Will County Board Committee of the Whole met Oct. 3.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Ms. Coleman led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. ROLL CALL
Speaker Mimi Cowan called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Sherry Newquist | District 1 (D - Steger) | Present | |
| Judy Ogalla | District 1 (R - Monee) | Absent | |
| Jim Moustis | District 2 (R - Frankfort) | Absent | |
| Raquel M. Mitchell | District 3 (R - Bolingbrook) | Present | |
| Margaret Tyson | District 3 (D - Bolingbrook) | Absent | |
| Jacqueline Traynere | District 4 (D - Bolingbrook) | Absent | |
| Gretchen Fritz | District 5 (R - Plainfield) | Absent | |
| Meta Mueller | District 5 (D - Aurora) | Absent | |
| Donald Gould | District 6 (R - Shorewood) | Present | |
| Joe VanDuyne | District 6 (D - Wilmington) | Absent | |
| Steve Balich | District 7 (R - Homer Glen) | Present | |
| Mike Fricilone | District 7 (R - Homer Glen) | Present | |
| Herbert Brooks Jr. | District 8 (D - Joliet) | Present | |
| Denise E. Winfrey | District 8 (D - Joliet) | Absent | |
| Annette Parker | District 9 (R - Crest Hill) | Present | |
| Rachel Ventura | District 9 (D - Joliet) | Present | |
| Natalie Coleman | District 10 (D - Plainfield) | Present | |
| Tyler Marcum | District 10 (D - Joliet) | Absent | |
| Julie Berkowicz | District 11 (R - Naperville) | Present | |
| Mimi Cowan | Speaker | Present | |
| Frankie Pretzel | District 12 (R - New Lenox) | Absent | |
| Tom Weigel | District 12 (R - New Lenox) | Present | |
| Mica Freeman | District 13 (D - Plainfield) | Present | |
| Debbie Kraulidis | District 13 (R - Joliet) | Present |
Also Present: N. Palmer, and B. Adams.
IV. OLD BUSINESS
V. NEW BUSINESS
1. Allocation of Revenue from Cannabis Tax
(Discussion)
Speaker Cowan stated we do not have a quorum but that is fine, we can still hold our meeting especially since we are not taking any votes today. This is an informational session. To remind everyone, this is being broadcast and there will be a recording available if anyone wants to watch it later. The purpose of this meeting this evening is to listen to public comments about the allocation of the revenue from the legal sale of Cannabis. Chief of Staff Mr. Palmer is going to give a little bit of context from a presentation about where we have come from and where we are at right now; after that we will move on to Public Comment. Some guidelines when you are giving public comment; this is not the place to apply for funds, but we would love to hear what you think the needs are of the community as a whole. That is the purpose of what we are here to listen for today. We have made some decisions, but we will continue with that process over the next couple of weeks. With that Mr. Palmer would you like to start.
Mr. Palmer provided some historical information on the Cannabis Tax Regulation and Tax Act of 2019 and an overview of the programs suggested using the Cannabis Tax Revenue.
Sherry Williams stated I am a lifelong Will County resident, currently residing in Crest Hill. I am here tonight because I am very interested in what goes on in the community. Often some communities are referred to as bad areas. Most of the time these areas are populated by residents who have been disproportionately affected by the war on drugs, and other events that have happened in the community. They are unrepresented in society, and most need help to overcome some of the disadvantages that prevent them from aching success. In most cases the residents in these communities are Black and Latinx. Sometime ago a resolution was proposed and given to the members of the County Board for review and discussion on how to use cannabis tax dollars to help address the problem in these communities. At the time the County Board refused to allow the proposal to be presented. The essence of the resolution was to create a board that was composed of members of these very communities who are disproportionately affected, and these members would recommend to the County Board how the tax revenue could be used to address some of the issues in their community. I believe this resolution should be considered when decided how the cannabis tax dollars should be used. Hopefully, the suggestion given here tonight will not be ignored and be seriously considered by the County Executive and the County Board. Thank you.
Trista Brown stated I was born in Joliet, my mother was a community activist as well in deciding on voters’ registration. My concern is I have been going to some of the meeting prior with the monies being used for. We understand that the cannabis money is to be used for the war on drugs, and I want to put that money back into the communities. I am concerned in how that money is going to be allocated to be put back into our community, and how do I know it is going to go to the right people or the right organizations so that it can be distributed. My thought is there are other organizations do directly do a lot of charitable things for the community such as things for the youth, the adults, and different people who just got out to prison. I just want to be sure that this money is allocated and properly do what it is supposed to. My concern is how do we know at the community that this money is not going to the same people, I won’t use those organization names. So that new organizations that are out there directly doing those things. So, how do we go about to assure that money is allocated to the right community.
Ms. Moralas said thank you County Board members for all for your service as Elected Officials. You all work of us, you work for the people who elected you to work for us. I have spent a lifelong in Joliet for over 50 years. This is my home, and I came to Joliet when I was one year old. I am very deeply imbedded in this community. How do we give away $2.6 million dollars, how do we reinvest that and make some wrongs right? That is only a drop in the bucket, we should put a couple of zeros after that number to be quite honest. If we are going to have a serious conversation about that lets be transparent about it. You have an excellent Board member that has made recommendations, Ms. Ventura. I think we need to listen to her recommendations that she has given in the past.
Ms. Moralas replied that is okay because I support Ms. Ventura and all her ideas, just so you see the support. We have ways that we can get involved, let’s be creative. We can see the need in the community we see homeless people out here, that have health issues. Let’s talk about the Drug Court Program. There is a Drug Court Program where people had to take plea deals so that could get expunged and say that they were addicts to go through a program, so their records could be expunged. Maybe these people should be given restitution, maybe we can give some of that money back. There are ways to track this if you go through the court dockets and you find out who these people who had to pay for several years restitution for a small minor crime that they had to get off their record. We could go to the Drug Court Program, we could also use those payments for a down payment for a home. Look at the price of rents right now they are ridiculous. Maybe helping people to purchase a home and invest in buying homes, instead of giving people free housing all the time, we don’t get invested in properties when we don’t own them. When you are a homeowner you take pride in your property, you invest in it. But you must help people with the down payment; so maybe there could be a program you help people for a homeowner program. As a business owner myself, I own the Allstate across the street from Sam’s Club. I see that anybody that buys a home on the Eastside when you get a mortgage; not only does the bank require you get homeowners insurance, but the bank also requires that you get flood insurance. Those policies are three to four thousand dollars a year on top of your homeowner’s policy. So maybe helping homeowners pay for a portion of that FEMA insurance because that’s expensive. People that are trying to invest and uplift their community and buy a home. These are just some ideas that I am giving out to you for what I see from people coming into my business. They try to save up for a house and then get hit with not being able to own a home because of a flood policy, because the entire Eastside is considered in a flood plain zone. Those are just some ideas that I wanted to share with you all; I want to thank you all for your service and for what you do. All the hard work in the communities that you server on thanks for that. But please listen to the communities; I have been to many meeting at the Spanish Community Center. I was on the Joliet City Quality of Life.
Mr. Eiden stated I hail from the great Village of Mokena, and I would like to thank the Board for having a public quorum to give their constituents impute. I have a sample ballot in front on me and one of the referendums that we are going to be voting for is going to be voting on is for mental health and channeling more money to mental health. I would prefer because I don’t know if that referendum will go up or down. But now that we have funds from cannabis, I would prefer to see that money spent to help our first responders who are dealing with either putting out fires or dealing with criminal activity, not always being prepared with all of the mental issues we have on our streets. I would like to see the money earmarked for more mental help. Whether that is bringing in specialized therapist on board when they need to respond with our first responders and finding the appropriate way to deal with situations. Thank you very much.
Katy LeClair said I reside in Plainfield I have been a long time Will County resident and I am also the President and CEO of our local YMCA. Thank you to the Board for allowing us the opportunity to share additional feedback. As a member of the R-3 collaborative group it was an honor to meet with other organizations across our community that are all working toward the same goal. That is really strengthen the foundations of everything that we can do here in Will County. As an organization we want to advocate for the use of the funds to be dedicated toward the youth development and programing that is why we serve close to 40,000 people a year. The vast majority of those are under 18 years old, as you think about the opportunity to really use these dollars to make a difference in our community. We a one of the first boards to really think about how we can invest in our kids, and to create new opportunities to create new pathways with the use of these dollars. If you consider what the allocations look like again, we would like to prioritize youth development as an opportunity to really look at reinvesting in our community, and thank you for the opportunity.
Patty Droogan said good evening, it is so nice to see everyone, we are not on Zoom anymore. I just want to thank you guys for allowing us to talk. I’m going to second the wonderful resolution that Ms. Ventura put forward almost two years ago. My understanding is that the Will County Board hired someone to be looking into this stuff. Have we hired anyone yet? Has someone been hired to handle the equity. I was told by Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant that, that was going to happen, has that happened and do we have a report yet?
Speaker Cowan stated we typically do not answer questions in Public Comment.
Ms. Droogan stated hopefully if that person is actively involved, we will have report from her to find out with what is going on with the results. It is very clear, not only here in Will County but across the State of Illinois, the inequities, the disenfranchised net of our Black brothers and sisters and our Latinx people, and the poor white community. The bottom line here is when we tried to bring our resolution before you, a year, and a half, almost two years ago. I feel like we were basically brushed off. Every single time we tried to ask you guys, we sent emails out, how can we come up and can we give our own presentation. The only thing that we were told is, we will give you three minutes to talk at the end of the meetings. We felt like we brushed off. We want a seat at the table, the people who are poor, who are disenfranchised, who have been set aside. Who live on the Eastside of Joliet as well as the R-3 areas in Bolingbrook. We all need representation, and we want a seat at the table. We want for there to be a nine member panel, one of the members to be from one of you, we want one Will County Board member sit on that panel and then eight members to be from the City to be from across Will County. We want to have an actual seat at the table; we want to be the ones talking about where we think those monies be best represented and how they should be spent. The gentle man who was just up, you gave some great ideas. I do know that there is a lot of mental health stuff that is already being worked on for our fellow brother and sisters in the Police force. It is important that I am hoping because there is a lot of money already being spent on that portion of it. We need to continue to be working with our brother and sisters in the Police Department; but it really is time for us to reach out to our brothers and sisters that are on the Eastside. It is time for us to all be working together with one and other. Republican and Democratic I don’t care where you are from it is time for the people in this county to all be represented. I thank you all very much.
Tifanni Sterdivant said first of all thank you to the Will County Board members for your service and for allowing us the opportunity for input. I have a few brief comments. I am from Create Township but just wanted to share feedback on this topic. I would recommend that the funds be used for several items. I feel that many of the things that were said this evening, many of our recommendations are very similar to other things that were suggested. Including scholarships for youths and adults, housing assistance or home ownership programs to revitalize our community. Small business funding, treatment programs, mental health services for persons impacted by substance abuse and violence. I also would like to recommend youth programs be considered as well as we often know that after school programs are one of the greatest efforts to reduce crime in our community. Thank you.
Amy Sanchez said I am a Joliet resident; I first and foremost want to acknowledge, thank you for having evening meetings for those of us the work during the day and can’t get here during the regular County Board meetings during the day when most of us are trying to take care of our families. I was very pleased when the County Board decided to take open comments from the public and not just decide on ideas of what they are going to do with cannabis money. I’d like to go on record and reflect that so many of us that live in this county and me in Joliet have watched and witnessed so many of our classmates, our relatives, our family members, our neighbors go through the experience and trauma of being incarcerated, having the ripple effects, destruct the family structure of the cannabis incarceration period. Seeing the benefit of it now to go back into those communities is not only important but essential that it goes back into those communities that are most effected. Not just for mental health services and home ownership and all those other things. But specifically, to restoring those things that I think impact the most when it was against the law for so long. I remember seeing one of the first dispensaries that went up for approval ironically went to a Judge, I though how ironic that looked from the appearance from the outside looking in, for somebody that had that capacity. I just want to go on the record to say please compare for consideration not just with what is best for your respective district’s but overall as a county and how that looks to everyone else. Not to just the youth but to also what is important to all the communities that you all serve and the greater good. I wish all the County Board members could have been here, and I hope that you have more public comments during the even hours so that more of the community can voice their concerns. Thank you.
Karl Ferrell stated I am a member of Equity and Transformation (E.A.T) we have a campaign right now that is for reparations for the survivors of the war on drugs. Their payback campaign is led by the transformation and supported by the Illinois Reparations Coalition. The RFC is made up of seventeen organizations committed to winning drug reparations (inaudible). Our mission is to win comprehensive reparations for the survivors of the war on drugs. We envision a just conclusion to the war on drugs in the State of Illinois. We demand the State acknowledge their direct involvement in the (inaudible) of human rights during the war on drugs. (inaudible) that effect the communities, restore rites that were taken away (inaudible). On May 31, 2019, Illinois became the 11th State to legalize cannabis, for recreational Cannabis Tax, HB 1438 was praised for being one of the most equities (inaudible) policies in the nation and the first to incorporate reparations for the war on drugs. Sadly, there has been little progress in the advance of equity in the cannabis industry, and reparations for the war on drugs has been abandoned altogether. Because of the war on drugs, we have lost (inaudible) and attempts to control people. This drug means that low-income people were denied food from government assistance. People who are even suspected from even using drugs has been evicted from public housing and even discriminated against in the private housing sector. Qualified people have had to have a drug test unrelated to their employment before they have been offered a job. Millions of dollars have been extracted from the Black communities. Furthermore in 2020 in the State of Illinois has reported $582 million in revenue but yet there hasn’t been a single Black owned cannabis dispensary in Illinois. In 2020 out of 2,991 cannabis arrests 75% of those detained were Black. Meaning Black Illinois residents from low-income communities are priced out of the recreational cannabis markets. They simply can’t afford to consume what is sold legally forcing many to informal cannabis markets where they face increased chances of being arrested. The Cannabis legislation is about as (inaudible) to submit reparations from top to bottom. We must stop giving lip service about reparations and fully acknowledge the States involvement in world violation and human rights that occurred with the War on Drugs. From day one with the passing of AB-14, like I said before Illinois prided itself as the first State to include equity previsions within the law. If equity remains a priority, then it is time to talk about equations. We do things with actions and not just words, we started a pilot program in West Garfield Park and that is one of the most economically distressed places in Chicago we took thirty families, and we gave those families a direct stipend, we gave them $500.00 per month. What happen was there were zero recidivism with any of those family members, everybody in those households were suffering, people were distressed and coming out of jail. What the City of Chicago did was directly pick that program up, Cook County also picked that up too. The City of Chicago picked up 5,000 families. The union recognizes that there were 5 pillars of reparations. Restitution, conversation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of no repetition. What we suggest people receive direct reparations in the form of direct cash payments.
Sandra Aguirre stated I am a Committee Woman from District #13 which is on the Eastside of Joliet. I’m concerned with a lot of things, but I support all of you with your opinions and suggestions. I also think we should help the homeless shelters. I see that there are homeless people staying under the bridge on Cass St., they call it the tent city. Most of those people need help; the circumstances and the situation that they have is very sad. Please consider those people who are not able to help themselves.
Betty Washington said I am a lifelong Will County resident and live in Joliet. I heard a lot about the Eastside of Joliet tonight, I would like to say it is about Will County and I am representing Fairmont community, which is not a part of Joliet, but it is a part of Will County. When talking about funds please look at the entire Will County, not just the Eastside of Joliet. Thank you.
At this juncture Speaker Cowan read the Public Comments that were sent in via email.
Speaker Cowan stated we will be discussing this at future meetings. We do want to have a fulsome conversation with the Board. If any members have comments at this point, we will go from there.
Ms. Newquist stated I really appreciate everyone coming out tonight; and I am appreciative that we had this meeting in the evening. It does make it easier for me as well.
Ms. Ventura thanked all the public for coming out, the one thing we can agree on is there are a multitude of ideas. Everything from education, housing, and mental health, it shows how versatile our community is with its needs. The suggestion of adding a community board is to get an ongoing dialog from the community. When we all have a seat at the table, we all have a little bit to add. I will make sure staff has the most recent draft of the resolution that was precented earlier in the year. There were issues with the first draft, and it has been changed to make it more constitutional.
Mr. Balich said our taxes in our county are outrageous, there are so many people hurting from the increase of taxes from all the taxing bodies. Wouldn’t it be logical to give the money that we have to existing programs that we already have at the county. We have a Health Department, and if you are worried about mental health, we already have a Mental Health Department in the Health Department. After January the Sherriff’s Department is going to have problems, the State’s Attorney’s Office has problems, and they also already have an expungement program. Look at the CAC these are all programs that we already have that address some of these problems. If you want to make it more equitable for the whole county, just give the money to the people we have already been working with, they are all doing a good job and we don’t have to reinvent something new. We have $2.6 million let’s divide it up and make those program better.
Mr. Weigel said most of the thing mentioned tonight are already covered by County Agencies and other nonprofit organizations. The money should be put into the Corporate Funds so that we don’t have to raise property taxes every year, these taxes are a burden to our residents. I would like to see a large portion to go in that direction.
Speaker Cowan said I want to remind everyone that all our meetings are public meetings, and we do provide online forums and you can also get a recording if you have missed a meeting. Connect with your local representative and ask them to represent you at the table. That is one way to provide oversight and transparency. Everything we do is out in the open and you are welcome to engage with your representative to get that information. As far as the equity measures with the county we did have a consultant and that contract has ended. The County Executive’s Office has been presenting information at the Diversity & Inclusion committee. This is one of the things that the County Executive handles through her office. If you want information, you can contact the County Executive’s Office. At this point I do want to thank all the Board members and especially our staff for being here this evening.
Public Comments
(Public Comment)
VI. OTHER NEW BUSINESS
VII. PUBLIC COMMENT RELEVANT TO MATTERS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE COUNTY
VIII. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
IX. EXECUTIVE SESSION
X. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn @ 7:55 PM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Mike Fricilone, District 7 (R - Homer Glen) SECONDER: Mica Freeman, District 13 (D - Plainfield) AYES: Newquist, Mitchell, Gould, Balich, Fricilone, Brooks Jr., Parker, Ventura, Coleman, Berkowicz, Cowan, Weigel, Freeman, Kraulidis ABSENT: Ogalla, Moustis, Tyson, Traynere, Fritz, Mueller, VanDuyne, Winfrey, Marcum, Pretzel |
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