Will County Board met February 20

By Michael Abella

Apr 5, 2020

Will County Board met Feb. 20.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

I. CALL TO ORDER

Speaker Winfrey called the meeting to order at 7:45 a.m.

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG

Member Berkowicz led the Pledge of Allegiance.

III. INVOCATION

Member Berkowicz introduced the Clergy, Deacon Phillip Juarez from Cherry Hill of Christ

Church in Joliet.

IV. ROLL CALL

Attendee Name

Title

Status

Arrived

Sherry Newquist

District 1 (D - Steger)

Present

Judy Ogalla

District 1 (R - Monee)

Present

Amanda Koch

District 2 (D - Frankfort)

Absent

Jim Moustis

District 2 (R - Frankfort)

Present

Beth Rice

District 3 (D - Bolingbrook)

Present

Margaret Tyson

District 3 (D - Bolingbrook)

Present

Kenneth E. Harris

District 4 (D - Bolingbrook)

Present

Jacqueline Traynere

District 4 (D - Bolingbrook)

Present

Gretchen Fritz

District 5 (R - Plainfield)

Present

Meta Mueller

District 5 (D - Aurora)

Present

Donald Gould

District 6 (R - Shorewood)

Present

Joe VanDuyne

District 6 (D - Wilmington)

Present

Steve Balich

District 7 (R - Homer Glen)

Present

Mike Fricilone

District 7 (R - Homer Glen)

Present

Herbert Brooks Jr.

District 8 (D - Joliet)

Present

Denise E. Winfrey

Speaker, District 8 (D - Joliet)

Present

Annette Parker

District 9 (R - Crest Hill)

Present

Rachel Ventura

District 9 (D - Joliet)

Present

Gloria Dollinger

District 10 (R - Joliet)

Absent

Tyler Marcum

District 10 (D - Joliet)

Present

Julie Berkowicz

District 11 (R - Naperville)

Present

Mimi Cowan

District 11 (D - Naperville)

Present

Ray Tuminello

District 12 (R - New Lenox)

Present

Tom Weigel

District 12 (R - New Lenox)

Present

Mark Ferry

District 13 (D - Plainfield)

Absent

Tim Kraulidis

District 13 (R - Joliet)

Present

V. DECLARING QUORUM PRESENT

VI. MOTION TO PLACE ON FILE CERTIFICATE OF PUBLICATION

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

SECONDER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

AYES: Newquist, Ogalla, Moustis, Rice, Tyson, Harris, Traynere, Fritz, Mueller, Gould, VanDuyne, Balich, Fricilone, Brooks Jr., Winfrey, Parker, Ventura, Marcum, Berkowicz, Cowan, Tuminello, Weigel, Kraulidis

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

VII. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

1. Will County Board - Recessed Meeting - Jan 16, 2020 9:30 AM

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

SECONDER: Sherry Newquist, District 1 (D - Steger)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

2. EX SESS County Board Minutes 16jan20

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

VIII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF ELECTED OFFICIALS AND MEDIA PRESENT

Elected Officials present: Auditor, Duffy Blackburn; County Clerk, Lauren Staley Ferry; County Board Speaker, Denise Winfrey; Recorder of Deeds, Karen Stukel; State’s Attorney, James Glasgow.

News Media present: Southtown, Alice Fabbre; Farmers Weekly Review, Nick Reiher; Herald News, Alex Ortiz; Times Weekly, Megann Horstead

IX. HONORARY RESOLUTIONS / PROCLAMATIONS

1. Honoring Margie Woods

Member Winfrey stated this morning we come together to honor a member who has fallen. One of ours has gone on. We ask that you stand in recognition of Ms. Margie Woods. I ask the family to join me down in the front, please. Margie’s husband, Floyd, lights the candle that represents Margie’s spirit. We ask all those who worked, served with Margie come down now and take a candle, please. I ask you to light the candle for Margie’s spirit in honor of what she meant to you. We have resolutions from the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Resolution from Senator Pat McGuire was read into record. On a personal note, I had the honor of serving with Margie in the late 80’s. When I was talking to Jimmy Blackburn today, he kind of summed it up really well. He was her seat mate in his first term. They sat down and she said to him, “Jimmy this is what we’re going to do. When I have something in my district, you are going to support me. When you have something in your district, I am going to support you.” That was Margie’s philosophy. She basically says we’re going to work together. She was a strong lady. She was one-of-a-kind, a trailblazer, needless to say, back in the 80’s she was definately a trailblazer. On behalf of Senator McGuire in the senate, I would like to present this.

Speaker Winfrey stated now from the House of Representatives.

Ms. Lee Goodson read resolution from Mr. Lawrence Walsh, Jr. I will just add, as well, that I had the pleasure of serving with Margie and one of my most memorable times with her was one of our trips to Washington. Margie was never one to let anything stop her from doing what she knew to be her responsibility. We were on one of our very quick trips to Washington. Margie couldn’t walk as fast as she could be pushed in a wheelchair, so I had the honor of pushing her around Washington. She was apologizing every step of the way and I was like, believe me, this is a great honor for me so don’t even think about it because just her being there and her drive and still continuing to be involved and not let something keep her from doing what she considered her responsibility, was a great lesson to me.

Member Moustis read a resolution into the record. I also had the opportunity to serve with Margie for 16 years. I can tell you, looking at the Woods’ family because she probably did the same thing to you all, she took me to school more than once. When we would go to conventions, there was no person I would rather be with than Margie, partly because she knew everybody, so I got to know them too. She really worked at it hard. We can say all these resolutions you heard today, hearing that she was a trailblazer, and that she was. Let me tell you more than that. Your mother, your grandmother, Floyd, your wife, she was a difference maker. That’s something that not many people can say. She was a difference maker not even locally, but I can tell you because I’ve seen her on that national stage. She was a difference maker nationally. She was truly an unselfish person. We’ll never know what Margie really did. You know why? She never bragged about herself. She never said, “Look at what I got done.” All that was important to her was that it got done. If things didn’t go her way the first time, she would say to me, “Well, we’ll be bringing this back.” She stuck with it until she was successful and I like to say she wasn’t always there upfront. The people that do all the work aren’t necessarily up front and center cutting the ribbon. She was a person that really established a tremendous record at getting things done. There won’t be another Margie. Hopefully there can be another new person but I really, truly believe that, Floyd, your wife, your mother, your grandmother, she broke the mold. I don’t think there will be another, but, I just want you to know that I feel she was a great woman. She was a real difference maker. Thank you.

Member Brooks stated as we close out, many County Board members in front, you know I did not serve with Margie. I came in 2008 after she did. However, at the funeral, Mr. James Brown said it very well. Margie Woods had two offices: Her kitchen table and her front porch. I served with them on the front porch. Ladies and gentleman, would you join me in remembering a prayer like this. Thank you so much.

2. Recognizing Ron Pullman on his Retirement after 25 Years of Service in the Land Use Department

Member Fricilone stated if I could have Mr. Ron Pullman come down. We’re honoring Ron today for 25 years of service with the County. Ron has managed HUG and other community related grants on behalf of the County for more than 37 years. The last 25 of them as a County employee. Through the (inaudible) owned and related programs, he’s administrated over $78 million in federal funds. That $78 million has supported numerous programs in underserved areas and residents of the County. The emergency home repair program, the down payment assistance programs, acquisition of rehab programs, house counseling programs, fair housing education and outreach and homeless services programs, just to name a few. Today we want to thank you, Ron, and congratulations on your retirement. We have a Certificate of Appreciation. Let it be known that the certificate has been presented to Mr. Ron Pullman for over 25 years of dedicated service to the citizens of Will County as Director of Community Development and the Land Use Department.

Mr. Ron Pullman stated I would just like to thank you for all your support and the trust that you’ve all shown me to my staff over the years. It’s been a hell of a ride. I came to the County kind of by accident because I was working for Valley View School District as an accounting manager. The CPA that was doing the books said, “I understand that there’s a new grant program at the County and they don’t know what to do with it.” I didn’t know what to do with it either. I came and I interviewed and in five minutes I was hired. Back in the old days you could do that. You can’t do that anymore. In 1982, when the County first became eligible for block grant program, we really had a clean slate. We didn’t know what we had in our hands. We just got $2 million worth of grant funds on an annual basis. In the early years, in the first 10-15 years of the program, we didn’t know how much power there was in that money. So we gave $100,000 out to various communities; 15-18 communities came in and got a piece of the action. Then, all of the sudden, in 1996, something happened in Shorewood. There was a flood that hit that area and wiped out 45 homes. A County board member at the time, Mr. Kerry Sheridan came up to me and he said, “We have an opportunity to get $4 million of FEMA funding. The problem is, we have to come up with $750,000 of matching funds and he asked if we could help.” I said, “Well, I’m not sure. There’s nothing in the rules that says we can’t.” I was creative at that time. We found a match. We came up with a match and we were able to relocate 45 families out of the DuPage area that were flooded out. But the lightning struck. We realized that, that $2 million is very, very powerful. We could leverage those funds to do a lot of other things. The programs have evolved over the years and they still remain relevant to this day. I want to thank everybody here who has been a recipient of the grant funds and also I see some of the agencies and some of my supporting team and certainly my staff who are very capable of taking over from where I’m leaving off. I want to thank my wife for her support over the years. She’s been a great sounding board for me. She’s received some of the frustration first hand of sitting through 3 hours worth of waiting for five minutes of presentation. I said that’s part of being part of the government. I want to thank the various members of all the County Boards that I have served under. They have given us the trust and they’ve given us the support that we’ve needed. I’ve said that the program has remained relevant. Mr. Kerry Sheridan was a good example of how we could leverage funding. When the foreclosure crisis hit after 2008, communities were being affected by the foreclosures. HUD carved out a small portion of the block grant program and they called it the National Stabilization Program. A lot of communities, much bigger than ourselves, didn’t know what to do with the money so they let it sit. We decided that we were going to use the money creatively and we turned that $5 million into $22 million worth of assistance. We slowly and effectively ran a program that became the third in the nation. It wasn’t because of me, it was because of the teamwork that we built up. Mr. Tim Mack was instrumental in running that program and we continue to be relevant in whatever we do and however we use the funding. Then all of a sudden we got hit with the homeless crisis back in the mid-90’s and HUD said we have to form a continuum of care. We didn’t know what that was. We found out that we can network with a lot of agencies. We can network with the City of Joliet and with the not-for-profits and with the Will County Center for Community Concerns. After leveraging funding through the block grant program, we now receive over $4.5 million on an annual basis to help the underserved who are homeless or at risk. A couple years ago, a letter appeared in the mail, it was addressed to me. It said, “Congratulations, you are the 50th community in the country that effectively ended veteran homelessness.” These things don’t happen overnight. Be patient, be diligent, and be respectful of the regulations, and these types of things happen. Another example of how this program and these programs remain relevant is that over the years we’ve understood that over the years there’s a serious opioid crisis in our community. I was approached by staff here and all of the sudden we’re realizing that we can create a recovery home for women who are affected by the opioid crisis. These are examples of how flexible we can be and how with the support of the County Board and staff that I’m turning this over to, that we can continue to be relevant and effective in serving the needs of those who are less fortunate than ourselves. I thank you very much for this proclamation and somebody the other day asked me what I’m going to do now that I don’t have any meetings to go to.I’m going to Disney World.

Speaker Winfrey stated Ms. Kris White, from Continuum of Care who would also like to make a presentation to you.

Ms. Kris White stated we wanted to present this clock. You are an amazing man. I had to write down everything so I didn’t forget and you are just rattling off all the stats from the COC and all the good things that happened. You have led the COC. When agencies came to you in the late 98, I believe, and said we have an issue here. We need to have somebody lead. We need to create a COC. You took it, you ran with that, you realized how critical it was that we had an approach to dealing with our community. I’ve worked with you since 1991 and we’ve done a lot of good things. I don’t know of anybody who is as compassionate and you do it because your heart tells you to do it. Again, thank you for that.

Ms. Laurie McPhillips stated Mr. Ron Pullman was one of my bosses when I started working at the County at the age of 18. It’s amazing, 10 years goes by very quickly. Your staff is wonderful and I’ve had the honor of working with your staff at the County and the Executive’s Office and as a community partner as well. He treats everybody fairly and he is a champion of the community, so thank you for doing that. This is for you when you get nostalgic and six months, maybe six years from now when you want to look back and think back of all the good memories we had at the county. It is titled “Here’s to the months that turned into years with friends that turned into family.”

Mr. Ron Pullman stated thank you very much, I feel the love.

3. Presentation of Award to Jim Glasgow from the Animal Legal Defense Fund

Member Brooks stated good morning everyone. It is on behalf of the Will County Board, I would like to extend our congratulations to our State’s Attorney James Glasgow for his nationwide recognition from the Animal Legal Defense Fund, or ALDF. The ALDF is a national organization whose mission is to protect the lives and advance the interests of animals through our legal system. Each year the ALDF recognizes officials that have done outstanding work to make their communities safer for animals during its National Justice for Animals Week. This year it takes place from February 23 through February 29. The theme this year is “Fighting Animal Cruelty” honoring animal victims. I am pleased to announce that the ALDF has chosen our State’s Attorney, Mr. Jim Glasgow, as one of the nation’s top 10 animal defenders of 2020. And now, to present the award on behalf of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, I would like to introduce Ms. Terri Crotty, President and Founder of Wags 2 Wishes animal rescue in Plainfield.

Ms. Terri Crotty stated thank you. I had the opportunity to work extensively with Mr. Jim Glasgow over the past year. Our organization attended its first (inaudible) explained his vision for helping animals and people of Will County. I’ve seen his dedication to protect our trusting and defenseless animals because he recognizes that they are capable of experiencing pain stress and fear. Here are just a few reasons why the ALDF selected State’s Attorney Glasgow to receive this national award. In 1999, he wrote Illinois’ animal torture statute that created Illinois’ first criminal felony charge for animal cruelty. Critically it mandates a psychiatric evaluation upon conviction to diagnose and treat (inaudible) for violence against humans because of the strong link between cruelty to animals and violence against humans. He has hosted numerous ASPCA seminars in local forums to educate our community about the critical importance of reporting animal cruelty and abuse. He has established an animal protection unit in the State’s Attorney’s Office to work with our law enforcement community on prosecuting animal abuse (inaudible). Most recently he created the League of Extraordinary K9’s and Friends unifying countywide initiative, designed to combat animal cruelty and abuse and communications, cooperative efforts with animal humane and rescue organizations that specialize prosecution unit in State’s Attorney’s Office our law enforcement community in all local units of government. As the ALDF wrote in its congratulatory letter to State’s Attorney Glasgow, animal victims of abuse cannot speak for themselves, so caring individuals in the criminal justice system must speak up for them. Founding the League of Extraordinary K9’s and Friends in 2019 is one example of your effective compassion and dedication to recognizing and addressing animal abuse crimes in your community. It is with great pleasure that we include you among the honorees in the Animal Legal Defense Fund National Justice for Animals Week 2020.

State’s Attorney Glasgow stated I feel in the shadow of Ms. Margie Woods and Mr. Ron Pullman. This doesn’t even come close to what they’ve done, but thank you for allowing this to be done. My main purpose in being here.this allows us to talk about the fact that animals are sentient beings and they do experience pain, fear and stress. Our laws right now are not written that way. We have a law right now that the dog has to be on the verge of death before I can do anything, especially with regards to weather related things. Ms. Terri Crotty runs a rescue in Plainfield. She’s raising her grandkids, and the rest of the time she’s selflessly dedicating herself to cleaning cages, nursing injured animals back to health. She’s recently picked an animal up from Houston, Texas that had a horrible skin disease and that nobody else wanted. She sought that dog out, brought him here and now he’s thriving. People that are in the animal rescue field in Will County are incredible people, selflessly dedicating themselves. It ties directly into humans also. We just had a case where we took 11 cats out of a hoarder house filled with the droppings of those animals. Nine of the cats were pregnant, about to have kittens in that horrible thing. We found a special needs child sleeping in a bed full of feces. If we don’t go in for the animals, we don’t save that child. That’s going to happen on a regular basis. The case up north where the little boy was killed.when they went in there they saw the mistreatment of the animals. That’s a red flag. We need to watch for that. Thank God that the Governor is now funding the DCFS for the first time. That’s going to change everything. They were always criticizing DCFS but they didn’t have workers or a budget and now they’re going to. The same thing is true for animals. It’s another way for helping the animals and also protecting our children and everyone who lives in Will County by doing this. Mr. Don "Duck" Dickinson called me because he read about the (inaudible) story on K9’s. He saw somebody driving down the road with a leash out the window and a dog with a lame front leg trying to keep up. That’s how he was walking his dog. I looked at the statutes figuring there had to be something that that violated, but there wasn’t. Common sense would tell you, you don’t walk your dog out the window of your motorized vehicle. We have legislation pending. That’s the kind of thing this is for. Get everybody where to have knowledge, where to call.we’re doing cases that have never been done before and I’m getting personally involved. I’ve got three attorneys that are here today. These three attorneys are doing fantastic work on a daily basis and you call my office with a problem with an animal, you’ll get response like you’ve never had before. It’s going to pay huge dividends. My main mission is to get the legislature to find that animals are sentient beings. That’s critical when you interpret a statute. It sets a philosophical tone from what the words mean, just like in the Child Advocacy Center statute we found that children are our most precious resource so obviously then you know what they mean by the language in the statute. This is Kiwi, one of our support dogs. She is so calm, she’s the only one we could put on the witness stand when a child testifies because we can’t have the dog making any sounds, so she’s very unique in that respect. One more example.Courtney volunteers at Oak Park Animal Control. A dog was there 200 days, no one would adopt it. Now she’s got it at Ms. Terri Crotty’s Wags 2 Wishes. It will be adopted rather quickly. Not to mention, Courtney was dropping off some items she had bought at Menards or someplace on sale, bedding and that type of stuff. I went with her and I saw this little pear head Chihuahua cowering in a cage and Terri hands him to me and now he’s at our house. This little guy for five days didn’t make a sound, he was cowering and his tail was tucked tight on his body. Now the tail is wagging, he’s barking all the time. We’ve got a 65 pound standard poodle and he’s ripping toys out of his mouth, he is so happy. You can see the exhilaration in this little dog prancing around and jumping. When you see the transition there, they feel much like any living being. They’re entitled to it. The fact that a dog could survive in this terrible weather, they’re suffering while they’re surviving. That’s intolerable. I should be able to intervene. I can’t always under the statute but (inaudible), who’s a Joliet policeman, he has a rectal thermometer and he’s out there. That’s something that we need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt what the core temperature of that dog is. Thank God he’s out there doing it. He sees two dogs on Friday that were borderline hypothermia and we’re going to save those dogs. This team here will forfeit those dogs and get them to a rescue where they can be adopted into a loving home. This is all good stuff, but the biggest thing is to get the public out there to understand, you see an animal in distress, call somebody. That’s where we come in. We’ve got to get a network going where all the animal control people are working with us and we have responsive citizens who know who to call. When you call there’s somebody that knows what they’re doing and will do it for the first time. I’ve got four dogs and the solace that they provide me every day. My kids are gone, my youngest is in college, so now I get to take care of these dogs and it’s the light of my life. I don’t have a passport, I went to Canada once, Mexico once for a day and so they’re the center of my universe right now, they make me run. It’s not just that, it’s the connection to human beings that’s critical. We can save so many people just by paying attention to what’s happening to the animals. I was talking to a first and second grade class and I thought this is where we should start. We should start them thinking about being nice to animals. We were talking about kindness, kindness what the word for the month. We discussed how you feel good when you’re kind to each other; if you’re kind to an animal you’ll feel good too. Get them to understand from an early age. That is so critically important. We see that with so many kids living in horrible environments and never get that. Hopefully that will be the total cycle when we get an education program for children, bring dogs into the schools, let them understand and that will help them go a long way to helping with violent crime in Will County. Thanks for letting us ramble on up here and I hope I didn’t miss anything. And when you ask for somebody in the Animal Protection Unit, you will get a call back. The reason I wanted to add this many attorneys in there is if somebody’s sick or somebody’s on vacation, there’s always going to be somebody there. I am personally involved with what they’re doing on a regular basis. One last thing, we had one case where a lineman for ComEd was looking down in a backyard and he sees two emaciated dogs and nobody in the neighborhood called. We shouldn’t have that. A neighbor should be able to call, if you want it to be anonymous, whatever, so that we can come out. One of those dogs died. It was a 10 on the emaciation scale and couldn’t be saved. Just think of the suffering that living thing goes through. Member Parker, I want to give a shout out to your husband. (Inaudible) a number of cases and we've been able to save some dogs and he’s always Johnny-on-the-spot. That’s what we need. But if he can’t call our office and get something done, then all his good work goes for naught. We’re all working together now and it's going to be good. Thank you.

4. Recognizing the 100th Anniversary of League of Women Voters

Member Cowan read into record the 100th anniversary of the League of Woman Voters.

5. Recognizing February as Black History Month

Member Tyson read into the record February as Black History Month.

X. OLD BUSINESS

Status of Unsigned or Returned Resolutions/Ordinances by the County Executive

All Resolutions approved at the January 16, 2020 County Board Meeting have been signed by the County Executive

XI. NEW BUSINESS

XII. LAND USE & DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE - T. MARCUM, CHAIR

Member Marcum stated thank you Speaker Winfrey.

Open Public Hearing for all Land Use Cases

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

SECONDER: Jim Moustis, District 2 (R - Frankfort)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

PLEASE BE ADVISED: ABSOLUTELY NO NEW EVIDENCE OR INFORMATION WILL BE ALLOWED ONCE THIS LAND USE PUBLIC HEARING IS CLOSED.

Member Marcum stated there are two zoning cases, ZC-19-067 and ZC-19-080.

Speaker Winfrey stated are there any members of the public wishing to speak on these cases?

Close Public Hearing for all Land Use Cases

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

SECONDER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

1. Ordinance Amending the Will County, Illinois Zoning Ordinance Adopted and Approved September 9, 1947 as Amended, for Zoning Case ZC-19-067, First Midwest Bank Trust #7052, Owner of Record, (Michelle Tracy 100% Beneficiary), Donald Cass Wennlund of Wennlund & Associates, Attorney, Requesting (M-19- 017) a Zoning Map Amendment from A-1 to I-1, for Part of Pin #18-13-08-300- 004-0000, in Green Garden Township, Commonly Known as 24405 S. LaGrange Rd., Frankfort, IL County Board District #2

Member Marcum stated there was a legal objection to this by Frankfort and I’ll make a motion to approve. This one does need a 20 affirmative votes. The Land Use Committee voted two to four to approve so we’re recommending a denial. A lot of that was on the request of the two County Board members for district two so I don’t know if he wants to add anything.

Member Weigel stated I’d like to have you vote in favor of this case. They’re asking for industrial zoning in Green Garden Township. The Township Board and the Township Planning Commission approved this. There is industrial in the area, it’s on Route 45. Frankfort just came out against it recently because it changed their comprehensive plan. They would like housing on this particular area. There’s already industrial buildings there. Nobody’s going to build a house on that property so I encourage you to vote yes for it. Thank you.

RESULT: FAILED [12 TO 11]

MOVER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

SECONDER: Jim Moustis, District 2 (R - Frankfort)

AYES: Ogalla, Rice, Tyson, Traynere, Fritz, Gould, Balich, Parker, Berkowicz, Tuminello, Weigel, Kraulidis

NAYS: Newquist, Moustis, Harris, Mueller, VanDuyne, Fricilone, Brooks Jr., Winfrey, Ventura, Marcum, Cowan

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

PZC: 7-0 Appr Map Amendment from A-1 to I-1

LUD: 2-4 Appr Map Amendment from A-1 to I-1 THEREBY DENYING

2. Ordinance Amending the Will County, Illinois Zoning Ordinance Adopted and Approved September 9, 1947 as Amended, for Zoning Case ZC-19-080, St. John Ev. Lutheran Church, Owner of Record, Darceta Mueller, Agent, Requesting (S- 19-028) Special Use Permit for an On-Premise Dynamic Display in Agricultural and Residential Zoning Districts and (V-19-081) Variance for Minimum Setback of a Dynamic Display Sign Face from a Residential Structure from 300 feet to 296 feet for Pin #22-22-01-200-008-0000, in Washington Township, Commonly Known as 28054 S. Yates Avenue, Beecher, IL, County Board District #1

RESULT: APPROVED [22 TO 0]

MOVER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

SECONDER: Judy Ogalla, District 1 (R - Monee)

AYES: Newquist, Ogalla, Moustis, Rice, Tyson, Harris, Traynere, Fritz, Gould, VanDuyne, Balich, Fricilone, Brooks Jr., Winfrey, Parker, Ventura, Marcum, Berkowicz, Cowan, Tuminello, Weigel, Kraulidis

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry AWAY: Mueller

PZC: 7-0 Appr SUP for On-Premise Dynamic Display in Agricultural & Residential Zoning Districts

PZC: 7-0 Appr Var for Minimum Setback of Dynamic Display Sign Face from a Residential Structure from 300 ft to 296 ft

LUD: 7-0 Appr SUP for On-Premise Dynamic Display in Agricultural & Residential Zoning Districts

XIII. LAND USE & DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE RESOLUTIONS

1. 20-1 Overturning the Decision of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Approving Appeal #APCD-19-002 by Lowell Denton, Applicant for Zoning Case #ZC-19-068 in Green Garden Township, Commonly Known as 10250 W. Stuenkel Road, Frankfort, IL, County Board District #2

Member Marcum stated before I make a motion, just so everybody’s straight, we finally got our motions carried out, our (inaudible) so the motion from now on will always be to approve the appeal. We’d had a lot of these recently and there’s some confusion as to how we’re doing it. I’ll make a motion to approve the appeal for this case.

Speaker Winfrey stated Mr. Denton did you wish to speak? You said you have questions, do you wish to speak now?

Mr. Lowell Denton’s attorney stated I’m happy to answer any questions. We have the upmost respect for the Plan Commission. The night of the hearing, I don’t think Mr. Denton provided the information that would have helped them make a positive decision and so my partner, Mr. Dick Kavanaugh, appeared in front of Land Use, which unanimously approved overturning it. Again, I wish we had been there in front of Plan Commission with him, but we’re here to answer questions and we would ask for your approval of Land Use’s decision to overrule.

Member Ogalla stated I just want to make sure that we could have Land Use. I know that most members on the Board want to support the landowner in this situation so if they could just verify is this a yes vote to approve the appeal?

Member Marcum stated a yes vote will approve the appeal.

Member Ogalla stated I just want to make sure that everyone is (inaudible) support the appeal.

Member Marcum stated so if you want to approve for the landowner, vote yes.

Speaker Winfrey stated there’s a motion and second so the yes vote approves the appeal which supports the land owner.

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] TO: Will County Land Use & Development Committee

MOVER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

SECONDER: Rachel Ventura, District 9 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

2. 20-41 Request for Refund of Fees for Chris Hovis, Zoning Case #ZC-19-079 for Pin #16-05-06-200-022-0000, Commonly Known as 16339 135th St., Lemont, IL, County Board District #7

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

SECONDER: Ray Tuminello, District 12 (R - New Lenox)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

Next Land Use & Development Committee Meeting is Scheduled for March 10, 2020 @ 10:30 a.m.

XIV. FINANCE COMMITTEE - K. HARRIS, CHAIR

Member Harris stated good morning Speaker Winfrey, County Board members, and all in attendance.

1. Monthly Financial Reports to be Placed on File

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Kenneth E. Harris, District 4 (D - Bolingbrook)

SECONDER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

2. 20-42 Transferring Appropriations within Various County Budgets

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Kenneth E. Harris, District 4 (D - Bolingbrook)

SECONDER: Tom Weigel, District 12 (R - New Lenox)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

3. 20-43 Authorizing County Executive to Execute Necessary Documents for Delinquent Tax Program

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Kenneth E. Harris, District 4 (D - Bolingbrook)

SECONDER: Sherry Newquist, District 1 (D - Steger)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

Next Finance Committee Meeting is Scheduled for April 7, 2020 @ 10:00 a.m.

XV. PUBLIC WORKS & TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE - J. VANDUYNE, CHAIR Member Van Duyne stated thank you and good morning Speaker Winfrey.

1. 20-44 Designating Class II Truck Routes in Will County

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Donald Gould, District 6 (R - Shorewood)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

2. 20-45 Confirming Award of Contract to Preform Traffic Control Systems, Ltd. ($1,100,044.50) Let on January 22, 2020 for the Countywide Striping, All County Board Districts

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Ray Tuminello, District 12 (R - New Lenox)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

3. 20-46 Improvement by County Under the IL Highway Code for the Countywide Striping, All County Board Districts, using MFT Funds ($1,300,000.00)

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Mike Fricilone, District 7 (R - Homer Glen)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

4. 20-47 Confirming Award of Contract to Austin Tyler Construction Inc. ($4,740,634.42), let on February 11, 2020, Briggs Street (CH 54) from I-80 Westbound Ramps North to Washington Street, County Board District #8

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Herbert Brooks Jr., District 8 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

5. 20-48 Improvement by County under the IL Highway Code for the Improvements on Briggs Street (CH 54) from I-80 Westbound Ramps North to Washington Street, County Board District #8, using MFT Funds ($5,000,000.00)

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Herbert Brooks Jr., District 8 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

6. 20-49 Authorizing Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement for Supplemental Design Engineering Services Agreement with Willett, Hofmann & Associates Inc., at Cedar Road (CH 4) over Spring Creek, Previously Approved in Resolution #19-315 dated November 21, 2019, County Board Districts #7

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Steve Balich, District 7 (R - Homer Glen)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

7. 20-50 Authorizing an Agreement Between the County of Will and Enterprise TE Products Pipeline Company, LLC for Reimbursement for Relocating Facilities at Laraway Road (CH 74) from Stonebridge Drive to Cedar Road (CH 4), County Board District #12

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Tom Weigel, District 12 (R - New Lenox)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

8. 20-51 Authorizing an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Joliet for Improvements at the Intersection of Briggs Street (CH 54) and Washington Street, County Board District #8

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Herbert Brooks Jr., District 8 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

9. 20-52 Authorizing an Intergovernmental Agreement Between the County Of Will and Bolingbrook Park District for Construction of Appurtenance Work within County Right-Of-Way, Various County Board Districts

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Kenneth E. Harris, District 4 (D - Bolingbrook)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

10. 20-53 Authorizing Approval of the Establishment of Altered Speed Zone 255REV,

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Jim Moustis, District 2 (R - Frankfort)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

11. 20-54 Authorizing Approval of the Establishment of Altered Speed Zone 349REV, County Board District #2

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Jim Moustis, District 2 (R - Frankfort)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

12. 20-55 Authorizing Approval of Professional Services Agreement for Design Engineering Services (Phase I) with BLA Inc., for Manhattan-Monee Road (CH 6) from Center Road (CH 19) to the Monee Corp. Limits, Section 19-00040-13-PV, County Board Districts #1 and #2

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Judy Ogalla, District 1 (R - Monee)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

13. 20-56 Authorizing the Appropriation of MFT Funds ($2,019,802.00) for Design Engineering Services (Phase I) by County Under the IL Highway Code for Manhattan-Monee Road (CH 6) from Center Road (CH 19) to the Monee Corp. Limits, County Board Districts #1 and #2

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Sherry Newquist, District 1 (D - Steger)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

14. 20-57 Authorizing Approval of Supplemental Professional Services Agreement for Design Engineering Services (Phase II) with Hutchison Engineering Inc. on Briggs Street (CH 54) from the I-80 Westbound Ramps North to Washington Street Section 17-00053-19-FP, County Board District #8

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Herbert Brooks Jr., District 8 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

15. 20-58 Authorizing the Appropriation of MFT Funds ($15,000.00) for Supplemental Design Engineering Services (Phase II) by County Under the IL Highway Code for Briggs Street (CH 54) from I-80 Westbound Ramps North to Washington Street, County Board District #8

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Herbert Brooks Jr., District 8 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

16. 20-59 Authorizing a Second Amendment to Intergovernmental Agreement for Engineering Services and Construction of Roadway Improvements and Traffic Signal Modifications at the Intersection with Weber Road and Gaskin Drive in the County of Will, County Board District #7

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

SECONDER: Mike Fricilone, District 7 (R - Homer Glen)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

Next Public Works & Transportation Committee Meeting is Scheduled for March 5, 2020 @ 9:00 a.m.

XVI. JUDICIAL COMMITTEE - T. MARCUM, CHAIR

Member Marcum stated we have no business this month. I just want to make an announcement about Will County’s Fresh Start Fair and Annual Expungement Fair which will be Saturday, June 13 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the courthouse. If you’re going to apply you do need to fill out an application which can be found at circuitclerkofwillcounty.com and then you can email it in to the Circuit Clerk’s office. They do ask that you register by April 1 so you can get the word out to your constituents and I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to having a bunch of us volunteer again this year. Next Judicial Committee Meeting is Scheduled for April 7, 2020 @ 9:00 a.m.

XVII. PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY COMMITTEE - D. GOULD, CHAIR

Member Gould stated good morning Speaker Winfrey.

1. Report to be Placed on File

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Donald Gould, District 6 (R - Shorewood)

SECONDER: Judy Ogalla, District 1 (R - Monee)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

Next Public Health & Safety Committee Meeting is Scheduled for March 4, 2020 @ 10:00 a.m.

XVIII. LEGISLATIVE & POLICY COMMITTEE - J. TRAYNERE, CHAIR

Member Traynere stated thank you Speaker Winfrey. We have for everyone’s approval today the State Legislative Agenda. It is attached to your packet.

Member Ogalla stated I think we did a good job at trying to keep this really nice and focused on the items that need to be done and not a largewish list of things. I wish that we would have been able to include a State Legislative Agenda for the drainage district fees in my district. This has impacted my residents since 2002 when the state first started buying property and it has a negative impact on it. As they have knocked down homes on those properties, those homestead areas cannot be farmed so there’s no tax dollars being collected, therefore my residents are always asked to put more money out on the table. I know the state really did not want to include that because it’s a district thing and IDOT has properties all over the state. I don’t know how long those properties are impacted but this is a drainage district fee. This is the drainage.we don’t have sewers in the country. This is how we pay for it, how we maintain our ditches and our creeks so that the water and storm water flows properly. That was sad that we didn’t do that and as we move forward I hope that we, as a Board, once we have a look at the airport, that we will take a collective vote opposing the airport in Peotone. It’s been proposed since I was 25 years old. I’m currently 59 and that’s a really long time and I don’t know any other people, any other area in Will County that has been depressed for so long with the promise or the threat, whatever way people look at it, of an airport. Either way it’s negative. A lot of tax dollars have been spent on this. I think that as a County Board member, and those of you here, as Ms. Margie Woods would ask, which I found out today it seemed like she was a great woman who would stick to her guns and stuff like that. I think we need to stick together on this. Right now, remember, the legislation gives the authority for the airport to Cook County. This is Will County property, this is Will county residents that’s been impacted all these years. We really need to take a strong position and support Will County. I would ask as we move forward on that and all of you support me. We don’t need an airport. We need to look at what we can do with agriculture in Will County and maintain it. Thank you.

Member Ventura stated I could not attend the Legislative meetings but I had suggested some things for this but it was not included, so much like Member Ogalla I am asking for a future that there be some very serious consideration about four areas. One is continuing expanding mail-in ballots for the state and having automatic renewal for those who are on it previously. I would like the Clerk’s help in maybe pushing some of that legislation. You guys had reported that Colorado, California, who have the highest mail-in ballots, also have the highest voter turnout. It’s a proven system, it works, I’d love for our state to continue in that capacity. The next thing is having more incentives for (inaudible) we saw ourselves here on the County Board, or I should say that Forest Preserve as Commissioners. The price is prohibitive for a government agency to put in charging stations when it costs up to $10,000 per station. It’s hard to pass up something like that if it only affects a few people. As we move into that, I think it is the job that we are leaders but also (inaudible) dollars. If this is something the state can continue to push and incentivize then local governments have a better chance of serving their residents and moving towards a cleaner and greener county. I think that’s in the best decision for all of us here on this Board so I’d like for us to continue to lobby the state on that. The last two are, everyone here knows that people in their district are complaining about the property taxes. It’s no secret, we talk about it on this Board constantly. My opinion, we need our school funding to come from our income taxes and the state, not from individual residents. There are states like Hawaii who use 100% of their income tax to fund their schools making them fair from the top to the bottom. California is as high as 70%, ours is 14%. The rest falls on property owners or entitlement funding through the Federal Government. We could do much better than 14%. I think we should be lobbying our state for a much higher percentage of income tax to fund our schools. Lastly, we had this on our last year’s agenda, it was removed, I would like to bring it back, and that is the banning of puppy mills and the sale of animals through puppy mill institutes. We had a group come here, Safe Pets for Joliet, give a presentation two years ago. The Board did approve that this would be a part of their state legislation agenda. It was removed last year. I requested it be added this year, it was again removed. The State’s Attorney has left but I would love his help in continuing to push that forward. I do think there are plenty of animals in this world. We euthanize way too many of them. There are ways to get pets that are more humane than the way we allow today. Thank you.

Member Fricilone stated I don’t want to get into a debate today on the floor, but the (inaudible) election is a component of this. We are asking for better ways to get more participation, so we are (inaudible) but that’s because for (inaudible). In regards to electric stations, this is a scenario where people will put electric stations in when they see that it’s cost effective. If there are more electric cars sold, more stations will pop up. It’s kind of the chicken and the egg. That’s the way it’s going to work out. As far as school funding goes, that’s a great idea, let’s just take it all out of the income tax. I guess you want to triple, quadruple, the income tax. You have to look at the whole number, not just the one sentence that says, “Let’s make it easy and take all of the school funding from the state. The state is showing how much money they owe right now and with pensions and all these other funds, you don’t just shift more burden onto the state without having some other kind of revenue. So, I think all these things sound great but some (inaudible).

Member Traynere stated I just wanted to address a couple of comments that Member Ventura made. I know she wasn’t able to attend the meeting. We all are very busy and it’s difficult to attend every single meeting and/or trying to catch up with what went on because we have lives. I want to respond to the EV charging stations. The county is actually offering a grant program and we are encouraging municipalities to participate. I believe the max was $3,500 that they could receive from the county and as soon as they start applying our committee will I’m sure be aware of it. The Land Use Department is actually running that grant program. We have a lot of commercial businesses that are working with private industry to bring EV charging stations in. We’ve seen them at many of the malls. In Bolingbrook we have Volta that has installed charging stations at the Promenade Mall. Macy’s pays for them and it’s free to the consumer. It’s really kind of a nice deal. You have them for the Teslas at most of the Meijer grocery stores. These things are coming forward and, of course, government is also participating and trying to do their best to put them in appropriate places in areas where we own the land and we have the possibility in doing so. As for the puppy mills, it was not the will of the committee to move forward on that. We decided that it was more of a municipal issue.

I don’t even believe there are any pet stores located in unincorporated Will County but I can’t say that absolutely. We just thought that was more of a municipal thing. We’re trying to keep focused on key core county business and keep our agenda a little smaller in hopes that we can be more successful and attack the things that really are a huge concern to us like the Clean Construction or Demolition Debris ground water monitoring. We feel like that will be the biggest challenge that we have. It’s going to take a lot of energy to get that moving forward in the right direction and it will impact the largest number of residents that we represent.

Member Fritz stated when I read this document I was pleasantly surprised how much of it I agreed with. As much as we argue and fight in this chamber from one side of the room to the other, I was pleasantly surprised. Much to the credit of Member Traynere and the committee, I appreciate that. My only criticism would be there was just a passing mention of election integrity. I think that vote fraud is a huge issue that we have here in the state; perhaps less so in the county. I think it’s still an issue that every single entity that runs elections deals with and it needs to really focus on cleaning the voter rolls and making sure that the only people that are legitimate residents are voting. Obviously not registering people who are not here legally that’s not conducive. These are the types of issues that we deal with when it comes to election integrity and I think we should have a greater emphasis on this especially pushing the state to do better.

1. 20-60 Establishing FY2020 State Legislative Agenda

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Jacqueline Traynere, District 4 (D - Bolingbrook)

SECONDER: Sherry Newquist, District 1 (D - Steger)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

Next Legislative & Policy Committee Meeting is Scheduled for March 10, 2020 @ 9:00 a.m.

XIX. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE - H. BROOKS, CHAIR

Member Brooks stated good morning Speaker Winfrey, County Board. I have no resolutions to bring forth. After our next committee meeting on March 5, we will have our ribbon cutting ceremony for the Animal Control Center only, right after that committee meeting.

1. Update on Capital Improvements Projects Next Capital Improvements Committee Meeting is Scheduled for March 5, 2020 @ 10:30 a.m.

XX. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE - D. WINFREY, CHAIR

Member Mueller stated good morning Speaker Winfrey, fellow County Board members and members of the public that are still here.

19-377 - Motion to Remove the Table

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Herbert Brooks Jr., District 8 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

1. 19-377 Authorizing the Will County Executive to Execute a Tolling Agreement for the Houbolt Road Extension with the County of Will and Houbolt Road Extension, JV LLC - Resolution and Attachment Added

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

2. 20-61 Authorizing the County Executive to Execute a Professional Services Agreement with EcoEngineers for Phases 3 and 4 of the Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) Facility Development at Prairie View Landfill

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Rachel Ventura, District 9 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

3. 20-62 Authorizing the Abatement of Taxes for Property on the East Side of I-55 between U.S. Route 6 and the IDI Gazeley Property, County Board District #6 - Resolution and Attachment Added

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Joe VanDuyne, District 6 (D - Wilmington)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

4. 20-63 Adoption Of Successor Collective Bargaining Agreement between the County Of Will, Will County Board Of Health and AFSCME 1028 for the Will County Health Department December 1, 2016 – November 30, 2021

Member Moustis stated partly a reason I’m a no is because the Supreme Court ruled on fair share. People have the ability to not join the union and not have to pay fair share of the union dues. This agreement includes fair share which I think is kind of contradictory to the Supreme Court ruling. I'd even asked the State’s Attorney to take a look at it if we could approve something that basically the law says this stuff is prohibited.

State’s Attorney Tatroe stated we were not involved in these negotiations. I’m sure there was outside counsel that probably was. I would say it’s probably just an oversight that that was left in. Bottom line is it would be considered void by any court and the county does not collect. Unless the people have voluntarily signed up, they no longer collect fair share.

Member Moustis stated so you think it’s an oversight that cannot be enforced?

State’s Attorney Tatroe stated it cannot be enforced. If the Supreme Court had said you cannot collect fair share.I don’t think you can do that.

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

5. 20-64 Authorizing County Executive to Negotiate and Execute a Professional

Services Agreement for 2020-2024 HUD Consolidated Plan and 2020 Action Plan.

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Mike Fricilone, District 7 (R - Homer Glen)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

6. 20-65 Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Joliet to Perform Water Meter Replacements for Properties in the Fairmont Subdivision - Attachment Updated

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Rachel Ventura, District 9 (D - Joliet)

7. 20-66 Authorizing Contribution to United Way

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora) SECONDER: Donald Gould, District 6 (R - Shorewood) AYES: Newquist, Ogalla, Moustis, Rice, Tyson, Harris, Traynere, Fritz, Mueller, Gould, VanDuyne, Balich, Fricilone, Brooks Jr., Winfrey, Parker, Ventura, Marcum, Berkowicz, Cowan, Tuminello, Weigel, Kraulidis

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

8. 20-67 Awarding Bid for Farm Lease for Agricultural Purposes on Approximately 49.78 Acres of County Landfill Property

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Gretchen Fritz, District 5 (R - Plainfield)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

9. 20-68 Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement between the Village of Homer Glen and the County of Will for a One- Day Household Hazardous Waste Drop Off Event for 2020

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, District 3 (D - Bolingbrook)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

10. 20-69 Awarding Bid for Electronics Recycling

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Sherry Newquist, District 1 (D - Steger)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

11. 20-70 Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Wilmington and the County of Will, Illinois for Electronics Recycling

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Tyler Marcum, District 10 (D - Joliet)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

12. 20-71 Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement between Manhattan Township and the County of Will, Illinois for Electronics Recycling

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Jim Moustis, District 2 (R - Frankfort)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

13. 20-72 Replacement Hire for the ICT Department - Programmer

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Judy Ogalla, District 1 (R - Monee)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

14. 20-73 Replacement Hire for ICT Department - Infrastructure Tech

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Steve Balich, District 7 (R - Homer Glen)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

15. 20-74 Replacement Hire for Sunny Hill Nursing Home

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Donald Gould, District 6 (R - Shorewood)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

16. 20-75 Authorizing the County Executive to Negotiate Contract for the Prairie View Landfill Gas Upgrading EPC System Build - Resolution Added

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Meta Mueller, District 5 (D - Aurora)

SECONDER: Mike Fricilone, District 7 (R - Homer Glen)

ABSENT: Koch, Dollinger, Ferry

Next Executive Committee Meeting is Scheduled for March 5, 2020 @ 10:00 a.m.

XXI. APPOINTMENTS BY THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE - NO APPOINTMENTS THIS MONTH

XXII. PUBLIC COMMENT

XXIII. COMMENTS BY COUNTY BOARD MEMBERS

Member Balich stated today we heard a lot about animal cruelty. I deplore anybody that’s going to hurt an animal. I agree with everything that our State’s Attorney Glasgow said. I do a lot of reading. There’s states that have felony laws for anybody that does anything to hurt an animal. The whole time I hear about animals and I hear about puppy mills, then it comes to me that we don’t treat babies that are born alive in the same manner. I’m not talking about abortion. I’m talking about babies that are born alive. They were supposed to get aborted. We don’t protect them. It seems contradictory on a big, giant level when you say it’s okay to do that, but it should be a felony, which I agree, to be cruel to an animal.to leave it out and suffer in the cold. But yet a baby that gets born, comes out and it’s alive and it’s breathing, and you just let it die. It’s just a logical problem that I have a problem getting my arms around.

Member Ventura stated I want to congratulate Mr. Ron Pullman again on his retirement on my short time on the Board. Even before I was on the Will County Board, Ron was instrumental in thinking outside the box, solve solutions in my district, as well as in Joliet and on the Continuum Care. I think that he will be missed. I am looking forward to Ms. Martha Sojka in taking over that department and seeing how she also works outside the box. I’m excited to see a transition but I do think Mr. Ron Pullman will be sorely missed. The other thing is, I was contacted by a constituent multiple times, his name is inaudible). He is interested in having our Will County website specifically through the Clerk’s department put up a list of candidates with website addresses for each election. I know County Clerk Staley Ferry and I have talked about this before. I believe he’s talked with Speaker Winfrey about this issue so I said I would bring it up for the County Board to consider. If there is some kind of increased cost in having to put a staff member on that for each election cycle, that’s maybe something we should look at in the financial department. If that’s an increase to the Clerk’s budget then we’ll make that feasible. His idea is that if at least all of the candidates per election and each of the different sample ballots were listed, then someone could look at their platforms and be better knowledgeable. There are other websites throughout the United States. Some governments do provide that information and some don’t. He’s asking that we be a county that tries to engage the voters in education. Perhaps this is something we could work with the League of Woman Voters to have a website that provides that information and maybe it’s just a matter of linking it together. It didn’t seem like an unreasonable request from my constituent so I said I would bring it up here for people to consider putting it on an agenda. Thank you.

Member Tuminello stated thank you Speaker Winfrey. I’d like to speak for a couple minutes on something that is personal to me. There have been a lot of rumors and some gossip and some questions in the last five to six months. Individuals have come up to me and asked, “Where have you been? Haven’t seen you at some Republican meetings, haven’t seen you at a couple of things after work.” I’ve been travelling quite a bit. A lot of individuals are questioning my travel and not just here but at home, friends, etc. The truth is, I have not been very forthcoming with information regarding some things that have been going on in my life. Many of you have noticed that I have gone out of the country a great deal the last few years. I’ve been travelling quite a bit. I’ve been working hard at business. While developing a strong relationship with our supplier, it quickly became obvious that they were looking for a partner in the world-wide market that they now possess. They were looking to achieve some of their goals and make it a very beneficial partnership. Some of these things that they wanted to see in their potential candidates were their ability to grow their business, expand their business, put out new product lines like the ones you see before us. One of the things I did in January 2018 is I started a location in Florida. I’ve been traveling recently to try to open a location out in Calilfornia or Nevada. I’m been searching desperately to find those locations, hire some more employees in the south, and we’re growing. In August of 2018, which is about a year and a half ago, I entered into a confidentiality agreement. Some of you may know it’s like a non-disclosure agreement while I was overseas in Italy. From that point forward my hands were kind of tied and I was unable to discuss any potential opportunities tied with this company. I then began a nearly year and a half interview process. I could not talk to anyone about this, not even my children knew what was happening. As they dwindled their world-wide partners down, their potential partners throughout the world from ten to six to two, each quarter I had survived those cuts. I was so sure this was going to get done, in the middle of 2019, when I had hoped that it had already been a year, I could announce it then and notify everyone publicly that I would have to reconsider and continue in the run for reelection for my County Board seat. Unfortunately that time had come and passed. Everything was in place but the final verdict. So September came along, I pulled my packet, I began to put everything in order and business as usual. I still remained hopeful and figured possibly Europe would get the deal done by December. I had a person or two lined up possibly if they wanted to run on the ballot. I began making up stories that my family didn’t want me to run, possibly I’m hesitant. I’ve been doing this for 20 years. I started when my son was in diapers and now he’s in college. I just began preparing for the what-ifs. December came along and it stalled out again in Europe. Still hopeful, I waited until the last day to file my petitions. In late afternoon on January 16, however, I was notified that this decision was coming down and I should be prepared because it looked really good for me. I began making calls to people like Member Moustis, Mr. Pearson, our Will County Chair Republican Chairperson, and I started that I may have to come off the ballot in 2020 General, because I knew that I was unopposed in the Primary. Unable to share with Member Moustis the “why,” I’m sure it was very hard for him to understand the gravity of this situation. Unfortunately the 16th marked one day after the last potential day to remove myself from the ballot according to campaign rules. A couple weeks ago, my wife and I went to Cleveland, the U.S. headquarters for this global company and learned our fate. I was indeed chosen. Four days later I would be back in Cleveland where my counterpart from Europe would fly in, we would have a signing ceremony, and then we took in a Cavaliers game. I know we’re all Bulls fans here.they have nothing on the Michael Jordan era was. We came home, we celebrated, we then notified our children. I’ve communicated with my family, I’ve communicated with my staff at work, and did some real soul searching, because the truth is I absolutely love being here and I love representing District 12. It is with some sadness, along with all this happiness that we’re now finding, that I will be asking our County Clerk, Lauren Staley Ferry, to remove me from the ballot after the March 17 Primary. While I wanted to wait until after the Primary and speak to you in March, unfortunately I will be travelling and I will potentially be out of the country again during March, so in March I’ll be travelling quite a bit. While my responsibilities will ramp up probably late in the third quarter, it will certainly take me out of town quite a bit over the next few years and it would be very difficult to campaign, maintain my position here. My constant absence I think would be unfair for the residents of District 12 and I never do anything less than 120%. I think everyone in this room can attest to that. While I cannot go into detail of my new found role within this global company just yet, too much, I will no doubt be missing some meetings as I stated. It is my full intention to try and finish out my term and I informed them of that when I was in Cleveland last week. Starting on the courthouse six years ago has been one of the highlights of my political career that spans all the way back to 2000 and I want to see it finished. While I may miss a few meetings, and may be in and out of town, I am still 100% dedicated to the completion of that project. I’m sure some of you may be happy, some of you may be sad, (inaudible) there’s no doubt that I’ll be diving into this brand new chapter in our life for our family. It will be a very good thing. It will be very beneficial to our family, but I won’t yet be draining the campaign fund because you never know what the future holds. I just want to thank you all very much for listening.

Speaker Winfrey stated thank you Member Tuminello and good luck on your new adventure.

Member Brooks stated Speaker Winfrey I must say Member Tuminello took me by surprise, however I’m really happy for you. You didn’t have to go overseas to get out of being our Vice Chair, but I am very happy for you and your family. As you know, Member Tuminello, we’ve had a lot of talks and I’m praying for your future and your family. I appreciate what you have done as our Vice Chair. I hope you can stay on but I’d like to have some talk off-line if you feel that you’re going to be away quite a bit, but congratulations. What’s the total so far? And I’m happy for you and your family. God bless you.

XXIV. ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE MAJORITY LEADER, MINORITY LEADER AND COUNTY

BOARD SPEAKER Member Fricilone stated I’m going to try and make this brief so we can get out by noon today. I want to give a few gold stars to a few people, certainly to Member Tuminello for the job that he’s done. To Ms. Margie Woods I would just say a job well done and as well to Mr. Ron Pullman. Job well done, Ron. I always talk about what National Day this is.it’s rather apropos, today is National Love Your Pet Day. State’s Attorney Glasgow, job well done as well. We call can tell by today that spring is right around the corner. Spring training is open, just keep that in your mind and I think the warm weather will get back to us. No one can complain about the weather we’ve had. Just be observant.if you see somebody outside, whether it be a human or an animal, let’s just make sure we take care of them (inaudible) and have a great weekend. Thank you.

Speaker Winfrey stated I have nothing, really, to add. People have said pretty much everything. We’ll miss you Member Tuminello. I know that you’ll be in and out and we’ve enjoyed you being here so I wish you all the best going forward for you and for your family. We miss Ms. Margie Woods. She was a trailblazer and we miss her presence here not only on this Board but in this community. We’ll miss Mr. Ron Pullman and all that he’s contributed over the years. We will have to raise up a new group of people to take those places and do that work. Get your bags ready, your shoulders ready, and take the wheel. Thank you all and we do have an Executive Session today for the purpose of pending litigation.

XXV. EXECUTIVE SESSION

XXVI. RECESS TO MARCH 19, 2020

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