Will County Board Executive Committee met Feb. 3.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Mr. Van Duyne led the Pledge of Allegiance.
III. ROLL CALL
Chair Mimi Cowan called the meeting to order at 10:00 AM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Mimi Cowan | Chair | Present | |
| Meta Mueller | Vice Chair | Present | |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | Member | Present | |
| Mike Fricilone | Member | Present | |
| Tyler Marcum | Member | Present | |
| Jim Moustis | Member | Present | |
| Judy Ogalla | Member | Present | |
| Annette Parker | Member | Present | |
| Jacqueline Traynere | Member | Present | |
| Margaret Tyson | Member | Present | |
| Joe VanDuyne | Member | Present | |
| Rachel Ventura | Member | Present | |
| Denise E. Winfrey | Member | Absent |
Also Present: N. Palmer
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Executive Committee - Assignment Meeting - Jan 6, 2022 10:00 AM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mike Fricilone, Member SECONDER: Herbert Brooks Jr., Member AYES: Cowan, Mueller, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Parker, Traynere, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura ABSENT: Winfrey |
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mike Fricilone, Member SECONDER: Rachel Ventura, Member AYES: Cowan, Mueller, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Parker, Traynere, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura ABSENT: Winfrey |
1. Authorizing the County Executive to Petition the City of Joliet for Annexation of a Will County Campus Parcel Pursuant to the County’s Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Joliet (Mitch Schaben)
Speaker Cowan stat this is an item we’ve had for a couple of meetings now. We have some more information that has been added to the agenda. I know this shows that both parcels were merged together a few years ago. As a reminder, this is a formal annexation, so we do have to vote on it, but the previous IGA pretty much requires us to go along with it.
Mr. Schaben indicated there were questions on how we handle 9-1-1 calls and authority for criminal investigations. I spoke to both the Sheriff and ETSB Director; that responsibility will be spelled out in the annexation agreement with Joliet and that agreement will be brought back to the County Board for final approval
Speaker Cowan clarified today we are voting to proceed with the annexation and then the actual agreement would be brought back to us.
Mr. Schaben stated what you would be approving today is for the County Executive’s office to petition the City for annexation and then there would be the IGA coming back before this body.
Mr. Moustis commented he brought this up at the Capital Improvements meeting as far as conditions that we would want in the annexation agreement. Obviously, we are building the morgue out there and part of the conditions would be that we would proceed with that building under County jurisdiction and not have to get Joliet approval. That should be a condition of annexation. I did ask some questions; I am not sure if the State’s Attorney’s Office is prepared to answer them today. One, can we put in a partial, that does not include the whole parcel, and could we get a definition of what would be annexed in; and whether they could leap over us for purposes of annexing other properties in the future. Those are two questions I asked and have not received an answer. Which is all part of the negotiations the County Executive would be pursuing. I did ask if there are any other conditions of annexation that we might want to negotiate.
Mrs. Tatroe apologized; I have not looked into the issue whether they can leap over us, but I have that on my list of things to do. Regarding the partial annexation, it was my understanding that City of Joliet was not asking to annex the entire footprint on Laraway Rd but a smaller subset. The 3 or 4 parcels have been consolidated into one. We have to talk to Supervisor of Assessments about potentially splitting a PIN, I will talk to her whether we would need to do that. It would be conversations with Joliet about how much the need to annex in; I would imagine initially they want enough to create contiguity to annex additional parcels, but we can have that discussion during our negotiations with the City of Joliet.
Ms. Mueller brought up the issues from 9-1-1. Has someone talked to them about it to make sure there will not be any problems?
Mr. Schaben answered we did communicate with the Sheriff and 9-1-1 about what the annexation would include regarding jurisdiction on those parcels. Mr. Van Duyne commented it seems over last couple of meetings that there has been some concerns - and seems like most of them have been addressed, Since the IGA was signed by between the County and Joliet a few years ago I believe we should follow through with what we agreed to do and petition them to annex.
| RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [9 TO 3]
TO: Will County Executive Committee MOVER: Meta Mueller, Vice Chair SECONDER: Mike Fricilone, Member AYES: Cowan, Mueller, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Marcum, Parker, Traynere, Tyson, VanDuyne NAYS: Moustis, Ogalla, Ventura ABSENT: Winfrey |
Speaker Cowan stated at the January executive committee meeting, we had a number of questions from county board members about this process and I believe the County Executive’s office is working on a report that will be ready in March. I want to open this to the floor to make sure there are no other questions, so they know what we want to hear and why. We have talked about doing a working group with some board members. Mr. Schaben, please include Mr. Palmer and Mrs. Adams in any communications about that; one or both will participate. If someone is interested in participating in working group on the AA process, please reach out to Mr. Palmer and Mrs. Adams and work with Mr. Schaben to work out a plan for that. I would like to see come out of the report or the working group is some sort of performance metrics; how do we measure success for the process.
Mrs. Ogalla noted what would be to see in the report is how many different cases come to AA on a monthly basis, how long they get continued. I’ve heard reports they get a significant amount of time even after going through the Land Use Department. Also, how many fines are collected? We need to have a process in place to collect fines. If we are going to hold people accountable for the ordinances, then we need to make everyone accountable.
Mr. Moustis stated I understand what you are saying. You have to compare to what the alternative is. In the past, the alternative was it went through Land Use for whatever length of time; then the SAO would take it up. In those cases, they could go on for years before the court actually would rule. I believe we could strengthen the AA process.
Speaker Cowan asked Mr. Schaben if he had any clarifying questions about what board members want to see in this report.
Mr. Schaben replied no; I think those are all great questions and discussion items. We look forward to having a working group; there is a lot going into that process, a lot of nuances, several departments are involved. We look forward to having that conversation.
Speaker Cowan asked if there were any questions.
3. Update on ERA Program (County Executive's Office)
Speaker Cowan stated several board members had asked about an update on the ERA program and the County Executive has provided a written update that is in your packet.
Mr. Schaben indicated last year we were allocated $20.6 million in ERA funds. We conducted an IGA with IDA to disperse those funds. The initial rent application portal was open May through July of 2021. Through our partnership with IDA, there were $26.2 million in funds that were dispersed to 2505 Will County residents. That is a 7.7 million increase in the County’s allocation. That is why it was such a great decision to partner with IHDA since we were able to capture more dollars than what we were initially allocated from the Feds. There was a second rent application portal that was opened from December 6 through January 9th and that portal has closed and IHDA is doing its application review, which is one step in the process prior to distributing additional funds out to landlords. As of today, 1,888 Will County applicants were submitted for this second open portal for a total of $18.5 million in funding requests. Those applications are still being process by IHDA.
Other New Business
Mr. Brooks stated 1300 Copperfield has been on my agenda for several months. My request is to meet with leadership and all parties involved so when I come to my committee, I have more concise answers on what is going on over there. Between now and March 1st, I would like to meet with whoever has some decision-making authority so I can talk about it at my committee. Speaker Cowan noted we will make sure we get that scheduled. Mrs. Ogalla indicated at the PW&T committee there were comments made that there were meetings around the county with Executive staff, Mr. Palmer, DOT, the municipalities, talk about things related to the roads and if the municipalities have any issues. Mr. Van Duyne had suggested, as county board members, find out what these conversations are about. How do we find out about it? Could the county board members be included in this? I do not understand why the road commissioners are not included. The township road commissioners have very few miles of road, but in areas where I live, our highway commissioners have a lot of roads that intersect with county roads.
Mr. Van Duyne noted I did think it was a good idea for the county board members to understand and get involved in these meetings, but at the time I mentioned it, I realized quickly that it was not my place to invite board members to these meetings, since they were scheduled by the Executive’s office. If the board members could contact the Executive’s office and ask to be included, might be a better way to approach it. It really was not my place to send out any invites.
Mrs. Ogalla stated I have seen other things happening out in my area; there was money awarded for Regal Farms for $600,000; it’s an old farmstead area in University Park and I noticed the County Executive was in a picture there and actually it was even one of the new county board candidates who was in this picture. Yet me, and it’s my county board district, I was not aware that there was anything happening there. I wasn’t informed of that and it’s pretty upsetting that someone who is just a candidate that will be running for that district is in a picture with our County Executive about a situation out there. I do think it’s appropriate for county board members to know what is going with these meeting because this is our jurisdiction. It is not just the county Executive’s jurisdiction. These people come to us with questions all the time. I would like to be included in any meetings that are held in County Board District #1 so I am aware of the conversations going on and I can be part of that process, so I look forward to being invited.
County Executive Bertino-Tarrant indicated the meeting with transportation; that is an initiative of my office. That is something that I just chose as the County Executive to have conversations. We do include the county board that we are having these meetings if they would like to attend; this is just information for us; it is an opportunity for people in those areas to have a conversation with us; us going to them instead of them having to trek out here. It is an outreach from my office. We do as a courtesy, notify county board. I do know Mr. Van Duyne was there last time. I don’t know if the road districts were there; that is a great suggestion. I will make sure that I include the highway townships. We are going to have some township meetings too. So, we need to separate things I am doing as County Executive opposed to things the county board is voting on. Feel free - the information is passed out - you are more than welcome to attend. It is nothing I plan to report back on. Second, regarding Regal Farms, that is an initiative, as State Senator in that area. We happened to be out that way; certain people were invited. I was invited to attend. As State Senator, I helped secure those dollars. This was just a community, the people who helped push that initiative asked for that. Again, it is nothing concerns the county board. It’s not even a county board initiative; the money isn’t even going through the county. I think we need to be careful; we need to know what we are asking and what the county board needs to be part of. I welcome the initiatives that I have as County Executive for the county board to attend but this is something I am doing as a courtesy; nothing is getting voted on; nothing has to go before the county board. If it does, it will go through the proper channels.
Mrs. Ogalla thank County Executive Bertino-Tarrant; I appreciate it. It’s just that in my area I am very involved in my county board district and I think it’s important for me to be aware of what’s going on because I do get asked questions and if I’m not aware of the meeting; and I understand you haven’t had a meeting out in my area so I look forward to finding out when that meeting will happen and I will attend if I am invited because I like to know what is going on and be part of that process. I am very involved with my district and I’m sure you probably know that. Something like Regal Farm; it is kind of exciting and I would hope that you would bring that forward so we could be aware of what is going on; otherwise, I just saw that on Facebook. It is important for constituents in my area. I understand the difference between the Executive’s office and the County Board, but we all represent the same people and when it impacts people or issues in our area it would be nice to know rather than find out about it on Facebook - even if it’s just a little email. I would appreciate that very much.
VI. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
VII. NEW BUSINESS
VIII. COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT REQUESTS
A. Land Use & Development Committee
T. Marcum, Chair
1. Authorizing First Extension (SEXT-21-008) of Special Use Permit for a Truck Terminal with 3 Conditions for Zoning Case ZC-19-036, Mary Lou Gast, Owner of Record, Thomas Osterberger of Kavanagh, Grumley and Gorbold LLC, Attorney, for PIN # 30-07-25-400-014-0000, in Joliet Township, Commonly Known as Vacant Property on Cherry Hill Road, Joliet, IL, County Board District #8 (Brian Radner)
B. Finance Committee
J. Traynere, Chair
1. Appropriating Funds in the Will County Health Department Budget from the IDHS Crisis Care System Grant (Susan Olenek)
2. Appropriating Grant Funds in the VAC Budget from IL Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity (Kristi McNichol)
3. Transferring Appropriations within Various County FY21 Budgets (ReShawn Howard)
4. Assignment of Tax Sale Certificates (Julie Shetina/Jen Alberico/Kelly Gaffney)
5. Authorizing County Executive to Execute Necessary Documents for Delinquent Tax Program (Jen Alberico/Kelly Gaffney)
C. Public Works & Transportation Committee
J. VanDuyne, Chair
1. Confirming Award of Contract to Preform Traffic Control Systems, Ltd. ($1,418,522.30) Let on January 19, 2022 for Countywide Striping, All County Board Districts (Jeff Ronaldson)
2. Improvement by County Under the IL Highway Code for Countywide Striping, All County Board Districts, using MFT Funds ($1,600,000.00) (Jeff Ronaldson)
3. Granting Ingress and Egress for a Proposed Development on Laraway Road (CH 74), County Board District #12 (Jeff Ronaldson)
D. Diversity & Inclusion Committee
M. Tyson, Chair
E. Public Health & Safety Committee
R. Ventura, Chair
1. Presentation by Animal Control Department (Dr. Roessler)
2. Renewing Contract for Pharmaceutical & Consulting Services at Sunny Hill Nursing Home (Maggie McDowell, Kevin Lynn)
F. Legislative & Judicial Committee
D. Winfrey, Chair
G. Capital Improvements Committee
H. Brooks, Jr., Chair
1. Authorizing the County Executive to Execute an Amendment to Professional Services Agreement with Stromsland, DeYoung & Prybys for Professional Design Services Required for Renovations to the Will County Community Health Center (DTkac)
H. Executive Committee
M. Cowan, Chair
1. Allocation of Cannabis Tax Revenue (Mimi Cowan)
2. Recognizing Juneteenth as a Federal Holiday (County Executive's Office)
3. Authorizing the Resource, Recovery & Energy Division of the Will County Land Use Department to Begin the Process of the Prairie View Landfill Expansion (County Executive's Office)
4. Joliet-Will County Intermodal Master Transportation Plan (County Executive's Office)
5. CMAP Moving Will County Study (Truck Routing) (Patty Mangano, CMAP/Civiltech & CDM Smith)
6. Endorsing the 2021 Climate Action Plan for the Chicago Region (Land Use Department)
7. Awarding Contract for Paratransit Integration and Efficiency Study (PIES) Consulting Services (Elaine Bottomley)
8. Authorizing Amendment to Sublease Agreement for Office Space at 203 North Ottawa Street, Joliet, IL for use by Workforce Investment Board of Will County (Chris Wise)
IX. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
X. REQUEST FOR STATE'S ATTORNEY'S OPINION
Speaker Cowan stated we requested the County Board appointment memo and obviously we need to move on that this month. We are hoping to get that from you soon. We have the request in for the old courthouse; just to get clarification so we know what our options are and get all the information before we are making any decision. Any updates when we might see either of those opinions?
Mrs. Tatroe replied I am hoping the issuance of the decision on the appointment is imminent; we are working diligently to get that out; every single day we are working on it. The courthouse: I have an assistant that is working that as well. I think that will be out promptly; it is not going to be very long before that one is out. We are focusing on the appointment one at this point.
XI. ACCEPT COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENT REQUESTS
1. Motion to add IGA with Fountaindale Public Library to the Executive Committee Agenda
Speaker Cowan noted there is one additional assignment request for an IGA with Fountaindale Public Library for a ballot drop location.
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Margaret Tyson, Member SECONDER: Mike Fricilone, Member AYES: Cowan, Mueller, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Parker, Traynere, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura ABSENT: Winfrey |
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Margaret Tyson, Member SECONDER: Rachel Ventura, Member AYES: Cowan, Mueller, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Parker, Traynere, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura ABSENT: Winfrey |
XIII. CHAIRMAN'S REPORT/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Speaker Cowan announced there was a major presentation at Public Works & Transportation committee on the intelligent transportation system ITS. Mr. Palmer will email the recording from this meeting in case you would like to review that; I think it is an interesting topic and something that is probably a bigger part of our conversation going forward. Animal Control made a presentation at PH&S. they might be back to us soon. They are having some COVID related challenges with housing animals. It’s just another way this pandemic has touched all sorts of different things that we never even thought about. Next week on Executive - the Cannabis allocation - we’ll dig into that a little bit. A discussion sparked by the Executive’s office recognized Juneteenth as a holiday and starting the process for the expansion of the Prairieview Landfill. So, I think we’ll have a number of hearty discussion next week at executive. We have the postings for our financial analyst position and communications position. The close tomorrow at 4 pm. They are up on our county board website so if you know anyone who is interested and has not applied send them to that website make sure they get that in before 4 tomorrow. We have received tons of applications; we are thrilled about it. We are also working on the job posting to fill Lona Jakaitis position with some slight restructuring of things. That is not available quite yet; it will be shortly. We will make sure we get it to all of you so you can share it and we can get really great candidates to look at that for that position as well.
XIV. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XV. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to adjourn at 10:36 AM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Jacqueline Traynere, Member SECONDER: Meta Mueller, Vice Chair AYES: Cowan, Mueller, Brooks Jr., Fricilone, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Parker, Traynere, Tyson, VanDuyne, Ventura ABSENT: Winfrey |
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