Will County Legislative & Policy Committee met Feb. 11.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Jacqueline Traynere | Chair | Present | |
| Beth Rice | Vice Chair | Present | |
| Julie Berkowicz | Member | Present | |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | Member | Absent | |
| Mimi Cowan | Member | Present | |
| Meta Mueller | Member | Present | |
| Sherry Newquist | Member | Present | |
| Judy Ogalla | Member | Present | |
| Tom Weigel | Member | Present |
Present from the State's Attorney's Office: Mrs. Tatroe
Also Present: Ms. Dunn
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Mr. Weigel led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Legislative & Policy Committee - Regular Meeting - Jan 14, 2020 9:00 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Meta Mueller, Member
SECONDER: Mimi Cowan, Member
AYES: Traynere, Rice, Berkowicz, Cowan, Mueller, Newquist, Ogalla, Weigel
ABSENT: Brooks Jr.
IV. MISCELLANEOUS LEGISLATIVE REPORTS
1. ISACo Newsletters
(Discussion)
Ms. Traynere stated I found an article on the demand for electric vehicles being on the rise. There is a company called Volta that is using these stations as a point of purchase advertising vehicle. Because they receive their money from advertisers they are not charging the public to use the charging stations. These are showing up around the area at the local malls. There was another article in the newspaper in regards to the Will County authorized Sustainably Grants; which is the electric charging stations as well. These are grants that a Municipality can apply for. These options are out there and we should encourage people to talk with their Municipalities so they may request some grant money or speak directly to Volta.
Ms. Newquist asked are the Sustainability Grants geared toward putting in the charging stations; if so who would pay for the maintenance and the electricity for these charging stations.
Ms. Keane stated the grant is designed to help with, but does not cover the entire installation of the charging stations. There are two different levels of the charging stations. Level I which is pretty much the same as the outlets in this room; it is a slow charge which takes about 8 hours. That averages.08 per kilowatt hour, or less than 80 cents per day. Level II charging stations are more expensive; they could be up to $20,000 to install. The grant offers $3,500 of that expense. Something to keep in mind with the level II charging station; if you are going to charge to use it; you would also have to pay for software to do that. The fee for the software is $1,200; if you do not charge for the use, the software would drop to $200. This software tracks how many users as well as how much electricity was used. At this time there is only 1% of Illinois drivers with electric vehicles it is small but growing.
Ms. Traynere stated we had the level II line installed at our home; it did not cost $20,000. The machine and hose cost $600. The one you are talking about is huge with static signs, LED lighting the biggest cost is bringing the electric to the site. The conversation has been had about the new Court House and bring in the electric under the street; we want one or two stations there. We would like to plan for twenty stations down the line as this grows in popularity. We know the cars are coming and we want to make room to adapt.
Ms. Rice asked if there has been any requests for this grant yet.
Ms. Keane said one request from the Will County Governmental League. There has been one request for the Water Refill Station from the Bicentennial Park. They would like to install on there. This has just rolled out we have had a few inquiries to find out what it is all about.
Ms. Cowan stated you mentioned that 1% of Illinoisans have electric vehicles; do you have any idea where that concentration is.
Ms. Keane replied I can only assume in the Chicagoland Region; but beyond that Bloomington and Normal. They had a Mitsubishi plant years ago where they created an electric vehicle. When they did, the town decided to become ED friendly. They have plug-in stations all over town. There is also a level III station which can go from 360v up to 720v. With that a vehicle can charge in 15 minutes. Tesla also has their own stations out in the public.
Ms. Traynere stated I would like to bring up the save the date for ISACo Lobby Days scheduled for April 29, 2020. Mr. Palmer do you know if Will County is planning participates in this.
Mr. Palmer said this is a relatively a new organization I think that we could. The County Executive is part of the County Board Chairman Group.
Ms. Winfrey said I am on the Board of Directors. That is at the same time we will be flying into Washington DC. We have not planed representation from our area as of yet.
Ms. Traynere stated February 3rd there was a bill introduced in Springfield to discontinue the Office of County Coroner. We had discussed bringing in a professional Medical Examiner instead of a professional Coroner in the past.
Mrs. Tatroe stated if I remember correctly there were some major cost to going to a Medical Examiner and some barrios.
Ms. Traynere agreed stating you would basically be hiring a Medical Doctor for three shifts; seven days a week. ISACo is against the bill, but we should all be aware that it is out there and would have a huge effect on us in the County.
Mr. Hassert advised that it doesn’t look like that bill will be going anywhere.
Ms. Traynere stated I know we have already voted on Cannabis but there is an information session on that subject in Naperville. The Governor has created an opioid overdose prevention and Steering Committee. Leading into that we have Dr. Burke with us today.
Dr. Burke said there was an announcement two weeks ago that identified that the black and brown community’s statics have gone up in 2018. They are dedicating a specific amount of money to go in and do more than what we have been doing in our communities. They are recognizing that part of the issue is lack of resources, jobs, and lack of economic development. It is a broader perspective. I think it is a smart move and it has a good collaborative going; however as many of you might have realized our statics have gone up last year. I don’t feel that 2018 is a good representation of what has been going on. The statics will be going up; we know that Fentanyl is effecting this. The epidemic has effective the Suburban Communities first; historically there are issues with ignoring drug abuse in communities of color. That is bigger and beyond the opioid epidemic. I talked to the Lieutenant Governor and let her know that ours have gone up; we are a big rural and urban community. We are not reflective of what you might see in DuPage or Lake County we are very different. I think we need to keep reminding our Legislators of that. We either need a new or another type of strategy to address this.
Ms. Traynere said I had a community member asking me about Narcan; does it help with Fentanyl; and why don’t we do open training for the community.
Dr. Burke replied I trained 1,700 regular citizens last year on Narcan. The cities have to sponsor the training for us to come out. The strategy I have been using are support groups. The support groups attract family members and active users. We have also trained some fellowship groups. I don’t do standardized training once per month; I set up training on demand.
Ms. Cowan said I assume that you know where most of the deaths are occurring in the county. Are we trying to target those areas?
Dr. Burke stated because of the recent statics Joliet and Lockport will be our focal point.
Ms. Berkowicz stated I want to make a comment about funding. This increase also reflects on another problem that we are having. I know that mental health support therapist in our area are not able to take on additional clients. When we passed the Recreational Cannabis we had a discussion about taking the revenue of those sales and put them in a special fund. We need to make sure that is done. The problem you are identifying is going to cost money to pursue this.
Ms. Traynere said thank you for your comments Ms. Berkowicz.
Ms. Rice said going off topic I want to say I support the money going to a general purpose like that. I would only support if it is not too restrictive. If we earmark money to so many well intentioned parameters and as we evolve the drug scene changes; then we are restricted in what we do.
Dr. Burke stated at this time I have a Workforce Grant and we are training recovery coaches. They are baseline folks who can help build a foundation with the people in the community. It is critical for them to get into treatment and maintaining that. Our Health Center has tripled in medical assisted treatment clients; because they have built a foundation, hired the staff, and are now expanding.
V. OLD BUSINESS
Ms. Traynere stated you have all received the new shorter version of the State Agenda.
Mr. Weigel asked if NorthPoint goes in I feel that we need to talk about the Illiana again. In order to get the trucks off of I-80 and the northern part of the County.
Ms. Traynere stated I was at a presentation yesterday talking about the Gas Tax. We discussed how 55% of the tax revenue that are collected by the State of Illinois go to the downstate regions. Only 45% go to Chicago i.e. Cook and the Collar Counties. Yet this is where all of the traffic is. Our.04 gas tax will expand the ability to deal with some of this. As we know it takes years to redo a road. If we agreed to build it tomorrow you may not see it built for 20 years.
Mr. Weigel said it is not on the agenda perhaps we should put it back on.
Ms. Traynere asked what the feeling of the Committee was.
Mrs. Ogalla replied we need to put the investment into the roads the way have it. The congestion is here because that is where the majority of the warehouses are at. Would the trucks use that road with all of the tolls or just jump on I-80.
Ms. Traynere stated I could take backroads but I prefer I-355 because it is faster; I am not concerned about the tolls. Most of these trucks are just passing through Illinois. They would be using the fastest route.
At this juncture a discussion was had in regards to the information that has been discussed in the past on the studies of the Illiana Expressway.
Mr. Palmer Stated I know that the Governor’s Office has not taken a firm position. In our draft agenda we do have a request for Peotone, Wilmington Road which in the absence of the Illiana Expressway those roads are already being heavily used. If we don’t get the Illiana Expressway Will County is going to spend a lot of money upgrading that road; and or we are going to seek assistance to get money to pay for that upgrade.
Ms. Newquist said I would like to have this discussion again. This is such a regional issue for the eastern side of the County. Dixie Highway is ridiculous; tons of trucks are going on a narrow two lane road. Also I-394 cannot handle that type of traffic. I would like to open that discussion.
Ms. Dunn stated the Legislative Agenda has the ability to add one pagers that can research the issue and see what has come up that is new. With that and the help from our local lobbyist we can find a contingent to go down and speak to some of the Legislators regarding that issue. That absolutely could happen. If the committee would like us to change the actual book if that is the direction that the committee wants us to go. I will say that this agenda is something that we would like to get passed at our February Meeting. It doesn’t say that it is the only thing that we want supported.
Mrs. Ogalla asked if our Community Friendly Freight Study identify where the truck traffic is going.
Ms. Traynere stated let’s move on to reducing the printing of the election ballots by 110%.
Ms. Staley Ferry said we meet with the Governor’s Office in the Collar Counties last month starting a dialog about funding and legislative needs. We spoke about Cyber Security and some things we can do to help with those issues. We spoke about funding for technology upgrades. We have some grant funds for that; we have $200,000 for voter’s registration grant funds. We do see the need to upgrade our voting equipment; if there is anything we can do on a legislative level that would help. We also spoke about the ballot purchase mandates; aligning petition filing dates even on a federal level. It really impacts objections and what people file and when the ballots have to be printed. If we can work together on these items.
Ms. Traynere said that I saw Reprehensive Connor was encouraging the Vote by Mail process; but those things impact the requirement to print the 110% of the ballots. That is because you have to print the 110% of registered voters not of the people who have not voted by mail. Have you contacted anyone in our legislative group in our County that would sponsor a bill that would cut that number?
Ms. Staley-Ferry stated no we haven’t. I think with all of these discussions taking place. We don’t know in the future what equipment we will have that will effect that. If we decide to use equipment with thermal paper we may not have to worry about that.
Mr. Pelkie added the key thing that Ms. Staley Ferry wanted to point out is if we move toward new equipment we would reduce our need to print so many ballots. At some point we would like equipment where we could print the ballots on demand at the polling place.
Ms. Staley-Ferry said after the Primary I think it will be helpful to sit down with the Clerk’s from the Collar Counties and come up with a solid ask of what we are looking for.
Ms. Traynere stated one of the other things that I have been tracking is the requirement for Election Judges to initial the top of the ballots. Reprehensive Connor said he was going to be working on legislative changes there. I didn’t see that he is working on that. Do you have any concerns on that?
Ms. Staley-Ferry said we have done training on that issue. I think we would have to see legislation on that. We follow that closely.
Mr. Pelkie said we don’t have a firm position on that as of yet. Obviously it is one of the ways that we confirm the ballot process, and it is also a verification process. At this juncture an explanation was given of the voting process and training procedures.
Mrs. Tatroe said I want to clarify the initialing of the ballot is to show that the ballot was cast at the polling place during the election. It wasn’t then added sometime after. That is the verification.
Ms. Newquist said perhaps a sign in the polling place to let the voters know that the election judge has to initial the top of the ballot.
Mr. Pelkie stated the key is to stress this information in the training process and in all of our updates to the election judges.
Ms. Cowan said shouldn’t a poll watcher be the one to point that out.
Mr. Pelkie stated yes. We are stressing that issue in training. I just want to say we don’t have trouble counting ballots here. Our ballots are counted. We may have an initialing issue from time to time but out ballots and our counts are accurate.
Ms. Traynere said if there is a problem with the law or the process then we should be looking at it.
Ms. Dunn said to be clear in regards to the Legislative Agenda I think that Mr. Pelkie made the point that you can’t pick and choose where the ballots are sampled.
Mr. Pelkie said yes we have had conversations about this. We are outside the realm of counting ballots or the election process. We are in the judicial process in the law. We were horrified that someone could apply a standard to this set of precincts because someone thought these were the numbers that would benefit him the most. We thought it should be applied across the board. Ms. Staley- Ferry sent a very strong letter in that regard. Also the State’s Attorney filed a motion on her behalf in that regard.
Ms. Dunn asked Mrs. Tatroe was that more of and interpatient by the Judicial Branch or is that something in the law.
Mrs. Tatroe stated I think that the respondent in that case could have picked their own precincts and they did not. Whether they realized that or not I am not sure. There is an opportunity to examine all the precincts it may be just the way it developed. I share Ms. Trayneres’ concern. I do not like seeing people’s ballots being thrown out; I don’t think anybody likes to see that. I think we all want everybody’s vote to count. We need to balance that with the integrity of the election. I think they are doing a great job in training the judges. Because not only is the actual person initialing it; then the other Judges are aware and they are watching that judge how it is supposed to initialing it and reminding them to make sure it is. Raising that awareness is huge; we can talk about additional ways to catch that. The State’s Attorney’s Office is more than happy to help the Clerk in finding ways to do that, and go forward from there. I just think that was the way that particular case came down.
Ms. Dunn stated so it is not necessarily the law that needs to be changed.
Ms. Traynere stated if the Judge is able to cherry pick precincts then the law needs to be changed.
Ms. Tatroe stated the Judge is not the one who allowed them to cherry pick the precinct.
Ms. Traynere said then the Judge allowed the complainant to cherry pick the precinct when all of them could have been counted.
Mrs. Tatroe confirmed I do not think that was within the realm of the Judge to expand what the plaintive in that case chose to pick. This is the way the legal process is; Ms. Dunn you understand this. The plaintive raises issues the defense can counter claim and raise their own issues. That did not happen; it is not up to the Judge to be partisan and choose a side. He must remain unbiased; so it was not up to the Judge. This was the parties being cognizant of what their rights are and how they could have done it.
Ms. Traynere stated said if there was a law saying someone could challenge the ballots; and the law stated that every ballot in that race had to be reexamined counted then you could put that legislative protection in there. Then someone who is likely to complain isn’t likely to pick five precincts and say I should have one because these five the ballots were not initialed. Then they would be leery about doing that. They would say if I do that then every ballot in the election and the result may come out the same.
Mr. Pelkie said we were both surprised of and Mrs. Tatroe correct me if I am wrong. We were respondent in this case; but really we had no standing in regard to how it would play itself out.
Mrs. Tatroe said the Clerk never has a position one way or another. The Clerk is named as a respondent because they are the ones who received the direction of what to do. They also have to produce the evidence that’s going to be examined. They do not have the opportunity to advocate for one side or the neither.
Ms. Dunn said could you point to the law that you feel should be changed.
Mr. Pelkie said we would not.
Mrs. Tatroe replied we could go through the statute with regard to objections and set forth the process. It may or not be statutory it may be the way case law has developed; I would have to go back and look at that. I can provide a summery for next meeting.
Ms. Traynere stated that could be a standalone. The March meeting would be fine. It is not fare that someone’s ballot could be thrown out. It goes against the whole process.
Mrs. Ogalla sated going back to the State Legislative Agenda; in the past we talked about looking into getting legislation for the Drainage District fees.
Ms. Traynere replied I have reached out to Mr. Hastert and Ms. Curry and they think it is a much better strategy since it is just an issue just unique to your District in the County and in many parts of the State they have eliminated Drainage Districts. We need to contact IDOT and I believe they may be working on setting up that meeting. We could talk to them about a possible explanation and or solution.
Mrs. Ogalla stated I would think that Southern Illinois should have Drainage Districts for storm water. I would think they would still have them. I will look into that. Also on Will County Transportation priorities are the east west connections and the Eastern Will County Transportation Studies. To me essentially they are the same thing; could we combine them together.
Ms. Traynere replied I think they wanted them separate because the east west connection specifically was talking about Phase I funding for both Crete and Monee modernization in Wilmington and Peotone. Those projects are real projects; whereas the other is more of a study of the area not specific to the projects that are in the works.
Ms. Dunn stated we did it that way because we try and seek funding to study those areas for the exact reasons that Mrs. Ogalla talks about. I do think the studies are beneficial because they get input from various leaders around the County.
Mrs. Ogalla replied we want to create economic development and that is very true. We also need to look at the fact as we move forward as a County; I certainly hope some people in the room start listening to me. We have all adopted this Greenest Region Compact (GRC) which talks about stainability for the future. We really need to look at the fact that 40% of our land in Will County is agriculture. It is the intention of this Board; and I think it is; to completely pave over everything and continue to build more warehouses. Or are we going to look at the viability and the economic benefits that agriculture brings to us. Everyone here today got here because we are eating food that is produced on land. We happen to live in an area that is significant and could provide good food sources for our local communities if we would develop that plan.
Mr. Palmer said maybe a suggestion the second item the East West connections maybe we make that unique to Peotone, Wilmington and Eastern Will County Traffic Study specific to the Eastern Will County area.
Ms. Traynere stated I went to Waste Service to get a background in regards to CCDC and why this has been such an important focus for us. One thing I learned was for many years unregulated items have been dumped into our quarries. Our former Governor intervened and stopped the dumping in one particular quarry in Will County. That was the Chicago Street Quarry. We had removed it from our agenda and Mr. Olson advised of six points on the subject.
Ms. Rice said I wanted to have a discussion on this but my idea now if the committee would agree; if we could take Mr. Olson’s points and prepare a draft letter. Nothing going out to our State Legislators and State Representatives. I would like to prepare a draft letter of what we would like them to know and have a response on. I would like to see us as a committee to address the questions and see specifically what they think about those concerns. I think for the sake of time I would like to propose if Ms. Dunn is able to prepare a draft letter for discussion porpoises for the next meeting including all of Mr. Olson’s points. That way we could talk about it in more detail; and see if that may be more of an appropriate thing for us to send on to all of our representatives. I agree with the language that is in the State Agenda. All of our action and advocacy doesn’t have to be in the agenda. I would like a letter with the six points that elaborate on the CCDD sites.
Mr. Fasbender stated they are the six points that are loopholes or wiggle room that things that need to be clarified to insure clean groundwater; and the soil that is in there pre law is adequately tested for to insure that we are protection the environment.
Ms. Dunn stated you would like a letter that would advocate for these six items.
Ms. Rice said yes.
Ms. Cowan said I would like everyone to be aware that there is a bill SB29-75 that has to do with Groundwater Monitoring on this issue.
Mr. Hassert said there is another one as well SB46-05 presented by Senator Connor.
Ms. Dunn asked if you would like to look at those bills and see if they address those bills already.
Ms. Cowan added the other thing is there is already a concerted lobbying effort against these bills.
Ms. Traynere asked Mr. Fasbender if they could look at the bills to see if they address these six points.
Mr. Hassert said these are the same bills that we have introduced in the last few years. We are reintroducing them again to start the dialog. There is going to be the same opposition we have had in the past. We now have a Governor that is pro-environment. We are hoping as we keep moving this ball forward that we will get some response.
Ms. Rice stated thank you for pointing out and reminding us about the bill; but in my opinion it will still be a powerful thing to bring up these points. These points that Mr. Olson was able to provide us makes you understand more of the exact problem to Will County. I would like to hear their response. What they support, what are they aware of, what would they like more information on.
Mrs. Ogalla supported Ms. Rice stating that it would be a great addendum to it.
Ms. Traynere sated it would be a great idea. Also having it signed by the individual Will County Board Members from each area. We want to make sure that we are watching them. I would like this as one letter with all of the Board Members adding a note to it.
Ms. Dunn asked Mr. Fasbender if he could assist her with that letter.
Mr. Fast agreed to speak with Mr. Olson to assist with that as well.
Ms. Keane stated I would like to inform you on Thursday, Dr. Burke and I will be at the Thompson Center. The pharmaceutical bill that was introduced last year is getting re-introduced with a slight revamp to it. It is the pharmaceutical take back where we are trying to make the manufactures more responsible for the cost involved in taking back the medication. The EPA has a $1million budget for that this year. We have a strong interest in seeing this go through.
1. Establishing FY2020 State Legislative Agenda
(Information)
RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [7 TO 1] Next: 2/20/2020 9:30 AM
TO: Will County Board
MOVER: Beth Rice, Julie Berkowicz
SECONDER: Mimi Cowan, Member
AYES: Traynere, Rice, Berkowicz, Cowan, Mueller, Newquist, Weigel
NAYS: Ogalla
ABSENT: Brooks Jr.
2. Discussion Re: RR & E Division’s Suggested Changes to the CCDD & USFO Regulations
(Dean Olson)
VI. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
VII. NEW BUSINESS
1. Discussion Re: Election Legislation
(Lauren Staley-Ferry)
VIII. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
IX. PUBLIC COMMENT
X. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT / ANNOUNCEMENTS
XI. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XII. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn @ 10:42 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mimi Cowan, Member
SECONDER: Judy Ogalla, Member
AYES: Traynere, Rice, Berkowicz, Cowan, Mueller, Newquist, Ogalla, Weigel
ABSENT: Brooks Jr.
NEXT MEETING - MARCH 10, 2020
XIII. WILL COUNTY INFORMATION ITEMS
1. Handout from Dr. Burke at Committee
(Handout)
2. Educational Funding
(Dr. Shawn Walsh)
http://willcountyil.iqm2.com/citizens/FileView.aspx?Type=12&ID=3724
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