Will County Executive Committee met February 1.
Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:
I. Call To Order/ Roll Call
Chair Jim Moustis called the meeting to order at 10:10 am
Attendee Name; Title; Status; Arrived:
Jim Moustis Chair Present
Charles E. Maher Vice Chair Present
Darren Bennefield Member Absent
Herbert Brooks Jr. Member Present
Mike Fricilone Member Present
Donald Gould Member Present
Suzanne Hart Member Present
Judy Ogalla Member Present
Annette Parker Member Absent
Lauren Staley-Ferry Member Present
Ray Tuminello Member Present
Tom Weigel Member Present
Denise E. Winfrey Member Present
Also Present: R. Freitag and M. Johannsen.
Present from State's Attorney's Office: K. Meyers.
II. Pledge Of Allegiance To The Flag
Mr. Brooks led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. Approval Of Minutes
IV. Old Business
V. New Business
1. Presentation Re: United Way Programs
(Mike Hennessy) Mr. Mike Hennessy thanked the Will County Board and employees for their past support of the United Way programs. Over $100,000 is raised annually and invested back into the programs to enhance the quality of life for Will County residents.
Mr. Hennessy reviewed the attached handout and explained how funds are distributed.
Mr. Maher asked are you seeing a growth in services provided to help with the opioid crisis?
Mr. Hennessy replied we work with Dr. Burke, Will County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and have a partnership with the Sheriff's Department; these programs are under our umbrella and we do not charge fees to help. We fund two organizations that provide residential outpatient treatment, Stepping Stones and South Suburban Council on Alcoholic Substance Abuse. The challenge is bed availability. When one is ready to get help, you need to have the immediate availability; in some cases it is not there. They are facing challenges with state funding, hopefully more funding will be available. I have reached out to Mr. Paul Lauridsen of Stepping Stones and Mr. Allen Sandusky of South Suburban Council to see what we might be able to creatively do to help with the crisis. It is a challenge.
Mr. Maher asked who is the Center for Correctional Concerns?
Mr. Hennessy replied it is a separate organization at the ADF providing care for those incarcerated. They provide GED, substance abuse prevention and education while they are in jail. Once discharged they make referrals to community based organizations. We have been funding the Center for Correctional Concerns for quite some time. Obviously, education and prevention programs are very important. We work with after school initiatives to educate children on the challenges of drugs and alcohol, to avoid and know the consequences. We work with their families to do the best we can; funding is an issue.
Mr. Tuminello stated in 2016 the U.S. sent $38 billion to foreign countries, but we have our own children starving on weekend. With the Bags of Hope program, you are helping them financially, but do you go into the school and screen the children?
Mr. Hennessy answered a social worker within each school privately screens children that qualify for the program. Due to confidentially, we don't know who is actually being served. Bags of Hope know how many children will benefit from each school and they help collect food, donated or purchased, and deliver the bags to the school. The school will privately have the food placed in the child's backpack so others do not know who they assist.
Mr. Tuminello asked can a private individual contact the group and do something?
Mr. Hennessy responded we are only a portion of the funding for each program. The organizations have to rely on other resources. If you want to contribute individually, you are able to do that.
Mr. Moustis stated when Mr. Hennessy talked about this program, I circled it. I run a sizable food pantry and we collect so much that we give it to other food pantries and have become a regional distributor of food. I am going to the schools to see if they are interested in doing a program and our food pantry will bring items to those schools.
Mr. Hennessy stated another way to help with hunger in our county is we have increased our investment in the mobile food pantry. We provide funding to Catholic Charities, who provides half of the funding, Northern Illinois Food Bank the other and they have a truck. It supplements what a typical pantry may not provide, especially frozen food and perishable items. Typically the mobile food pantry serves between 125 and 150 families within the two hour distribution. We also help provide the 16 to 20 volunteers need to help.
Mrs. Ogalla stated I work at a small farm stand in the Monee area. They close from Sunday until Wednesday. Typically the left over vegetables, I take home for my chickens or an animal rescue in the area takes the food. There is nothing wrong with the food, it is just there is too much to wait for Wednesday. Have you reached out to local farmers' markets to see if you could do a collection and drop off right away?
Mr. Moustis stated a local food pantry will be more than happy to take it.
Mr. Hennessy gave dates and locations of upcoming mobile food pantries. We coordinate the emergency food and shelter grant that comes to the county from the Homeland Security budget, to supplement emergency food and shelter. The allocation goes to the Northern Illinois Food Bank to distribute. The grant provides rent and utility assistance. The Will County Center for Community Concerns receives the utility assistance grant and Catholic Charities the rent and mortgage portion. Last year the grant was $400,000. We work with all the providers to coordinate efforts under this sharing opportunity and learn from each other. We don't charge fees for our services; 100% of what we get goes to the partners to supplement what they do all year round.
Mr. Moustis suggested having the Center for Community Concerns give a presentation. Many of our grant funds go through the Center and millions of dollars of grant funds go through the Center to deliver services. Our Board should be aware of all the grants for social service work, where it goes and how it works. An explanation of how requests are handled in Frankfort Township was given.
Discussion took place regarding a possible Committee of the Whole to discuss services available and how grant funds are distributed.
Mr. Hennessy indicated the Center for Community Concerns has been taking their program throughout the County to make it easier for residents. Volunteer opportunities were presented. I gave an update to the Plainfield Interfaith Group, because they need to know what is already available in the community. It is good to hear from them where they are hearing of gaps. We welcome opportunities to meet with the groups to get feedback. Last year we received $1 million more requests than we can respond to and distribute, and we will continue to receive more requests. We need to continue to reach out to new businesses moving into the County to help them understand the connection between giving to a United Way campaign and volunteer initiatives. Companies locate here for a number of reasons and qualify life is one of them. We contribute to that quality of life through important health and human services. We need to broaden our base of support.
United Way of Will County
(Handout)
2. Authorizing Contribution to United Way
(Melissa Johannsen)
Result: Moved Forward [Unanimous]
To: Will County Board
Mover: Charles E. Maher, Vice Chair
Seconder: Denise E. Winfrey, Member
Ayes: Moustis, Maher, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Gould, Hart, Ogalla, Staley-Ferry, Tuminello, Weigel, Winfrey
Absent: Bennefield, Parker
3. Replacement Hire Pre-posting for Land Use Department
(Brian Radner) Mr. David Dubois stated we are requesting authorization to pre-post for one full time building inspector II and one part time general combination inspector II positions. We have identified the need based on the trend over the last year with building permits, at a 17 year high, and the volume of work we are processing, particularly with the construction beginning this spring.
Mr. Brian Radner stated we are currently using B&F Technical Services to do plumbing inspections. During December and January we expended $20,000 in funds. We estimate a part time plumbing/combination inspector doing building inspections, working 24 hours per week would cost approximately $57,000. We see a cost savings with this position. Mr. Owen Needlham has taken over on an interim basis the chief building official duties, he is not able to get into the field as much to do inspections and with Mr. Smetana's departure we are down another person who performed inspections. With the increased work load and change in personnel, we are also asking for the building inspector position. It would be one full time building and one part time combo.
Mr. Moustis asked are the funds in your budget for these positions?
Mr. Dubois replied these positions were in the recommended budget. We are costing out the positions and to make it work within our existing appropriated funds for this year; particularly with the direction given by the Executive Committee last time.
Mr. Moustis stated we do not have a personnel budget, we give an overall budget and expect people to stay within that budget. How you shift those funds for different positions, we leave to the department and County Executive’s Office. We are not looking at whether these were requested positions or not, we are looking at you have a total budget and you decide how you use those funds. Generally, we let the hiring process go forward. I get a feeling, you have looked at this as the position has not been funded. We fund you for personnel, it is up to you to make the pot of money work, and whether that means shifting positions or eliminating positions that is where we come from as the appropriating authority to different departments. It is up to you and the Executive’s Office to make it work, since ultimately the Executive is responsible for the executive branch of government’s day to day operations.
Mr. Maher stated you mentioned we are at 17 year high, I remember back in 2002 where things were going crazy; what type of numbers are you looking at?
Mr. Radner replied last year we processed over 3,300 building permits, something I have never experienced. This does include residential and commercial. There were 59 single family homes last year, a five year high. We believe that will continue this year. There is a cost savings to having an employee in the office with this volume of work instead of using a private inspection service.
Mr. Moustis stated regarding building inspectors, it can fluctuate, but these are customer service positions. We don’t want the residents, developers and builders waiting weeks to get an inspections. We have to get out there in a timely fashion to provide the services. It does fluctuate and the Land Use Department and Executive’s Office has reduced staff depending on demand.
Mr. Radner stated at the rate we are using the private inspection services, we will be short at the end of the year that is a reason we are looking at this. There is a benefit of having full time employees for service as well as cost savings.
Mr. Fricilone stated when quoting a pay rate that is pay; it does not include the benefits and healthcare.
Mr. Radner stated the plumbing inspector with the salary range at the max would be $65,000 with another $30,000 for benefits. Even at $95,000 per year there will be a savings over the $10,000 per month for B&F for three days a week.
Mr. Tuminello stated I looked over your org chart; in 2000 you did almost 3,100 permits and had 17 inspectors on staff?
Mr. Radner replied that is correct.
Mr. Tuminello continued the average inspector did about 181 per year. Today your number is 3,000 and you have five inspectors on staff?
Mr. Radner stated when this was prepared in November there were five building employees. Currently there are two full time inspectors, one residential plans examiner who is also the interim chief building official and one commercial permit coordinator. There are four in the unit, but only two are inspectors.
Mr. Tuminello clarified each individual is responsible for 598 inspections.
Mr. Radner stated that is the number of permits. The inspections are almost three times the permits.
Mr. Tuminello continued are there five or five plus all the consultants?
Mr. Radner stated that is the number of people in the building unit, processing those type of permits and working on those. There are only two inspectors that actually go out and do inspections, plus the private inspection service for plumbing activity when needed; usually three days per week.
Mr. Fricilone asked how many inspectors did we have in 2000?
Mr. Radner replied the 17 includes a couple of commercial plan reviewers, residential plan reviewers and building official; between eight and ten.
Mr. Tuminello stated that is what I wanted to see, where we were then compared to today.
Mr. Tuminello asked instead of giving a pool of money, why don’t we appropriate the personnel within a budget?
Mr. Moustis replied they get a personnel budget to manage their personnel. A personnel line item allocates money a person. It does not give a department the flexibility to operate on a day to day basis.
Mr. Weigel stated since Mr. Paddock and Mr. Smetana left can you explain the organization of the department?
Mr. Dubois explained within the building division, Mr. Smetana was the chief building official, who managed the entire division. Since their departure Mr. Radner is now supervising both divisions. Mr. Needlham is the interim chief building official, he is interpreting code if there are questions. Ms. Farrell has assumed the zoning administrator responsibilities Mr. Radner had and he deals with the higher level issues regarding building permits or inspections. It gives him time to speak with County Board Members, residents and elected officials on issues. Mr. Radner is now supervising the building division and the development review department. With Mr. Paddock’s departure, I have assumed the role of interim director. Mr. Mack is assisting with the responsibilities with personnel management, personnel and financial issues.
Mr. Radner stated Mr. Mack joined the department after Community Development moved back with Land Use. He was the finance manager at the time. When Ms. Erickson left Mr. Mack assumed the management analyst position in the department; doing payroll and paying vendors. He continues to do the CDBG budget work.
Mr. Moustis stated I would like the organizational chart of Land Use. We have solid waste and CDBG under Land Use. There are various budgets and various revenue streams come from the federal government with restrictions. This came under the Land Use director and ultimately under the County Executive. I would like to see how the consolidation we did a few years ago functions. We did not eliminate anything, everything stayed in place, and there was no real consolidation. Is Mr. Mack paid from CDBG funds or from Land Use funds?
Mr. Palmer replied he is paid from multiple funds, we can give a presentation. The Land Use Department appropriately down sized during the down turn and they may need to staff up as growth happens. They are much more efficient, they turn out more work per person then they did, part of that is technology, better training and better staff. When Mr. Paddock left there was discussion about how the administrative team was structured. We need a director because there is synergy between the divisions of Land Use.
Mr. Moustis clarified there has to be a director. I was thinking more about the appropriation of the director that those funds could be, if we stayed internal. I believe we have internal candidates who deserve a good look, that was more from an appropriation standpoint those funds could be appropriated for other needs within the Land Use Department. One of my concerns is the consolidation of CDBG and solid waste is how those budgets are then being used, how people are paid and how money is taken out of different funds. The County Board does have discretion of solid waste funds, we could take some of those funds away for other purposes. When you start combining these budgets under one department the Board has to have a good understanding of how other budgets are used. Who is getting paid from those budgets? I think those funds are being used in a way that is not necessarily the intent of the Board to supplement different personnel and salaries.
Mr. Palmer stated we will provide details; the funds are not being used to supplement the rest of the Land Use Department. The structure we have has worked well as far as consolidation of these departments because of the synergy between them. The work load has gone up and we have done it with less staff; the salaries have increased as employees have taken on more work. The overall number of staff has significantly declined and the quality and quantity of the work has improved. Regarding the director positions; Mr. Dubois has been appointment the interim director. Historically we have posted for positions even though we have very qualified internal candidate. To keep the continuity going Mr. Dubois is the interim.
Mr. Moustis stated I would like you to put together a presentation in April.
Mr. Palmer stated we have revised our org chart and we would like to get to a firm recommendation as it will lead into next year’s budget in terms of funding.
Result: Approved [Unanimous]
To: Will County Board
Mover: Tom Weigel, Member
Seconder: Denise E. Winfrey, Member
Ayes: Moustis, Maher, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Gould, Hart, Ogalla, Staley-Ferry, Tuminello, Weigel, Winfrey
Absent: Bennefield, Parker
VI. Other New Business
VII. Committee Assignment Requests
A. Land Use & Development Committee
T. Weigel, Chair
1. Preauthorization to Foreclosure-Highland Ridge South PUD
(Jim Song)
B. Finance Committee
M. Fricilone, Chair
1. Appropriating Adult Redeploy Illinois Program Grant Funds in the State's Attorney's Drug Court FY2018 Budget
(Juliet McCabe-Sterr)
2. Transferring and Increasing Appropriations in Various County Budgets to Fund Year End Shortfalls
(ReShawn Howard)
3. Authorizing County Executive to Execute Necessary Documents for Delinquent Tax Program
(Julie Shetina, Deputy Treasurer)
C. Public Works & Transportation Committee
D. Gould, Chair
1. Confirming Award of Contract to Preform Traffic Control Systems, Ltd. ($1,055,248.40) Let on January 17, 2018 for the County Wide Striping, All County Board Districts
(Jeff Ronaldson)
2. Improvement by County under the IL Highway Code for the Countywide Striping, All County Board Districts, using MFT Funds ($1,200,000.00)
(Jeff Ronaldson)
3. Improvement by County under the IL Highway Code for 95th Street (CH 89) at its Intersection with Plainfield-Naperville Road (CH 14), County Board District #11, using County Motor Fuel Tax Funds ($600,000.00)
(Jeff Ronaldson)
4. Supplemental Resolution for Improvement by County under the IL Highway Code for Crete-Monee Road (CH 21) from Old Monee Road (CH 48) to IL Route 1, using Additional Motor Fuel Tax Funds ($105,182.33), County Board District #1
(Jeff Ronaldson)
5. Authorizing an Agreement Between the County of Will and BP Pipeline (North America) Inc. for Reimbursement for Relocating Facilities Along 135th Street (CH 35) from Smith Road to Emily Lane, County Board District #7
(Jeff Ronaldson)
6. Rescinding Resolution #16-206 and Authorizing Approval of an IDOT - County Joint Agreement for Improvements on Weber Road (CH 88) from 135th Street to Normantown Road, County Board Districts #3 and #13
(Jeff Ronaldson)
7. Authorizing Approval of the Expenditure of County Motor Fuel Tax Funds ($18,000,000.00) for the Improvements on Weber Road (CH 88) from 135th Street to Normantown Road, County Board Districts #3 and #13
(Jeff Ronaldson)
8. Amending Will County Division of Transportation Oversize-Overweight Truck Permit Procedures
(Jeff Ronaldson)
9. Authorizing an Agreement between the County of Will and Oxcart Permit Systems, LLC for Providing an Online Internet Application for Accepting and Processing Oversize-Overweight Truck Permits under Will County Division of Transportation Jurisdiction
(Jeff Ronaldson)
D. Judicial Committee
D. Bennefield, Chair
E. Public Health & Safety Committee
J. Ogalla, Chair
F. Legislative & Policy Committee
S. Hart, Chair
G. Capital Improvements Committee
R. Tuminello, Chair
H. Executive Committee
J. Moustis, Chair
1. Declaring Various Equipment Surplus and Authorizing Disposal
(Rita Weiss)
2. Declaring Sheriff's Seized Vehicles Surplus & Authorizing Disposal
(Rita Weiss)
3. Awarding Bid for Electronics Recycling Collection - One-Day Events
(Rita Weiss)
4. Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Naperville for the Operation of a Household Hazardous Waste Collection Facility (Dean Olson)
5. Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement between Frankfort Township and the County of Will, Illinois for Electronics Recycling
(Marta Keane)
6. Authorizing the Will County Executive to Execute and Intergovernmental Agreement with the South Suburban Land Bank and Development Authority
(Ron Pullman and Kathy Pecora)
Motion to Remove from Agenda
Result: Approved [Unanimous]
Mover: Tom Weigel, Member
Seconder: Ray Tuminello, Member
Ayes: Moustis, Maher, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Gould, Hart, Ogalla, Staleyferry, Tuminello, Weigel, Winfrey
Absent: Bennefield, Parker
VIII. Request For State's Attorney's Opinion
IX. Accept Committee Assignment Requests
Mr. Moustis indicated was necessary to add two additional Executive Committee assignments: Amending Policy Prohibiting Sexual Harassment and Renewing IGA with Pace for Mobility Management Project.
1. Motion to Accept Committee Assignements as Amended
Result: Approved [Unanimous]
Mover: Mike Fricilone, Member
Seconder: Herbert Brooks Jr., Member
Ayes: Moustis, Maher, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Gould, Hart, Ogalla, Staley-Ferry, Tuminello, Weigel, Winfrey
Absent: Bennefield, Parker
X. Public Comments
XI. Chairman's Report/Announcements
XII. Executive Session
XIII. Adjournment
1. Motion to Adjourn at 11:02 am
Result: Approved [Unanimous]
Mover: Denise E. Winfrey, Member
Seconder: Tom Weigel, Member
Ayes: Moustis, Maher, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Gould, Hart, Ogalla, Staley-Ferry, Tuminello, Weigel, Winfrey
Absent: Bennefield, Parker
Next Meeting - February 8, 2018
https://willcountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=15&ID=2912&Inline=True
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