Panel Backs $22,000 From Coal Fund to Oil and Chip Waggoner Bike Trail

Montgomery County Board Development & Personnel Committee Meeting | July 6, 2026

Article Summary: The Montgomery County Board Development & Personnel Committee on Monday, July 6, 2026, voted to recommend amending an intergovernmental agreement so the county pays the Village of Waggoner $22,000 from Fund 375 to oil and chip the Green Diamond Bike Trail, after discussing the village’s difficulty in paying for the work in advance and waiting for reimbursement.

Green Diamond Bike Trail Key Points:

• The $22,000 was promised as a reimbursement in a February 2025 intergovernmental agreement between the county and the Village of Waggoner.
• Motion by Jeremy Jones, second by Russ Beason, to amend the agreement to recommend payment of $22,000 from Fund 375; all in favor, motion carried.
• The committee reviewed a preliminary plat of survey covering roughly 1.719 acres of former Illinois Central Gulf Railroad right of way, 66 feet wide, running north from Main Street through Waggoner.
• The recommendation goes to the full County Board; no money moves until the board acts.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — A village of a few hundred people should not have to front $22,000 and wait to be paid back, the Montgomery County Board Development & Personnel Committee decided on Monday, July 6, 2026 — and voted to change the deal.

The committee reviewed the survey and transfer of remaining Green Diamond Bike Trail property to the Village of Waggoner, which has requested the $22,000 payment for oil and chip promised as a reimbursement in the February 2025 intergovernmental agreement, according to the minutes. After discussing the village’s difficulty in paying for the oil and chip in advance, the committee recommended requesting the payment be made from Fund 375 this month.

The motion, by Jeremy Jones and seconded by Russ Beason, was to amend the intergovernmental agreement to recommend payment to the Village of Waggoner of $22,000 from Fund 375 to oil and chip the Green Diamond Bike Trail. All in favor; motion carried.

Oil and chip is the sealing method familiar to anyone who has driven a township road in July — a sprayed asphalt emulsion covered with stone chips, rolled in. It is what a village would use to resurface a trail without the expense of paving.

The Survey

The property at issue is documented in a plat of survey among the committee’s handouts, prepared for Montgomery County in care of County Clerk Sandy Leitheiser by Nail Land Surveying of Litchfield. Field work was completed June 12, 2026.

The plat shows a narrow yellow ribbon of ground running north-south through Waggoner: part of the former Illinois Central Gulf Railroad right of way, 66 feet wide, in the south half of Section 21, Township 11 North, Range 5 West of the Third Principal Meridian. The county’s parcel is identified as #03-21-381-004. The area is given as approximately 1.719 acres.

The legal description on the second sheet excepts a strip beginning at the southeast corner of Block 9 in the Waggoner Original Town Plat and running 720 feet north to North Street, 14 feet wide.

The plat is stamped PRELIMINARY in large diagonal letters across both sheets. The surveyor’s signature line is blank and the date line is blank. It carries the seal of Carl J. Nail, Illinois Professional Land Surveyor No. 3136, whose license expires November 30, 2026, and a note that no title search was provided for the survey.

What Fund 375 Is

Fund 375 is the county’s coal fund, built from a 2 percent royalty on coal mine royalties and governed by a board deposit policy that requires a $3.5 million minimum balance in its reserve account before its operating and capital accounts receive anything.

The February 2025 agreement is not among the handouts. The minutes do not say what it obligates either party to do beyond the reimbursement, whether the $22,000 is a cap or an estimate, when the oil and chip work is expected, or how much trail the money would cover.

The committee’s action is a recommendation. The agreement is between two units of government and cannot be amended by a committee; the payment cannot be made, and the agreement’s terms cannot change, until the full County Board acts.