##VIDEO ID:O4VrEZc3UDw## monthly meeting of the Cook County Housing and Redevelopment Authority Wednesday January 15 2025 it is 3:00 and so we're underway uh first I note the uh presence of a quorum uh Commissioners LaMore uh Olson Hansen O'Brien and gabler are all here uh I also want to welcome the county commissioner designate uh uh to our uh sit in on our meetings uh commissioner Gary Gamble and and Sullivan commissioner Sullivan also is the uh uh alternate so we appreciate your support you and your being here first first item is approval of the agenda uh can we move to approve the agenda with one addition addition to the agenda uh to be new business e uh hiring recommendation with that Amendment to the agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda I I'll move to approve the agenda as amended it's moved is there a second I'll second that it's been moved and seconded any further discussion on the agenda if not all say in favor say I I I I oppose same sign motion is approved uh approval of December 2024 meeting minutes is next on the agenda are there any comments or thoughts on the agenda the approval of I move to approve been moved uh any second dies dies for lack of a second I'll second commissioner O'Brien second has been moved in seconded any further comments on the appr the minute meeting minutes of 20 December 2024 if not all those in favor say I I I opposed new bu uh opportunity for public comment uh there is no one present from the public so uh we'll move on to new business uh a resolution 25-1 uh Jason hail please lead us through that happily the the first uh resolution of the year uh this is a resolution approving terms and scope of services by Red path and Company LLC to provide auditing services for the 2024 housing Redevelopment authority of Cook County financials for cost not to exceed 17,500 so uh Commissioners are well aware uh this is the firm that we have used uh for both the 2022 audit which is very simple and then this last year's audit uh and they have again offered to do this for the HRA uh we talked about it the last meeting uh um they had sent us a letter of Engagement to ask if we would again like to use their services for this following year um we know that 2024 is going to be slightly more complicated U because we transitioned to our own accounting uh instead of the auditor but um the amount is approximately $3,000 less uh than last year's because they have an initial setup of startup fee so we've already done that now we're in their system uh and at the last month's board meeting the board indicated you would like to proceed with red path so this is just authorizing me to sign the letter of Engagement and then they'll start asking for documents I'm sure and they are also the County's auditor and the eda's auditor so uh I think that's good idea uh someone want to move resolution 25-1 also move s second to that motion I'll second been moved and seconded any further discussion if not those in favor say I I I opposed brings us to B Eda requests recommendation for one roof property in luten chair at the December December board meeting November December meeting uh the Eda requested that the HRA would weigh in on this request from oneu uh and oneu uh I talked to them last night they were anticipating coming to this meeting to answer any questions but they thought it was next week it so happens at our meeting the first of the month landed on a Wednesday so we're um earlier this month than the Eda uh there so I think we're all familiar with four directions dwellings in um in Len the the uh one roof owns a couple few more acres to north and east of that apartment complex 16 units they acquired the site originally with the intent of doing potentially two phases I think you have all heard some of the stories about it was more complicated than anticipated um and so they've been obviously owning and operating that site since I think it's 2018 uh they do not plan to do any further uh Housing Development there they're they are looking and I'm talking with them about other opportunities in the county but they would like the ability to sell that parcel they cannot sell it yet because it is one large parcel connected to their existing site uh and that whole parcel has covenants on what it has to be used for and so their request is that the HRA would their request to the Eda is to remove those covenants on the let's say the Surplus parcel so that they can subdivide it through the county and then sell off the excess land for whomever and so the Eda requested that the HRA weigh in so to speak and then whatever your weighing in looks like I will send the director an email with your recommendation and that parcel was all acquired from Arrowhead Electric Co-op uh and do they have a potential stake in the answer here as well um releasing uh some criteria that were in the whole parcel to begin with and have we talked to them uh we haven't talked to them the Eda and one has talked to them as I understand okay um they because they asked them if they wanted to acquire back and Arrowhead was not interested there are also easements through that property from Arrowhead that they Arrowhead still maintains uh utility easements which challenges a little bit the development of that additionally so as I understand it the Eda does not want to acquire it um the arrowhead doesn't want to acquire it and the one ref for just wants the ability to list the property without those covenants and that's what they're we're just giving our professional recommendation I guess is there any is this parcel an important parcel for the development of housing or is that just like any other part is there any reason to um Target that parcel for housing or or or not my opinion is if if it wasn't One Ruff doing it I think it's unlikely just because there's one access road that goes through four directions and it would make a lot more sense if one owner operator had both of those projects I just don't think it's I've shopped it to a couple different folks MH as a potential and they they saw complications okay thanks so I think it's unlikely that it would be developed for another multif family project like that if one roof wasn't the developer what's the zoning do you know by any chance could it I mean can it accommodate commercial use or other uses my recollection is it can accommodate other uses but the Covenant well now the covenants don't allow it to be other uses but uh because it's it's in between multif family and you know institutional or utility use and it's along the main Corridor there so um it can accommodate other things any other questions or thoughts here so just as a clarification they're really looking for us to have no objection basically I think they're looking for the board to say that you do do not support removing the covenants from that portion of the property so that one roof can subdivide okay I mean the covenants are held by Arrowhead the covenants are on title um and they're they were applied to the whole property when the property was provided to one roof but as a as a negotiated by Arrowhead for the transfer of the property I mean that's I don't know the role aad I think they just provided the property I think they they sold it and maybe it was at a discount but they provide I don't think that anything to do with the Covenant that was more of a negotiation with the Eda and then also they had to apply for a grant it was part of the Grant application so it doesn't I don't doesn't trigger a paying back the grant no I don't think Aro had for lack of better phrase has a dog in this fight so to speak I I think that they it's just property that they knew they weren't going to be using they provided B move we support eda's request for uh our recommendation to allow the removal of those covenants and the sail of the land by the by The Land by uh one R so just in the interest of clarity commissioner you you move support to to support one R request to remove the covenants of the land sure okay I'll second that did I hear a second yes uh Brian any further questions or comments on the issue of the one roof property hearing none uh those in favor of the motion say I I I opposed all right on to C 2025 regular board meeting schedule chair I attach to the agenda you'll see I just put a seems like an inuitive addition to um or I should say schedule for 2025 based on our previous schedules um we have to work make adjustments for holidays like Thanksgiving correct okay okay yeah it's the third uh it's the third Wednesday of every month except for December to accommodate the holiday season and I actually think it worked out on that day too I don't unless somebody's got an issue I don't think we need an action on it we'll just that's going to our schedule will be okay all right uh D contractor for transition chair this was actually mentioned uh in our very recent special meeting um former board chair mayor Snus had offered to fill a transitionary role of course um the board's going to contemplate in a moment here uh hiring motion hiring recommendation it depends on when that a candidate can start obviously um based on the conversations we've had with candidates it it sounds like it will be at least two weeks um so the question is uh I would anticipate that the earliest the candidate would be able to start would be probably three and a half weeks from now give or take so really what the board is I just I want to make sure I told you I would put it on the agenda to to discuss it today um do you want to have somebody fill in for that you know call it two weeks uh maybe in February or do you want to just let it ride until the new director starts I think you'd be the best judge of that can it can it ride um uh I guess I'd say that uh there would it would take time to it might take just as much time to get Mary SAS up to speed as it would be to do that again with the next person um I suspect that presuming that candidate that board selects can start you know reasonably you know the first half of February I think you'll probably be fine well and you had mentioned the possibility that you might be available on an emergency Consulting basis after February 1st any bills to I'm assuming that that that would be some kind of an hourly basis and we should come up with a new agreement if that's going to be the case and uh I think my guess is the commission would support that uh and uh and I think that's probably a better solution for this uh so well and frankly you probably the board won't even know you know unless unless someone's checking you know has the cell phone or checking the H email um it won't be until the director starts so I mean I of course encourage somebody if they want to to take to take that I think that this is always the challenge with such transitions by the time that you would find out like what's the problem and who do I need to talk talk to You' get your arms around it and then the new director would start so um yeah I if there are things that come up I'm happy to work with the board on some sort of arrangements to even Beyond if the new director needs Assistance or whatever as we've talked about the past I'm happy to do that well if you'd draft up a potential agreement for that that would be helpful and one other suggestion would be to be and you probably already planning this but just make sure that um there's a automatic response in the email and an automa response in the cell phone explaining that you know that there's they're not going to folks are not going to get an immediate response to to expect it and we have a new we have a new executive director starting shortly the we'll go back to you as soon as we can as soon as they start yeah that's I I'll be doing that y any other thoughts on this subject if not we'll move on to added item e the Hing recommendation all right I would uh uh move that the board um authorize the Personnel committee to move ahead with a negotiation and an offer to uh to one of the candidates uh pursuant to the successful Gathering of references on on all the candidates that we're considering and background check I'll second yeah do you want to have that shared with the rest of the board once yeah I mean that's I don't think that has to be in the motion that's just what we're going to do okay I second been moved and seconded any further thoughts or comments about the hiring procedure here if not all those in favor say I hi any oppose same sign I would say thank you to the personnel committee and to Jason for your hard work you're welcome and to the candidates yeah M uh other business the director's report yes uh few things to go over so uh I believe in December I mentioned that the heights asked the question is there an ability for them to include um units at 60% Ami uh inspired buy our work with gun Flint view um so I've met uh multiple times with with that team again and they are actually interested in doing up to nine units at that level and what I basically mentioned to them was and so along with the board I'm putting this on your radio we didn't have enough time by the time we sorted everything out we couldn't get it published on the agenda in time um so their request is going to be uh to um allocate just like we are doing with with the Heights I'm sorry with gun view um a fixed amount over a certain time Horizon for up to 9 units they when to do nine units is what they asking uh and so the the amount uh unless it changes by the time this get approved so it's based on the Minnesota housing's publishing of the different Ami levels which we've used many times in the past the amount is $340 per month so it would be a total of uh $4,080 per year um um per per unit correct yep so so the grand total is 36720 per year that is the that all that is is math so so this isn't um they're they're not making any more it's basically just breaking even to allow 60% Ami units um and they're looking at doing uh a mix of different unit types um they have Studios ones and twos so the the request is going to be for $3 36,7 120 a year for at least five years because we when we talked about it in December uh the board's position and I agree was we want to have stability for those tenants as long as possible we want to rent them for a year and then they have to leave with with a couple of key caveats that I want to make sure to mention one is they are planning and we've talked about this um looking at the option for a second smaller building behind them uh the the developer of that is the same folks are working with to build their building um and they're trying to build a 60 to 80% total building so in that Workforce range if they do that they want the ability to essentially transfer all of those tenants to that other building to make like an equal unit available to them and then they can then they would not continue the agent wouldn't continue to pay them for that um and and I guess from my perspective that's fine that's a win there's more more units available for folks in that in that market um so that's the the the carb out there is if they're successful in building a second phase that they' have the ability to provide those tenants with the first basically right of first refusal the option to move into that neighboring building um also they want the ability and I wanted the ability to make it more than 5 years if the H finds funing to do so um so this is subject of course to the big the big question what I told them is it's all just funding um it's you know if the if the H has the 30 36,7 120 uh we have a approved in the 2025 budget $755,000 for development related expenses um we also will have if just to remind the board um if we close on the tofy uh property uh which should be the next 3 weeks um that will be $40,000 uh which is basically one year's Worth right and then finally the one roof Community housings $250,000 repayment that we lent them so we we do have some resources uh and of course um the like we like I drafted for the Gunflint view project essentially if the at doesn't pay then they don't rent them at that level so I guess if the board feels like it's a good use of funds and and you know that hey let's let's maximize the opportunity with a building that we know is being built to get some more modest rents uh then I'd say there's not really the harm in in doing it um because if you do if you can't acquire the funding for future years then the terminates the agreement so I want to put that fully in your radar again we sorted it out Thursday last week we couldn't get on the agenda um but I want to answer any question about that they know that I was going to mention this and talk about it with the board and where are they in General on their start date I believe they're closing on financing tomorrow or in the next couple days here uh once they do that then they order the modules and then um things get moving so the goal is September 1st opening and as usual when the heights comes up I'm publicly disclosing that I'm a limited shareholder and in the kocani community real estate fund um I have the same recusal so the best procedure is don't vote we're not voting today right correct but when it comes up yeah but that's but you'll you'll see it and I this is one of those I think one of those items that may um when I when I'm gone uh that that will be a little bit of a transitional bump um just because and we have some emails and G and I asked Gary and I to like captured it in out in bullet points this is what the intent is for my um whoever whoever precedes me um so uh I just wanted to make sure that you that is fully on your radar so it's not weird when it comes up or unfamiliar uh if you have any of the questions I just uh told them I would bring it up and make sure that I'm not way off base in this in this conversation no quite the contrary I think this is great um based on the popularity of the 60% units at Gunflint view it's obviously the the hot market and um also does the most good for Workforce housing so okay thank you for thank you and thank you to the heights for absolutely you remind me the number of the 60% units at at the gun plint view 11 okay y 11 and 13 16 80% so this building would have 9 at 60% and then 9 at 80% terrific and the potential for another building correct yeah and I may be trying to help them with that we'll see first Glimpse here know move on to item two in that range financials yes uh they were attached any questions about any of those straightforward I thought so let me ask did the County Board approve the H's budget as submitted or were there sub okay sub thanks then I feel a lot better but thank you any other issues on the finance not for me about other topics Item B I did have one thing to add to under other topics the so I met with commissioner storle this morning um uh this is not a surprise to anyone um there's not a lot of senior housing in Co County and so she wanted to talk about that um and one of the things that she mentioned that I I think is a good idea uh is that there are um some some of her colleagues and friends um have had to leave the county she's said because they they wanted to sell their house and find something with no maintenance or less maintenance you know more modest sze Etc you know a tale we've all heard uh and but they couldn't find an alternative there wasn't anything available and so um the homestead Cooperative I'm sure you're all familiar on 11th Avenue West uh has has done well and is popular so to speak um and her question uh was how is there an ability for to get um to entice or to create another sort of senior Cooperative building um she of course would love it on the West End that is her District um but she recognizes grar is probably the mar to of place for various reasons um so uh as we were talking uh I made it clear that you know if it's for sale for 55 plus often they 62 plus um condo basically condoms that are in a Cooperative so everybody owns the whole building it's the that's the difference if you're not familiar with quat models uh it would likely have to be a you know Market project there AR a lot of resources un unless it's I'll just say this doing Cooperative affordable for sale is very complicated uh and resources is kind of a square peg round Hool situation if it is a market rate driven one um which I I think is still worthwhile to pursue because it frees up more single family houses in the community uh where folks want to move in from the Trail or or holand or wherever uh and be in town um and what came to mind we were it's funny she was asking about properties that might be available and the H has already got options or acquired some of those properties so um for other projects uh but one of them is the Cedar Grove property that we have an option on um across from the law enforcement center it's the South easterly most corner of Cedar Grove um so uh on the the west side of sth uh I think one of those Parcels could make a really good spot for a potential senior Cooperative so the southernly one um so I have been talking with a home builder about that site for about a year but he has not been really responsive lately so I would and we don't have any formal agreement and I I told him I'm leaving so if you want to get something more intentional let's do it soon and I just haven't heard anything so is that the one split by the water course correct so are you talking the Northern or the either one so that we have the option we have the you know right to purchase them for dollar at any time we haven't done it only because as soon as we do that then there are some storm water requirements and some other things we have to do and the Ada already has that in their sort of system and we haven't had a project specifically to acquire it for well that that was it's it it had been reserved for uh Senior Living yep uh I forget assisted living is yep Assisted Living yeah yeah that whole lower portion yeah the there was a there's a company out of the Iron Range or they had properties in Iron Range there was that assist I can't remember the name of it but they were going to build a similar model here they didn't in par because they wanted to sell that property in Iron Range to get resources and also hiring people to staff it was a real concern um the hospital is nursing home that doesn't have enough staff because they don't have housing and on and on it goes right and child care and child care um so I wanted to put that on your radar and see if the board would be interested in that as I you know right off from the sunset here in a couple weeks um there are some folks in my network that I might be able to talk into taking a hard look at it um the density of housing that's possible there is higher than anywhere else that we've got within our Scopes right now correct uh no I mean the density at Gunflint and and the heights is pretty high okay so what do you mean by that I suppose uh in the BDA oh yes yeah so that property was rezoned um R1 which means it would need a cup from the city to do multif family housing yeah uh but the city had long talked about it for potential housing purposes they approved the rezoning the H has a right to buy it I agree with you I think that's a a logical spot to put this type of housing especially for senior well the key would be to find the right sponsor to develop the co-op housing the I forget the one that did the one over on the west end of the city uh but I and in my career I financed a number of senior co-ops and they were unbelievably successful but it took a pre-sale and it took somebody putting money at risk to do the development side of it and uh but if you can find that person I would Sho my wife and I looked at one that I financed that actually paid off its mortgage loan now which was 40 years and that's and there's a 20-year waiting list depending on the unit you wanted and it was 200 units it's called becketwood just remarkable so I I I would really support our efforts here to try and uh find that 200 units would do nicely I want to manage expectations yeah so part of the reason that's I just I'd be in full support of of trying to find the developer that would put something like that together and uh it may be the same group is still around that that did uh I don't think they are yeah some I remember I can't remember the specifics but I I wanted to I wanted to mention it for two reasons one of course to get the pulse and make sure that's something that might be appropriate or good fit in particular because the if their if their market rate which most Co senior co-ops are um I just want to be realistic about the price point we're talking about right so we know that there are some obviously the mission of the at is to provide housing across all income spectrums of all types and we haven't done Co-op yet so there's a new fora um but uh we on the one hand you know we're supporting Hamilton habitat which I'll get to you in a second and this is the other end of that spectrum of H home ownership right um but you there may be some conversation or questions or push back even in from the city I just want to be Eyes Wide Open about that because building a unit is probably going to be about 400 to $500,000 to construct it so I want to be realistic about that's what we're talking about again you know even talking to commissioner story this morning she had she and like three friends you know would love to buy a property like that but can't because it doesn't exist so there's a there's a need for it um but if the board thinks hey that might be worth pursuing uh I'll Wrangle up some of the folks that I know who may be interested in taking a look at it that would be great I think okay um only other topic I had was the just quick update on Hamilton habitat uh thank you Commissioners for approving the conance the HRA the H was uh will receive that property from the county um just north of the community center uh in k convey that presumably at your February meeting or whenever you're whenever you're able to uh to Hamilton habitat the all the documentation is drafted for her uh for the ATA um and it just needs to be on on an agenda and we couldn't do it now because we didn't have the legal in time so we have to do the H has to do a public hearing notice because we're disposing of public property um to a private entity so uh that's I think it's between I didn't I think it's about three little over three acres most of it's Wetlands um but the part that's not is where she intends on building up to six houses and I I think it's just a great for me I feel great about it as an exit that we're able to help a local developer do affordable for sale housing while we're watching an apartment two blocks away go up I just think it's a speaks to the opportunities um and so I appreciate the board's support on that I know Anna really very much does it gives her a pipeline for the next couple of years so I wanted to celebrate that with you say thank you um and then whomever is uh following will just need to get that on your agenda for approval and Route it and such any questions about that project or initiative at all um just just clarifying the location is is it right looking above the community center is it across from the Horse Park it's right there yep okay directly e to that horse Park okay uh one last thing is just to say that we have submitted applications to ITR for both both nor scogan um as well as for the homestead lots that Hamilton habitat owns for um assistance for those lots so the H you'll find out hopefully February is is the meeting plan whether or not um we got the funding for I think it's 136,000 for Hamilton habitat um and then 400,000 for nor SC the request and those applications are totally in and MH they done they're done great yeah they're in now it's just uh they might if they have follow-up questions they they'll find me but okay good job Jason indeed that's all I had all your mopping is done mopping mop up oh I I think there will be a trail for a little bit uh I'm sure but I'm I'm happy to keep mopping any committee reports think you know what the Personnel committee's been doing so we don't need to report on that but uh we'll keep doing what we need to do uh given the uh resolution that was approved today I think I have a question just for the if I send a draft or something for engagement for future who should I who would you like me to send that to you so it to me and uh I'll share with the finance committee we'll go from there okay any other business um issue for board discussion um I don't know what this in my head is you know this we're at a pretty important Milestone of a really positive chapter of the HRA with Jason's departure um I think it would be um worth thinking about what whether there's a some sort of a get together to to help Jason celebrate that social get together to help Jason celebrate that um right that's about as far as I've gotten am I thinking so I don't know if we want to just Contin continue along T him one last time I'm pretty sure you'd have you'd find decent attendance yeah yeah that's we can do that informally anybody else I have a report um as as uh sort of tangentially requested at the last meeting I reached out to the uh K count Chamber of Commerce oh yes and uh regarding the what I'm calling the uh Workforce housing service fee uh based on the example set by Cascade vacation rentals that already uh charges a transparent fee to their uh customers and then passes it through to us uh to the tune of nearly $40,000 a year and um um so the effort is to kind of go out and sell that to more businesses in the county as a way to really make a direct contribution it could be a very significant source of funding of very flexible funding um the um so I was actually scheduled to go to the county board meeting I think on the on I think tomorrow or the not the County Board the chamber board um this week sometime uh but um in my efforts to do this on on Jason's advice I recruited uh Claire Stoddard who's a owner of cascade vacation rentals and sits on the chamber board to kind of take the lead on it and so we developed a one pager just for the board to see and the the ask to the board is to support uh Claire and I to kind of go around and and uh try to recruit businesses uh that was done before and they were there were several large businesses that indicated that they'd like to do it and then it just kind of never happened so I think there's potential out there for and actually you know the Cascade vacation rentals puts it on as part of their rental fee um and that's sort of looking at the big you know the big hotels and that kind of thing or the it's the low hanging fruit I think but actually it could be a fee on any services mhm in Cook County so I think we could develop it and and Cascade vacation rental does a 1% fee doesn't have to be 1% could be 20 a quarter of a percent or it could be 3% you know it's totally up to the business but it's it's it's voluntary in the sense that it's mandatory for the customers but uh voluntary for the business to implement it um although casc Cascade vacation rentals their experiences they've never had anybody complain about it um and in fact the only feedback they've had has been positive people saying oh this is a great idea I'm so glad I can contribute this small amount um but they said if somebody really complained they'd probably just wave it you know so I mean that's an option too so it's uh it's very flexible I think it's got real potential and if we get the chamber and visit Cook County uh behind it approving it um I think I think it could be very helpful to us well thanks for your services uh CLA couldn't make it to the meeting this week so we're scheduled for the next chamber meeting which is in March so that's where it'll be brought up so I just wanted to report on that and then done some I did some also some work with with the chamber uh executive director Linda jurk about um the let me get the name right here the state housing tax credit State housing tax credit program and contribution fund which as I read it um Can can direct funding people individual donors can direct funding directly to an HRA um or a project an individual project has to be pre-approved and um it's not clear from the their published data what's involved in that approval process yet um people are looking into that and I'll continue to look into that until we get that hammer down but I think that has huge potential for instance Hamilton habitat if you could donate so the way the program works is you make a donation and you can take an 85% tax credit on your state income taxes so say my state income taxes say I pay you know $50,000 a year in taxes in my dreams uh to the state um I could donate $50,000 and then basically I would have a a premium of 7 7,500 that I paid you know I'd get all all back with 7,500 which I would do in a heartbeat to support housing and and I'm sure a lot of other people would who actually do have $50,000 tax bills um but I would gladly contribute all my state tax liability to housing in Cook County if I could do it to a specific project or to the H I've I've heard the same thing from some other folks in the county that especially specifically to Hamilton habitat my hunch is that it's um that it's targeted at at affordable housing at the lower end yeah so it is and and there is some paperwork that needs to be done by the project itself s and they have to be pre-qualified yeah they got to get pre-qualified but once they've done that it's a powerful fundraising tool and for the investor it's different from being a limited partner and you know getting a share of depreciation and everything else is purely you're not a limited partner You're simply going to get 85% of your donation which is what it is back off your state income tax with the history of giving philanthropy in Cook County where you know Cook County residents proven track record of being extremely generous and the need for housing I think this has big potential so working working on that at the same time and um I was going to present both kind of to the chamber so they are aware of the other program but decided to for now to leave the state housing tax credit program off until we have them our arms around exactly how it works and then I'll be more than happy to go back and present that to them and any other group that wants to hear it commissioner both both of those topics been working with entities who who reached out to do both of those things um one the tax credit for Hamilton habitat specifically asking how you know if I got to pay if I'm going to donate I might as well donate to something that I think is great cause Etc and so I worked with them through the guidelines of that program and tried to provide you know basically technical assistance for Hamilton Habitat to work with them to like get pre-qualified because every entity that's a little bit of the it's a little leg work up front but so those wheels are a little bit motion um and then also this is I just the reason I'm sharing this just because this speaks to the community that is Cook County there's a gentleman who's building a house in luten uh who doesn't even live here yet um but the house is for for I believe he's going to use it for um lodging for short-term rental and he wants to he reached out to me without knowing any of these efforts that we have about an ability to add some sort of fee to give to local housing uh and so I gave him your contact uh so he's got your email because he wants to contribute because he knows I mean he's building something new and I have I think that's the great model if you want to build something new and rented out as a short-term rental you're not taking from existing housing stock I'd rather that happen but he also like without being you know asked reached out and said I want to be a part of the solution so that's a pretty good spirit that I haven't seen a lot of places yeah and kudos to Claire stard for she's very enthusiastic to kind of take the lead on this so it's oh great not really me asking it's her asking I'm just there to answer questions about how the H works that's right we cannot ask for money but we can answer questions right any other topics that were missing if not might there be a motion to adjourn I don't want to Long meetings you got to be able to hold out though all right I'll move to if it's been moved is no clean be seconded I'll second it I Ste down from the chair any discussion on adjournment all those in favor say I I opposed there you go any comments from the County Commissioners I should I would just say in my first opportunity to sit in which was unique in the fact that there were interviews I was certainly part of interviews with County Administrator previously um but uh I I appreciate listening to uh your questions uh hearing your comments and observations and uh as Commissioners as of course commissioner severon knows and any other commissioner we sit on multiple boards and there are those boards that you look forward to going to because you believe that people are committed to the process and they know best practices for the most part in following disciplines that lead to good outcomes and so it's been enjoyable to listen and certainly to meet Jason who I've had conversations with and and um have come to appreciate just through those conversations who he is as an individual and his contributions to our community and we hope moving forward that U his his mentorship and and his groundwork here will set the stage for the future person to step in so thank you thank you and thanks to commissioner solivan for all the help on the coordination and the details and working with on the stuff because that's that's out of our Pig right here some of that super pleased with the result yeah got a good result so thanks I did have a question on on the um on this uh 1% or whatever that is there is there anything that's governed by State Statute that defines what you can or cannot do yes but this because this is not a tax because it's voluntary uh the businesses could you could add it as an administrative Fe you have to disclose it and there's some laws around what how you disclose I'm sure there had to be something in that regard as long as are in compliant with that and it's a and and the resourcefulness of looking at options for a way to solve the problem that's applauded too because you just have to think of those things and and that takes effort to do that those are two tools that have a lot of potential I think yeah I think so too once people well it's like a thousand right you just get a little bit incrementally and it becomes a huge po yeah you understand that pardon you understand the Cascade has done already the concept anything you do and you can have good intention and you find out oh she been something that prevents that --------- ##VIDEO ID:QNwYa6CNyLc## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right today we're all here for our finalist interviews for the HRA executive director position I'm an suan one of the co County Commissioners um we're going to go around and introduce ourselves and um we'll start with commissioner Gamble and commissioner Gary gamble second district com Bill Hansen Murray and commissioner the H okay and Chris O'Brien I'm commissioner on the H Bill gaer I'm currently chair of the H board Richard olon from District okay and we'd like to point out also and and uh that commissioner gamble is the county board's representative to the HRA and commissioner Sullivan is the alternate County Board member so that's why they're here and uh you know missing one yeah and we have one other person at least actually a couple good to see you and I'm Alison plumber HR Director with Cook County nice to meet you finally well now that we've had our introductions we'd like you Jeff brand to introduce yourself not only to all of us but to our community so give us a little bit of information about your background and experience you bet glad to hello everyone uh my name is brand I um until about a week and a half ago was a state representative district 18a down in southern Minnesota Mano um St Peter area um I spent 43 years coming and going from Cook County all the way from as a baby to an adult I'm always visiting up here I love it up here um the only other time I've actually worn a suit up here is when I got married by artist Point years ago and uh and so you know it's was kind of exciting to come back here today and not be dressed as a I'm going camping so um a little bit more about myself I've spent 17 years in and out of the Housing Industry in the area I was a realter um for over 10 years down in in um Eno I worked for a Midwest realy um after that I was a city council member I had a business a small business that we just closed up a couple years ago uh but we had about a 13-year run which was a lot of fun we did Native Plant uh Restorations ecological monitoring that sort of thing a lot of folks want rain Gardens but unfortunately there's not a lot of people to install them and so I was happy to fill that void and um make that my business for a while and then also you know I was a city council member in St Peter for eight years and then um I grew my wings and decided to run for State uh representative and was successful there as well and um I'm a husband I'm a father Outdoors Enthusiast um that's a little bit about me thank you so much you better we'll turn things back over to chair okay je uh what the first question is what goals would you set for yourself to accomplish in the first 3 months of the job or this first six months or by the end of the first year yeah that's a really good question I think in order to be successful at this job it's going to be a lot of networking a lot of networking with a lot of leaders a lot of Civic engagement a lot of people in the community people who are interested in housing people who in Need for housing people who have housing that they want to find more U people to fill those vacancies I think that's going to be really important also I think it's really important as we talk about the shared goals that we have for the future in the first six months or year um is to find the funding that we're going to need uh for projects like uh you you provided me with a homework opportunity and I filled that uh filled that out I hope U to your satisfaction and at that point what I was really looking for is different opportunities to find funding for those for those projects that are coming in into the community some major players that really want to build housing in the community but are having a hard time um closing that Gap in the funding housing costs more money than it ever has and probably will continue to in the future and as we start looking at um the needs of the community in the county we really want to make sure that we've got opportunities for people who need a house to get the house that they they need we have um in this particular County I'm aware of the fact that we have um Workforce shortage and that's challenged maybe a little bit by child care but also if can't have a house in the county it's really hard to fill that job and so I think it's really important that we start addressing that in the first year and I would really look to start I know you guys have a plan of by 2026 over 200 new new units I got to say you guys have been on on task on trying to chip away at that number and I'm seeing in the community new startups new homes and things like that we've got to keep that ball rolling forward we got to keep moving forward on that so that will be in the first year we're going to continue down that road of continuity ask follow yeah um je when um thank you for the response when you're thinking about when you're mentioning you know get trying to secure those resources to exactly said build the housing that we want to need um any idea like is there any specific sort of bucket you would go after or program you think would be good for the county well I look at uh housing um I look at the opportunities we have for people to build starter homes the affordability is really important uh rentals as well new rentals um I see that the birb Departments is undergoing some Renovations in the community right now um that's going to create better opportunities for people to have more suitable housing but we've got to continue to look at that mix between rental and housing that's affordable to purchase and then also the next step of housing as well I realize in this County um in particular it's a really nice place to stay right but it's also a really nice place to live you've got that challenge between the vacation rental by owner community and you got the the housing stock that you have now I want to kind of work with them to ease that so there's not so much contention in the community but again that we're meeting the needs of the community where they are for the workforce of Tomorrow yep thanks move on um je can you please uh provide an example of a time you had to assemble a team partners to address an organization or Community need you know just tell us how did you go about it what was the outcome what worked well and what would you have done differently okay when I was at the legislature one of the immediate needs that I had for my community was to secure to secure funding successfully um between the state and federal um dollars to complete Highway 14 from nicholet to newal um a lot of people have died on that stretch of highway it's about a 12mile stretch and we were never able to find that funding until I was elected and we were able to get this accomplished we were able to secure $50 million and it took a blitz of working with County Commissioners and city council members and Mayors all along that Corridor to secure some funding we had to secure a match from nicholet County in order to help pay for some of that cost uh we worked with the legislature I actually worked at the time it was Margaret Anderson kellerer she was the previously the speaker of the house but at the point where I was at the legislature she was the transportation commissioner and we actually had to go back with a fine Toth Cod going back to like 2012 session law to find that opportunity that existed basically what the state legislature and bipartisan bipartisan way is said hey commissioner Transportation we're going to allow you to go after federal dollars to pay for some road construction wherever it is just try to find some federal funding would you and in that St span between 2012 and 2019 it had never been done and so we had that we were able to amend exist existing session law to go after after some federal dollars for Rural communities across the country and we were one of the very few that were actually successfully able to get some funding we ended up getting $36 million but we had to pass legislation in order for that to happen so it just happened to me that the governor was from Highway uh the Highway 14 territory represented this first congressional district just happened to be that Margaret Anderson kellerer lost a loved one on that stretch of highway and the governor had lost a neighbor so they were all on board they knew exactly what the issue was were able to get the the funding secured right as Co started hitting Minnesota and so in 2019 in 2020 we were able to get that successful funding and it like I said it took an all Blitz media we had to work on a media campaign we had to work uh to get letters of support we had over a 100 letters of support for the federal ask for those dollars and so that was really important there um examp any partnership examples or things that you tried that didn't well In the Heat of heat of it all you try to do everything you can right and sometimes U some people were just not able to handle more of a task like City Council Members or some of the some of the Mayors were just like they they were had other things that they were focusing on that sort of thing at the legislature it was um in the in the legislature let's see here um it passed 66 to0 in the Senate and I had 19 colleagues in the house on my side of the aisle who didn't vote for the bill because they didn't have um U the comfortable way of saying let's do this knowing that Co was right on our doorstep you have to keep in mind this was exactly the same week that a lot of us as legislators stopped taking meetings with constituents that was really hard for us because we all loved to talk to people we want to know what's going on in our communities and stuff like that and people like to come up and visit with us but on this particular issue was it was really kind of a should we wait and spend that money on the co response what should we do and so yeah I would have loved to have seen everybody vote for it but sometimes that's the way it goes but it was still successful and now it's four lanes we haven't had a fatality um since uh we used to have head-on collisions we used to have semis crashing into people um very icy conditions roads that were covered in snow and ice and now because it's easier to maintain there's less blowing snow we've had a lot safer Highway being built thank you yep M turn for a question uh please describe your experiences working with broadcast media educate the public and build public support for a project our that's a good one I'm going to go back to my experience at the legislature for a minute um in 2023 I took on a very big task at the legislature and it was Banning forever chemicals known as pasas you they're in the air they're in the water they're actually in our bodies right now you probably don't even know where they came from because there are a lot of materials that we buy every day at a grocery store or regular store and have them we're being exposed to them nobody really knows about that um when I first introduced this legislation it was because I built a coalition of people to work on that legislation across the board folks that were interested in in having healthier cleaner environment people were Health working towards reducing chemicals in their bodies I worked with fire departments because if a house burns all that stuff burns with it they were getting inadvertently exposed to these toxic chemicals in the air when they were working and the filtration devices weren't actually taking that that poison out of the air and so I worked with fox9 I worked with KSTP and the Twin Cities I worked with um WCCO k 11 all the major news outlets um were actually reporting on the story I want to make sure they got all the press releases they were putting out um as we were following the story also um the Star Tribune Minnesota reformer all of the major media resources across the state were really engaged in this process from beginning to and um and so we did TV interviews we did um interviews when we were at the at the legislature by phone I a local media as well um it was really kind of an awesome situation I didn't think that we would ever get it to be that big the the most interesting when we're talking about media is a Japanese news out that actually interviewed me after we passed the legislation because they were also interested in in the effects of what was going on in Japan as well and so that was really cool to talk to Jonathan May over in uh in Tokyo Japan uh by Zoom no less for my favorite coffee shop in town and um it was an opportunity that that definitely um was important because at the end of the day we want to make sure people are aware of what's going on transparency is really important and I got to say I'm going to give Jason a lot of credit because you've done a lot locally and when I applied for this job that was one of the first resources I found very helpful to me was what's going on in the local community there's another story by Jason Hale talking about what was going on wtip Northland News Now places like that were really good opportunities that's what the people uh that are are paying the taxes want to know is what's going on how are things getting better employers want to know um the local hospital administrator wants to know the sheriff wants to know even U Almanac a couple of times you're on Almanac as well that's some good exposure as well good opportunities for me as a guy that's running for this position to really learn more about what's going on but also it's not just me again it's the taxpayers it's the employers it's all the important people Employers in the community you bet so uh here's the question what would colleagues say they like most about working with you and what would they say is the most challenging part of working you yeah those are good questions you know you don't like to talk too much about myself when it comes to like good versus bad but these are good questions you should know and so um when I was thinking about this this is one that took the most time for me to think about and write down a response um I pride myself in my Integrity people realize that the honesty that I have and I what I do my voice carries weight and I want to make sure I'm saying the right thing at the you know when it matters and counts the most because people do rely on me as a local leader to provide them with the right answer right um what I would say also is that I'm really always interested in stepping in when possible people have said Thank thanks for stepping in we I didn't expect you to do that but when you did it made my life easier to the challenges I think the my biggest challenge I would say and I'm getting better at this now is if somebody isn't direct about what needs they have they sometimes Miss some of the cues so I'm doing better at asking how are you doing what do you need where where can I help and that sort of thing as well so um that's what I would say would be my most positive attributes and my challenge you bet uh please tell us about a time when there was a challenge or conflict with components Partners finances or the public in a project and how did you find resolutions and what lessons did you learn from the experience to answer this question I go back to about this time last year when I was in a room just this size with a bunch of teachers um was on the heels of the 2023 legislative session I thought we did a great job not the best job but a great job of doing things with that money to make a difference in people's lives unfortunately when you're talking about teachers and retirement that money that we had available and how we spent the money didn't go far enough when it came to teachers and teacher retirement and that sort of thing and they let me know they let my Senator know and they let my bside district uh representative also know we were all in the same room together they let us know that we still needed to work and we can't just rest on our Laurels of providing the $2 billion that we provided into the retirement fund what it really did was it shaved off about half a year for the required service before they could access the retirement and so if people are working to about 67 years old before they can reach retirement really weren't very happy about having to be in the classroom until 67 um and I understand that you know gosh you know you're in a room full of Cl a school full of a room full of uh kids in a class and the class size keeps getting bigger and we keep asking teachers to do more yeah that is kind of a tough situation sometimes for those teachers and they're part of a union and they're always represented at the capital as well but I think at the end of the day we have to decide where where the money was supposed to go and so um firefighters are also asking for help um you've got people that work in Regional treatment centers across our state they're also looking for some additional resources for their retirements in the future and so it's kind of a mixed balance of how do you how do you spend that money now when I say you know things are great at the legislature but not the best I say it's really difficult for us you know to come as a body of about 201 one people plus our governor to really make everything go no matter how many resources we have we're always going to have somebody that's unhappy right um so at the end of the day it's it's dealing with that and not internalizing that so much realizing they're frustrated in the classroom um but you know at the end of the day they're not mad per se at us because we didn't do our job right it's just that they don't feel like they're being represented and so at the end of the day um you know the legislators in the future are going to have to tackle that that problem and that's a problem that's kind of festered since I would say you know the Great Recession in 2010 when we started to have to pull back stuff in government I don't know um up here how things worked but where I was in city government we actually had to ask the people that we negotiated our um U our budgets and that sort of thing our our pay increases we had asked them if we could claw that back to make things go because it's either a matter of cutting services or cutting pay or a combination of those things and at that point during the Great Recession we didn't have a lot of extra resources coming to cities and counties and so it was a it was a difficult situation moving on yeah um can you describe a time where you had to deal with the conflict among among board members how how did you handle it um is there anything you would have done differently good question um you know I think at the other day one of the things that I I you know I ended up passing 40 pieces of legislation when I was in the capital in four years I was successful during divided government and I was successful when we had the trifecta these last two years but even during that Trifecta when you thought anything that that could be written could pass there were still some things that didn't have the groundwork laid before the actual opportunity to pass the legislation was Upon Us good example of that is I introduced a piece of legislation for a clean fuel standard in Minnesota a clean fuel standard would basically what it amounted was an opportunity for um people to generate credits through farming activities you know in Minnesota right now we have this opportunity for clean fuels Delta Airlines is flying airplanes out of the airport in Minneapolis and St Paul that are now with homegrown fuel um we're not pumping it from the ground we're not getting it from another source in another country we are actually growing it in our farm Fields here in Minnesota right now and the opportunity was to continue to support that but also to create a fuel standard where the people who are the most carbon intensive pay more and the people who are growing the stuff are getting the benefit to the credits to help farmers out um on paper that was a great opportunity it would have generated about10 billion of an additional electric infrastructure across our state electric buses um it would have provided for more charging opportunities probably in every community in our state all 863 communities but but there are some people that think that didn't go far enough and I was really kind of um U I was I was caught off guard on that unfortunately because um some people believe that electric vehicles are going to be here tomorrow and I really don't see how that's going to work in an industry that's fuel intensive like our shipping industry you know we see a lot of semi- trucks driving through town right now they're very apprehensive about those electric semi trucks and a lot of people are really used to rebuilding those diesel vehicles we can create biofuel Vehicles easily enough homegrown fuels again but I think that there's an apprehension to support something like that when we're still talking about the the old fuel standard or the old fuels of of yester year and so that kind of side blindsided me a bit um unfortunately um we we had some fantastic support in the senate in fact I was working with our a producers because our a community also had a list of red lines and a list of wants and needs and that sort of thing and I got the list finally I was like oh my gosh we've got this list but at the end of the day there just wasn't enough time to process everything um we've got new Authors in the House and Senate now so they're kind of taking that that mantle and going or that that baton and going forward with it but I think at the end of the day it was kind of a it was a unique opportunity I wasn't expecting um and again when you're at the legislature there's 2011 people with 210 different opinions sometimes it can be really difficult to get everything done um but I think we're going to get there someday it's just takes more time thank you and more opportunity I have to say this because I think it's really important more opportunity to work together across the AIS as well you know you're starting to see some things happening in the legislature now it's like whoa what happened these are opportunities I think for those folks to say we could still work together and get things done so hopefully that's in the cards of the future for them uh describe your method of time management and setting priorities well bill I live with this and this has a great calendar in it and I'm always constantly using this calendar um if I didn't have it I feel like I would just be lost you know when I'm on vacation I'm on vacation but when I'm at work I'm always living on of that planner I'm always entering stuff I know sometimes it's been a challenge for me to always enter everything that's going on you know like a 10-minute meeting and that sort of thing but I think that's really important to plan things out and I think that's part of the biggest challenge is uh to make sure that time management is really important to me um I want to make sure that I'm I'm where I need to be and early I showed up a little earlier today um I always want to show up early that was something that my grandparents and parents kind of instilled in me don't show up on time always show up a little early if you can and that takes planning let me tell you because if something goes wrong all of a sudden the rest of your day gets hijacked by 10 minutes or 15 minutes and people's time to me is really important my time is really important as well so I want to make sure that we're planning for what the meetings are also ahead of time so I can um be up to speed and maybe be able to interject with some new ideas that I've developed from what the meeting was supposed to be yep I got a followup question on that yeah so Jeff you more so described your method of time management how do you then uh work on setting priorities ah well I think it's a triage thing right so if somebody from the public is really um important um and and or just in general if somebody from the public really wants to have an important discussion about something um it's a matter of uh making sure that we give them time um and if my schedule was already booked up and there's an opportunity for me to shuffle some things around I want to make sure that we're um hitting everybody when they need to you know I think that's really important and so in my schedule I always look for opportunities to maybe Shuffle things around when that that situation happens is a triage somebody's calling me angry I don't want to avoid them I want to get in front of them I want to be face to face with them we're going on the coffee shop or something like that we're going to have that conversation so I think that's really important our residents are engaged opinionated and passionate about our hous just say on the other hand there is a lot of concern for how development might affect property taxes how would you respond to positive and negative input from the county community regarding the need for local support for Housing Development well I want to sound naive when I say this but great I'm glad people are engaged one way or the other about what their opinions are um I think that that this this housing idea this need this crisis also provides an opportunity for Renaissance and I think the more people that are engaged and the more people who are giving new ideas about different opportunities or um different opportunities for develop vment and that sort of thing I think are really fantastic um this is a community conversation we need those people to be involved in that conversation we weave that fabric of the future by getting those voices heard and incorporated into the final plan I know um in the past gray has done a housing plan then involved a lot of people in community engagement uh the county has a plan as well for housing and that sort of thing and I think the more people you hear maybe you're starting to hear some um more finer points from the chorus but also maybe there's some new ideas that nobody else has really thought of and if we're not engaging them if we're not asking them to kind of help develop that idea it's a missed opportunity and I know some people can be quite opinionated in the public right I've dealt with that enough in my life but at the end of the day um it's I think a matter of of making sure that they're Incorporated they're represented they're at the table they're helping to make the difference that we all need to have followups yeah it's common with developing attainable housing uh Nationwide that it well it's complicated no question about that so it goes through this complex process and then at the very end the the city council or the County board or the Township Board that's sort of has the final approval they'll get a few phone calls and V do you have any anything to say about how you would counteract that that sort of tendency some people estimate as high as 50% affordable housing projects fail in that last step G through the whole process which is very discouraging well I've been on the other side of the table as a as a city council member um where the need was great for housing and we didn't have the right opportunity for that housing match in the community that example is um in in St Peter when I was a council member we worked with Southwest Minnesota housing uh partnership and we worked with uh local psychological providers Mental Health Providers and we were working with the County judge and we were working with all the folks that we needed to to get supported housing in the community with raer own Services for Families especially women dealing with substance abuse issues we wanted to make sure that we were getting to a point where we're actually encouraging that family to stay together those kids were not going to foster care and getting a negative experience out of life and that we were kind of closing that loop on this cyclical problem that we were having when it came to having substance abuse issues the first time it was a challenge for us and we didn't we we passed the we passed the um approval for the project but we didn't get the funding the second year the legislature came through with a change to the Homestead Act that really kind of the interpretation was such that we could no longer say this was for families and it was no longer for for women specifically and then we uh so when that change came around we actually voted 7 to Zer to vote against the project which was really weird but that that interpretation came just as we were doing the vote in the city the third time was the charm three times the charm right and we were able to support that housing all the way through and it's up and running today and we are taking people from the county we're taking people from other counties and families are staying together and they're getting the resources they need to be better um equipped for for everyday life getting getting their substance abuse issues taking care of their mental health challenges um and so um yeah I've been there before and it's unfortunate it really is a hard vote when you vote against a project but I think at the end of the day that made that third time a much better yes and there was more people in the community that were also supporting it you know sometimes uh folks get this idea of nimi right not my backyard we don't want people with substance abuse challenges in my backyard we don't want kids from troubled homes running around our neighborhoods but by the time we actually get to that third vote we were working with those engaged community members in the neighborhood we were getting to them to the point where they were supportive of it as well that helped too thank uh Jeff the next question pertains to the Americans with Disabilities Act considering what you know of this position's job responsibilities do you think you'll be able to perform the duties with or without reasonable accommodations with without yes okay now we got the open-ended your other next chance to tell us anything anything else you'd like to us to know about yous to this job I thought a lot about this job I've thought a lot about this opportunity I thought a lot about the the needs of the community um and and the opportunity that exists for real Renaissance in Cook County um it's the seventh lowest population County in the entire State as you know and there are a lot of employers looking for employees and they're not getting them right now we're talking about sheriff's deputies we're talking about people to run the ambulance um we're talking about people who just need a place to live you know I just heard an interview on wtip the other day and Anna H Hamilton from Hamilton H was talking about how she has a list and these are people that can't otherwise afford a home but they deserve a home everybody in the state I believe everybody in this country everybody in this world I believe deserves a home um if you don't have a home it's really hard for your kids to do homework um an example of that was when I was uh working on a project it's called Park rad Crossing was affordable housing in St Peter the next election in 2015 I came around and I door knocked because they were in my my district I door kned that whole complex and I remember bumping into a woman with two little kids running around and you know you open the door and you get the living room right it was like a open layout open plan and I remember asking you know are you happy here is this what you were looking for is this something that's accommodating your needs and she broke down and cried a little bit and she said this is this is what I wanted to do for my kids to Pride them with stable housing she admitted she did think she didn't want to to provide housing couch to couch and things like that for her children and she then had the opportunity to access this to the affordable housing that we had set up in the community to give those that family a chance and so I was really proud of that and so I think a lot about this as an opportunity for some real Renaissance in the community and I really do hope that we can continue to engage the community continue to provide and receive new ideas and you know as I was working on this project that you had the homework assignment for the for the project idea I was thinking about these different opportunities that exist in our our state and how well suited we are and well positioned we are as a county to get those resources and we have some of those resources already that we've received right through the different projects in the in the in the county and I really do think that that's exactly why the legislature that's why the federal government that's why everybody sets these programs up to help rise the tide for everybody and to provide new opportunity and so it's a matter of rolling up my sleeves doing what Jason and this board's been doing already it's tacking down that money and getting that to a developer and developing new homes and I'm looking forward to being part of that with you all thank you yep finally do you have any questions for us um I have I have two questions I guess um that I would like to get maybe more of a finer point on uh my first question is what do you envision is a board for the start date for this position and don't let anybody answer just you all have to have the same answer okay could you repeat that please J what's the start date what are you anticipating to be a a first day for this position the situation is Jason's already left us in a sense he Vol on a contract basis okay right yeah our former board chair is willing to step in just to kind of keep the lights on and make sure the bills are paid after February 1st sure for as long as it takes but obviously not she's very knowledable and effective but not you know she's won't be fully invested in system so okay really assum better okay guess and she needs to work remotely on top of it so that that's a another Factor we have that you know so we're not like completely left in the Lurch but but a real Factory solution right yeah basically and then the other question I had I think you just answered it was how long do you think Jason's going to be around to help out the new person sounds like the end of the month right well I mean he's not going anywhere well going on vation I sound actually no um yeah I'll be so I'm done as the interim on the 31st but I told the okay okay yeah those are the two questions I had I think it's really successful to have a continuity for when you're doing something like this and you we don't want to miss any opportunities for funding um part of the grant process that I was looking at for the project in the community that we were working on the homework for that RFP is going to be coming out here pretty soon I realize part of the jobs reporting federal state how we using the money that sort of thing so I think that it's really important that there be some sort of continuity and whoever starts do and go oh my God this is due tomorrow and it's like a federal thing you know or something like that so I appreciate that thanks for being so you know I think U available as well I remember my from when my first calls was to you uh to talk about the position I talked to the interim uh County Administrator as well um I didn't bug you because I didn't want to I figured you had enough you were working on already plus again you already did a lot on the community side through the media and so I felt like I got to know you a lot through that process and um sorry yeah well don't be you did a great job U very articulate about what's going on and where the money's coming from as well you know working with um Partners like the ITR working with the state housing uh Finance Authority um you know as a legislator in the past here not too recent past but um I know you're your Senator I know you're representative I've worked with them and so I would think that that would be one of those things where we continue to network as well and to work with as well find those opportunities and to partner with them to get those opportunities into to money on the table that be can be spent on housing so thank you so maybe you would like to take minute talk about next steps so that well the next steps are doing uh checking references and uh doing a background check generic one of those uh and uh we need to have a discussion first of all as a board uh you know as to how how to move forward and with whom and uh I think it's been impressed on you that we have an immediate need I mean it it's you know it's not something that we're looking six months out yeah and uh but uh we can hobble along in the meantime to a degree but we'd really need somebody on board and uh and then get introduced into the community and then from there on it's partly a matter of helping uh the board helping the director meet who they need to meet and uh you know continuing on uh with how we how do we move forward from here uh there are certainly a change there are changes in funding levels coming uh the arpa money is no longer available the County Board was extremely generous to the Housing Authority in terms of what resources we got that help stimulate the construction that's going on and the ones that are coming up uh shortly but um there may be some changes in direction of what we can afford to do and what we can do in other situations U housing you know ownership versus Rey and those kind of things but that's all work that will need to be done with the new director and probably really redoing a strategic plan which our last job was 2023 okay and uh uh you know I think it's time to relook at that this is a good time to do it so okay any other comments or be helpful Jeff we' like to thank you for um time you spent questions asked and will sounds good thank you very much thank you all appreciate itate uh tomorrow okay yep I anticipated snow while I will definitely will y thank you yeah it looks like a snow globe out there right now e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e yeah I hope it's written out in the physical requirements yeah well Haley we'd like to welcome you here today to our uh round of interviews these are our finalist interviews for the h our housing re Development Authority and we'll go around and introduce ourselves I'm Ann Sullivan C County Commissioner for District 4 and the alternate on the H for our County Board hi I'm Gary gamble commissioner County District Two Bill Hansen and I am District Two commissioner Chris O'Brian I'm the District 4 commissioner and the vice chair of the H Bill gaer District 5 which is the West End and I'm the current board chair richson I live work in hoveland which is the east First District you got a seat for him though yeah yeah Jason Hill I'm seeking my replacement yes I'm familiar with you I'm Alison plumber I'm the Human Resources Director for Cook County nice to meet you I will turn things over tobler who is the chair of the H and it's appropriate to note the commissioner gamble is the new uh County Board representative to the H board and commissioner Sullivan is the uh uh Al alternate uh so uh and that's important because the County Board was instrumental in us getting started and was instrumental in finding funding enough to put several projects together that couldn't have happened without their support and uh so that's one we we really appreciate their partnership in this and that's how we start looking at things as a partnership well thank you chair G we appreciate that and uh haly for the viewing public um if you would like to introduce yourself tell us a little bit about your background and experience yeah of course well I'm Haley um I currently live in Minneapolis um have been coming up to Cook County for many years um with dreams of moving up here um which is easier said than done as you all no um I am approaching my 20year anniversary in affordable housing which uh is weird to say but it's true um I fell into affordable housing work right out of college with a role um with the Housing Development Consortium in Seattle which is a coalition of affordable housing agencies public agencies um interested in Housing Development and so I dove in doing all of their member services was the board leaz on all of that good stuff um and from there the ball was rolling I did a brief stint at at Wells Fargo which was interesting um and then went right on to Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity when I moved to um Twin Cities and I was there for several years uh started out as a housing counselor uh went on to manage that program um all the funding Grant right writing all of that good stuff too um I left Twin Cities to pursue my masters in public policy which I did and was a really good reminder that while I love learning I do not love School per se um but it was a really good experience and once that was done um I took on a role with the Frogtown Rondo home fund which was uh or is a coalition of organizations that are invested and interested in affordable housing development in the Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods of St Paul which have kind of a unique set of challenges um there I was the soul paid staff person um so I was managing the Coalition putting together a strategic plan making sure it had momentum um I was housed in the the city of St Paul offices so I got to do a lot of work with the planning and development folks there um from there I went on to do a kind of random spot in my career where I was working with a startup um supporting humanitarian Aid workers and so it was fresh like my first day in the office uh the executive director was like well let's go shopping for office furniture so brand new um so that job was really interesting and that part of it was like setting up the coffee machine and the other part was trying to establish a donor base you know it was really all over the place depending on the day um which has its its pros and its cons as you're probably intimately aware of at this point um but once I uh found this role with grounded Solutions Network um I've been following the work of this organization for a really long time and couldn't resist the move so I've been there for just about five years now um doing marketing Outreach uh we're a National Coalition of affordable housing organizations mainly those that are invested in shared Equity housing um so permanent or lasting affordability um it's been a wonderful experience but then this comes up and I had to give it a shot so here I am thank you so much yeah that felt like a lot of talking about myself so yeah I guess yeah well he let's get started on the questions what goals would you set for yourself to accomplish in the first three months of the job first 6 months and by the end of the first year yeah um well I read this question and I thought my immediate response was like slow slow slow cuz every time I've worked in community work it always moves slower than you want it to and then I was like I don't want to say that in front of them because I don't want you to think I'm going to come in and do nothing for the first year um but definitely the first three months would be spent acquaint you know acquainting myself I don't live in this community I'd definitely be building those relationships building that trust uh leaning on you all a lot to help me do that um the first six months I sort of just picture keeping the the boat afloat there's a lot of things that are moving and in the works right now and it would really be a priority for me to make sure that those are moving at the the fastest Pace possible um at the end of the first year I would certainly hope I would have been able to add or contribute to this development pipeline um find you know any funding s sources that haven't been tapped yet um and make some progress um for this new next chapter of the HRA and maybe have gotten Jason to sign a contract for helping us we'll talk about that later I guess see how as other business goes um next next question can you provide an example of the time you had to assemble a team of Partners to address an organizational or Community need and how did you go about it and what was the outcome and what worked well and what would you have done differently yeah um I think this is really a lot of what I do right now and so you know the title that's reflected on my resume I get feedback sometimes it doesn't always represent the work I do which is not uncommon I don't think by any means um but my role currently is working with organizations all across the country who are looking for Technology Solutions for both managing data but also leveraging impact data so that they can actually track their programs see how they're doing um bring that kind of data to funders that kind of thing so I'm really finding Holistic Solutions for people that often involve like a tech stack sort of um um approach so for example um one group I've been working with lately is Clark County Nevada which is where Las Vegas is and it's not a simple solution you know they have all of these moving Parts they're starting this huge cltt with a bunch of units right off the bat um so finding them all the different pieces they need to jump into that with a really reliable data management system but also all these other tools in place for feeding data into that for accessing uh potential homeowners and applicants um there's a lot of different people involved in that different Consultants um myself other GSN staff it's been a pretty huge project um and it's finally out of my hands which felt really good uh but yeah I do that kind of thing um on a daily basis and what just to follow up on that so what have you found does not work what approaches have you driving to um I think I made me an overc Communicator maybe in some ways cuz like when you're working with six different Consultants on one project everyone's doing different things and then of course um this is not a slam on government entities at all but they can be a lot harder to work with uh from a nonprofit perspective sometimes so just making sure that I am sending regular updates that contain everything anyone might need to know has become kind of a regular ritual for me um because one person gets running down a path without the rest of them and then you can really run into some some big issues so so the what didn't work was over communicating or or not communicating enough not communicating enough got there you go thanks have the next question please describe your experiences working with broadcast media to educate the public and build public support for a project initi yeah I don't think I've actually had any direct experience with broadcast media um I do a lot of presentations at the national level so like last week I was meeting with neighborworks America and had hundreds of attendees um or the National Housing Resource Center was like a month ago so I do a lot of that um representing grounded Solutions Network and all our various programs talking to folks about um all the different iterations of lasting affordability uh often with a plug of why being a member is a good idea um so I do a lot of that kind of public facing um you know presentation style work I go to a lot of different conferences and do sessions and things like that but I don't think I've like been interviewed by KSTP before or anything like that um so that would be new to me my uncle's a sports reporter but that's as close as I can get so what would colleagues say they like most about working with you and what would they say is most challenging part yeah this is like the most awkward question to ask a inotan I feel like um I would say my colleagues would say that I'm upbeat and optimistic I keep all the pessimism internal so they don't know what's going on but um no I think I'm a you know I like to keep it upbeat keep it moving at take an interest in people I've ended up with the dubious title of chair of our fund committee at grounded Solutions Network which blessing or curse I'm unsure but I think that's that's probably a product of that um so it it makes it a little bit easier for me anyway to work through tough stuff when you can can keep it positive or keep focused on the positive um the most challenging part is probably referencing back to the overcommunication I like to make sure that I really understand what people expect of me what people's priorities are um and I think that can drive people crazy sometimes like I thought we already talked about this and it's like well I want it in writing and I want to make sure that we're all on the same page so I think that could maybe come up as a challenge occasionally but maybe they'd say something worse I'm not sure thank you MH uh please tell us about a time when there was a challenge or conflict with components Partners finances or the public in a project and how did you find resolution and what lessons were did you learn from that experience yeah um I think a good example here would be a recent um grounded Solutions example so as I said we have member organizations all over the place including Minnesota we have a pretty big contingent of organizations here that are members um and I have relationships with them from previous jobs or uh my partner has worked at Twin Cities habitat for over a decade and so you know I see people all the time um and I was getting a lot of feedback like folks would catch me every time they saw me and be like I'm really upset about this new initiative you are all doing I don't feel like you know your membership is being represented kind of some pretty serious uh accusations around the trajectory of grounded Solutions um which is a tricky spot to be in when you know I'm not the president and CEO or anything like that um but I kind of have a history of mediating these kinds of conflicts and so um I did bring that up with our leadership in a couple different forums and then I advised the Minnesota Coalition at least to get together and write a letter just detailing all of their concerns that I could bring to our board so they could actually reflect on it you know come up with with the response see if there were changes that they could make um to the plans that we had in place and at this point I feel like um we were really able to work through some of that once people sat down and kind of detailed what the issues were they weren't unsolvable problems you know and I think that once we open those doors of communication and kind of could navigate that a little bit massage different areas so that they didn't necessarily have to be so aggressive um people became a lot more comfortable right next uh question Haley can you describe a time where you had to deal with a conflict among board members and how did you handle it and is there anything that you would have done differently sure should I be nervous about how many questions about conflict are around here no um I would say uh the two examples that pop into my head quickly are the Housing Development Consortium where I was the board liaison so I was the one who was receiving most of the feedback from the board um at any given time and then the Frogtown Rondo home fund and both of those situations were much like grounded Solutions I guess uh groups or coalitions of organizations that were working together towards a common goal um which is tough you know it it can be really challenging because especially when you have cross- sector collaborations uh people have very different motivations and generally you know different ways of getting to the same place um so I think my strategy there really became to kind of play a neutral role and I think that probably came up in that grounded Solutions example too where I'm like hey I'm not the you know I'm here to hear hear you out I'm not necessarily the you know here to argue a point with you um so finding that way to be kind of a neutral person they can open up to and talk to so that I can then use that to try and find some common ground um has proven really useful for me the Frogtown Rondo uh home fund Coalition when I came into that was really a tense space to be in um and I think it's because that communication had broken down and there wasn't that neutral party that people could bring their concerns to um and have them kind of addressed or vocalized even in a group setting um it made it a lot easier to work through some of that and uh how would you what would you have done differently or there anything well sure there's always things you would have maybe not said or um you know gotten two people in a room that you wouldn't necessarily get in the same room again in the future um there's things like that that you learn as you go uh especially my early days at the Housing Development Consortium where it was like oh you guys just personally don't like each other so we're going to make sure to navigate this a little bit differently but um I think having a broader knowledge of the options now helps with some of that too cuz I was also when I was younger you know I didn't know what was what and so um whether that hurt or helped not sure but thanks could you describe your method of time management and how yeah I always love this question because you have an idea of how you approach it in your head and then in reality it's hard to watch it fall apart sometimes but you know it's I try um time blocking is one of my favorite things so I can go on my calendar block off chunks of time to do big projects um the trick is getting people to not interrupt you during those blocks of time and to kind of have that boundary set um but that's generally how I set aside time to do really like deep work I think one of the issues um my experience is mostly in the nonprofit so I don't know if it's like this everywhere else but having deep thinking time to like strategize and actually work through stuff uh can be hard to find find or prioritize sometimes so I really have been trying to do that in the last several years um and I think it's made me a lot better at my job and um yeah help me grow a lot that way uh more like practically I use tools like a SAA of course um and Google Calendar but I don't know if you guys use AA but I'm addicted to it now so you know I'd probably bring it with me wherever I go um actually H well that too this is my of time don't interrupt me yeah I believe it's SAA I don't know if you yeah oh is that an app yeah a sorry I made some assumptions I thought we were talking about real deal where you jump into a lake after I'm really sorry about that yeah it's a like a task management app so it's like you can share projects with external parties internal parties you can add edit like it's really pretty cool question our residents are engaged opinionated and passionate about our housing needs on the other hand there's a lot of concern for how development might affect property taxes how would you respond to positive and negative input from the Cook County Community regarding the need for local support for Housing Development yeah I mean I think the level of Engagement especially given the relatively small size of your population is really inspiring and exciting and probably a reason people want this job in the first place um so I think coming at it with that kind of appreciation of like hey you're here you're saying something um is an important First Step um I also think finding those different incentives is really important like someone might say that I'm paying too much in property taxes that's going to an affordable housing development but there's always something in there that can connect with them there's something that they can connect with an argument you can make um and I think the only way you really get to that point is by talking talking and learning about someone and getting to know them um and I guess the hope would be that you given the size and scale have the opportunity to do that with community members um because I really do believe that anytime there's that kind of conflict we can find that common ground or that incentive that might not be the same as the next person's um that they could relate to to at least not be so vocal about their opposition maybe I don't know thank you uh this question pertains to the Americans with Disability Act considering what you know of this position's job responsibilities do you think you will be able to perform the duties with or without reasonable accommodations I think I'll be able to do it without reasonable accommodations thank you all right um another open-ended one this is your opportunity to tell us uh anything else you'd like us to know about you as it pertain yeah well I think something that we kind of talked about in that first interview was um the contrast in my background and skill set to Jason's um because that's been on my mind a lot in this role like I would be coming at it from a different perspective and a different angle I think I have a unique set of skills that could be well leveraged for a role like this um but yeah it's in the back of my mind is you know are people open to that you know or has Jason kind of set a standard that I mean publicly sounds like you're pretty beloved at this point get out of yeah so like making sure um that that's what folks want in this role um is kind of is pretty important to me at this at this point I think though my my uh experience with strategic planning Community engagement and that kind of stuff would be really um useful here um but just just making sure that that's out there you have any questions for us Yes actually I was kind of wondering if one or all of you could answer question one for me what you expect the person in this role to accomplish in the first 3 months 6 months one year or whatever you want to say about that well I can I could start but others have got other ideas as well we've learned that yeah and that's what okay but uh this is a kind of a reflection time for us Jason leaving is you know a fact and uh we'll deal with that but uh our last strategic plan was 2023 the landscape has changed since that uh the funding landscape has changed on the federal level and on the state level uh things you know aren't going to be the same there's not going to be as much money just being I think pretty direct about it uh for housing and we were uh for as I I mentioned the county the support of the County Board has been terrific and uh we need to continue to have that continue but I think it's really time to relook at where we concentrate our efforts uh you know we've really done a pretty good job on the multifam side with a couple of developments in Grand marray and hopefully uh we'll score a the home ownership opportunity down in tofy uh that looks like it'll go but realistically um you know one of the actually one of the programs we instituted here which I think could be built on and built up is uh the um weatherization type program for single family homes there plenty of older homes that got leaky windows and uh you know need insulation or you name it and we were able to get a few things going thanks partly to Chris and his the organization he's also with uh to get that underway and and so we've had some success we need more money to do that but I think that's potentially there's there's we could knock on some doors to find that but I think just that's the first three months and and maybe that drags into six months and by the end of the first year I would hope that there' be some production when we formed the organization and did our goal setting and all that the three things that we said were the criteria we wanted to you know concentrate on was uh action uh transparency and uh inclus and being inclusive and so those are at the end of the year we'd want to know where where did we go particularly for me on action because that's what you need to present to other funders to the County Board to the citizens so that's enough for me I think um next I think that the structure that you outlined um of having the first three months be primarily develop a network to develop a strong Network that become you know ways for you to leverage your U time your six month being to kind of manage the pipeline existing projects keep them going forward in 12 months to do some incremental uh going of the pipeline I think that makes lot of sense I think that what you're echoing part of what Bill said I think we're at somewhat of an inflection point I I guess yeah just one point would be I think that that we're at an inflection point where I think the strategic planning U needs to happen sort of in in parallel in there someplace because I think we need we need um just to revisit for ourselves what our priorities need to be going forward what types of projects where should they be what should be which part which parts of the community um are going to be most um most are going to be our most important next Target what kinds of housing that you know this a lot of um uh good questions and and then I think that the distraction is going to be undoubtedly um that you I have no doubt that that of the existing projects as they go forward stuff happens so um it's going to be you know difficult to to it's going to be difficult to to to manage crises as they come up and still have the um the mental space and the and a and time to manage a process of really uh developing a a Strate a Revisited strategy that is not only coherent but also has the Buy in of a lot of important folks in the community yeah I can only really Echo what they said but I think um you know in the first year really three components one is sort of developing that pool of developers that are interested in working here and then doing the you know obvious is finding the funding housing doesn't work or Workforce housing or affordable housing doesn't work without subsidy the money has to come from somewhere um being creative and diligent in that be super important learning learning all you can and then looking for new new ways to fund it and then I still think we have a long way to go and building community support for housing I mean it's pretty I'd say close to Universal everybody will say yes we need more housing but then when we get down to the project level it kind of breaks down and people have different ideas and for Jason did a really good job bringing the community along but there's more to go it's a it's a slow slow process uh fortunately we have in this community good they have a weekly newspaper and a local radio station and uh that are very eager to help help disseminate information so that's a big plus you makes your job easier um yeah and then just having the grit to follow these things through because they're really complicated it's just one problem after anothering what sounds really fun so far like but that's un necessary part of the J we all have to and you have to be um careful not to be not to get angry with when something doesn't go go right for for not good reasons I think that just comes with it and that's the strength that Jason was like well that was disappointing but we still have to work with these people so let's just move on and yeah so those are the kind of things I'd like to see yeah somebody made a comment to me over the holidays um like one of those family members you never see um that was sort of tongue and cheek but it was like you've been in affordable housing for this long and the problems only gotten worse so like and I was sitting there thinking like that's hilarious but it does come with with a certain amount of resilience being in the industry for sure there are those of us that can say that about their lifetime yeah right dedicated climate change for 30 plus years there you go it's more relatable than I realized you hear a lot here well nobody's doing anything but that just shows that they they hav't they don't know what's going if they knew they'd be like oh people are doing a lot of things same thing with economic development nobody's doing anything for economic development in county and well nobody's at the L saying don't come start business here you know right lots of people are working on it it's just hard and you still get that kind of feedback despite like I think you all in this community have a really admirable network of information and I mean those of us in Minneapolis and other places can make it a hobby to like follow affordable housing in Cook County which is really cool cuz even in Minneapolis I think people know less about the kind of development work unless they're on like the development blot things like that too so a lot of Rural America doesn't have a new source right yeah totally agree um I did oh yeah um I was there was a kind of practical a couple am I allowed to ask Jason question question Yeah question um I was just curious your experience starting in this role what were the really impactful or most helpful resources outside of the board who I'm just going to go ahead and assume we super helpful not at all resources yeah like how did you get up to speed and acquainted with stuff well so I think there wasn't anything organizationally to get up down so I had to create the um it is more about getting connected with the community and so I was fortunate to have for chair of tin was and even prior to accepting this role I did a tour to France of grand marray um and that leadership and and the board is going to be instrumental in that making those introductions and then you will find that the community leaders here like you've already experienced or mentioned a small and active en tightened community and so folks from the chamber to the hospital it's like everybody there's nobody that says we don't like housing everybody's like yes we understand hous a problem so convincing them of where how and win that's a whole other ball game but um The Upfront the initial difficulty was literally creating the systems documents templates you know office furniture was the same simar situation wish I'd been there for that of branches and desks um but that was the it was creating a sort of foundation for was the hard part that the community was great about networking and connecting and and um there are a lot of engaged Community groups that meet outside of the H about housing and about related issues um there's a lot of overlap there so I don't I don't actually forese that being an issue it's just going to be connecting those dots and getting familiar with local state quers does that answer your question yeah I mean yeah so it's exactly what it seems like I just okay perfect I'd like to add on to that if I could just from a standpoint that uh our previous County uh administrator James jorky had set up a a Leadership Council um in the community of Representatives of so many of the different groups in the community uh including Educators and the sheriff and I mean the hospital you go right down on the list and and that group got tagged housing as its top priority over you know months of discussion and whatever and I sincerely hope that that model will continue I mean there'll be a new James jerky uh as the County Administrator at some point but I found as because I was really at that stage just getting into the community myself and uh it was extremely helpful and if it it you know the community isn't that huge for one thing I mean 6,000 people are there about so um people are pretty well connected but uh I'm I'd ask the County Commissioners if you could encourage that uh again in February 13th is the next meeting for the community leadership group and um you know housing is a topic child here has been a topic um and it is actually through that group that the the concept of the H was form okay so it's a really strong Network that needs every other month and there are representatives from the grand page reservation who attend those meetings as well they held by Zoom one of the things we'll look at now um because this was um very very active during the pandemic is moving to an inperson model OKAY exciting Mr chair if I could just follow up Jason he asked the question um I think uh if you could speak to what you brought the tools you brought to the position in other words your your background and experience that helped you in doing you know what was test you know for you in this position but what was it that equipped you going into the position your experience background sure and Hale I just spoke to this and I really appreciate the foresight and acknowledging one you have a different skill skill set which is still valuable and can do different things um I was coming with development experience and contacts that I was able to bring here relationships with some of those funders um there's and I think Commissioners already spoken of this there's a little bit of a transitioning happening predominantly because of funding scarcity um AR has gone uh the game buster year we had the capital A lot of those funds in 2023 are implemented or spoken for um not enough of them but a lot of them that are pertinent for for us anyway um so to your point commissioner I have that background of developing local government different skill set the need probably at least near-term future of the H is going to be pivoting slightly in the management I from my perspective U managing existing programs and funds we've already secured helping to manage grants helping to do community outreach um you know some of the things we've already spoken to uh so you know you could this the skill side like the relationship is going to be the biggest thing and I had to built them with I too I never wasn't able to work with them in theth they don't like probably but um it's just not part of their service ter territory so um again I just brought the local government piece and the development piece which is very much my lens uh some of that has been foundation's been laid um so it's more I think uh the biggest task will be here we are here's what's in the pipeline helping those get over the the ones that are not over the Finish Line just making sure that like you already making sure that those don't get lost in you know translation or transition and then now let's level set what's their strategic planning to look like because we've got a couple years to see how these things shake out thank you Priority One getting on Mackenzie Scott's radar all right I don't know that she takes personal calls dark hor good luck um I I've have some assumptions about this I guess too but as far as admin support from the county goes in a role like this like being the solo staff person contract review and some of that stuff does Cook County support the H director in that or so um that the other part of the thing that I came with yeah was contract development review um we have uh every year we uh have contract for Attorney Services um just fortunately because I've done so many contracts I was able to do most of them myself and then have returned was able to save a couple bucks for the you for the community um we still have access to those folks and now there are templates created you know in our files that can be used um so the H to your point this is actually an important point to me I think you're right it is one employee we have talked and the board has been very supportive and the County board for that matter largely been supportive of exploring admin help for both Eda and the H and what could that look like it was actually I was only saying not now um I I don't have time or don't know how to delegate those things you know that was probably one of my faults um but uh I think that that's something to to consider and think about if it's need the future I think there' be support for that right now as it is um we have attorney on contract we also have ERS Public Finance to help with the Public Finance side of things we're bonding to Tiff tax they can do a whole Suite of things um the county provides Payroll Services but the H now transitioned out of the out's office so the H has its own uh bank account and manages its own we have a bookkeeper and the finance committee has access in the H director has access so I issue I do all the accounting the checks issuing tracking that sort of thing um so most of the services basically the county provides um Human Resource Assistance thank you and payroll like paying payroll with holding taxes the other things are either contracted for or the direct investment okay yeah I have a contracts are a big part of my job now and I I have a lot of experience with that in Grant reporting and management but it's still a little like if there's no safety net you know it's just something else to consider so I want to make sure that there's that well there has been a line item in our budget for administrative Health in addition it's just not been spent up to this point and so it's not that we're without resources to to get what is needed but Jason's been able to handle the stuff so far by himself and but I think the joint discussion with the Eda would be real helpful right now because they've got a new director as well and U and they're flying solo so it's a little Mutual Sport and I think the other asset you have coming in is Jason alluded to is is that we do now have a library of of past you know resolutions contracts templates that's huge a starting point for a lot of and chat GPT right kidding I'm kidding like Minnesota resolution it's like cannot compute I haven't tried to like create a contract in there before but I feel like I'm G to go home now and do that so well we also have to acknowledge Janna because we're totally incapable of putting ourselves onto that screen and it's very important for transparency that the people be able to see our meetings and so so you're here specifically for live streaming important apologize thank you Bill yes that has been instrumental actually the county has been really supportive over needed help uh from a on an ongoing basis so the the payroll is the thing that they offer uh support for you know continually the County Board and the County Administrator and Janet have been fantastic support of the H uh and running live streams and also publishing you know agendas when we send them that sort of things very close partnership so I don't want to sell Janna or Todd or anybody else in the county short I've been very very helpful um and I know at least this board I mean if they change or they just change personalities overnight which would be very strange um they understand that contracts are needed as things evolve and change we can explore how we allocate resources for we need this kind of service which we weren't needing for what do that okay so yeah well and I understand your choice to not like Endeavor to hire someone and figure out how to navigate all that when you're trying to like get things moving in a real way too that makes sense and I I didn't introduce myself earlier but um yeah my name is janaa and my position is Executive Administrative Assistant to the County Administrator so um which we have an interim right now um and also I assist the Commissioners for that's my goal anyway okay and then other support for staff but but the main thing is working with the County Administrator and Commissioners so okay um yeah and I guess with with us live streaming County board meetings that's how I got connected yeah she knows where to push the button right that's right did you used to work with WTA yeah okay I thought I recognized you for that all right yeah cool okay yeah um do I have any more questions I think that was all the question well let me think maybe I would ask again like in the first one the kind of vision you have as far as someone from outside of Cook County transitioning here like how you see the ideal timeline for a full transition the remote aspect of that just to talk about it in a little more detail your ideal Vision anyway would probably be to have somebody who lives here but let's say I'll start I mean I I think that yeah that's probably pretty important to um um be here physically especially as you noted in the first three months where you know you're getting plugged into the community you you know folks don't know you um you know I think that the the job is U flexible in terms of not it's not a 9 to-5 job it's not a it's not a come to your desk and you know it's a yeah I think you'll be evaluated on what gets done on your attendance and um but that said you know just I just think tactically it's really important to be here um early on um I can't speak to Greater flexibility down the road you know um once once the level of trust is already established with with the key stakeholders you know my experience is that often once you go start past that threshold then becomes much easier to transition to you know phone calls and zoom calls and but that's but there's kind of pretty heavy investment required up front I think initially to build those relationships yeah we Jason does not hold to a 40-hour work week schedule in the office and we don't expect that really um and his he's been out and about and uh and really has been effective in being out and about but you've got to have a base you know to be out from and uh that's you know in the community and so that's really important it couldn't be a full-time remote job uh but there's aspects of the job that are remote and um that's easy to accommodate for us but that's our philosophy anyway sure that maybe leads me to the most dangerous interview question which is about work life balance like is it it always makes the interview look a little like are they trying to be lazy but I'm actually just really curious what the work life balance looks like in a role like this I think you use a word boundaries um like when time blocking I did the same thing try to ad to them um like that I think um from a lot of will come down to your own time management and uh how you work um I sometimes bring my work cell phone with me on vacation because it's my prop but I think I actually think that's one of the benefits to this rule like maybe you'll have a count County board meeting City ccil that goes till 8:30 or something at night on a Wednesday um then fine then you you know start working at you know 10 or new or whatever like like commissioner Bri was saying it's it's more about being effective so I have found the the flexibility is actually very convenient because the develop world uh has a different clock than Bankers clock MH um or typical County government or government for that matter um so as long as like there's I found it easier to do work life balance because for example if there was snow before today and I was here uh you could go I could go ski for an hour and then go and then I just stay till 6 or whatever and get whatever I need get done so it's more again it's more about once you build that trust like commissioner o'ban said and you have those relationships in community as long as you're and getting things done you're able to dictate what makes sense in life is I mean here for example there are people who don't have child care because there's no child care so the reality is that they have to do the work from home for half County Employees I know it's kind of tag team with partners and and to get kids and so on so I think that people in this community recognize that uh Life's a little different here can be because of some of those resource challenges and just the you know geographic location um so there's just more awareness of that um that's that's been my experience it's been a pretty positive one as compared to you know the eight to five or six in City Bo in the office right yeah okay and I just want to add to that I I work for a different organization county is different than the H yep um however um I have found that the community and C count as an employer um but still very supportive in those work life balance because those bound have also been very important to me and um not only do I work here but for the last 10 years I've also been um a swim team instructor a group exercise instructor at our local yill come to classes he knows um um and so I established those boundaries that's what I've needed as an employee to be effective for myself um also to prevent burnout and that has never once been um addressed or identified as a negative thing and it's seems like it's become more prevalent not only here in our organization but in other organizations as well the clinic the hospital we see many people have create those boundaries like have that mental physical emotional break during the day because they've identified as identified that need for them that makes them effective um and again fully supported I've never um heard anything but support for those types of decisions oh good that's good to hear I think I my partner made a joke about this before I came because he works in land acquisition and project management and uh he I always get irritated on vacation when he answers his phone like we're in Scotland and he answers his phone and he's like you know if you got a job like this you're probably going to be answering your phone on vacation yeah I've been feels very International yeah um one thing I did think I just wanted to mention to to your question but I don't know if you were wondering about the the initial onset in the transition because hous years a thing um it it's difficult to procure about that yeah yeah I have um just the the I think the board has a realistic uh and the Eda similar the addition process is a realistic idea of the difficulty in securing housing um and the flexibility while someone is starting in this role we understand it's going to be a hybrid situation at first because until you can find some more here it's not realistic to drive here like right so the ability to find some more you know maybe during the week for a couple nights or a night or something like that there the point is there's some flexibility while you're figuring out where you would want to land yeah that's helpful because it's kind of a high pressure situation and you know well when I when I started I was renting an airbm below our office which is super convenient for the commute yeah um for two nights to three days a week don't stop in he's wearing his pajamas yeah EXA my coffee work from the kitchen below theice but just as an example Eda director is doing the same thing she's in South Metro right now is where she lives so coming up for a couple days a week to you know make those initial Connections in the first few months it's been important was important for me until I figured out longer term how I could okay and you can rest assured of our support as you try to find housing uh you know whatever you need but uh fortunately there are a few opportunities that are opening up this spring weren't there before 51 units up on the top of the hill has got a great view of Lake Superior okay but U no the the community has invested in in helping you find um some accommodations that'll work okay yeah I would add more back to your first first part of that question but stop me if I'm out of line here but there's just speaking generic how about you or this position is that there is a syndrome in Cook County of people pretty much everybody wants to live here Ian everybody we talk to every tourist says i' love to live but I mean it you know don't but there is sort of a it's part of the local culture that when people make that move there're sort of a we'll see you know and and it's a good reason because people do come and they're here for a while and they go U because it's you know it's the reality is reality and that you know being on vacation is one thing living and working in place is another thing um that might be part of it but I just I want to speak more to sort of the culture and the community at that there's a I think it's partly a Scandinavian tradition to maybe reserved I don't know but U there's definitely that that culture here so just so you're aware of that people want to see it they want to see I know I do have friends here who send me listings you know and I feel like anytime I am like H that's not really what we're looking for that I can feel them being like oh really yeah are you sure you're serious then that's the other thing that people who are shopping for real estate and are like well we looking for a pink bathroom [Laughter] and yeah well try picking out land with somebody who works in land acquisition very pick well that's going to be hard to do this and this and this but yes I I totally I think just just following on my earlier comments I think it's important that the dynamic between the Ed and the board is one where you know once we're decided you know I think our our job is to really be it's kind of a catalytic role how can we help you you be more effective and so you know in terms of you know hard and fast rules about by and large you know if you come forward with a well thought plan and and the headline is my Effectiveness is going to be you is not compromised but but here's some changes in then you know Bo is going to be supportive so great that's comforting thank you I think I'll stop asking questions but I appreciate all of your um thoughtful answers for sure that's really helpful than county is with the bathroom is pink it's whether it's in the house yeah I'm comfortable with that yeah could still be P so um Sher gaer maybe you want to take a minute to talk about next steps regarding the position yeah next steps uh we will try to focus in on what uh what the candidate that's going to meet our needs the best and uh then also check references I I hope you brought some references with you yeah I'll send you the email right after this I know that was issue for you and we respect that but they're busy you know we'll be doing that and and running a background check a pretty straightforward background check and and uh then staying in touch and and try to we'll try to negotiate a fair agreement with whoever it is and um uh we need to get moving so that's action that's word number one of our values here so we mean it yeah I think you're setting records in terms of how quick a Ed search like your turnaround is remarkable so my hopefully you get what you need out of it yeah but we do appreciate the fact you put yourself forward the second time and uh why not then U here you are so thank you yeah of course thanks for having me again thank you so much app us appreciate all your questions yeah and uh have a good day I'm staying here tonight I was telling an I got here and the snow started so