There are now two vacancies on the 28-member Kankakee County Board.

Kankakee Alderman Dave Baron is the new president of the Visit Kankakee County Board of Directors, formally known as the Kankakee County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

At Tuesday's Kankakee County Board meeting, a vacancy was declared for the District 10 seat, recently held by Chris Tholen.

Officers are arresting more people on failure to appear in court warrants since the SAFE-T Act went into effect.

In an effort to combat any misinterpretations for county employees on submitting expense reports, Kankakee County Auditor Colton Ekhoff updated the policy manual for travel/expense reimbursement.

In Tuesday’s Kankakee County Board meeting, the board unanimously approved a resolution that “recognizes the value agriculture contributes to our county and that the rural way of life is the backbone of our county.” Roughly, one in 12 jobs in the county is tied to agriculture.

The Iroquois-Kankakee Regional Office of Education unanimously approved Patricia High as the new superintendent, effective Feb. 28 when current superintendent Frank Petkunas retires.

Kankakee County Board Chairman Matthew Alexander-Hildebrand has already made a few executive decisions to consolidate the number of committees within the county board to help it run a bit more efficiently.

Matthew Alexander-Hildebrand Alexander-Hildebrand, who is just 27 years old, became the youngest Kankakee County Board chairman in December.

Shortly after the swearing-in ceremony, Republican Matthew Alexander-Hildebrand was elected chairman of the board and Republican Craig Long was elected vice chairman

Robert Ellington-Snipes has been a fixture at Kankakee County Board meetings, off and on, for more than 30 years

The rising cost of doing business also hits county government, as evidence by the Kankakee County Board approving the budget of $46,999,784 for Fiscal Year 2025