And by the way, I want to say thank you to Robbie. He's been very gracious to help work through this issue with your general contractor, and he's been very good about working with me to try and find a resolution here. But we haven't got one, and that's why I'm here today. What I think he'll tell you if you ask him is that there's really no dispute
about the amount of work that Anders did. This was a heavy lift for a local contractor to pull this much blast rock out of that project. He spent all summer doing it. I also think you're going to hear from from Mr. Hos that there was a discussion right away when they figured
out that they had this blast rock problem that they need and I think he'll tell you he told Anders, "I need to get this project done. You're here. You have the equipment. Take really good records of your time. Take really good records of the amount of material you move. I know it's outside your initial scope,
but we'll get this figured out on the back end. Honors did the work. That was a year ago. He hired me in January. First thing I did was give the county notice. I have not gotten really any response since then. And Anders is out of time. He is literally teetering on
the edge of bankruptcy. He's got a whole crew of guys that are about to be unemployed, frankly. I just had a meeting with his banker at Grammar State, Mark Young, Doll, to say, "What's the viability of this claim type? Is he going to get paid? Because I need to know if I'm going to go recover my collateral, which is his equipment
sitting in the yard. I say, "Well, I think the countyy's got to pay. We've already filed our 547 bond claim, but this has got to get moving because of that approximately half a million dollars. Most of that is money out of his pocket that he paid for your benefit
paying his employees, paying for materials. We've got a big bill owed to Labota grading we've got to go pay, and paying diesel. he can't survive and make those payments. So, because of how long ago this started and where we are today, and I've had effectively no progress getting anywhere with the resolution, he
has to sue you and he has to sue you right away. I don't like that. And I'm here today to ask you to take some initiative to try to prevent that from happening because you're if we have to go that way, you're about to buy a very expensive attorney's fees bill to defend the county. And I don't think you should, especially given what appears to
me to be a real simple issue of the work got done. There's no question about the amount of work. The work was needed. We don't we don't have any issue with the records. What are we waiting for? The thing he can't wait for is to get caught in this back and forth between the
county, the county's general, the bond company, and me. So, I I really urge you to take some initiative. Talk to Robbie. He's been very good to work with for us. see what's going on. My door is always open. I would love to discuss any sort of creative resolution we can get here
to at least get him back to operating and not making these horrible payments on his line of credit uh so that this guy doesn't lose his hat. Minister, thank you. Thank you. Did any of the commissioners uh receive any comments they need to
discuss? Madam Chair, I have a item to read that is from Don Davidson of 583 Southshore Drive. Stop lying to us. You've made B&B, bread and breakfast, VBOS's, the worst thing to ever happen to Cook County. You apparently don't
care how overnight rentals affect property value, let alone property taxes. You're not representing us. You are representing commercial interests that are trying to move us out of our homes. Buck up. represent us, not the commercial interests who are determined to move us out of our homes.
Thank you. Anyone else? Moving on to the consent agenda. We have claims the minutes from the April 22nd meeting, resignation of Robert Wright, um appoint Heidi Krampus
to the U revolving loan committee, a gambling permit request, permit to sell um pull tabs um from Rock Grill, resignation of Rose Downey Fisherman Picnic Parade Special,
and approve of Kelsey Ride for um CAD ID waiver. case manager. Does anyone have anything they'd like to discuss later at our meeting? Yeah. Commissioner. Madam Chair, I'd like to move to approve the consent
agenda as presented. Support. All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. We are going to hear from the highway group of two. Good morning. Good morning.
I'll turn it over to Matt to talk about the first couple of things I think here. Yeah, luckily this is pretty cut and dry. Um I'm looking for authorization to purchase a steamer truck as part of our replacement schedule. Um this is just another piece of equipment that's due
for replacement. It's replacing a a unit that's from 2005. Uh what are steamer trucks used for? One might ask. Uh we have culverts all over our uh county roads and especially towards the end of winter. Typically what happens is uh
water starts to move and culverts when they freeze prevent that water from moving. Water pools up uh and can wash out roads. Um, and what steamers do is allow us to use uh heated water to um
open up uh a pathway for water to move through that pipe. Um so pretty essential tool for us. Um yeah, I would entertain any questions. Um yeah.
Okay. Any questions, comments? Commissioner Gabble. Yeah, I have no question. I would just move that we approve the purchase of a new steamer truck. Mhm. Okay. Is there a second? I'll support that. Mr. Sullivan, any further comments or questions? All in
favor? I opposed. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. The steamer truck. How's it going this spring? Uh, I would say so far so good. We've recovered from the the wash outs a couple weeks ago and now everything's dry and we can't grade. So,
I noticed up the Sill Trail, you have some pipes laying there for future work there, too. Yep. Yeah. Once the roads what we call heal, um right now there's a lot of frost spoils on the roadways, but uh once they heal, we'll start to do more cover replacements. Looks like
you're ready to go when that happens. Okay. So then, uh Robbie, what are you going to tell us about contracts? So, we have and Matt can elaborate a little bit more on our summer maintenance SGSDs if you're familiar with those. Those are our uh let's see, how does it work?
Subordinate governmental service district. There we go. I heard some commissioners. Yeah. So, that is a unique thing we have up here in Cook County. Just as a reminder, no other county in the state has these for road maintenance. So, I'm just going to put that plug in as something to talk
about in the future. Um but we do have several of them spread throughout the county. Uh and so this is the we administer the contracts. So we don't do any of the work in our subordinate districts. We just do this just do the contracts. Um and so this year thankfully I think we had at least one
bid only one bid per SGSD per one. So we are basically one contractor away again uh from not having subordinate districts. So, thank you to our contracting community uh for continuing this. But uh I guess would I we would
entertain any questions about this. Commissioner White, um I got a had a lengthy phone call with uh a resident who um same story, living on a private road where people move in. Uh part-time
people, the roads really falling apart. Uh some individuals have picked up the cost and the workload individually through the years and it's be the road has deteriorated to a point where they can't they don't have the equipment to
do it. What do they do? Right? So you should be getting a phone call or Lisa. I tried to explain the best I could. Uh, of course, part of the reason, part of the problem is that many, many
often land owners who move onto property on a private road and show up once or twice a year feel that they don't need to contribute to the road. And just sitting here, I would like I and we deal
with that in our on our road, too. And it was it works really well when one starts a road association, but when those properties are sold, new people come in and even though it might be on their deed in their deed that it's a
requirement, they blow it off. So, I don't know how to how to fix that there. There's not a good solution for that. It's a problem throughout the whole county. um you know whether you have a private road and you have a road
association or an HOA or you know Brady can probably speak a lot more on the different you know types of associations that roads can have uh up here. You know the SGSD model is just one of them and so there there's a lot to it but yeah we're always happy to enter I shouldn't
say entertain a phone call but if people got questions that's what we're here for. Uh so yeah I don't have a good answer. I knew there wasn't a good answer and I told the caller there wasn't a good answer because it's all human beings everywhere that we're dealing with. And
so, and if this is helpful, we are approached uh I would say at least twice a year by different individuals on different roadways with questions about starting an SGSD. And it is uh a little complicated and it takes a little bit of
time and effort on their part to set it up. Um and so yeah, I haven't seen any of those conversations lead to new SGSD um applications, but um we're certainly willing to have that conversation. And that front-end work that Matt mentioned,
most that's basically through the auditor's office, correct? Is that most depends on what which front-end work you're talking about, but uh I think sometimes they contact you directly first. Okay. Sometimes they I I think
like how it gets set up, how it's paid, that part, right? Yeah. How it gets set up in the system and how it's paid for. Yeah, that's in our office. But but yeah, just give us a call if anyone's ever curious. And so the question I have I would it be
beneficial if I said um there'll be aformational meeting on how to get your road set up or do we have a cheat sheet somewhere that I could take and and meet with I don't know the people any just a
couple that live on that road but to provide an opportunity for maybe the first time some of them actually speak to each other it could be an option. I don't know. You know, I think what's where these the subordinate districts turn into a lot of gray areas. How involved we at the
county need to be? How involved and I guess that is a question for the board as well. How involved would you like us to be on non-county roads? You know, right now we already kind of manage quote unquote, you know, these contracts, which is again unique. Uh we're the only county
that does that. So, you know, that's already kind of this asterisk. So now if we're talking about having to coordinate meetings with people on private roads. No, I wasn't suggesting that you would at all that but just if you had a cheat sheet, I would go and flounder through
as best I could. Oh, sure. Just to see if the if enough land owners land owners would show up and if they do if were they still on speaking terms to do so. No, I believe that our highway department invests a lot of money, a lot
of time for these districts and it's I No, no, you don't do the So, we can what we can do I'll send you We have a subordinate district policy and it's pretty darn straightforward. It's really I think it's what three if if it's three pages, I'd be shocked. It's very short, but it lays out kind of all the what our
role is, what their role is as a subordinate district. um different options for laying out, you know, how are they going to pay for road maintenance, what bidding looks like, you know, do you want summer, do you want winter, do you want both? Um so I can I'll send that to you. Okay. One of
the big uh difficulties for them in certain areas is determining the the actual district because these private roads and they mix with federal and state and there you know and you can have
uh determining well here's here's here's the section I want but then who accesses that section of road and uh so that's where you get in you you could have a district it's many square miles. Um, or
you can have something, some of the ones that we have are fairly simple because it's along a lake. It's a single road. Um, one way in, one way out. So, those are fairly simple to set up. But now we're getting we've gotten to the more difficult ones in recent years. So, it's
a big decision. Who do they contact? Who's in their group? They aren't all just like an one one development with an HOA. They could be several developments or individual lots that got sold and they don't have any natural group and so
they have to figure out who their group is. Commissioner Gamble. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, as the board is aware, we've had meetings on determining which roads we're going to take responsibility for. And it it's a it's a financial decision
and based upon an assessment of of use and and um and hopefully that's a process that is strictly based on the numbers. Um, I think our our role in this capacity is is to inform. So if if
we provide information that addresses all the issues that are involved in this, we'll facilitate that process and then it still has to come to us just like anything that comes before the board relative to budget you know issues
related to the monies we have to spend. But we on the front end we in order to cultivate relationship and be accessible we we don't want to tell people we don't have any more money. We want to let them facilitate the process and it'll come in
with the things that are necessary for us to evaluate where we go from there. So my encouragement would be cultivate the relationship by being accessible and providing information and answering all the questions and try to make it a primmer that makes things that they're
not used to, you know, understandable in the context what they are used to, which is roads that need attention. So it's a really good point. Yeah. And I can send if anyone's curious, I can send that to our policy to everybody. So then you all have a copy of it. It is one that's the
one we just updated, I believe. Yeah. Fairly recently. So very good. Thank you for bringing that up. Well, I'm sure I'm going to get more phone calls on that one. So, and and indeed that is what I'm willing to do
because upfront I'm not the expert, but I can share information and then phone numbers. but information and and I understand our budgetary constraints and it does take a lot of time from administrative staff to
help even a well functioning road association. So I'm here for all of you. Are there any further comments or questions? I'll hear a motion then to award the 2025 contracts for summer maintenance on
the SG SDS commission. So I'd like to make a motion to uh award the contracts to the following low bidders. Mike Rose, Jed Smith, Labota Grading.
Um and that would be it. Is there a second? Oh, I'll second it. Any further questions or comments? All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously.
Okay, now we're moving to stripes. Yes, stripes. Striping is important. Um, and so you'll see on here, uh, cooperative striping contract. We've talked about that a lot over the last couple of years. You'll remember we did the lower half of the gun flint a couple years ago
or I'm sorry the upper half a couple years ago, the lower half last year. This year I think what what my thought process was was let's just get the rest of the county done. Uh so um and so the the last couple years of going through this this type of contract has been
wonderful. We partner with St. Louis County. Lake County is also part of this. So it turns into one big northeastern Minnesota striping contract um which is great. So, we're going to cover the rest of any any road that's striped uh in the county will have new stripes uh by the end of the summer. And
so, I guess does does anybody have have any questions? If you notice, the the low bid did come in under, you know, a little bit under what we thought the engineers estimate was. So, Commissioner, so is that that's just the roads that are like Chicago Bay Road
needs some upgrading. So, we're not spending money on new paint for roads that aren't correct. Yeah. Yeah. And and Chicago Bay is a unique one cuz that was one if you remember from the townhouse striping. Nobody wanted striping and we kind of left that up to the the community. It it didn't matter on our
end. It's such a low volume road. It's a local road. So we're not beholden to anything. Uh so basically the neighborhood didn't want it and we were like great done. No stripes. Yeah. So this is mainly I should also add only on our state aid roads which also coincides
with basically all the pavement. So, Commissioner Mills, um, do, uh, Lake County and St. Louis County have different areas they do every year? Yeah. Yeah. I think every I mean, every year there's this this kind of comes up. So, um, you know, they'll do different
roads. Yeah. And so, what Oh, I'll let you continue. So I my thought process was hopefully, you know, come we'll get this done in theory this year. Next year when this rolls around, see how the gunfllin's holding up basically if everything's fine then we just wait
another year. So it's just I want to make it a very regular occurrence. Um and maybe instead of doing, you know, maybe it turns into doing the whole gun flint in one year, wait a couple years, then do everything else to try and spread things out. But you know, we we got options. And I think just paying
attention to it, knowing this process that exists gets us a good price as well. Uh so yeah, it's been really good. Yeah, I was just wondering about timing and staggering and all that, but you're on top of it and thank you very much. Thanks, Mr. Gamble. Thank you, Madam
Chair. Uh just this is a good example of something that I think when it comes to the budget process that uh we might dig down in um if we're looking at areas where man if there's something that
that's sort of mandated or we know we have to do it's going to cost us big dollars. Um and I guess you know at first glance if it's a matter of saying well St. Louis County to Lake County is doing it. We partnership and then so we
get the economy of scale in that regard. But if if it's a subjective decision as to when we do striping or don't do striping and say I might be able to hold off on striping this year if if it's just a matter of saying that it won't be as intense on the road, but you can
still see him something. So, I'm just throwing it out. Is is this one of those areas? Nothing's driving it except our assessment and our partnership being when opportunity comes up. All of the above. Good. All good points. Um, you know, if you remember the gun flint a couple years ago basically had no
stripes on it. And so, you know, we don't want to get to that point. Um, but you can already see now a couple of years of of plowing on it. And plowing is what, you know, is the main driver of of kind of scraping that stuff off. Um, but yeah, I mean, basically it's just eyes on it and once it, you know, we
feel like it's starting to go or, you know, maybe some phone calls start ramping up of, hey, it's rainy or it's foggy and it's really hard to see the lines, okay, you know, time to do it again. So, there's not a hard, you could sit there and say, all right, I'm just going to do it every 3 years no matter what. Um, but I I think it's easy enough
for us to put eyes on something like that and say, well, we can we can wait another year. It's not a big deal. Yeah. Thank you. Any further questions or comments? I'll hear a motion then to recommend awarding the low bidder of Sir
Lines a lot for the cooperative striping contract for 2138,442 and 9 and this is a budget expense. So move madam chair. I'll support. Any further questions or comments? All in
favor? I I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. That's quite a title for me. It's great. Well, and they they've been the ones that have come up here the last few years. So, they do a wonderful job. They stripe all over the place. So, it's it's a great name. Good for them. Must must had a focus group
that helped 100%. And then we're going to mill the hill next. Yes. And so, if you remember uh like any good government agency, we love paperwork and we love paperwork that is exact. And so uh I had brought this forward probably a month or so ago and
that dollar amount was a lot bigger. It was about $2.5 million. So this is okay though we got too much money. This is a rare problem that we are seeing right now. So we secured a lot of different grants for this project. Um and what what that meant is we were able to
offset kind of the the burden on bridge bonds on the local legislature um or on our state legislature. though, uh, instead of us asking for 2 and 1/2, we only ended up having to ask for a little under 1.6. So, this is just revised paperwork on that. Um, we're still
getting 1.6, which is great. That's all we actually need. Our bids came in lower than we thought as well. So, that's also a great thing. Um, so this is just kind of the revised paperwork for that. Does anybody have any questions? Any questions or
comments, Commissioner? Once we get further along, Could it be the case where costs increase? Um yeah. So what so what happens is you know so you know they had the state had set aside you know two two and a half million for us right? Uh we ended up
securing enough other funding where now we only need one and a half. So that extra million kind of goes back in the pot um for anybody in the state granted. So yes if costs do escalate we can always ask for more. Um but that would be a pretty hefty I don't anticipate
anything like that. We've had little changes here and there, but when you start getting into that dollar amount, there would have to be a pretty darn significant whoopsie change. Yeah. Or change. Yes. Mice, do we get points for for giving money back? We did. I got a pat on the
back. Okay. Go us. Commissioner G. Yeah. Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, thank you for your good work on this. Um can you tell us if if you know when when we're getting money
from the state and we work hard and find uh funds elsewhere whether that earns us anything moving forward and it doesn't work to our detriment from the standpoint that the state says well they they usually find money so we'll give them less. So, um, bridge bonds, which
is what we're talking about, is just first come, first serve. And so, it's not on any merit system or anything. It's any bridge that we have in the county, um, is eligible for that. And so, yeah, there's no, uh, yeah, it's it's as long as we can get plans in,
done, approved, put in the application, um, as long as there's money, we'll get the money. And so as a followup then to that based upon what you said that uh uh when you say thank you for your good work on this is that anticipating and getting in there early if it's first
come first serve. It's just having the foresight to see these things and and do that. So that's not necessarily going to happen unless you and your staff take the initiative to get that done. So the county appreciates that because you would have rather have the state pay for
it. Oh yeah. Although it's a ripple effect on taxes anyway, but that's true. But yeah, nope, that is a good point. I appreciate too the board's support, you know, when we uh work with consultants on projects like this. This is a this is a great example of a project. We can't do this type of thing in house. So,
there's a lot of these types of projects and structures that we do have to call somebody for. So the reason that support that you lend us um allows us to get ahead in line, get first in line, get this money and you know do a lot of work in the county. So thank you all.
Okay, commissioner just for knowledge. So what do the consultants do that you couldn't do? Is it a matter of time or time, knowledge, expertise? So, uh, before I moved up here, I I, uh, started my career as a
bridge designer. And so, it was I I would do projects like this, but I didn't get 700 emails a day and have to come to board meetings and and write grants and do lots of other things. So, um, it is very specialty. If if you're ever curious, I can walk you through a plan set. And you can see kind of the
complexity, the difference between something like a project that is maybe like a mill and overlay. So, we're just going to scrape off the surface of the road and put back what's there like we're doing on the Arrowhead Trail versus, you know, a bridge where you're talking about abutments and the reinforcement in the abutments and the
math that goes behind all of that. Um, every single bar has to be labeled and put in the plans. So, it it's quite a bit different. There's a level of expertise we just don't have up here. Um, which is fine. It's rare to see highway departments, unless you're St.
Lewis County have their own internal bridge designers specifically. So that's that's a big reason um why you why we talk to consultants. Thank you. Any further comments or
questions? Is there a motion then to um support the revised grant agreement mill the hill and do track river bridge replacement to u less um than 1.6 million. So moved. support. Any further comments or
questions? All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. And just a comment um for the public behind us we have um an example of what we uh had here at the open house last
night on the airport uh master plan. So they graciously left all the uh plans here for us to look at in the now and in the future and it was a well attended meeting and appreciate Commissioner Sullivan organizing that with the airport board and committee. So we'll
move on to building and um work with u with Brooke. Good morning. Thank you. Um first of the the lighting projects is the global building LED lighting upgrade. It's a
$17,000 upgrade replacing all the flu fluorescent lights in the uh global building to improve lighting conditions, working conditions, reduce energy costs, and it's on the CIP bonding is how we're funding that one. the global
building. After it's said and done, we would receive a a rebate from the uh public utilities, Grammar Public Utilities of $1,832 and a annual energy savings of $448 is what's estimated on that. So,
with equipment only, it's a buyback of 8.81 years. labor. It's It's quite a bit longer. Labor is quite expensive up here. So, it is uh you know, you're looking at 30 years. And you were able to contact locally too
with Nordic? Yeah. Yep. Nordics Nordic's going to do the work. Yep. Questions or comments? Commissioner Mills? Um sorry, I thought of this late last night, so sorry I didn't get it to you ahead of time, but has there been discussion in in these um in these items about the color of the lighting?
No. Um, we're just So, when they got the new greater garage, all of a sudden they discovered how nice it is to have, you know, 4,000 to 5,000K good LED lighting where they can work. So, that's what
brought it to my attention was, boy, this new garage really lights up and we can really see what we're doing. Is there anything we can do? Well, in the CIP bonds, that was called out for lighting replacement. So, that's what kind of facilitated the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah, and I guess I was just as
that's great. Uh I was I was just ask asking um hoping that there is some discussion about that and so 5,000K is good for the shop then great. And um different places have different uh you know better colors maybe. So just as
long as that's you know thought about or talked about I guess. Yeah. It's a pretty white you know it's a bright white. Yeah. Yep. You wouldn't want it in your house but it works well with a high Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. I'd make a motion to approve the lighting upgrade to the goal building.
Is there a second? I'll support. Thank you. Any further questions or comments? All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. Moving on to more lighting. Yeah. So now this is the community center. So this
will be the interior. um some exterior lighting, just wall packs to light up the outside. Some are currently not working and and others just just need to be upgraded. They upgraded again what kind of brought this together was when they redid that office space where Sarah
and Anna sit, they did the new LED lighting in there and they just didn't do the rest of the building. So, we're just continuing the same fixtures and everything out to the rest of the building. And with this one, it's a expensive one as well. It's a
$26,000. It's a annual savings of $517 approximately with a $2,000 rebate. So, we're looking at for equipment only, it's about 11year buyback. Commissioner White Brooke, does this
include the uh curling arena? No, the curling arena has been upgraded. Okay, Mr. Gamble. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. So, Brooke, um I appreciate the numbers on on the savings. Every dollar is a saving is important and uh the um
the rebate factor uh due to the energy upgrade. The other question is replacement. How what's the service life of what we've had and what this will provide for us as far as the fixture goes? Well, it'll help us out
with in the facilities department for replacement cost because we're up there a lot replacing starters, ballast, and fluorescent tubing has become quite a bit more expensive because everybody's moving to LEDs. So, the tubes themselves
have cost quite a bit. And then also the cost of getting rid of the the the tubes is is there. So, it's I mean it'll it'll help us. I mean, they say it's a it's a 20,000 hour uh light fixture. So, if
we're looking at at um you know, an average of you know, 1,000 to 2,000 hours, it's kind of tough to to average what those lights are on in there. So, we're you know, it's it's a long time. Yeah. and and I guess you
know in in looking at the decision uh relative to this is going to prove improve the lighting and it's going to lessen the cost energy cost and we get a rebate because it's an incentive and
it'll involve less time because you're not having to do all of those and I can identify with that it is a pain in the tukas with with aging fluorescent fixtures. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and we're, you know, with regulation and
stuff, back in the day, we used to tear those light fixtures apart and fix them and stuff, but now with the UL rating, you're avoiding the UL rating. So, if there is a problem, it's a major problem. So, we have to hire a contractor to do a lot of that work now where we used to just get by with doing
it in house. Yeah. So, it just it complicates things. Yeah. And then again, just the color uh discussion, different situations. So, yep. This is this one we're just matching the the office color, which is a warmer color. I think it's around the
3000 3000K. Thank you. Sorry to be No, no, that's fine. Any further questions or comments? Commission Sullivan. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the lighting upgrade to the community center at a cost of $26,217.50.
I support. Any other questions or comments? We had a motion. All in favor? I opposed. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. And one more lighting area. The last one. It's community center facility
storage at the old search and rescue building. It's an $11,800 upgrade. And again, it's replacing the the old um there's some high-pressure sodiums in there in the in the garage part and then some
fluorescent tubing in where they used to have some offices. And that one we have an energy savings of $552, a rebate of 1,200. This one is the
best payback on equipment of just under four. Just under like four and a half years, 4.2. And now the old search and rescue building hasn't been utilized as much as it as I feel it should be. It's a it's a nice building that's concrete, heated,
not quite heated, tempered we call it. Um, but with uh the expansion of the office space downstairs and kind of the work we do downstairs, I'm going to be moving some of that loud, more dirty, more intrusive work we kind of do down
in the basement over to the search and rescue building. We're going to kind of get things cleaned up, get things organized. Um, we've kind of kicked around the idea with Rowan in the past about doing some getting some dog kennel sections where
we fence off areas and this department so you get your space and you can access your space instead of we have a lot of just people throwing things wherever they want and then they'll call us and say, "Hey, we need this moved and this moved to get at our stuff." So, we're going to just just going to clean that
up, utilize the space. It's a nice space and and as you all well know how much it costs to build a building in this county right now. It's it's still standing. It's warm. It's got concrete, you know. So, we're going to we're going to start utilizing it.
Yeah, I appreciate that. I was going to ask just about the investment in this particular building and I wasn't uh super privy to its condition. So, I appreciate all that. I might have gotten a heads up on that question. Oh, good. It's a good way to good way to do it. Commissioner Gamble. Thank you, Madam
Chair. So, Brooke, uh this again would be another example where I think department comes before the board looking at budget and and just saying we need to address lighting because of these issues and da da and when you look at usage of buildings similar to the
highway department looking at uses of roads, we'd say this one might be something because of its use right now. moving forward if we make it more use you know we use it more often then at that point in time it would be recommended we do this but this is an area where we could hold off on that
investment I'm just saying looking forward when we do those analysis in what you presented to us today that might be one where for sure it could be looked at for sure all right thank you and I don't know how we look at the CIP bonds and the you know the bond funds
and and that type of thing but um it was kind of Brady kind of reiterated to me when I started that, you know, we've we've lost a year on using these bonds. Yeah. We kind of need to get going on on utilizing them. So, I've been looking at projects to utilize the the CIP bond
funds. Yeah. Yeah, makes sense. Trying to save some paperwork. I guess it's if we run over it, you can get I appreciate your research too on the savings and the rebates. You know, that's I lean heavily on the uh uh Nancy
Kelly who who works with the rebate with the uh SE sem Oh, yeah. Simba. Yeah. Southern Minnesota Power. Yeah. Power. Yeah. She she runs this kind of area for that. So, she I've just, you know, it's
a nice resource we have and that's what she does for a living and she can crank these numbers up very quickly. She's very proactive and Yeah. Yeah. follows up. Yep. She's pushing me now to look at relighting the YMCA. Yeah. Not the entire YMCA, just the old gym that still
has giant fluorescent tubes and a bunch of burned out. And we're looking at getting in and doing a bunch of repairs in there later this year. And now we're looking at, you know, it probably be a better time just to replace that lighting as well. And again, we have some CIP bond funds allotted for the
YMCA for this exact thing. Okay, Commissioner Sullivan. Madam Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the lighting upgrade for the community or excuse me, for the um storage and workspace behind the community center and um that would be at
a cost of $11,813. Support. Any further questions or comments? All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. So, Brooke, thank you for inviting us. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I had to do
that. Okay, moving on. We're going to hear from Allison Plameumber on job description and upgrades. Good morning. Good morning. Morning. All right. I hope after today I don't have to come here as
often, at least with job description reviews and updates. Um, so this is an exciting day for me because these are the last two positions in our job description uh queue uh to go through
the uh full uh review classification review process. Um, so the two positions, well, I mean, one is a fairly large position that covers multiple staff, but the the two descriptions today that I have, um, include the
finance controller position. This is a renaming of the formerly called accountant/financial coordinator position. This is Kelly Berg's position in the auditor's office. Um that position includes the updated job description and then a recommendation to
change the job grade from a 180 to a 190. And then the other kind of larger encompassing job description is for our case manager job family upstairs. So kind of renaming what we typically have referred to them as social workers. Uh
aligning more with current state verbiage and calling them case managers. Um so this covers right now I think I have 11 employees that would fall under this uh revision. Uh includes a base
case manager job description and then given the uniqueness of the individual roles between the three social worker teams. We then created addendums to identify the unique roles for each individual but in uh commonality. They
all share the same roles of that base case manager position. Um and this also includes a recommendation to change the grade the job grade from uh currently a 170 to a 180. Any questions or comments right now for
this one? Commissioner Sullivan, just like to make a comment. Um I feel the same excitement that you do that we're down to the last two um because I've served on that committee for five years going on six and um I'm really excited to see the progress that the committee
has made and in particular the work recently on uh the job descriptions. So, thank you for your work. I know it's uh takes a lot of effort, a lot of back and forth. It does. Commissioner White, well, I haven't
thought the question out well, but uh when someone is um given a new definition of what they do, how often how well, we know what they do because they've told you what they do,
right? That's part of them. um how often are um they assessed on getting their job done or how well it's working for each individual employee? I mean, is there a rotation?
Like it can't happen just every time we redo their job description. Do they get an assessment? Um annual review. You mean like an annual review? Yeah, something like that. Like in the private sector, I'm just curious. So, a performance review in terms of how are
they actually doing? Yeah. And are there questions and is there something new that's happened in your job that that I that I that you feel you're really not getting compensated for because things have changed. So, I would say that varies. There's a kind of a couple of
different factors within your question. So, in our handbook, it does reference uh performance evaluations and a more formal process that should be done every year. And the county utilizes um there's a performance appraisal report form that
is usually completed. And that is the opportunity outside of what we would expect is normal like day-to-day weekly communication on performance aspects of someone's job. There's that more formal paperwork process that's done. um well, at the six-month probationary period and
then on their yearly anniversary. Um where during that time frame potentially maybe it's identified that there are roles that they're doing that they've kind of started in um taking on that are outside of the scope of their normal job description and that could be a time to
identify uh a need to review and update the job description. Otherwise, at any point that someone takes on a new role, um something that is not reflected in their job description, regardless of potentially that would change the grade
or not, we want to make sure that when those things are identified, again, at any point that we go through the review process, we can do the same thing that we're currently doing with DDA. It just wouldn't be on a large scale like with every job description. Um but when those
things are identified, we would just um individually work with that individual, the department and DDA to get that reflected in the job description. Okay. Thank you. And I asked this, it was I had two different people, two two different parts of the county ask me
about um these are private businesses. How often does the county do performance reviews? Just a curiosity. No, not one way or the other. Just a curiosity. And so, thank you for sharing with the public. Oh, you're welcome. What we also I was just going to add to
what we try to do is a good practice is whenever there's turnover in a position that that is always a really good time also to review the job description uh and ensure that that is accurate. So then when we go and do the posting to recruit and fill that position that
again we're bringing someone in with um clear expectations of what their that current role is. Commissioner Gaml. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, in in my first term,
um, this issue of of having annual evaluations, we haven't been too good at and at that point in time, we didn't have a human resource director either. It was part and parcel of, you know, blended responsibilities elsewhere. Um
but uh uh ensuring that we cultivate a healthy culture is is predicated on making sure that we identify that people are doing the job we've asked them to do. And when people come in uh clearly identifying that based upon what
supervisors and in your position and working with department heads determine is important. Then we give them that direction and then we as you say during the period of uh probation we have an opportunity to monitor see how that goes. All with the the intent of trying
to equip people and encourage people in their positions and make things that are working well. And the culture is a huge contributor to that in making people feel that they are doing their job well and they're appreciated and they know that that their supervisor is there to
come alongside and help with any questions that might come up. And so it is a a discipline the evaluation which is a lot of times it's again it's a sense of exposure when you have to sit down and we're going to talk
about you. And so while it's uncomfortable if we see the good that comes from it and especially if we cultivate a relationship of trust where people feel I come to this with an opportunity to be affirmed in what I'm doing and to learn where I can improve
and be better at what I'm doing. And when we have um these opportunities I I think we need to see them in that kind of context. It's not just checking it off the list to get it done. It it contributes to the culture that we create. What I would say and I've said
as you very well know as we've gone through this process now with our job upgrades um is that the premise upon which value is established is where I have a real problem. If you look at the 12 positions that we're looking at today the effects
of that annually in that job upgrade is $27,000. If you were to look at in Brady's document we have before us in the board pack of the day 145 employees with upgrades that we were bumping up and now we're saying well we're at the
point we got every everybody bumped up that amounts to $333,000 over and above what we are paying in wages right now. And so when we look at moving into our next year and our projections, uh, just looking at where our wages are
at and look at what all these upgrades have been because we bumped up that upgrade, my understanding, because we wanted to move to a higher grade in this process of hiring a county administrator. We bumped them up, which
brings everybody up. So now if we keep increasing that upgrade that's that's where we say well we're doing it because this is what this shows but again the premise which on which value has been determined I think
is faulty and that's why I'm not supporting these things. It's a difficult thing to address because I don't want to look like an acayer, but from the fiscal standpoint, I think it's something that that needs to be looked at. And um I
um it has no reflection on the people because I appreciate the people that that that do their good work, but we just have to know where we're benchmarking ourselves. And um I um I think in our our interview that we had
with our county administrator two candidates, the one candidate said, "I like comparisons. Comparisons help us to understand how are we doing in the context of other counties." And he said, "You certainly wouldn't compare Henipin County with Cook County." And when he
made that statement, I thought, "Oh my goodness." So this is this is why again I say respectfully uh the intention is is to work for the good of our employees and the good of our citizens and this this process has
contributed significantly if you look at our percentage of budget with our wages and Brady said it and that's that's why this is very challenging. No. Any other questions or comments? I'll hear a motion to approve the job
description, the finance controller and the case manager, which are new titles from previous. Uh, so move, madam. Sure. Is there a second? I'll support. Any further questions or comments? All in
favor? I I opposed. Motion passes 4 to1 in opposition. Thanks for all your work. Appreciate it. And we won't see you for a while. We'll see. I know you have other things to fill in.
Yeah. And Allison, please thank Tessa for her work with us. I really appreciate the fact over several years she's hung in there with us as we looked at the compensation study, completed that market analysis. I think it's been very helpful in making Cook County more
competitive. Okay, I'll turn. Thank you. Thank you. Um, next item is parking lot service with Brady. Thank you, Madam Chair. So, this is our annual contract. Uh it's been our annual contract with Voyager
for a number of years, over 10 years, um at least. And so they're willing to do this again for us. What's changed this year, the only real change in the contract is now we're just managing the one large lot that we own, the Forest
Service lot. They've decided to take that over and they're they're doing that this year. So they've already made a number of changes up there. Um that's Moose Pond Drive. We call it lot two. So they set up a new kiosk, a fee collection tube, picnic table, small
guards, garbage can, etc. And they'll be doing the cleaning and maintaining the boat launch moving forward. So for the 25 season, they'll they're going to continue to accept the annual parking pass that we sell for both because this wasn't planned long enough in advance.
And then la next year they may have a fee of their own set up for their lot. So they'll be totally separate at that time. But um other than that the contract is the same. Uh Voyager has not asked for uh very little increase over
these years. I think they they're doing it uh it serves their customers too. I think largely is why they do it. But so we're glad to have them. Commissioner Sullivan. Well, given this
is district 4 and um I have lots of uh constituents who are interested in this, um I'd like to make a motion to approve the agreement with Voyager Canoe Outfitters to provide parking lot services at SAG Lake parking lot 1 for the 2025 season. Support.
Any questions or comments? All in favor? I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. So, Madam Chair, the next item is a payroll service. Um, we've been looking
at looking uh to go to another payroll service for uh the strategic plan worked on this for a couple of years and since and they identified this as one of our needs because of the um we don't have a
a well functioning HR system to go with our payroll system. We have payroll through MSIs who does our tax system. They do a great job of it. but not in the HR and the link of the two and we have a lot of redundancies in
what we uh enter into our payroll system and then enter into the um HR system and other things with benefits. There's a lot of uh benefits to having a single system. Um, a lot of counties understand
this and that's why EMS had I don't know how many counties originally, but they built this system because uh the counties asked them to. There weren't a lot of viable electronic payroll systems back then. But since then, one by one, counties have been dropping off because there's just better
uh software, better services out there that the private industry can provide. And now they're down to five counties. Uh I came before here and you guys approved uh giving them notice that we would go off that system at the end
of this year, actually the first quarter of next year and they're down now down to four and uh this year the cost is about 33,000 uh for MSU's payroll. It's going to I mean I feel bad for the four left. it it
jumps their cost to 43,000 because now they're down to four and AMSA says one more. If they lose one more it's not viable for them. So at some point everybody's doing this eventually. We're going to we would be forced into this.
So we worked on it. We've worked with a lot we've looked at a lot of companies. We think UKG is probably the best fit for us. It's uh it's how we do our HR right now. We call it Kronos. that was the old
standalone company in 199 or 2019 uh uh when this was uh HR went to it and uh now they merged and now it's UKG which is also UKG and Kronos it's the
software and that so um you know we think this is this is the way to go now they've they've worked with us we've worked on it two two years with this uh committee Uh and we've visited other counties. Cass County, which is very similar to
us, which is on UKG. They still have the same time system. We use uh E time through RT Vision. The same with their highway. So, they're very similar. Works very well for them. And uh and we visited, we think it'll work well for
us, too. And uh UKG has been they've really they want us. They've been cutting these prices. Um, our launch fee is is half of what I put into the um the board packet two weeks ago. Uh, now
they're offering it at 33.85 and I'd put 66 or 6770. And uh, if you go to the uh, MNC C is another way that you can uh, let's see join this service. That's a a
consortium of other counties there. The launch fee, they kind of have a blended rate. Their estimated launch fees between 20 and 25,000. So they they want us um they want to make us happy. So whether you
know it means we'll be happy 5 years from now, I don't know. But it seems like we ought to take advantage of this um offer right now. So, our our base subscription fee would be around $10,000 for
2026. We know there are service fees. If you run extra payrolls, you're going to get charged and I think the fees are in the board packet. Um, I've checked with other counties and yeah, uh, they do have extra fees, but uh, it's not a lot. I I put it
out there asking, you know, are you paying extra 20 30% a year on these extra fees? And uh the ones that I talked to said no, it's uh it's pretty rare actually. So yes, you can expect some mostly the increase comes if
there's some product that they have that you decide gives you better service and that's what they're hoping for in the future and you say, "Oh, that would do that would work even better." Um and so they have they have a whole suite of other services and I think that's where they're hoping to make their money in
the long run. Administrator Rogers. Um, I'd just like to add I've sort of been in this conversation for almost since I started at the county in the beginning. Um, I remember a question from you,
Commissioner Gamble, a long time ago when we were talking about our financial system. We had a small mainframe here and you're like, can't we just move this over to like pieces? And and it's it was, you know, a complicated question. We were eventually able to get the
mainframe out of here, work with MSIS to have them host it. And then um during the time I was administrator in a previous life, um one of the first things I came to the board and asked them to do was cancel um a project that
we had uh going with Kronos to do this switch then. And the reason that I looked at that and said we need to stop is it was a black hole. We were pouring money into it every month. we were going to spend, it was October, we were going to spend another 12,000 that year and
that we weren't making any progress to actually changing that over. Um, I think it's important that we do this for a couple of reasons. One, um, HR and payroll are linked by this thing called
benefits. And when we don't link them in software, then it creates an awful lot of overhead in our operational costs. And most of the people that do these jobs like Allison plumber and uh Nick over in in the auditor's office are one
deep. They're one person. So any way that we can create operational efficiencies is really a good thing. Um the other thing is is the risk that we're avoiding here which it's inevitable that this is going to go away. Um, and you know, we're we're
adding to it, but it's been going down. And every year goes down, cost goes up, and sooner or later at one more person leaves, one more county leaves and MSA says, "We're not going to do this anymore." So regardless whether we do it now or not, at some point we'll be
forced to do it. So having gone through this process, we've gotten favorable pricing, we're at a place where we're planning for it ourselves and not being forced into it is a huge risk reduction effort. So, um I think one of the things that I would call out just to be to
totally transparent about this is when when you're doing this kind of conversion and it's a lot of work, a lot of data checking and uh making sure the two people that are going to be doing that uh are those two people that are one deep in in those two positions. I've
already mentioned, Allison and Nick. And it might you might find that Brady's going to come back and say, "We got to spend a little bit more money here, getting some consulting help from this vendor to help us do that." But the long range impact of doing this is still
worth it in my mind because our long range cost, the difference between 20,000 a year and 40,000 a year is pretty significant um already, but also the benefits that we get operationally going forward. So, um, these are the reasons that I've, you know, when I
first got back here and they said, "Oh, come to a meeting about payroll." I went, "No, not again, but because these are complicated projects and and they they have a lot of risk in them because of all of the data that's managed. But as soon as I kind of
started hearing the proposal and all these options I've talked about, thought this makes a lot of sense to do this now." So, I just wanted to put that in as a past MIS director who like always was cautious about these projects, but I
see the value of it this time and going forward now. So, just wanted to put that in there. Thank you. I think we all appreciate past experience and um hopefully move forward with that and then the thing that we're we're facing right now with changes and so forth that
that we need to consider and the fact that we're one deep is really important and I think to uh those of us who were working on this project back then when we first tried it uh this company has changed they've matured they were in the
midst of a massive of growing project at Kronos and then they ultimately got uh merged or bought out by this other firm and just in the people that we deal with um are they're a lot more transparent um
and better answers um more timely. You could just tell it's a it's a better operation. The other big problem we had at that time, we didn't know going into it was that our HR system was built differently than our payroll system. And
they had to start over. Um, and the and they weren't they didn't tell us that. Uh, Kronos didn't tell us that. They we really needed to start over. They were pushing us along to to get us built at that time without those two linking and
we would have struggled mightily after that and when we discovered that that's when it had to end at that time but they assure us now that they're uh they they are working with their HR system for a number of years now we won't have that difficulty this time so that's the other
one um just a quick question alarms we have two positions that are one deep. I mean, I I have stress about Brady. Well, only one Brady, but we've got two individuals
whose jobs are essential. And what's their backup? I mean, what's the backup if if uh Nick has to go to a Bora Bora for five months for some reason or something, you know, or or if Allison hops on a train and we never see her
again, you know? Do we have people trained in their departments or we just all lock the door and be done? No, right now it's it's uh there's one guy at MIS who is the expert in this and we would be sitting down with him and working
however many hours of the day and night to get payroll out. He'd be walking us through it. Um it would be a miserable experience, but we would we'd do it. I I would say this that this system will be
easier to to do payroll. Um and so the possibility of um having a backup in Brady's office to just, you know, be able to work off of that. I I once shadowed this job, the MSIS payroll. I
wrote pages pages. I couldn't believe how complicated it was and all the steps that you had to do and send checks here and do this. It was I've never seen anything quite like it in terms of how it was cobbled together. It takes a long time to learn it the way it is now.
We we've really had one person who understood it because she was here as it was developed and stayed here for 30 years and knew it very very well since then. Um, it's it's a long training period to get someone uh new on that
system and it works well once you know it and you have to keep a lot of spreadsheets on the side and notes and how do I do this, how do I do that because it's a lot you can't remember it all. So, so there's a lot of um Yeah.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So Brady, when we had talked about this yesterday, you hadn't had some documents, but those documents came in because then they got added. And so um uh in the in the discussion, it was a matter of and I
appreciate the work of the committee and and the history that contributes to saying we need to do something and it's better to be proactive than it is to be reactive in this situation. It's significant. Um uh the uh the question
was uh with their their basic plan and that's what they've quoted to us and then they have all these search charges and so the discussion was related to the fact that like in in building construction if you
have chargeable changes that's when you really start to hit get hit because you think you know what it's going to cost you but then you get these chargeable changes and your end bill is a lot more than what you anticipated. In this case, when we look at the list of things that
are the chargeable changes, so to speak in the analogy, you can anticipate, well, this is something that I think would be important to us. And so these add-ons knowing where we want to um define the relationship by contract
with the offerings that they have to us as opposed to paying little by little as add-ons. Maybe we would put oursel in a different position as to the package that we would negotiate and agree to. What you said earlier in this discussion
is that in talking to the other counties and looking at it that if it's not significant the add-ons and and we think from our assessment we can manage that then we go in at this rate that we're looking at which is 10,000 something as
a basic plan and we can add on those things that we anticipate and still look at that number in comparison to what it would be going into 2026 if we remained with our present provider. 44,000. So, it's it's fair and it's honest to
say that this is a significant savings from the dollar standpoint and it's it's also significant in its uh ease of operation and what it contributes to us and it's also provides opportunity for
multiple services that in relationship we could participate in if we felt we needed to do that. So, in other words, we're aligning ourselves with an organization that offers more, creates more efficiency, and it's cost savings. Would that be a fair statement? That's a
fair statement. Yeah. Yeah. So, I I'd make a motion to support the uh the transition to the new provider. Support. Any further questions or comments? And I'll just I'll just mention in that long
document that got added on, it's uh there is a uh an option for them to uh increase those base prices. It's 4% a year. So that's um I think that's fair
uh given my concern when I did without having that that document was that it might be like insurance you know where you haven't made a change on your vehicle or your house and then suddenly it's going up 10 or 15% a year without
any and you know why because it goes out around the county but they're making up your money elsewhere and you don't want to be part of that. So, it's it's not it's not built in that way. So, Commissioner Mills. Oh, I just was going to um ask Commissioner Gamble if it was
okay to amend um the motion to include um the contract review with our county attorney and authorize um board chair and auditor to sign the contract. Sure. Commissioner Gamble. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for noting that, Commissioner
Mills. the uh uh would you be able to say um in our present provider situation what the percentage of increase has been annually? Um not a lot other than uh when people
leave then it's huge. Um, other than that, it's I I couldn't say, but their their general costs are cost of living at best at MSUS and they and they spread that around. Yeah. So, I
would say it would be cost of living. Yeah. Other than when people leave. Yeah. And the other thing, you know, you said in your comments earlier is they really want us. And sometimes when somebody really wants you, they sort of bait you with with an offer that gets you and then all a sudden here you are
and then you find out, oh my goodness. But if what that's why we've kept working at it. Yeah. And that's why the document if it says it won't increase more than four. You can anticipate a 4% as a protective that it's not a an incentive and then once we get you in
here, we're going to next year you're going to be surprised. But I don't Yeah. I don't I don't get that sense. But it does it does it I think it's that you're going to like this and you're going to want more.
Yeah. And that that will be the where the cost savings is if you go that would be nice but we'll pass. Yeah. Yeah. Mh. Um, Roso, for example, um, we're 15,000 people, but, uh, they don't have HR, but they have the basic payroll, and that's
what they stay with. Yeah. And they're paying, uh, 16,000 after a number of years. Um, and they're they're not biting on the other. And so, it's a choice. Yeah. The counties that you've talked to then, uh, all of them have
spoke favorably about the experience. Yeah. They don't not everyone speaks favorably about the experience of uh of launching it. Yeah. That's Yeah. Yeah. And in fact, that's one reason I I wouldn't do it in an election year
because it's going to take up so much of his time and maybe other people's time, you know, maybe mine. Um I expect that. So, um, the ones that didn't have a bad experience have payroll departments and
they assign two people from there and two people from HR to go work on it, you know. So, that's different. So, we have a motion with a amended um to Commissioner Gamble's
um approval of the contract um amended by a review of the contract with Attorney Peterson. So, is that okay? Okay. Um with that in mind, as a as a approval, um all in favor? I I seconded
the motion, Dave. Okay. Thank you. Um motion passes unanimously. Thank you. And uh at this time I think we'll take a break because starting with administrator um updates and then we're going to be visiting with DDA personally. Um I I
think maybe what we'll do is we'll call him during the break, get him online and so I'll switch that around and do that part first. That's okay. Sure. Okay. Very good. Okay. So, um first up, uh we have joining us Pat Melvin from DDA who is
going to give us um an update on the administrator search. Um and I think the board will have an opportunity. You've seen some highle summaries. if there are questions you have or things that you you want him to provide more information
on, you know, he can kind of walk us through that in the way that with all the all the barriers that we need to attend to in this part of the process. So, I'm going to turn my microphone over toward Pat and I'll let him go from there. Go ahead, Pat.
Good morning, commissioners. Good morning. Thank you for taking time to talk with me this morning. Uh just wanted to uh uh let give you a quick summary. We we posted uh again for the Cook County Administrator position May
or April 8th through May 7th. Uh during that time we received a total of 25 applications. I think that the board in reposting was looking to get some individuals who maybe had some changes
happening at the federal level with what's going on there and and in fact we did have some individuals uh apply from higher level positions. Uh we also had a number of individuals or
several individuals I should say. uh with several individuals with more of an emergency management background who applied. And so I have had an opportunity to take a look at the 25 applicants and uh I put together a brief
summary on each of those uh and you've had an opportunity I hope to review that and I have uh selected 10 that I think would be uh suitable for doing the video interview
uh information disclosure statement and the work personality index. And then also, if the board would like, also have them complete the um uh values uh homework that we added to the
last uh recruitment where they had indicate what are their top values and why. So, I I offer that up uh and I'm willing to take any questions, uh suggestions, etc. at this time.
questions for Pat. If there aren't any specific questions, then maybe you could give us the numbers of the 10 that you are recommending. They're highlighted. They're highlighted. Did you see that? Yeah. So,
at this at this time, those 10 are not considered um finalists. So their information, their identification is not public uh at this time. But the the ones that I am
suggesting are the ones that are highlighted in yellow in the summary that was provided to you. And I can certainly just list those numbers. Those are numbers 2
4 5 8 11 13 14 19 20 and 23.
Thank you on that. I don't have any color when I receive all these messages. So, Administrator Roger Roger support supported me with that uh handout. Okay, good. All right. So, that's good. We're on a roll now with um these 10.
Commissioner Gamble, did you have a question? Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Pat, this is Commissioner Gamble. Um, good morning. I'd like to Good morning. I'd like to ask you uh with the 10 that you've recommended and given what we uh as commissioners are hoping for um with
the the this process, what's your comfort level with the timeline moving forward with the inclusion of 10? Are you comfortable with that number given what we need to get back and review with
the June 16th I believe interview date set? Is that correct? Yes. I are you I think we're going to be sorry. Go ahead, Commissioner. That's right. I was just saying are you going to be comfortable facilitating that with
10? I think we're looking at selecting finalists on May 27th. I'm going to be hardressed to make that because obviously I have to reach out to the 10 candidates and ask them to complete this
information. So what I was planning to do is ask for a little bit of uh allowance there. What I had indicated was that I would have information to you as commissioners on May
18th so that you would have time to review that in advance. Uh May 18th doesn't give me much time to reach out to candidates and to ask them to get their information back to me. It's a video interview as well as the work
personality assessment and the information disclosure statement. So, um I think we're going to be hardressed to make May 27th uh unless I have at a minimum a few more days in terms of when I get that
information to you as commissioners. And and as a followup, Pat, I it's it's both uh you know, respecting what you feel is reasonable as well as the candidates themselves not being inundated and
feeling that we're not being considered of what's involved in this. And uh so I think we want to protect both you know your experience and time in facilitating this as well as the candidates's perception of what in the world you know
with a short timeline. However, we don't want to run into the other problem which is trying to make all of these values protected in this process. So, we don't want to lose people. And I'm assuming with some of these applicants that they put their
name out given what's going on and uh if they get someplace else that responds, we would lose part of the pool. So, that's a decision we have to make is listen to you, anticipate perception by candidates
and our timeline concerns. I if if the board was open to it, obviously, you know, May 27th is kind of the the immediate challenge right now of of having information to you. Uh if you wanted to push that out, it's going to
push everything else out. But I think that would give candidates a little more time. And to be quite honest, I may contact them and they may say, "Not a problem." Some may say, "I'm out of town. I won't be able to get this done
until a later date. I I don't know the answer to that at this time. So, if you had some flexibility with me, I could, you know, talk to the candidates and find out if there's any challenges in
making that 27th date. Uh otherwise, you know, maybe you do determine that it waits until a June meeting. So as a followup uh with the various things we've identified that we need to be mindful of in making this decision. If
you were to if we said uh find the 10 that you've recommended, we've all looked at the list and we're saying there's no we no more we want to add or there's no one that we want to eliminate. Uh not having the resume and not looking at things. We've got very
little information to make an informed decision. So we're basically taking a recommendation but if we look at well there are options relative to the things we've identified it would be to reduce the number. So it be wouldn't be so much
work and with that in mind if you following this meeting were to contact you might with the 10 people find out that somebody are no longer in the running would we reduce that so that our initial schedule might be more feasible.
Does that make sense? Correct. Yes. Yes. That's very true. I So, so we could say at this just say if the board is comfortable, let's go with the 10 and then you contact then get back to Reena and and let us know how
many are still in the running of those 10 and if you feel it's feasible and then we'll go from there. That sounds that's certainly an option. Yes. and I appreciate your flexibility. Okay. Lots of heads nodding here, Matt.
Yeah. Great. Yeah. Okay. I will reach re reach out to them immediately and uh be in touch with Reena and uh we'll keep the process moving, but uh certainly appreciate their flexibility on that. The other thing I'd say, Pat, is let's just say a
scenario that you call and and of the 10 there are three that are still in the running. Then we would have to go back and revisit that list. I'm just throwing it out as a scenario. We ran into that before, but we should anticipate, you know,
potential. I wouldn't see it happening if we're timely in this, but but that's the scenario we'd have to go back and look at if the board wanted to include if in fact we found that there were fewer in the pool of the 10 that you're going to contact.
Yes. Uh, and I wonder, you know, if the board, if I do have a couple to drop out, um, uh, say two to three, if we still have seven, again, this is individuals are not being invited in for an interview at this point. They're just
being considered for an interview. I mean, if some individuals do drop out, um, you know, as long as it's not significant where we're down to three or four, uh, I would assume that, you know, the board would probably be okay with
proceeding cuz typically what we would look for is four to five to invite in for an interview. I I would agree with that. If in fact the board had the resumes, we would we would be able to make a better informed decision as to
the who. You know what I'm saying? At this point, we're take a recommendation based upon what we identified to you as what we were looking for. But um if if in fact there were a lot that dropped out of the pool from my perspective or
my standpoint, I would I would like to see the resume if we were to go to backups. You know what I'm saying? In other words, if you call and you find out we have very few in the pool from your initial recommendation,
if we were to go to a second uh review of this, I would like to see the resumes before I would make that determination. Okay. In in that scenario where you know, and if we have 10 and and only five, I wouldn't have a problem with
that, but I'd like to know the five of the list that you gave us. Okay. So, what is the threshold g commissioner or gamble? What is the threshold where you want more information? Is it we
currently are looking at 10? If we have eight, seven or eight that choose to proceed. No, I and I don't I don't think it needs to be numbers. I think that's why the more information that refineses
uh the who is important to the board. In other words, we're not looking at numbers. If there were only three, but the three were the top that we've identified that we don't want to waste people's time, nor do we want to, you know, spend time here just going through
the motions. We want candidates that we feel are aligned with the county's values. And uh if that's only three, I'm I'm comfortable with three, but that's up to the board. Commissioner Mills. Yeah. Hi, Pat. This is Commissioner
Mills. I think um uh please correct me if I'm wrong, Commissioner Gamble, but what what what we're asking for is if there is a significant change in the number for the video interviews and your professional uh advice would be
to gather more from that initial pool again. That's when we want to see resumes. Correct. But before that, we don't need to. We're just, you know, best foot forward, hoping hoping we're going to get a bunch a bunch of candidates that are willing to to do
that video process and and if not, we can check in again. Is that okay? That would be correct. And then just just to say that you find out who's in the pool that the board affirms that we're doing video interviews, we're doing the uh uh
personality uh we're doing the cognitive and we're doing the values and then based upon that we'll select our finals. Yeah. Okay. Good. There we go. Okay. Yeah, I have clear direction. Thank you. I I will
immediately reach out to the uh to the candidates, the those 10 and go from there. Thank you so much. Thank you, Pat. Thank you. Thanks, you too. I think there's a hammer somewhat close
by. No, I don't know. I don't know. You have to go to the the three dots. Yeah, you probably Yeah. Thanks, John. It's a funny thing. You know, you do it your whole life. You retire for a few years, you can't
remember any of it. Okay. So, moving on with the Y custodial agreement, right? So, it's always interesting to me that um I can leave for four years and things that were on my plate before come back to being on my
plate again. 10 years and come back. That's right. We have that history, don't we? So, um, you know, the, as I have publicly stated before, maybe I shouldn't, but the Y the original Y agreement is a complicated
and not very well done agreement that left the county with a lot of responsibilities. Um, one of those responsibilities is based on the fact that we own the building and so, you know, the repairs that happen there and even the maintenance of that building falls in in
our um in our in our camp. And uh back last time when I was uh administrator four years ago, um we had a significant problem and we were spending a lot of money just keeping trying to keep it clean and we weren't doing a very good job. uh we were trying to do it with our
own staff and we would try to hire somebody that was just there at night and they weren't well supervised or if they were sick then there was nobody there and we were spending a lot of money in overtime. I think my estimates then were around 160,000 a year. So um
like I I I don't think we have many opportunities to do here because um a lot of counties will share different responsibilities with neighboring counties. We don't have a lot of those kinds of opportunities because the our distance away from other counties, but
we do have opportunities to share with other organizations um in the in the county. And in this case, the school shares that building with the Y. And they had made an offer then to um take over that responsibility which what they
had offered up was saying we'll hire this extra person on our staff and they will be part of a team that comes that's always available. So if that person is out sick or on vacation, it's a team responsibility to come through be able
to uh re react to cleaning emergencies during the day, a leaky faucet, whatever it is. Um, and then also they would be part of the sweep that the school custodial team does every night so that the building would get thoroughly
cleaned every night. Um, it was a great agreement and it worked really well because Tom Nelson at the school is a very good manager and he's he runs a good team and he made sure that the quality of the work was done. Two years ago, I I wasn't here. I don't know why
that contract got lost, but it did. And we hired a private contractor on the same contract. And it's my understanding um well, it was more expensive that that individual charges us $8,000 a month. Uh
so it's 96,000 a year and I think the school one is a little over 90,000. Um, and the work has been less than satisfactory uh because it's one person and how much time they're there. There's
no one supervising them going in at night to make sure they're there or um so uh the school once again has approached us because it's part of their building and they have the consequences of that kind of overlapping into their building as well and said we'll pick up
that contract again if you're interested. So that's what's in front of us. They didn't raise the rates from when they dropped it two years ago. Um, I think it's a, you know, it's I I'm not going to defend anything about the Y. I think we spend a lot of money there and
those were agreements that were made a long time ago. Um, and I know that that frustrates a lot of people, but we do have a responsibility and we have it's a public health issue. and when that when the the custodial work isn't done well,
it reflects on us as the owners of the building. So, um I think it's a good good thing to do. It's ultimately your decision. Um I think if we don't do this, you know, we're probably going to have to figure out something else. So,
um, and I I don't know what that would be at this point, um, other than go out for another contract with someone else who we'd have to negotiate with and do that. So, anyway, that's that's what this is. And I hope I I would uh have
any take any questions that you might might have. I know you have some. I can tell. Yeah. I don't know if any other commissioner would like that. Questions, comments. Oh, why did the school stop originally?
The school was going to Did they partner with the Y or with the county? It was with the Y. It was with us. And why did I think my recollection it was that they became short staffed?
Yeah, it was something not negative in that it wasn't a relationship. I think it might have been a Oh, maybe a relationship with the Y staff. Yeah, I think there was a combination of things there. Oh, I remember. No, how it was explained to me. It was that the school
lost a staff person and then didn't have the capacity. Um, so then we had to pivot. Commissioner Gamble. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair. Yeah. So, um you know long history which everybody may be aware or
not aware but um the initial with the Y and that contract which I read yesterday the initial one um and looking at that and then there was a contract that was reddrafted in 20 I don't know 20 18 and
then again in 2020 and so um uh when I look at this contract uh you look at the concept number one you look at the concept in in what has been multi-year problem that we have to keep readressing
to try to solve it and uh it is is true that image image of the county is supported by every action and everything we say and do and and that's important and we want to do that sub substantively. We don't want to just go
through the motions and there's been a lot of issues. It issues relative to compliance, let alone going into a facility that wow, they do a nice job of keeping this clean and fresh and a facility that says I'm a little hesitant to go into that locker room. And so
those are real issues. How we address it is both a financial and an end outcome as to what we get for what we're paying for. The thing I think realistically and
I I don't know this this contract was drafted by us or by this by us. Yeah. By uh Attorney Hicken drafted this contract um when this when uh in 2020. Yeah. When the um when we realized we needed to do
something different because our staff was the present one that's before us. Oh, the one that was before us. I think they took the one that was drafted in 2020. Okay. And they just reissued it. Okay. In 2020, they just changed it. Um, and that was in 2023. So that was two
years ago that we've had, okay, the current contracting. And so what I would say and and if you look at the original contract, especially with the new enterprise that that the um uh the shared commitment and responsibility
that came with that in the the why that the accountability to just see how our expectations were being met and the balance of responsibility as committed and defined by the contract. a lot of that didn't happen and that was
frustrating. So, uh, we kept going back and forth and back and forth and the city and the and the county had made a commitment financially that had a cap on it. So, citizens knew exactly how much we were spending, but then it became
wide open. And uh and I would say in the very first meeting that we had after the Y was open and the school, the YMCA, the county, and the city all met
and we're going to say, okay, how's it going? And I asked the question, are we tracking the amount of janitorial time that Brian is spending over at the Y? and are we tracking when students use the Y
facilities? And the response is no. And I said, and why are we not? Because we assume it's a wash. And I said, this is a new enterprise. We can make our assumptions, but we really need to track these things to prove that our assumptions are correctly held. And then
I had it posed to me after that comment. Why in the world do you have the right to even ask that question which is simply to say why why do I have the right as a commissioner? Have you not read the contract? Because it says that if you don't live within your means that
the citizen will pick up the difference. That's why there needs to be the accountability and the checking in. So when we come to this our lived experience over this period of time in this document as it's representative if we say well it's going to cost us
$90,000 and this will save us $6,000 on what we're paying out of pocket right now. I I don't I don't feel if you look at the document that that's correct because there's so many open ends to this that if if we're going to do four
floor polishing or a deep clean or any other special project that will be charged in addition to this contract. So the janitorial thing is the dayto-day and whatever. But when we go to have our annual polish the floors do some, you
know, whatever mold mitigation or anything else, those are over and above. We're going to get charged over and above. It's an open-ended thing. And it's based upon the Y telling us that's what they want to do. And then all of the materials that are in the um that
are needed for cleaning and the refilling, you know, the toilet paper, the toilet, the towels, the soap, everything else. We pay for that, right? And and there's no there's nothing in there that that has an accountability that shows that in fact
there's and and I'm going to just say this respectfully, the stewardship aspect of it, there's nothing in there that has this accountability. So we say, yeah, we save 6,000. I I would say, okay, normally then you would look at the end of the year, we sign a contract
agreement, we anticipate this, but look at all of these other caveats. What did we actually spend? And then you'd look at it and say, "We need to find a different way." This is what we just talked about with payroll. We've had lots of years of experience just seeing we need to re we need to step back and
and re-evaluate. And um so I I'm not comfortable with the document as drafted. I understand the fact that because we own the building, I asked Brady, "How many buildings do we own? And how many of them do we have contracts like this that we're paying
for all these things open-ended without any cap? And then if there's an increase, we don't get to look at unless that increase exceeds 50%. 50%. I'm not comfortable with that
figure either. In other words, we don't have to be called in to review it as commissioners with taxpayer money being spent unless the increase is over 50%. I'm not comfortable with that.
Well, I would like to say I think it's almost two years ago now, city, county, and school got together and we wanted to review our individual contracts with the Y. Going back to the history of those
three players, one entity has never been been uh one of the entities, the Y has never fulfilled the um contra not I won't say contracts but
being a good player in the situation and I can't this is from being on the outside being a community member not as a commissioner I was in the school board. So, I know somehow some of that didn't go as well as had been expected,
but I remember we did there were handshake deals done with the Y about um students having first dibs on the wait room and in different parts of the facility and there were many things that didn't come to pass.
And I believe that we need to I one I believe that the city and the county need to revisit our shared contract with the Y. How many people use the facility the Y facility are from the county
greater county are from the from the city? What are those numbers? And as far as the school being the um maintenance people, I trust the personnel at the school. They have a long
history. They they are in good standing with the public because they've worked on it. They take care of our children. They're part of the community. And the Y might be a real part of the community for many
people, but as far as being as an entity of really being not the individual people that work there, but as far as an organization that really supports Cook County for the sake of building a better community. That's their goal. I don't believe that they
have proven it as an individual who's been around since the get-go of the YMCA project. So I want if we sign a contract with the school, we should have it. No more handshake deals. We should have
even though the trust between with the school is high, we need to have everything spelled out. We can't we can't just we can't have handshake deals. This is business. This is county county money. So it's not a it's not a
slam. It's not a slam on the school. But um I just believe that we need to be uh good stewards of the county dime. So um in answer to your question about the soaps and the toilet paper and all the
consumables that are used by members, this uh when we tried to revisit the contract back in 2020 and clean it up and get rid of a lot of ambiguity, we had this on the table with the Y and all along the county's been paying for that.
that was written in the original contract and in good faith we were trying to say look this is probably5 or $6 thousand a year that you're collecting you know membership fees for and and this is stuff that your folks
are actually using you know so the members we think you should pay that we could not get them to bend on that at all and I I I've never run into that kind of thing in contract negotiation before
where a group was like, "Yeah, we got a good deal and we're not doing anything with that." And um I think that's a broader issue and I will uh investigate uh this business of what are the numbers that use the Y, how many people that are in there, how often are
school children using it, and how often are uh these are members or or visitors that are coming in. I'll I'll follow up with Alex and get that information. in the short term, we still need to figure out a way
to keep that building clean. Um, so, um, the scope of what we're discussing here is bigger than that. And, um, I, yeah, I guess I'd like to find out if the board is willing to support this contract and then I'll bring other information for
the broader thing or not. Um, that's that's kind of where I'm at with this. Commissioner Gamble. Thank you, Madam Chair. And and I just I want to underscore too that um we we need to have respectful honest
conversations. And so if if we're going to move forward in in a healthy context and cultivate healthy relationships between the school, the Y, the county, the city, the community,
we need to be sure that we're looking at it from the perspective of all the stakeholders. So when whenever you have negative things to say, whenever you're frustrated, whenever da da da, those things cannot cloud the objective, which
which is to try to get it right. And it needs to be fair and balanced and equitable. And all players need to demonstrate that they're acting in good faith with common sense. So our focus
here is not to deride or denigrate or whatever, but if we can't have honest conversation to address real issues, we'll never get to that healthy place. And I think the accountability,
Alex is well respected, well-liked. Yep. And leadership is the number one thing. It's what we're looking at in county administrator. You've got to have a leader that identifies the shared values amongst those partners and protects them
in how we operate, which is the service we provide, the facilities, and the financial integrity. And so I I think it's important not to lose sight of what we're focusing on here, but we need to
see the evidence of that. And if it's not there, then we need to address it honestly. but not to address it is to abdicate our responsibility. So, I I would like to see the contract amended. I'd like to
see numbers that help define the whatifs that are open-ended, and I'd like a lower threshold for us to be able to assess, not 50% increase. Sure. I'll go back and um meet with the superintendent and see see what we can do in that
regard that gives us a little more to find because all along it's been too loosey goosey and it just falls on us and we say well where's the stewardship on my behalf as a citizen? So anyway, that that's what I would say. If that's what the board would like me to do, I can do that. I can go back and look at
that further or we can move ahead. I get a motion. I don't I don't care one way or the other. I would appreciate a revisit. I'd like to table it until we address those issues and then, you know, bring it back. I'm not trying to delay it, but I would like to be more a
protector of issues that are real issues. Okay. I'm I'm good with that. I'm fine with that. And do we sign a contract for a year, for six months? How do you This one it's uh it's sort of an ongoing contract. Okay. It's like u
automatically renews in the year. Okay. So, we would have would you have some background for our next board meeting because we really need to make sure that the custodial services Yeah, we do. I mean, we we have we have a we have a gap there right now, I think. Okay.
Commission. Yeah, I was going to ask just about the school's position if you have any insight on that as far as the staffing and if there's anything hinging on this decision. Well, I mean it is sort of a trying, right? You know, they don't want to hire somebody and so they know that there's a need for it. Um they
have uh they had another position open so they were kind of open for custodial positions right now and if they got multiple candidates they would maybe hire one. So there there is a timeliness still um in the way our board meetings
are and the way their board meetings are. uh they have a board meeting this week and then not again until the middle of June. So um that's kind of the the timeline I'm would it would it make sense that it given you know the recommendation from the board if the
board consensus that it would then be able to come before their board which then we'd get that back so that our next board meeting the 27th we would be able to act on it. Yeah. Their their board meeting is Thursday night. Okay. So
that's a pretty short time frame. Yeah, it's a it's a complicated thing for me, you know, because I'm on the school board, too. I understand like, you know, I'm, you know, so give you a sense of what you think, you know, if you came in and just say, "Hey," and we were we're trying to work at this, but we have to,
right? Yeah. I um I can go back and and uh and talk with the commissioner or with the superintendent. Yeah. Yes. Commissioner Mills. Thank you, Sure. Um, are there some items that we can um I mean you
mentioned the 50% and I greatly appreciate that. Are there some other items that we can pinpoint um to uh change right now that um might help uh in that discussion? it. Let's just say
and I and I appreciate the discussion, uh, Madam Chair, that the, um, if we were to look and see what what the expense is right now, if we were if we had a, you know, an an expense report in front of us, we could look and say,
well, how much is this? How much is that? We have something. We don't even know what the numbers are. And I'm saying to make a decision to support something without knowing numbers is really setting yourself up. So I think there can be appreciation for the
stewardship responsibility we have. And I'm just saying all of these things that are open-ended commitments. Let's give us some idea what open-ended means if we're going to pay it. And then let's say this does not include special projects like semianual cleaning the
floor. Well, what what are you spending on semiannual thinning the floor right now and what might be some other projects? Because we have to see the real number as opposed to saying whatever you got, whatever you recommend at the discretion of the
YMCA. That's what we'll do. Pay for I'm not comfortable. The reason I ask is because in the contract the the services to provided by the school um would include assistance um as requested by the Cook County Maintenance
Department on special projects. And so that's benefiting us, not costing us. Even if we don't know what the cost is, having that assistance is not an additional cost, that's a benefit. And so that's what I'm trying to identify if there's other points that um like it's
open-ended. It's an open-ended benefit at this point. Well, no. It says in there that this this contract does not include special projects which will be build independently. Oh, okay. Um there's a discrepancy then.
Um item 3D says provide assistance as requested by the Cook County Maintenance Department on special projects such as scheduled periodic cleaning projects at the Cook County YMCA facility. for example, semiannual floor maintenance um and for additional compensation is allowed in paragraph 5B. So, I'm just
trying to find I'm trying to identify the open-endedness that's a risk to the county. Um and that 50% absolutely is is uh the open-endedness because those will be build in addition. That's what it's saying. No, it's our it's our responsibility. It's our responsibility
to do those. We don't get build extra for that. That's us. We do that. That's us. But they're saying if we want to instead we can pay uh the school to do that for us instead of Brook's not sitting here so I don't know if it if Brooke was consulted
on this. I mean it's the same thing when Brian was doing whatever and it just got way out of hand. So I'm I'm just saying clarity to understand that and be sure that that Brooke is I mean I'm assuming he's read through this. I'd be
comfortable with that because I know the the assumption on the front end, but then the reality because it's something we hadn't done before. I mean, Brian was just frazzled. He was spending all this time over there. So, I'm just saying, right, which is the reason we put this contract in place, right? Because he was
working nights and No, I understand that. And but but I just want those things clarified and and if if Brooke were here, he could say, "So, what do you think, Brooke? And what does this follow?" Then then we would we would know that. So, I'm I'm not looking to
make this more complicated than needs to be, but on the other hand, I'm not just I'm not comfortable just slipping this, you know, moving moving forward without some clarification. So, to your point, let's look at a budget that reflects some of those costs. Let's involve Brooke in
identifying what that means. And and he said, I looked at that. I'm comfortable. It takes me this or whatever, and I'm surely I have no problem with this contract. as opposed if we make the decision like we did and then Brian's realize what do you want me to do? I have no time. Right? That's all I'm
saying. Okay. So, let me just make sure I understand what you're asking for. Do you want me to consult with Brooke first or do you want me to talk to the superintendent at the school? I' I've heard both things. So, I just want to I just want to understand if Brooke is
okay with this or this makes sense to him. You're okay with that? Well, given the discussion, you know, Commissioner Mills has raised here relative to we're we're doing that. Just ask that question of him. That's because he's the stakeholder. He's the doer, right? And he's the one that brought this to me and
said, "Yeah, right." And so it might be like I say if he he said, "Yeah, no, I've reviewed that. That's I just don't know that and I I shouldn't be." Could you grab Brooke? Yeah. Yeah. I think I mean this is the second time we've gone through this contract and um it was
working well aside from the staffing leaving. Um maybe there is some relationship stuff going on, but um it it I'm I'm comfortable with it. The the 50% is is definitely something to to reconsider. I'd be happy to knock it
down to and you know that's about refillable products and cleaning supplies, right? Um, and and so if we want to bring that down to 25% or 30% or whatever, um, I'd be comfortable with that. But I'm looking for those
open-ended risks and I'm having a hard time identifying them. And that's why I was asking whatever the costs are for all refillables. All of those things are just generic in nature. If we were looking at a budget and attaching that to that, just like when we looked at this payroll thing, we had figures to
look at what we're talking about. M and if you say we're going to get uniformity, we're going to have somebody dedicated. All of these things, those are all pluses, but we still need to address the fiscal end of it, which I have to see those numbers to know what I'm committing to. Right. Right. And so
what I'm saying is is this is our commitment. No, it's our commitment, but based upon what? And if I said, if I said, you know, well, if you looked at it and we reviewed like we said it was, if you would review annually, we were supposed to get monthly statements. We
never did. And then it changed. Well, we only have to do it annually. Why you would go to annually? Well, we never got monthly. Doesn't I would short up and say until we start seeing it here, we're not going to go to annually. But anyway, my point is we can't say umbrella-wise it's our
commitment and whatever it costs. That's what we've been doing. We need to see numbers that inform that decision. That's all I'm saying. I guess what I'm trying to say what what I'm trying to say is like we we have made the commitment already. This is our building
and it is our responsibility to um clean and maintain the building. And so I'm looking for a way to um do that by minim with minimizing the risk to our budget
and and our organization. Um and I'm having a hard time seeing the risks considering we've already made this commitment. We're just looking for a better way to fulfill it. No, there's no financial nothing to support it. Support what? Support what
the risk is. You said there are budget there's no numbers to even know how it affects budget. What you're saying is we've made the commit we have the responsibility. I can have a responsibility to something but I can look at it from a financial standpoint to make sure that it's good stewardship of dollars. Meeting my responsibility
with an awareness of cost. We have no awareness of cost. What we've got is a commitment. We're saying it's our commitment. So whatever it is and I'm saying no that's not good stewardship financially. we will meet our obligation, but we have a right to no cost and what we're saying yes to. And I
think that's maybe a conversation about our commitment with the why, but this is about the um the county and the school and the school providing a service for the county to meet the county's current
obligation. And so I think this is a way I think this is a step in the right direction. I understand the desire for more information and again I think that's important um and critical frankly but that's in a different contract for
our our obligations. This one's just um uh having a buddy having a partner to come share this responsibility. Commissioner Sullivan. So the way I'm looking at it at given what we're listening to there are two things and
one is clearly the percentage wanting to lower that from 50% and so I think that to um have administrator Rogers converse with the superintendent and go through that process and that maybe is something that that hopefully can be done in a
relatively short period. I think the second piece is getting data getting budget information from Brooke. I don't know that we have information from the past from Brian. I'm not sure how he tracked that. And so I would want to have at our next board meeting when we
look at perhaps a different percentage on this contract to have Brooke then meet with us and talk about what information that he might be able to put together. Brooke is on his way here. Good. So, all right. We can I can talk
about something else and we can come back to this. I think that would be very good. Now that Dustin's left, maybe we should do the transfer station. Yeah, he hasn't left. His water bottle is here. Here comes Oh, here comes Brook.
Hey, Brooke. Hey, thanks for running back from where we were. Oh, I was over at the highway department going over a couple things. Okay. So, we've been talking about the contract with uh the proposed contract with the school to do the cleaning at the Y. Yep. And um
Commissioner Gamble has raised a couple of issues in this contract. Uh one of them would have been about uh you don't have it in front of you, but it would have been about um services provided. So, like when you have annual
kinds of things that you do like waxing the floors or something, um there was uh it it referenced in 5B that you could if you wanted to contract with the school to do that at a rate of $40 an hour. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We currently still
continue to do that. So, this summer, the old gym that we own now is scheduled for resurface along with their gyms. So, they'll do their gyms and then they move right in to our gyms and redo ours as
well. And then and then that's that is something that we could do, but they do it for us or how does that work? Um, it's with a contractor and then they assist the contractor. Now, you're talking about resurfacing the gym floor
though. I'm talking about like waxing the floors in the main areas. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's always been We don't have the burnishing equipment to scrape it and redo it. We don't have that equipment. That's something that's always been handled by a contractor. Okay. But but
how about as the language states that maybe if you read the language in that contract, an example, it says semianual, right? It says uh provide assistance is requested by the Cook County Maintenance
Department on special projects such as scheduled periodic cleaning projects at the Y for example semiannual floor maintenance um as additional compensation that's allowed. So yeah, and that's at our discretion. So we haven't been it hasn't been completed
semiannually. They had a contractor come in um before my time, I believe it was four or five years ago, and use a new product on those instead of just burnishing with wax like it's normally done. Use a new product that has lasted quite some time and they haven't had to
redo it since. Okay. Any idea what that cost? I don't know what that cost was. Yeah. No, that was I'd have to I'd have to ask I well I ask is it your understanding in the contract if you've reviewed this
contract that those special projects that that we would have to do that that uh get build in addition to the contract to pay for the custodial service that we have the option either
paying in addition or doing it and paying the wage of whoever is doing it from the county. Is that your understanding? If we have the equipment and the skill set to do it. Some of the things we can, some of the things we will not be able to. Okay. And and it
from my standpoint, if if I had a budget from the YMCA that showed you got that budget from the YMCA. So Brady has sent all the commissioners and our county administrator the my computer the budget. Um that's okay. You can just
have to just so that we do have some numbers. Yeah. It just my my sense of things in reviewing that contract is there's a lot of openended things that talk about things generally but do not put dollars next to
it. So, it's hard to know what you're committing to. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it would be just like any other project I would do. I don't know how it was done in the past, but it'd be just like any other project where if it's over 5,000, I'll have to, you know, they'll bid it and then I'll have to come to you guys
for approval of that project. Yeah, that's my understanding on how it would work. I mean, and with the current contract we're under with the current cleaner, those projects are still getting completed by the school. And uh
so what I'm looking for if the language in there says that that we that we give the county first right of refusal on these projects but if you're too busy or we whatever don't have the equipment then they can contract. Do we contract
that or did they contract that? They do. All right. They contract that. And then the language as it states is that if if we choose not to do it, if you do it, we pay we're paying you or whomever. If they do it, then they that's an add-on
bill. Correct. That comes in this contract. And that's where understanding what do you think that would be? If we're talking about a fleet of cars and you say you come and you want six new cars and you say because it's our obligation to have to provide those for
staff. If you don't give us any financial numbers, we don't know what we're saying. Yes. Do right. So, I mean that the county could contract with someone else, right? Correct. Correct. But in this case, in the contract, the school is committing
it to being $40 an hour. Um, it says that we'll pay $40 an hour. Um, or the average, which is a bargain, right, for us, right? Yeah. Mhm. If we're paying $40 an hour, I mean, I've got, you know, well, it says or the
actual cost including it would be the actual cost, you know, commission. Yeah. So, just just so we can get some numbers out there for for perspective. Um Brady sent out the actual 2023,
the 2024 work budget, the actual 2024, the 2025 work budget, and then it looks like the 2026 is in process here. And so for professional contract services in
2023, it was $164,0005 $164,538. In 2024, the professional contract services were $110,000. That was the budget. The actual was uh 107487. And so the work budget for 2025
is $110,000. Um I'm assuming that includes the janitorial that's that that's what that what's the janitorial contract. This is professional contract services, right? It might have that one might have included other things that addition
included other things. In addition, that's what I'm saying to try to get a grasp of these costs. You almost have to do the whole breakdown and see what all that see. And I haven't gone through that yet. I mean, the budget was set when I came on, so I haven't and I
haven't started into the Y. Yeah, that 164 included a $51,000 uh boiler repair. This is the school's boiler which we have a joint powers on those uh boiler systems. So that's why
it's in professional services because it's part of that. And so I I guess barring the 2023 we've got 110,000 107,000 uh and then 110,000. Uh for repairs and maintenance uh for 2024 work budget it's 25,000. The
actual was 39,000. In 2025, our work budget is 31,000. And so I don't know if there's any cleaning supplies in that um category, but that seems like the biggest categories. The other one could
be other supplies/ small equipment. That would be other supplies. Y and so in 2024, the work budget was 35,000. The actual was 42,000. So a different $7,000. And then for 2025 works budget,
it's $40,000. So, this gives some perspective. Um, it doesn't look like um anything is um way out of line and um I agree we need to tighten up our our contracts to get things more clearly defined. But again, I I'm you know, I'm
I'm I was pleased with the improvement the first goound with it. I was disappointed that uh staff was lost, but that was happening all over everywhere. Um, and I'm excited now again to to reinstate this contract. And I think our our costs
are nothing uh nothing uh alarming. My So what we have right now before us was discussion on providing custodial services which has now branched out to other areas of the budgeting and
everything. So if um administrator Rogers will come forth for the next meeting, we'll table this for now and bring some other information. We'll have a chance to all of us look at the budget and Brooke also to look at the budget and then know how we're going to um
proceed with um first of all custodial services and then later on look at the overall picture as Commissioner uh Gamble is alluding to. That's going to be a big conversation. Yeah, it will be.
Yeah. And again, uh I want to make sure the timing of this is not messing something up because as I've said, I'm I'm comfortable with this one. And if it's school board Thursday and then us for another week and then that's no school board until June and I don't know
when they're trying to hire. No, it it would be my understanding in the conversation is that Reena being a member of the school board would bring this before the school board to say this after the discussion of the board and we'd like to see these numbers and and
address the percentage issue and then we will address it at our next board which is May and at that point we'd approve it or so. So, so the the real question still hanging out there is 50%. Yeah. 50%, right? And I wanted to be sure that
you're clear on what we're asking and and from my standpoint, any any figures that they can give that are specific to those line items identified in the contract. Okay. And and then the percentage at which we get to review that. So the only uh line item I'm aware
of that you're talking about is this percentage percentage which could easily be done. But the other one is is is the we play for all the supplies and the other is well that but that's our contract with the Y that's not the I mean are you talking about cleaning
supplies? Well just everything in the refillables and everything that's our contract with the Y contract we currently pay for that and do you know what we're paying annually? No, because it's I I'd have to talk to Brady when the way we we code everything
for the Y the same code. So we don't get a breakdown of all the different bits and pieces. So when I have specific questions about how much we're paying for water treatment, boiler water, all that type of stuff, I go to Bev and Brady and and they can all I'm asking to
the extent not to make it too complicated and time consuming, but if if it's a matter we can pull any figures, right, that go with those that would be helpful. It should be easy. I can I can have them pull from the last few years and I can go through it. Yeah.
You know, so it's not that difficult. So, just to be clear, there's two different numbers here. One is the the supplies to keep the floor clean, to, you know, clean the toilets and the sinks. And that's that's uh something that we
have to do as part of the maintenance. And so this contract, we we've said it, you know, the the school if they were to do it, they know when those supplies are low and they would reorder them and they would let us know if there was a significant increase in price, which is
the 50%. That we can change. I don't think that's a big deal. Yeah, we could have them notify us anytime there was a price change if we wanted to. The other thing that you're talking about, the refillables, the toilet paper, the paper towels, those are in our contract with the Y. Um, those are things that the
members consume. And as I mentioned earlier, we were not able to get them to to No, I understand that, but we should know what that is. We we should, but it doesn't have an impact on this contract. That was my point. I I planned on revisiting that, Gary, because we did just change suppliers here in the
courthouse to a significant cost savings. went from Delco, which is a giant global company to Twin Ports Paper, which is a much smaller in in uh Doo Superior area. So, we've already changed and had a you know a cost
savings on that. I've looked at doing it at the Y, but just waiting till all this gets kind of played out and then I'll get look at changing everything over there as well for another cost savings. It it it just it would be helpful and
especially from you know the perception you know from the people that are are funding this that they should they should know what is that you know and I totally agree with you that's why we tried to do it last time. Yeah. But I understand but there but there are these
are really two two different things that don't affect each other. Yeah. On that note, I'd like to make a motion to approve the the joint powers agreement with the school and the Y um and changing the 50% down to
30%. Is there a motion to support that? I think we're just kind of shooting in the dark when we're thinking about a percentage. I'd like the school district to talk about what is reasonable. I think it's a question for the school because they
sent this contract to us. Okay, that's my personal opinion. I don't think there I mean the time thing we're trying to be sensitive to it but I think the timing looking at the scheduling things so we can we can make table it and make that decision in May
but we can make more informed decision. I'd love to write that up for relationships that I have because it's one-sided and you've basically testified to that you know in in the negotiating. No no the Y contract
is very one-sided. This is a different this is something different. I think it's really important that we distinguish the difference because I feel like you're blending these and that's derailing I think. But but it is a it is the connection. It is the connection to the why. This would not be
happening if it wasn't for the why. Sure. Yeah. Well, the why wouldn't be here if we weren't all here. I mean, we're all connected, but this contract is like uh any other shared resource between the school and the county. Say
um well, I guess there is probably no other example, but say the tennis courts, that would be um city uh county, and it's just kind of like that. But um if there's another aspect, say the city's uh street removal or law
enforcement contracts that's separate from the tennis court, but it's connected because it's a relationship with the city, but it's a separate issue. And so I'm I'm just feeling frustrated that we're blending these two when ultimately it's it's just the relationship between the school. I could
define it. I could define it very very clear clearly why I think it's important as to you know I mean you've got the the nexus between the relationship between the school the county the city whatever which is the bigger issue but this contract is a contract that doesn't have
numbers other than the 50% thing it's an open-end thing that we don't have anything if if Brooke comes and says I need new cars and and we just say well that's our obligation to staff and there's nothing to support it. I I'm
not comfortable with that. I need to know that he's done his homework and then when I call up and I ask him questions, can you tell me what the projected 70% contribution would be and do we have other options? That makes an informed decision. I feel that I'm being a better steward with information,
especially when it relates to dollars. Attorney Peterson. Um, thank you, Madam Chair. I just have a suggestion and that is that rather than play with percent which percent of the cost could change per item if the packaging changes what
are we assessing at 50%. So do does your office have the capacity to approve each purchase agreement before the school orders it if they send them over for approval c are you comfortable approving
that cost? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, we could do that. Yeah, that's a good suggestion. I mean, the cost is just consumables, right? And it's and it's pretty much what we're doing right now is he's going through Delo. So we're we're getting the
just having that oversight given the fact that we do have that was and I think Reena if you were to communicate that as to a percentage at the board's based upon the recommendation. Well maybe a rewarding that attorney Peterson would have for us if you could do that
then I can get that over to the school. I I don't I think this was more for us to know if there was going to be a bigger charge. I think that's why that wasn't there. I mean, that was the contract they were working under before, right? Right. We just got to brought it back into play. We can I don't think
they would have an issue with just sending us over. Thanks. No. So, we have a motion on the floor to accept this uh or to approve the joint powers for SD 166 to provide custodial
services. So far, I've heard no second, but I will second it with the idea that um Administrator Rogers will give us information pending on other items because this has gone a bigger uh into a bigger area. And thank
you, Brooke, for on the spot coming up here to uh help us understand your role in this. But I think I agree with um Commissioner Mills. This is a separate thing right now with some caveat of additional information. And so um any
further questions or comments? The only the only thing I just want to share is we we have the $90,000 in there annually. Um and then we also have the information from what we spend um from Brady here and that's uh
110,0007 110 um that's budgeted for. So within that is kind of some of those um cleaning supplies and more details the the better. But it's all I feel like tracking pretty consistently here aside from say a boiler replacement or or
something like that and that's that's a whole another deal. But, um, I feel like we have a decent, uh, uh, handle on these costs and and we've been doing it. So, I I just don't see where the where the rub is aside from that bigger
picture, which I I agree we it's is very much worth looking at. So, any other comments before the vote? I I still like the idea of having attorney Peterson look at that language. I think what she came up with um is really a
good idea. I'm happy to amend my motion instead of the 30% to have it um um reviewed by our maintenance director. So, we'll amend that motion to include
that. Any other questions or comments? Then I will ask for a vote. All in favor? I I I oppose. Same sign. It passed three to two, two being against.
Thank you. And I'd like to say the reason being it's the process. This is a business transaction business. It's not anything and thankfully we know we have a trusted uh person to sign on the other side. I mean this is wonderful, but it's
business and this is this is money and it's nothing personal. It's money. So, we have a fiduciary responsibility to know where we are. Sure, we trust the school. That's great. But you don't do
business on a handshake between entities. I mean, people are one thing, but between entities, it needs to be spelled out ahead of time and confirmed. And so, for that reason, I voted no. Okay. Thanks so much for coming up and
filling us in and and um we all have a little budgeting work to do. So, thank you. Thanks. Okay. Um the next item is um transfer station construction administration. So, back I want to say
September, October. Yeah, come on. you can come on up. Uh Dustin, on this one, um we ca we had and I was on the other side of the table at that time. I'm on I'm way woven into too many of these everywhere. They're everywhere. I'm
everywhere. Um we had uh we brought to the board that we had raised $3.2 million and now here's what we, you know, we needed help or we needed the county to kind of figure out how they were going to participate or if they
were going to participate. And at that time the board decided um we had a a proposed contract from uh RW Fern Associates to um finish all of the architecture uh drawings and engineering drawings so that we could get accurate
estimates of what was left because we didn't know. And um and so at that time the the regular architecture um contract has this piece in it which is required for them professionally uh
which is basically a construction administration uh piece of that and that was for the amount of 79,840. We said, "We have 200,000. That's what you have to do these plans for." And they gave us a kind of a deal on that. But because we didn't know if we were actually going to
go to construction at that point, we took this piece out of it with the idea that we would amend it back in later if we decided to do construction. And um so a couple people have asked me the question, you know, what's the difference between aren't we hiring
Johnson Wilson to do construction? um construction management. And there's really a significant difference between those two. And I just kind of like to kind of talk about what we get with construction administration that we don't get with construction management.
Construction management is kind of like a ring leader. They're the project manager. They're scheduling the contractors. They're making sure that, you know, that the concrete is poured at, you know, before you start putting in plumbing and things like that. So
they're they're arranging those time schedules um making sure that people come and go and if there's delays communicating with the other people. So they're kind of a project coordinator, project manager on the project. Very essential um when you have
lots of contractors like we do. The project administration on the other hand is the architects ensuring that all the things that are happening that are being created for this project meet the specs that they laid out that they and the
engineers laid out. And the one that kind of stood out to me the most were something called shop diagrams or shop drawings. Um I didn't even quite know what that was until I asked the question. So we have um for instance fabricated parts coming. We have
pre-cast walls that are going to be made and those pre-cast maids uh pre-cast walls are made by a by a subcontractor or a vendor somewhere else who's going to make them according to the to the architectural drawings. In order to do
that for their equipment, for their staff, they take the architectural drawings and they create shop drawings that make sense in their environment to do that. part of this contract says, "We're going to look at their shop drawings and make sure they actually match what we told them to do." It's
that kind of review so that when those pieces, those very expensive pre-cast pieces get here, the doors are in the right place, the places for the outlets in the right place, there's right amount of rebar in it, that was specified by the contractor, and they do that before
a mistake is made by reviewing the shop diagrams. very important very important piece of work to make sure in a building like this that's so complicated and complex to get that right. The other things that they do um are things like
uh they provide a bi-weekly report with photos. So they will come up here every two weeks in addition to to the um construction manager, but they will come up here and inspect the pieces that to make sure they're being done right and
progress on that and they will provide that back to us in a bi-weekly report with photographs throughout construction. Toward the end of the project, they do a post a punch list tour uh where they review review closeout documents, payment applications, making sure that
we're not being build for things before they actually happened, but that they're that that the work is actually been completed in a satisfactory way. Okay. So, um, and when the when the construction manager or the contractor has questions about the plans that are unclear,
um, they're the ultimate source of that information. So, they're in order for us to be able to make them liable for their drawings and what they do if there is any problem, they need to have this role, this double this role. And again, this was something that we pulled out
because we didn't know if we were going to go forward and with always with the understanding that if we were going to go forward, it would be amended back in. So, it's just not something new. It's just and it's I think there's some the reason there was some confusion about it
is because we have a construction manager as well and which is also what we should have. But I'm I did I cover that. Okay, Dustin? I think you did a great job. There there really isn't a lot to add
besides the fact that um RW Ferd and Associates really is double-checking the work that Johnson Wilson is doing and making sure that um what they were asked to do was done
correctly. Um so in their bi-weekly meetings uh they'll go around, they'll review the work that was done, make sure that it matches the plans. um and then approve that part for payment. And until the that part of the project is done
correctly, payment can't be made for that part of the project. So they're looking at their plans, looking at the work, confirming it, approving it for payment. So I don't know if if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.
So that is ensuring quality control as we go along. So when we get to any part of the project, we don't see that, oh look, the uh opening for the overhead door is not plum. What do we do? And
we've built we've had county buildings built where the walls were not plum and just recently. But uh um so this is ensuring that we will have a a final product that should last as long as it
could last based on the quality of the materials. Correct. And I think what this is doing is putting the responsibility of um the project back on the architect and the construction manager.
their responsibility is to work back and forth and make sure that that the project is built to specs. Um, and then it allows us um to hold them responsible for for any issues that there may be. There's a
couple of projects, you know, I don't know if you want to use them for an example, but a couple of projects where maybe if this part would have been done that it may be back to our favorite project, the why. Yeah. I didn't want to I didn't I I didn't even want to bring it up where we didn't have that kind of
oversight and later we had holes in the roof and a lot of other things the whole garage right where we've had a lot of different pieces of that um you know the other thing that they are available to do because inevitably there are things
that need to be adjusted as a project goes along. So if there's something like the size of a door needs to something needs to be changed, the architects then go back to their drawings and make those adjustments and then communicate it on down. So you know it's it's kind of that
oversight from the people who've designed the building that it's pretty essential really. So any other Yeah, thank you m chair. Um, so I mean if you have a construction
company that has a good reputation and you got architects that has a good reputation, then in that scenario, you would assume you'd have a good outcome. We hope. But what you're doing, it's like you you buy an expensive piece of
equipment and they ask you, do you want to buy insurance? And this is the insurance that both of those partners are doing their job. Is is their role to review
prior to the problem? Yes. So that they're checking it both on the front end and then they're checking it on the back end which is an assurance because our experience hasn't been a good one. And I would say that if you look at
projects, what's the percentage of projects that have this position because they've learned that it's an insurance when you're investing this kind of money to make sure you get what you're looking for. And what we found in our experience previous
um we were constantly haggling back and forth and whose responsibility and we found that every change that was made to try to get him to get what we expected we had to pay for their time to make the change. It just was not a good contract
and it it was not managed well. Negative experiences tend to shift the pendulum. So you go the other extreme and you overpay to try to protect against it. But I in in this context given our lived experience and
if you looked at business and say does it make sense you know to do this or not I think that's another assurance that this is wise stewardship and we don't want to have to be dealing with problems as a thorn in the flesh moving forward.
We want to get it right the first time. So, and Commissioner Gamble, just to add on to that, um, you know, I think this takes some of the decision-m away from the subcontractors that are working on the project. Um, when they're just looking at a set
of plans, should we do it this way or should we do it that way? Here, you have somebody on staff that can answer those questions. Yeah. And then, you know, on top of that, if there were changes that needed to be made by the architect, we're going back to them and we're paying an amount an hourly rate to do
that work if you know on the plans if something needed to be done, if it was a shop drawing or or a change because we found that two doors are going to hit each other, something like that. Um, so some of those expenses were going to happen anyways. Um, and this allows them
to come up and and double check the work. So, I I think I think it makes sense. Yeah. And Madam Chair, I just a follow-up statement that um you said, Reena, that in the process, you know, you were mindful of this, but you'd pulled it out because you didn't know if
da da da da da da da da. I I don't know, respectfully, I don't know that that we were necessarily aware of that through this process. We we were that happened before you actually on the board. In other words, the board was aware that we
we were signing a contract for 200,000 to finish the plans and this was in that contract. Yeah. So, we pulled this out and in reality, an architecture contract and you'll probably see it in the one with BKV. This would be in there. This
because this is their state obligation to do this. We pulled it out at the time so that the contract reflected what we were asking them to do, knowing full well if we went forward, we were going to add it back. And that was my whole point. I was just going to recommend going forward that that we'd be aware of
that. But again, given the situation, that's it was just I wasn't here. So, as long as the board's aware, then that's good. I I appreciate the process and it's always been very forthright and open and and uh this just again underscores that fact. Thank you. This
was a two-year process. Yeah. Bit by bit, Commissioner White was involved and when we knew that we weren't sure about the money, the almost 80,000, we better pull back. Wait and see. So, it's um a
credit to the board members and to the um project manager here, everybody. Everybody included. So, um, if there isn't any other discussion, um, I'll hear a motion on this. Commissioner Sullivan. Madam
Chair, I'd like to make a motion to approve the proposal to amend the existing contract with RW Fern Associates and Consultants to add the construction administration services back for the transfer station at the cost of $79,840. And is there a second?
I'll support it, Madam Chair. I just felt that those maybe that were informed and knew would be better in a position to to support that because they were part of that process. But having had the discussion, I'm comfortable supporting that. Okay. Any further questions or comments?
Well, I have a comment before or after. It's just that it's sort of like we all buy house insurance or we all buy car insurance because you have to. It's a law and admittedly if you have a really good architect and a really good
contractor, there shouldn't be any issues. We should all just should all just work. But it doesn't. Houses burn down, trees fall on cars. You need that for that one in whatever the whatever
the odds are. It's better than ending up with a product that's not as good as it should be. That's all. Okay. So, we have a motion and a second. All in favor? I I oppose. Same sign. Motion passes unanimously. However, I
have a question. Yes. When will this start? Do we have another step with it was the meeting that you were gone um some of the the bids had come forward and and got approved. The second round of bids, if you'll all remember, um was going to go out. I think it was
somewhere 30 to 40% of the remainder of the project. Those are actually due today at 2:00. Um so maybe not by the end of the day today, but tomorrow we should have a pretty good idea where we're sitting budget-wise. um the
contracts for that first percentage of the project um are kind of hovering there just waiting to be signed and the second they're signed they're ready to go. We were also waiting on roadbands as well for the dirt work. So,
okay, good news, right? Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Justin. So, just a couple of other updates. Um Brady and I put together a draft on uh some kind of budget guidelines uh that
we thought made sense right now uh in this kind of uncertain time. We took those to the budget uh and facilities advisory uh committee. I always forget that I always have to think about and facilities because when I was here
before that part wasn't in there. Um and had a really good discussion. We had a second meeting, moved it up so that we could get this out to people in a timely way. Really great discussion, made some modifications. Um, so we're going to that's going to be on our agenda at the
cow next week and that committee will be here to join us in that conversation, talk about, you know, from the community perspective. Um, what that is. So, I'm excited about that discussion. And I think I think it's for me it's not just
about how to fill out your budget. It's about how your budget the right questions commissioners should be asking of of people as we go along if there are changes throughout the budgeting process. But then also next year as
we're using those budgets um and if something there are some unexpected cut and we have to make changes those questions still apply and the understanding about what your services are where your funding is what your options are is all kind of embedded in
this and I think those things will be helpful not just now but for the next year and a half and possibly you know uh you know in an ongoing way. This will be a framework that that helps that discussion be more um I mean more
substantive and more strategic. And uh so I'm I'm anxious to have that conversation with you all. Um on April 22nd, uh there's an open house at the county from 5 to 7 May. I'm sorry. Oh, I wrote April. You know what? I'm sorry
you guys. I just can't even keep track of anything like that. May, right? May 22nd. Um there's a um open house uh with BKV to show um about kind of final plans and
materials and uh and answer questions about the uh law enforcement uh the law enforcement expansion. So that by that date they will have their final plans. They'll be in front of you the following week on the 27th.
um with that final information and they'll be asking you at that time uh to approve them going out for bid for those pieces. So, we're getting kind of closing in on that project right now. Mhm. Um and then um one other thing, we
had a community leadership meeting this last week uh over at city hall and had a lot of people just mostly sharing about what they see in their budgets and uh with kind of the uncertainty that's out there between the state and the Fed. And
it was a I think a great opportunity to hear from everybody and see where people are at and uh what they're worried about or what they're not worried about. You get sort of the extremes. You get the city which doesn't really rely on state or federal money. So they're like,
"Yeah, we're not worried. We have a new liquor store. We're not worried." But that's pretty much what they said. And they said, "Before you leave, go to the store." I said, "The rest of you go and drown your sorrow." But and then Tracy kind of took that back and said she was just kidding. But
I think she meant it. But um but um I for me when I hear that I look at all those those partners out there and I see, you know, if we have to make a cut somewhere, you know, where
where are those partners that we could maybe work together with to provide a service? And I really think this is that time to to look across to the clinics, maybe the not forprofits, to portage, to
whoever whoever it is to say if if one of us loses some funding or we we've lost an employee or something happens, who else is doing something similar that we might be able to to bond with? And I really think this is that time. We did
that really well during CO in this community. And I think, you know, it's it's useful for it's a useful activity for us even if we're not in a crisis. So, I appreciated that conversation very much. Anyway, I think that's all I have
for now. I've spoken more than I want to now. Thank you for the updating at this time. Um, if we have any commissioner reports, meeting updates, Commissioner Sullivan.
Certainly. Um, thank you. So, um, at the beginning of the month, um, had an opportunity to visit with CCIP, the Cook County Local Energy Project, and we talked at length about how we're partnering with Andrea or Healthy Housing, the HA, and also Shane Steel
with the city and looking at um the potential of how do we get extra funds and then find contractors to do energy envelope projects for people in our community. We feel like um that might be a project for the future that would work quite well um given that some of the
large federal grants that deal in particular with housing are going away. And so um we had good discussion about that. And then tonight CLIP is hosting a workshop with Solar United for community members who are looking to add solar and that will be at the community center at
6:30. We had a firewise meeting and um Brady shared information about our financial situation, what grants are available, mostly what grants are not available for us at this time. And um we
did have an opportunity to talk with Paramount Planning who is providing our firewise coordination. Steve Gankrics is our new firewise coordinator and um he'll be coming to the county. He's already been here on a couple of occasions. He was at our emergency
services conference. And at that emergency services conference, it was um absolutely the best I've attended. Um, in my tenure, um, we talked a lot about concerns related to FEMA, cancellation of some of the funds, how we work
together with the DNR, um, all of our, um, partners that remain at the US Forest Service, and um, just great training. And they did provide an opportunity for armed intruder training for county employees who missed that
last time around. So, it was really nice to have a chance for people to sign up. Um, we had the US Forest Service open house. There was one in Isabella, one midtrail, and then another one um held
in Toy and Tom Hall came with the crews both from um the remaining crews from um Gunflint and from Toy talked about what services they'll provide in the Boundary Waters, what will not be provided. for example, there won't be trail clearing on
portages. And so talking about, you know, how do you deal with that? Well, you really can't. There you can't take a chainsaw and clear a trail. You note that there is a problem on a portage and then you bring that information back to the US Forest Service. But they talked
about cleaning latrines, how they've been working on um making sure that everyone is aware that they can't pick up permits at the Ranger Station here in Grand Marray. And um they feel confident that um although it might not run as
smoothly as normal that the other providers for permits will be able to to handle services. Um, we talked about the staff shortages and just um general concerns and what
services aren't available at this time. Uh, Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway Met. We talked a lot about the construction along the Gunflint and in particular um reiterated for everyone the the movement of emergency vehicles and the importance
of following those lights. Don't sit there thinking even in the middle of the night somebody's not coming so you're going to run that red light and go down into town or up the hill. We need to absolutely for security and safety reasons follow those lights. Um and
lastly the airport open house last night. 49 people here. Some of the uh 15 boards that were uh present last night remain here. I'll take them to the airport at the end of the day. But I wanted um for all of you here as
commissioners who were unable to attend last night to take a look at those and um just know that it was a good turnout, lots of good questions and great feedback from our community. Um so hats off to everybody that participated and
that would be the end of my report. Anyone else? Commission. Um, this was a Oh, another phone call, excuse me, that I got. Um, it's a red
flag weather. Mhm. And this was a person um down the road in the neighborhood. Um, adjacent property had been recently sold to somebody unknown. And um there was it was
observed the caller observed that there was a man and a woman and they were like trying to pitch a tent in the tall grasses. the caller knew that the owner of the that the site had been sold, the
previous owners had died or something like that and just assumed that this must be relatives that had come up to visit. Well, being the neighbor as she is, she introduced herself only to find out that these people were just
trespassing and they were going to pitch a temp and have a campfire. And that's the issue. Nobody should have a campfire anywhere in this county. And that word needs to get out.
uh the different cabins that I take care of or have contact with people. No fires, no campfires. Like, no, no, no, no. Because it seems that people don't pay attention. They don't live here. So, somehow the word has to get out to our
visitors that you don't roast marshmallows. And that's about it. Any other um reports from committees or concerns? Senator Gamble. Yeah. To your point, thank you, Madam Chair. To
your comment, um, our Smokeoky the Bear. Um, we have one up in Hovind and we've got Yeah. But, uh, it if it says fire danger, there's nothing really. It can say high, but if people don't translate
that, it'd be it'd be good if there was some way that said when it when it's in this range, that means no open fires. I mean something that would reinforce that because people aren't connecting the dots if it's high. No campfires. We've been we have a little hill with wild flowers that I like to burn. and I
haven't been able to burn it for the la last 3 years and I always try to burn it with some snow still and then we get a dump of snow and then I can't and now we're in the permit period and then I call and the the decision is made in
Grand Rapids, Minnesota and we can have rain here and rain here and I said I should be able to burn. So the Forest Service gives me a permit but I can't activate it because it's no burning. Anyway, just to mention, how can we get that word out? But, uh, the other thing I was going to comment on and Reena had
mentioned it in in the community leadership. Um, I felt that the that the breadth of the participation was good and and a lot of that was thanks to you that you recognized who was there so that they had opportunity. And to your
point of partnershipping and I had attended the Niko conference on how to create resilient counties um and um those partnerships are huge. You're you're more inclined to partner with
people that you know and have identified with. So I think that that discussion was was good. It's good to give everybody a voice so that we have appreciation and awareness and then we're more mindful of how we might be able to participate. So as opposed to
going through the motion and I know there was a lot of talk about do we or don't we or whatever and some that don't want to but the more we see substance that contributes to those things the more we'll be able to use that resource moving forward. So I I thought that was very good. some of the other committee
assignments and things addressed in public health. I have seen um at some forestry offices their sign out front will be a needle and it'll go high. Mhm. So that's what I have seen. I don't know where you're referring to which Ohhead
trail there's one oh big sign. Right. Yeah. Right. Right as you're coming up the trail. Yeah. But, you know, some of this just common sense that that I think a lot of the people that come up here, we we see a lack of anyway because they just and we see it in other ways, too,
not just in when they build fires, but um when they Excuse me. When they uh shoot guns, target shoot. Oh, yeah. Like I have no no faith that they're not pointing towards my house just because they can't see my house. Yeah. Yeah. you
know, so I don't know how you I don't know. City people have different um perspectives. That's all. Any other committee reports? Commission. Thank you, chair. Um yeah, so on the EDA, I'm
on the Tac Harbor subcommittee and that's looking at um the redevelopment of that site. And so we uh put on an RFP for um someone to lead that strategic planning and we have funding um that our previous CDA director had secured. Um
and we uh got those proposals and went through and we have a favorite um or a preferred I'd say. And um there's going to be an interview with them today. Actually, it's probably over by now. Um
and then we'll hopefully be able to move uh ahead with that. So stay tuned there. That'll that'll be a big process and trying to get as many members of the community involved and especially on uh the west end um and Schroeder Township because that's where it's at. Um but it
it certainly will affect I mean into Lake County as well um potentially and um but the whole county um tax base is is greatly affected by the closure of of Tac Harbor. So um also labor management
committee uh is pretty smooth. um we have been kind of knocking things out with a punch list and um and now we're at a point where there's not a whole lot of issues, but having um you know fairly regular meetings is really important
just to keep those relationships going in case there are issues that come up before uh negotiations because sometimes in negotiations um issues come up that maybe aren't um appropriate in negotiations but still should be addressed. And so that's um part of the
reason for this particular committee, but just to have those relationships and met the new or I guess I wasn't there, but virtually met the new 49ers uh uh business a uh agent and and uh pretty impressed, very enthusiastic uh individual with lots of great ideas. So
looking forward to meeting or working with him. Uh, also I still continue to uh sit on the uh the Department of Children and Youth and Families uh um intergovernmental um committee and um and had some
meetings with uh the commissioner of um Minute, which is the Minnesota IT uh department and you know um the social services um update uh software update uh is top on everyone's mind. And so
there's a lot of concerns about this new agency integrating or forming or just where does that all fit in? And so trying to really get ahead of that and there's been some frustrations um from different um directors around the county
um uh just they feel like there's been a lack of communication there and back and forth, but it's just a really big and slow process. And so I'd say the state's aware of it and and doing their darnest. But um but now especially with some of the state challenges, it it will be uh
maybe even trickier, but hopefully that'll just keep progressing and and uh they are receptive to the feedback and and so that's really encouraging. And then also I just wanted to ask if if uh we were going to invite um the hub board to come to a committee the whole and kind of
talk about their organization because they had requested that and um and I thought it could be really good just to get a better overview of their of their needs and their expectations and and where we fit into all that. So um just wanted to bring that up again. Would it
be okay if we did that in June? I'm sure. Yeah, I'm sure they're just happy for we got kind of a full one. Yeah. And I'm just bringing up again, Commissioner White's probably a better uh reference point for that. Um, and they did just talk about that yesterday. Okay, they'd like to come and they would also like uh
AEOA out of Virginia has requested an audience with us also at some point. So, um, I don't know if they should be combined or whatever, but Okay. AOA uh requesting in conjunction with
the hub or requesting independent independent with us independent audience with us to to go over what they do. There had been a request from them for some uh contribution to help um for the renovation and build out of a um
homeless not homeless uh affordable housing and mental health. I mean a combination. They took old buildings in there, make them converted into housing and they requested some uh contributions from each of the counties and u did they identify where
those locations are with the what where the locations of the conversion those it it's in it's in the Virginia area. Okay. So it's not here it's in it's two huge buildings in that area. So, um, anyway, but they had said at the time, uh, that
they would welcome an opportunity to speak to this board. So, maybe since they've requested, you know, they could come in June and we could have the hub come in July or, you know, depending on what's on and the hub really wants the whole board to understand how vital and
how many they're they're gathering their numbers together. How many people how many meals are served? How many riders there are? How many people benefit from the um of course this might be an Aeoa question from the fuel assistance. Mhm.
Sure. And there's different different uh ways that AEOA helps us, but are you on the AOA board? Yes. You might ask them. I don't know when your next meeting is timeline because the hub might come ahead based upon what they're saying.
We've just been doing this so we'd like an opportunity. It's in the future, whatever else. It seemed like we were talking about this before when I was on AOA, but if if in fact they would get the opportunity, but I think we might prioritize the hub in the timeline.
Sure. Yeah. Or the hub might have more flexibility than a whatever you're on the boards. Ask them. You can you can let me know. Do and is this appropriate for committee the whole more than a regular? Yes. I just want to make sure. Okay. So, we're just a discussion.
Yeah. In the past, Aeoa kind of just came and presented the services they they provide. And so it's just kind of a general overview versus I feel like the hubs discussion is is something we don't get as often or or I don't know I can't remember if it used to be that when you
received discretionary funding from the county you came before the committee the whole or the county board and made a presentation and shared what you did with that funding. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Well, I'll just let I'll be in touch with you. just let me know when
you want it on the agenda and I'll make sure we get that in there. And if you know how much time they'd like I mean in the case of the hub it's probably open-ended. In the case if it's a presentation video you might just say how much time you usually like. Yeah. 20
minutes, half an hour. Any other reports? I I have a couple. Um I did receive some information from John Angaro, our legislative representative from Arrowhead Counties. Um the um
regarding the PILT, including um recently received released tax bill, the good news is the tax bill does not include proposed 34% reduction in pill payments included in
the governor's budget. But the bad news is there are no changes to PILT payments for Lakeshore shoreline property included in this session. So he says given that there's a $20 million reduction in uh county
programming, it's not surprising that there were no increases in the PIL to payment. And this was um I received this about 10 days ago. The legislature are still trying to figure out how to do a balanced budget and all of that. So anyway, that's from John. And then uh
get you trail meeting. Um we're going to have ribbon cutting in Lucen the end of of May. You'll all receive an invite to come and um that will be uh at the base of Skihill Road. And then they'll that's in the morning at 10:00 on the 28th.
Then they'll go down to um Two Harbors and they'll have another little ceremony there with that trail that you can see right along the highway um for their ribbon cutting. And I've been um tentatively in uh touch with Mindot
representative to ask them to have a uh public town hall meeting in regards to the um work that they propose starting next year um on resurfacing uh ditching and especially um wider shoulders because when you go down the shore if
you notice from Tafty to the county line there's itsy-bitsy shoulders and I sometimes see bicyclists and I'm is fearing you know 61 is also US route bike 41 so you know it it's a big deal and uh we
need better shoulders maybe not as big as going to Hovland but you know um we need we need a lot of work on that so that's that is tenative coming up okay madam chair if I could ask a question on on the highway I mean up in your
district commissioner bite what do we had communic indicated to us about that uh road reconstruction highway 61. Yeah, that's Mindot. Yeah, right. But I mean, aren't they not There was I just want to know what they what they've informed. I
guess I Oh, that was the county is Well, we were informed that the county is suspending their work on the Arrowhead Trail and um Chicago Bay Road because of lack of funding. Hopefully, it can go forward. Right. But but mind men dots men dots is
I can tell you right now it's that when you turn off on 69 if you turn off on 69 you don't have to wait in line but you're yeah well that's what I'm wondering what they're saying as to this is what we're doing and this is what and this is we anticipated whatever wrote something about this
I guess I missed it although the people who live on 69 might rather not have that so publicly noted. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Well, well, this all depends on your patience. I'm just going to say it's not that long of a Well, what I could see when I pulled out this
morning, it doesn't go that far. You wouldn't be saving any Well, maybe you would be. I don't know. Sorry. I was I was not telling the truth. Projection from Mindot is it started yesterday. It'll be two years. They're doing a lot of bridge work. So just be patient and
maybe 69 will be good once in a while. I think that Midot had said in in my previous uh that they were going to get all the bridges, all the culverts and everything done and then they'll do all the surfacing. That's the way they've been
doing it on other stretches, I think. Right. I know. It just it's surprising how long it it takes. If it's if it's due to lack of funding or it's just too many things on the docket. I don't know, right? But we all know that we see an awful lot of orange cones when we're
traveling around in the state. And the work at the uh tunnels replacing the lights, they're not going to be working on the weekends. Oh, that's nice. Right. Friday through Sunday. Yeah. Just Thank you. Monday through Thursday. Yeah. They realize, you know, the backup from Two
Harbors to the tunnel is not acceptable. Oh, it's unbelievable. Especially when you get busy in July and August. So, okay. Anything else for meetings to report? I'll move on to uh upcoming meetings. Just a couple of them as you mentioned. Um the open house for LEC
edition on the 22nd um from 5 to 7 and then the courthouse will be closed for Memorial weekend. Can't believe it's going to be Memorial weekend a couple weeks. Wow. And then we have some recognition of our staff. May
anniversaries. Jesse Johnson in land services, one year. Morgan Starky, sheriff, one year. Ty Becklin, sheriff, two years. Uh Stefan Jennese, SWCD, three years. Tia Parks in the Highway,
three years. Diane Bernett in land services, eight years. Elena Hansen in SWCD, 14 years. Allison Plamer in HR, 19 years. Paul Spry, sheriff, 23 years.
Will Sandstöm, sheriff, 24 years. Darcy Zelader, sheriff, 27 years. And life lendy sheriff 27 years. And Rusty Johnson from the highway 29 years. And then we have milestone anniversaries.
Jason Hughes and sheriff 10 years. Troy M in maintenance 10 years. and Kyle Oberan MIS 20 years. And with no other business, our meeting is adjourned. Oh, we've got a lot of the district meeting for AMC. That one I think we all
probably have that on the radar. That's in June. We have a lot of experience being sheriff, don't we? I think that's probably all going to leave probably about the same time. Be prepared.