##VIDEO ID:R_OQRK51JcQ## everyone I will call the uh Cook County Board of Commissioners regular meeting to order we're supporting community Through quality Public Service um please rise for the pledge I pledge Al allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we started a few minutes late because as of this morning we have quite a little blizzard out there so and some technical troubles so but it's not too bad at 8:36 are there any adjustments to the agenda Madam chair I'd like to um add an item towards the end um maybe between the auditor and administrator about commissioner assignments okay thank you okay anything else otherwise I'll hear a motion to approve so moved support all in favor I I we now have a public comment period if there's anyone who wishes to appear before the board please do so and we see no body in the audience today like I say there would be really a due diligence if they were to come in the storm that we have today then we'll move on to the consent agenda you've had time to look that over hearing no questions or comments a motion to approve so move mam chair support all in favor hi I pose same sign one of our biggest discussions we've had in the last few months a year is working with a transfer station project and um last week at our committee the whole we had a very good presentation in terms of um what um kind of building materials and uh what type of uh building we really want in size and they've done their really good work on um working with the architect to U get it to a size that's reasonable for our area um the one area that that we really wanted to find out is how would um Recycling and waste material strike the public in terms of uh fees to pick up their materials and so we we put that over to uh Bob to um give us some answers on how that would affect the General Public and Bob is here so would you like to come up by the microphone and give us some stats on that please uh good morning Madam chair and Commissioners um so I did put together a spreadsheet that we can uh we can plug in different numbers and see what the different options might come out for you know what a a resident or a commercial property might might pay um I'm not sure if Brady or or if there's been a decision on what that first year collection is going to be I think there were a couple of options you know using one building versus the other um so those those would also be a factor on what we punch into that first year number but using the the number that we had at our committee of the whole meeting um that was the number that Ellers had given us and I don't know what building type that was taking into account and if it was taking into account the hoveland and tofy options but um if we we can pull it up on the screen does that share on all of your monitors as well does perfect so yeah I'll uh I'll probably try bring this over so what's on the screen there there's a few different ways I set it up so that we could look at it and unfortunately I don't think looking at the zoning like the land use zoning is going to be a good option just because uh number one we don't have the City Zoning entered into our assessment information we do in everything outside of the city of grand marray um but also there's a lot of mixed use zoning so you have residents in you know RCR districts you have vice versa so I think that you know looking at it by classification might be the best option that's also something that as things change from year to year it can be tracked and you know those updates can be made if a property you use changes over the years of this um so you can see in the very top left uh there's a an analysis by if we just applied a similar fee to all parcels and didn't didn't do a tiered system of you know residential versus commercial but just applying it to every taxable parcel that 383 589 is the number that ERS had come up with for the first year collection and then I believe the way that spreadsheet worked was it was just anticipating like 1% growth in the residential collections or something along those lines so it really kind of started off of this base year number and that would amount to a fee per parcel of 4480 so the 4480 would be if you had just applied it consistently to every single parcel I don't know administratively Wise that might be the easiest uh also in in kind of looking at it in context of if this was just put into the levy this is the dollar Ford dooll impact that it would well no it wouldn't because every every value determines the slice of the pie so it would be a little different now down in the orange boxes I broke it out by classification and I the first box includes vacant land and vacant commercial land is as part of the fees the second box include you know doesn't include that vacant land you can see there if you look the the residential vacant land in the commercial be land there's no fee accounted for no no nothing collected so what I'm talking about is in in this box right here these commercial be land and the vacant land would would not be subject to a fee so using you know the the the way that Ellers had it set up it was 25 and 50 it was you know one the commercials paid double what the residentials paid so that's why I the way I tried to set it up was it would be 4280 for per residential parcel and 8560 so you can see you know raising the fee on those commercial properties unless you do more than double it doesn't really reduce the fee on all the other properties and then going over to this column if if you were to um eliminate the vacant land from the equation you'd be looking at like 6235 per residential and 12470 per commercial so you know I don't know if the number is going to end up being the this 383 589 um but if it was something different we can just punch that into this box and that's where this is calculating so like if we needed 500,000 in the first year collections this is what the two different payments would be and you can do the same thing up here if we punched 500,000 into here it's going to calculate that uh payment amount 5840 so this is interactive and you know depending on how the Commissioners wanted to set it up if they wanted to include vacant parcels you I know one of the pieces of the conversation was that you know this is I think to to ensure that trash can be collected in Cook County and you know vacant land it could also be subject to the the fee um as part of you know keeping people from dumping trash in areas they they shouldn't be which includes vacant land so I set it up so it could be looked at either way or a number of different ways and we can we can play with the numbers depending on what the board decided to do with the the different options are there any questions on the spreadsheet Mion Mills thank you chair um thanks Bob this is really helpful um so uh how honorous would it be to uh have have say a lesser rate for vacant land than residential and and others uh that wouldn't be that difficult um effectively we can change the fee here and that's going to kind of play through the whole um the whole screen so you know if I reduce this then I'm going to have to increase all of these but that's where all it's that's where it's going to calculate the total we get it's going to add sum up all the fees that we collect in total and then these percentages are what's being used to calculate these different options but you know say if if we wanted to look at you know maybe making the fee on vacant land a flat $10 that brings the collection down by you know almost $100,000 about $90,000 so we have to up these and you know that would just be a manual process of updating those to where they they summed out that three uh 383 yeah I was cuz these seem like the two um the two ends are you know trying to meld these two is kind of what I was thinking and and I was just wondering how difficult it' be to have different rates for these different it it wouldn't be difficult we could we could easily I could easily manipulate the spreadsheet so that it was less less onerous we could we could make it so we're literally just entering in the collections based on a percentage of collecting on that property mhm just thinking like so if I if I punch in 10 uh well it wouldn't be 10% but let's see what a $10 fee does to this that makes it about 9% of the overall collection so if I change this to 10% it's going to calculate it down in this column but we're now we're collecting on 500 so if we change that to 383 five so then the fees would be 54 uh it didn't work right cuz this is 14 it's not quite yeah we don't we don't one way or another we can we can get there relatively simply if that's the option that the Commissioners want to choose yeah I guess I I was just wondering I mean we have to do it on the Fly here but I was just wondering can we have a higher rate for say Resort or commercial than it is here and have a lower rate on vacant land and you know just have different rates I mean making those decisions might become difficult for us but I'm just trying to find what's the most fair for our residents and and uh just how we can make this affordable for all so commissioner gamble thank you madam chair I think I think the question for us is um you look at the service provided which we had some discussion in our committee the whole meeting um and how we perceive these various classifications as to their using that service so I think it I think it would be unfair to make an assumption that says that vacant land never uses the service so and I think from public perception which is important to consider is is this fairly and equitably set up and so if we figure and part of that can come from an understanding you know from Dustin as to what he sees in other words you look at the commercial impact you look at the residential you look at the vacant land whatever and so what we're trying to do is we're we're trying to find as Commissioners the most Equitable way to distribute cost relative based upon what our experience tells us and if we do that it's fairly based so when I look at the classification comparisons it's like if we eliminate this one I think people going say well how can you do that don't they ever use it and I had suggested maybe if we looked at it a fee basis for funding then it would be based upon if you use it you pay the fee if it was built into how we structured our fees if our fees were still competitive within the market place so it's not an add-on assessment it it comes through a fee structure my point is that reflects a fee structure would if you use it you pay and what we're looking for is if you use it you should be included in the classification at some rate if that makes sense word I I know it confuses it when I throw the fee thing in there but I'm just saying it it reflects on the fact that if you're using it you're paying for it and we have to determine how much is use relative our classification assignment Rel you know as to what that fee would be I hate to use the word fee there that assessment would be yeah thank you chair um um so where would the vacant land fit into all that in a fee structure yeah well and again this is aside from if you look at how could we fund this we say let's put let's build it into our fee and that way if you use it if a vacant land person goes to the transfer station and drops off stuff they'll pay because it's it's in the fee that's different than the assessment it's a completely different concept as to how you would fund it but if we're looking at all options if you put it in the fee structure in order to cover the debt and it made our price so way out of line as far as being competitive that might be problematic so I I don't want to confuse it by the fee structure but the reason I brought it up is a fee structure is tied to use and if we don't look at a fee structure then we're looking at an assessment based upon an understanding of use which does can sort of help us understand and there we're trying to make it an equitable distribution for funding based upon our best understanding of use um Bob I have a question what is the fee and we talked a little bit about this at committee the whole what is the fee now for residential versus uh business I don't have anything picked up so I don't know if I have my garbage picked up how much is residential oh I I have no idea I'm not sure Rea Reena might be able to answer that there she floats in smooth so um I'm not sure what the difference is because it's it's uh the uh dumpsters are for generally for the commercial and so that's going to be by volume or I think the residential fee is sort of a weekly fee depending on how much but this is about about what trash you generate this is about you know everybody contributing to an infrastructure it doesn't reduce the cost of their garbage or it doesn't do that I mean there is a there's definitely volume differences um like what happens say at saw Bill Outfitters with all the national park campgrounds and people coming in out of the foundary waters is probably a lot more than a much smaller Outfitter has so it's not like this is more about what's the best way for everyone to um to contribute to infrastructure for the county and spread that out um for for for us to be able to you know manage our solid waste into the future and and stabilize some of those operational costs Madam chair thank you commissioner gamble uh reor thanks for showing up uh you're welcome I I would um respectfully disagree on the I I don't disagree on the the concept of everybody share and that's what we're challenged with is how do we do that equitably sure and and I think if we say well the focus is on providing the service and we'll just across the board assess and everybody pays the same uh there's many discussions when it comes to assessments as as to if it's equally applied and so I'm just saying that we agree that's why looking at the classification study if we eliminate one classification does that meet what we're saying right now everybody is going to share but let's make it Equitable in that it's based upon what we know to be true and I think that Dustin can can answer that question for us from the standpoint of uh being a contributor taxpayer I I want to know that it it is well informed and it is driven by an an equitable approach and most people will accept that it's difficult when you have additional expenses and you're struggling anything whether it's Equitable or not is going to be a problem but our task is to do what we feel is fair and Equitable based upon good information y yeah and and just one other comment just kind of in Brady's defense um is is yes you want to do that but you also want to do it in a way that it isn't so complex that the operational cost to sustain it and every year reanalyze it to look it has that shifted is is part of the equation as well I think but that's probably just my opinion and not really what you needed to hear from me so well this is what we're talking about is is building a um facility that will allow Cook County residents to not dump their trash into the woods one and two the option of carrying it down the road out of state is going to go away those landfills those those sites are closing and we have no options we have no options except either dumping it into the woods well I suppose we could put it on a barge and dump it in the lake but those are not feasible but it's like roads we all pay for for roads even the vacant property you can't get to the vacant property without roads so that's just an across theboard thing we are all paying for roads on on our acreage I believe so that nobody wants to have special asset assessments but nobody wants we have to be responsible for the trash and we have to be responsible for the trash that is generated by our tourist industry by the people that come up just come to Grand marray they go to The Boundary Waters they're just up here for a weekend we generate trash and this is our County our home and we are responsible in so many on so many levels for keeping it clean and safe as in a a health situation uh I know it's really fun to take long walks and the and the vacant lands and come across old old piles of old garbage that had been dumped and sometimes you had a really cool bottle or something but that's not a way to go anymore so um I think it should be and I'm a person I mean our house we we own vacant land and I'm not too excited because I have to really make an effort to get to the end of that vacant land um but I understand the need as part of a community if I can afford to own vacant land then I I have a responsibility to the community to help keep the entire area the entire community clean safe so commission salivan I would um really agree 100% with commissioner white this is a responsibility all of us have and for those of us that have vacant land and have that luxury we should be contributing um I agree with the an alogy with roads this is infrastructure that is really important to the entire County people who are using uh the transfer station if let's say they have a weekly pickup I happen to have one I'm going to pay for that use as well but in terms of the infrastructure I think it's critical that we all contribute and I frankly um assessor Thompson really like the work that you did by classification and looking at um a a model that is very usable from year to year and I appreciate your efforts creating that thank you commission Mills yeah I amum I really I agree I agree I um and I am I am intrigued by the the the fee versus the assessment um because that is I agree that it's that would be the most accurate Equitable um way to do it um one of the um one of the things that I know Solid Waste uh has challenges with is um disincentivizing people to just dump their trash on land and you want to make it easy for them to uh dispose of it responsibly and so if if there is an assessment um already um versus having an additional fee when the trash is dumped I think that would work in that direction more so and so I just want us to keep that in mind uh if if we are going down the road of of a fee or or a melding of fees and assessments but um it seems like that assessment just for that basic infrastructure is is what what should happen and I I I'm I'll still be thinking about the fee um because that's wasn't at the front of mine so Comm gaml thank you m chair I I I agree with with the uh dealing with the challenges of U if it's fee based we have a way of avoiding it if if it's assessment we don't have a way of avoiding it and knowing you know what's what uh how many businesses in town have dumpsters that find stuff in there that really isn't isn't theirs because people are trying to avoid the avoid the fee and so I I think you know we need to be aware of that I I would ask Arena I had posed the question yesterday you know to Dustin relative to a fee structure was there any opportunity on the short term to be able to even look at that what what was the what was the question I'm sorry okay well I just said um I'd asked him um if there was was uh uh if we were to look at it from a free a fee structure meaning that you pay if you use it if we could fund it through that and it's a question for you know Brady and relative to how that would have to function if if the organization's collecting a fee and then a portion of that whatever percentage is determined has to be given to us that we use to pay so it it has to be a provision of Statute or policy that allows us to do it but the question was if we were to do it as a fee basis so you pay it if you use it how would we do that to meet the annual debt and um uh how would that impact our fee structure relative to competitiveness and and my feeling was if if we're still sort of within a ballpark and we could do it through a fee structure that seems to be the fairest way to do it other than what commiss Ms Mills brought up relative to people avoiding the fee by just putting it in the in the woods but so I'm just wondering if if Dustin brought that to your attention he he did not but um off the top of my head um just kind of looking at it from having been in that seat and this seat um the the problem I think with that is that it's unpredictable um you know if you do an assessment you you know what the amount is and you you have it and so you don't if it falls short that year whatever you're not going to have to like make up the difference in the levy yeah um so that that's I'm always low risk always so the lowest risk in my opinion is to assess for the amount you need so you make that payment and you don't have to find it somewhere else yeah um I think there's a lot of complication in the fees in terms of what the business would have to keep track of and the and the complexity of the contract that would be between um between the county and Northshore waste to manage that yeah um so in a way you're avoiding the county I'm just going to say it being the villain here that's um that's charging people more on their taxes but you're putting that it it's got to be paid for somewhere so it it ends up being Northshore waste that every time somebody brings their garbage in or doesn't dumps more instead into the into the um because now it's become too expensive on a on a weekly basis people see that more than they see that one time thing on their on their taxes so then the people in town or the campground ends up getting more garbage in their dumpsters yeah and then those people are paying a higher proportion because they have more trash and their part is by volume so to me the fee thing has is kind of rot with a lot of unknowns and risk where the other one is more known but that's that's that's entirely my opinion on that that situation okay if if I could just as a followup to that that I agree with that I think that what we're doing is attempting to put everything out on the table and say Here's ways we could fund it subject absolutely and then evaluating those which you always do a good job of looking at things and and I appreciate that I I think from the again the public we're here to to serve their best interest and by evaluating all these things here's the pluses minus just like in our our Workshop we said let's let's look at the pros and cons yeah I I mean the fee would put it on the users yeah but it would also put it more or maybe disproportionately on people who end up getting stuff dumped in their dumpsters including the city including the county um but but you know on the on the other hand that vacant land that's vacant today we've seen it last few years might not be vacant tomorrow um people are building more and more up here and uh we have a lot of economic growth and so having the expectation I have vacant land as well that I'm going to pay for each of those Parcels um I think it's fair you know because even when you have a piece of vacant land sometimes you put a you put a trailer on it or you camp on it or you're up here visiting while you're planning what you're going to do with your land so you're still generating trash in general um on many of those pieces of vacant land it probably makes more sense with you know from in a more developed area where you have service that it's covering more people and you could have more again more stability more knowledge of what's going to happen with it one other F not a big factor I don't think but the bonding would change two if we use fees um collecting from a private entity then we wouldn't have uh taxfree bonds so that would affect that also thank you key yeah yeah well and this is not just a place to bring your trash this facility is much bigger than that we're talking about a recycling option for recycling we're talking about uh refu about the creating compost from this area um and then if we have this facility and I believe this is still an ongoing discussion we have an existing um I don't even think can't think of it we have a facility that takes in recycling and so there's still garbage but what is the cost going to be for for fixing that building which has issues of its own to make that more efficient and so if the county we're investing we are we have to invest to help this whole Community uh with our recycling with trash should we then have two buildings Northshore waste with their new newly designed efficient means of operation to do with all of that and then still keep our existing recycling center or May and so the money that we now put into the recycling center maybe that would offset the cost for the new facility I believe we have a lot more to talk about but it needs it is infrastructure it is a requirement to have a safe community and this is what we need to have we have no other options except to do it ourselves so we all need to get over it we have to do it unless we I don't know live off the land don't write a note I don't create no trash at all whatsoever and that's not not going to happen well in the West End um we did have a fee increase for the small and the large bag and you just take it into consideration you know that's that's just what what we do and um nobody far as I know complains too much about their bags of um trash that goes in the large container everything else is recycled so you know I see um the fact that this discussion I brought it up first we also had to talk about what type of facility we want to have but I thought it was important since Bob had put all these facts together about the prices and what and and where we're going to go with that but that can be reviewed you know in another year just as we all have reviewed all of our fees once a year we look at different departments so it it's not set in stone so I mean it's um I think we're going to have to agree on something to start with and then you know over a period of time review what uh what the actually happening out there in the in the real world of of of the waste commissioner Mills thank you chair um uh what what is what would personal property be on that so I think all of those are the hangers up at the the airport okay thank you there are some utility Parcels that are considered personal property the transmission lines are on personal property records but I've moved those into the utility um category and there's a fair amount of talk at there's a lot of talk at AMC about utilities and uh their value assessment and are we I feel like we're by and large uh insulated from that but is this going to increase our our liability there or do do we need so we have 33 taxable utility Parcels so you know 33 if if it's a single fee um 33 times it's I don't know how many splits and combinations we get in a year but I mean it it it's a small number it's a drop in the bucket compared to probably what some counties may have in in the public utility Parcels yeah commission gam thank you Madam chair um I I think it's important to communicate I mean in the process obviously that we've done our due diligence and that we've you know worked hard to make this as fair and Equitable as we can uh to solve a real need uh the perspective I I think to keep in mind as a as a taxpayer is that the Cedar Grove Business Park um right now uh gray is contributing 60,000 to retire that debt and the count is contributing 60,000 which is 120,000 uh that debt is scheduled to be retired by 2031 when I in my previous term as a commissioner and we were talking about how potentially to reduce Levy impact in our budget um it would suggest that maybe some of the revenues from sales or whatever could be applied to reduce Levy however uh the city administrator communicated that they're setting that money aside hopefully to pay the debt down prior to the 2031 due date uh why does this matter it it means that sometime between now and then up to six years that um that 60,000 in Gray translates to $17 uh per 100,000 on a home and if we have a median price of a home of 415 ,000 you take that $17 to retire the debt on the business park times per 100 times your price of your home and you'll come up with the figure this is what you are paying right now to retire the debt on the business park which could go away five or six years so hopefully then that's done if you live as a resident in Cook County you are contributing $2 per 100,000 uh uh towards retiring the debt and if if you're a grand maray residence you're going to pay the 17 per 100,000 plus the two for the county because we got $1 120,000 so that's $19 per 100,000 that we're paying right now to retire debt on a business park which in fact was sold as that if we build it we'll sell the Lots we'll retire and pay the debt off and it won't impact the citizen that is not what happened and here we are right now with a debt that is continuing to potentially 2031 and we have one lot yet to sell to my understanding based upon the website one lot is not going to recoup and pay off that debt citizens have been paying that at $120,000 a year but be mindful that that debt goes away those are dollars that are being expended right now that could be diverted the other thing to be mindful of is that the why MCA which is the debt on that's being retired with a 1% and then talking to Brady that the way that that agreement was drafted that 1% once the debt has retired on the YMC which could be Brady what do you project uh next year okay that that 1% money under the way it's been drafted can be designated now Commissioners prior to my coming on board had built that into to the ERS projections that they would use that 1% which is about 2.5 million that could be designated but that's another Pool of money understanding as a taxpayer about 80% of that comes from our tourism visitors and 20% is being paid at the local level but these are funds that we have that we allocate based upon priority um the other thing to be mindful of is that if you look at the recycle center the recycle center in your 202 budget has a a decrease in revenue of 27% and an increase in expenses of 6% the 6% increase doesn't look too bad on the one hand but a 27% reduction you're going the wrong way with two figures so what what that ends up being is that um and our revenue generated in the 2025 budget is 21.5% 21 .5% of the total expense for recycling center is generated through Revenue the rest of it is 78.4 n% is paid for by taxes in the levy that means if you look at that that if if you have uh uh a $415,000 home which is the median price in Cook County you're you're paying $14 in your Levy to pay that loss that means if we incorporate into the transfer station the recycling that that fee that we're paying right now $14 is going to go away if you have a house more expens or less expenses we can figure the numbers but I think when we do our recommendations this is information we should provide so that you see you take whatever we have that we're paying right now it's not an add-on it'll reduce the exposure based upon the assessment for the transfer station commission and we're also considering in this project transfer transfer station on the East End of the county and upgrading the transfer station on the West End which will make it easier for residents and non-residents to not only take their recycling but also their track not have to drive into town to do it so that is uh um actually I got accolades at the holand post office someone thought that was a great idea um it's the meeting place it seems in hoveland these days so anyway um we're not just building a building to put our trash in in Hall it out of the county it is much more complicated than that and it's much more to be proud of of what we're trying to do so thank you commissioner gam thank you madam chair just one other point I should have made if if you take right now retiring the debt on the Cedar Grove Business Park um as a resident of gramy and Cook County contributing at that $17 per 100,000 we're uh a person with a home that's valued at approximately 300 is going to pay just about 50 bucks that's what they're paying right now okay well thank you on giving giving us a refresher course and on um where we're at with some of the debt we'll always have a certain amount of debt and we always have to think about when we do the levy uh take into consideration so many of the points that um that equal um a fair and um Equitable um Levy to keep our County in good form and everybody taken care of um any other comments from uh Reena that you have heard our conversation here um no unless you have questions for me okay commissioner Mills um and so I'll stay here though in case you it's easier please please uh and so for today um to what degree do we need to make decisions I feel like uh we need to make a decision on which design we'd like um do we also need to make a decision on the uh structure of funding at this point or can we um have a a general understanding of it or to what degree do we need that assessment figured out and maybe Brady um right can help with that as far as well we'll need to know uh what we're going to bond I think we want Ellers here again before we the timing and the amount and Etc that has to be that's key to our what we're going to assess okay right I think it's important we have a Time Factor here too in terms of Permitting and so forth so maybe today with a discussion of the uh fees and maybe get to a decision on what type of building then the next meeting we'll need to have Ellers and make our final decision then commissioner white do we have to wait till the next meeting because I got the sense that timing is really really important so if we needed to have a special meeting like next week Friday whatever uh I think it's it's worth our time to get this project rolling right and now even more importantly in light of and I don't know if it has any impact on this project of what's going on on the federal level with dollars so yeah I I would I would agree with that I think in addition to getting the the uh permitting going you know being able to know for sure that we have a path here so they can finish the plans get it in for that but also being able to um put things out to bid so we can get on the summer schedule is the only way we're going to meet the timelines of the other $3.4 million that we have and the other issue that I'm concerned about actually is uh an understanding that we're probably going to be facing some tariffs uh which could affect steel and um getting things ordered before those go in place uh would help us get more current prices rather than the ones that might be potentially higher which would blow this whole thing up so I I do think time is of the essence um we've certainly been talking about this I know um since last I don't know October November going to this path and and I know we thought we would be able to have this information by December but um the addition of uh looking at recycling kind of extended that for us so um from where I sit uh it would be most helpful if we could know you know really have a decision today and at the very worst maybe a special meeting next week because there really there really are a lot of critical time factors here that will um impact the long-term pricing of this and and maybe even uh jeopardize some of our funds that we've already secured from the state so that's my opinion commission Sullivan I would um ask if we could have the spreadsheet that assessor Thompson created put up on the screen again for a review thank you madam chair and I I do think that the most pertinent time deadline was that if we were going to collect in 25 Brady's got to have his statements out oh yeah by the end of February right uh they have to the statements have to be out by the end of March but we're we're entering we have to have all the um assessments entered in February so great commissioner Gamu thank you madam chair um I was going to ask Reena what would you like to leave the room with today I I think you sort of touched on it and I think the discussions we've had we're well aware of we've got money that through resourcefulness you've generated which is huge and uh you've got encouragement from organizations that you worked with that are partnering with us to try to see this happen which is important I think for the public and uh it's important to know that this is a project if it hasn't been communicated previously it certainly has been stated many times that uh this whole effort has been something that's been going on for at least a couple of years and um there's been a lot of work that's done in that I coming in on it and listening to the presentations and discussions i i i app you but I I have that experience previously as a commissioner when you were head of it that um you you you work hard at Pro providing information so that people can be comfortable we don't necessarily like what it's telling us but the information is there for us to understand so that there's been Integrity in this process and a willingness to to do what you can and answer the questions uh which I appreciate um I think that a board if the board is comfortable that we should be able to make a decision on which type of facility so you can move forward with that I think the decision relative to the um how we do the assessment we might we might want to affirm a concept but get final numbers and see how that translates through ERS so that we make sure all figures are current before we affirm something but I I would be willing if the board wants to have additional discussion uh to see the board um make a motion to be able to support the type of structure that we'd like to move forward the other thing that'd be interesting it's more work but there was a commitment to try to Lo use local construction wherever we could and this is always something we're talking about there are reasons why it doesn't necessarily work it would be interesting to demonstrate just so we understand if that value local instruction construction uh and providers is important to us the difference between that and having an outside company company come in and do the whole thing how that reflects on timeline how that reflects on cost providing that information shows us this value comes to us at this cost right I would that's more work but it I think it it would be good to see that so it's it's very important to Dustin um that we use as many local contractors as as possible obviously there are some parts of this that you know like pre-cast if that's what you chose or putting up that metal structure that require a certain level of construction that I don't think we have in the county but things like groundwork septic systems Wells Electrical Plumbing those all can be done and and I know that he's advised the construction manager that they that they should be able to bid on those in terms of the two Satellite um transfer stations we talked about the one in hoveland and the one in tofy all of Dustin's bids that he presented to you last week all came from local contractors so you're right I mean it cuts the cost because you don't have people up here staying in hotels um and where we can do it I think it's really important to do that those contractors though um where they might not always ask for it will have to be paid uh prevailing wage because that's the terms of of the funding that we have but yeah no that that conversation has already been had and um and I I know quite a few of our local contractors are already aware that those bids are going to be out there yeah so did that answer your question y okay and and certainly when we spend our money in the community that money comes back to the community it's it's a it's a good value just need to know at what cost that is because we hear it right you know let's let's use local contractors and I I think that's it's a it's a good thing it's very healthy for a community and it builds a relationship right I I absolutely agree with you and we need to keep as much money here as we can because it it comes back it gets spent in our stores and in other infrastructure and and in the tax base even so I I totally agree with you and I know that Dustin does as well thank you Rea so we've had a good good review of the some of the fees which can be maneuvered around as Bob said um anybody ready to go and talk about the uh actual building itself commissioner Sullivan that's precisely what I would like to do thank you commissioner Starley um as I have reviewed all the documents all of the bids including the local bids that were provided to us in our packet and through conversations I've had with constituents um there's a lot of support for not only the transfer station but for something in the East and the West Ends to accommodate our community um and as I review this and have spoken to people getting something that will last looking at that pre-cast concrete seems to be a wise use of our dollars um and I'm interested in hearing from other Commissioners how they feel about the three build bus that I'm talking about and then also the type of building the pre-cast for the transfer station looking at the difference really there isn't a whole lot of difference between the two so um I think for longevity whether it's 100 years 75 years the longevity is an important thing for us to consider how do the rest of you feel commissioner Mills yeah i' I i' I think feel similar to commissioner Sullivan just that those satellite um facilities are are extremely important um for the communities on on either end and then um yeah I think the difference was around 500,000 and if that buys us another 50 years in a building that's money well spent um maybe it wouldn't be that full span but I think aiming for that would be that makes the most sense financially and um just I think it's important that we also consider the metal and and looking at the pros and cons of that um but just looking at those differences and then the cost difference versus the the lifespan it seems like that that's the way to go is with that pre-cast concrete so Mr B well and we need to not everybody might even know what we're talking about but when we we had at the committee of the whole we had a a thorough discussion big discussion on whether it should be pre-cast concrete or if it should be a metal building and the what can happen with metal buildings if you hit it as opposed to what happens to your vehicle when you hit a concrete building so we're trying to do the best make the best decisions for our taxpayers dollars to to have a facility that will last as long as possible most efficiently and so we're not saddled with some white elephant like we have with the uh YMCA so let's all remember and be aware so this it's going to cost money but it cost you can't have cheap and good at the same time necessarily so I'm in favor of the concrete commissioner gamble thank you madam chair um in our Workshop we discussed and had presented and and looked at blueprint drawings and U uh were able to ask questions relative to the layout um how you arrived at your recommendation and um I coming in as a new commissioner Reena had a one-on-one presentation in that regard too and and it was evident that thought was put into it and that things that were learned along the way helped Drive the direction of the final presentation and I I think uh well when we were in that Workshop we recommended asked requested that they would send us the pros and cons relative to each of the buildings which they did thank you so that we could simplify our understanding of what are the advantages disadvantages and I think when you look at the difference in the money as commissioner Mills referenced uh the 500,000 500,000 is significant money but uh uh understanding uh the difference in costs which is ultimately what we're looking at with a short-term or a long-term investment and the maintenance cost and durability those are huge issues so I think from the industry you can learn uh looking at those pros and cons to help inform your decision and I certainly would support uh the concrete structure for multiple reasons and I think it'd be good if we as Commissioners uh when we finally know where we're going of what we're doing in this regard that we partnership uh with Dustin Reena and the providers to put together information that helps us understand why the decision so that they can benefit from what we benefited from as Commissioners going through this process and being informed thank you commissioner Sullivan thank you commissioner storle um as we look at the Waste Management Services that we're talking about today for Cook County we have to realize that this transfer station has the potential to do so much for our County it's going to cover our residents our visitors State national parks our campgrounds waste collection for all our businesses as well as households and it will help our construction industry giving us an opportunity to have a place for demolition materials right now um we've had the mpca involved and time is of the essence they are supportive of us moving forward with this it's really important it gives us a chance to do something for our environment having an indoor facility is going to reduce or eliminate the risk of pollutants becoming Airborne or leeching into our groundwater it's going to protect Lake Superior from Forever chemicals which are in the news every day and it creates operational efficiencies which are going to help us from now into the future So based on that I'd like to make a motion that we move forward with the concrete cast transfer facility and the satellite facilities as planned on in hovland and in tofy and do that with a predictable manageable plan which means that we look at classification as the method to do that I think today to reach those dollar amounts for different categories of classification might be challenging we can do that with a special meeting maybe next week but I would like to make that motion okay so I have a motion is there a second I'll second that any further comments or questions commissioner um I I'm supportive and um I just uh would like to to know more about if a special meeting is necessary for uh figuring out the the further classification again very willing if it is uh if if we can hold off until our next regular business meeting I see efficiency there so I I think um we need to make sure that you know how you're going to secure the money you know is it going to be by Bond you know is it a a solid waste Bond or is it a Geo Bond or I mean not a GE Bond probably solid Solid Waste Bond um so I I think there's you know once you make a decision things can start being ordered until you make that that last money decision we can't you know so that's that's I mean putting this is what you're about to decide is very important but I I just need I need you to understand the constraints the time constraints that you're putting on by delaying the monetary decision because until that's actually decided no one is comfortable ordering pre-cast for a building that size okay right so at least I I wouldn't be commissioner Sullivan so if we could have that um spreadsheet put up again apologize I like your work assessor Thompson um I personally am very comfortable with what I see here in terms of the annual fees um I believe it's something that we can adjust as a property is developed it can be changed so given that I would like to amend my motion to include these particular fees and commissioner white um do you agree with that Amendment so we're looking at 4280 is correct yeah we we're we're not I think r on it address that ran I'm yes you excuse me um Bob can you provide some insight or maybe even adjust the numbers here the the motion that was made was to include the preast which was at a Project funding gap of 5.3 5, 360,000 and $67 as well as the two Satellite uh transfer stations which had respectively a a 280 280 280,000 $280 as well as a243 401 cost associated with them for a total funding gap of 5 point or 5 5,883 748 so based on the motion that's the funding Gap based on the numbers that we received from the cow and and if I'm understanding it correctly that's the number that we would want to put forward through the spreadsheet to to have addressed to see the fees yeah when when ERS came up with that number 383 that was based on a total cost of the facility of 5.2 million and then two over two of that is already covered so this is a this is a bigger number they haven't done an analysis on and what we saw last week right they haven't switched that so the fees are going to be higher than what we're seeing now likely but although they built room in that analysis it actually covered more than the bond payment so they built room into that but even so it's going to be I believe it'll be larger than that but the second point is uh it was uh let's say preferable to start fees this year but it's not necessary uh if you issue bonds you know in the spring we're not going to make a payment until 2026 so we'll be if we if we don't get the fees in this year um we will be generating them in the year of our first payment so it's not this it's not critical it was something I put out as yeah if we could get all this done it'd be nice to start the fees this year but it's not required for sure and they can also put off they can do things like interest only we've done that on many bonds it's not preferable to do that but we literally will not have a payment until 2026 and then we'll be collecting the money in May of 26 so we'll just be we'll be behind by one interest payment so we have a motion on the floor that's been amended Yeah by uh commissioner white any other discussion on that commissioner G thank you madam chair I I would like to make uh I mean I think the language was specific to the figures that we see and I'm respectfully I'd say I think it's a premature to lock into a figure I think we can make a motion if you're acceptable to Friendly amendment that that we uh support the concept but the finals need to be defined by what Ellers tells us with current numbers and then those numbers get plugged in and now we know but if we lock into something now we have a motion that we're going to have to go back and deal with so I would say that we if if Reena if this would help you under in what you need to do from a timeline standpoint and Brady that if our if our mandate is to uh approve the concrete structure and the classification uh methodology and assessment subject to final numbers okay so commissioner Sullivan can you repeat your motion to amend the uh fee so the amendment would be to um consider not consider but to uh go with the predictable and manageable use of classification as the method for payment subject to the final ler numbers right yeah right to wait until we have that we can get that through Brady and ERS okay now any more comments or questions commissioner Mills uh do you feel comfortable like I I I heard you saying you're not comfortable until we have the final final but listening to Brady is hoping mhm well I I guess I thought that that's what we were going to see in the spreadsheet today so I was a little surprised to see that older number um and and I want to be clear you can make a decision to move forward which is in good faith I understand that but no other work is going to move forward until you make the decision about bonding it just can't because if if that that is subject to seeing you know those final numbers again nobody can order off of that nobody can prepare start preparing bids for that no one can can do that so time is still of the essence for that final decision and if if you can't make that today highly recommend the idea of a special meeting um in the near term as soon as ERS can get those numbers because your next meeting isn't until the middle of February and that's starting to really push the construction season in a very bad way um and also ordering so yeah I just don't understand why we can't proceed because we know we have the money we know we're going to be collecting the money um do but but you haven't decided I mean what I heard um commissioner gamble say was um we'll we'll make this decision um and and then you know based based on what the finer numbers from Ellers we may modify that that's what I heard him say mhm that's the fee structure but or the structure is that just for the fee structure or is that that's the fee structure I don't think we without M chair I don't think we can approve a number that we lock into without actually knowing our cost so what we're saying is we approve by the motion that the the uh what's been presented to us is the concept is what we agree to we just need to make that final number based upon our ers I I I misunderstood I'm sorry I thought I thought what you were saying was you may change what you're proposing based on I think everybody's in agreement that we we like the concept it's just that final number we don't want to agree to a locked in number without knowing our final and and my only hesitation there yeah is just looking at you know uh if it's going to be the same rate for vacant versus residential and that sort of thing but the final big number I think we're all on the same page of and I'm not going to drag it out if the rest of the board feels like we should just use those equal numbers if that's the way to make it simple and easy or whatever that's but I just think we there might be good reason to look at the differences between the classifications is the only further discussion I would need there so I I would just say I'm sorry I I misunderstood that's why we're talking yeah thank you got a foot that's been hobbled you're distracted I just want to note that I did not land on my head so um this time but um yeah no I I still think though sooner yes is better but um we can certainly start getting people to prepare uh information that they need to send to do the orders so um Madam chair I would just ask Brady if when do you think ERS can get those revised well I think I think you sent them all that information last week so um I'm communicating with them right now so maybe I'll have it before the end of the meeting Okay so we've had a motion which was amended is there any further discussion comments Madam chair G commission oh I would just ask if if we've got that clear in the minutes what that motion is thank you okay good Bob thank you madam chair so I if we can just pull up the spreadsheet once la one last time so if you're if you're making this motion on the structure of it the way I would Define that is if we're looking at you know this First Column which is still based off the old ERS number the way that's broken out is that you know Apartments Resorts commercial and Commercial bare land are double the fee of any other property taxable property I also just wanted to point out you know I know Brady said that they had kind of projected a 5.2 million in in that 383 first year collection I looked at the spreadsheet which is only in a PDF format so unfortunately I can't manipulate it but it anticipates growth in both the numbers of properties at a percentage 3/10 of a percent and then also the amount collected as a 2% increase each year so there there's too many factors for me to just punch it into a spreadsheet right at the moment unless I had ERS but this column that I've highlighted would anticipate a 30% increase over those old numbers and this is what the fee structure would break out to be so I mean we're talking a difference of $13 on the Residential Properties so just just wanted to clarify that it it can still be motioned today to set it up this way and the numbers are just figured based on the the final funded number okay thank you on that commissioner gaville yeah thank you madam chair Bob I would just ask is Elders projections that they're using uh reflect what you know to be true uh from the standpoint of that growth and whatever yeah yes I think for the most part I mean it it's it's showing I think a projected increase of 25 residential units so you know go back to those numbers were based off how many residential structures are there in the county and they projected a growth of 25 residential structures so that would be like houses garages even Apartments things like that so I would say that at 25 a year it's a it's and I think that increases slowly to about 27 on the 10th year I think that's an accurate reflection of what we're what we're seeing the last few years here for construction I just want to be sure that Ellers was using numbers based upon our reality as much as we know reality as opposed to an industry standard yeah no I and I do recall having a conversation with uh Bruce about that and and what we're seeing in new construction growth so they did do their their homework on that thank you done okay one last time any other comments or concerns before I ask for a vote okay all in favor I I oppose same sign motion passes unanimously thank you everybody thank you very much thank you lots of good questions because that's what we need to sort all these important things out for sure thank you Reena for being here too M Madam chair I'd like to thank the board very much for your your attention and your diligence and understanding and all of this um and I'm wondering uh about the will you plan to schedule a special meeting then or um I'm just wondering we see where we get back or or perhaps you might have that information actually before the end of the day so I will hang around and all right because this is so much fun so you really didn't have to go down the stairs for sympathy vote thank you so much for your doing your homework and I appreciate the work that you and Dustin have done to Shepherd this along and work with the county I I really appreciate everything you guys into it but I'll I'll be back here anything else comes up thanks all right very good so we're going to move along to um Highway and Robbie has been waiting for his a turn here good morning everybody good morning morning hopefully these go a little bit faster um two thing two things in front of you uh first one is an application uh for funding through the protect program and as commissioner white is so fond of acronyms um this is the promoting uh resilient operations for transformative efficient and cost-saving transportation basically an opportunity to provide uh climate resiliency to our infrastructure and so the federal government a couple years ago if you remember passed the iig infrastructure Bill several billions of dollars uh influxed into the country for funding um a portion of that goes to every single state and So within the state or the districts and so in our district uh $420,000 was available um and so I submitted an application part of it is just getting a resolution of support um from the board and so the the project in in question is resurfacing the end 10 miles of the Gunflint Trail 420,000 is a small part of that um as you're aware the cost of infrastructure these days but part of that is replacing a lot of culverts and so um these funds would go towards that and so does anybody have any questions commissioner W are these secured dollars based on what I heard happening federally this morning that is a wonderful question and emails have been sent and we will find out um I do know that the federal dollars we have secured for 2025 are secured and so that's good the big question is is every single Federal grant program going forward um so I would encourage you to please email your legislators and representatives and say how important infrastructure is to Cook County and how important Federal money is to Cook County because we need it um we can't do our we can't do our projects without it so more to come on that wonderful news okay any other questions or comments for Robbie Comm Sullivan Madam chair I'd like to make a motion on behalf of the contractors the residents and the visitors to the end of the Gunflint Trail to approve the protect funding resolution support any questions or comments all in favor I I oppos same sign motion passes unanimously thank you very much uh next thing you'll see on there is something we've talked about the last couple of years it's a way for us to really leverage kind of bulk purchasing basically if you think of the reason why we all go to Costco um this is basically that and so what we've entered into the last couple of years is a joint striping projects pavement marking projects with St Louis and Lake counties um and what it is is we basically play an administrative fee to St Louis County to administer the project I send them information on what we want uh what roads we want striped for example and they put the plans and the specs and everything together they handle the contract with the contractor um and that's how both the upper half and the lower half of the Gunflint got done got done the last couple of years and so the proposal this year is to just do the rest of the county um get everything done um what's really nice is I didn't look at it uh for this well I don't have an estimate for this year's costs but the last couple of years we've been below State average bid price uh unit price per foot of striping and I think that's a pretty darn good deal uh because we don't get that up here and so the fact that we're able to leverage that's pretty awesome so does anybody have any questions okay commissioner gamble thank you madam chair um I had uh opportunity privilege or whatever to attend the uh 101 government um with AMC this past week and um in my previous term as commissioner had attended some Nico conferences related to how you create resilient counties and uh the discussion centers about uh the need for partnership and the willingness to do that and um uh so I applaud your efforts from what I've heard you're very diligent in trying to find money for us and as a county that that uh provides uh a better environment for us to be able to appreciate our our roads and transportation and it also reduces costs to our taxpayers those are both win-win situations so uh again I I'd like to see more Partnerships where we benefit from that and they're tangible and that we can look at the real numbers and see and you made that in your comment when you said we're below you know what what the average is and whenever you can present something like that it it it demonst good stewardship so I appreciate that appreciate so I uh make a a motion then um Madam chair to U support the cook and St Louis County cooperative striping agreement and I'll second that motion any further questions or comments all in favor I oppose same sign motion passes unanimously thank you everybody thanks thank you moving on to Mis we need some laptop Replacements yes thank you madam chair excuse me uh before we we have a request per per board policy uh Capital purchase over 5,000 uh we're looking to continue on with our regular replacement of Cook County staff laptops uh a few special laptops a a MDC or mobile data computer a ruggedized laptop used by our deputies and then a little little higher quality laptop that has some some higher specs needed by our Highway Engineers as well as UPS's and uh Universal power supplies which protect our equipment from power outages brown outs voltage spikes and and such the cost breakdown of of all of those and our replacement schedule is included in the summary but the request is to purchase um those items again with budgeted funds budgeted Mis Capital funds uh for a total of $70,100 to keep us on our regular replacement schedule of this equipment comments or questions commissioner gamble thank you madam chair uh Rowan um not having been up to date on what informs our rotation on these things but U um how do you what your perspective as to our rotation schedule being well informed and the you know the justification basically for these things when it comes to doing budgets and looking at where we have opportunities to maybe manage some things from your expertise you'd say maybe we could you know wait a year we could change this or whatever else and again because I haven't been priv of conversations that have been formed that I'm just asking you know yeah no it's a it's a great question I appreciate it our schedule was actually set by my predecessor who's in the room here today um but we had gone from a 5-year replacement schedule to a three-year replacement schedule and the background information there and the reasoning why is that is because of the failure rate and the staff downtime that we were seeing at 5 years just the accumulation and tracking of how many troubles we have when we get to a four and fiveyear old laptop the amount of downtime that the individual staff that own the laptop or use the laptop have as well as the associated time for our staff to then kind of not in a structured way but more in an emergency way we have to come find your laptop spin up a a replacement move your documents all the associated work with that and So based on what we've seen operation Ally in years past the decision to move from a 5year to a threeyear um has panned out as a good one and it's one that in my role as director I've looked to continue on with mam chair's a followup uh just when you're talking to your peers or whatever do you you know how that plays out in other counties as far as what they're doing in their rotation yeah very very standard yeah yeah thank you appreciate the answer bet any other comments or questions I'll hear a motion so move Madam chair I'll support okay comments or questions all in favor I I motion passes unanimously I'm thinking a too far ahead auditor Brady thank you madam chair so this is the I Revenue Bond Grant contract so we've been talking about this quite sometime 2 million of the grant is for the transfer station and uh 250,000 is for the uh Harbor View um apartment and this is the IB Grant contract and uh We've approved everything up to this point in in the contract it's a standard ITR contract so they they call for uh bids um a little tighter than than our state standards so we have to to fit all that and we have to meet the fair wage standards or prevailing wage requirements for construction of 25,000 or more and uh and so forth uh those are the main ones and regular reporting Etc so if we agree to all of their uh requirements I'd ask you to approve the grant contract Madam chair I should recuse myself from this decision commissioner Sullivan Madam chair I'd like to uh make a motion to approve the $2,250,000 grant contract agreement with I and authorize you and auditor powers to sign the agreement support any further comments or questions all in favor I I motion passes with one recue thank you all we'll take a 10minute break and maybe Brady will have some more information and then we'll go into uh commissioner Sullivan's request on assignments e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e we're returning from our break and we'll continue on um I'll turn it over to commissioner Sullivan um talking about um committee assignments thank you so much Madam chair um you'll recall that the last time we met we discussed commissioner assignments and we talked about um the fact that both Comm commer Mills and I had applied for um the solid waste committee and commissioner Mills maybe you want to remind the public and the board um of that discussion and kind of what you had planned to do oh yeah I uh emailed AMC asking to withdraw my name and I fully supported you and um here we are you got it all right so we were informed late yesterday um there was a meeting that was held by AMC on Friday and the AMC executive committee reviewed all of the interested individ ual all the applications and decided to have 17 Commissioners Statewide to represent all areas of the state to serve on their Solid Waste work group it fits very nicely with the work that we um have done this morning and um so anyway there are 17 individuals and I will be there representing Cook County so one of the things I wanted to do is make sure that that got added on as a temporary committee um for the the committee assignments so that Jan can update the information that's on our website and I'm also aware that there are some other meetings that are occurring that have conflicting times and it's very difficult for example for commissioner stole or commissioner gamble to be in the same PL or two places at one time um so maybe the two of you would like to talk about your conflict um this afternoon yes commission gamble uh thank you madam chair um yeah as a when we were doing our organizational meeting and and uh just looking at um assignments relative to boards and things I I encourage that it'd be good to step back and and spend some time just evaluating these um I know um that we as Commissioners have a number of assignments but then there are some in the public that have chosen to participate at in maybe tourism or other um areas and I felt it was important that we would have a policy that would inform uh when we would affirm somebody in that position and how we would compensate and there was some criteria in that I haven't Revisited that but I think it'd be healthy for us to identify some criteria relative to assignment so we see the benefit back to the taxpayer for the time the resources of both time and and money that's involved in being part of these so just saying that on the front end uh because of some uh one-time events in association with the AMC and things it's been a bit confusing looking at schedule and not having conflicts but um I know this afternoon there there's conflicts because of uh committees the building and then uh also I think it's U if it's the University of Minnesota it's extension yeah extension yes and we would be both on that I'm not familiar with the community um Center board I've never attended any of those yeah and previously I was on the extension and the the U uh well and the community center the two two boards and um uh so I think it's it's looking at I mean in in an ideal situation if we had our opportunity to evaluate benefit and we look at that now we know what we've defined as this these are important then I think we could assign accordingly if there is something by Statute because of funding or whatever that we need to participate that pretty much answers it but um uh otherwise I pending that discussion I I think um we'd have to look at what we want to do with the with the conflict that we have right now your conflict relative to mm I have budget is after and and on here I just noticed that I don't have a listing for the um extension so we need to add that I'm also name Co County Extension yeah okay you can just make a note extra note and the the thing about that is that we the state requires two of us to be there yes inste of you know my being the primary and you would be the alternate both of us have to be at the extension Community Center is a little bit different yeah yeah yeah J if you look down near the bottom you'll see un U of M extension committee oh you of them okay yeah and um I'll rename that because I checked with Anna clob Bashar and it I think it's the Cook County Community extension committee or something so I'll that's probably why you were maybe looking somewhere else so I'll yeah and the meeting times yeah meeting times are fluctuating we're not meeting when it says here so we'll just keep that open for whatever rather than put the times there it's the even the date gets moved around depending upon what the extension staff um has going for them so mam chair can you can somebody tell I know what na normally means it's not applicable or not available or whatever but in our application here why are we putting that in there when we have somebody that for instance I un un University of Minnesota extension committee it says na would it not show the other individual in that column as opposed to an NA and that's where I I guess I get confused when there is somebody else that's on that committee it should show who the alternate or who the other participant is as so would you like the are you saying commissioner gamble you'd like the primary person listed rather than na if there is a primary or in the case I I would like to know who the alternate or primary or whoever is so in the case of the U ofm when there's two if it shows under your listing then because I'm also on it I think it's there that way when you look at it you know the representation if that makes sense oh sure because an NA to me when I know there's another individual is confusing I think it should show whoever else is whether they're alternate or primary just show it right that makes sense my mind yeah that's why we go over the list periodically you know to clarify all of that so um so you're not able to go this afternoon and no because I'll be at the building and when I look at it I do have an orientation that that I'm going to be doing uh with a chair uh relative to one of these two and it's on my calendar but but I the building thing given what's going on I I feel like I would like to be at that one so I'm schedule for the budget yeah it's budget and Facilities budget and Facilities advisory involves the chair of the County Board yeah and one additional commissioner yeah the other thing is that this is the really the first time we've had a good packet from the community center info um and I think probably because we've had some interested people who want to join uh the council so we could say you know for the next meeting give us your minutes and all of that and then we'll try to you know work something out but basically um neither one of us are going to be available for the community center meeting and I had sent with the hospital we had that conflict and at our last meeting I just checked to see if anybody the alternate you know would be available and he weren't and I wasn't because AMC but I sent an email and explained why there wouldn't be representation you know at that past meeting yeah we did have some discussion on that Stacy wasn't real sure about the real reason to attend the meetings I would I would agree with that in my past experience and attending and you're there and I feel awkward if I leave early but then a lot of it isn't necessarily relative I think some of these things can be communicated and and the benefit that gain can be there without the resource invested and it's not to diminish the value no of knowing it just I was surprised when I the other commissioner was primary and when I had to fill in I thought really you know but MH should we consider Madam chair um reassigning people to the group this afternoon reassigning somebody from here mhm I don't know about reassigning we could get volunteers Whoever has time but not not that it may be a permanent yeah assignment I mean if it's a matter of somebody want to go on tense so we have representation we we could we could do that but I I think we should do the evaluation to know what we're dealing with as opposed to making decisions without that assessment on this particular one we know we're going to participate um and and uh if if looking at the schedule to see where there's overlap and will be ongo conflict then I would agree that there needs to be an evaluation of that commissioner Sullivan and I are already meeting I'm missing a meeting this morning so I mean when group set um not in particular um a meeting that would affect the board but in the effect of a community um you know I think we both indicated Tuesday Mornings we can't go and could you adjust with the other folks from other areas because it's optional to be a zoom you know so we'll have to work on that too I guess so it gets to your point if if somebody wants to go so we have representation but I would say as far as any decision long term I I would wait till we step back and take a look at a broader scale I thought well if I can make a half hour it'd be like if if it started early and the other one started then I can make that half hour but that's not the way it is it's the other way mhm if they started at 1 yeah yeah yeah yeah so we'll just leave it optional for right now and then evaluate when when we um maybe get their minutes to see what their meeting was about and yeah and then take it from there it's great that they have these um interested um residents who want to be part of of that board yeah Madam chair and and uh commissioner Sullivan and I were talking during the break as far as um assignments trying to create more structure and um I know when we would have our organizational meeting it was and who's going to notify who and what's going to happen and whatever so maybe you want to speak to what we've been talking about in that regard to build make it easier for everybody to understand this absolutely um chair storle one of the things that uh commissioner Gamble and I were talking about is the fact that as time has been spent researching all our committees and when they meet um we went through some files in the administrative office and found um that there are some significant gaps in communicating with the county from these different groups as to when they're meeting verifying their time sending applications that they have received if they aren't ones that are on the County website and so what I would suggest we do is for all five Commissioners as we go to our meetings over the next month two months three months four months so we're getting those quarterly meetings that we make sure that we request that the bylaws of that group and any um applications for um community members be sent to Jana Camilla burka so that we have accurate records on our County website and um those bylaws talk about whether we are voting members or not they talk about frequency of meetings whether it's a statutory requirement or a request to the county but to have that clarification um is really important and I think the easiest and most manageable way to get that information is if we as Commissioners request that information commissioner gaml thank you madam chair and I I would add that uh whether it's included in the bylaws uh sometimes mission statement is not but we should we should know what the intent what the mission of that particular group is because if if we come up with criteria that defines benefit to taxpayers people we represent um we should be able to tie that to the mission to see how that supports why why we attended and how it helps us so we we should have that defined as as well and the other thing I'd recommend in in putting this together because there's so many more on here than previous one as commissioner is that if it's something that we all attend that it either be boldfaced or put all so we know this this is a a committee or assignment that all of us attend and that would just visually reinforce what we might be aware of if we did that in other words all Commissioners this is what we do it's an emergency management whatever you know so um commissioner Sullivan the um meeting that you'll be attending for Waste is will that be virtual as far as you know um there will be in-person meetings and also testifying at the legislature involved with that so this continues through June I understand from their website right so if there's some conflicts we'll see what we can work out mhm with you and um but you hopefully I know Julie will be on top of everything the two chair will also U chairman Johnson from Grand Rapids and we'll we'll have a program shall we say in the next few weeks so you know what to expect and then we'll know kind of what your obligations are absolutely and then one other concern consideration we may want to um make is that I would um likely be presenting or sharing information with our local Solid Waste committee yeah MH so okay okay so um just continuing on with um the packet that we have from the heart of the continent um maybe commissioner Sullivan can speak to that absolutely um you'll recall that a few years ago we discontinued uh making a yearly contribution to that group it was $99 um but the group had not met in a couple of years and that was during covid um over the last year they have gotten um very organized they had a great uh Workshop up in Grand Portage last year they're doing a lot um that really does have very positive implications for Cook County and to me it seems like that is something we should be involved in so my thought is that um both with heart of the continent and Laurentian divide we could put those on a future agenda and have a discussion and vote to either approve or not approve uh financially participating in those groups I don't see in here where they have any immediate meetings coming up to you not in that particular flyer there's information on their and that's why I felt um putting it on a future agenda would be appropriate sure commissioner gamble anything you'd like to say about the Laurentian group uh thank you commissioner suan I I did attend yesterday commissioner White had attended and I contacted her asked her if she was going to attend or not I had been on that uh committee previously in my term um there were very beneficial things we held a number of workshops on um on on important things that that affect uh the uh Watershed and um so I I felt that there there was real benefit to that within the state there were like four of those committees some in the southern portion of the state as well as ours up here in the arrowhead and uh I do recall that many of those uh committees uh uh looked up to the Laurentian committee up here they wondered how do we do it because funding is a challenge and you create your funding through workshops and different things and and sometimes there's grants and there were Grant monies that came from Enbridge um but all of those others have gone away and so we're we're the Lan one um I think the criteria that we Define as Commissioners relative to benefit to the county is critical to understand participation uh in attending uh yesterday uh in the financial report it shows dues paid and and when I questioned it we haven't been paying dues for the last two or three years at least and so I wanted to know if there was a conscious decision on the part of the board to say we're withdrawing and I know there was a committee that I sat on that I felt it was not beneficial I felt leadership was poor and there were issues at AMC with this particular committee which I think they still brought them under their wing uh and so we didn't we no longer participated with them and that's got to be based upon whatever criteria so when it comes to the Lenin um I I would just like to as you say in a future discussion I'd like to look at these relative to benefit I have no recommendation I was going to talk to Jim Hall was on so Soil and Water and uh he attended so he's been there many years he's certainly since retired but um just to ask him over his tenure what has been the real benefit and to the extent that we see benefit like heart in the C if if they're if they're providing benefit or if they go away for a time or whatever we just want to understand is this good stewardship of our resource of time and money and so I have no recommendation at this point without doing some research and then wanting to know their uh uh participation fee due is $400 so okay so i' just defer that to further discussion so any other comments on assignments right now oh um yeah I I'm on the um department of children youth and families uh inter agency um committee which is um you know the new department that um split off of um DHS and um Corrections and um and is taking on just kind of a a spattering of different state agencies to try to focus more on on children youth and families and soe there are three Commissioners on that um and uh quite a few staff on the county on the county team and then uh we meet with the the state agency and the state staff staff um and you know it's a it's a new department and so it's really just trying to keep up to speed with how things are rolling out and the either the direct impacts or perceptions that counties are seeing and feeling um throughout this transition and just having those lines of communication and uh and developing a a healthy culture there um um I'd say uh you know it's probably the biggest l I've had uh in the last year as far as committees are concerned um it's I think there's uh two two just County team meetings a month and that's on Mon uh every other Monday and then um two um Wednesday uh meetings which is with the state as well and so um previous discussions with the board here it doesn't make a whole lot of sense um necessarily to be compensated for all four of those each month um but I was hoping for one of them um and oftentimes um the perdm wouldn't even necessarily be relevant because there's other meetings the same day and so um it's just giving giving some compensation and some flexibility there but um happy to defer that um to to further discussion again um but just wanted to put that on our radar again okay anything else on assignment thank you madam chair Brady in the budget um when we did projection for cost for Commissioners and in attending events and things like that PM pdms we have sort of a handle on unless something new is cropped up when we're doing the budget process the mileage issue is is an issue that looking at that um given how that's changed based upon the federal allowance do you feel I mean if it's a moving Target so it's hard to say but I just say when you're doing budge you call say what do you think the government's going to do here what do you think electric going to do here then it helps to know if there's going to be increases in areas yeah and in this case the the bigger unknown is how many meetings you guys attend yeah because that's changed dramatically since Co I know I know it and it's been slowly getting larger but we're not we're not up to the budget yet that we're uh actually budgeting for so yeah I feel good about this year yeah that's what I think we have to look at it's not the number it's what's what's beneficial what what what has substance that really matters you know in representation and uh the information that there there might be ways of garnering that uh being less expensive and more succinct yeah but always reevaluation that's for sure so um commissioner Gamble from the days when we served we had a set amount of committees and then we went home and we worked on that today a committee could go into two or three subcommittees That's The Power of what we're into now it isn't just what we're assigned basically yeah um Child Care came in um you know cannabis came in I mean we could name I don't know how many different categories that each of us then now takes into account for attending you know because it's all important it's like AMC they're putting out a request for interested people on Behavioral Health well I'm very interested in that because I represent ni in health and we talk about you know what's happening in our country and then in our County and also I'm thinking about that I don't know what the commitment will be but you know so it's like we always evaluate how important is this and can I do it you know so that's the big difference between 2013 and now yeah okay any other reviews or comments on assignments okay great thanks for all of your input so we'll move on to administrator updates thank you madam chair I we'll start with the hiring of the County Administrator process we received notification from DDA as they had mentioned they would look to take of our 41 applicants uh Advance 10 to 15 they found 12 of what they believe are the best candidates from our pool and these 12 candidates per the the process for DDA will uh take work personality index tests uh complete an information disclosure disclosure statement which is geared to explain any negative press or resume gaps that that they may have they'd like to address uh and then of course as we've discussed the online video interview and so they the goal and the hope of of DDA is that we the board can convene at a a special meeting on Monday February 3rd and which as it would turn out might tie in nicely to our discussion for the transfer station yeah Bruce has already said yes to Monday morning very good so seems to be a theme there transfer yeah um so uh from there what they're looking to do is to give the board access to all that information um that I listed on the candidates have you all review before our next regular board meeting on the 11th and then have uh Pat from DDA be on the board meeting again on the 11th to go through how you viewed the resumés and the videos and have you score the candidates and something to note for again for you all as was included in the the email that I I passed along from Pat but for the public as well um we be referring to the candidates uh by number and not disclosing their name as it wouldn't be public yet at that time um with the goal the larger goal and the process being get the board's Collective feel on the candidates to narrow down to five finalists that we've discussed previously and reserved that date March 5th for the final in-person round of interviews um so it would be review semi finalist in reference to to numbers not names um but also review and approve a process for the March 5th in-person interviews um things that that DDA would like us to consider and that we'll we'll talk about um consider reimbursement of Apple applicants for interview expenses consider making available remote interviews uh consider options for showcasing and informing candidates about Cook County determine the interview day schedule uh interview panels and participants as well as lunch arrangements and especially that last one the the panel and participants um ties into a recommendation that I've shared both from the mat team as well as our Personnel commit to as we've done in the past when hiring a County Administrator have the ability for department heads to provide direct input on the finalist candidates on those inperson on the finalist March 5th interviews however we the board decides to facilitate those um moving on to the other updates that I have uh LEC expansion and our our work with bkv um we had a uh the last round of meetings have us looking at a single story option and um we're still on schedule uh for coming to the board even with those changes uh February 25th with a recommendation on a on a schematic and a design and from there it would be for the board to decide um how we would like to do additional public information session if we would on that final design if the board approves it um that schematic or not um some of the highlights there that again just to to share this reduces the size of the the building by about 1,800 Square ft um takes away the need for an elevator and some stairs and some other things going from a two-story to one story which are facilities Direct Brook Bard tells me he's very happy about um but it does push the building farther north uh into that area which we've we've started to really dial in on the impact to parking um which I think is is pretty minimal I think we we found some good very lowcost Solutions there and uh but it it going north is kind of that ledge rock and that that incline that goes up to the highway department and the gas pumps and so um additional information that we'll get from when we do our our core sampling we'll kind of inform what additional costs may be by going further nor blasting and and such so more to come on that um another item I have to to update on is the transfer station but I think we're we're up to date as we can there um and and then lastly um just kind of continued update on uh deferred maintenance the capital Improvement plan as well as the southwest corner of the basement uh dsgw uh showed Brooke and I kind of a finalized design um that that they're then sending on to a third party for pricing and so once we have um some numbers and a a design to accommodate the office space and redesign the break room and some of the storage areas downstairs to accommodate staff to make more office space um we'll bring those numbers and Designs forward for your consideration but I expect to have that in the next few weeks as well those are the are the big ones okay any questions or comments for the administrator Madam chair Rowan with regard to uh the process in in uh hiring another County Administrator uh we've had some discussion um one question I have uh well do we have an outline that shows the progression of the discipline we're following in this process of hiring in other words it says here's this now you you alluded to that they intended they went through the all the applicants and then they said here's the ones we recommend now we are going to do uh whatever uh to narrow it well 12 that we've recommended and we will do meaning the contractor will do the interviews and ask them five questions and so forth so when we look at this uh when and and I'm not saying because we did it before uh commissioner Stan myself involved in that process of hiring our first County Administrator um we were going to hire a con outside contractor to facilitate the process for us and my recommendation is because this is new to us we can be informed if we do this process and learn from it and so we didn't bring a consultant in until we started to we knew what we wanted we knew what we're going to do and then we asked that they would start to to list for the position uh when the resumés came in we had the opportunity to look at those resumés we didn't have a criteria that said when we do this video representation that as I understand and you're reading the documentation now that we will score them what's our number one number two whatever we had various disciplines that you would score for each applicant so you had multiple numbers based upon those disciplines you would accumulate the total of those and that would tell you whether that was the number one so you might say in the administrative side this person looks like the five maximum this person over here looks like a two when it comes to the interpersonal then this person was a five this person was a one and and so you it was accumulated store but the discipline of having to look at these different levels it wasn't like we tried to do this overall and this is my top candidate because top candidate might be driven by an emotional response of something that affected you as opposed to the discipline of having to assign and wait your decision and then speak to it why do you feel that way and it it it allows for a refining process that brings more Integrity into your final decision the other thing is the five questions that are asked are those five questions questions that the board has put together or are they five questions based upon a profile that we gave them that they came up with their questions do we know what the questions are that they're asking yes uh to the last I would say that the the six questions that DDA uh proposed uh was shared with the board chair and uh collectively we um approve that and those are the questions that DDA will then put through for our uh the candidates to the other questions about the process um the board when we had the conversation um previously about should the county go with an administrative form of government or not and the ctively the board decided unanimously based on the other options and other considerations that we did want to go the board wanted to go with an administrative form of government and at that meeting they also decided unanimously that they would like to hire DDA and and use dda's process for that and so that's the the process that we've been sticking to but if at any point the board would like to make recommended changes or or sees has questions or concerns my practice and process has as we collect information from DDA I provide the updates immediately to the board via email and always ask if you have questions or concerns please reach out to me and I'm more than happy to coordinate that and make suggestions on how we can improve the process to to better meet what the board's looking for Madam chair um thank you Ron as part of the AMC you know uh government that I attended uh one there were two things in that agenda that I really was looking forward to and one was County administrative former government and uh the other was uh a thing about U just how given the uh the culture that we find ourselves in how do we have conversations and uh work together and it's part of why uh my participation in the northern Count's land use Coordinating Board that I sat on previously I look so forward to uh because we had people with different ideologies different perspectives uh but the mutual respect and regard for each other and the willingness to work and the willingness to defer to somebody that you might have a different ideology but you agreed with the values that you were protecting those were all healthy things and it made it attractive to want to be there and participate because of that commitment and so when I I look at this process and and I would say and and Reena can back this up that um when we unfortunately lost our first County Administrator uh the concern on the part of the the Matt team and staff and Reena came to me and said there's a concern that you're going to the board's just going to move forward and hire too fast and we're concerned about that and my response was um that that won't happen if if I can influence Direction uh because we had spent so much time and energy in this process transitioning from what we had to our County Administrator form of governance and you can see from the human standpoint there be an inclination to want to just say oh my goodness do we have to do this over again and so that was the concern that I think that that the mat team was expressing and so we wanted to be sure no we we cannot say we're weary and we don't want to do this we need to do and build into it the Integrity that we did in the in the first place I did speak with a commissioner uh who uh is from County that we had invited in three or four County administrators that were respected in our analysis as to whether to transition or not and ask of them what is the expectation what should we expect if we make this transition what should we be looking for the one U County Administrator who we interviewed I asked is he still there and he said no he just retired I said what is the perception of his role in that particular position he says he he is so highly respected and admired what he brought to our County was was structure in an environment where it was very evident what we you know would be doing would be um effective create a culture create efficiencies and um his U his motto basically are charged to employees to the community everybody that he consistently would say if it's not ethical moral or in the confines of the provision of rule or law or policy we should have nothing to do with it and I've always maintained whether it's budget negoti or anything we need to have established a set of values just like we talked about with committee assignments do we have a set of values that defines when we will and when we will not participate it's a good discipline because the emotion especially in negotiations things like that can get out of hand and they'll take you off what your focus should be and so my point is is that I I think in this process what we have missed is we have we've missed public involvement which should ask what is the Public's you know take on this that informs our decision and we I I personally would like this retired individual uh to be able to speak to the board to understand what is the role and responsibility of a County Administrator we were not familiar with it the individuals we we've hired have not been in those positions and so we're sort of all wrestling and defining it not necessarily based upon best practices and when AMC Julie said what could we focus on in the future I said we should focus on best practices along across the board it is a discipline and structure that helps us to understand this is the way you do things and it at least knowing that you can have a discussion and then determine whether or not you want to change but it better be substantiated by things that justify that change so I I would say that um uh we're sort of abating some abating some of our stewardship responsibility in this process to come to a conclusion that is in the best interest of the people that serve us as employees as as well as the constituents who put us in this position of stewardship responsibility so i' i' I'd like to have Community input and I would like to have um I know there's been some staff you know input but if let's just say if I'm correct on this we've got 50% participation 50% participation we wrestled with this initial because people are fearful of communicating and even if they have Mis givings they won't say it because they're coached to say always leave the bridge you know and and leave with a positive and so don't be honest about these things that are things that we're responsible for making sure we correct in in the culture in the environment and in the administration of governance and um I uh we worked very hard and we talked about this we kept going back and going back because we were trying to establish a trust relationship with employees that they would trust us to be stewards of the information they provided that would inform our decisions so whether it's exit interviews whether it's interviews on a particular issue 50% is not acceptable and that's on us because the culture is such that people aren't willing to be straightforward so I I would like to see us more involved I would like to have seen all the the resumes I would like the discussions and the responses that are coming from the people the contract to come to each commissioner in any hire uh with a recommendation but we should be seen because we've been elected to represent the best interest of constituents and we don't do our due diligence when we just delegate that to a couple people to make that decision that's my position so Rowan I appreciate you sending out all that information I think we need to look it over again um commissioner gamble um we are learning a lot in what we look for expectations in the next administrator I think that we have not the knowledge ourselves to do hiring on our own that's why we've gone with David draw company the last two administrators and they've taught us a lot in terms of what they do for us now we have great comments from the mat team from all of us and I think that possibly once we get um discussing this on Monday maybe some other things will arise but I have faith in in this company to look and sift through all of these candidates which we know are just people submitting their name just for the fact they're submitting their name they're not all going to be qualified and that's why this company sees their qualifications and eliminates them down to what eventually we will have as five and I think we are elected to make certain decisions and one of these decisions is the hiring of people and especially this particular position as administrator and all of us met individually with David and um brought up a lot of concerns a lot of positives and a lot of this is how we how I would like to have you look at a candidate so that's been a process that keeps developing I don't want to see turn over but unfortunately we've had situations where we've had them but I think each time we look at um the uh position we add more continuity and more um concerns and more things to discuss so let's just look at what um Minister Rowan has sent to us come with questions on Monday and um maybe other things will develop when we discuss this commissioner white um to commissioner um Gamble's statement about us getting information from a well-respected retired administrator obviously it's a different County different sizes different different uh flavor probably but it is a job a job and if indeed this particular retired commissioner could maybe give us a little insight into things that struggles that had been presented to him or and then Solutions or pitfalls that we' not aware of I would think we all know that there are people that interview really well but it doesn't mean they can actually do the job really well so if I would be in favor of having just a phone call with this particular uh retired uh administrator to be able to get some insight from him that's all not because we still ultimately make the decision and the more information we have the better equipped we are to make a good decision for our people maybe he lived in a county where I I can't even come up with some sort of ridic ridiculous scenario but um it it wouldn't it wouldn't hurt if we had one more little piece of information from someone who was well respected who did a job and assuming that the people that were giving him accolades were not on a payroll someplace to do that that we could maybe benefit from it only if it did not slow us down immensely and so come the time when school starts Rowan's still sitting there because we haven't made a decision okay I've heard your comments I think we should discuss this see if it's applicable on Monday okay and I'd like to move on so we have a special letter that commissioner Sullivan has received correct yeah which I just shared before um in regards to Allison oh yes yes so Alison would you come forward so we had a really good piece of news last week and um I would like to just compliment Allison and also plaman for the incredible Financial work that they have done with phhs we received a letter indicating a perfect perfect reporting by our phhs department and I know Allison that um it's not all your work you have staff that are part of this but I'd like you to take a minute to just share with the public your thoughts on the county receiving this letter about your incredible work thank you commissioner Sullivan and chair storle for the opportunity to give credit not to myself but to our fiscal team Plum and Deitra Leah Leonard Andy dor for their fantastic work in meeting all of our state reporting requirements in calendar year 2023 these are 32 different complex reports across Public Health and Human Services that they are required to complete on a quarterly basis as well as annual reporting uh 20223 was a dynamic year for our team each of those staff were new to their positions in 2023 following the the resignation of our former fiscal supervisor in a series of internal promotions so it's really remarkable that in that year of change that team was able to complete all of the state mandated reporting requirements and in perfect order so thank you again for the opportunity to recognize them we appreciate um from the public um PHS from the state jod harpstead sent the letter and commending you and your team and everything on and I'd like to have that submitted to our minutes so it'll be in our packet for next week so absolutely I think it's important for the public to see that letter and for your team to get the great recognition that they deserve thank you thank you perfect is a pretty high mark okay so we'll move on to employee concerns commissioner reports um does anyone have any meeting they'd like to update us on commissioner Sullivan certainly well um had an opportunity to meet with the airport advisory commission and I appreciate commissioner gamble being there as the alternate so he could could meet the group and become familiar with the things that they're working on um one of the updates I want to provide is that we had had um a concern from the mpca about a um gas warning system on our av gas at the airport and the part did arrive up at the airport and so when the weather is a bit better an electrician will be installing that will be up to speed um I also had an opportunity to meet with um cclp the Cook County local energy project and um you know they have been working without an executive director for months and everything's kind of on hold because of grant funding things that are happening at the federal level some of the funders are not real certain um what will be available to them in the future um but one of the things that was discussed at this meeting is to continue to talk about how they can share Resources with uh Public Health and Human Services with our HRA regarding the energy and envelope project we also had a safety committee meeting in which our award from December from mcit was discussed and mcit will be sending a team to Cook County on May 13th and we'll take a look at some of the things our Safety Committee has initiated I want to thank both Jan and Adriana for their work on that committee and and uh shepherding good practices good safety practices and improvements here in the county one thing that's been done recently I know everybody has seen them who's been in the building is the fact that our AED um kits now have overdose kits attached to them and there's really good signage there and that is not only here in this building but throughout our County facilities and then we have laminated cards thanks to Adriana in our County vehicles reminding people of what to do in the event of an accident so all the contact information in there is updated and we appreciate that and then uh yesterday commissioner white and I um participated in the AMC legislative update looking at the impact of shifts um from State funding to County funding and um both Rowan and Brady are uh aware as well as Allison of some of those shifts particularly important to our community are the shifts in resources picked up by the county in terms of phhs Behavioral Health and administrative costs that no longer will be sent to the county so um we will be diving into that I know Brady is really involved and coming up with what kind of an impact that will have and so he's working carefully with Allison's fiscal team to make sure we get that information um in the very near future and we'll be sharing that with AMC so that they can prepare their presentations to the Senate and hopefully eventually to the house um as we move forward but they are AMC really being strong advocates for us in terms of making sure that counties are not picking up that shift and picking up that burden and uh lastly um regarding the H's search for an executive director um I am hopeful as is commissioner gamble that you will have a release perhaps later today in that regard and that would be my updates anyone else yeah a number of meetings probably to to update the board on um the first one was um uh Eda related regarding the um uh implementation of the deed grant that we have for um both tanite Harbor as well as um the transfer station um just kind of going through the process of what what's involved there and um making sure that there's good lines of communication with our uh Eda director and and the state um reporting um on the grants and um and so that was uh informative and I Brady was there too and um and and Mike Roth as well and um just kind of the it sounds like the biggest concern or hurdle is just the burden of us needing to prove report on the proof of um uh Fair wage uh and and you know I think there's a number of projects that um that are going on that are going to have that so I I didn't have a whole lot of concern but um administrator Roth wanted to make sure we didn't downplay that burden because it is uh it is a significant task um what else um then of course we did meet as the Eda um and probably the biggest uh piece of news there is um finding um and and pursuing a contract with um uh a contractor to to help us sell the the golf course and so um we'll be seeing that contract at our next and our February meeting and hopefully moving forward on that um moving on to well I attended that um DC ifif meeting um and and that was good there's usually a presentation and just updates on on what's happening at that State level and if there's any County concerns and um you know I I joined the group a little late uh the formation of it had been going on for a while and there's other um other groups Maxa and um other um other groups through AMC that have kind of been helping in the formation of this group and so there was a lot more bumps in the road in the p past and still some of the communication issues um come up from from County staff um but by and large I feel like there's a lot of progress It's it's interesting because of course you know some of the concerns have been there hasn't been enough communication we don't know what's going on and then of course um someone's like there's too much communication and I don't need this many emails and and so just finding that balance is is a little tricky but um moving on to the hospital board I I sat um not for the whole meeting um but sat in uh on commissioner Gamble's behalf while he was at AMC and um and going over the um the minutes from from previous meetings I just noted that we we didn't have representation from from the county and um and I know there was some some personal health uh or family health issues going on but I just had been the alternate for a while and had not been asked to attend that so I was a little surprised to see that but uh most of the meeting was focused on just kind of open meeting law and and they have two new board members and kind of getting them up to speed on on what their requirements are and obligations and duties and um the boundaries of their of their purview um and and then I needed to go so I never did get a chance to to give an update and you know before uh commissioner Johnson had been assigned this um task I I had been on it and I uh want to recognize that you know we're not a voting member on the hospital board and um and don't have a whole lot of influence there but um my updates I thought were uh helpful for them as far as just letting them know what's going on in the county um and maybe there's a better way to do that but having that direct interaction and being able to answer questions and and just uh speak to some of the discussion that that we've been having I found was really helpful and then also it benefited me on on um my perspective of what's going on around the rest of the state and what our local uh Community is experiencing and then tying that into AMC and whether it's reimbursement rates or um uh just insurance issues or EMS services like it all getting that big picture I think is really important and and I felt like the hospital board um really benefited my my perspective on the big picture but if the board decides that we shouldn't be attending that that meeting um I I I can see that that perspective too so um the library board was the same dat and um uh probably the biggest discussion was around um there's some discussion about just director review and and Library review and that sort of thing but just the safety of the library as I hope you're all aware there had been some threats made to library staff in the last year and and um and that has really um shaken um the library as a whole and um and going through that we've had law enforcement um do some trainings or a training at least um as well as um federal agencies um giving recommendations and just an analysis of the building and and where the risks are and and to what degree do we want to try to protect and the impacts that has on like the culture or just the layout of the building and that sort of thing so um it was a really good discussion and I really appreciate the staff's willingness to participate in that um and give the feedback and and just their thoughts because you know as board members we're not sitting in the library on the regular necessarily as much as they are so they have a really unique perspective there um and that's probably all all to report on for today okay thank you anyone else Madam chair I'll just give a quick uh outlined of the uh AMC's government 101 um mcit risk management of course is always something as new Commissioners you want to understand you want to understand the role that mcit plays I said on that board previously in my first term I always impressed with the organization its leadership and its discipline the people that sit on their board and the knowledge that they have so uh that's uh it's just refreshing to see an organization that's run well and has good leadership uh so they made a presentation uh open meeting law uh understanding the Quorum issue and um uh gifting issues and it has to be under $5 which nowadays you know I mean AMC had a mug there and they assured us that they paid less than $5 so you can take it home I didn't take one home but um well they you a train yeah I should have if you wanted one I got brought it home you but um and so that was part part of the discussion demographics uh my comment in that regard is demographics um are an an umbrella of understanding but knowing how we get to these demographics what's influencing them is really the critical part and how that plays out to us as a as a county is is looking at our population and its shifts um we know next to Aken County we have the the highest percentage of people uh above retirement age in the state of the 87 counties um we are at a point in our state demographics which is can be probably two across the board within the United States uh that we have more people that are dying than are being born and uh so when you understand well what do these ships in demographics really mean for us as to um let's just look at Social Security and the number of people that you have that are working in funding social security for those that are taking you know retirement benefits but um so my comment was that uh the umbrella picture is helpful but really knowing what's contributing to that is very important so there were significant discussion on that uh the other was the County Administrator U the position and uh and budget budget had two uh administrators from two small counties Rock County and the other I think was Stevens Rock County he's been his position for 13 14 years and uh just an excellent presentation um they had uh there to speak to the issues of differences that exist in counties there are some things that are structural and fundamental that apply to All Counties and so this is why the issue of best practices is is hugely important but when you look at spreadsheets and you look at their process and you look at how they do things uh you've got Dakota County henen County and and the multiple departments and their budgets crazy but um that was that was beneficial so I appreciated that and then the one just um how do you how do you manage conflict how do you manage differences and opinions and and uh that just sort of seems to be something that's escalated in our present culture and part of our discipline is trying to separate ourself and and and our egos and our wants so that we focus on the things that we're tasked to do so all beneficial thank you thank you um I'll just report uh on my report last Public Health and Human Services you remember I talked about Federal cutting of Medicaid and now I understand that Governor walz is looking at that also Statewide so I think we need to be really really really cognizant of what how that could affect our County and um I don't know how many people are involved in Medicaid but um over the next few weeks we probably will know that and just be prepared for what we need to do to um help folks in that particular area okay so we have a list of um all of our committee meetings coming up um and correspondents the community center board that's good maybe we'll continue to have that um on our agenda heart of the continent we discussed that sales tax and before we adjourn Brady do you have any news um no just that uh they're planning to attend on Monday okay good so they they'll work on the numbers in between all right so there we are Monday if I get something early we get something earlier we'll send that out oh sure okay Monday 8:30 a.m. Madam chair do you you know Rowan are we which is going to happen first relative to the discussion on County administrator or relative to the transfer station right and showing up in time yeah I'll defer to coordinating with the board chair as we set the agenda here today but I would I would think um probably have Ellers go first which make the most sense right I think Reena would like that yeah sooner the better as long as not still all right if there isn't anything else I'll hear them oh did you is there a motion to set a special meeting the special meeting was already on the calendar yeah I'll hear a motion to adjourn so moved support all in favor I I oppose sign thank you everybody good discussion on everything DAV and Adriana got it all otherwise you I filled this out last year and you expressing