Will County Capital Improvements Committee met June 2.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL
Chair Herbert Brooks Jr. called the meeting to order at 11:00 AM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | Chair | Present | |
| Ray Tuminello | Vice Chair | Present | |
| Mark Ferry | Member | Present | |
| Gretchen Fritz | Member | Present | |
| Amanda Koch | Member | Present | |
| Meta Mueller | Member | Present | |
| Margaret Tyson | Member | Present | |
| Joe VanDuyne | Member | Present | |
| Rachel Ventura | Member | Late |
Present from State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Ms. Mueller led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Capital Improvements Committee - Regular Meeting - May 5, 2020 11:00 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Ray Tuminello, Vice Chair
SECONDER: Mark Ferry, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne
ABSENT: Ventura
IV. OLD BUSINESS
1. Update from Courthouse Delivery Teams (Wight, Gilbane & Farnsworth) (Discussion)
Mr. David Laramie reviewed the attached Project Status dated June 2, 2020. At the time of my report, there appeared to be minimal from the storm on May 26th. Since then a couple of other areas have cropped up. We had some areas of the roof that experienced uplift that will need to be addressed as well as issues with elevators 12 and 13. We have analyzed these impacts and we are preparing for repairs as we speak. I don’t foresee any significant impact to the schedule as a result of this; we are still analyzing that.
Mr. Brooks stated over the weekend we heard protesters were coming to downtown Joliet. The City of Joliet and the Will County Sheriff set up a parameter around the courthouse and they did a very good job protecting it. Was there any damage?
Mr. Laramie replied no; I don’t believe anyone has been near this building. I monitored the camera almost all night Sunday to make sure. I did not see a single person approach the police in any way.
Mr. Fricilone stated you mentioned the roof sustained some damage during the storms. Did the curtain wall work as anticipated; did we have any water penetration?
Mr. Laramie responded there was no water penetration. The curtain wall worked exactly as it should have.
Mr. Fricilone stated I talked with the Sheriff’s Department today and will continue to have additional patrols around the courthouse for a while.
Gilbane Project Report June 2, 2020
2. Update on Courthouse Parking Lots
(Emily Hannon)
Mr. Laramie stated the major demotion work is complete. The site has been cleared. We have excavated, dug out and installed the stormwater detention system and it has been backfilled. We are in the process of moving dirt, site clearing, grading, sub-grading and getting ready for the new work to start.
Mr. Brooks asked the fences and barricades were blown over during the storm; was anything destroyed in the parking lot?
Mr. Laramie replied there was no damage, we had a dumpster flip over. It was a significant event, which required some cleanup but there was nothing permanent or lasting.
3. Update from Health Department Team (Kluber, Leopardo & Farnsworth) (Discussion)
Mr. Jeff Montanari reviewed the attached handout.
Leopardo - Kluber Monthly Report June 2, 2020
4. Discussion Re: Former Silver Cross Hospital Property
(Dave Tkac)
Mr. Tkac stated there is a formal offer of $500,000 to Silver Cross for the property on Copperfield Avenue in Joliet. Mr. Chris Wise, ASA in the Civil Division is drafting a sales contract. We are trying to get everything together before the Silver Cross Board of Director’s meeting on June 6, 2020. Hopefully, they will also approve the transaction and we set a closing date.
Ms. Ventura arrived at this juncture.
V. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
VI. NEW BUSINESS
1. Authorizing the Use of Construction Contingency Funds for Installation of Fixed Jury Seating in Various Courtrooms Within the New Will County Courthouse
Mr. Fricilone asked why are we using contingency for the installation of furniture? All the installation was included in the furniture bids.
Mr. Dwyer replied this is not a normal installation of traditional furniture, it is jury seats installed on the raised access flooring. This is a unique case for furniture install. We are having the raised access flooring contractor do the install because it is being installed on their floor. This will avoid finger pointing of any possible damage.
Mr. Fricilone asked when you bid the furniture you bid the install; it should not be a contingency. Why wasn’t that part of the bid?
Mr. Dwyer responded because the furniture bids went out to one group. The only other way to do it would have been to ask for all the bidding contractors for this package to include the raised access floor contractor pricing. The decision was to bid the seating itself for the jury seating, and then use contingency funds for the install with a trade already engaged on the project.
Mr. Laramie stated it is my understanding this seating is being provided by the courts. The courts procured it and we are installing them.
Mr. Tkac stated in answer to Mr. Fricilone’s question; it was a missed detail. There is no other way for me to explain it than to call it what it is. There are 212 fixed seats for jurors in the courtrooms that include the jury box. There was a specific type of chair selected, with input from the Twelfth Circuit Court. No attention was paid to how that selected furniture was going to be installed, until after the fact. That is why we are now talking about this and the money to install it. That is the best way I know to sum it up.
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mark Ferry, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
2. Awarding Contract to Superior Labor Solutions for Post Construction Final Cleaning of the New Will County Courthouse
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mark Ferry, Member
SECONDER: Meta Mueller, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
3. Authorizing Payment to Nicor Gas for the Will County Courthouse
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Rachel Ventura, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
4. Authorizing Payment to HR Green for the Will County Courthouse
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Meta Mueller, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
5. Authorizing Payment to Van-Mack Electric Co., for the Will County Courthouse
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
6. Authorizing Payment to Wight & Company for the Will County Courthouse
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Mark Ferry, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
7. Authorizing Payment to Gilbane Building Company for the Will County Courthouse
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mark Ferry, Member
SECONDER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
8. Authorizing Payment to Farnsworth Group for the Will County Courthouse
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Mark Ferry, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
9. Authorizing Payment to Kluber Architects & Engineers for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
10. Authorizing Payment to ComEd for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
11. Authorizing Payment to Glen Ellyn Storage Corporation for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
12. Authorizing Payment to Existential LLC for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
13. Authorizing Payment to RPS Imaging for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
14. Authorizing Payment to First Student for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Meta Mueller, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
15. Authorizing Payment to Marchio Fence Co. Inc., for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
16. Authorizing Payment to Leopardo Companies Inc., for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mark Ferry, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
17. Authorizing Payment to Farnsworth Group for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mark Ferry, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
18. Authorizing Payment to Quinlan Security Systems for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Meta Mueller, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
19. Authorizing Payment to Altura for Will County Health Department
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Amanda Koch, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
20. Authorizing Payment to Harbour Contractors Inc., for the Will County Animal Control Facility
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Gretchen Fritz, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
21. Authorizing Payment to C.R. Leonard Plumbing & Heating Inc., for the Will County Animal Control Facility
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
22. Authorizing Payment to Farnsworth Group for the Will County Animal Control Facility
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
23. Authorizing Payment to Farnsworth Group for the Will County EMA Facility
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mark Ferry, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
24. Authorizing Payment to C.R. Leonard Plumbing & Heating Inc., for the Will County EMA Facility
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Amanda Koch, Member
SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
VII. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
Ms. Ventura stated I was contacted by a gentleman about minority contracts. I spoke with Mr. Tuminello about things the County Board has done in the past to make sure all of our contracting is fair. I invited this gentleman to speak to Mr. Brooks about coming to a future Committee meeting, what that may look like and what his ask may be. I also talked with Mr. Tuminello about things we can present moving forward. Has anyone else seen these comments on Facebook? I thought I would get this out in the open and start having an open conversation here at the committee.
Mr. Brooks stated he called me. I saw the e-mail you sent and I spoke with Speaker Winfrey about this. We have had dialog for a very long time about this. Unfortunately, due to COVID and the other issues, this can has been kicked down the road. It has not been forgotten. I let him know the process for coming to our meetings, now and after we come back to the County Building. It will be taken up again.
Ms. Ventura stated Mr. Tuminello and I will be discussing some ideas and will bring them to a future meeting. We will give you a heads up when we are planning to do that.
Mr. Van Duyne stated I would encourage minority and non-minority contractors to bid on our projects. It is better for the county to have multiple bidders and contractors. We are always looking for the best product and the best price. It would be a benefit to all the Will County taxpayers to have multiple contractors.
Ms. Mueller stated I echo Ms. Ventura’s comment. I was also contacted by this gentleman. I look forward to learning the history of this from our Board Members who have been here longer than me. I am happy to talk at any time, just let me know.
Mr. Tuminello stated as the previous Chair of this Committee, I just wanted to get our new Members up to speed. I think there are a lot of false things out there and a lot of things are being said that are inaccurate. We held two meetings when we were building the courthouse. Two meetings to discuss how we can get people engaged, how to get the unions involved and how to reach all contractors. After the two meetings I spoke with Mr. Brooks and to discuss how we felt there were not a lot of minority participation in the meetings. I was contacted at the time by Mr. Darden. He informed me he was very upset there was no participation. I told him to give me ideas, I will think about it and make some decisions. At that time, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Darden and others told us a lot of African-Americans and minority contractors could not make the meetings because they were small businesses working during the day. I asked what can we do to help. They told me to move the meetings to an evening in a minority area and let the contractors know. I worked with Mr. Brooks and others and we got the messages out. We did it through the churches, and other means. We added a third meeting in the evening and we brought them in and we still did not have a lot of participation. As Chair at the time, I asked what is preventing individuals from showing up to these meetings. The Committee was told there were two things; a lot of the minority contractors could not get bonding in a large enough increment to be able to bid on the whole package. We went back and looked at how we could fix this. Two solutions came from the Committee; first we had Gilbane develop a spot on their website where minority contractors, regular contractors, every contractor had the ability to register, sign up and team up with other companies to get a piece of the pie, by teaming with contractors with larger bonding capabilities. If you don’t understand how bonding capabilities work; if there is a small contractor that can only bond out for $2 million but they are bidding on a $7 million job; it is not going to work, but they team up with other companies. The second thing we did to help was to breakout the packages smaller. We back into the Committee and spent a tremendous amount of time, not only myself, but the Committee, Mr. Brooks and Ms. Winfrey we went through the entire thing to determine how we could break the packages smaller and we did. We could not break apart certain packages, but the packages were broken down. Then after all was said and done we still had low participation. To see things on Facebook about how we did not have any participation is an outright lie. As Chair reports were given to the Committee, the Committee Members saw how much minority participation was at the job site, who was working, where they were. We even had a female African-American owned company get a nice contract and I know there were others. It is disappointing to me to hear this, because it was under my watch and I take great offense to it. I was very proud of the fact we did everything in our power to make sure these individuals had an opportunity to bid on this. I was introduced to a few minority owned construction managers. We met with them on multiple occasions and I brought them to the Committee to get added to the list. We added and approved a minority construction manager to the list and approved a contract for the EMA and Animal Control building. I believe we are moving in the right direction. Is there room to go, yes. I told Mr. Darden from the beginning; I will not just hand you a job because of the color of your skin or the sex you were born. I will do everything I can in my power to level the playing field so everyone has an equal opportunity and I think our actions show that the previous Committee did exactly that. I take great pride in that. Bowa Contractors was awarded the contract for EMA and Animal Control, they did an outstanding job. However, he was small and could not handle that scope of work; so we teamed him up with another company, so he did not wreck all of his bonding and they did a phenomenal job. I could see us awarding him a future contract. I am sure there are others out there. When they are capable of handling jobs in Will County, they should requisition the County Board to conduct an interview and get them on the list. I believe we acted responsibly, I believe we did the right things and I take great pride knowing we did put quite a few minority individuals to work on that building.
Ms. Winfrey stated breaking the packages down in the smaller packages has now become our standard practice on all our projects. We will break them down as small as we can to provide opportunities for more vendors to bid on packages. Instead of just having landscaping and outdoor concrete together we broke the landscape portion out separately. We have broken down everything we can on each project to make sure everybody gets a chance to put their name in the pot.
Ms. Ventura thanked Mr. Tuminello for giving us that history. I would make the request that we continue the reports that were happening when Mr. Tuminello was the Chair about the minority breakdowns of contracts. Not just woman owned. Do you break down what percentage of a company is local employment versus other employment? Are there break downs to show minority employment? Whatever stats were already provided, it would be nice to have that information given to the Board. I am not asking for someone to go out of their way to provide the information if it is not already something we collect. If it is something we have, it would only take a few seconds for Gilbane or Harbour to present the information with their reports.
Mr. Brooks stated Mr. Harris, Ms. Winfrey and myself were on the County Board and we were part of this along with many females. I see a lot of comments and I agree with Mr. Tuminello.
Mr. Moustis stated everything Mr. Tuminello mentioned has been our practice for some time; before the courthouse. We started this practice of outreach when we did the addition to the ADF. Gilbane helped us initiate that originally; how to educate and bring people together and how to do outreach. There was a time when we had some leeway in minority contractors; we had a 10% differential. In other words, a minority contractors’ bid could be 8% higher and you could award him the contract based on the fact they were a minority contractor. That was available to us back in the 1990’s and we did use that on occasion, even though many made the argument it was not fair to the taxpayers, they should not pay more money for minority participation; whether I agreed with that or not is irrelevant. It gave a differential on the bid, you still had to be a qualified contractor and have all the bidding and experience that would enable you to do that type of work. In the 1990’s the Supreme Court struck down that provision and said you cannot discriminate against others. Because the County Board was not a Home Rule entity we had to comply with the Supreme Court ruling that struck this down. We did from that point on and we no longer gave a preference to minority contractors. We have a system now where we try to reach out as much as we can and we have done this for quite some time. As Mr. Tuminello mentioned we brought in a minority contractor for Construction Manger at the EMA and Animal Control along with the Harbour Group. Bowa is equipped to do some smaller jobs if we do them. He is on our list. We have made progress. There were rulings by the Supreme Court that got us where we are today. The other problem we had in the past was determining who is a minority. The African-American community said we are the minority, not women and not Hispanic. Even that gets a fuzzy and gray and you can say we had 100% minority participation, but if the 100% is a female owned there are other minorities that say wait that is not fair. I don’t know what we can do additionally, except continue to reach out and be as inclusive as we can; not only on this job, but we need to continue to help minorities. We have to do more than just give them a job, we have to say we intend to work with the African American community to get them further ahead in this area. We know there are small contractors and we need to not talk to them just when a job is up, we need to work with them to move their companies forward and increase their bonding and help them partner with larger companies and get them mentors. Just handing out a few contracts does not move us forward. We should think about those type of issues, how do we work with small contractors, minority contractors every day of the week. We can continue to try to getting them mentored and getting their bonding caps up.
Ms. Fritz stated almost everything Mr. Tuminello stated, with the exception of multiple hours he spent in meetings with leadership, on how to be more inclusive and include minority contractors, is a matter of public records from the public meetings and the minutes. Mr. Dardens’ criticism of us is a little disingenuous because this was a matter of public record. If he wanted to attend a meeting he could have attended. If he wanted to read the minutes he could have read the minutes. I don’t expect new Board Members to go back and read everything that has happened over the last two years, but I think members of the public like Mr. Darden who claim to be concerned and claim to be tracking this issue over time; they need to be honest as well and not present their case in a way that is disingenuous.
Mr. Brooks stated we have accomplished some things, but there is much to be done and we will continue to work on it together.
VIII. PUBLIC COMMENT
IX. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT / ANNOUNCEMENTS
X. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XI. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn at 11:59 AM
RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mark Ferry, Member
SECONDER: Rachel Ventura, Member
AYES: Brooks Jr., Tuminello, Ferry, Fritz, Koch, Mueller, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura
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