Will County Board Democratic Caucus Committee met July 19.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Ms. Tyson led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. ROLL CALL
Majority Leader Meta Mueller called the meeting to order at 6:10 PM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Meta Mueller | Majority Leader | Present | |
| Sherry Newquist | Member | Present | |
| Amanda Koch | Member | Absent | |
| Margaret Tyson | Majority Whip | Present | |
| Saud Gazanfer | Member | Present | |
| Jacqueline Traynere | Member | Absent | |
| Joe VanDuyne | Member | Present | |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | Member | Present | |
| Denise E. Winfrey | Member | Absent | |
| 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. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Democratic Caucus - Special Meeting - May 17, 2022 6:00 PM
| RESULT: APPROVED [9 TO 0]
MOVER: Mica Freeman, Member SECONDER: Tyler Marcum, Member AYES: Mueller, Newquist, Tyson, Gazanfer, VanDuyne, Brooks Jr., Marcum, Cowan, Freeman ABSENT: Koch, Traynere, Winfrey, Ventura AWAY: Coleman |
VI. NEW BUSINESS
1. Discussion of County Board Agenda
Ms. Mueller stated looking at the agenda for tomorrow morning we have a couple of honorary proclamations and resolutions. Mr. Palmer could you clarify who will be reading those?
Speaker Cowan stated I would like to address that because there was a question at Executive Committee on why we were doing that. Judy Mitchell is retiring from being President of Joliet Junior College. She has an interesting story; she basically worked her way up from the secretarial pool, getting advanced degrees and PHD’s to become President, which is an excellent achievement. The question came up on who asked for this, or who put it on the agenda. I asked for this, I think while JJC doesn’t cover the entire county it covers most of the county. I think that she has serviced the County, and that is notable, that is why I requested it.
Ms. Mueller said I think that is great. Let’s move on to our regular business.
Land Use
Mr. Marcum stated our first item on the agenda is the one that we heard last month. It was the Zoning Case 22-015; that was a request for the map amendment in Homer Glen. It is the one where the Village objected within their planning area; the applicant was working with the Village to see if they could come to some type of resolution; they also sent the committee a request that we look at reviewing the Warehousing Zoning classification for I-1 and moving that to a more intensive industrial. The applicant requested that we remand this back to committee because they are still working on it; it was remanded back and is sitting on our agenda while they figure out some things. I will be making a motion to remand it back to committee that way it is at committee and not eating up our time every month while they figure it out. The second agenda item is ZC-21-092 which is a request for a Map Amendment from R-3 to C-4; this is in Joliet Township; it is a vacant property on Chicago St. in County Board District #8. This is a company that repairs trucks, the business is on the lot next to it. They have an issue where they are parking trucks on the street because they have some overflow. They are requesting this to allow their business to build a parking lot for the trucks, so they are off the street. At the Planning and Zoning Commission there were residents that spoke out against it, their concern was along the lines that they want to see a different kind of development, like a grocery store. We have heard those Public Comments before. I think it is a good thing for the area because it gets all the trucks off the street and makes it a lot safer to drive. They are asking it to be brought up to C-4 because that is the same zoning as their current business. It is the highest use for commercial, so it is a little more industrial by nature, I feel it is more of a public safety issue. Our third case is a Special Use Permit for an accessory dwelling unit for a security residence; this is in New Lenox Township on Ford Dr.; I believe it is in the Cherry Hill Industrial area. They have a residence that they need approval to make it a security dwelling so they can have somebody living there. They had to get some variances because the structure exceeds the allowed dwelling unit for security purposes. The Special Use was approved 6-0, and they also got the variances. The fourth item is a request for a Special Use Permit for a truck terminal with 10 conditions; this is in Wheatland Township known as 10S257 Schoger Dr., Naperville, IL., County Bord District #11. It passed committee unanimously, there were some questions because it is near a residence, and it is also near the White Eagle Golf Course. There were also concerns about the road, but that is not our jurisdiction, it belongs to the Township. They are working on in the conditions that the roads are being taken care of. Moving on to item five; this is a Map Amendment from E-1 to A-1 in Peotone Township on Wilmington - Peotone Rd. There was no big discussion about this.
Finance
Ms. Tyson said the first thing on the list were the Monthly Financial Reports to be placed on file.
The second item was authorizing a loan to the Renewable Natural Gas Facility Operation Fund from the County Corporate Fund. We did discuss this one; our vote would be not to exceed the amount of $16.4 million.
Mr. Van Duyne asked if the Executive’s Office is comfortable, will it be enough money to complete the project.
Ms. Tyson stated this is a change order.
Mr. Van Duyne said I just wanted to make sure that everyone is comfortable enough with this amount, so that we can complete the project.
Ms. Tyson stated that was the discussion and it was unanimous. They said they had never done this before, and this is their guesstimate.
Mr. Palmer said this is based on some of what was submitted; there is more that could be needed but that will be handled in the budget process. This $16.4 million should get us through the end of this year and maybe a little bit beyond; there will be more discussion in the budget process for FY2023.
Ms. Tyson stated the next item is transferring funds within the Will County Health Department Budget for the Microsoft Office Enterprise Agreement. Moving on to item four, designating Old National Bank as a county depository due to the name change of the bank.
Public Works
Mr. Van Duyne stated everything was standard at committee this month.
Diversity & Inclusion
Ms. Tyson said in Diversity & Inclusion we have a new direction, instead of having an outside consultant the new direction is for the County Executive Office to direct us on how we are going to go forward. If we need a consultant, we still have money in the budget and we can hire one, we have about $43,000 left. If we need one, we will get one, in the meantime the County Executive Office feels that they can direct this change.
Public Health & Safety
Ms. Mueller stated we had an update on Opioids, and COVID; our only item was renewing the diabetic supplies for Sunny Hill Nursing Home, which is a standard item.
Capital Improvements
Mr. Brooks said there are no resolutions to be brought forth tomorrow.
Executive
Speaker Cowan said I don’t think anything is going to be a huge issue this month. OPEB is the Retiree Health Insurance a few of us sit on that Board with a few retirees, there is an amendment to the agreement.
Ms. Freeman asked can you explain the changes that were made to OPEB.
Mrs. Adams stated I think they changed how they are elected to the Board. Most of the information was just cleaning up language.
Speaker Cowan added this was all voted by the OPEB Board which is made of County Leadership, Staff, and the County Employee Representatives, it was unanimous.
Mrs. Adams said it was scrivener’s errors, changes to the Open Meetings Act, and clarifying the succession of Trustees.
Speaker Cowan said #5 we had some conversation about this, it is something that sometimes happens, things break, and the County Executive’s Office must fix it. Normally when we do things like this, we follow a process; when something like this which is an emergency they must go out and get it done.
Executive Bertino-Tarrant stated we are probably getting insurance money back for this.
Speaker Cowan said we are going to use Contingency Funds to pay for this; after the warranty and insurance reimburses, it will be a wash. Item #6 is another urgent issue; Mr. Lynn brought this forward; it is the contract bid for next year with Aramark Correctional Services for the Food Service at River Valley Juvenile Center; this is something that must get done right away.
Ms. Newquist asked if we are signing a contract without knowing all the terms of the contract.
Mrs. Adams stated that was from the original request when Mr. Lynn asked us to put it on to the Executive Agenda. The issues are that the contract allows for an increase based on the CPI and Aramark cannot meet that. Their increase is higher than what Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) would allow. So ISBE provided this contract and said to do a one-year contract while we negotiate to see what we can do; the problem is they have very few venders that bid on this. The contract ends at the end of August.
Speaker Cowan stated we have a slew of change orders for the RNG Facility, and that is about it unless anybody has any questions about any of this.
Mr. Van Duyne stated staff has already been beaten up on these change orders; I don’t see a reason to do it again at the full County Board Meeting. It is what it is, and we must finish it, it will produce revenue for us eventually so I would ask the Caucus to just hammer through this tomorrow. If the other side wants to bring it up, let them go for it.
Speaker Cowan stated to Mr. Van Duyne’s point, it will produce revenue, and the sooner we get it done the better because we are losing money right now.
VII. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
VIII. 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
IX. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
1. Speakers Update
Speaker Cowan said I want to welcome the folks that are going to be running for election, this is our Caucus Meeting that we do before the full County Board Meeting. It helps to identify if there are any issues, we rely on the Committee Chairs to report so that you don’t have to go to all the committees, you can rely on your colleagues to fill you in and alert you to any hot topic items. Ms. Mueller runs these meetings as the Caucus Leader, we look to have you here as often as you can to learn about some of the issues, how we discuss them, and how the process works. Many of us are leaving for NACo (National Association of Counties) it is the national organization that helps counties figure out what we are doing. It is a great way to learn, they have an Annual Conference, they also have a Legislative Conference in the Spring. The exciting thing this time around is that our own Denise Winfrey is becoming the President of NACo. That has brought some attention to the County; and of course, we are very proud of Ms. Winfrey. I also hear that Mr. Brooks will be swearing her in, and I think that is fitting given your long-standing political relationship. That will be in Denver Colorado. It is a great place to learn, and they set the policy direction for the national organization as well. We are also working on ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) items, as you all know about the federal allocation. If you are new here, we received $134 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act; it is our job to distribute those funds. It is sort of like Brewster’s Millions a little bit, you think it wouldn’t be quite so hard to give away money. We have a consultant helping us with that project. The next item we are going to be digging more into are Health and Economic Development; so, stay tuned on how all that works. I know there has been some questions about the Health Pillar, and the Economic Development Pillar. Not every single application is going to come before Executive Committee, it would just take too long. The consultants are going to come up with a grading scale, so that will help. Then our intention is to have a small committee, it might be an Ad-Hoc Committee, or it might be community members and staff, but smaller groups that are willing to spend the time to dig into the applications and make a final list. Stay tuned for that, we are trying to make that work and trying to get that out there as fast as possible with still being conscientious about how it is being allocated and fitting all the federal guidelines, as well as going where it needs to go. I had a conversation with Cory from Anser, he said most of the counties that they are working with disbursed to the community about 5% of their funds and kept 95% for their County. He said you have kind of flipped that, he said I think that is good; it is more complicated, it is a tougher find and it takes more time, but you are doing the right thing; you are getting it out into the community where it is needed. Your continued patience is welcome, and we appreciate it, as well as your continued input, and engagement in the process, and we thank you. Ditto for Cannabis Funds, we have been sitting on them for a while, we have over $2 million at this point. That money isn’t going anywhere, it is not swept away or put into another fund; it is just accruing interest. We have had a couple of presentations about certain ideas and neither of those ideas were 100% welcome, but that is okay, they are starting points. The Executive’s Office came to us and talked about extending the Rental and Mortgage Assistance Program, putting some of the Cannabis Funds into doing that. The general feedback from that was; not a bad idea but some people want to be more focused on disproportionately impacted communities and there are ways to measure that. We could use the R-3 designations from the State, frankly that is a very narrow list of communities, so we could expand that using census blocks and looking at designated census blocks in disadvantaged areas too. We also had a presentation from Doug Pryor from the CED (Center for Economic Development) about a revolving loan program and how that would work. The basic idea in a standard revolving loan you put a big chunk of money in; unlike a bank you are not trying to make a profit from it. You are trying to keep the loan funds steady; what that allows you to do is loan out money to more risker clients in different dollar amounts, the idea is to keep it revolving. You do want people to pay it back, but again you can expect a little more risk instead of how a bank would, because you are not looking to make a profit, you are looking to hold steady. If we decided to do that with the Cannabis Funds, it wouldn’t be a revolving loan because we could put more money into it every year. We would then have to structure a group that would look for applicants that would be for small businesses in disadvantage communities, however we would decide to identify that. The Executive Committee wanted more information, Mr. Pryor is going to put some information together and come back to us in a month or so to talk more about that. We are still looking at a way through Community Foundations to do scholarships or childcare vouchers. But the County really doesn’t want to be the ones running a scholarship program we have community organizations that have deep roots in our communities and would be good at doing that, like the Community Foundation. The option would be to give some money to them, a lot of folks also expressed in giving part of the Cannabis Funds to the Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC). We know every year where and how much in the budget the County is going to put toward the CAC, this might be a good place for that, it addresses some of the goals of what the Cannabis Funding is good for. Just so we are on the same page it is a portion of the Sales Tax Revenue from the State, and then the County Sales Tax Revenue that we get from both Municipalities, and I don’t know if we have any in Unincorporated Will County, but we would also get the Sales Tax from them. Those are our big-ticket items right now.
X. PUBLIC COMMENT
XI. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XII. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn @ 6:50 PM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Joe VanDuyne, Member SECONDER: Tyler Marcum, Member AYES: Mueller, Newquist, Tyson, Gazanfer, VanDuyne, Brooks Jr., Coleman, Marcum, Cowan, Freeman ABSENT: Koch, Traynere, Winfrey, Ventura |
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