Will County Stormwater Management Planning Committee met Jan. 15.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
Municipal Representative, District 3 Jonathan Dykstra called the meeting to order at 10:03 AM
Present from Land Use was Dawn Tomczak, Kristine Mazon, Jim Song, and Scott Killinger.
Matt Guzman was present from the Will County State's Attorney's office.
County Board Member, Julie Berkowicz from District #11, was present.
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Chairman Dykstra led the Pledge of Allegiance.
III. INTRODUCTIONS
IV. PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
V. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. Stormwater Management Planning Committee - Regular Meeting - Sep 4, 2018 10:00 AM
Approved with no changes.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Gordon McCluskey, Municipal Representative, District 7
SECONDER: Bill Alstrom, County Representative, District 5
AYES: Howard, Kruzel, Dykstra, Pawlowicz, Alstrom, Dolezal, McCluskey, Carroll, Gapsevich, Fano, Weigel, Nash, Lamb
ABSENT: Moustis, Jessen, Buss, Likar, Hadamik, O'Grady, Ferry
2. Stormwater Management Planning Committee - Regular Meeting - Dec 4, 2018 10:00 AM
Approved with no changes.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Bill Lamb, Municipal Representative, District 13
SECONDER: Bill Alstrom, County Representative, District 5
AYES: Howard, Kruzel, Dykstra, Pawlowicz, Alstrom, Dolezal, McCluskey, Carroll, Gapsevich, Fano, Weigel, Nash, Lamb
ABSENT: Moustis, Jessen, Buss, Likar, Hadamik, O'Grady, Ferry
VI. NEW BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE
1. Election of Officers
A roll call voice vote was used to open nominations for Chairman. Chairman Dykstra asked if there were any nominations for Chairman.
Gordon McCluskey asked if they would have to switch off between Municipal and County for lead offices.
Chairman Dykstra stated that if one is Municipal, then the other must be County. So, we don't necessarily have to switch the 2. As long as there is one from each, it is ok. And then the Secretary could be either/or.
Robert Howard asked if it was acceptable to do a slate of officers that are currently in office by unanimous vote.
Matt Guzman stated that we already have designations in here. That would essentially suspend the rules. So, if we are going to suspend the rules, there is a provision in our bylaws that has to kick in. If you are going to suspend them, that is Article 9. They could be suspended by 2/3 majority vote of the membership of the committee. So if we get 2/3 of the majority vote of the membership of the committee, then you could go ahead and do it that way.
Chairman Dykstra asked if it was 2/3 of the committee or 2/3 of the quorum.
Matt Guzman stated that it would be 2/3 of the committee.
Chairman Dykstra asked what that number would be.
Scott Killinger stated that there would be 26 members altogether, but they are not all filled.
Matt Guzman said to take our total membership and take 2/3 of that.
Scott Killinger stated it would take more time doing this than to do it the normal way. Scott told Bob that this was a good idea for next time and we could take a look at this later.
Bill nominated Jonathan Dykstra for Chairman. Thomas Pawlowicz made a motion to close nominations for Chairman. Gordon McCluskey seconded the motion. A voice vote was then done to close nominations.
Chairman Dykstra addressed the committee. He is looking forward to a wonderful year ahead. We will do great things and hopefully we won't have any floods.
A roll call vote was done.
Chairman Dykstra stated we would need a roll call voice vote to open nominations for the Vice Chairman. Ken Carroll made the motion and Robert Howard seconded the motion.
A roll call voice vote was taken.
A motion was made to nominate Tom Weigel. Robert Howard made a motion to close nominations. Gordon McCluskey seconded the motion. A voice vote was done to close nominations.
A roll call vote was done.
Vice Chairman Weigel thanked everybody for their confidence and he hopes to do a great job.
A roll call voice vote was taken to open nominations for the Secretary. Ken Carroll made the motion and Robert Howard seconded the motion.
Bill nominated Randall Jessen. Bill seconded the motion. A voice vote was done to close nominations.
Randall Jessen said he likes being on this committee. There are a lot of positives that come out of it, and hopefully the County can get more money and we can do more things.
A roll call vote was done.
Vote Results:
Jonathan Dykstra--Chairman Tom Weigel--Vice Chairman Randall Jessen--Secretary
2018 Stormwater Projects Approvals VFW Hickory Creek Streambank Stabilization Project, Village of New Lenox
We have 1 more payout for Hickory Creek Streambank Stabilization in New Lenox for $20,670.00.
Gordon McCluskey made a motion to make the payment.
DJ Kruzel seconded the motion.
A roll call vote was taken for the approval of payment. Approved 14-0.
USACE DuPage River Feasibility Study Update
Ahmad is not here today and there is really not much to report on.
Scott Killinger stated that he actually has a phone call today at 1pm, and that will get things started. He gave an update in November and nothing has really changed over the Holiday's. Scott spoke with Ahmad and he is planning on coming to the next meeting. Scott asked if anybody had any questions. The biggest thing they are waiting to find out is there is non-structural improvement projects potentially in Will County and we would really like to know the specific addresses. The Army Corps hasn't given us those yet. They say they have them but they are not ready to go public with them. Scott stated he should know more 4.
after the 1:00 phone call today. Unless something is really important, it will just wait until March.
MOU between County of DuPage and the County of Will for Watershed Planning Along within the East Branch DuPage River Watershed
Scott Killinger stated this item will be a Memorandum of Understanding between Will County and Dupage County. Scott said he will be asking for a motion from the committee recommending that the County Board enter into this agreement and the County Executive sign it. He will then go and present it at the Executive Committee.
Dupage County staff is going to conduct an IEPA STEPL, spreadsheet tool for estimating pollutant levels.
Scott Killinger stated that him and Jim Song attended the class about a year ago. It is really just an Excel spreadsheet that you put various parameters into, it is based on the land use, and you will come out with a pollutant load. Then Dupage County can use that and seek 401-C3 funding from the IEP
This will benefit the citizens of Naperville and Bolingbrook.
There is really not much impact on unincorporated Will County, but there is also no cost to Will County. So really at this point, all Will County is doing is adding their name into the groups of the stakeholders. This gives them a better chance of being approved by IEPA.
Jim Song and Scott Killinger really won't be spending a lot of time on this. Dupage County staff will do it, but it will be a benefit for Naperville and Bolingbrook.
Ken Carroll made a motion that the County Board approves this agreement. DJ Kruzel seconded the motion.
Scott Killinger asked if a voice vote was okay or if we needed to do a roll call vote. Matt Guzman said a voice vote should be fine, there is no money involved here. Chairman Dykstra stated that this is a good cost benefit for us.
Scott Killinger stated the County really will have no cost, other than a little bit of staff time which is pretty much already invested in bringing it here, and then a little bit of staff time to get it approved by the County Board. Other than that, it will help out some of the citizens.
Thomas Pawlowicz stated same thing for him. No cost involved, you get 1 more name on the application. He is recommending that they approve it.
Raymund Fano asked if this was all about planning then?
Scott Killinger said it is basically a planning tool. It is a spreadsheet. Dupage County staff will enter in 1/4 acre lot residential and then there is a set pollutant load that comes from that. It's not a real complicated process, except just the data entry. Scott said he was told they already had their MOU with Naperville, but he knows Bolingbrook has been asked.
A voice vote was taken. None opposed, motion carries.
VII. REPORT OF OFFICERS, SUBCOMMITTEES, STATE'S ATTORNEY AND/OR STAFF
Jim Song stated that last year the committee approved 10 projects, with 1 cancelled, so we had 9 projects. This new year, there is $150,000 available. We need applications for this year's projects.
Scott Killinger stated he will try to have a first cut on the list of projects, If you have projects, or you know of them, try to get them into us by the end of February, so we can at least talk about it in March. Scott Killinger said they won't be approved that day.
A question was asked if it was the same rules as last year.
Jim Song said it was the same rules. You need to make sure that the application submitted will actually be happening this year.
Chairman Dykstra said we will want to make sure the project has potential to be completed this year. Then, the payment would be done at the end of the year.
A question was also asked who they would submit it to.
Chairman Dykstra said it could be submitted to Jim, Dawn, Scott or himself. He said we like to spread our money around in different districts but we will take what we get. The more information that can be given the better.
Thomas Pawlowicz suggested maybe we could send out an email with a copy of the application to help the members that are not present.
Dawn Tomczak said that could be done.
Gordon McCluskey asked about the lady from Bonnie Brae subdivision complaining about sewer problems. He asked if there was any resolution to that.
Scott Killinger said there is a project in Lockport, and that is potentially one of the ones we will do next year. There was no resolution yet, but it is definitely in the que of the ones to at least be considered. Lockport is working on a design.
Gordon McCluskey also asked if the minutes could be sent out marked "draft" prior to the meeting for closer review?
Chairman Dykstra said we could asked if that could be done.
Dawn Tomczak stated that once we draft the minutes, we will try to send them out.
Mr. Moustis joined the meeting at 10:31.
He asked if he had the wrong time, didn't it start at 10:30.
Scott Killinger stated that the agenda went out with the wrong time and apologized for that. A correction did go out with the new time. The meetings are always at 10:00 on the first Tuesday of the month. Most likely the next meeting will be March 5, 2019 at 10:00am. Probably no February meeting because that date is only a few weeks away.
Gordon McCluskey asked about Paul's replacement.
Scott stated that he and Dawn are continuously working on membership. He doesn't have a specific update on that yet. The election in November changed some things around so there may be some changes in the County Board members schedules. There may be a little bit of flux here for a meeting or two until we straighten that out.
Chairman Dykstra asked if they were going to bring up the solar farm and if they were going to pursue that some.
Scott Killinger said he thought they should discuss it again. He will include that for the March meeting.
Chairman Dykstra asked if there was something in the guidance memo about decomissioning the solar fields.
Scott Killinger said there is, but he cannot remember exactly what it was. There has to be a plan in there with their submittal.
Vice Chairman Weigel said that is part of the requirements with the County, is to have a decomissioning plan. Also the state put that in their agricultural agreement.
Scott Killinger said the question for this committee would be whether or not we want to put the guidelines that he drafted up, or some form of that, in the Technical Guidance Manual, so that all of the certified communities will have something to go by. The state just doesn't seem to have much.
Chairman Dykstra said if there are other things to be added to the TGM, Technical Guidance Manual, we may want to compile a list.
James Mousis said he believes that solar fields are still subject to all County regulations, which includes stormwater run-off. Those guidelines came from this committee many years ago.
Scott Killinger said the argument you get from the solar designers is that it is disconnected impervious (the panel's actually are not on the ground). He had some guidelines that he thought was reasonable. He would like to get everybody else to concur, so that we have a set guideline for staff to follow.
James Moustis asked if there currently were guidelines.
Scott Killinger said that he drafted some up from Maryland's guidelines. They seemed to be closest to us. Scott sent a memo to Land Use staff showing what they should follow for now, and he doesn't think anybody had a problem with that. So, then do we want to put that into the Technical Guidance?
James Moustis stated to Vice Chairman Weigel that maybe he should take that to Land Use and amend the Ordinance.
Chairman Dykstra stated it may not be an Ordinance issue. The Technical Guidance is taking the basics of the Ordinance and then giving the guidance for an Engineer to go and run with this. That's why we think this would belong in there, but we will evaluate that.
Scott stated the memo he wrote was from the Chief Subdivision Engineer. He feels if it is put into the Technical Guidance Manual, and the County Board approves it, it will have more weight.
Thomas Pawlowicz stated he didn't think that Ordinance has been updated since it was enacted in 2004.
Chairman Dykstra said that we just updated the Ordinance in November.
Scott Killinger said it was updated in November to change the FIRM panels. Scott also stated he also got a call from Marilyn regarding some of the definitions in the Ordinance that she would like changed. He said that is another thing they probably need to look at.
Chairman Dykstra stated they have had 2 updates on the Ordinance. One was March 25, 2010 and then just in November, 2018. He said Marilyn also called him and said some wording needed to be changed in the Ordinance.
Scott Killinger stated we had to have public hearings and stuff.
Chairman Dykstra stated in his opinion, our Ordinance is still in compliance.
James Moustis stated that he was the person that pushed, 25 years ago, to start this committee. It took him over 4 years to finally get a Board to agree to assemble the committee. He knew sooner or later we would get a big enough rain storm to cause some flooding. We crafted the Ordinance, which was pretty basic. From what he remembers, it was pretty weak in regards to water sources and water quality. He asked if that was still the case. Now you have a Board, 25 years later, who is very interested in the water quality and so forth. He suggested that we might want to start looking at adding those types of issues in the Ordinance.
Vice Chairman Weigel stated he thought that EPA already had those guidelines.
James Moustis said he feels that maybe a small group could get together and take a look at it. He thinks the time is right to maybe take the next step in the Ordinance.
Scott Killinger stated the current Ordinance doesn't really have water quality nor water resources. This committee has looked at the water resources because there is nowhere else to put that.
James Moustis asked Gordon McCluskey if he recalled this.
Gordon McCluskey said it was basic.
Scott Killinger stated the Will County Ordinance is pretty much on par with Kane County. Dupage County has a lot more funding and so they have a lot more capabilities. They are not really an apples to apples comparison. Scott said we can certainly talk about whether or not it is time to do something.
County Board Member Julie Berkowicz asked if there were currently any areas of concerns currently where we are aware of issues with contamination? Or any areas that we suspect there are issues? She feels it is in our best interests to take care of that. As a Board Member, she feels that would be very important because our water source cannot be replaced.
Vice Chairman Weigel stated he thought there was a quarry on South Chicago Street that has contamination. It could mix with stormwater. They keep re-circulating trying to keep it on the property. There are probably facilities around the County contributing to some of the pollution
James Moustis stated Exelon never really did completely clean up the Tritium plume either, even though they thought they could and have tried to pump everything out of there.
James Moustis said if they wanted to look at the Ordinance, or look at other issues like water qualities, or even water resources, now may be the time to do it. He feels the mood of the Board is to support that.
Chairman Dykstra said if there is enough interest on this committee, he would probably recommend that we establish a subcommittee to do some research then bring a recommendation back to the whole committee. Then we could puruse planning a course of action. We could probably add a new business item to see if there is enough interest.
Scott Gapsevich asked if we have been part of the watershed groups that have been looking at more of the water quality issues.
Scott Killinger said the County participates in 3 active watershed groups., the Lower Dupage Watershed Group, the Lower Desplaines Watershed Group, and the Hickory Creek Watershed Group. The County is obligated under the state permit to participate in those groups. Scott stated that him and Jim do participate. The County as a whole is at least involved.
Ed Dolezal said 20 years ago when they were putting this Ordinance together, the way the committee thought about water quality was to regulate wetland development. If we are interested, maybe this group should look at the wetlands.
James Moustis stated that one of the things he would like to take on is to maybe get this committee a little bit more funds budgeted for projects. It seemed that you didn't have projects. Or maybe not enough people came forward with the projects. He thinks everything township, or every Highway Commissioner has something. The Highway Commissioners meet every month. Maybe we can go to a meeting and tell the Highway Commissioners if they have any projects, no matter how basic they may be, start bringing it forward. A little bit more of an outreach to get things on the books. If we can do that and have a broad enough participation throughout the County, he is fairly confident he can get more money budgeted to this program.
Gordon McCluskey asked how many projects were unfunded in 2018.
Scott Killinger stated that every application that was put in was accepted. There were some that the applicant said they didn't have the local funding done at that point. We funded every project that the local agency wanted to go forward, but we didn't do a 50/50 match. We ended up with 10 projects. Scott made a recommendation to the committee as to what they previously talked about. They didn't want to tell anybody no so everybody got less than the 50/50 match. At one time there was 3 projects, so each one of them got $50,000, which is what we had as the max. Then there was a time where we weren't really getting a lot of projects. In the last few years, Scott said he has personally done a lot more outreach to townships and so on. Scott said if there was more money, he thinks they would use it. This year, of the $150,000, they spent $143,000. Some of that you lose just because stuff comes in below the bid. If there is an opportunity to get more money, and the County Board needs info to back that up, Scott said he would be able to get that.
James Moustis stated he did like the fact that we partnered with some park districts. They handle so much and are so involved with the stormwater management. He asked what they currently have in the pipeline.
Scott Killinger said he is not completely prepared to talk about this off the top of his head. He will bring a list to the next meeting.
Bill asked if he could get some guidance as to the guidelines of payment. Scott Killinger stated he could come up with some general guidelines for him.
VIII. ANNOUNCEMENTS/COMMITTEE COMMENTS
Our next meeting will not likely be February 5th. More than likely it will be our meeting in March. Chairman Dykstra said they would send an email out about that.
IX. ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Dykstra asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting.
Robert Howard made the motion. Raymund Fano seconded the motion.
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