Will County Gazette

Will County Committee of the Whole met March 26.

Here is the agenda provided by the committee:

I. CALL TO ORDER

II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG

Mrs. Kraulidis led the Pledge of Allegiance.

III. ROLL CALL

District 5 (D - Aurora) Meta Mueller called the meeting to order at 9:32 AM

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)	Absent
Raquel M. Mitchell	District 3 (R - Bolingbrook)	Absent
Margaret Tyson	District 3 (D - Bolingbrook)	Present
Kenneth E. Harris	District 4 (D - Bolingbrook)	Absent
Jacqueline Traynere	District 4 (D - Bolingbrook)	Present
Gretchen Fritz	District 5 (R - Plainfield)	Absent
Meta Mueller	District 5 (D - Aurora)	Present
Donald Gould	District 6 (R - Shorewood)	Absent
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	District 8 (D - Joliet)	Present

Attendee Name	Title	Status	Arrived
Annette Parker	District 9 (R - Crest Hill)	Present
Rachel Ventura	District 9 (D - Joliet)	Present
Natalie Coleman	District 10 (D - Plainfield)	Absent
Tyler Marcum	District 10 (D - Joliet)	Absent
Julie Berkowicz	District 11 (R - Naperville)	Late
Mimi Cowan	Speaker	Present
Frankie Pretzel	District 12 (R - New Lenox)	Present
Tom Weigel	District 12 (R - New Lenox)	Absent
Mica Freeman	District 13 (D - Plainfield)	Present
Debbie Kraulidis	District 13 (R - Joliet)	Present

Also Present: N. Palmer.

Present from State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe and K. Meyers.

IV. PUBLIC COMMENT FOR AGENDA ITEMS ONLY

Mrs. Adams announced there were no public comments.

V. OLD BUSINESS

VI. NEW BUSINESS

1. Presentation/Overview by National Association of Counties (NACo) - Presentation Attached

(Matt Chase, CEO/Executive Director)

Mr. Matt Chase reviewed the PowerPoint attached to the agenda.

Speaker Cowan thanked Mr. Chase for his presentation and taking time out of his busy schedule. This is a big time for you as you are in the mist of the NACo conference. I have been going to sessions and really enjoying them, as a number of our members have as well. We appreciate your time today; especially, for our new members to get an idea about what NACo does. Being able to attend the Legislative and Annual conference, especially as a new Board Member was really informative. I have to thank Second VP Winfrey for that, she saw the value and knows the value intimately. She has passed that appreciation on to me. I enjoyed getting to network with people from other counties and learn how other counties are structured. Counties have such a variety of governmental structures throughout the country and talking to people about what their counties do different than ours has been informative and interesting for me, as well as the subject matter sessions. I really appreciate your time today and everything you do for us at NACo. We had an Executive Committee meeting yesterday to talk about the aid package and what we are going to do with it. For me, the resources NACo has sent out have been the most helpful of anything we have received from anyone so far. They help us understand what the possibilities are. We will continue to rely on NACo, especially for that right now and also in lots of other ways.

Mr. Fricilone asked the money going to the states to flow through to cities, is it mandated that the state has to give them that dollar amount and they can expect that money? So when they come to us and start asking what we are going to give them to help with revenue replacement we can say here is what it looks like your allocation will be and you will get it through the state.

Mr. Chase replied there are two pots of money; the state government has its own allocation and they will get an allocation for municipalities with a population under 50,000. Cities with a population of 50,000 and above, will get their money directly from the federal government. The state has 30 days from when they receive the money from the federal government to sub-allocate down to the municipal level. They can ask for two extensions or about 120 days. If the state does not sub-allocate down to the municipal level, the federal government will withhold the state’s share of the American Rescue Plan. Any governor wanting to play games with sub-allocating down to municipalities, will quickly find their own state allocation reduced by the dollar amount they don’t sub-allocate. There is a mechanism that incentivizes the governors to give the municipalities their money.

Mr. Fricilone stated that is great. That will help us when they come to us looking for new allocations we will be able to assume and know what they are going to get from the list we already seen and that will help us with our allocations.

Mr. Chase stated I apologize for some of the terminology where we talk about states, counties and non-county municipalities. The reason is, there are 38,000 municipalities and that included cities, towns, townships, villages and boroughs depending on what you have in your state. They defined a municipality as “any general purpose unit of local government, recognized by the census”. That money to your municipalities will be allocated based on your population within your state. We did not focus as much on that. We do know a lot about the county section because we wrote about 99% of it. We have a pretty good handled on it. There were a couple of provisions that the Senate Leadership changed at the last minute, particularly around premium pay. We had a pretty significant hand it writing that language.

Mrs. Ogalla asked we noticed townships are not included in that; are townships supposed to be getting any money from the state or are they not getting any dollars at all?

Mr. Chase replied I can’t say 100%, but they should, if they are a general purpose unit of government. What happened when the congressional communities published the list of municipalities is they relied on the Census Bureau. There is a provision in the bill that says this is not all the municipalities that will get it, these are the ones we know of. If your state recognizes other general purpose units of local government, they can provide that money to your towns or townships. We can check on the townships, if they are general purpose units of local government. That is one of the challenges at the federal level of writing direct aid from the federal government to the local governments is there are so many different systems of local government in this country it is hard for Congress to actually recognize them all, which is why it typically flows from the state. We can follow-up on that.

Speaker Cowan stated Mr. Chase mentioned the training program, we have taken advantage of that for our Board Members and right now one of our staff members is doing the Leadership Training. That has been something Second VP Winfrey spearheaded and led the way on and showed us the importance of this. Ms. Mueller indicated when she finished Colin Powell’s book she left it in the Board Office to share and let other folks read. That is a little bit of trickle down leadership training affect we have going on there. Feel free to check that out if you are a Board Member or staff member. I am going to ask Ms. Winfrey to tell her a little bit about her role. I want to preface it by explaining to everyone having someone the executive leadership of NACo is important for Will County. We are an important county, we believe, but we might be bias. Having that leadership and the access is something that is really something special for us. The way the executive board works is they have an Immediate Past President, President, First Vice-President and Second Vice-President. Every year, everyone moves up one spot. Once you are Second VP you are going to become First VP, eventual President and Immediate Past President. Ms. Winfrey will be in that Leadership role for quite some time. We are really appreciative of the work she is putting in there and I know she is involved with NACo calls every day, all day long and that helps Will County. I think it really helps NACo, because they really need to hear from us.

Ms. Winfrey stated thank you Mr. Chase and Mr. McCoy for joining us today. As the Speaker said, it is important for us to have this spot at the national organization. This is the first time Will County has had a seat on the Board and it certainly the first time we have had a spot in Leadership. Those of you in Will County have heard me say this before; Will County is a major metro area in its own right and we deserve to be at the big table. My goal, when I was Speaker, was for us to be at the big table, we are at the big table now. We are going to continue to be at the big table. One of the ways we are going to do that is to push to help get other counties onboard so Illinois can become a 100% state. That is one of the pieces that is going to happen. In 2022, which I become President of the National Organization it will be great to have Illinois as a 100% state backing as me as I go into the leadership spot. One of the joys of being in NACo, for me, has been the involvement with all the other, not only current leadership team, but all of the Past Presidents are a part of the Board of Directors, so I have a chance to take advantage of their knowledge, training and their experiences as well and to be able to share those with Will County. This afternoon I am interviewing Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg. That is an opportunity for not only Secretary Buttigieg to be on the national stage, but also for Will County to be on the national stage through me. If you have a chance tune in for that piece. Many opportunities for leadership, for learning and growth or development come to us through NACo, through our national association and I encourage everyone to participate to the fullest extent possible. When I was Speaker I made sure all our Committee Chairs had the opportunity to go and whoever else after that, given our budget, could. The same thing with the Leadership Development, I started sending people, taking advantage of the scholarships and sending two or three at a time. I am glad to see that continuing as well. I think that helps our Board be stronger, be more knowledgeable and to be able to share with people with from other counties, boroughs and parishes across the Country. It is a good thing for us and for NACo. I am very glad to have Mr. Chase with us this morning to talk about NACo so you can all get a firsthand look at what the advantages are for Will County.

Speaker Cowan asked if there were any questions. I hope you are all taking advantage of some of the conference programming. They have had some great programming. As much as I would like to be in Washington DC in the spring, right now; it is also handy to have it all virtual because I can jump into and out of things while I am home.

Mr. Chase stated what I love about Ms. Winfrey is when she talks about things nationally she always talks about the county and not herself.

2. Presentation/Overview by Illinois State Association of Counties (ISACo) - Presentation Attached

(Joe McCoy, Executive Director)

Speaker Cowan introduced Mr. Joe McCoy and stated he is my go to guy when I have questions about how other counties are doing stuff. Mr. McCoy is always accessible and helpful. He is with us at the NACo conference and was a leader is making sure Ms. Winfrey was elected to the Second VP position, so we have lots to thank him for. Thank you for being here today to give an overview of ISACo, insights on what ISACo does and how they are servicing us as a County. I will give you a couple of examples of questions I have asked Mr. McCoy over the last few months; what are some of the best practices and how can we talk to the other counties about best practices about vaccine rollouts. He was able to coordinate with other counties and talk through what some of those might be and get all of us in contact with one another.

Mr. McCoy stated the last question I sent out was whether County Board’s had protocols in place for dealing with virtual meetings. We had one county, not Will County, where the county chairperson was concerned and wondering if other counties had information that might help them formulate a policy.

Speaker Cowan stated that is an example of how basically any question I have about how counties are doing things Mr. McCoy becomes a resource and it sounds like he is doing that for other people too.

Mr. McCoy reviewed the PowerPoint attached to the agenda.

Speaker Cowan thanked Mr. McCoy and stated that was a really great overview. If anyone is not getting the ISACo newsletters or the updates let Mrs. Adams know. She will cull all of our requests together and get those to Mr. McCoy to streamline those a little bit.

Mrs. Traynere asked when a body goes into executive session, do they have an obligation to come back into regular session to report on what transpired in the executive session?

Mr. McCoy replied I am not sure there is a requirement. Based on practices I am familiar with, they typically do.

Mrs. Traynere stated I was on a call recently with the Northern Will County Water Agency and when it came time for executive session they told all of us to hang up and they did not allow for us to redial in and out, nor did they just leave like we do onto a separate call and then we come back to the main meeting.

Mr. McCoy stated I would be happy to look into that for you.

Mrs. Traynere asked can I file an Open Meetings Act violation against them? They are the least transparent government agency I have ever seen in my life.

Mr. McCoy stated I would like to touch on a couple of issues we are working on that might be of interest. I mentioned we have taken a positon on over 200 bills. As you probably know during the governor’s budget address, this came as no surprise and he is not the first governor to do it, the governor proposed cutting the local government distributive fund by 10% compared to what was distributed during the current fiscal year. We are opposed to that and we are working on getting our membership engaged in contacting their legislators and the governor’s office to indicate opposition. The local government distributive fund is an important state and local partnership and it has been for years. Prior to January 2011 municipalities and counties received an historical 10% share and it has been that way for years. It has been cut back to about 6.06%. From our vantage point we have already given money back in that partnership and now we have a proposal to take more, so we are opposed to that. Not only opposed but we are advocating in favor of a restoration of the full 10% share. That is our position as an association. If you would like to help us in this campaign, if you visit our website, we have a page dedicated to protecting the local government distributive fund and we have a model Resolution and letter. The second issue that is probably a concern to every county is what do we do now that the U.S. Census Department has indicated due to the pandemic they will not make the census data available until September. That certainly complicates redistricting not only for the state, but also the responsibility of counties to redraw the County Board districts. We are working with our contract lobbyist and legislators to let them know that this is a problem for us too. What I have been told by DuPage County, at this point the data is going to be coming in so late that the only recourse may be to move the March primary to June. That is on the table for discussion. ISACo introduced legislation; SB166 with Senator Linda Holmes who was kind enough to pick it up for us and that would have provided an additional six months for county leaders in counties that elect their county board chair, we are amending it so it is going to affect everybody. We were looking at delaying the requirement for the apportionment for six months. Once we learned the data will not be available until September I think that solution is out the window and we are looking at what to do with the March primary. Whatever we come up with, it will be a 102 county solution. I had our contract lobbyist contact an Assistant Majority Leader in the House and talk about this issue and to other legislators about it as well. What was interesting to me about this conversation is what our contract lobbyist carried our message to this leader, he said wow, I had not even thought about the counties. That has been the problem for many years, people have not thought about the counties. Now they are going to be made to think about the counties because we are going to bug them. We are working on that as well.

Speaker Cowan asked you said potentially the primary would be moved to June, usually petitions start circulating in September, would that also be shifted so we would have time to finish the apportionment and then petitions would start to be circulated?

Mr. McCoy responded yes, because you have to figure out who is in what district. That would be part and parcel of that solution. That is the only solution that appears apparent to us at this moment. I think any good idea should be on the table.

Speaker Cowan stated I heard some people talk about keeping the same map for another two years. Is a potential solution on the table? I don’t think that benefits Will County because we have had growth. It had seemed to me, for weeks, the only solution is to shift things by a few months.

Mr. McCoy stated another possible solution that has been raised and I don’t know how much credence to put on this, but using the American Community survey as an option. You would say we are not going to have hard data, we will have estimates. Oklahoma is being touted as a state that has successfully employed that model, but Illinois is a little different than Oklahoma so I am a little skeptical about that. That is something that has been bantered about. I don’t know how serious that is.

Speaker Cowan continued I have heard that too. I think they were saying they would tweak the edges of districts once they got the hard data. What happens if a candidate lives in one of those tweaked edges? It seems messy. They are at least thinking about it, so that is good. Please keep us posted. We have Reapportionment Committee so they will be ready to work on that.

Ms. Ventura asked are they looking for other legislation to push through if this one doesn’t go with the June delay? California and New Jersey have legislation that allows them to extend the current districts; two years in New Jersey and four years in California giving them plenty of time to redistrict. So basically the districts would stay the same for the next two or four years and then they would move to the next districts after that. It is possible to use their legislation if this one does not go through?

Ms. Winfrey thanked Mr. McCoy for being with us this morning. I appreciate it. We sent a note to everybody asking them to make sure Mrs. Adams had your information so we could get you signed up for all the state information that comes out. That is also true for NACo information. If you are not getting any kind of direct mailings from NACo, let Mrs. Adams know so she can put you on the mailing list.

Speaker Cowan thanked Mr. McCoy for being willing to share his time and information with us today. We appreciate everything you do and the fact you have taken time out to be with today. We are sorry we could not be with you in-person, but I guess this meant a little less driving time for you today, which is the silver lining.

VII. OTHER NEW BUSINESS

VIII. PUBLIC COMMENT RELEVANT TO MATTERS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE COUNTY Mrs. Adams announced there were no public comments.

IX. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR

X. EXECUTIVE SESSION

XI. ADJOURNMENT

1. Motion to Adjourn at 10:54 AM

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