##VIDEO ID:hU5tyUzt32I## good morning everyone I will call the uh count Cook County Board of Commissioners to order as a special meeting this is not a close meeting this is recorded on the YouTube so for folks who are not able to be here uh you'll be able to view the meeting uh first item on the agenda um is luten mountains application for fireworks permit then we'll go on to the transfer um of the station and we will have um Bruce Ellers on with us then and then we'll talk about the County Administrator and then finally we will turn it over to uh attorney Peterson so we'll start with um the fireworks permit Brady uh thank you Madame chair this is uh a request from luten Mountains for a fireworks permit they do this uh frequently not in a recent last couple of years but the reason it's on today is just that the the event is going to happen before our next regular scheduled meeting so the your approval is subject to the Sheriff's final inspection and and approval we're lucky that it worked out that we had a meeting today for them because it's they were asking for it yeah uh pretty soon to any questions or comments on this I'll hear a motion then to approve so moved support um any other questions or comments otherwise all in favor I oppose same sign thank you so moving on um to the transfer station um Rowan would you like to take over on that sure um over the weekend ERS provided us with some updated numbers and is available for a call um the numbers are based on the conversation that the board had at the last meeting regarding the transfer station the cost options and the outline shops as well as the model presented by assessor Thompson and so this is the the updated numbers based on the those conversations um BR would you add to that yeah so they've they've adjusted uh how the fees are assessed based on the classification method that we talked about at the last meeting and then they've put it into their schedule with uh total revenues and the bond issuance amount 5,900 what the payments are and they've made the payments here fit um what would need what would we need to collect in order to cover those Bond payments so and you can see the fees change with whether or not vacant fees are included um the base fee for residential is 50 when vacant land is included and 75 when it's not so those are the two major changes in those versions the multif family and Commercial is higher also by um $100 with vacant land included and 150 without so any questions and I know Ellers is available I think right now yeah soon as we call give them a call commissioner G thank you madam chair can we uh when we talked about this before it seems like we had three categories to distribute those costs now we have two unless I'm you know not reading something correctly on here but when we look at the difference between with and without vacant lots and and I think our charge at that time was simply to say meaning the homework was to try to uh make this Equitable so that everybody that benefits would participate but at the level that we fought was uh rightly applied fairly applied so if you had a vacant lot would be different than residential be different than commercial but I do not see three I see just the two there yeah you don't see the rest of their calculations down below I think we should get them on in order to explain so good morning this is Bruce good morning Bruce we are morning we have you here with the board on on speaker and Brady and I just give a brief summary of the updated information that you provided us over the weekend and um if you'd like to maybe provide some additional context before we we open it up to questions from the board would that be all right uh sure that would be just fine so I caught the tail end of a little bit of discussion and you know we can work the fee structure however you would see fit um we did update our areas with the new and improved parcel information from the county and the county assessor um the base case scenario um which you probably gathered um is assuming no fees on vacant parcels and just on developed residential and res and developed U multif family and Commercial parcels and in that scenario the fees um in order to sort of fund all of the assumptions shown below would be $75 per year uh for residential parcels and then 15 uh per multifam and commercial unit um again those those uh fees are necessary um in accordance with the lower parcel counts that were received from the county um and I would also point out that they do provide some capacity for both um annual operating expenses as well as future Capital expenses and um if you don't have those uh Capital expenses then you know we could of course look at a a lower annual amount Andor less inflation over the 10-year projected period but we did want to provide some capacity in this cash flow model um not just for Debt Service but for um you know some prospective um cash funded capital projects and and also to build a fund balance of a modest fund balance over a period of time so why don't I stop there and ask what questions you have about sort of those assumptions and that first base case assuming no fees on vacant um parcels commissioner gamble thank you madam chair uh thank you for the explanation um I just would like to clarify with the board in our discussion I guess I left that discussion and this is following my comment previously that I I felt that we wanted to have um a basis that would be inclusive of everybody that benefits from the facility and so therefore we wanted to see scenarios that would be with or without vacant land but still in this what we see represented here is we see without vacant Parcels uh and when we say with vacant Parcels because it says residential multifam and Commercial we have two categories and I don't see where the vacant parcel is included in that unless the vacant parcel is going to be charged the same as the residential is that a correct statement Bruce well again these are just scenarios based on the input that we received from the county staff but um we can look at that second scenario commissioner Gamble and that second scenario assumes that vacant Parcels would be charged the same fees based on their classification as residential and then as the same as multif family and Commercial again you can structure these any way you want again our our task as assigned was to come up with ways of of funding the cash flow um and in that second scenario the property types would would pay it would be $50 per year for residential Parcels including vacant residential parcels and then $100 per year for multifam and Commercial again it's not hard to you know extrapolate between the two scenario iOS and and come up with something in between if you wanted vacant Parcels to pay a nominal amount we could figure that out pretty easily and then you could see how the residential and multif family would have to pay somewhere between you know residential will be paying somewhere between 50 and 75 in this construct and multif family and Commercial will be paying somewhere between 100 and 150 again if you wanted the vacant Parcels to be paying at a lower amount the serve give you two you know bookends if you will on how to fund the cash flow again assuming some level of future capital projects as well thank you Bruce Madam chair the um here again I I just asked the board did you leave our last meeting and discussion on this with an understanding that that we wouldn't look at vacant differently than we were looking at residential I felt that we would be looking at vacant land as it's currently assigned on this document you mean yeah is that the understanding of everybody okay I guess I misunderstood that because I I just thought we're going to based upon what we actually see with the evaluation coming from Dusty on what he's seeing with intake and then how we would create a graft you know distribute those costs and uh so I was just under impression that that was the case but I guess I was Miss understood commissioner white um yes uh is there not vacant commercial land also and is that going to be subject to a higher rate I don't see that on this chart but the question is if there is vacant commercial land with the potential for income greater income than a residential vacant land um what what is the uh feast for that uh again if it's vacant but classified commercial under this scenario would pay $100 per year so yeah so they they just haven't broken it out but it's staying with the classification that it has if it's if it's vacant commercial then it shows up it's part of the commercial on the second one if it's vacant residential it's showing up on the residential line and paying that fee I corre commissioner Mills thank you chair um so so to answer your question commissioner gamble uh when we left the conversation I was under the impression it was my understanding that we were going to be looking at it based on classification correct but not vacant or not necessarily just classification so whether it's vacant or if it's not vacant it's still classified the same and so that's what I thought just for the stability of those payments and trying to make some sense of everything but I hear what you're saying and I don't think it's a bad thing to look at I'm just trying to think about um what we talked about as far as basic services like uh paying for a road whether or not the land on the road is vacant or not um that sort of thing um thank you madam shair thank you commissioner um I I guess intent from my you know perspective is to understand it in the context so that the public when they look at it they say they've thought that through and that seems fair and Equitable when things seem to be well reasoned then people are more accepting of it that's why I'm just saying our position should be well informed and based upon an understanding of how is it being used and trying to look at in the short term and the long term the other thing I would say in Bruce's comment is that this scenario is built on um inclusion of capital expenditures to maintain the facility which under our understanding and the public should be aware is for the county it's owned by the county so we're building into it uh ongoing Capital you know improvements which is wise and Good Financial stewardship the operating cost uh is a little fuzzy to me if it is setting aside funds for the unexpected then I I could see that being a county decision to do that but if it's funds that are set aside to supplement operating costs then I think we we cross a line that's a bit confusing differentiating from our ownership of the building and their operation costs being funded through Services that's all I'd say is i' I'd need further clarification on this scenario that's included in operating costs because I don't believe that that was the intent and I don't know legally if we if we're in a position to be able to do that it would have to be associated with funds that are building up for the unexpected relative to Bill that's not covered in the capital yeah and Madam chair and commissioner gamble I I think I misspoke earlier the those are both categorized as capital expenses and I think commissioner gamble you're right the the sort of purple shaded bar of roughly 25 26,000 a year is a placeholder sort of for ongoing maintenance of the facility the the the the uh Robby below that starting a few years from now would really be for any new um Capital expenditures for let's say maybe expansions of the facility um it was our understanding from talking with County staff that there might be some additional um Solid Waste related Capital expenses um and and so we we included a placeholder for that as well and and that would really be up to the board to decide you know whether and how you wanted to allow for possible expansions of the the the scope of this fund and the capital projects that would be paid for from this fund thank you Bruce thank you Bruce on that I was wondering what the purple line meant so thank you for describing that any other comments commissioner gamble thank you madam chair I I mentioned this last week but we do have some of the public here and and for the public that chooses to follow this um I was trying to look at this in the context of decisions that we make as a board on behalf of citizens of the county that uh we don't layer uh things so that we are adding more tax burden but we look at in the context of prioritizing what we look at as beneficial to citizens of the community and and we offset dollars as opposed to layering dollars and so in my comment at our last meeting I just said there are there are there are actually three things but two things to look at um the Cedar Grove business park right now a citizen that has a home that is $300,000 evaluated citizens are paying in combination with gr maray citizen Cook County resident citizen because there's assessment in each of those categories are if you have a $300,000 home you are paying $57 right now in your Levy that is going towards retiring the debt on the business park if you have what our County Assessor says is the median price of a home 400 and something in Cook County you are paying $85 a year towards the inbt the debted on our Cedar grow business park if you look at the transfer station or not the transfer station but the recycling center right now uh citizens in Cook County are paying $16 annually to subsidize the difference between revenue generated and the overall cost of that so what I'm looking at as a taxpayer I'm saying okay these dollars the business park that debt theoretically we're hoping to pay it off earlier it's scheduled to be paid off in 2031 that if you're paying for a median price home $85 now and you're paying $6 on the 78% that taxpayers are funding for our recycling center which will be absorbed by the transfer station that is my point about not layering additional costs but priority projects and looking at where money is now that will transfer to that if we keep in mind as decision makers that this is how that money is allocated so just that point of information for people that are going to pay Madam chair I I would add to commissioner gamble statements about the recycling center in addition to the operating costs and expenses that he mentioned there's the Deferred maintenance Capital Improvement cost in addition to those as well and so our facilities director Brook lard put together the numbers and shared with the board um going out over I believe it's 500,000 within the first 10 years 30 years is uh a million and 1.6 over 60 years and so when you're looking at a a 100-year building as we are here and absorbing that in addition to the operational costs those deferred maintenance and capital Improvement costs were part of the consideration as well thank you commission Mills thank you chair um the only well not the only one of the things I was hoping that we were going to look at as far as classification was concerned is um residential Homestead being different than just residential um because there are a good number of residential non-homestead in in our County and so how difficult would it be to to break that out and have that be at a different rate and is that just making things too complicated and um not worth it I just think there could be benefit for the residents of Cook County um if we took that structure commission um thank you madam chair um one of the things that we talked about at our last meeting and I know um commissioner white and I think um quite similarly on this is that we want to make sure that um we talked about including vacant Parcels because for people that can afford to have vacant Parcels um it is a contribution we also talked about keeping the process as simple as possible so that we are not creating additional work efforts for our um staff that are looking in these areas and then I also um really appreciate um interim administrator Watkin's bringing up the fact that we are thinking about our transfer station in relationship to our recycle center and what we can potentially be saving as we move to a different facility so given that I I really appreciate the work that Ellers has done um I'm continuing to focus on the sheet that looks at the vacant Parcels with a very clean and simple $50 for any parcel that's labeled residential and $100 for multifam and Commercial commissioner white I'm wondering how are you feeling about it now that you've looked at those new numbers they're slightly higher darn darn 25 sounded much better and it's tough being a land baren um it's it's a community I go back to the fact that it's a community I in I don't know what generation the vacant lands that are in my neighborhood which is huge could ever be developed because of wetland in inaccessibility but it's not saying it won't but um it's the price one pays to live in a healthy place and to contribute to the health of everyone and the well-being and this is not for the tourists this is for those of us that live in this County and ouch I mean that's a lot of extra money a year but I believe that that we need to have an efficient and um reliable way to to well to recycle to do our compost to do any number of things that this facility will be allow us to do besides getting rid of trash which pretty soon the clock is ticking pretty soon well we could have uh small businesses with little signs that say dump your trash here $25 and I'm just kidding but people will find the ditches and they'll find the back roads and and because they can't afford it and I I get that so um I still believe that the the the um vacant Parcels should also be um taken into consideration it keeps it cleaner to commissioner mills's point about Homestead that is it does it make it that much more difficult to consider Homestead I mean people that are actually they're setting down their roots and they are here contributing to the community they are not our weekend guests who own property or not to disparage any of them but people that have actually made a commitment to this community then shouldn't we cut them some slack if we can and it might only be $3 David I don't know but I sure would feel better M Grady Ellers anybody it's all possible it's just the the value of it versus the um management cost we'd have to go back and refigure the numbers then as far as Homestead goes is that right Bruce of course that would take a little while um Madam chair and Commissioners yes but as long as we have parcel counts that County staff feels good about um it it's not a difficult exercise you know I just would say Playing devil's advocate that the fact that we've got all residential Parcels paying the same fee currently in in these two scenarios um you know it already reflects your non your non-homestead people paying in most cases probably more proportionally um as a you know as an amount or per gallon of trash or whatever the right metric is and that's totally fine if if you changed the model so that residential non-homestead paid even more then that balance would tip even further proportionately speaking um you know towards those nonr non-homestead properties than what it already is but again that's totally fine and and within the purview of you all as County Commissioners if I could just add on to that a little bit I I think that was some of the concern concern of assessor Thompson and and he if it was his recommendation that they were structured this way as his office will be getting a lot of the calls and and wanting to explain the rationale behind it um if we do make a change I'd recommend we reach out to assessor Thompson he's um at a conference today but said he'd be available to be reached by phone um but just kind of to add to to what Bruce shared I think that was a concern the intent behind the recommendation from assessor Townson commissioner gamble thank you madam chair I think I we agreed at our last meeting affirmed that we wanted to move forward with classification that was going to be the basis and uh it's unfortunate that mob's not here be able to answer this question the other thing that we agreed is we wanted to made it as simple as possible the third component that I think is of value is that to the public public it should look as Fair as possible and I think in that context that if classification fairness based upon our understanding and asking the question of the provider that we distribute costs in the context of classification based upon awareness to like commissioner Dwight's comment about people that are established here that we can speak to the issue of how we met as simple as we can make it as Fair as we can make it and um so I see with what we've agreed to in the classification if we know what the parcels are we simply take the parcels times that the challenge comes in running the scenario to see based upon what we determine to be fair how that meets the debt but I think it's entirely doable and it it would meet the three objectives if we Tred to be as Fair as we can classification and demonstrate that we've done our due diligence that would be my recommendation commission Sullivan Madam chair as we look at we all agree that classification is the way to go we want to keep it very simple or basic and the fact that properties proportionally pay more um in residential if they are you know part-time residents versus full-time I would like to make a motion that we move forward with the um Solid Waste fund with vacant Parcels with residential being $50 multif family and Commercial being $100 annually commission commission and to go back to the comparison with roads if you come up once a year or once every five years you are still assessed or you you pay for the roads whether or not you use them so in that respect I agree with you so but I still think homesteaders should be applauded for sticking it out but yeah and that's why I say it I feel that proportionally um homesteaders are paying less with this model and so I support it and that's why I made the motion um I'll second that yes and just for for the discussion I really appreciate the explanation from you Bruce and Rowan um and and commission suvan and and commissioner gamble just helping me and commissioner white and all of us helping me go through just what is that balance point and where you know it's not an easy point and I agree that non-residential I'm sorry non-homestead residential residential non-homestead will be paying proportionately more um I'm just always trying to look for that angle for um residential Homestead and um this is this could help uh but but there's probably a better mechanism than than how we organize this so commissioner wait and let us not forget residential that's not homesteaded this is not a primary residence for anybody right so it's people with the means to own another building in another County so thank you MH thank you for helping us commissioner gamble thank you madam chair just to clarify that under the scenario the scenario that we're speaking of and that the motion is made that there is no differentiation between residential and Homestead it just all will pay the same if it's under that classification so basically what is before us is what we're choosing to approve that vacant will pay residential pay the 50 and then commercial will pay the 100 and if that's the understanding and that's what we support that will do it that is your intent commissioner that is my intent yes exactly and what you're looking at is that people that are not here year round are paying more per load if you will more they're paying the same fee that a full-time resident is paying but they aren't contributing as much trash okay commission G thank you madam chair um and then I think it should be clarified so the public is aware that this isn't like a membership this fee that is assess isn't like a membership so that means that you can bring trash there and this fee is covering it this is this is to fund a County facility through an assessment and you will continue to pay based upon the Fe structure that the transfer station has um and I'm assuming that recyclables right now we bring recyclables in and that is a service that's provided and there's no fee associated with that other than what you pay in taxes so just so it's understood this is an assessment to cover the County's investment in the facility correct correct any further discussion because we have a motion in a second on the floor any should it should be pointed out that we as a county have been really uh fortunate through all these years that we've had a private business that has taken care of this for us I don't think there are many if any counties that that have had that um gift as it were um of not having to have well we've tried it to have our own um landfill and everything so this is our Solution on the table at the moment and we do have to look to the Future because the future means Recycling and it means all kinds of situations with trash and construction goods and all of that and that's where this facility will take the a big load off of um an area that we know is not good commissioner gamble thank you madam chair just to clarify that the motion is in support of in other words the board's in agreement that a as it is put out by Ellers here that these figures reflect money set aside for Capital Improvement so in other words it's It's Our intention to leave this because Bruce had said if you wanted to work with those numbers we could reshuffle them but if this motion includes an understanding that those monies will be there for future improvements in maintenance then the motion supports that just so we're aware of that m okay and and Madam chair and Commissioners if I could just jump in for one second I know you're considering a motion but you know this will be a a living breathing fee and um if to commissioner Gamble's um point if it doesn't look like you need to spend as much on on maintenance or if for whatever reason you decide as a board not to pursue some of those future capital projects whether they'd be a facility expansion or something else then of course you could always um not inflate the fee by the 2% that we're showing currently or you could do something else down the road so we would certainly recommend you work with your team there to keep an eye on this fund um and its priorities and its needs and and adjust down the road as appropriate very good point Thank you on that things are always adjustable you know that's the whole n nice thing about having a base then we move and we say we'll be a little more flexible as things happen any more comments or concerns otherwise we have a motion in a second all in favor I I I oppose same sign motion passes unanimously thank you Bruce for all your work appreciate everything and maybe we'll be in touch and to Dustin good for you all right thank you very much thank you Bruce thank you brucee okay J I'm just asking respectfully that when anyone speaks if you would please raise your voice perhaps a little and be right up to your mic it was wonderful to be able to so clearly cuz some of us don't hear as well as we wish we could thank you sometimes talking on M so ad Minister Rowan is there a time frame for a pat to join us uh we told him between uh 9:00 and 9:30 so we can okay give him a call um before we do that um before we have Pat join us on um discussing the um applicants that we have for the administrator I would like to make a few comments um first of all I'd like to say ahead of everything that um there have been comments in the community and um one of the things that we cannot do as uh Commissioners is to respond because the comments are like in a row and it be open law meeting so that's why You' have not received any comments from us but I'm going to give you some thoughts and I always like to go back in history because I think we need to know where have we been so that we know where we're going um so I'm going to take you back to um the early 90s and this is how everything was run here we had a lady named uh Janet simonon who was the Personnel director like what Allison does today and um and Janet was the board Secret AR and she took minutes she put the agenda together and that went on till about the midnights until she realized that she needed some part-time help and then um that because of that um work was increasing so then around the early 2000s um each commissioner was a liaison to the department heads two or three of them at a time and at the time the department heads felt that this was causing confusion and um there were issues that were among the Departments because there wasn't one person helping and overseeing in the different departments by 2013 Janet retired and that was when the first conversation started about maybe looking at an administrative form of government and uh at that time there was a hiring firm who was hired and uh they worked with the board who was on who were the Commissioners at that time and eventually they hired the very first administrator Jay cleft unfortunately Jay uh fell ill and after a year and a half he uh had to leave and so then the County Board again had discussion about um how to uh search for candidates uh company was hired to help them and at that time Jeff Cadwell was hired and after about four years uh Jeff left to go to another County Job and once again the board um had the advantage of looking over the past five or six years to say how is a county Comm administrator really helping us and so with the help of a hiring firm James our last administrator was hired then unfortunately he had a family um event that happened a tragedy and had to leave so starting toward the end of October all of our board members felt that we needed to move forward but we needed an interim and therefore uh Rowan Watkins stepped up he left his Department he's in charge of it he left his Department in good hands I would have to say but um joined us as far as U being a interim administrator and so we've been working with uh Rowan over the last few months so that was the end of October now we're the first week of February and we probably will not have a new administrator until pretty close to the 1 of April and so I feel In fairness to Rowan and In fairness to all of us that we need to to move forward in hiring a administrator to um help facilitate all of our County needs and I would just like to evaluate what is the role of a County Administrator and how do they really help a county fulfill all the things that needed to be done I feel that by having a County Administrator and improved services efficiencies uh we're able to plan for the future we bring uh consistency to the Departments which is really important as um we have department heads and we have employees over 12530 part-time about 130 people the administrator sets policy and Implement strategic planning for long-term capital spending and that's one thing that administrator Yori started a couple years ago we have a strategic plan that goes out to 2030 an administrator reviews and prepares budgets manages day-to-day operations and is active in our community as a liaison between us and all of the community we gathered together um every few months with uh City Administration Grand Portage superintendent Hospital and we all have a discussion on what's Happening and what's going on and fill each other in with all of that an administrator is present during emergency situations an administrator supports employees and disciplines when necessary and I guess the last thing I'd like to say which is really never quite pointed out is the fact that our roles every twoyear changes new Commissioners perhaps will come on board and we have administrator the steady sale who will get us through and help us continue on without big huge interruptions and so I'd like to say that as we move toward our discussion this morning with um discussing um future uh administrator and the company that we have hired um has done an excellent job and looking over all of the candidates and now this morning we will have discussion with them so uh Rowan if you would get P online I will thank you hello you reach Pat Melvin unable to take your call please leave a message all right Pat this is r Watkins with the Cook County Board of Commissioners uh we're just calling you I'll I'll try your cell again here thank you hey Pat good morning good morning uh we have you here uh with with the board and uh we're we're on to your spot in the agenda wonderful thank you good good morning M Madam chair Commissioners uh I basically uh I just wanted to kind of give you an update and let you know that I'm going to be sending out some information later today uh basically it's going to consist of the um work personality index the information disclosure statement and then a video interview from our our semifinalist I know that I had sent um earlier word that there were going to be 12 we have had uh two Dropout because they have taken other positions and then there's one that still has to do the video interview which I'm working with that individual on so uh that information will be coming out to you later this afternoon um and it's with that information that you'll be able to look at that information that'll help you come to next week's meeting with kind of your top choices in terms of those candidates your top choices are the ones that you would like to invite in for an interview and when we talk about those candidates next week we'll be talking about them by number not names because they are considered at this point uh confidential applicants it's only when they get invited in for an interview that they actually become their name becomes public so uh do you have any questions for me about kind of what our next step is do you have any questions about you know how we've gotten here obviously we had a a good number of applicants 41 applicants for the position um I went through and reviewed those applicants looking at what the minimum requirements were for the position and uh I pushed forward to you uh uh 12 the 12 top candidates for the county administrative positions so certainly willing to take any questions uh or have any discussion on anything at this point but uh that's the the short of it good morning Pat thank you for that information um commissioner white um could you please for the public um this is commissioner white district one um morning good morning could you detail Or List what the detail minimum requirements were to uh ex that would explain how the other ones were eliminated sure the the minimum requirements and this was included in the uh posting the minimum requirements were a bachelor's degree in public or business administration or related field and five years of management experience in administration human resources and Public Finance or an equivalent combination of education and exper experience so that was the that was the verbage that was included in the profile that was sent out and used to promote the position to to individuals commissioner gamble thank you madam chair uh good morning Pat this is commissioner gamble District 2 uh have a have a question if it's appropriate uh you can respond if not just let me know but of those finalists that we will be reviewing are any of those finalists that those that applied at Anoka County uh I you know I don't I don't specifically recall any of them being the same as the inoka county applicants uh but I certainly can go back and double check I appreciate it thank you yeah yes good question commissioner Mills what don't I know about Anoka County well go ahead NOA County just happened to be a recruitment that I worked on previously a sign significantly sized County here in the Metro and we went through uh two recruitments uh to find a good fit for an NOA County Mr gam Madam chair uh we had a discussion about this I had looked uh at the uh website uh for DDA and had just looked at all of their past uh the history since 2023 I think or 2013 and so I I tracked all of the counties that had County administrators and then I wanted to see the term that those counties had with the individuals that went into that position to see if there was frequent change in other words how good a job did they do in hiring and then having gone through that and looked at that then I had a conversation with Pat and um I said are there any counties that because we always say if we don't find the right person we will begin again and so what has your experience been over these years relative to we didn't have the right person and we're going to do our due diligence and not make a decision till we find the right person and he said recently in NOA county is a county that they chose to start again and so I wanted to know because it's recent are any of those appli an from an NOA because if NOA said It Don't Fit then of course we can have our priorities and our values but it it was a point of information for me I think probably we're one of the most unusual counties with the uh turnover that we've had to experience both health and family and and when moving on so you know within the last um 10 12 years we've had some turnovers but because of that health and and um family trategy tragedy and moving on it's kind of unusual for a small County to go through this what we are but and we found the right fit we did yes commissioner thank you madam chair I I do have some comments but out of respect for Pat's time I any questions that we have or anything that should be D discussed at this point I would defer to that but I would like to make some comments but I don't want to take up his time with my comments so okay so for Pat does anybody else have any questions about the ranking system the 543 and by next Tuesday we will have had our turn in looking them all and sitting down with them by zoom and uh then coming with our own point system Comm Mills um how many should we come to the next meeting with in mind like how many ranks I would I would encourage you to select your top five five what what I will do uh for our next meeting is I will have a a spreadsheet and I would just simply go around the table asking each commissioner to indicate who their top candidate is the top candidate will get Five Points their second top candidate will get four points and basically all of us spreadsheet that will lay out kind of a point system that will then show where you as a board uh prioritize the different candidates and then we can certainly have a discussion about that so I I would ask for you to identify your top four to five some individuals may only have three that they're willing to hire and that's perfectly acceptable as well but if you can come up with your top four to five that would be preferred thank you commissioner white um will we be seeing their uh personality profiles yes you will receive their work personality index you will receive their information disclosure statement the information disclosure statement is basically an opportunity for them to be uh upfront and forward with you about any gaps in their resume if there's any job where you know there was some negative press we don't encourage going out and getting information from the internet but you know people may bring things up we want the candidates to be open and honest about you know what has happened in their past and then the last thing is the video interview you'll get to see how a person presents himself uh how they respond to questions often times individuals think oh well they've had these questions to think about no they actually haven't what they what happens is that they will get a question about a minute in advance and then the recording goes live so they have a minute to think about how they're going to respond uh and then they have a minute 30 uh that they can talk and provide you with information so those are the three components in addition to the resume and the cover letter that you'll be provided with this afternoon so we can expect that this afternoon then yes okay great thank you on that commissioner gamble yes Madam chair just to clarify Pat Uh in your opening comment you said that we had 12 but since two have taken positions so we can expect five of the 10 so you'll have 10 of the 12 I'm sorry that's right right okay but we're going to settle on up to five yeah that's right 10 and then settle on four to five if yes if you would thank you and another note too I'm I'm perfectly comfortable if you'd like me to stay on while you make your comments commissioner gble if there's anything I can add or contribute it's entirely up to you thank you madam chair thank you Pat I just want to be respectful of your time but I do think that it would it would give you know some context too so that you have an appre appreciation of just sort of the the culture and our history I I appreciate uh the chair's comments on our history relative to County Administrator I will say that um I was privileged to serve as commissioner at that time in 2023 when we were transitioning to uh this County administrative form of governance um and uh we had looked at a coordinator position as well as potential for count administrator so we evaluated that in the context of what do we think would best serve US based upon uh considerable research and interviewing other County administrators that were well respected in Minnesota counties we had three of them that participated and um so we were trying to inform our decision trying to establish our values and um and use that as the basis for decision making anytime you have change and you move in a different direction it's always best practices to evaluate if your expectations are being met and if you do that part of what we built into our structure is to have an annual review so we could do a review and find out what is the County Administrator doing well for us what have we benefited from and what are the challenges and areas that we need to improve we can either do that with Integrity or we could go through the motions and ignore the findings and so um I had a town hall meeting to ask the public what are your expectations for a County Administrator we had meetings with our staff and asked them what are your expectations like we have experience this time we had 50% of our staff willing to speak to us which speaks to the culture issue lack of trust I'm afraid to say anything and so uh we kept working in that because we understood we had to build a trust relationship in order to have people be honest with us and so there were many things that went into this and then I drafted a document uh that was available to inform the process uh with change comes opportunity part of the things that we identified in 2013 and this is the document that that I would read in 2013 the Board of Commissioners voted to hire a County Administrator for the first time in its 145 year history expectations defined in the administrator's job description included and this these are things that we identified going through this process of informing commissioner's decision reled to move forward and not move forward so here are the expectations that were described make sound judgments and decisions Institute the appropriate budgetary controls to save taxpayers money keep the board fully advised ensure the board receives agenda and pertinent information in a timely manner provide timely responses to requests for information information from all sources work effectively with a variety of people including those with conflicting or competing interests respect individual differences and roles and ensure all voices are heard be tactful helpful and compassionate toward Wards others serve as a unifying rather than a divisive leader within the county be a good listener responsive to County leadership staff and public concerns be accountable take responsibility for mistakes follow through on commitments be accessible and approachable viewed as a collaborative influence with a strong focus on establishing and maintaining effective working relationships at all levels be respectful fair and unbiased in dealing with others be transparent open and candid be willing to share information contribute to a culture of trust so I would ask how have those who have held this position met these expectation what has our experience taught us and this is why I encouraged the board after I had been privileged to serve this second time that we really should be stepping back evaluating these things that we looked at that we identified was important and the qualities that would be brought to the position and in 10 years if we looked at these things and we measured them based upon input from Commissioners inter relational look at staff look at Community we evaluate all of these things that we said there are so many incidences in this County the business park is an example of saying this is what'll happen and if we measure it did it happen what we were promised YMC did it happen what we promised go courts did it happen what we promised County administrative firm of government did it happen what we promised this is accountability and it rests with us as Commissioners to look at this and there's a measure of vulnerability that comes in being that transparent but is hugely important to the Integrity of the positions we have to serve the public so in my experience and being hugely involved in this process um there are are many things that I think two things if we choose to move forward with County administrative form of government we better learn from our 10 years of experience and we as those that make the decision need to know how to be responsible accountable decision makers we need to know how to interview and to look for what we're looking for I will tell you that when Jay Keef passed away unfortunately he was a good man well we went into our I told you I mentioned this last week that staff had said we're concerned after J passed that the board will move too quickly to hire and so I said no hopefully we've learned some things from what we've experienced under Jay we will identify our values and we will hold those values in the focus of what we do in hiring to look for those qualities that exist in the candidate when we finally made our decision we completely ignored our list of values and I said that if you had a recording of that meeting after we interviewed we had the input from our Matt team and our staff the candidate that we selected I sat back in my chair I said you are you are ignoring the list that was to discipline our decision you are ignoring it but we went with other factors that were completely out of the outline we had and I chose to throw my support because I wanted to set that individual up for success with unanimous decision so what I am saying to the board is we have a responsibility and I mentioned last week I feel that we've abdicated that responsibility of servant leadership on behalf of the constituents that have us represent them by not asking and including their voice in this process thank you one of the things that is really to our advantage is the fact that we will be able to see these candidates before we never did we'll be able to see them and they will be answered questions we won't have an interaction but we'll be able to see the candidates as we started when um James Yorkie was hired before with Jay that didn't happen didn't happen with Jeff so now with your comments we can all take that into consideration with our own comments of what we think is important for the uh future administrator for here we have that advantage of seeing the people before we decide who should come for the personal interview which is a great Advantage any comments on that commissioner Sullivan yes um one of the things and I really appreciate commissioner gamble um bringing up what what occurred in 2013 and as you were talking about the values and the qualities of a County Administrator as you were looking over a decade ago I sat here and looked at a revised job description for the County Administrator and it's amazing that the essential functions and responsibilities the knowledge skill and abilities as drafted by the Personnel committee and then approved by the County Board um really fit um what you described and read through and I also know that DDA did a great job of providing interviews um with many many staff um here in this room several months ago and so I feel like we are looking at the the right information I think that as commissioner storle mentioned that we do have an opportunity to look at our videos and um look at all the criteria the resumés the cover letter personality index um that we are going to be in a very good position to do an evaluation so Pat you can kind of hear some of the areas that we're still kind of concerned about but I know that um you have guided us especially as commissioner Sullivan said for the staff to be a part of uh interview with you and um you know the the road that we're taking the path that we're taking hopefully will bring the right person and I know you've gone through well 41 and then you've gotten them down to 15 and then out to 10 as we have now so um that you know this is the area that we need to have conversation about before we we do um make that decision for the final hire yes and and I I think you know as uh commissioner gamble mentioned you know the the bullet points or the things that you're looking for uh if we were to look on page nine of the profile the desired attributes those bullet points are what came out of my interviews and I think those are the things that are you know because County administrators whether you're in Cook County or in NOA County there are some core things that are that you have to do but also there's a lot of uniqueness between Cook County and County and so I think the desired attributes that not just the Commissioners but also the staff identified are those things that we're that we're trying to reach we're trying to get candidates that check those boxes off um and I think we had them broken down I think there were maybe 20 some bulleted items there but I think that was kind of our attempt to say what is it that Cook County needs in an individual to be successful so thank you so um unless there's any other comments we'll let Pat go but does anybody have any other comments directed to Pat so once again thank you for joining us Pat and we'll look forward to all of that information all the people everybody we have a good amount of homework to do between now and uh on February 11 so thanks again Pat appreciate it yes thank you and if anybody has any challenges please feel free to reach out to me uh challenges or questions about the you know about the information that you're receiving thank thank you for your time this morning thank you thank you Pat thanks bye I now anything else before we move on commissioner white um I think that that um question that has been asked is and has been uh why did we not take more time to consider having uh perhaps doing a coordinator in Le of an administrator and in this particular situation when our last administrator had to leave there was no notice we didn't have three months we didn't have six months to have a conversation about is should we continue to go forward with this form of government um we were very fortunate to have a very capable and willing uh in-house person in the name of Rowan who stepped up with the skills and the personality to be take the leadership leadership position and being aware of his commitment and his sacrifices that you know that he is doing to help this County along that was part of the reason big part of the reason for going forward with administrative form of government but I don't I hold on though I've never been um part of a in-depth discussion about a coordinator form of government I've not been at the table for that at all excuse me but I do realize that no matter whom is selected we have a responsibility for oversight of this particular individual and having served two years on the board I was part of one evaluation and I thought that it was supposed to be at least annually I was part of one evaluation of James and um that was it and that was in my very early months so um I would really hope that we set a standard or we hold ourselves to a standard of truly being not just to criticize but to help form an individual to help us in our community and not let things slide because oh he or she is a nice guy that's irrelevant nice guy is really nice but we need more than just that and it has to be somebody that interacts well with every facet of our community and of our community within this building because uh people in this building are our the important people in this building those that are doing the work um they had did not all have the same interactions or nor should they but some of them did not have particularly positive interactions with all of the different uh leaderships that we had here and that should and as to commissioner Gamble's statement um um Comm employees sometimes are operating in a atmosphere of fear if they won't speak up then why won't they speak up this is this is kind of a democracy and there should be no repercussions if someone has a concern or an interaction that that felt wrong to them and we need we need to make certain we do our job I I mean whomever is hired has a terrific job and we are there to help them but we are here to make certain that that the people that work here and the people that are live in our County are getting the most bang and the best bang for the buck commissioner gaml thank you madam chair thank you for your comments commissioner Wait It ultimately falls on Commissioners um because staff proposes but commissioners decide and so we've been entrusted because we've been elected to represent the people and in that stewardship responsibility role um I would respectfully suggest uh Madam chair that that uh the County Administrator doesn't create the policies they can they can suggest us like departmental and things It ultimately falls on the Commissioners staff proposes Commissioners decide and I spoke with the gentleman a county commissioner or County Administrator for 30 years highly respected just retired and um uh I think I had mentioned the last meeting I had conversations with one of the Commissioners from his County when I was at the AMC governance 101 and I I contacted him and spoke with him and and I appreciated the conversation he's well respect Ed he's been in the position 30 years he he created a culture and a structure in which that County hired from within to move forward with the County Administrator and the commissioner said the reason that happened is because that administrator put a structure in place that served the county so well that that individual that they moved into the position had been mentored and understood that because the culture supported it which is a healthy indication of good sound leadership I asked him if there's one word that you could use to define the attribute that needs to exist in the County Administrator what would it be relational that's what he said relational if there's one word that you would use as a huge red flag when it comes to the county administrative role controlling those are the two words he put forth and this is my comment to him is that there are two things they're identifying on paper what our values are and in my experience in this hiring process we have ignored what we identified so it doesn't mean much our premises don't mean much if it's not rightly ordered so my point is is that we can articulate and Define that should be done on the basis of our experience our lived experience as Commissioners as people within the public as staff and that is hugely important in informing the values and what it is we're looking for then we need to have the discipline to be able to adhere to those things when it gets into the interview process so we aren't taken up emotionally with Charisma and energy that comes into a room when the disciplines we've identified as being important are being completely ignored and so this is the two things inform what it is we really need as a county based upon the input from all of those that have a vested interest secondly understand the discipline involved and being focused on the values we've identified so that we know how to be good at interviews interviewers how to know what we're looking for and my recommendation when we entered this the first time was let's not hire consultant because we need to own this decision so we move forward and identify all of these things as a board independent of a consultant informing and telling us and we understood this when we got to the point of knowing what we wanted then we involved someone to list the position and to shiper this through the interview process and we did have video interviews that then led to our finalists that we brought in and we invited the public in to be in on those interviews so that they could for themselves determine and see how we we did the business and the responsibility and the accountability that comes with interviewing so my my encouragement is yes Define through all of the players that have a vested interest what our values are what our un needs are if we want to call them unique needs and then Define what it is we will use in applications so that we become qualified disciplined stay focused interviewers so that we're protecting those things that we said are important to it you can be on paper but if it doesn't work out practically in the interview process which it hasn't in my experience as a board member in previous times then we've abdicated the role we've been entrusted with so I would just encourage us to dig in and do the hard work so this afternoon we're going to receive that information and all of us have uh heard many comments here this morning so um I will move on and I'll turn it over to um attorney Peterson for our next um discussion um and I would recommend that we move to a closed session as this um portion of the agenda addresses ongoing litigation so pursuant to Minnesota statute chapter or section 13.03 and 13.05 I would recommend that we move to a Clos session Madam chair I make a motion to move into close s session support all in favor I Madam chair just just a comment I think in in making the motion that we need to identify why we're going into a closed session so as as it stated on the agenda there I think just include that in if your motion so absolutely um so I make a motion to recommend that we go into a closed session for the purpose of having confidential conversations related to the ongoing dispute between RS and Cook County uh support all in favor both same sign and Rowan do we know where we're going the it view okay e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e so we're back from our Clos session we'll reconvene our meeting to continue on with um the discussion on the uh Airport runway extension M gam chair uh do you make a motion to reopen the meeting at 10:20 MH M support all in favor I I all in favor okay anything else you want to discuss commissioner Sullivan thank you madam chair um we've been dealing with this particular issue for many years and given the associated costs um that the county could incur in the future if we were to go to trial and after much discussion and negotiation and mediation I'd like to make a motion to settle the ongoing dispute between RSN and Cook County as it relates to the Airport runway extension by accepting a settlement amount of $345,000 to be received within the next 30 days support commissioner gamble Madam chair do we want to based upon our discussion just make room for the preferably for the 30 days and still um what what we did discuss was Stephanie ball who is working on our uh legal behalf and working with County attorney Peterson We indicated that we would accept the settlement within 30 days which is standard practice we did authorize her up to 60 days um if there was a challenge with that any other comments or discussion is the motion supported have a motion in a second I'll uh I I support the amendment there y sorry any other discussion all in favor I oppose same sign motion passes there being nothing else on our agenda um a motion to adjourn so moved support all in favor I I I I thank you all very much all right