County Panel Backs $22,000 Waggoner Payment for Green Diamond Bike Trail

Article Summary: The Development & Personnel Committee voted Aug. 3 to amend an intergovernmental agreement and recommend paying the Village of Waggoner $22,000 from Fund 375 to maintain the Green Diamond Bike Trail. The minutes do not describe what the amendment changes.

Waggoner Trail Payment Key Points:

Motion by Russ Beason, seconded by Chris Daniels, to amend the intergovernmental agreement and recommend a $22,000 payment to the Village of Waggoner from Fund 375. All in favor.

The stated purpose is maintenance of the Green Diamond Bike Trail.

The agenda item is titled “Green Diamond Oil & Chip Update/Approval.”

The recommendation goes to the full County Board; no payment is authorized until the board acts.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY — The Montgomery County Board’s Development & Personnel Committee on Monday, Aug. 3, 2026, voted unanimously to amend an intergovernmental agreement and recommend that the county pay the Village of Waggoner $22,000 from Fund 375 to maintain the Green Diamond Bike Trail.

Russ Beason moved and Chris Daniels seconded the motion “to amend the intergovernmental agreement to recommend payment to the Village of Waggoner of $22,000 from Fund 375 to maintain the Green Diamond Bike Trail.” All members present voted in favor.

The agenda item under which the motion was taken is titled “Green Diamond Oil & Chip Update/Approval.” The minutes contain no discussion of the item beyond the motion itself.

Terms Not Described

The minutes do not state when the intergovernmental agreement was executed, what it requires of either party, what the amendment would change, or why an amendment was sought. They do not describe the maintenance work the $22,000 is intended to cover, who would perform it, or when. No contractor is named.

Fund 375 is identified in county financial documents presented to the Finance & Budget Committee on July 9 as the county’s coal fund, which draws revenue from a royalty on coal mine royalties and is divided among reserve, operating and maintenance, and capital improvement accounts.

The $22,000 figure has been before county committees before. At the Development & Personnel Committee’s July 6 meeting, members voted to recommend the payment. At the Finance & Budget Committee’s July 9 meeting, members declined to recommend the voucher, stating a preference to pay the contractor directly. The minutes of the Aug. 3 meeting do not refer to either earlier action and do not state whether the amendment responds to them.

Because this is a committee action, it is a recommendation and not an enactment. It goes to the full Montgomery County Board, and no money moves and no amended agreement takes effect unless and until the full board votes.

The Green Diamond Bike Trail runs along a former Illinois Central Gulf Railroad right of way at Waggoner. A survey and transfer of county-held portions of that corridor to the Village of Waggoner was reviewed by this same committee on July 6.