Will County Board Finance Committee met June 7.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Ms. Howard led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. ROLL CALL
Chair Jacqueline Traynere called the meeting to order at 12:07 PM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Jacqueline Traynere | Chair | Present | |
| Margaret Tyson | Vice Chair | Present | |
| Mike Fricilone | Member | Present | |
| Saud Gazanfer | Member | Present | |
| Tyler Marcum | Member | Present | |
| Jim Moustis | Member | Present | |
| Judy Ogalla | Member | Present | |
| Frankie Pretzel | Member | Absent | |
| Rachel Ventura | Member | Present |
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Finance Committee - Regular Meeting - Apr 5, 2022 11:00 AM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mike Fricilone, Member SECONDER: Rachel Ventura, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Gazanfer, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Ventura ABSENT: Pretzel |
1. Monthly Summary - Sales Tax and Cannabis Tax Collections - Attachments Added (Karen Hennessy)
Ms. Hennessy reviewed the Corporate Fund - Select Sales Taxes that was included in the agenda.
Ms. Ventura asked if it would be possible to add another column that shows the comparison of the year to date of the taxes collected.
Ms. Hennessy said adding the table comparing month to month, or fiscal year to date and prior year to date, will make it a little bit easier.
Ms. Ventura said I want to thank Ms. Hennessy for continuing to track this both at the state and local level. The state has very specific rules, our tax dollars at the county have never been designated. My comment is to Ms. Traynere when will we be seeing on the agenda a conversation about where these cannabis taxes will be spent.
Ms. Traynere stated I was told this is not coming to my committee; it will be going to the Executive Committee.
Ms. Ventura stated I think for about every dollar that we bring into our County Tax we are bringing about 10% from the State Tax, it is not always one for one. I think if we are going to see this increase, we have seen at the state level cannabis sales out pace alcohol sales. I think we will continue to see that; I do think it would be responsible for the County to decide one way or the other on where we are going with this. I do think in the Executive Committee the Speaker did talk about that, that there were ideas, and they were going to whittle them down and be presented. I would have thought they would be on a joint committee.
Mrs. Ogalla stated we are not excluded because we can all attend the Executive Committee meeting. The Executive Committee would be the one that would make the direction since we are a fuller board to do that. Our Finance Committee meeting is to say how we will spend it on something the Executive Committee might decide to do. We are not being excluded from it.
Ms. Traynere said maybe, but you don’t get a vote on that committee unless you are the Chair of another committee, you can only make comments if you attend and not on the committee.
Mr. Palmer stated I think this is being misrepresented a little bit. The Executive Committee has always been the assignment committee; and is always the committee that sends the final agenda to the Board. Everything starts at the Executive Committee and ends at the Executive Committee. A lot of things go to the Executive Committee because it is more representative of the Board, it has all the Committee Chairs, and thirteen members of the Board are part of the Executive Committee. Some items like the cannabis tax were brought there because this has multi jurisdiction impact. It is not just the finance discission, it’s a health discission, it could be capital if we chose to spend it on capital projects. That is why it has been done there, we have also talked about having the Executive’s Office which they did present last month on the R-3, and they are doing a study with the R-3 community which is funneled through the County. It is an outside group, but they were going to come back in July to give a report on it; not that we had to follow that, but it would give us some additional ideas. Ultimately the Board gets to decide as a whole where the money is spent. The Executive Committee is utilized many times for multi jurisdiction things and that is why this was assigned that way.
Ms. Ventura said while I appreciate Mr. Palmer’s comments on that and thank you for the reminder of committees. I don’t want to muddy the waters. The R-3 study that is being done is completely different than our tax dollars; that study mirrors a lot of what we have done in Joliet for the Quality-of-Life Study that takes us all the way back to 2015 when they did that study. We are going to find out the same thing that study found out, we are going to find out with the R-3 study. It is talking about where we need to shrink the wealth gap and invest in our community. I don’t want to discount the study; I think it is important, but it will show us what we already know. The question is ultimately how we are going to invest in a study like that; not doing the study but implementing the solutions. That is what some of us would like to discuss with these dollars, we don’t have to wait for that; we see the problems and we know the problems. The question is how we are going to implement the solutions; I will save it for the Executive Committee.
VI. NEW BUSINESS
1. Allocating Funding from the 5th Amendment of the Prairie View Host Agreement with Waste Management to the We Will Grow Community Garden Program (Kathy Pecora)
Mr. Schaben said I wanted to make sure we are all on the same page with the funds that we are talking about. Included in the board packet is the language that was part of the 5th amendment for the RNG Plant; it was the amendment that we negotiated with Waste Management when the RNG Plant was being built. There was language that required Waste Management to provide the County a payment of $50,000 for five years. We are here to talk about the program that the County runs which is the Community Gardens Program, with the request today for additional funds support.
Ms. Traynere asked since this is an existing program where is it being financed now.
Ms. Pecora stated it is being funded through RR&E through Solid Waste Fund, we use that money which is generated from our agreement with Waste Management to fund this program that started initially at $5,000 in 2014, then up to $20,000 in 2018 and up to $30,000 in 2019.
Ms. Traynere asked what is going to happen to that money going forward.
Ms. Pecora said into expanding current gardens, we started with 29 this year and through partnerships with Lockport Township High School we put in 8 gardens in Fairmont, 6 in Back Yards with Seniors, and 2 beautification boxes in Fairmont with those funds. The High School got the materials, the program paid for the materials and soil. There were 80 students that came out and built the boxes, installed the boxes, and planted the garden; working like that we can expand our program. We took on the Forest School in Monee which is a group of homeschooled families that got 20 acres of land and started a garden there. We also took on the Galowich Family YMCA because they lost their funding for gardens. With those funds we get plants for every garden for every garden program member. We give them soil, hoses, and whatever tools they need; whatever is left we use to take on new gardens. We were able to expand in Fairmont so much because Lockport Township is donating so much of the labor. We were able to take care of the Forest School because they just need soil, they had the boxes done. We were able to take on Galowich because the boxes where already done, they want to expand but we can’t expand this year, we are tapped out for 2022. The garden funds will go to building a fence at Forest Park Community Center, they have wanted one for years but didn’t have the funding for it. We are expanding current gardens that are proven successful, we can now advertise for taking on new gardens that complete a regiment of proving that they are capable. It is an application, we go out to the site and make sure that they are staffed, we want to help create beautification in communities that don’t have the resources. We have beautification gardens at All Nations, Forest Park Community Center, Fairmont Community Center, and the National Hook Up of Black Women. The community loves it, participates in it but when you are looking at $15,000 per garden, we can’t do that, it is going to go into what we do without scratching for it because through our partnerships are able to do what we do.
Ms. Tyson asked when the students participated in this project did, they earn credit and community hours.
Ms. Pecora said they earn community hours; we had 84 students come out and we broke them up into six busses. We had them visit a home that already had a garden from our program that started in 2019 called Seniors Will Grow. Then they planted in the boxes for the property owner, then we all went back to the community garden and planted that, then did a beautification of flowering plants around the Fairmont Community Center.
Mr. Fricilone stated you are asking for approval in this resolution for these years $50,000; because we can’t commit for the future 4 years, it would be just for this year.
Mr. Schaben said I would imagine it would fall with the budget process. There are funds now available now so you could obligate the existing funds and then budget for the following year.
Mr. Fricilone stated we can’t vote to give the five years’ worth of money because we do it by budget year. I would make a motion that we move forward.
Mr. Schaben said do you mean for the funds that are in existence or also for the next fiscal cycle as well.
Mr. Fricilone stated we can’t do it for next year.
Ms. Ventura stated the resolution states for five years.
Mr. Schaben said we will then have to change the resolution.
Ms. Adams asked is there $50,000 from 2021 and $50,000 from 2022 that you are looking at.
Mr. Schaben stated from my understanding we got two checks that came in. Mr. Fricilone said the other check is for United Way.
Mr. Schaben said correct, so we haven’t gotten the current 2022 check yet; we only have the check from the last fiscal year. It would be calendar year, I guess.
Mr. Palmer said this has been confusing from the very beginning; we had an existing agreement with them for many years. To keep it simple there were two buckets of $50,000; one I will call the recycling bucket even though it has nothing to do with recycling. Waste Management was supposed to be providing us services and they weren’t doing that, so we negotiated with them and said you will make a $50,000 payment to the County for the length of the agreement with them; that is going to be more than five years. The $50,000 for five years is the community groups, the nonprofits, and the social service groups. A few years back when we were negotiating this the County Board said we could set up a committee to vet these projects, and then we decided to not do that because we have the United Way, we will give it to the United Way since they already have vetting process. The $50,000 for five years is a finite amount of money, the Board had not considered any other projects, this appeared on an agenda and was to be for one year, now you are talking maybe five years. The Board needs to decide, do you want to spend it one year, do you want to spend it five years, but you only have five years with a $250,000 total.
Ms. Traynere said can you also clarify which five years?
Mrs. Tatroe stated you cannot bind future County Boards; you can only decide one year at a time.
Ms. Traynere said it sounded like we had a 2021 check and then we are also looking for the 2022 check.
Mr. Palmer stated I believe Mr. Schaben is correct; we got two $50,000 checks, that is for one year. The $50,000 for the five years is the first of five years, we haven’t gotten a second check yet.
Mr. Schaben said just to clarify the 2021 check came in, I think your reference was around April is the 2022 check. We are still waiting on the second check.
At this juncture the committee discussed the checks that were received.
Mr. Schaben stated that the resolution was wrong, and it will be corrected. To clarify in 2021 we received two checks, one was for the 5th amendment, the other was for the funds for United Way, what we are waiting for is the check from this year that will go for the 5th amendment.
Ms. Ventura said I know what Mrs. Tatroe is saying, but what you are asking even if you were to fix this resolution is you want $100,000. You want $50,000 for last year and $50,000 for this year. Then for the next three years as well.
Mr. Schaben said I just want you to be aware of what is out there.
Ms. Ventura said we must vote on this, so I am making everyone aware of this resolution says. I have other questions. Where does the food go?
Ms. Pecora responded for food pantries from 16 of the gardens, the Backyard Seniors, their food goes to them. Some goes to the problem-solving court, and some to the residents of the male and female group homes. Then we have a garden from Trinity Services for a male group home and it goes to supplement their budget; they can use the harvest from their garden to reduce their cost and allocate the money to proteins. The also share some with a lady’s home in New Lenox so it goes there as well.
Ms. Ventura stated it would be safe to say that this food is going to some of the neediest in our County.
Ms. Pecora replied the whole intent is to direct it to those people with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
Ms. Ventura asked what relationship we have at all with these gardens and the funds for these gardens with the University of Illinois extension program, because they also do gardening programs.
Ms. Pecora stated prior to July 31, 2021, we worked exclusively with the small farm specialist to develop the gardens. Nancy Kuhajda has a master gardening program; she does the work of 75 people, so it is hard to get Ms. Kuhajda’s help so we had James Theory, small farms specialist, help with our gardens and train. We started an orchard and Ms. Kuhajda has helped us to pick our stock of trees and had her master gardener volunteers plant it. We always work hand in hand with University of Illinois Extension.
Ms. Ventura stated I am not opposed to funding this, but I do want to make sure what we are funding. If we were to award both $50,000 checks today, would you continue to receive the solid waste funds in addition to that?
Ms. Pecora replied yes.
Ms. Ventura asked if we anticipate the solid waste funds increasing. Ms. Pecora said no.
Ms. Ventura asked do you think that the $30,000 that we got in 2019, you are not going to get any more money, or will it completely go away?
Ms. Pecora said it is at that level and we’ve never asked for an increase, we worked with that amount, that is why I was so eager to take up this opportunity. We consider those funds a blessing; I have never asked for anymore, I have been able to create partnerships to keep this going at this level. With this funding we have organizations that are sitting on land that we can start to utilize to start to do more training. Because that is a long-term vision; you have already heard about the Food for All and that program. This works into that; this is all under Food for All because it is access to food, to training, and developing skills to compete in a local market. We are feeding people now, with this we can do this current mission and if it grows, fantastic that is why we are here. This money can be used well, and this money can be used to feed and train people. The MAP Study will show when they release their 5-Year Plan; that we went to the community, 60433, 64036, 60435. Residents want to make food, they cook more than they go out, we are just providing that supply. It is part of health and activity, so many things that we are providing access to through a simple program. We have a property on Stryker Ave., Prayer Tower on 10 acres of land sitting there, they would love a garden, but I can’t do it this year.
Ms. Ventura stated as the Chair of Public Health & Safety this is a Public Health & Safety initiative in my opinion. I think we should be funding more money into initiatives like this. I said the same thing when the University of Illinois Extension was here, having a local food economy, providing nutritious food for people in our community really does talk about the quality of life that people can have. Teaching future farmers, teaching the skill set is so important to growing the food economy. I know Ms. Ogalla and I have talked about that for both an economic standpoint. But if you don’t have people who even know how to grow it doesn’t matter if you provide an economic opportunity there. I think this is important, I would like to see a fix of the resolution, I would like the people to support initiatives like this, I think it is a good investment of our dollars for our community.
Mr. Fricilone said a couple of things, if we are voting on anything we should only be voting on the one check; we don’t have the second check yet, and we can’t be appropriating money we don’t have. Secondly not that I think there is anything wrong with this initiative; but why is this initiative coming to us, who decided to bring this initiative and not some other initiative forward?
Mr. Schaben stated this is the county’s initiative, and we were made aware that there was funding available, and Ms. Pecora has been talking about this for a while and needs new funds.
Mr. Fricilone asked there are no other initiatives. Especially if we are going to do this annually, rather than to try and do this for the 5-years, we need to see what initiatives there are and not just decide to give the money without looking at anything else. There might even be something that may give us some more bang for our buck. I just don’t know how this came to us without this committee or somebody else, or public health coming to us and saying we a have couple of initiatives that we would like to see.
Ms. Traynere said I believe it was Mr. Marcum.
Mr. Marcum stated it was brought to my attrition through Ms. Pecora and it was assigned to Land Use. It didn’t come to the full County Board, it went to Executive Committee, and then it was assigned back to the Finance Committee.
Mr. Fricilone said again I am not against this initiative, and I would vote for this year, I don’t think we should vote on the second check because we don’t have it. But maybe for the second check if we do get it, we should look for other initiatives that are out there. We may be able to do something else as well.
Ms. Ventura said I don’t know if in the past we waited till we got the check or not, it seems to me that there are times when we have allocated future money coming and we could vote on that. Mrs. Tatroe could you let us know what the process is.
Mrs. Tatroe said I guess the question is, is the second check directed to be part of the budget process for next fiscal year?
Ms. Ventura said for this year’s budget.
Mrs. Tatroe stated you can’t increase this fiscal year’s budget. My question is, did we budget the second check for this year’s budget? What you can’t do is increase the overall County Budget, it was appropriated back in November of 2021. So, you move it from a contingency or anticipated additional revenue or something like that. That is my question is it already in there?
Ms. Howard replied no, it is not.
Mrs. Tatroe said so the money sits there until you put it in next year’s budget, that I why I asked that question.
Ms. Howard stated I think what the ask is today is, to appropriate the funds for the one check that we have already received, once we receive the second check which would be received in 2022 to appropriate that in next years budget. It is anticipated revenue; however, it has not been appropriated on the expense side.
A discussion was had about amending the motion before it is voted on.
| RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS] Next: 6/16/2022 9:30 AM
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Rachel Ventura, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Gazanfer, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Ventura ABSENT: Pretzel |
Sgt. Jeff Pogose stated I am a Sargent with the Sheriff’s Office; I am in change of the K-9 Unit and am on the SWAT Team. A ballistic shield offers more protection, there are a lot of opinions on the Police and the militarization of things. What we are doing with the ballistic shields is trying to make things safer. We have some shields that were purchased in 1989; the newer ones are lighter they are only 14 pounds, they are rectangular, they are solid so you can’t see through it, but they have a view port for us to see through, with a handle in the back. A ballistic shield is no different than a ballistic vest, it is just a different shape and in a plastic case. In the 80’s Protect was a big provider and they had hard plastic cases, the shields that they were using back then were 26 to 30 pounds which makes them difficult to maneuver. This is not only for special operations; this is for our front-line patrolman along with our special interest groups, school resource officers, and investigations bureaus.
At this juncture Sgt. Pogose reviewed the Quote that was provided for the agenda, reviewing the items on the quote, and explaining the product.
Sgt. Pogose stated we have over 200 patrolmen, the quote that we have here is enough for 20 of them, patrolmen that work the streets that police your children.
Mrs. Ogalla said this is enough for 20 patrolmen so that leaves a lot out there that we wouldn’t have. Maybe when we look at our ARP Funds this is something that would be great to supplement to make sure that every officer has this in their car.
Ms. Traynere said I am not sure this is something for the ARPA Funds, but it is something that we should be looking at, there should be one for each officer that is on patrol.
Ms. Ventura said for us to consider this we want to know what we already have in existence.
Ms. Traynere stated this just takes care of unincorporated Will County, we’ve got all these municipalities that have their own police, and you mentioned schools. Who takes care of all of that? I don’t know.
Sgt. Pogose stated the County does, when there are crazy things happening in the county, municipalities call us. They call the County Deputies, they call SWAT, they call us for those resources because municipalities don’t have them.
Mr. Moustis asked what is the ideal number of shields that you need. Sgt. Pogose stated the ideal number is to have on for every patrolman.
Ms. Traynere replied every patrolman that to me seems kind of odd, just because I assume you have two shifts; it just seems logical to me that you just have one shield to go with the car.
Ms. Tyson asked how many SWAT members are there.
Sgt. Pogose stated approximately 30 to 40 of us.
Ms. Tyson stated I think we should have them for the entire SWAT team.
Sgt. Pogose said I got involved with the shield program two years ago, the addition of body cameras really opened some eyes; not just for the public perception of what we were doing, but also internally and how unsafe we were and what we can do to raise our standards. I have been very progressive in not only doing things safely, not just for us but for everybody else.
Ms. Traynere said please ask the Sheriff to reach out on behalf of asking for more. We do want to use all the resources that are available, this is great, and we can do this right now. We are just thinking that you need a few more, and if you don’t have more resources, the ARPA Fund is something you might be tagging as a possibility.
Mrs. Ogalla said I think we really need to consider the fact that if something critical were to happen we have guys that are not on duty that would be called in if necessary. I think we should have something for every officer whether they are on duty or not; because they would come in to assist if need be.
Sgt. Pogose replied that is 100% correct, the county is unique in the way that we come from our houses; when we go on duty we normally don’t go to a station. We don’t go to New Lenox, or Frankfort to pick up a shield and get into our squad cars. When the Lieutenant says we need you, we respond from our homes.
Ms. Traynere said but your vehicle was there, correct?
Sgt. Pogose said yes, my vehicle was there and that is why every patrolman should have the equipment with them to be able to respond.
Ms. Traynere asked do all 200 patrolmen have their own vehicle at their home?
Sgt. Pogose replied yes, they do. I have been proactive with the shields, we just did our range qualifications, so every employee in the Sherriff’s Office who works Court Security came to our range and did a two-hour segment on how to hold the shield, how to do a re-load, just things to get comfortable with. They had no idea they could do the job and be safer; now they know.
Ms. Ventura said if we are going to be buying more shields, I want to make sure the people are trained how to use the. There also may be ARPA Funds for training with these shields so that everyone is aware of the use and care.
Sgt. Pogose said I give you my word everything I am involved in, even the K-9 Program, I make sure that the people are very well trained.
Ms. Berkowicz said I believe you mentioned School Resource Officer (SRO) I wasn’t aware that we had those, how many do we have and in which schools are those.
Lt. Nat Freeman stated I serve as Lieutenant of Investigations, and Assistant Commander of the SWAT Team. SROs are run out of the Criminal Investigations Division we have an SRO in Lincoln-Way Central, Lincoln-Way East, and Lincoln Way Central. Unofficially our Sargent’s of Investigations which are SWAT Members, also go to other unincorporated areas. They might not have an official designated SRO there but there is a constant presence there of Will County Sherriff’s personal doing lockdown drills, and re-location drills. Also, our Patrols help complement it with just their presence.
Ms. Berkowicz said so they do rotate.
Lt. Freeman stated the three SROs are interviewed, selected, certified by state mandates, and assigned to their school. The school gets to see them every day. The students get to know them, it is more of a community building project, and serves as protection, they are assigned to the schools full time.
Ms. Berkowicz asked if we were to have an emergency in a school, it would take time for backup to come to assist the SRO. I think it would be important and a priority to also make sure that this equipment would be available for that officer, rather than having to wait for someone to come in and arrive.
Lt. Freeman stated Sgt. Pogose is also our trainer for our shield folks, it is training on an annual basis. The SROs at our schools do have more equipment available to them that are kept on site.
Ms. Berkowicz asked are our radio communications up to date and adequate. If not, this is a good time to make sure that is addressed and to make sure we are 100% prepared.
Lt. Freeman stated the radios that we use are what we received from the county. For the schools we always have people on duty, in my division alone we are 2 to 3 miles from Lincoln-Way West, should some thing happen, we would have 14 Officers heading to that school. All of us on SWAT have our vehicles at home and have all our equipment with us.
Ms. Freeman stated I agree that you need the tools and training to do your job. When you order more is there a discount that you get by ordering more?
Sgt. Pogose stated we have worked out a number and went through vetting suppliers, we were basically friends with the guy that worked here, and he was giving us the lowest dollar amount. The more shields the dollar amount was lower in certain aspects.
| RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS] Next: 6/16/2022 9:30 AM
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Rachel Ventura, Member SECONDER: Mike Fricilone, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Gazanfer, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Ventura ABSENT: Pretzel |
(Karen Hennessy)
| RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS] Next: 6/16/2022 9:30 AM
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Jim Moustis, Member SECONDER: Rachel Ventura, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Gazanfer, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Ventura ABSENT: Pretzel |
(JEN ALBERICO / JULIE SHETINA)
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Jim Moustis, Member SECONDER: Mike Fricilone, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Gazanfer, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Ventura ABSENT: Pretzel |
VIII. PUBLIC COMMENT
IX. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
X. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XI. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn @ 1:12 PM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mike Fricilone, Member SECONDER: Jim Moustis, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Gazanfer, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Ventura ABSENT: Pretzel |
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