Will County Executive Committee met March 5.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER/ ROLL CALL
Chair Denise E. Winfrey called the meeting to order at 10:13 AM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Denise E. Winfrey | Chair | Present | |
| Mark Ferry | Vice Chair | Absent | |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | Member | Present | |
| Mike Fricilone | Member | Absent | |
| Donald Gould | Member | Present | |
| Kenneth E. Harris | Member | Present | |
| Tyler Marcum | Member | Present | |
| Jim Moustis | Member | Present | |
| Judy Ogalla | Member | Present | |
| Jacqueline Traynere | Member | Present | |
| Joe VanDuyne | Member | Present |
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Mr. Gould led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Executive Committee - Assignment Meeting - Feb 6, 2020 10:00 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Herbert Brooks Jr., Member
SECONDER: Kenneth E. Harris, Member
AYES: Winfrey, Brooks Jr., Gould, Harris, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Traynere, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ferry, Fricilone
2. WC Executive Committee - Board Agenda Setting Meeting - Feb 13, 2020 10:00 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Donald Gould, Member
SECONDER: Jim Moustis, Member
AYES: Winfrey, Brooks Jr., Gould, Harris, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Traynere, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ferry, Fricilone
3. WC Miscellaneous Meetings - Interview - Feb 14, 2020 11:00 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Jacqueline Traynere, Member
SECONDER: Kenneth E. Harris, Member
AYES: Winfrey, Brooks Jr., Gould, Harris, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Traynere, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ferry, Fricilone
IV. OLD BUSINESS
V. NEW BUSINESS
1. Authorizing Funding for Contingency Items for the Will County Joliet Intermodal
Transportation Master Plan (Ann Schneider) Ms. Schneider reviewed the memo in the agenda packet and an additional funding request of $79,000. CenterPoint has verbally committed a $25,000 contribution to the project. We are looking for the full commitment so we can give the Notice to Proceed to CDM Smith.
Mr. Moustis asked are we the lead on this study?
Ms. Schneider replied yes.
Mr. Moustis continued the partners are the City of Joliet, CenterPoint; was there anyone else?
Ms. Schneider answered the Union Pacific Railroad and the State of Illinois added funds also.
Mr. Palmer stated the original grant required a match from the County and the City. We have received $5,000 from the Union Pacific Railroad and CenterPoint committed to $25,000. I have no reason to believe they will not pay. There are two big studies going on. This is an IDOT study.
Ms. Schneider added this plan has $200,000 from IDOT. CMAP is the lead on the other plan. It is going through their local technical assistance program.
Mr. Moustis asked will this become part of our Freight Study?
Ms. Schneider responded this is the result of one of the recommendations from the Fright Study.
Mr. Palmer stated the Freight Study was the foundation and this is the next step, digging deeper into specific issues. These are actionable plans, things we can implement, not just pretty studies we put on the shelf. Residents are very concerned about trucks moving into the County. These plans are driving the conversations and forcing the conversations to be discussed and acted upon. We are not paying for the CMAP study it is all CMAP driven. It is the CMAP Truck Routing and Land Use Planning. They are very engaged and pushing their vendors to do more.
Mr. Van Duyne asked what was the total cost of the study and when will it be completed?
Ms. Schneider replied originally it was $250,000. With these added funds and the traffic counts, we are looking at $350,000. The study will be completed no later than the end of June. If we get the additional funds and give the Notice to Proceed, some of the focus groups will happen quickly and I anticipate this will be done by the end of May.
RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Board
MOVER: Jim Moustis, Member
SECONDER: Jacqueline Traynere, Member
AYES: Winfrey, Brooks Jr., Gould, Harris, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Traynere, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ferry, Fricilone
VI. COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT REQUESTS
A. Land Use & Development Committee
T. Marcum, Chair
1. Repealing a Special Use Permit
(Tyler Marcum)
2. Pilot Program for Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Placed at County Facilities (Marta Keane)
B. Finance Committee
K. Harris, Chair
1. Appropriating Grant Funds in the Health Department FY2020 Budget (Susan Olenek)
2. Appropriating Grant Funds in the Veterans Assistance Commission's FY2020 Budget (Kristina McNichol)
3. Transferring Appropriations within Various County FY2019 Budgets (ReShawn Howard)
4. Authorizing County Executive to Execute Necessary Documents for Delinquent Tax Program (Jen Alberico/Julie Shetina)
C. Public Works & Transportation Committee
J. VanDuyne, Chair
1. Authorizing an Intergovernmental Agreement between the Village of Plainfield and the County of Will for Engineering Services and Construction of Traffic Signals at the Intersection of Plainfield-Naperville Road (CH 14) and 127th Street, County Board Districts #3 and #13 (Jeff Ronaldson)
2. Authorizing the Appropriation of MFT Funds ($600,000) for the Engineering Services and Construction of Traffic Signals at the Intersection of Plainfield-Naperville Road (CH 14) and 127th Street, County Board Districts #3 and #13 (Jeff Ronaldson)
3. Granting a Temporary Access Permit for Will County Forest Preserve Property on Renwick Road, County Board District #9 (Jeff Ronaldson)
4. Authorizing Transfer of Jurisdiction of E12000N Road (Countyline Road) (CH 1) to the County of Will by Kankakee County under the Illinois Highway Code, County Board District #1 (Jeff Ronaldson)
5. Authorizing Transfer of Jurisdiction of Countyline Road (CH 58) to Kankakee County Highway Department by the County under the Illinois Highway Code, County Board District #1 (Jeff Ronaldson)
D. Judicial Committee
T. Marcum, Chair
E. Public Health & Safety Committee
D. Gould, Chair
1. Authorizing the County Executive to Execute Indemnification Agreement for Use of Frankfort Township Animal Control Facilities (Chris Wise)
2. Renewing Contracts for Housekeeping Supplies for Sunny Hill Nursing Home (Kevin Lynn, Maggie McDowell)
3. Renewing Contracts for Dietary & Nursing Products for Sunny Hill Nursing Home (Maggie McDowell)
F. Legislative & Policy Committee
J. Traynere, Chair
1. Legislative Notes
(Information)
G. Capital Improvements Committee
H. Brooks, Jr., Chair
H. Executive Committee
D. Winfrey, Chair
1. STRAND Solar Feasibility Presentation (FINAL)
(Christina Snitko and Sean Bridwell (From STRAND))
2. Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Agreement with Direct Energy to Provide Natural Gas to County Government Facilities (Mike English, Tradition Energy)
3. Authorizing the County Executive to Execute a Professional Services Contract with SCS Energy for the Prairie View Landfill Gas Upgrading EPC System Build (Dean Olson)
4. Amending Will County Code of Ordinances, Chapter 110 Alcoholic Beverages (Liquor Control Ordinance) Re: Increase in Class AG License, as Requested by Margarita Guzman, dba Rancho Los Guzman (Jim Harvey)
5. Awarding Bid for Data Center CRAC Unit at COB (Joel Van Essen)
6. Voiding Bid for Emergency System Upgrades at the Community Health Center (Joel Van Essen)
7. Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement with Salina Township Fire Protection District to Provide Access to the Countywide Radio System (Thomas Murray)
8. Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Intergovernmental Agreement with Braceville Fire Protection District to Provide Access to the Countywide Radio System (Thomas Murray)
VII. REQUEST FOR STATE'S ATTORNEY'S OPINION
VIII. ACCEPT COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT REQUESTS
Ms. Winfrey asked to add five additional assignments to the Executive agenda.
1. Motion to Add Five Additional Assignments to the Executive Committee Agenda
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Jim Moustis, Member
SECONDER: Tyler Marcum, Member
AYES: Winfrey, Brooks Jr., Gould, Harris, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Traynere, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ferry, Fricilone
2. Motion to Accept Committee Assignment Requests as Amended
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Tyler Marcum, Member
SECONDER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
AYES: Winfrey, Brooks Jr., Gould, Harris, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Traynere, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ferry, Fricilone
IX. PUBLIC COMMENTS
Mr. Tuminello stated this is something I bring up every two years. No one likes to talk about the salary for elected officials, but it is a duty we are charged with. I would recommend we look at having an outside group of individuals look at salaries. I believe some of them are too high and I believe others are too low. I believe lumping them all in together is the wrong thing to do. Waiting until the last second and punting it down the road is the wrong thing to do as well. One of my biggest beefs with the whole process is we get to a point where you could potentially base the salary on who wins the primary election. I think it is the wrong thing to do and we should have some parameters in place. It is the responsible thing for this board to tackle the issue of salaries.
Ms. Winfrey asked for a motion to add this to the Executive Committee agenda for next week.
Mrs. Traynere added in addition to looking at the salaries, we should look at a long term adjustment process. Perhaps there could be an automatic raise based on COLA, the same raise as social security gets. This becomes way too political. I would say there should be some sort of escalation built into it so we don’t have to continue to fight over this, if we go through the process of doing a study and coming up with salaries that make sense.
1. Motion to Add Discussion of Salaries for Elected Officials to the March 12, 2020
Executive Committee Agenda
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Herbert Brooks Jr., Member
SECONDER: Jacqueline Traynere, Member
AYES: Winfrey, Brooks Jr., Gould, Harris, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Traynere, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ferry, Fricilone
X. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT/ANNOUNCEMENTS
XI. EXECUTIVE SESSION
1. Motion to go into Executive Session for Discussion of Pending Litigation at 10:30 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Herbert Brooks Jr., Member
SECONDER: Tyler Marcum, Member
AYES: Winfrey, Brooks Jr., Gould, Harris, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Traynere, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ferry, Fricilone
2. Motion to Come Out of Executive Session at 10:42 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Herbert Brooks Jr., Member
SECONDER: Jacqueline Traynere, Member
AYES: Winfrey, Brooks Jr., Gould, Harris, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Traynere, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ferry, Fricilone
XII. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Moustis stated there are a lot of questions around the Coronavirus. People call me, even some of our local officials and they do not understand how things work. One of my mayors was saying Will County does not have a plan. It was based on a response from the Department of Health referring to the State plan. I told him, that is what we follow, each county does not have their own individual plan. The IDPH develops plans and procedures which come down to the counties and we implement the statewide plan. Otherwise, you could potentially have 103 different plans in Illinois. I think there was a misunderstanding. If I was responding from the Health Department, I would say here is the plan and hand them the state plan. We are still trying to figure out exactly how this virus works. I wanted Ms. Olenek to explain, we follow the state plan. I told them, our plan is the state plan; but evidently, they think you should have your own plan.
Ms. Olenek stated as far as a plan, we don’t have a plan for COVID-19 and a plan for anthrax and a plan for H1N1 and a plan for the next bug. We do not have specific plans because they are always fluid situations and you never know what you will come up against. What we have is a framework we apply to every single emergency situation. We have received specific guidance from CDC and IDPH. Their guidance is to give out their information, refer them to their websites and to their technical guidance. That is because the information needs to be vetted, creditable, current and relevant. They do not want DuPage County doing their thing, Will County doing their thing and Lake County doing their thing. They want all of us to be funneling information to people from the same sites. We learned this through H1N1. We were all trying to respond to the public and people were panicking. We were all trying to respond and be a good public health agency, but then people were looking at documents and saying why is Will County saying this, while Lake County is saying that. That just caused a big issue. The plan and guidance, those specifics of a fluid situation, does come from IDPH through CDC. We are on calls constantly. I was on a call already this morning with the IDPH and people at the state Health Department. We were on a briefing yesterday with the CDC in Atlanta. Last night CSPAN had congressional hearings and I watched those. We are doing what we do. We do surveillance every single day. We have an epidemiologist and staff who do contact tracing and surveillance every single day, whether it is COVID-19, another virus, measles or mumps or another reportable disease or a food borne illness, we do this every single day. Things are very quiet in Will County and I hope they stay that way. If they don’t we have a plan in place. I cannot miss an opportunity to say, please do your part. Do what we have been asking you to do for 40 years. Wash your hands, wash them a lot and wash them well. Clean off the surfaces. I have been doing this my whole life, I use my elbow to push buttons on the elevator, I use my sleeve to open doors, and I do these things normally. Cover your mouth when you are coughing or sneezing. A sneeze plume can go 9 meters. Cough into your arm or clothing. If you are sick, stay home. To employers, no shame no negative consequences if your staff has to stay home. I don’t think you want them to come to work and making the rest of your staff sick. If kids are sick, don’t pump them with ibuprofen and send them to school, keep them home and let them get better. Those are the things public health has been talking about for 40 years and it holds true for this as well.
Ms. Winfrey added at the NACo Conference we had doctors from the CDC talking to the public with exactly those same comments. It is basic common sense. The doctors also reminded us, this is the same as the common flu.
Mr. Moustis stated the CDC also talked specifically about the Coronavirus and how they did not know enough about it. They referred us back to the basic hygiene and precautions, including avoiding large crowds if you can. They don’t know a lot about Coronavirus and they probably won’t for about a year.
Ms. Olenek stated we were talking about this in the office and someone said what if you had a room full of people and asked them, if you could get a shot that would prevent you from getting really ill from something that kills 25,000 to 35,000 people annually, would you get that shot? Chances are everybody would raise their hands. Then ask how many of you got your flu shot? The regular flu, influenza A and B kills between 18,000 and 40,000 people a year. It hospitalizes between 300,000 to 600,000 and infects upwards of 45 million. There is a lot of attention being paid to this virus because we don’t know enough about it. We are doing our job and being careful, doing our due diligence. Whether it is COVID or any other germ out there now or in the future, we are ready.
Ms. Olenek reviewed the e-mail sent earlier today along with the people receiving it.
Mr. Moustis asked do schools have their own contingencies if there is an outbreak? Do they make their own decisions to close schools?
Ms. Olenek replied I spoke with Dr. Walsh earlier this week. He was asking those same questions, at what point do we close the schools? We don’t dictate that and we do not have a standard for it. I also said the fact you have a lot of kids out of school could be a good thing, if they are sick, they should be staying home. In a case like this, they should make sure all the surfaces are being wiped down more often than normal. If kids are in school and they are symptomatic, call the parents to take them home. Yesterday I spoke with Mr. Pelkie in the County Clerk’s Office. He was asking for guidance about what they do for the upcoming election and it was a great conversation. I spoke this morning with Mr. Adams from the Sheriff’s Department and he was asking questions about their realm. We are available for those conversations. The Health Department staff will not go out and give everybody a presentation on Coronavirus. We do not have the time or resources to do that. We want standard guidance, for everyone to go to the recommended websites and get the same standard guidance.
XIII. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn at 10:58 AM
http://willcountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=12&ID=3737&Inline=True
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