Cattle at Large in Fillmore, Tornado Aid to Coles County Fill EMA Report

Montgomery County Board Coordinating Committee Meeting | June 25, 2026

Article Summary: EMA/EPA/911 Director Dan Hough told the Montgomery County Board Coordinating Committee on Thursday, June 25, 2026, that his department handled an incident in Fillmore in which cattle were running at large, borrowing message boards from the Illinois Department of Transportation, and provided mutual aid to Coles County after a tornado.

EMA Report Key Points:

• Hough reported on an incident in Fillmore during which cattle were running at large; message boards were borrowed from IDOT during the response.
• The department provided mutual aid to Coles County after a tornado.
• Hough discussed a COAD — Community Organizations Active in Disasters — meeting scheduled for the evening of the meeting.
• The item was titled “Update/Approval,” but the minutes record no motion and no vote.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — Loose cattle and a neighboring county’s tornado accounted for much of the emergency management report delivered to the Montgomery County Board Coordinating Committee on Thursday, June 25, 2026.

EMA/EPA/911 Director Dan Hough reported on an issue in Fillmore during which cattle were running at large. During the incident, the minutes state, message boards were borrowed from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The minutes do not say how many animals were involved, whose they were, how long the incident lasted, whether anyone was hurt, or which roads the borrowed message boards were placed on. Livestock loose on a rural highway is a traffic hazard before it is anything else, and the decision to reach for changeable message signs suggests the response involved managing drivers as much as managing cattle — but the record before the committee does not say so, and the department’s own account of the event is not reproduced in the minutes.

Hough also reported that the department provided mutual aid to Coles County after a tornado. Again, the minutes carry no date, no description of what Montgomery County sent, and no indication of how long the deployment lasted.

Finally, Hough discussed a COAD meeting scheduled for that evening. COAD — Community Organizations Active in Disasters — is a body that has surfaced in the county’s economic development reporting in recent months as a project with a developing timeline.

The item appeared on the agenda as “EMA/EPA Report Update/Approval.” No motion was made and no vote was taken. The Coordinating Committee is a recommending body in any event; nothing before it on June 25 could have taken effect without action by the full County Board.

Hough’s report was one of five items under the Coordinating Committee’s own heading. The department’s work appears elsewhere in the county’s June and July business as well: the Roads & Bridges Committee’s anticipated agenda included items in which EMA has a stake, and the county has been weighing equipment purchases from its coal royalty fund.