Will County Democratic Caucus Committee met March 16.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Ms. Koch led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. ROLL CALL
Majority Leader Meta Mueller called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Meta Mueller | Majority Leader | Present | |
| Sherry Newquist | Member | Present | |
| Amanda Koch | Member | Present | |
| Margaret Tyson | Majority Whip | Present | |
| Jacqueline Traynere | Member | Present | |
| Joe VanDuyne | Member | Present | |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | Member | Present | |
| Denise E. Winfrey | Member | Present | |
| Rachel Ventura | Member | Absent | |
| Natalie Coleman | Member | Absent | |
| Tyler Marcum | Member | Present | |
| Mimi Cowan | Speaker | Present | |
| Mica Freeman | Member | Present |
Present from the State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe.
IV. OLD BUSINESS
V. NEW BUSINESS
1. County Board Meeting Times - Amended
(Discussion)
Speaker Cowan started this has been an ongoing discussion of when we have County Board Meetings. Mr. Van Duyne, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Schaben, Mr. Schultz, and I sat down and discussed what would be possible. Even though I will not be on the Board I feel very strongly that these meetings should be at night; if that means streamlining processes, I think that is the only way going forward. We all have come to the agreement that we can’t jump into 100% at night right now. The argument tends to be you can’t make the decision now for the new people; but then once they get elected the argument is they ran knowing the schedule. One of the things we talked about is trying to do the full County Board Meeting in the evening; then doing the Forest Preserve Meeting stating at 4:00 or 4:30 p.m. It might go late if we leave an hour or hour and a half for Forest Preserve, then starting the County Board Meeting. There might be some weeks that a 6:30 p.m. meeting doesn’t end until 11:30 p.m. I think for City Councils that is pretty much the norm, I don’t think that is out of the ordinary. That was the one option we said was possible that we could try. There are still logistics that must be worked out; I will admit going into the meeting my thought was the reverse. To try and move committees to the night and keeping the Board meetings to the day; but that is so many more meetings at night for staff. So, if it is one night a month would help peoples schedules.
Ms. Traynere said my question is we have Executive Committee after Forest Preserve meetings, so we still must take off that day. Would that continue?
At this juncture there was a conversation about moving both the County Board Meetings as well as changing some of the other committee meetings to different times and days. Bringing up different options of times of days that the meetings will be held. There was also talk about nonunion employees and union employees and how they would be compensaated for time working out of regular county hours. Also, that changing the rules you would have to get 3/5 of the vote for a change; and reviewing that the new board members would be approving the change in the County Board Rules.
2. Discussion of County Board Agenda
Ms. Mueller stated I wanted to let Mr. Palmer know that Mr. Gould is going to read Mr. Damron’s proclamation. Who is reading the Veteran’s proclamation?
Speaker Cowan stated that will be Ms. Fritz.
Ms. Tyson asked why Ms. Fritz is reading the Veteran’s Proclamation; shouldn’t a Veteran be reading that.
Ms. Mueller stated Ms. Fritz is the one who brought it to the board, she is the one who requested it. It is recognizing Welcome Home Day for Vietnam Veterans. Land Use
Mr. Marcum stated our first Land Use case is a request for a map amendment from A-1 to R-1 in Custer Township on Zilm Rd. & Rt. 113 in Custer Park in District #6. If you were at Executive Committee this was the one that Mrs. Ogalla was speaking about with the irregular sized lots. They are splitting agricultural land into a residential area that will have a shared road with driveways off it for them. She is opposed to the shape of the lots; we don’t control that we are just voting on the map amendment. That passed committee 5 to 0; she was sick, so she didn’t vote. Mrs. Ogalla is against it and will be voting no; just so everyone is aware of her reasoning. The way they come up with the shapes they follow the Plat Act. Ms. Traynere stated it was one inch short.
Mr. Marcum stated there was also someone who spoke at the meeting. With the shared lots, if you remember about 6 months ago, we had the case in Crete where it was a shared road, and all the lots were awkwardly shaped. It causes some issues with building setbacks, and that kind of thing. They are very long and narrow lots.
Ms. Newquist stated some of the houses face one way and then others face another way; there are even lots that are at an angle that are set back.
Mr. Marcum stated then you run into issues with front yard setback and then rear yard setback; people get confused over where their actual front and back area is. Because the house doesn’t face a traditional direction. Also, because the driveway doesn’t count as a road, but they count it as a road because they call it that. It is why people are opposed to it; it makes sense on why they wouldn’t want it; but that is in the Plat Act. Item two is a request for a Special Use Permit for keeping goats. The owners of the goats originally had goats and ducks. When one of the neighbors called, the applicants were very quick to rehouse the ducks and goats while they worked that out; the ducks are not coming back. The have four conditions to keep it clean.
Ms. Newquist asked is this to deny them from having the goats.
Mr. Marcum stated PZC voted 2-4 to deny, Land Use voted 4-1 to approve the Special Use Permit so they are allowed to have the goats.
Ms. Traynere said the thing that they told us is if somebody complains; Land Use will write a letter to them letting them know that they will be coming to inspect in 14 days. They don’t just show up and inspect. I don’t understand why we allow that.
Mr. Gazanfer said even if you clean up after goats the odor would be very bad.
At this juncture there was a discussion about the items that they had in their backyard and how they would be taking care of the goats.
Ms. Traynere stated they are paying $675 for the permit and if they screw up eventually, they will lose the $675 and the goat. It is allowed and that’s why we can approve it. It is a possible Special Use Permit.
Ms. Newquist asked if there are any kind of conditions like you must have so much land per goat.
Mr. Marcum stated they are allowed by right in an agricultural setting. Mrs. Tatroe stated but they do have to have a certain acreage for an animal.
Mr. Marcum read the restriction is two adult goats over 6 months of age, and not to exceed over 60 lbs. are permitted in R-3 zoning district with Special Use Permits. If it meets an R-3 size lot requirement, then it is permissible. Our third case is a request for an outdoor storage area with 9 conditions. This is in New Lenox Township and in County Board District #12. This came out of PZC and Land Use unanimously.
Finance
Ms. Traynere stated Finance is all boilerplate, just appropriating grant funds, and transferring appropriations to clean up the budget from 2021. I had one concern and if Ms. Olenek is at the meeting I will ask. I called the COVID hotline and didn’t get a human. I thought this was an ongoing thing and that we were just approving it to keep it going on. I will ask about that tomorrow; I was very disappointed that I got a machine instead of a human.
Ms. Mueller said you called the COVID number that we have been asking about.
Ms. Traynere said yes, I called the COVID number, and I didn’t know we discontinued humans; I thought we were paying for humans, and this was to move money that we were using for the humans to make them a permanent human.
Ms. Mueller asked if you called it more than once.
Ms. Traynere said I called at two different time in a day too.
Public Works & Transportation
Mr. Van Duyne stated every year we hire a contractor to fix guardrails; that is what we are doing this month. Then the design phase; Phase 3 of the widening of Bell Rd. which has been an ongoing project. Everything is always typically unanimous through committee. It shouldn’t be contentious at all.
Ms. Traynere said I would just like to add an update about Weber Rd. We are putting into our newsletter that goes out to all DuPage Township residents. In June if you are going down I-55 in either direction when you get off you will not be able to make a left turn. If you are on Weber Rd. going either direction you will not be able to make a left turn. That is so they can finish up all the electrical lighting and all the things they must do to make it a final interchange, where the left turns will no longer be an option. You will not be able to go the direction you want to go. There will be some detour signs; but the one they were telling me about takes you way out of the way.
Mr. Van Duyne said one more thing for the Transportation Committee Agenda; every month Mr. Ronaldson posts reports of the ongoing projects and what stages that we are at. If you ever have any questions, look at that first and if you don’t understand it, you can call me, and we will get Mr. Ronaldson involved in it.
Diversity & Inclusion
Ms. Tyson stated we will be meeting next month.
Ms. Mueller asked where things are at with the studies that they have been working on.
Ms. Tyson said they are still studying, and they are going to have something for us that is tangible at the end of the month.
Legislative & Judicial
Ms. Winfrey stated we don't have any resolutions this time. You should all know that we did send a formal response to the letter that we got from the Executives Office stating our position on the changes to the Bill 1015 and what our concerns were and asking to be heard on that.
Mr. Palmer said at the beginning of the meeting; there is a status update on resolutions; the Executive always says all resolutions have been signed from the previous meeting, or they haven’t and for whatever reason. As of 5:00 p.m. today at least one resolution has not been signed, and that was the State Legislative Agenda resolution. It is my understanding, and this has only happened a few times. Is if no action is taken it becomes law without a signature unless it is vetoed? I would expect that if we don’t get anything by 9:30 a.m. tomorrow it will just become a resolution without a signature. I just wanted to make you aware of that.
Ms. Traynere asked if we have heard back from any of the legislators that we wrote to.
Ms. Winfrey stated I have not.
Mr. Palmer said I know that Senator Holmes responded to the letter and that she saw the appointment and it was a nomination by the Executive and advice and consent. She was fine with that because that is what they do. She didn’t comment about anything else.
Mr. Van Duyne stated I did speak to Senator Pat Joyce about this issue and told him about the concerns of the Board. His response was that all the Senators that represent Will County were on board with it; and none of them had been contacted prior to the vote. I explained to him that we felt that it went quickly and maybe Board Members did not have that opportunity. He said if there was a concern from the County Board Members and if he would have known about it, he would have had a serious discussion with them.
Ms. Traynere said from my understanding this was a shell bill about Park Districts or Libraries Boards; why would any of us call about a shell bill, there is just no reason to; it didn’t concern us in Will County. This was a Springfield slick trick.
Mr. Van Duyne stated his response to that was it happens all the time, I’m not a State Senator but I hear it happens all the time in Springfield. I just wanted you guys to know that I did speak to our Senator and asked him why.
Ms. Traynere stated I spoke to my Senator, and he gave me a fairly, well I won’t even repeat it, I will just let it go. It was not a satisfactory answer.
Ms. Winfrey said I have no other information to report.
Capital Improvements
Ms. Mueller said next is Capital Improvements, Mr. Brooks couldn't be here this evening because he had another meeting. Do you have anything because you are the Vice Chair.
Mr. Van Duyne said just updates on all the projects. They go long and I think some of the committee members want to micromanage a lot of the projects and that is basically why they go so long, I think. I suggested if staff brings in a contractor or somebody from the outside that has a report to give at our committee meetings; I had asked if they could be first so we can allow the contractor or the company to leave and go back to the job, not to sit for an hour and a half waiting for their turn. Mr. Brooks decided that would be a good idea, so we are going to do that from now on.
Ms. Mueller said I think it is polite and respectful for their time and help them get back out there.
Mr. Van Duyne said once again the updates are given at committee level so if you want to look at the agenda and read them basically, they are just regurgitating what has been going on.
Executive
Ms. Mueller said Speaker Cowan has stepped out of the meeting. The replacement hire for the EMA Director; there is going to be a reception. Apparently Executive Bertino-Tarrant is having a reception for her after the meeting tomorrow, so feel free to stick around and hang out for that.
Mr. Palmer said I will give you two quick updates. The first one is authorizing the contribution to the United Way; I am getting more information on this as far as the bigger picture. The County gets $50,000 from Waste Management per one of our agreements. One of the agreements we get $50,000. A few years ago, we were talking about creating an internal infrastructure to review these projects; fortunately, calmer heads prevailed and said United Way already does this. They vet projects; a lot of them we are supportive of. We were just giving the $50,000 to them with specific directions on how to distribute that. They have a full-blown process; I’ve not been personally part of that, but I know there is a process to vet projects and whatnot. That is what that is, $50,000 comes to the county from Waste Management, we are giving it to United Way. Just as an informational for some of you because we may not talk about it as much. The County Employees, and quite of few of them and maybe some of you, give to the United Way through paycheck deductions. Years ago, the County matched that dollar for dollar; we had quite a success and it was up to about $37,000 that the County Employees were given every year. So, we capped it at $25,000 I think, so maybe that $25,000 and what we matched brought it up to $50,000 so that worked out. That is what this is $50,000 going to the United Way.
Ms. Traynere said I wanted to know how much the employees give.
Mr. Palmer stated it ebbs and flows, and they haven’t done a campaign in a long time and I am sure it was because of COVID. The now have a new director Kamala Martinez; I have asked her to get me a current number of how much County Employees really give. It has probably dropped because people leave, and people stop giving. The question came up about this Contract Tracing Grant and I think you all got an email about this. They are continuing to do some level of contract tracing, and this is allowing to continue to spend the money from that grant to support those efforts. If you have more specific questions you might have to direct them to Ms. Olenek.
Mr. Van Duyne stated I did speak to the new EMA Director, and I didn’t have a lot of contact with Mr. Damron. There is an issue in Wilmington on the Kankakee River that freezes up all the time and then jams up and then we have flooding. Well, there are three big pipes that come from the Dresden Cooling Lake that they can open the valve and feed the river with warmer water. She has been the main contact person with the people out there in Rest Haven. Between ComEd and EPA and all this other stuff that I don’t know about; they’re not allowing our EMA to open all three pipes because the temperature of the cooling lakes have now increased from 40 degrees to 70 degrees. One of her main goals is to try to deal with ComEd and the EPA and try to allow them to open all three pipes because we are still getting flooding down there. I am super impressed by speaking with her and I am really excited for her to come on board. I hope she can manage her way through it and get that taken care of so we can eliminate that flooding down there in Wilmington once and for all.
Ms. Mueller said that floods every single year.
Mr. Van Duyne said it doesn’t flood every year, but it does jam.
Mr. Palmer stated there is a limit and they can only do it up to three times, and that is it. Because it does potentially have some negative environmental issues if you do it all the time.
Mr. Van Duyne said according to the reports there is no negative effect.
Mr. Palmer said I am just telling you that legally the EPA lets us do it three times per year; so, there is always the question of when they turn on the spigot to let the warm water in. They try to manage it, otherwise the ice jams break up and can cause lots of property damage and other flooding, so they try to manage it. But they are legally prohibited to do it more than three times in a year.
Mr. Van Duyne added they are also not allowed to open all three pipes.
Mr. Palmer said I don’t know about that I don’t remember that being an issue before.
Ms. Mueller said it sounds like a big headache down there. I am getting good feedback about her in this position too. Are there any other questions about Executive Committee?
Ms. Traynere stated we didn’t have anything to vote on, but we had a presentation at Executive Committee on the ARPA Funds; and there was a lot of back and forth between Mr. Fricilone, Mr. Moustis, and Ms. Ventura and differing opinions about this money. Then I had a conversation the next morning with Hillary Denk from Congressman Bill Foster’s Office. She indicated to me that we might be in trouble and possibly not get our second payment because we haven’t done anything with the first money, and the second money is due in May.
Speaker Cowan stated I talked to her the day after you did, and she didn’t say anything about that.
Ms. Traynere asked did you bring up ARPA.
Speaker Cowan said yes, in fact we talked about your conversation with her.
Ms. Traynere said that’s weird, that’s what she talked about and the words she used was “claw back some of the money”. That was an exact quote from her.
Ms. Winfrey said we have been having that discussion at NACo and the Treasury’s position was that’s been disputed. The claw back is they are really thinking about the states not counties. For counties if you have some plan; we encourage people to go ahead and get it mapped out and get it obligated. You don’t have to have spent it, but have it obligated and have a plan like we have for the sewer and water projects and get some numbers beside each of those things. But the issue is really the states because they are holding on and trying to feed them into other things.
Ms. Traynere said that’s fine, that now makes more sense.
Speaker Cowan said now that you say that now I understand; because she did mention that there are certain places that want to reject the money, they don’t want to take it. The Federal Government is saying in that case we are going to take it back from you.
Ms. Traynere said I’ll be honest I am just a little dismayed that we are at eleven months, and we haven’t not only not spent anything, but we haven’t obligated anything. I know it the beginning I remember the conversation oh we have so much time, and we don’t need to rush into this, and we don’t need a special committee. Now I am really feeling like we really need a committee because we are really having a hard time.
Speaker Cowan said the committee can do the work; the main holdup has been getting the consultant on board. That has been an extra six months.
Ms. Traynere said that isn’t our fault. But my concern is that things aren’t going to move as quickly, and my other concern is about the sewer and water projects. All I can find from past records, and maybe I’m not looking in the right place, was the Will County Illinois Annual Action Plan for 2021, for the CBDG money. That really didn’t tell me what these plans were and the total cost and everything that Mr. Fricilone was projecting about. I would like to know more, I am not against putting money in there, I am not against maybe moving those projects a little bit faster. But I want to be fully aware because there are so many needs in the County, I saw the list.
Ms. Newquist said I was on a zoom call for candidates at University Park that lasted 5 hours, I was the last person to speak. By the time I got to the end I got really beat up because other counties are spending and allocating their ARPA Funds and Will County hasn’t. The general tone of the conversation was you are just sitting on that money collecting interest and you are supposed to be using it for the good of the people. My response to them was look, we want to make sure that we do this right, you know there are a lot of projects, it is different than the CARES money, it is not like we are giving grants to individual businesses. My answer seemed to be accepted but I was really surprised that they brought it up. I didn’t think that there was that level of awareness, and these were very activist. University Park is a very activist community, way more so than most, but I was surprised to hear that feedback.
Ms. Freeman said Mr. Pretzel had thrown a comment about eliminating the Gas Tax, I have a feeling that it is going to come up again.
Ms. Newquist stated it crossed my mind, I will say that it was just a temporary rebate maybe.
Ms. Freeman said I just had to throw that out there, I do think it is going to resurface.
Ms. Traynere said there was an article in the Tribune the very next day by the Editorial Board of the Tribune who I do not consider Democrats. They were very clear that it was penny wise and pound foolish to eliminate the Gas Tax. I forwarded that article to Board Member Pretzel.
Ms. Mueller said the fact is we have a lot of projects right now that are being worked on solely by the Gas Tax money. None of them are in my district.
Ms. Newquist maybe it would be good to get a list of the projects that are being funded.
Mr. Van Duyne stated they are available; I’ve requested that from Mr. Ronaldson and passed it on to Leadership. What we are going to do with that moving forward, that is something that we all should understand and know for comments to the public. The comment wasn’t raised, and he never brought it to my attention, I hear he is having a resolution drafted, as far as I’m concerned, he needs to talk about it to me first before it goes on the agenda, it won’t be next month. That is as far as I’m concerned; but I would like to have a conversation with him first to find out how long he wants to repeal it, and some other thing.
Ms. Mueller said I think it is important for him to understand what that does to the roads in his district and other districts. Mr. Palmer did you have something you wanted to add.
Mr. Palmer for full disclosure, he reached out to me right before the Executive Committee last week and asked if it could be put on tomorrow’s agenda? I said that is not how the process works, but you could make a request to be put on an agenda. I am just giving him the facts, or you can come to the committee and get somebody to make that request. But I said I doubt it’s going to be put on something of this magnitude. He got up and spoke, but he just contacted me today and asked for help in drafting a resolution. I haven’t met with him or anything yet, but he has asked for help with that. I was here before we had a gas tax and I have been here for all these transportation plans. He is calling for a repeal of the County Motor Fuel Tax. Other people at the national level or state level have talked about freezes of the sales tax versus the Motor Fuel Tax. I think what we might do if we are even to entertain the conversation is have an explanation of what each of those are, how much money is involved and what the projects support. I will take off my County Board hat; when I was in the Executive’s office the Board and the former Executive Larry Walsh broke the tie on that. Because it was divided was because back then we had over a billion dollars of road projects; and we don’t have enough money to fund all of those. Someone said if you don’t spend the money now and you wait until later it only gets more expensive. The roads in certain areas; we all go around and whether they are county roads or municipal roads there are plenty of potholes and plenty of roads that are not safe. It is a safety issue, it is an economic development issue, and frankly we don’t have enough money to do it. Some people are going to say well people are going to pay more, well if we don’t have jobs because we’re losing employers because the trucks can’t get around and move their goods it is a problem.
Mr. Van Duyne stated we worked hard for that tax, and we took a beating, and I am not about to give it back. If it does come to a resolution, I will be a no.
Ms. Winfrey said I will too; but before we get to that point the education piece will help to keep people on the same page. I understand you position and arguing that, before we defend it lets make sure all the people have the right facts, and then maybe they will be on your side, that would be helpful.
Mr. Van Duyne said I agree.
Mr. Palmer said there was a period and I think it was 1998 to 2008, it was a comparison of Will County to our peers. DuPage County had raised $500 million for road infrastructure, and put it into bridges and roads, Will County zero. If you think in that same period if we would have had $500 million more to widen intersection, to improve bridges. We of all counties can’t stop spending on roads.
Speaker Cowan said transportation is a major thing in Will County, and we are well behind. I have a message from Mr. Ronaldson here, there are about a dozen projects worth about $73 million that the Motor Fuel Tax will fund. That provides jobs too, and it is a safety issue.
Ms. Winfrey said it also improves property values when you have decent roads.
Speaker Cowan said last year the county option brought in about $14.3 million so taking that $14.3 million out would absolutely cripple the County’s Transportation Infrastructure Program. That’s the phrase that needs to be repeated. We are not going to cripple the County’s Transportation Infrastructure Program. This is a key example of something that is absolutely critical in Will County. We must have a way to pay for it unless Mr. Pretzel wants to come up with $73 million in property taxes.
Ms. Newquist said I realize that gas prices are a real hardship for some people. I would rather see us offer targeted assistance to people who might need additional help, than reducing gas tax; that is where my head ended up after I thought about it.
Ms. Traynere said I just think about all the people that didn’t have to buy any gas for the last two years and that is why the price was so low. It has only been since people have headed back to work, and the craziness in Russia that the price has gone up. I think the refineries or whoever oversees making these prices are just gouging. I don’t believe we are getting any gas from Russia; our gas does not come from there.
Ms. Koch said I just hate to see us make a short-sighted decision and sell short our infrastructure based on a political stunt when we know that we have price gouging going on and this is something that it is very likely to fix itself shortly. There is a lot going on in the word. Listen I ran on transportation and one of the reasons that I am not running again is because we got the Motor Fuel Tax, and that was one of the things that really needed to be fixed in the district that I live in now. So, when we talked about why I am not running because I got one of the things that I thought was really important to the county; I will not back off that under any circumstances. And I have nothing to lose really at this point.
Ms. Freeman said I think that Ms. Winfrey is absolutely right, the education is to how much each person who is spending $40.00 at the pump is actually spending on the gas tax and where that money is going.
Mr. Van Duyne said I will work on some bullet points and you guys can review them, if we like them, we can adopt them and spread the word or modify them.
Ms. Koch said what about some education about the political process to bring forward resolutions as well, just a thought.
Ms. Winfrey stated that would be a helpful one; there are quite a few people who might need that information.
Speaker Cowan said we offer that to new Board Members every year.
VI. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS
1. Land Use & Development
2. Finance
3. Public Works & Transportation
4. Diversity & Inclusion
5. Public Health & Safety
6. Legislative & Judicial
7. Capital Improvements
8. Executive
Speaker Cowan said we sent out offer letters to a finance person and a communications person. They have verbally excepted. They will be starting sometime in April. Once their letters are signed, we will give you more information about them. I think they are going to be great additions to the team. Mr. Palmer and I are both really excited about how that all turned out. We are continuing interviews for the administrative assistant position. Hopefully getting somebody on board in April. The only other thing I wanted to update you on is after the last Legislative Committee we did send a letter to the Executive’s Office, basically a revised version about what we have talked about previously, saying that we prefer that the legislation not go forward. That we would like the opportunity to work it out with the Executive and come together. That we think the County Board and the Executive bring forth legislative changes to the County Board functions would be a really strong case, and we would like that opportunity to come to some agreement on that. But barring that we still have some concerns about the law. Didn’t get a specific response, didn’t necessarily expect one because I think the Executive’s Office has responded a lot so that wasn’t a problem. We sent out a letter to all the Legislators in Will County saying the same thing. It was signed by Ms. Mueller, Mr. Fricilone and I. Senator Holmes responded, and basically said we have already voted on this in the Senate, and I thought it was one thing, it appears to be slightly different. I had called Senater Holmes that afternoon before it was voted on in the Senate; I just responded to her and said, look we know it has already passed the Senate, but we sent this letter to all or our Legislators. But I haven’t heard even an acknowledgement of receipt from any of the others. We both emailed it and sent a hard copy. That is the update on this.
Ms. Mueller said thanks for all that work.
VIII. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
Ms. Mueller said for future government caucus dates moving forward, I really didn't have a set night in mind. I know that Tuesdays are hard for Ms. Traynere and Wednesdays are hard for Mr. Brooks and those two nights seem to work the best for us to have a caucus meeting. I think we will vacillate between those two nights of the week before the
County Bord Meeting. Just depending on what’s on the agenda; if one of their committees has something that is extremely important then we will try to accommodate that Chair a little bit more.
Ms. Koch stated I have one random thing; I had signed up for the Pledge of Allegiance and all of that. I don’t have the list, but I will have staff look at it. It was sometime close to the election. I would love to gift that to somebody that is running, that time to get out in front of everybody and all of that.
Ms. Mueller stated Ms. Jakaitis was our keeper tracker of that, I’m sure she has got it, I gave her our caucus until we are all out of office. We will check with Mrs. Adams and who has that list. It is a spread sheet, and we alternate months; you are welcome to choose a moment of silence or to invite a member of clergy from any congregation. One of the things we run into being in Joliet, it is hard to get somebody to come out and do the quick invocations sometimes.
1. Speakers Update
Speaker Cowan said I am not going to say much about this because I don’t think we can. There is motion with the Collective Bargaining Process. We will fill you in when we can.
IX. PUBLIC COMMENT
X. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XI. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn @ 7:48 PM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Sherry Newquist, Member SECONDER: Mica Freeman, Member AYES: Mueller, Newquist, Koch, Tyson, Traynere, VanDuyne, Brooks Jr., Winfrey, Marcum, Cowan, Freeman ABSENT: Ventura, Coleman |
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