Will County Republican Caucus Committee met May 19.
Here are the minutes provided by the board:
I. CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL
Minority Leader Mike Fricilone called the meeting to order at 8:46 AM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Mike Fricilone | Minority Leader | Present | |
| Judy Ogalla | Minority Whip | Present | |
| Jim Moustis | Member | Present | |
| Raquel M. Mitchell | Member | Absent | |
| Gretchen Fritz | Member | Absent | |
| Donald Gould | Member | Present | |
| Steve Balich | Member | Present | |
| Annette Parker | Member | Present | |
| Julie Berkowicz | Member | Present | |
| Frankie Pretzel | Member | Present | |
| Tom Weigel | Member | Present | |
| Debbie Kraulidis | Member | Present |
State's Attorney's Office: Kevin Meyers
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Jim Moustis led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Republican Caucus - Special Meeting - Nov 17, 2021 5:30 PM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Jim Moustis, Member SECONDER: Steve Balich, Member AYES: Fricilone, Ogalla, Moustis, Gould, Balich, Parker, Berkowicz, Pretzel, Weigel, Kraulidis ABSENT: Mitchell, Fritz |
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Jim Moustis, Member SECONDER: Steve Balich, Member AYES: Fricilone, Ogalla, Moustis, Gould, Balich, Parker, Berkowicz, Pretzel, Weigel, Kraulidis ABSENT: Mitchell, Fritz |
V. NEW BUSINESS
1. Discussion of County Board Agenda
Mr. Fricilone stated we have a check presentation today and several proclamations from the seat and I’m sure you all are aware of what those are. Let’s go right to Land Use because our #1 issue is Dr. Sharma is back here for his approval. My feeling is it’s a good thing and I’m for it just so you know. The Democratic Caucus; the majority of them was for it as well.
Mr. Moustis commented I’m going to echo a little bit what Mr. Fricilone said, we continually heard we need rehab beds, and I can tell you it is a problem. If anybody in your family or you dealt with anyone family, friend or whatever trying to get them in some type of facility let me tell you is not easy. When they decide to take that step to sobriety it’s important there’s a place for them to go. I think it’s a needed service. This doctor has a good record of being a responsible community member and neighbor and I think we should support him.
Mr. Fricilone stated again there has to be 20 votes, or it may be difficult. Item #3 is going to be removed but everything else seem like it passed through both PZC and Land Use with no problem.
Mr. Moustis asked why is he removing it? Maybe they need to give us some type of a valid reason why they want to pull out.
Ms. Berkowicz said what I don’t understand when I listen to the discussion for this item people were saying if it’s approved, they could still change their minds and something completely different can be built. When they come forward with this, they’re specifically talking about a storage facility and if they change their minds and vote this in, we’ll be stuck with it.
Mr. Balich stated when you have something zoned like A-1 then it’s for farming, but now if you go to a different classification that allows warehouses or another type of warehouse, they all fit in the same category.
Mr. Meyers said when you change the zoning, you’re allowing all allowable uses within that zoning category.
Mr. Fricilone stated if you read the Resolution on the funds for Illinois Cooperative Extension they asked for $50,000.00 and the committee decided to give them $75,000.00. We used to give them $100,000.00 and so, the committee decided to start moving them back towards what we used to give them.
Mr. Gould stated just a reminder to everyone this month we saw a preview of the 5 Year Plan and next month we’ll vote on that. If you have any questions now is a good time between now and next month’s meeting to ask because they will be approved next month.
Mr. Moustis commented this plan has some big projects in it. I think every project that’s in there has been a long-term goal getting it done. Thankfully we have the resources to do the projects because they are pretty good size.
Mr. Gould asked Mr. Fricilone were you satisfied with the funding for the vehicle for the Coroner’s office?
Mr. Fricilone replied yes. In addition, the Executive established a salary for the Sheriff for those of you that weren’t at the Executive meeting with the new law the Sheriff must make 80% of what the States’s Attorney makes. It’s a decrease out of our pockets. Good deal for us. You all are aware that we have an emergency replacement of the cooling tower roof. A part of this issue is because we had a lack of ability to do anything on the plan that was set in place 4 years ago by Mr. Van Essen when he was here. We started talking about doing the roof then. My plan in Finance was for us to start those three phases a million dollars a phase, $3 million dollars. We’re probably going to end up getting quotes now; that’s probably going to be $5 million dollars, but because we waited now, we have an emergency issues that we must deal with and that’s up for a vote today. Item #5 is going to be tabled. The agreement with SCS; there is a couple little details to work out yet. Once they get those details worked out, we’re probably going to have to have a special meeting just to approve that contract because we must get them going so we can get to our September opening.
Mr. Palmer stated #9 is going to be removed. That’s the VAC IGA. There’s a state law that changes what kind of oversight the County has over the VAC. The State’s Attorney has been working on this one and they’re going to take into consideration what we just passed so that will come back but we’re just going to remove it from the agenda.
Mr. Moustis clarified so they have their own money, and it hasn’t affected our cap.
Mr. Palmer stated you wouldn’t have the ability to basically do much but give them money.
Mr. Fricilone asked how would that affect us? They have their own levy how does that affect us where they are located and going into space and providing space for them?
Mr. Palmer answered Mr. Fricilone I don’t know. The Health Department is similar, and they are levying, but we don’t direct them on how to run their operations.
Mr. Fricilone stated we are going to be voting today to hire our replacement for the Director of Facilities. I’ve talked to the Executive’s Office and their plan is to do kind of what Mr. Van Essen was doing. They’ve taken all the stuff that we did before he left and a listing of all the projects that need to be prioritizing. When he left it was just Mr. Migliorini and he didn’t want to use that system so, that’s why issues have occurred so, Mr. Fern is going to be on top of that. I looked at his background. He used to run O’Hare as the Facility Manager then he retired from there and then he decided to go over to Loyola Hospital and kind of finish out his career. He’s coming here and we’ll probably have him for 7 or 8 years and he can get us back online. They have the programs and Mrs. Adams has copies if anyone want to see them of what Mr. Van Essen’s setup back in 2018. This is a good hire I think and I’m in support of him. Then we’re hiring some Sunny Hill people and another person at the Dept. of Transportation.
Ms. Ogalla commented I know one time we talked about different proclamations and resolutions that come forward and we were not going to make them social issues. I’m confused to why this week we have a proclamation for National Pride Month. It’s disturbing to me. What I’m upset with is they have refused to let us bring forward Mother’s Day because you must be a birthing person. Mother’s Day they don’t want use to bring it forward unless it’s a birthing day which would not include me then. I’m wondering why we are bringing forth another social issue. We’re a County and we don’t have to deal with social issues, and we should be doing the business of the people. I truly believe in diversity and inclusion but that means inclusion of everybody. I think everyone is important, so we need to make a decision. Are we going to go forward with lots of different proclamations on the different social issues we all support?
Mr. Fricilone replied if you want to bring that up in public comments, that’s a good way to bring up that we should have Diversity Month and then that opens it up for everybody. For next month and the month after does anyone have a preference on how we do if there’s nothing big to talk about, I just assume we do it like this. In the morning if there’s some lengthy discussion or we want to have a political caucus afterwards then we’ll have to do it on Saturday or a Wednesday. VI. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
VII. PUBLIC COMMENT
VIII. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
IX. EXECUTIVE SESSION
X. ADJOURNMENT
https://willcountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=12&ID=4324&Inline=True
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