin County residents provide and the services rendered back to Gallatin County that gives him a hitch in his giddyup. In an October 3rd facebook post, Rollman posited:
“4-H is a wonderful program. It is a program that is made possible by the work of a lot of great, unpaid volunteers. Much like Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and countless civic organizations, 4-H can easily survive without forcibly taxing the people of Gallatin County. That is a fact that the U of I Extension does not like to admit. Rather, they prefer to use our 4-H kids as pawns in an effort to continue their bloated bureaucracy. Don’t let them get away with it.”
At Thursday’s monthly board meeting, Rollman once again discussed what he could support with regards to the future of the program. The Gallatin County Extension Tax Levy is on the ballot for voters in the November election. If it’s defeated, Rollman says as a board member, he would support keeping the program under the following terms.
I would want them to set up a bank account specifically to put Gallatin County’s tax money in. I’d want it to be either at Legence here in Shawneetown or Banterra in Ridgway. And I would want all of our money that goes into that account to never leave this county. I would also want 4-H to behave like our offices do. We’re in the budget process right now. So each office in the courthouse, they make their own budget and then they send it to the county board. I would want 4-H to give us a budget, see what funding they needed and then we either approve it or not. And just like our office holders, I would want them to turn in their monthly bills just like any other office would.
Doug Harlan, the Assistant Director for Region 3 which includes Gallatin County, says it’s just not possible the way Rollman has it laid out.
Harlan: You cannot have your own 4-H program which is what Mr. Rollman just described.
Rollman: We can’t have what?
Harlan: 4-H program. You can’t do that. If you’re going to have a 4-H program, it has to run through the University of Illinois Extension. You can have any youth development program that you want. You can fund it however you want to fund it, but it can’t be a 4-H program. That’s the simple answer.
Rollman: We wouldn’t set up what I would call 4-H on it’s own like a separate entity. We would give that money to Extension with the requirement that they spend it on Gallatin County 4-H
Harlan: We’re already spending on Gallatin County 4-H.
Rollman: Not very much.
Harlan: The process that you outlined does not comply with USDA standards. It has to be done based on USDA standards so it complies with our system. You’re talking about setting up your own 4-H program and that’s not going to happen.
Rollman: We are not setting up our own 4-H. We give Extension the money and say hey, this is between Gallatin County and the Extension. We want all of our money earmarked for 4-H. You can do it if you want to.
The back and forth would continue with Harlan saying they’ve consulted the USDA attorneys and University of Illinois attorneys who have concluded this can’t happen. Rollman tried to press further saying in 2018, Gallatin County was paying $23,200 and that the number has doubled over the past 5 years. He says they’ve asked more from Gallatin County while asking the same they’ve been getting from other counties in the district including Saline and Hamilton. Ultimately, board members intervened saying it’s on the ballot; that voters would decide and they moved on to other business. It would come up again in the public comments section of the agenda where Rollman and others would continue the discussion for another 11 minutes turning their attention to what the impact would be on food pantries and other endeavors the University of IL Extension supports. The New Haven Food on the Move truck serves on average 70 families a month, according to Angie Messmer with U of I Extension. Proponents say voting the U of I Extension support down would mean that would go away as well. County Board Chairman Andrew Lunsford would finally interrupt Rollman trying to put an end to it.
Lunsford: I know you’re convinced you’ve got this, but if it gets voted down, the Extension office leaves. Period. It’s just the way it is.
Rollman: They can still operate.
Lunsford: They won’t. We’re not giving them money.
Rollman: No, you’re right, they won’t. And what it is, they are holding the New Haven food truck hostage. They’re saying Gallatin County if you don’t fund us, we will take away the food truck, but they could fund it without it.
Voters will determine the fate on November 5th.
