Austin elected County Board chairman; board passes tax levy

QUINCY – Bret Austin was elected as the new chairman of the Adams County Board Tuesday night.

Austin, who has been on the board since 2016 and has served as vice-chairman and chairman of the board’s finance committee, was elected by a 15-0 vote, with four members voting present and two members absent.

Board members Keith Callaway, Steve McQueen, Jon McCoy and Mark Dietrich voted “present” while Barb Fletcher and Joe Zanger were absent.

At the end of the meeting, Austin pledged to earn the support of the entire board.

“If I have moderate or no support from some of you, I will work hard to earn that,” he said. “I think that this is an important role that we all play, and I want us to work together. We have done an amazing job over the last few years to work as a unit. Our meetings are precise. When we make errors, we own up to it, and we always strive to do better, and we get a lot of work done in our meetings.

“I appreciate that from all of you and I’ll have a very open-door policy, or open phone policy, and I would appreciate your feedback.”

Austin said he will be working with board members to determine committee assignments over the next few weeks.

Bob Reich was elected as the board’s vice-chairman.

During the meeting, the board unanimously passed the tax levy of $12.8 million. The 4.2 percent rate with an equalized assessed valuation of 8.35 percent means an additional $562,000 into the county’s coffers.

And the office that supervises the tax assessments will have a new director next year. Georgene Zimmerman, who attended her last County Board meeting Tuesday, is retiring at the end of the year after 50 years of service.

Austin said the county is already screening applicants to replace Zimmerman. He is anticipating a slim field of candidates because of the specialization and certification that the position requires and only three people currently living in Adams County have such credentials.