Will County Board Democratic Caucus Committee met July 14.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
Ms. Mueller said thank you for coming tonight; I just wanted to start our evening
acknowledging that we have had a couple of big losses in our Caucus this last month. I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on that; and let both Mr. Brooks and Mr. Harris know that we are all thinking about them; and praying for them. As well as sending them our love; and we are here for them for anything they may need; our hearts go out to both of you.
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Ms. Coleman led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. ROLL CALL
Majority Whip Margaret Tyson called the meeting to order at 6:02 PM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Meta Mueller | Majority Leader | Present | |
| Sherry Newquist | Member | Present | |
| Amanda Koch | Member | Present | |
| Margaret Tyson | Majority Whip | Present | |
| Kenneth E. Harris | Member | Present | |
| Jacqueline Traynere | Member | Present | |
| Joe VanDuyne | Member | Present | |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | Member | Absent | |
| Denise E. Winfrey | Member | Present | |
| Rachel Ventura | Member | Present | |
| Natalie Coleman | Member | Present | |
| Tyler Marcum | Member | Present | |
| Mimi Cowan | Member | Present | |
| Mica Freeman | Member | Present |
Present from the State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe.
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Democratic Caucus - Special Meeting - May 18, 2021 6:00 PM
| RESULT: APPROVED [11 TO 0]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member SECONDER: Mimi Cowan, Speaker AYES: Mueller, Newquist, Koch, Tyson, Harris, Traynere, VanDuyne, Winfrey, Coleman, Marcum, Cowan ABSENT: Brooks Jr. AWAY: Ventura, Freeman |
| RESULT: APPROVED [11 TO 0]
MOVER: Sherry Newquist, Member SECONDER: Mimi Cowan, Speaker AYES: Mueller, Newquist, Koch, Tyson, Harris, Traynere, VanDuyne, Winfrey, Coleman, Marcum, Cowan ABSENT: Brooks Jr. AWAY: Ventura, Freeman |
VI. NEW BUSINESS
1. Discussion of County Board Agenda
Ms. Mueller stated we are going to discuss the County Board Agenda; this is where we will talk about what is on the actual agenda. If there is anything to update us on; we will do that under committee reports. We are going to have one honorary proclamation recognizing July as Parks and Recreation Month; I will be reading that. Let’s move on to new business and start with Mr. Marcum.
Land Use
Mr. Marcum stated there is nothing too crazy this month. We had a map amendment in Crete Township; that was a request to go from C2 to R4. Pretty much nothing around there is commercial. There is a residence on the property that is going to be removed because it is dilapidated; and they want to build a new house. That passed PZC and Land Use unanimously. We also had a request for a special use for a truck terminal; the same case had a special use request for heavy equipment sales and rentals. This is in New Lenox Township; everything was pretty straight forward. They are buying the business and are going to repair trucks. I don’t know if anybody has any questions on those two items before I get to the resolutions.
Ms. Newquist asked if there were any objections to the truck terminal special use.
Mr. Marcum replied no, everybody was good with it; it is an existing business. They are upgrading it a bit; so it will actually be pretty nice. It is in an area that is industrial; so it fits the use of the area. The Building Code is finally finished; but at our last meeting we had to fix a couple of clerical errors; we didn’t get it done in time for them to get everything updated, and in the packet. It was completed in committee; but it will be coming back to us next month; because of a timing issue. The second item is going to take a while; because there is a lot going on with the affordable housing; it needs to be updated and discussed. The third item is the exotic and wild animals for rehabilitation facilities, sanctuaries and zoological parks. Much of it was just language being cleaned up and straightened out; it is a very tedious process and a lot to it. The one thing we decided to include was; if you are housing two animals and breeding them for the purpose of selling their offspring; you will be considered a kennel. The other item was authorizing the County Executive to execute an intergovernmental agreement with the New Lenox Fire Protection District; regarding the notification process of building permits. This has to do with the Fire Protection District is the main fire code enforcement in that area. They require sprinklers in residential homes; but the Will County ordinance does not require them; we are just trying to work out a way that they are notified. That will be postponed; the lawyers are still cleaning up language. The other two items are pretty standard; there is an extension of a special use permit for solar in Jackson Township. The other item is authorizing a historic landmark rescission in Lockport.
Finance Committee
Mr. Harris said good evening everyone; and welcome back to all of those who attended NACo. I also want to thank you all for being there for me during this difficult time. It is much appreciated, and helped get us through this difficult time. Part of you being there for me was filling in for me with my County Board duties; I am not sure who ran the meeting for the Finance Committee; whoever it was thank you. I will just go over the items that we have on tomorrow’s agenda; if somebody wants to step in and let me know if I am missing something; please do. I will be placing the financial reports on file; we have six resolutions to bring forward. The first is to authorize the Will County Executive to execute an intergovernmental agreement with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services; for reimbursement in abuse and neglect cases in Juvenile Court. Another one is appropriations within Laraway Communication Center’s budget. I believe these are CARES Funds; which is being transferred into that budget. Also the transferring of appropriations within various county budgets; it seems to be pretty much routine. Next is appropriating grant funds from IDPH for the Oral Health Promotion Grant in the Will County Health Department. We need to appropriate funds from HRSA in the Will County Health Department again from our FY2021 Budget. The last one is appropriating grant funds from IDPH COVID-19 Contract Tracing Grant in the Will County Health Department’s budget. Does anyone have anything else to add? Like I said I wasn’t at the meeting. Ms. Tyson, did you by chance preside over that meeting?
Ms. Tyson replied yes.
Mr. Harris said thank you Ms. Tyson. If there are no other questions; the next meeting is scheduled for August 3, 2021.
Public Works & Transportation
Mr. Van Duyne said I just wanted to say that football has started. I am here in Wilmington and we have a scrimmage going on; no masking or anything. It seems like we are getting back to normal; so that is good. We had eleven resolutions in committee; as usual it was voted on unanimous to pass overlaying some roads and buying some materials; some gravel and some oil for the department to use. For the sake of time everybody can read through the resolutions; if you have any questions on any items you can bring them up now. Otherwise, I would be willing to move on. Typically my committee is bipartisan; everybody loves to improve our infrastructure. If you think of any questions; send me an email and I will get you an answer by tomorrow.
Diversity & Inclusion
Ms. Tyson stated we had a presentation by the consulting firm that we are looking to procure as our consultants; Carmona Strategic Solutions. The Executive’s Office met with them on Monday to talk about the contract; hopefully we will have a signed contract that we can present by our next meeting August 4th. Fingers crossed; if the creek doesn’t rise we will be in business and start moving forward. Thank you, and that is all I have; our next meeting is August 4, 2021.
Public Health & Safety
Ms. Ventura stated ours was a long meeting; it was all just reports. We only have one resolution for the renewal of a diabetic contract; that should be pretty cut and-dried. One thing that came out of committee today was an ask for Ms. Olenek to give us a report on the CARES dollars that they have spent to date; and what they might still have. There was some discussion of them using those dollars to continue using The Fource as a marketing advertising firm for behavior health; we may be getting that in our email. I think Speaker Cowan is going to discuss with Mr. Palmer on which committee that might be. It might go to the Finance Committee; to Public Health & Safety; or it could be at the Executive Committee Meeting. Just a heads up; it is really the only thing that came out of it. Next month I did ask for some items to be added to our agenda for NACo; but I guess I will wait till later in the conversation for that.
Ms. Traynere stated I got the email later in the day about the grants that are available. We have one census track here in Bolingbrook that has a pretty low vaccination rate. I was thinking about some sort of leaflets or flyers on behalf of DuPage Township Democrats; urging people to go and get a vaccination and possibly setting up a pop-up in the parking lot at the high school. It wasn’t really clear in the grant information what they will pay for. Was it just for promoting an event; and do you have to be a certain not for profit to apply for that grant money? Ms. Ventura I don’t know if you have any answers or, if I should just email the Health Department.
Ms. Ventura said Ms. Traynere I don’t have an answer for you; perhaps you should ask Mr. Palmer more about that.
Ms. Traynere asked if he is on this call.
Speaker Cowan stated he is attending the Republican Caucus Meeting in person; I would say shoot him an email about that. I don’t think he knows off of the top of his head; but he could probably get the information for you.
Legislative & Judicial
Ms. Winfrey stated Legislative & Judicial Committee did not meet; so I have nothing for you tonight.
Capital Improvements
Mr. Van Duyne stated Mr. Tkac usually gives updates to where the projects are; does anyone have any questions on any of the projects.
Ms. Ventura said I have 6 million questions. What did we decide to do about that; I know that we had it presented; is that money going to be moved. I know not all of it was to be moved; because some of that come out of other funds. Is there going to be a report on the Capital Improvements snafu that we are accused of?
Mr. Van Duyne said I know they are streamlining a report that they are going to be using from here on out to present to the committee. It will have more detail on the money that is allotted; where it is coming from; and how it was spent. It has taken some time to put it all together; they want to do it right. I believe in the near future those reports are going to be available at every committee. Speaker Cowan can talk about it more when she talks about Executive Committee.
Executive Committee
Speaker Cowan said we have a handful of items on the Executive Committee; the first thing is the Lion Electric abatement. This is pretty much ready to go; everything was all set. What happened is, there was a small legal change to some of the wording. It was basically just including the current owner of the property in on something. Both Lion Electric and the County agreed to make the change; and we just had to put it off until this month; that will be coming through tomorrow. We then have the authorizing of the County Board Contingency Funds for the hardware equipment and up-grades for the State’s Attorney’s Office. This is the tech up-grades that are needed in order to handle the processing of the body camera footage. We’ve been discussing this for a number of weeks; I don’t think that we are going to get much more information about it. IT has put together a proposal; I am sure that Mr. Shay is going to be there tomorrow to answer some questions if necessary. Hopefully, you have all looked at the attachments or attended the meeting where we discussed this at length. It was a pretty long conversation about things and the simple answer is; just as we update our roads we have to stay on top of IT equipment. With the expanded use of body camera footage and court cases; the State’s Attorney’s Office is going to need those upgrades sooner rather than later. I know that I have been kind of vague but are there any questions about this?
Ms. Ventura stated I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be voting no on that; just so it is not a surprise. If you have heard any of my comments in Executive Committee; then you will know why. I just wanted everyone know that.
Speaker Cowan replied thanks Ms. Ventura; any other questions.
Ms. Newquist said I was not able to be on Executive Committee; Ms. Ventura if I may ask; why are you voting no on this.
Ms. Ventura stated I think our tax dollars need to be prioritized elsewhere; that is pretty much the long and short of it. This is about how much video footage they need to upload or download at any given moment. We have all of these body cams now; and everybody is recording. But they still literally are going to be looking at the video of when someone has been accused of a crime; and they need to review body cam footage etc. I just feel at this time there are other things that we could be doing; one of them is making sure everybody’s using our systems that we have; and having some intergovernmental agreements. We have a system now that our State’s Attorney uses with our Sheriff’s Department; and it speaks to itself. If we could get some of the other local entities in on that; that would be a huge cost savings in my opinion. Somebody else who knows these dollars could run an analysis better than I could. It is a lot of money; it is $600,000 plus upgrading some of this technology. But I don’t know that it is needed all right now; they make it sound like oh my God we are going to be uploading all of these videos and looking at them. But when we asked about it; they were like no; we would only be uploading a few of them. In the past they had to download things to CD’s and zip drives. So it is not like it is going to prevent them from doing their job. Yes it makes it faster, simpler, and more efficient; but I think there are a lot of other needs in our County; that we could be moving our dollars towards. I just don’t see this as a top priority; that is my say on it.
Ms. Newquist said Speaker Cowan I have a quick question for you. I was under the impression that the software was to allow us to better utilize that video footage. Am I correct?
Speaker Cowan replied I am a little hesitant to answer; because I am not the tech expert on this; I don’t think Mr. Shay is on this meeting.
Ms. Newquist said that is okay; I can email him.
Speaker Cowan said he will be on tomorrow; I think it would be fine to ask him in person. Part of it is the ability to upload and download the body cam footage; when they need it from local bodies as things are happening. I think part of it is rewiring the building essentially. Again, I am not a tech person so I am probably not using the right terminology. Mr. Shay explained the way that things are set up now; if something fails in one place the whole building goes down. It really needs to be modernized so that doesn’t happen. I think that is part of it; that is the network hardware.
Ms. Newquist said thanks; I may ask tomorrow; I appreciate your information.
Mrs. Tatroe said Speaker Cowan is correct; part of it is simply we need to upgrade because yes the switches are all connected; so if one goes down they all go down. But it is also an issue where it doesn’t allow enough data in for us to download videos in a timely manner. Such that it does basically; as we are getting videos now; and we have begun to get three and four videos a case. Some of these videos are several hours long; and it takes us as long to download as the video is. If it is a four hour video it is taking four hours to download it. It then takes the same amount of time to upload to view it. That is an extraordinary amount of time; and during that entire time the secretary who’s downloading it; or the IT person who is downloading it; they cannot use that computer. Because it is the only thing that can be done; so it does shut our office down; I would disagree quite vehemently with Ms. Ventura’s characterization of it; this is essential for our office.
Speaker Cowan said the next thing is the authorization of the County Board contingency funds to pay outstanding bills for the Capital Projects. Again we have the funds; it’s not that we don’t have the money to pay those outstanding bills. We absolutely do and this is allocating that from the contingency fund to be able to pay for those Capital Projects bills. As Mr. Van Duyne said; I know the Executive’s Office is working to create a different reporting structure; so that the Capital Improvements Committee will be getting a more detailed financial accounting of projects as they are happening; when they are happening. Does anyone have any questions about this?
Ms. Ventura replied thank you for that Speaker Cowan.
Speaker Cowan said number four is kind of an interesting one. If you have been part of these conversations you know the contract with Bronner expires tomorrow. The contract expires but they haven’t billed for all of the hours that we allocated to them a few months ago. There are still some things left to take care of; I know that Mr. Palmer has been on the phone today with Bronner trying to get a handle on this; I know that one of the big questions is where exactly does it stand; what is there left to do; how long is it going to take. In the Executive Committee we’ve talked about we can extend the contract; but we want a stipulation that says there is no more funding going into it. We don’t want to get into a situation where we extend the contract to the end of the calendar year; and then we get a month in and there is not enough money to cover the work that needs to be done. Of course, I think all of us agree if there is work that needs to be done we need it to be funded. I think the feeling was we didn’t have a real clear idea of what work has been done; what work is left to be done; and therefore how much funding and time will it take to do it. I think we are going to have to ask some questions about this tomorrow; I believe Bronner will be on the line and hopefully have some of those answers. The attachment does show that they have 256 hours; or approximately $47,000 left of a contract that we extended at the rate of $205,000. That is about a quarter of what we extended left to spend. I think that some members have expressed that they want a little clearer accounting of this; maybe the contract gets extended to the beginning of September or maybe it is six months. I think you should prepare yourselves for questions and prepare questions that you have; in order to make the appropriate motion and movement on this. Any questions on this?
Ms. Mueller said I was going to ask you if there was a date that they had in mind for this to be extended to. It still feels like there is not enough information to know if we are making the best choice. I think you already answered my question when you said it maybe be extended till September; in my head I was thinking the end of August. I guess it is based on what they still have to get done. It is just so hard to know for sure. I don’t want anyone to miss out; or to not get the funding that they need. Thanks.
Ms. Ventura stated I wanted to just clarify that we are extending their contract to use the money that we have already set aside to pay them; but we need to just extend the time of it. If my assessment of that is correct; I guess my question is what is the will of leadership; I am hearing August, September what is it that we should expect. What have we been pushing for?
Speaker Cowan said I think that really depends on the explanation of what work is left to do. I am trying to remember when we approved the increase of $205,000. If they spent three quarters of it in three months; I think it would be three months. I’m not sure how one quarter of it would last another six months. If there is items that are slowly trickling in. I think we just need more questions answered about what remains to be done in order to have a clear cut vision of what makes sense. I know that’s not a specific answer but I think we are going to have to ask the questions.
Ms. Ventura said it is as clear as mud. I hear you loud and clear.
Mrs. Adams said Speaker Cowan if I may interrupt; you passed a resolution in February increasing the $205,000.
Speaker Cowan said so that is five months where they have spent three quarters of that extra money. Another five months it seems that maybe we wouldn’t need to extend it that long. I think part of the thing is we really want to push to having the CARES items closed up. We can multi task but I think it would be better if we were able to get these items sealed up and done; and move on with the ARP; so that we have two separate alleyways going.
Ms. Mueller stated I would agree with that Speaker Cowan. When Ms. Ventura asked about leadership; I’m going to be a little surprised if this thing is taking until the end of the year. I’d like to see it wrapped by September.
Ms. Traynere said we are talking about Bronner; we are talking about the CARES money. I know there was discussion and I am sorry if I am lost in this. Weren’t we looking at hiring Bronner to help us with the ARP money?
Speaker Cowan said yes that is definitely a possibility but we have to decide what we would be hiring them for first. We have to set up our ARP structure and figure out what that is; before we can offer them an extension of a contract, or a new contract.
Ms. Traynere said I just want to make sure this was just about the closing out of the other. I know some people in our Caucus attended the session about the Lost Revenue Calculator. Who was at that and paid close attention?
Ms. Mueller stated myself, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Fricilone, and Mr. Moustis all attended.
Ms. Traynere said okay; I will be in touch Ms. Mueller. Thank you.
Ms. Freeman stated I was under the impression that we needed to wrap up with Bronner as well. I am curious if we hire Bronner again don’t they have to go through the process of being chosen again?
Speaker Cowan said probably in some way; but we really are not there yet.
Ms. Newquist stated we haven’t had a CARES meeting for a while. Someone correct me if I am wrong; but I think it hasn’t been that long since we have closed that final program. I know the small business applications were extended through June. I don’t know the exact closing date; but I think it was early in June. I think that some of the other programs had been available as well; so I am assuming that means that we are still in the process of allocating money. I think that will probably have a lot to do with how long we need to extend their contract. I do agree we need to get it wrapped up; but I don’t know what the latest accounting is for what has been spent; and what is still available to be allocated for CARES money. That is a question that I will be asking tomorrow.
Speaker Cowan said I think you hit the nail on the head Ms. Newquist. I think we have been asking for that accounting for a while; and we are not getting a super clear answer on that. I know Mr. Palmer tried to dig into that today and it was still a bit murky. Again, I think we need to ask tomorrow what work still needs to be done. There are a couple of things; I think they have to do mostly with the nonprofit orginizations. I know there are wrap up reports and things like that; I believe Karen Hennessy does most or all of that. Those are the questions that we need answered. I think you are exactly right.
Ms. Ventura asked what happens if we decide not to renew their contract tomorrow? What is the fall out; what does that look like?
Speaker Cowan replied I believe that means that they stop working.
Ms. Ventura said and then people who still need checks; does that fall on the Executive? Whose job is that to make sure that the people who are approved got the money?
Speaker Cowan replied I believe that would be the Executive’s Office would be handling that.
Ms. Ventura asked if we have gotten any feedback from Mr. Schaben or Executive Bertino-Tarrant on this.
Speaker Cowan said other than the memo that is attached to your agenda right now; not really.
Ms. Ventura said thanks.
Speaker Cowan stated item five we were authorizing a change order for additional pipe for the RNG Pipeline; moving that along. I think everything else is pretty standard; if you see anything else that you have a question on please let me know. We have a couple of appointments by the County Executive; that would be the end of my committee report; unless there are other questions.
Ms. Freeman stated I am looking through here; the Abandon Residential Property Municipal Relive Program. What exactly does that entail?
Speaker Cowan stated I am not the expert in this area; so I don’t want to misspeak. I know it has to do if there are abandon residential properties in the county; we have to do something with them. We either have to maintain them or get rid of them; I believe this is appropriating the funds to do that. I would suggest if you haven’t already; read through the attached documents that may help.
Ms. Ventura stated I would be able to shed some light to it if Mr. Marcum is not on. We have some areas in Fairmont where there has been a guy who habitually complains about the up keep of the area. Since these are abandon lots and they were on the tax roll and reverted to the County. The County was not up keeping them on a regular basis; and this individual complained that we were not doing that. Part of the reason that we were holding out; is we were applying for a grant in order to hire a landscaping company. I believe that they were awarded that money; and now we need to appropriate those dollars. Tomorrow I am sure Mr. DuBois will be on and we could have Land Use discuss that. That’s my understanding of what’s happening with that.
Speaker Cowan thanked Ms. Ventura for the explanation.
VII. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
VIII. COMMITTEE REPORTS
1. Land Use & Development: No discussion.
2. Finance: No discussion.
3. Public Works & Transportation
Mr. Van Duyne asked if Ms. Koch is on; I just wanted to give her the opportunity to make a statement that she plans on making tomorrow. If she is on tonight; if not I will do that now. Ms. Koch was going to make a comment; there was a bad accident a week and a half ago at one of our intersections at Cedar Rd. and Baker Rd. in the Village of Manhattan; and it seemed to be a very hot topic. The County met with the Village and basically the County is keeping a close eye on the intersection. We are going through the motions of trying to figure out how to make it safer; and working with the Village of Manhattan. Ms. Koch wants her residents to know that it is very important to us; and we are going to stay on top of it.
Ms. Mueller said I didn’t know the details; but I heard there had been a bad accident; I read about that in the paper. I am glad to hear there is going to be some follow up on that.
Ms. Ventura said after Ms. Koch makes a statement; I don’t know if Ms. Parker is going to share this at the County Board; I will share it here at least. After that accident happened there was some talk that there is an area on Briggs where people constantly run the stop signs; they have had a couple of accidents there. My understanding is they blew through this stop sign; and then later hit the Cedar Rd. one; or somehow that they were connected. Ms. Parker sent an email out to Jeff Ronaldson about it. They are looking at possibly adding the flashing stop signs; or adding another stop sign to the side; or maybe hanging a yellow light. We have had multiple accidents at Knapp Rd. in Crest Hill as well. I think that Mr. Ronaldson has tried to pull the reports on those; but they said if they are not head on collisions; then they don’t typically qualify for the cost to put a light in. A lot of these were more of rear-ended situations. I think a lot of people when they see things in the news; then they initially say; what about my area; this happens here too. If we turn a blind eye to it; another accident happens. I know of at least two in my district; I’m sure you guys can all think of a few as well. So how do we want to be proactive about it in the future; I’m not sure but I am open to having those conversations.
Mr. Van Duyne said I would like the Caucus to know; I strongly encourage anytime you reach out to Mr. Ronaldson; please copy me on that email so I can read it as well. I will make sure that the Will County Department of Transportation will get you the answers that you need; and we will stay on top of it. There’s been cases where I am being surprised; maybe because we don’t know the protocol; but I’m asking you folks if you have any transportation issues please cc me on the emails as well; and I will do the best I can to follow through and help you guys.
Ms. Tyson said that is a great suggestion; thank you Joe.
Ms. Ventura stated I can do that Mr. Van Duyne; I can forward you the more recent ones that Ms. Parker has sent so you are aware of those.
4. Diversity & Inclusion
Ms. Tyson stated I have already reported we had presentation by Carmona Strategic Solutions this morning; they did a real good job. Potentially we will have a contract to look at on our August 4th meeting. Stay tuned.
5. Public Health & Safety
Ms. Ventura stated there was a couple of things that came out of NACo; some other counties have passed some resolutions involving public health. I am asking those counties to send us the resolutions that they passed. If I get those I will be sharing those with the committee members; and possibly putting that on a future agenda to see how Will County wants to move forward. Some of it was mental health, some of it is racism, and some is on housing the homeless. To that last part I sat through a fantastic presentation about the ERA (Emergency Rental Assistance) money. There were two buckets; there was 1.0 and 2.0; some of that money could be used directly to house the homeless; which wasn’t exactly clear in the initial roll out of the bill. I did get some more information about what we could do in regards to using some of that money. To those that don’t remember we were awarded $20 million here in Will County; we partnered with the IDPH (Illinois Department of Public Health) so we kind of have an unlimited amount. When the $20 million was spent we could dip into the IDPH’s budget; that was a lot higher than ours. Our issue really became trying to get this information out to our constituents. If you have not shared that tenants and landlords can now apply to that assistance; I shared on my Facebook page; you could probably find information on the Executive or the Will County webpage. We want everybody we can to apply; it pays three months in future and nine months back. As well as security deposits if someone needs to change locations; it pays utilities; so there is some more flexibility with these dollars. I am going to be meeting on Friday with Tim Mack from Land Use, Kathleen Burke, Kristi McNichol, and Martha Sojka to discuss what out of the box thinking can we do to try and get transitional housing. Also to help some of our homeless, and of course continue to get the message out to residents and landlords; that if they are behind on rent; to please go ahead and apply. These funds are not going to be around forever; and the Federal Eviction Notice does lift at the end of this month. We only have a few weeks to really situate people. The last thing that I plan to bring forward; I may not do it; it may be the Executive which is why I am having this meeting with everyone on Friday. Is to work with our courts; when it comes to the evictions. Some of these counties rolled out stuff that they had to show that they applied or at least knew about the ERA money; before they could move forward with the eviction in the courts. They worked with the Sheriff’s to make sure that they were giving that information to the residents when they were applying to the eviction; I think that is something that we could look at too. Some people don’t know about this so instead of just jamming up our courts with a bunch of evictions; if the situation really is just to get dollars to the landlords; let’s find a way to make that happen before it gets to the court process. The end of that is if someone does have to go through an eviction; is there any way to seal those records moving forward if it was a one time incident due to COVID. We don’t want to have an ongoing situation where people can’t get housing because this is sitting on their record; because they didn’t know about the dollars, or they lost their job etc. I think in this regard we need to have a little compassion; and have policies that are a little forgiving. Of course we want to protect homeowners too; we want to also make sure they are restored. Those are some things that I will be bringing forward in the future; hopefully by next month or maybe the Executive might bring this forward if it falls under Land Use. But I wanted you all to know that those are some of the things that I learned at NACo about Public Health and housing. Are there any questions?
Ms. Traynere stated I personally know one landlord in my district that has a number of properties; they are not all in my district but he has a number of properties. I have not been approached by any other investor in my area; I am just wondering is there some way we could get a list of these landlords, these investors, in Will County whether it is municipal our non-municipal. This is something that I think staff could do for us that would be extremely helpful; so we could make sure that they have the information to apply for this money on behalf of their tenants. In one of the classes that I was in; Presentations, they talked very specifically about language that any sort of a judge that would be hearing an eviction case should use. I’m just wondering if there is some way to do some outreach to our Judicial Branch to let them know about that language; because clearly they were noted at NACo. Those are my two thoughts/questions.
Ms. Mueller said I wonder if Mr. Palmer would be able to answer those; but he is not on right now. Maybe you could email to ask him.
Ms. Traynere replied I can certainly send yet another email. Thank you.
Ms. Mueller said related to your question I’ve been working with the Aldermen; and have reached out to the City Council people.
Ms. Traynere stated we don’t have Aldermen in Bolingbrook.
Ms. Mueller said my other point was, I just said; I also reached out to City Council Members from Plainfield. To let them know that I had this information; and I shared what I had from the Executive’s Office. I understand that doesn’t guarantee that it will get to the property owners; but I did try to start with some folks that were on the ground in areas that I may not be as knowable about.
Ms. Traynere stated that is why I just wanted to know; is there any sort of responsibility on County’s part to know who these people are that are renting property? Or if this is just totally a municipal thing.
Ms. Mueller said I don’t either; so hopefully Mr. Palmer can answer that question for us.
6. Legislative & Judicial: No discussion.
7. Capital Improvements: No discussion.
8. Executive: No discussion.
9. Ad-Hoc Reapportionment
Mr. Marcum stated the next meeting is going to be August 3rd. That way we are in person and everyone can see the maps.
Ms. Mueller stated I want to tell you all; the big maps are on the wall at the County Board Office. Please make it a point to get down there and look at those; because we are going to be needing everyone’s eyes on that so we can get some good input.
10. Ad-Hoc Modern Housing Solutions: No discussion.
IX. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
1. Speakers Update
Speaker Cowan stated at the first Executive Committee Meeting I will ask everybody who was at NACo to give a little report. Just a quick; one useful thing that you learned; or a take away from the conference. That will be at the first Executive Meeting in August. It is in person and I know not all of you are on Executive Committee so if you can’t be there and you want to provide it in written format that is fine too. Mr. Palmer and I are continuing to meet with people about ARP. One of the things that I learned at NACo; I felt some pressure to get going on this and wanting to do it right; and I’m even more convinced now than ever that slow and steady is the way to go. We really want to get this information in; and kind of build a structure. Hopefully be able to start making some decisions soon; but we really don’t need to rush it at this point. There maybe a couple matters that will need to move along more quickly. I know that the Clerk’s Office has some requests; because of some of the updates that they have to do based on new State Law. Obviously they need to place some orders and pay for items; so that it is in house and ready to go before next March. There may be some little things that we have to move along more quickly than others. We keep getting the information and thinking about how we are going to do things. I know Mr. Palmer was also working on a job description for a potential position for someone who could help be the County Board point person for the ARP program. Stay tuned and we will go from there.
Mr. Van Duyne stated I just wanted to let everyone to know and congratulate our very own Democratic Board Member Ms. Winfrey; for moving up in the ranks at NACo over the weekend. She won her election as Second Vice President; this year she was upgraded to First Vice President; which next year she will actually be the President. I just think everybody should know how important that is. This election was huge for Will County; she will have access to the biggest leaders in the United States. I’m proud of her and her accomplishments; and I think we all should be. I just wanted to say congrats Ms. Winfrey.
Ms. Winfrey said thank you Mr. Van Duyne; thank you to all of you for attending.
Ms. Tyson said I would like to share two things that I learned at the Cyber Security meeting at NACo. Everyone should have multi fact of verification; especially on your financials. When the guy reported that his eyes were open very wide; you know people are getting hacked because people are leaving themselves open. Everyone should be in the habit of backing up their data; especially if you are on a desktop or something like that. A lot of municipalities are getting hit with ransomware is because they don’t back up their data. They are leaving themselves open for problems. When I was in IT we backed up our data locally and a couple of states over in case there was a natural disaster. So that way we had data; we had data to pull back; and we had practice sessions where we would retrieve data. It is innate to me to back up my data. I just wanted to share that but I will have more to share next month. Thank you.
Ms. Traynere stated FYI I found that lost revenue calculator finally; after digging, digging, digging on the NACo site. What I will tell you is it is totally useless unless you have the data to put into it. This is something that we should be turning over to the finance people and asking them to fill it out.
Ms. Mueller said yes that was a conversation that Mr. Palmer and I had; that was definitly what he felt was appropriate too.
Ms. Freeman asked if the Reapportionment Meeting on August 3rd; is still at 1:00 p.m.
Mr. Marcum replied yes; at 1:00 p.m.
Ms. Freeman said NACo was very informative; I took all kinds of notes and haven’t had a real chance to absorb through them yet. I sat in on an excellent session on Diversity and Inclusion; I need to reach back out to them and get their slides and more information. It was very informative and there were a lot of things that we could use on the County Board. Also congratulations to Ms. Winfrey.
Ms. Ventura stated I hate to take us all the way back but if Speaker Cowan is still on; I don’t have the agenda in front of me. Is the RFQ for the Modern Housing moving forward to this meeting; and if so I would encourage all Democrats to vote for it.
Speaker Cowan stated that was not something that was necessary to move forward to the full Board. They didn’t even need to be coming to us for an approval on it at all; it was a courtesy because they might ask us for money. So they were going to let us know what they were doing for it.
Ms. Ventura stated so they are moving forward to the RFQ but that will be under the Executive’s direction; unless they appropriate it or they want to appropriate it; then it will come back for appropriation of whatever that company is presenting if they so choose.
Speaker Cowan added they already have the funding for it. I don’t foresee them coming forward with more of that.
Ms. Ventura replied okay; perfect.
X. PUBLIC COMMENT
XI. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XII. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn @ 7:15 PM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Rachel Ventura, Member SECONDER: Mica Freeman, Member AYES: Mueller, Newquist, Koch, Tyson, Harris, Traynere, VanDuyne, Winfrey, Ventura, Coleman, Marcum, Cowan, Freeman ABSENT: Brooks Jr. |
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