##VIDEO ID:-X7oQ7iLGAg## good morning and welcome to everyone I'd like to welcome you to the Cook County Board of Commissioners regular meeting today Tuesday December thir and if we'd please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all so as we move forward are there any adjustments or changes to the agenda yes Madam chair St thank you yesterday afternoon I received um from the arrowhead County Association a legislative priority ballot and so if we could put that on the agenda sometime at your discretion um and I'll discuss it and and go over it later then sure um let's put that on after the disposition of County owned land so it would become our new item five okay thank you are there any other additions or changes to the agenda Madam chair I'd make motion to approve the agenda as amended thank you commissioner Mills is there a support support thank you commissioner Johnson we have a motion and a support to approve our amended agenda any discussion all in favor I I oppos motion carries we'll move on now to our public comment period this is an opportunity for members of the public to speak to the board when invited to speak please note the following guidelines speak into the microphone for clarity sign the public comment sheet and state your name address and the topic you're addressing this morning and you can speak respectfully for up to 5 minutes public comments res reserve for the board to hear views it's not a time for debate or discussion and at the board's discretion we can agree to schedule matters addressed at public clim at a current or future board agenda and if uh there are any members of the public who wish to speak please come forward to the microphone good morning good morning Arvest Thompson um 1455 counting Road 14 um a couple things I want to talk about today one of them happens to be on your agenda is it's the uh job description of the new um County Administrator but I'm going to start with um statistics are great tools you can make them say whatever you want to prove your point for instance the school referendum some would like to say there was an overwhelming yes uh reality 54% said yes and 46% said no that's a lot of folks don't believe in this million dooll expansion that's not education the commissioner rised the same 41 to 456 45 votes too close to think that there's a clear message in fact it's so close there is a reality here for all of us that is there are as many people who think we need a change that someone else needs to take a new look at County Government as there are who are willing to accept the status quo are any of you willing to hear what people want to say something you keep telling us you also want but provide almost no opportunity five minutes twice a month hardly counts I'd like to comment on the letter to the Commissioners from former County Administrator jerky in accepting his resignation a simple thank you was not enough this person was placed on a pedestal for doing a well paid for job no more and then you may ask was the job really being done as the Commissioners intended or did that get lost somewhere there is a proposed job description from August 2024 now I don't know how that relates to the one that you're looking at today but this is where I'm coming from there are some pretty blatant conflicts in what that job description says in relation to this statement that jerky made and you can find that um check it out on social media and the November 22nd News Herald article that's the long way home he says I didn't go to the county board meeting today because there has been too much negativity and pettiness in recent County board meetings he goes on to criticize his bosses you the Commissioners and us the public as ignorant and malicious the conflict comes in the knowledge skills and ability section of the job description it lists the the ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with others like his employers and the ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing and have strong positive Public Relation skills there are more skills and abilities listed which we won't go into right right now but you can digest them yourself just get a copy of that unapproved job description and perhaps we know why that one in August remains unapproved remember this is a person who could do no wrong from the pedestal he operated on now specifically to his letter the one good suggestion that he made has been disregarded that is to step back and see what if any changes could be made to improve the way the organization works there is a lot of back pading and look what I have done in that letter and don't stop there because the real heart of the message is in the criticism of you his bosses our elected Commissioners if this form of government is so sex so successful why all the criticism of you aren't you insulted I know I am for you what don't you see your don't you want to see you practically gave him a gold crown and this is how he gets the final negative word in you are accused of theatrics let's see what's more theatrical than putting your head in the sand because there has been too much negativity and pettiness in recent County board meetings he calls a professional administrator what's professional about running from a board meeting and telling people about it what sets the worst tone is the last paragraph calling this a dog fight a terrible way very nonprofessional to refer to this process this is not a fight it's a welcome opportunity to rethink explore and evaluate the effectiveness and commitment each of you has made to the public who have entrusted you with our County will you look into who and what you are ask where am I going what is motivating me and remember who you work for now the reality if you pursue County Administrator what happens if there is no no one acceptable from this candidate pool are you ready to tell DDA no or have you put all of us in such a position you feel you must take the best of the unacceptable just one more minute that's been done before and the result was not great please slow down this race to what end it is too costly both dollars and cents and the negative outcome for the county thank you are there any other members of the public that wish to speak this morning are there any Commissioners that have received comments to read all right we'll CL close the uh public comment period at this time and move forward to our consent and um there is an item I would would like to pull which is Item B the minutes are there any other items Commissioners would like to pull so is there motion to approve the consent agenda as amended uh so move mam chair thank you commissioner Ms is there support support thank you commissioner Starley we have a motion and support any further discussion or questions all in favor I I osed motion carries commissioner um will you please list what we just what we just agreed to on the consent agenda please so we agreed to claims the resignation of Kurt labota and the L newspaper bids for 2025 the item that was pulled that I'd like to just discuss briefly is just a correction in the minutes um that need to be made related to the pay table and to the motion that I made at our last board meeting I made a motion to um adjust the salary or excuse me the um grade to 270 for the County Administrator with a spread of 7% between the upper grades and so I have sent that to Janna her computer was up um updating and so we weren't able to get it changed but I just wanted to uh make note of that any questions about that all right we will move on and at this point move on to item four which is disposition of County owned land to the Cook County HRA so last week at our board meeting I in my commissioner updates alerted you that there was a situation that came up very very quickly related to um an opportunity that the HRA had to make an application to the IB on behalf of Hamilton habitat for potentially some County owned land and we would need if um all goes appropriately to pass a resolution at our next December meeting on December 17th to basically um make a disposition of land to the HRA for the purpose of Hamilton Habitat to build some single family homes this would require a subdivision of parcel that we have and I've included maps for you the parcel report the Wetland delineation and in fact right now uh Charlie trowal is working on a new survey of the property um but I'm just wondering Anna Hamilton is here to answer any questions that the board may have about this um so is there any questions that you have any discussion that you would like to have prior to December 17th Jason hail is going to be with Anna um there is a meeting with the I this Friday and so we'll know much more after that but I just want to make sure that if there are any questions board members have Anna is here to address them commissioner Mills thank you madam chair um and thank you for your work and and um ongoing work and past work as well um I have concerns about um conveying public land to private hands and we know housing is a huge issue we've also made incredible strides towards that issue and um the ramifications are yet to be seen um because of our land scarcity I see single family homes as a much less uh bang for buuck option and I know there's a lot of wetlands there um and so it may not be feasible to have uh multif family homes um but one of my concerns is also if it were to be a single family home just how much family could be in that versus an individual um and so for some other projects um I know they're smaller and some are larger and so I just wondering if you had a clear plan yet as and I know this is really fast turnover for the grant and all that but if you had a clear plan about how many bedrooms there would be um and it looks like there's six potential there um but just wanted to learn more about that and just for your reference too there have been other uh ideas I wouldn't say plans necessarily for this land it largely around Recreation so one could argue it's not a highest priority as housing at this point um but it is kind of part of that whole school Community Center campus um and so there's there's that in the back of my mind too so but I don't know how far along the housing plans are Anna if you could come up to the mic and while Anna is coming up I can address some of the comments that you shared commissioner um there were other discussions about that particular property um long ago expansion of the ball fields um a discussion about dis golf being in the area and we do believe there still would be enough Land north of the ball field to put in dis golf but that really is part of the Sawtooth bluff's master plan um and in speaking to some of the members of that dis Golf Group they feel that is probably a better it for it um but anyway um Anna is here and graciously came to respond to questions so um we'll turn it over to Anna okay well I think your question was about what my plan is it doesn't have to be super specific but just are they multi-bedroom or single bedroom well bedroom and a half okay yep yeah so just yeah um I'm just trying to think of the the landscap scarcity and and I know infrastructure is a huge barrier for getting anything done specifically there specifically at this site or that's the only reason the I RB is even involved we're talking big bucks sewers down on Fifth so yeah big bucks for the infrastructure yeah kind of what my and and shame on me for not being more involved in H going on it's um often a I can watch the videos I I I guess that shouldn't be an excuse at all um I'm just wondering about so north of there right cre is the Blackwell Edition and there's all kinds of parcels right and so when we're doing infastructure going up there can really service a larger area as we go west of town or even that school trust land which is also wet and shame on me for not knowing how wet and where that all out I'm just wondering if there are areas that we can bring infrastructure use ITR uh money bring infrastructure to and have like a larger plat for either more homes or multif family homes or both and I just am not aware enough of the H and it's not on you to know either but of the H's plans for that type of strategy so I don't know what the HRA plans are at all yeah I just know that yes land is scarce that's my biggest problem that's my biggest hurdle um and to back up a minute I have just done I'm I'm currently working on two two-bedroom homes nice last year I did two two-bedroom homes nice um the people that I work with that are in most need of homes are not families right now I mean there are families that need homes don't misunderstand me but I'm trying to build affordable and um it's hard to do when you're spending a million dollars on infrastructure yeah and land if you're lucky enough to get it in regards to that area I'm very familiar with that area at one time I had an offer on the school property which was 38 acres um probably 3/4 wet land oh you know that was years ago um but I do know that strip of land along the Gunflint Trail I made multiple offers on Eda Parcels they were all turned down at the time because they were not Eda was not into building housing is for economic development so I'm I do know most of those Parcels around there okay and there's been hurdles in all of them regardless of whether it's between myself and the city myself and the Eda it doesn't really matter um this piece of land is the only piece of land that I see in the city that I could get multiple homes on at one time it would be an efficient way to build um everybody could stay on site until six homes if that's how that works out were built um my plan is to have six homes all the same um it would be a little village if you will and there are plenty of single people if not couples that are in need of these homes I have a list to prove it I could knock six people off my list and you know if there's a better use for it that's entirely up to you I just know what my intentions are and and why you know Jason had brought this land up to me 6 months ago or something and um and then when I found out he was leaving all of a sudden I panicked which was like a week ago week and a half ago and I just said hey before you leave could you please you know get a word in for me and that's where we're at and I just met with the it RB as well about a week and a half ago and so all this is happening really fast um yeah thank you I'm not against it I'm just trying to B for bucket right and again I appreciate the background on the school trust land I'm also curious west of town and again it's not on you to figure that out or know that I'm just trying to strategize public land sure versus um because once it's private it's private right versus all of ours to manage and kind of being part of that campus um I guess I took for granted um so I'm not against this I just have I get reactions and concerns and I'll keep processing and I'll certainly reach out if I have more questions or ideas or whatever to you in know where to find you I'll try to keep my Mr White you have questions um Miss Sullivan Would You suan Hamilton sorry wrong way that didn't turn fast enough um would you please explain because I would imagine there might be some people in the county that does not know about about the project that you have built the philosophy behind it and I mean why is it multiunit construction is one thing but the the goal is something else but if you in your words could be better exp of course you can better explain what you've done and generically who is residing or have purchased the homes that have been built Hamilton habitat this began in 2020 and um that's when we became a nonprofit We actually built our first house prior to that in cville because that was a lot that was available we just jumped on it and um we've built I'm working on my ninth home in those four years and I feel pretty good about that who am I focusing on and who's in the homes right now are the workingclass people of this County that keep this County moving people that can afford our real estate and um a lot of them are pushed out and they're a you know they're they're forced to leave the county whether they have children or not um there's a big demand for people with children as well I just I can't you know I'm only what I am and so we work 100% off at donations and we build at Cost I am fortunate enough to work at the local lumber yard where they partnered with us and they give every all our materials to us at cost which is partially why I'm able to do what I do the frustration is that we're only we can only build so many houses a year you know there's it can only happen so fast so we've been able to do two a year so far and um math doesn't quite work out that way but doesn't matter um we're on our ninth home and both of these homes will be sold at cost they all of our homes are deed restricted they cannot be rented in any capacity and to keep them from flipping the home because te technically the minute they get into their home they have a lot of equity Equity is part of my goal um I appreciate apartment living I appreciate appreciate Northstar I appreciate all the different forms of housing however um typically the working stiff only has equity if they're fortunate enough to own a home that's their what they have and that's what I want them to have I think they deserve a piece of this pie that we are also fortunate to have and that's what I'm working on I guess can you talk more about the the flipping restrictions like is that in perpetuity well because I don't want to restrict the land and I want them to own the land unlike Northstar projects I our very first home prior to becoming a nonprofit we sold it was a little itty bitty house in cville and um they moved after a year and a half and they had $100,000 wor of equity instantly based on our Market our real estate market off of your work yeah yeah you know we sold it to them for $110,000 and they sold it for $219 and that hurt so the de the additional deed restriction is that if they were to sell their home in the first 5 years of purchase they have to split the equity with Hamilton habitat and we hope that's a deterrent I don't know if that answers your question or not are there ways to do it in perpetuity I don't even know what that word means forever there is cuz after 5 years they could flip it and then we're back where we are kind of that's that's what I like about the land trust model is it is for a hundred years and and I'm not interested in that yeah and I'm wondering like I know it's a restriction but it also is a protection mhm um and and so I'm trying to think long term uh or else just in five years if it flips we're back to where we are now and so that's one of the things I'm I'm trying to get a better handle on right now our multif family projects are private right and so they have we're going to be in a similar situation in 15 years or whatever as we are with uh grar or birwood or you know those and I'm I'm really hoping and looking for something that's a much longer term solution and it's again this is not all on you like this is not your problem uh to solve and I appreciate all the work that you are doing towards solving it um but I'm just trying to strategize a longer term solution and and figuring out all all the things we can do and um in your absolutely right we need all types of housing not just for families but for individuals or couples and and and it's 100% accurate so I'm appreciative of the housing that you do provide commissioner white commissioner Mills so present yes you are and so so we have these other developments privately owned there is no do we have caps on the amount of of rent that can be uh the the there are no rental caps on these units so so what is the the cost for on the um up on Gunflint Trail the view the Harbor View one not that's not the name of it Gunflint view gun Flint view um what's the cost for a do you know what the cost of maybe Molly does for a efficiency is uh nope I don't I don't have that committed to me do we have the range so there's no guarantee that in one year two years 5 years those rents will will not Skyrocket there there's no guarantee on that what H Hamilton habitat does is give housing ownership ownership which is a hugee thing in in for a community is for as community members to have skin in the game they own this there's a pride it's there's studies been done about all of this and so to provide housing the American dream we own our house we take care of our house and this is where we live in in and work in this community so it is a I think it would be great if we could have all sorts of houses like this as opposed to apartment living though I not opposed to the apartments I understand the value of that at this point in time but it is not incumbent on Hamilton Habitat to solve the housing issues of Cook County and you have stated that so I just want to just applaud the efforts that have gone into this and this piece of property we were looking at it's pretty much Wetlands it's it's a it's going to cost a lot of money to get it so it is a lot of Permitting uh mitigation um I don't know how much fill you're going to need maybe if they build the second Apartments they can second unit um at the gun Gunflint view they'll have to blast a whole lot more for the next one and they'll be free fill there too so um it's not something that happens overnight and and uh Hamilton habitat has persevered through some pretty you started this before you were a nonprofit right you were out there so um I'm not concerned about I'm not going to tell them how to set up their business structure we have an opportunity to assist a nonprofit as it is to help us with their housing crisis one of the things I'd like to point out just for not only um Commissioners but for the public is that attached to the board packet is um the housing analysis that was done for the Eda back in 20122 indicating that we do need multiple types of Housing and um then in addition to that is a copy of the Strategic plan for the HRA and that identifies that we need um um a number of tiny houses Cottage Courtyards um and the project that Hamilton habitat has in mind for this parcel really fits the Strategic plan and where they are in the HRA at this point in time I know commissioner Johnson is part of the HRA she is our primary representative and is there any remark you'd like to share or any thoughts you have yeah I agree thank you so much for being proactive here and trying to get this done before Jason leaves because this has been talked about more than once how can we we need all kinds of H housing in Cook County and I really applaud your efforts to make sure that the people that really work here stay here and have something have a place that they can call their own we I pushed for those apartment buildings when I first joined the ah because that was the quickest way to solve a problem but that's not the only thing we need we need to have a place for people to say I don't want to live an apartment forever I don't want my rent going to some company from out of the county I want to invest in my own house and have my own place and unfortunately with the reality of housing prices right now that's not an option for most people that are working the day-to-day jobs in Co County amen that we need so thank you for providing that opportunity to them I fully support I think this is an excellent location for six small homes and the fact that we're going to have that path going by on the upper side for a walking path I think it makes sense that it's on the lower side of a truck route instead of on the other side of a truck route so right thank you thank you I fully support this Anna a question I have is I know you've engaged Charlie tral to work on the plat that's a requirement that the City of Grand marray has since the county owns that parcel within the city limits um what is Charlie's timeline and um can you update us on that work well again I um this has been a week and a half and um I was hoping he could get something put together right away just so I had something to show people to present to you but as of yesterday he said that was impossible but by the December 17th meeting he will have something you know just Bey on paper um the wetlands is a hurdle it's 2third of the property um so to work around those is going to be interesting but he will have a map for me by then you know that's very helpful commissioner stle any questions or comments you have um thank you Anna for this I really appreciate your forging ahead and understanding what's going to be needed in the county and um like you say it's been a week and a half you know you'll put your things together with the help of other people and i r and I just wish you good luck in this because I really support what you're doing thank you any other questions for an commissioner M I feel a little misunderstood and I want to make sure people are understanding my concerns um I I um I'm very grateful for the work that Hamilton habitat has done um and continues to do and and wanted to support it um you know I am trying to again uh bang for buck what we can do with the limited land we have um and The Limited dollars we have have and so again I'm not against this project by any means um I have concerns and there's some conflicts but what I'm wondering is the broader the broader plan for the HRA and there are um a large number of parcels west of town and there are a number of parcels on the wrong side of the of the truck route which you've looked at before um that I think might have a better bang for bucks so I just want to make sure we're not shooting ourselves in the foot um I I agree that this can be an excellent location for six small homes and and that on this side of the road makes more sense um I I and I I also want to express the concern about just the campus um idea for for our school and and Community Center so um I'm not I feel like uh it was interpreted as hypercritical and I I want to make sure that's that's not the case I still have concerns and I still want to learn about our other options and if we're if we are getting ITB money is this the best way and so I understand you're not being negative I I didn't hear that um what I understand you're you to say is that aside from the school campus thing is that you would like the land to retain to remain affordable how do we keep that affordable how do we keep that out of the whatever's going on right now which is crazy but um and I appreciate that I'm just not a land trust fan I'm just telling you I'm just not Jason had hoped he could be here he had two other meetings he was unable to reschedule so commissioner Mills I think one thing is if you can connect with Jason to talk about those other Parcels that would probably um provide you with the information that you need yeah I'm not saying that apartments are where people should Live Forever by any means those are some stepping stones to get in get a foot in the door sort of thing and and again whenever you're renting you're just throwing money to the to the property owner um and that's not building equity and and I I I recognize that's an a problem um it's it's not necessarily investing in our community um and so I've talked with Jason about longer term Solutions how do we do this can we have public housing so that we can make sure that people aren't forced out in renstone Skyrocket or or we can really assist people and I'm just my fear is that after five years it can just go back to the market and um and then what do we got so I'm not concerned about um the cost of the land if we are to convey it um that's that's not the rub it's just kind of that longer term plan and control and I understand you're not a fan of the land trust model it's it's just I'm looking for the longer longest term solution we can find and maybe this is um what we got right now and and that's how it's going to be so um but I'll I'll connect with Jason again he when I when I talked to him about that idea of public housing or that longer term model he he says yes but we're not our organization is not built for that right now who's going to manage that who's going to operate it um and so from his perspective we have to make these types of steps to get developers on board to be able to build and then at some point when we have uh more projects under our belt we'll be able to handle more of that public side of things to to Really assist uh our community more but step by step and thank you for your work thank you commissioner white did you have a question well it doesn't I don't recall this type of um Soul wrenching over other community developers or outside develop velers that were presented to do these different construction models and part of the Comm part of the school campus you got the kids can walk to school and after five years I mean if kids any families live in there well one it'll be the household that everyone hangs out in because they can walk there but two um we're not assuming when somebody gets they're they're fortunate enough to build a have a house and build a home they're often not in a hurry like to sell it to make more money because it with the current rise in real estate prices they would not be able to afford what's out there anyway you know so um I and I and with the school I believe if the school has its concerns then the school should also be at the table and I really doubt though I cannot speak for the school as an entity that um I I don't I don't believe the school has any ideas to do an expansion in that area because of wetlands I mean Wetlands it's a huge huge cost and they have other other items that take priorities So yeah thank thank you any other questions for Anna thank you so much for coming this morning and sharing information and we'll look forward to seeing you on December 17th thank you very much all right take care have a good day we'll move on now to item four which is uh commissioner stolle's opportunity to talk a little bit about some legislative priorities for the ACA yes thank you so um the association um County Association that I attend to um we do have legislative priorities also and we're represented down at the legislative session by John araro he's there for about five months when the session's going and then he kind of keeps in touch with what's happening so you see the amount of counties that are involved here and um so commissioner Mills this is a rank choice you really like that idea so here we are with this one anyway not with the general election true basically you know pilt we know what pilt is and um we had discussed the U ramifications of what happens um in regards to the next phase about um the Lakes Shore study and when that's going to be completed so that's a concern there for folks the blight is um in um several counties they are having um problems with um maybe farmsteads that fall down um places that are not tended to and uh cities that have to take care of um actually removing um items and um the Woody um biomass really is in regards to um uh the forest service going in and removing the dead trees the things that are being invaded by different species and leaving the good trees stand because if you don't clear out what's happening with the dead stuff you're subject to fires and so forth so we felt that um or I felt that on the top part of the primary uh the PRI priorities um two of them really don't apply to us but we wanted to put that in there for the folks who do um have a concern about this and then the secondary priorities are the housing child care and Emergency Medical Services so um if you just take a moment or two to rank them um one being the highest priority that you feel for Cook County and the third three being the lowest and then uh if you just pass the papers to me I'll get the final total to U Barb casy who is our secretary uh for the 17th um or no for The Return by the 17th [Applause] when we go down for the legislative sessions um I do um meet with John angaro and other legislators we have a dinner one of the nights that were there and so these these issues will be brought up there also because we had a good attendance last year Senator hild representative Raa and um we had a full house at our dinner but who wouldn't want to go to dinner and uh meet with County Commissioners so thank you on all of this I'll put it all together and get it off all right thank you so much we appreciate it all right we'll move on at this time to our next item on our agenda and we thank uh engineer Hass for waiting oh we have two people coming for I'm at so we have two items that'll be addressing a contract and authorization to purchase good morning good morning morning uh first thing uh is our tofy Park Road Improvement project and so we've talked about that over the last couple of years yep commissioner story uh this has been in the work for a while it was actually supposed to go last year but because of all actually all the positive engagement we had in the community we really wanted to make sure we incorporated those changes the best we could to really make the project not something that I came up with but something that the homeowners and the land owners and the the town of tofy really got to make their own and so that's the result we ended up with um you can see in in the bid abstract there um our bids actually all of them came in under what our Engineers estimate was but within reasonable range so I'm very very confident in the price which is great um you can see our estimate was about $836,000 and our low bid is kgm contractors at just over $777,000 uh so funding for this comes from the Transportation sales tax fund if you remember that that was the uh half cent tax that got passed in 2018 somewhere in that range has a whole list of projects this is one of them uh great use of the funds uh anybody have any questions if there are no questions is there a motion Madam chair I'll make a motion to approve this contract to do the tofy Park Road Improvement support we have a motion quick support any further questions or discussions all in favor hi hi hi opposed motion carries thank you very much thank you and now moving on to authorization to purchase a GMC Sierra 2500 Matt good morning Commissioners um yeah this is a budgeted item um in 25 and the reason I'm coming to you now is because uh order Windows have been very difficult to track with almost every auto manufacturer and so even years ago we were trying to replace one and uh they just said no you can't order one right now and uh I said well when could I order one and they said we don't know but we'll let you know and we never heard anything else so it's been very difficult to track uh when we can order a truck off State bid one of those windows has opened up um we kind of stumbled into it and so this is a budgeted purchase the money wouldn't be expended until 25 um but we just got to get that order in while it's it's available and as you see there is a certainly a financial implication um even over the last couple years there's been a huge increase uh in the cost even on state bid which is the absolute cheapest we can get unless we started shopping on Marketplace so um uh yeah that's if anybody has any questions I can try to answer any questions or comments commissioner Johnson I know because I know this is going to be asked by the public what kind of truck and what kind of options are on this truck yeah uh still still kind of hammering out exactly what the what the options are but it's a GMC very similar to the one that um that you see driving around now uh the options are fairly standard and um it's a uh 3/4 ton so the reason we do 3/4 ton rather than half ton is just because of the uh utility that a a maintenance vehicle needs to supply needs to be able to tow uh and um and our shop has given the seal of approval on a three4 over a half time other questions commissioner white you should say it's a four-wheel drive and you have cloth interior four-wheel drive cloth you have a radio and a radio you're good and headlights oh well heated steering wheel honestly we we are trying to parse out what is come standard and what we can actually extract for even a couple hundred doll savings okay those are becoming more and more standard however any other questions commissioner starl um well I appreciate um what you've looked into and kept at this the only thing is I wish we could do that with our vehicles and only get what we want like a steering wheel and four wheels you know because we're getting so much stuff on our vehicles these days so I'm glad you can be a little more choosy with what you want on the truck commissioner white do does our Highway Department have the machines to check the um the computers I mean we have all of that technology so we can try to figure out what's wrong when the lights are flashing or not flashing yeah one of the reasons we stick with the same manufacturer is all the you know uh we can try to optimize the tooling we have for each each different you know whether it be Mac for our trucks or GMC for our passenger vehicles okay other questions if not I'd entertain a motion so move Madam chair thank you commissioner Mills is there support I'll support thank you commissioner white we have a motion and support any additional discussion all in favor I I opposed motion carries thank you look forward to that new truck yeah maybe by 2028 it'll yeah we won't hold our breath all right we'll move on to our next item Land Services and we have Tim Nelson and Neva Maxwell with us this morning good morning and thank you for waiting good morning morning so the first item I have for you is a revisit to an item that was on your November 12th agenda so this was the new telecommunications Tower proposed by vertical bridge and Schroeder after well during your November 12th meeting there was some discussion about technical questions and you guys voted to remand it back to the Planning Commission which was the next day and in between that time the applicant provided some additional technical details that are in your packet today as addendum 3 and then addendum 4 and so addendum 3 is providing clarification about shadowing detail and interference and the applicant has provided information that indicates that um the the tower alternative location discussion really isn't feasible although we can look on a map and think well just nudge it a little bit over to Sugarloaf Road and you can you know use existing infrastructure the applicant clarifies that you're just increasing that Gap from the existing cell tower in Lake County so you're not actually closing a gap you're just shifting a gap further so um they provided that information about kind of the character and uh locality of that Kramer Road and Sugarloaf Road area so those really don't work for the area that they're looking to cover also what we received additional information on is information from schroer Township itself and EMS officials so they reached out to my myself as well as some Planning Commission members and said hey we really want this Tower and so that was great to hear because I didn't hear that during that first public hearing portion of things so it kind of bumped up the prioritization of this Tower really to indicate that it is a a public safety need for the community there and very highly supported um so what I've done in this packet excuse me is provide some of these details in that summary I also provided revised findings so the version of the findings that I have in your November 12th packet um these have been adjusted a little bit to indicate some of those characteristics that we provided additional information on um and then we had questions about the Heights and the applicant provided more information also that um hey this height is really due to collocation if we just wanted this Tower to service one carrier being T-Mobile it could be a shorter Tower but because we in Cook County do prioritize collocation and efficient use of our utilities uh that's why that additional height is needed so um the plan commission during that discussion really indicated that they felt that this application was satisfactory it was meeting the ordinances of the tower ordinance and the zoning ordinance and they unanimously voted for approval which was different than the first time the first discussion it was a 5 to one vote with one opposition so after that further discussion the Planning Commission fully supported recommendation of this with the four conditions attached with the findings that I have before you today are there any questions for Nea commissioner I'm not quite understanding the shadowing part of it could you explain that a little bit more mhm yes so they talk about shadowing uh being the characteristic when you have trees and you know why you lose service going through a tunnel is is the most intense version of that we drop calls in the middle of a tunnel because the waves can't get through that rock the same thing can kind of happen to a certain degree of the trees when you have the towers a little closer together they can kind of help each other and assist to close that shadowing interference issue thank you so the more you make Towers further from each other the more that that's impactful to your to your service thank you other questions commissioner Starling thank you madam chair so since this uh came before the Planning Commission once and then came to us and went back to the Planning Commission I've had some conversations with folks in the West End and um I really wanted to see perhaps more of um the inclusive folks who live up the Kramer Road to be a part of this too and I hadn't even thought about um going further west but um and since that's not possible since I believe um this was looked into for land and so forth um I've come to the conclusion that you know safety is really important especially when I hear that some of our EMTs have to use their phone when they go out to um uh make a call and so that's not good at all the other thing that's interesting is and um maybe our interim administrator could help me understand this but um this isn't the first time that private people have been asked to put a tower on their land I've received a couple of phone calls from other folks who um there are people out there searching companies are out there searching where to put Towers so am I right in that that this is kind of a trend that's maybe starting now rather than coming to the county to say this is we're looking into Cook County 4 xyd Tower yeah it's both I cook county has a good relationship with Partners throughout the state and private companies AT&T T-Mobile Verizon they're in those meetings as they're continue to push into the Public Safety Arena and as it becomes more dependent uh on cell service wireless Broadband is a is a huge component for the Statewide emergency communications board and and DPS Department of Public Safety so that's that's there the reaching out to private property owners has been going on for a very long time um and you know in in Cook County the tower ordinance has been crafted in a way that tries to emphasize Co and reduce the reduce the number of towers that kind of proliferate throughout the county and try to consolidate it to collocation on individual towers and then if you're not able to collocate on an individual Tower we're asking you that you collocate within a tower district to minimize the the impact to the view shed um but in relation to this project I mean they they looked at all of those components and found that you know either C locating on an existing Tower or within a tower district was not something that they could do and provide the coverage for the area that they're wanting to provide okay thank you you always become aware of something when it sort of blinks at you and it's never been discussed before it's like who wait a minute what's happening now and you know to the point of if this is going to continue with private land owners being asked then when we approve something I think we should be aware of there is perhaps a trend happening and how do we handle one situation and not in the future four five or six so um there has been um a couple of parties who have been um approached by um Tower companies further up the Kramer Road so um but they're not interested so you know they can certainly refuse it for sure and I like the idea that it's gone up a little bit higher so that a couple more carriers could be on there too so that makes sense so thank you for all of this information and for the work that you did too thank you other questions or comments if not I'd entertain a motion Madam chair I'll make a motion to approve the vertical Bridge conditional use permit thank you so much commissioner storle is there a support support thank you commissioner Johnson we have a motion and support any addition discussion all in favor I I opposed motion carries thank you very much for all your time and effort in this I appreciate it thank you so much we'll move on to Item B which is the Woodland Foothills first edition preliminary and final plat thank you so this is the like you said the preliminary and final plot application this is the first edition of the Woodland Foo plat this will create five new residential lots that will have a space for a 1200t house and a 30x30 parking area on each lot this will complete the buildout of the Woodland foot hills plat itself this was first reviewed and the public hearing was held on October 13th of the Planning Commission which was unted to allow some time for some very minor plat modifications the County Recorder former County recor Dusty Nelms and the County Surveyor completed their technical review and provided those comments that were taken into consideration and then at the November 13th Planning Commission is when this was uh heard again and the Planning Commission unanimously voted approval of both the preliminary and the final plat and I'd like to just um remark that there was um a review by Mitch erson of the current septic and it is absolutely fine and has the capacity to add these additional properties any other questions neighbor or comments mam chair thank you I just like to make a comment about this little um area that is really being developed I remember years ago it was just a tiny little road well it's still a tiny little road going back up in there with one little house and um but there was potential so now we're reaching the potential and I don't know how much more could be developed is there more potential in this area my understanding is that this is the intent of the developers is just to complete these five lots and then they'll be done with the buildout okay okay all right well it's a nice little community and every once in a while I go visit a friend and they're just um they're just really happy that it's um like their own little Community there which is kind of the goal of developing areas that we just talked about previously absolutely there's no other questions or comments i' entertain a motion so move maner thank you commissioner Mills is there support support we have a motion and support any additional discussion or comments all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously thank you both very much thank you you all right we'll move on to our next item human resources and we see that we have Allison plumber with us this morning thank you so much Alison for being with us good morning morning morning all right the one agenda item I have for you all today um this is kind of stemming off the uh recent board action of uh modifying updating our uh pay table structure um but I bring forth to you our revised updated County administrator job dis uh job description excuse me um that went through the job description review process with DDA and is ready to uh be brought to you all uh for final review and approval um also requesting um with the revised job description a change in the job grade uh as determined by DDA that it uh is applicable to Move It from a current 260 to a 270 now that that is represented in our pay table any questions for Allison commissioner Johnson yes um I kind of feel like we are putting the cart before the horse here we just recently had all of us sat down with DDA to talk about what are we looking for in an administrator what are the qualities what are the what do we need and I haven't seen that yet so it just seems to me that I kind of need to have that information to know whether or not this really is the job description for our next administrator I would prefer to have this discussion about what do we need after we've got all the information that we asked everybody for can I just add that um I think that that's a great point but they're two very different things so the qualities that we are looking for in a person is what we see through the application and interview process how they would fit um this is what are the actual duties of the job regardless of the qualities of the individual that we're looking for so these are these are the duties that former administrator Yorkie did in order to keep the organization running regardless of what he was like as a person and those qualities that he brought to the position and I agree there there's a difference there but I gave concrete what I think our next administrator should do what should be some of the um roles that should be taken on and um we haven't discussed that as a board I shared my opinion um the DDA rep said ooh that's kind of a theme I got that answer more than once and so the fact that we haven't decided what we wanted or talked about what we wanted haven't we asked the um employees through the union reps what they wanted and I don't know what that answer is I did ask him can I see that and I can't yet um I think it's really important before we say what put out a job description that we all have a discussion about what do we want our next administrator to do um looking at some job descriptions from other counties there's a variety of things we could be asking for and um there are some things that I think are we missed in our last administrator that maybe we want to consider changing the role for where we are today so I I just can't support gree to this today commissioner stle yes my understanding was after all of us met with Pat um that we'll get feedback from him in terms of areas that we feel are important in uh in um the position description so we haven't received that so I don't know if I really am looking forward to that context as well but again what I understand is there's going to be a a look at what are the qualities of the person that is totally separate from a job description none of our other job descriptions in our organization would we ever do this when we're in the process of hiring um we have a process for going through job descriptions we've been doing it the last three years commissioner Johnson commissioner Sullivan respectfully will point out that we are the boss we get to decide what that next administrator's role is and what their duties are which is laid out in here and it's not about a personality thing it's about what do we want that next person to do and we get to make that decision and we have to get input from our staff we need to talk to each other about do we all agree on what we want in our next administrator I came up with a couple ideas that I mentioned during my interview of skills and areas that I think the next administrator should be we should consider and I thought during that interview process all that information would be gathered so we would have a document that says what are we looking for what do we what do we need and I just feel very uncomfortable putting something out there if we haven't had those discussions yet Ms yeah in my mind the job description is the quantitative aspect and the interview with Pat was the qualitative aspect and so the quantitative aspect I would think would be done in much like any other job description like the Personnel committee and I guess if there are if there's quantitative things that you've identified in other administrator other counties administrator's job description I'd be open to that I don't know if you have any examples of well yeah but um so I guess I was kind of picturing a community of the whole where we talk about we get the report from DDA we talk about how we interpret that report how do we move forward compare it to how do other counties um have their job description what's different and are there good things that we're missing that other counties are doing that maybe we should consider yeah and my review of other counties administrator positions I haven't found quantitative items that I thought should be included that are not in ours and so I have a hard time interpreting the qualitative aspects into quantitative and so that's why I'm just like looking for examples of what you're identifying well I noticed that in this job description we're asking for 10 years minimum of experience other cies um speci oh don't have that large of a um experience time frame good or bad I don't know but it also they have a list of minimums and then desires qualities we don't have that and one of the things that I pointed out in my interview was that I really feel that our next administrator needs to have experience in small um Municipal governments somehow small not big city government where you come and you there's lots of people to do the jobs but learning to work with departments that maybe have a small staff and there's a different Dynamic there I think that is important so that was one of the things that I pointed out as far as meeting but when we have qualifications and experience I'd like to see that we say hey if you have small government experience that's kind of a desired quality maybe it's not a requirement but I just that was one um and another one from another County here was um it specifically stated and I don't know maybe it's worded differently here but it was clear that uh the administrator assists in the hiring process for leadership positions and maybe that's in here and I like I said I it's very confusing to me but um I thought it was hey at least they put that out there in the job description that is a priority um so yeah these are are the things I thought we as a board were going to be talking about coming together and not just accepting the job description as written by our former administrator so are there items you would change in that job description like as I said when I went through it I didn't have any any suggestions or when I do read other counties and I'm open to saying small municipals into it um but it's you know I the substance of the job description I think is accurate and and what it should be um I'm very open to amending it and and adding um you know non-essential uh experience or desired experience or anything anything like that um but it's really not as I said like substantially enough different for me not to want to pass it um commissioner white I be what was the point of the DDA interviewing all of us if we not going to have that information to fully discuss what we all what we all felt I mean and I want to know from the department heads I'd like to know from employees how did how has administrative government worked for those that have worked under it for not just the last administrator but the one before and then there are even people that have been on staff before there were any administrators which was a long time ago but they're still here I think Brady's still here so um DDA was involved in the last time around in helping to find James yorki and so I believe at this point in time we we've had James had been our employee for four years four years correct and uh and now we've had the time to do an assessment um I we never did do an evaluation of the man in September of his job performance um but I believe this is premature why why can't we talk about what what DDA came up with from all of us from everyone what what are the things maybe there are the people that work under for the administrator who have different experiences than we as a board we are the administrator's boss so that Dynamic is different than him being the boss of everybody else in the organization so I'd like to hear from them what are we are we what we see on this side is it the same as what the employees see and I'd like to know that information cuz that would be valuable in in hiring the next person and knowing knowing what may or may not need to be changed and is what is the danger in not doing this today I mean it does we can still go forward um it pushes the time frame out by at least a month we can we can advertise what we currently have with we've done that with other positions before with an no this this is in a process of review I I'm I'm not saying we don't can't um still advertise we've done it for other positions this one is really important and it's really important we do not rush this process and we have good open discussion with all of the information informing us of what is the best path forward I don't feel it all rushed um it's again what we're getting from DDA that interview you were asking what is that for what's the point yeah that's for the qualitative aspects and so when we do the interviews when we get the videos when we go through and we as a board evaluate those candidates we look at the list just like that was provided for us from the past go around and see how those candidates fit within those qualities this is purely just the functions and the duties those quantitative so this is they're two different things and I I'm confused as to why that's confusing I'm I'm confused as to why we are in such a hurry to do this in that why we can't have a full board conversation about about everybody's opinions or how they responded to the questions from DDA how why do we have to do this we can go out and and advertise with the as in I mean basically it will be like this I would imagine but we need to have a full board discussion we are the we are the people that have been elected to provide oversight on the one one person and that's the administrator that's the one County employee that we are responsible for so I don't understand why we can't have more conver why we can't our it's beneficial for the public to know also as in why we're here to know what the values are or what the what we as a board and as employees have had as experiences and what they would what all of us here would like to see in the next administrator now we didn't actually skip over what about having a accounting manager what about having other forms we went straight to administrative so here we are but the wait wait we went through that you were part of that conversation oh yeah then it was like well then let we got to get started on this let's go to the administrative thing but you just said we didn't do that we had like three sentences we did not have a full discussion on what it excuse me and commissioner Sullivan said that then we would be responsible we as Commissioners would have a greater workload if we had we would be in charge of hiring and firing of department heads and and the Personnel matters right and and you were quick to say Well we I'm not qualified we shouldn't do that so we had this conversations for you to say that we didn't okay then I did I stand correctly thank you however it does not justify rushing this process at all and and the county the people in this County deserve to know uh we deserve to know what all of us think about the administrative form of government well I don't think that's what the interview was about the interview was about the well I guess I don't know what you guys shared but it was more about the qualities of the person and their leadership style and um not so much as what their duties are because that's more or less uh there's not a whole lot of differences as I was saying between what our just job description describes for duties um and functions compared to other couny administrators it's it's pretty well defined um and pretty as I said quantitative and so we will be discussing that it just I'm not sure how that affects the job description and I guess I would agree I see the job description and I stated this earlier as totally separate from the qualities that we're looking at the information that DDA has gathered which we will get and we'll have an opportunity as you mentioned to look at the videos to um think about those qualities and characteristics but that is not not the same as a job description I just want to also say I don't feel rushed at all um I feel like we don't want to um lag or drag our feet but you know this is the second time for me going through this the third time for commissioner storle I've been involved in hiring Eda directors twice the chb director um uh uh the Nemo jet director and so I've been it might just be a comfort issue with experience and so I I'm sorry if um it feels rushed but I feel like we're doing this methodically and um and and in a very systematic way um without skipping steps or um or you know cramming it I'm I'm just going through this um I don't see areas that we should you know like well we need this Duty in here or this Duty should not be in here but I am open to amending it if we want to specifically say small municipalities I think that's that's a good suggestion I'm also open to not having as much experience but I think that's really valuable and at the end of the day um when we do the hire if they have N9 years of experience we can make that call uh it doesn't have to be 10 there's always that flexibility when we're doing hiring and we've seen that in in other positions too just because of all the job market is so um commissioner what I would like to uh a little inside not that I'm uncomfortable with hiring somebody I've been involved in the search and hiring of two superintendents and three principles involved in all sorts of hurah at the school that we have not even had in this County building and so I am not afraid of iring someone evaluating somebody firing people if that's what needs to be done but there you don't rush I have no experience where these important decisions are rushed it's been a board decision as to what is needed what didn't work what do we need in the future it's not been this is a basic outline and now we have to try to do use our best we put it out there we get candidates and then we have full board discussions looking at the resumés looking at who we want to interview and then we interviewed and it wasn't it took maybe it took longer but it's it's how that's my experience my experience is I think I have some pretty strong experience with hiring administrative heads that's very valuable just where is the rush here like are there things in the job description that you would like change I think that we all need to sit down and go through this in in conjunction with the results from DDA what do we want and let's go through this let us all have a conversation as Commissioners let us talk about this and what's the what are the shortfalls we do not need to compare ourselves our our job description to other counties as we all are so proud to say Cook County is different we are we are different we we are different and and kind of better in some some respects but we are responsible for ourselves for our voters for our County and so I believe that we can go out how long do Allison how long do we expect it will take before DDA will get information cated and sent back to us uh I think on the time frame let me just reference it here I have it up December 10th December y so December 10th they were going to have uh by that date developed the position profile and the advertisement December 17th they would bring the profile um everything together um for final board approval before before they post it commissioner Johnson so I just want to respond to commissioner Mills obviously I'm the one on this board that has the least experience although I have had some experience in hiring and firing in the private setting but you're right I haven't had the experience here as much so I will acknowledge that um my lack of skills perhaps but I will also say that when I went into that interview and I shared the traits that I thought were important to have and what I would like to see our next administr administrator do I was not stopped by the interviewer saying oh no I only want to know your qualities he took into account my vision for what I how I would like the next administrator to work in this County um and so the fact that I'm inexperienced here and I wasn't stopped by the interviewer and I heard more than once that that kind of seems to be a theme makes me say I want to know if maybe the others that were interviewed that day that don't have your experience also responded in a way that I did of looking what what kind of kind of roles do we want our next administrator to do I don't know because I wasn't privy to that information and that's what I'm hoping that that report will give us an idea I get he there will be no specific names attached to anything but I'm hoping for an idea of what do we want not just the qualities I want somebody honest with honesty I don't know that didn't make your list here um so I'm just saying I want to see that report before I approve a job description saying that's what we want for next administrator and I guess I would come back and say that traits and qualities and um to quote a phrase used earlier what I see in the next administrator are things that DDA will help us to look for when they are screening that is not a job description they're two very different things commissioner stle thank you so um when we have approved um job grades is it always tied to the um job summary and all of that is it always tied to that can we approve the grade 270 today with this job description subject to change when we get that information back from DDA we could say let's insert they have experience with some comedy background and maybe um minimum of up to 10 uh 8 to 10 years can we at the next whenever we decide to talk about this do that approve the 270 today with this job description to be amended yeah I mean and job descriptions are never fully set in stone so I mean even even if it was approved today as is and there were very little changes from the original job description um even this job description can then go through another review process and be approved with different revisions here next month um I think if you wanted to approve a grade right now and not the revised job description that is I don't see an issue with that um knowing that the job description um so the entirety I'll back up the entire of the job description the summary the essential functions the minimum qualifications the knowledge skills abilities all of that goes into uh scoring through the Keystone Matrix and those five factors including like responsibility level of um complexity the working relationships internal external so even regardless with the very few changes that there were this job would still score at a 270 so even if we didn't approve the current revised version and just stayed with approving the grade with the original job description it still matches okay okay administrator I Allison do you have the timeline that DDA put up handy yep kind of just to maybe follow with commissioner stolle's comments questions could you read the tasks associate ated with the de December 17th timeline from them so I have so the item is approved position profile and scope of work the task would be board approves profile job description salary range scope of work and timeline so we need a job description for the 17th I like commissioner sterle's idea of going ahead and approving this but then um maybe I don't know if we need a special meeting or if we want to put it on at a later date um prior to interviews but then we look at the job description after we have that information from DDA and wondering too would you like me to to reach out to Pat with some more clarification as to um their role in kind of updating modifying the job description based on um um feed feedback sure because my understanding including in the the um informational checklist of information that I need to get to him includes our job description and the salary range which is why we were discussing that today um but I'm happy to follow up um if you're not ready to approve the current job description for more informational purposes commissioner sterley would you be willing to make a motion based on um your thoughts um and then we would need to come back to this and discuss it prior to any type of um interview um yes so I'll make a motion that we approve the job grade at 270 with the present job description that's here subject to review and when we get the results from DDA this is long when we get the res and I'll do this first um I'll make a motion to approve the job grade at 270 with the job description subject to review um by the 17th of December is there support yes I'll support so we have a motion and support again to approve the change in job grade from 260 to 270 with the updated job description subject to review by the 17th commissioner do we want to make the suggestions that commissioner Johnson said regarding the minimum years of management experience or um specifically small municipalities or do we want to wait till the further review or um I guess since we're going to get information back from DDA I'd like to wait and see what they have and what their response is um did notice in the knowledge skills and ability section there's several bullet points and those were added those were absent from the original job description uh let's see sixth one down considerable knowledge of local government organizational systems and structures and if that applies includes small municipalities or you can add that in there um commissioner Johnson also mentioned seeing a uh function about um being involved in the recruitment process directly when it comes to department heads uh in essential function number two there is a sentence that says exercises Personnel authority to hire promote and terminate employees with the approval of the County Board um so again job descriptions cannot be super specific so they are more um more of a summarized essential function um which something like that being involved in department head recruitment that could be an internal practice that we instill falling under that sentence in essential function number two thank you other discussion or questions we have a motion and a seconder what could we I mean like so we'll I want it in writing somewhere that we are going to sit down and talk about the DDA and then in light of how of of the those results and then review the job description I'd like to have a date for that as opposed to somewhere well someday we'll do this I think it's imperative that that happens before a new before we look at any candidates for this position I mean it it's imperative um commissioner sterley yes well um would we be able to get um that view by the 10th of um December do you think uh D that would be a great question for for Pat um so all of the other information that was requested in the checklist to create that initial profile um on our timeline the completion date was November 25th um so I informed Pat that these were the two items that we were waiting because we were going to address them today at the board meeting so we're a little behind on that um but if if Pat is still able to uh create and develop that position position profile um and provide information about you know the interview um all of that uh that came from uh from that data by December 10th um then you would still have time between the 10th and the 17th I suppose to review the job description But ultimately only Pat will know if he can yeah get that done by December 10th the next week um a couple of us are at AMC but maybe if we could have it by Friday the 13th or even Thursday because we're done Wednesday at I will not be back but certainly the board can go ahead and have time to meet if need be will you be back by Friday no I have I am Bobby just popped in and there is a um meeting at uh the Grand Casino in hinley related to tribal relations and legislation and I've agreed to go to that Monday the 16th could do that well I was going to say why don't we just do it on the 17th we can discuss it have it in our board I mean we're scheduled to do that and it sounds like we'll have it by then yeah um almost certainly um so we'll put it in the agenda and sit down review discuss and so that will be early on in the agenda yeah all right that makes sense all right so we have a motion and a second any other questions or discussion this is really good all in favor I I opposed n motion carries three to two all right um can I just add one more abely item since I'm up here um I'm not adding an item but um there I was watching the board meeting uh last week um at the very end when you were talking about the new budgetary requests and there was um a pretty heavy discussion about the additional HR um FTE request um I felt a little frustrated that no one has actually reached out to me ever with any questions about our workload or duties or the reasonings behind adding a full-time ft I know you guys mentioned maybe like can we modify the current halftime position can we add another part-time um so in order to provide you that information versus making assumptions about the HR department I will be present later on when you are talking about the budget and Levy so if you have any questions directly from me I'm happy to provide that information thank you so much commissioner Johnson yeah I'd just like to respond that after our preliminary budget discussions I did ask the administrator to reach out because supposedly I'm not supposed to directly contact UM department heads but I did ask for for that information and they never received it so I assumed it went to you and so I I have never didn't reach out yeah I've never received any request which is why I'm happy to come back and and you can ask me all the questions you want specifically about the HR position I'm happy to provide that information thank you so much all right we'll move on to item eight attorney hickin thank you uh one moment my eye Compass shut down barely there it is okay so uh my item relates to the law enforcement center renovation and Expansion Project uh this is something I previewed to the board last week when the board approved the agreement with the architect um this agreement would be with a construction manager um which is I think a particularly important position to have when it comes to jail construction um because um this position will be able to um assist us with compliance with all of the um you know Department of Public Safety regulations and requirements for jails um this position is specifically responsible for keeping the project on timelines for uh kind of updating the board on project um um progress um this position also helps with compliance with our public bid requirements and Municipal Contracting requirements they'll draft the contract s for um the specific contractors doing the position or doing the work they will uh draft the rfps that are required um along with the architect they my understanding is that kind of help us as a liaison between architect and and um owner so um just like the contract you looked at last week there are a lot of kind of blanks that still need need to be filled in here specific to um timeline and that is because one would not want to make any commitments about timeline before you actually see the architectural plans um but if you read deeper into the contract you see that there's a procedure laid out that we agree to as to how to and uh how to schedule those timelines and come to agreement to them um how to get to that guaranteed maximum price agreement um so it's all kind of accounted for in these AIA template agreements so um the agreement hires Johnson Wilson Constructors in Incorporated this is uh the construction manager that we are um that comes to recommended To Us by Brooke um lard our um maintenance director he's had prior positive experiences with them with the hospital project so um we are not required to put out this contract for bid because these are Professional Services um once we get to the construction of the building that's one we need to put out for public bid those contracts and requests for proposal um so I I did a bit of laying out the responsibilities of both the county and the construction manager in the um agenda item summary I stand for questions I just like to make a comment and it goes back to something that commissioner white um shared as having conditions for final payment and both on pages 18 and 19 there are conditions listed for final payment so I'm really glad to see that thank you Commission white for bringing that up in previous meetings other questions or comments from all Madam chair I'd like to make a motion to um approve the uh contract for construction manager with Johnson Wilson Constructors thank you commissioner Mills is there support thank you commissioner Starley you have a motion and support any further discussion commissioner white what happens um and I didn't see this and I'll need to read it again uh what are the for contingencies in the OR does this come with the individual subcontractors if they put forth a bid for the foundation say and they get there and even though they had done Bing sample suddenly they hit a pocket of of uh rock that goes down 35 ft and so then they have to blast and everything and that had not been part of their original Bill bid is it in place how is that additional cost covered the construction manager eats it or how does that work uh I think that's going to be well first of all the agreement does not not select um the subcontractors correct um and so this contract does not go through what their individual responsibilities are for payment um and I that's a pretty specific I don't know if I can answer question it's um with the orb management contract they had absolutely no responsibility for any outcome from any subcontractors any contractors nothing they were totally held not liable and so whatever happened at the YMCA the hockey rink the library they had no responsibilities so the our relationship with orb management was that orb management was on owner's representative um so that is a different legal relationship than um we have with a construction manager or with those subcontractors or with our architect so uh public information so this is yes yes yes um so it's a it's not a I'll just say it's not a comparable relationship as it was with orb okay yeah thank you other questions or comments so we have a motion and a second anything else oh another question yes um and I didn't see this I didn't get back to the very last pages and everyone this is in like size 04 and there's 500 pages hear an in marar I yeah anyway um do they have a uh uh a clause that if they get it done a penalty Clause if it's not done in a certain amount of time you know do is that there and then do they get a bonus for getting it done before the um closing date so the times and uh the the anticipated M Milestone dates and any conditions about those come later in this process um let's see here I I don't think that's included in here and it does say that that essentially should we be dissatisfied with the work of this the person that is hired that each of us they also have seven days if they don't want to work with Cook County either they the contract can be terminated this yeah this agreement includes termination okay classes y I'm done asking questions now any other questions or discussions all in favor I I oppos motion carries unanimously let's take a short break um before we get on to our remaining items as they may be a little lengthy thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e welcome back everyone to our County Board of Commissioners meeting um we are ready to move on with our auditor items auditor treasur Powers thank you madam chair uh there's one item so the the County Commissioners have to make a decision before the end of the year on a salary and schedule pum uh even if there's no change I'd like to have it uh a motion for no change just to make it uh you know transparent so uh if you make some decisions today I'd like to put it into uh a resolution form for next week um and you may not make a decision today but if you do I'll put it back that way all right thank you so um we have not really talked about um increasing um salary and P DMS um that has not been a concern I think last year well the last couple years we really made some good Headway and that um with a cola personally I would feel very comfortable just moving forward with that and I I also with the cola any other thoughts or commissioner M well um what we agreed with our unions was a 3% Cola mhm um one of the things I always advocate for whether it's with our unions or with other Regional groups or or anyone Under the Sun um is to follow the CPI index and where that leaves us right now is at 2.6% that's less than the 3% Cola and um I feel like it's it's important that I put my money where my mouth is and so I would advocate for a 2.6% increase rather than a 3% and I understand that there's more work to be done down the road but where our budget is right now I I I don't see um room for that um discussion and so um I'm also okay if it's administratively burdensome to be at the 3% but I just I think it makes the most sense to follow the CPI um not going to die on that Hill just just saying that and I just say um it seems for us to be in alignment with the agreements that have been reached um within the county makes sense to me it would just be clean everybody's a 3% other Commissioners want to weigh in on that commissioner white run the numbers for us what's the difference between 2.6 and three because um commissioner Mills talking about the Consumer Price Index and that's how we went into negotiations basing the uh what was being offered to unions it was based off of those numbers also and I guess I just thought that I haven't given it enough thought but I just thought it'd be like a 3% increase but I'm I and we don't have the money I mean I mean we have the money but you know our frivolous Lifestyles could probably be sustained with a 4% less at so the 2.6 something that so what's what's the cost difference that's all working on it oh and I guess for perspective is it burdensome to have different or how burdensome is it to have the different colas I mean I I I want to respect commissioner Sullivan's consistency approach too um I just it's not okay a deal this is where we could have used some elevator music or you know there's that game show that's been on TV and they have the music I think the peace and quiet is probably good for our auditor treasure while he's working on numbers it's $532 per person no total oh that includes taxes question on that can I ask go ahead um commission is it B keeping wise difficult to just no okay commissioner Starley thank you um so is um commissioner Mills is this something you're suggesting then every time we meet with the unions that we are in par with them every three years every two years I guess it is now or is this going to happen every year for us separate from the unions yeah this will be separate well um what I think we should do for colas both as an organization for ourselves or as I said anyone in the region the cola is a cost of living increase and so that's a measurable amount and I think should be based on the Consumer Price Index and so if we're going to be giving ourselves a cost of living increase I think we should follow the cost of goods um I still believe we should look at our salaries separately but not in I don't want to confuse adjusting our salaries with the cost of living increase that's what I like to try to keep that separate and and I say as much in the negotiations and and I I'm try to have an open mind but I think I will continue to be advocating for that um so it's just um it's um is what I would Advocate year after year for a cost of increase would be just following that that CPI index so other questions or comments I like that idea would you like to make Consumer Price would you like to make a motion uh I would like to make a motion to um adjust the commissioner's salaries um for the coming year to reflect the Consumer Price Index adjustment of 2.6 is that it one zero 2.6 2.6% uh support thank you commissioner Mills we have a motion and support other discussion commissioner I just also want to point out that that CPI index is always changing M um inflation is always changing the latest number that's published on the Bureau of Labor and statistics is uh ending October 2024 so I want to recognize this may not be the actual inflation at this point but it's the latest data that we have and so that's what I believe we should be using is the the data that we have and if if we do this every year whatever is lost between now and the end of the year will be made up the following year so it's just offset a little bit there so we have a motion and support any additional discussion and pardon me this is the national and so it might behoove us to just look at the Midwest um if it's not too if if if we're okay with that um I just don't remember how to get there um it's yeah and to be to be totally transparent because uh I I I want to I think that's important this is the percent change in CPI for all Urban consumers US city average so we should there's only the other one is a w which is more of the uh Rural and so I'll look for that for the Midwest but pardon my fast fingers here with with the first the first number commissioner solivan yes commissioner white BR do you have to have that today no we can give it to you next time around yes okay I'd like to resin my motion or do we need to go through with it first we need to go through with it we'll wait and maybe we'll have some information that will help us okay oops ears are ringing where's the medwest and we could do we could do duth even I just don't see a um a 12 month yeah I'm seeing I'm seeing the same 2.6% for uh Midwest region October 2024 okay yeah I that's the best all Urban consumers yeah okay so we have a motion and a second for 2.6% all in favor I I opposed motion carries so I'll have that in a resolution form yeah I'll bring that back in a resolution form so it's easy to find all right and it will help us to determine Levy amount and just continue to get more precise yeah and um pums are you considering any change to pums I do not recommend any changes in pums at this time I'll bring I'll bring itless I hear differ I'll bring it back that way but of course you can change it okay so thank you appreciate it commissioner just one thing I'd like us to think about too is pdms haven't changed in a long time and the inflation happens to everything including those I'm comfortable not changing it now but I just want us to be thinking that through um that our costs of of traveling and our time um that too has an increase and inflationary cost so but I'm I'm comfortable not addressing that now largely because of like I said our budget um restrictions all right we'll move on to Item B which is the 2025 budget and Levy so any updates that you have for us auditor Powers I do not have any updates um but happy to answer questions and develop any information like to see any questions commissioner Johnson I'm wondering if we've had any updates from Public Health and Human Services from the numbers that we were presented in August usually by now other funding that didn't get included gets included so I'll have those numbers been updated yeah pman gave me updated numbers uh two weeks ago can you send that out to the Commissioners please so we have information on that it's it's in the uh the numbers that I presented last week so the final there I get the final Levy amount I would like the breakdown that's how I analyze numbers is looking at all the information and comparing other questions and I just want to verify the amounts please about um our debt service and construction and um CIP costs we have maintenance costs for each year from cbps and I want to make sure I'm understanding how we're budgeting for those things going forward in 2025 cbps uh you know that maintenance all the Deferred maintenance that we have um been talking about on our buildings and what is included in 2025 budget for that and what projects have been identified for that or are we going with I mean some things didn't get done in 2023 and 2024 so I'm just wondering so a breakout from our facilities manager okay yeah so it's we bonded for 2023 and 2024 last year um but yeah you can you probably saw a summary then but uh it wouldn't hurt to see it again what's included in that and then just making sure so we um bkv cost that we approved just last time around over $600,000 that would be in included in bonding that would come later this year so there is nothing in the 2025 budget as far as Debt Service in anticipation of that finding yeah two they they won't schedule us for a payment in the year that the bonds are made so that's going to come in 2026 since we'll Sho the bonds in 25 but I can get you what that will be you anticipated for 2026 I'm just thinking winware thinking about setting this budget for 2025 and what we're including remembering that the following year we're going to have a debt payment and you need to factor that in when you're making decisions today and that is just for one project one thing I'd like to just make a comment on um Commissioners have received um an email from an individual concerned about the fees that we approved last week and I just want to make certain that for the public they're aware that those fees include septics compliance through Land Services this is Rel Rel ated to the vacation rental fee and um so that certificates of compliance and a septic inspection is costly and um so I think the public needs to be aware of that and also our fees are still lower than many other counties um so I still feel very comfortable with our decision last week but I thought that information about septic compliance for the public would be really important to share commissioner way well well Brady's still pondering um and I would like to say that all of the fees like even the um vacation rental permits have increased and it's it's all part of the costs of government going up and the we increased the fee for the vacation rental to $600 and um when this started it was a shot in the dark by the county and this was like just a little bit before my time kind of right was and so how many Property Owners would be interested and what would the cost be for administering this this program and so just like everything all of the increase in fees is because of an increase in life across the board so it's it's not um taking on vacation rental property owners or anybody and also those fees that are collected are used for host compliance so that we are looking for um potentially vacation rentals that are out there that are not licensed by the county so there is a significant cost for that as well yeah 's estimate is it our bond costs would be about 540,000 a year starting in 2026 six if we Bond next year of course that's subject to interest rate change and what are the final numbers for construction obviously and uh and the anticipation is that uh also in that it that we would uh pay off the sales tax bonds by that time by 2026 and then we would use the uh Reserve or the money coming in that we're not spending of the sales tax to make those Bond payments and then some right and then some and then we're saving cuz it's like 1 Point how much is the revenue 1% is it like well it's been over 2 million for two or three years now it took a little drop this year yep but uh um but it conservative estimate would be 1 n or what was the I can't remember probably 2.2 2.2 I think is a cons I think I want to see the numbers you know at the end of this year but uh but that's only for how many years that's through 3030 3030 so four years four years four years so that's 8 and actually it isn't all of 3030 because it ends after the first quarter so okay so not 8.8 6.6 and that's assuming we you know that it isn't going to need all of that payment for this obviously right you know if we're getting over 2 million a year the Assumption was there may be more um more building projects in the next few years and this could cover more Bond payments but thank you for that detail yeah I think that's extremely valuable and commissioner Johnson's point is extremely valuable too it's important to to keep this debt service and potential future Debt Service at top of mind and that can work into our budget and um how it may not be able to and with those additional revenues they are finite they're not they're not Inuit in perpetuity um and so somehow incorporating the those debt payments much like I was talking about with our use of fund balance if we can kind of wean ourselves off of that but plan to use it uh it can minimize that impact on on on uh our tax levy and taxpayers so um and accomplish what we're trying to uh achieve so uh requires some careful planning that's um that's complex and Ever Changing but um but it's very encouraging um M chair commissioner Sterling thank you so Brady on the bonding starting in 2026 what's the time frame there is it the beginning of the year middle end because it kind of I think has an effect on how we look at our budget and money coming in and is it like right away in 26 or is there a time frame depending on when we issue the bonds typically uh we make uh that first payment in February oh okay other questions well I know we're getting um feedback from our constituents we have TNT this evening um we'll gather more information there um but we have a a lot of information to analyze over the next couple of weeks and I appreciate all the time and effort everybody's taken to put into this big decision that we have any other items on the budget are will right now all right we'll move on to our inner administrator updates [Music] thank you madam chair um newest newest updates continued conversation around immediate short-term space needs um I met with uh phhs director Allison McIntyre and Facilities director Brook lard uh again and we looked at some options that Brooke proposed uh for space in the basement um kind of details there is you know one of those rooms was damaged water damag and needed some mold remediation it shares a wall with the break room the wall that has the uh plumbing and so it's a significantly smaller room and a thought that we're going to explore in a little more detail is the that room be needs to be completely gutted to deal with the mold remediation anyways and you could flip because of the shared wall you could flip the sink and move that into a smaller break room and then in the basement what you would have is the existing break room which has southern and western light windows and the potential to create a handful of offices down there and then there's also a component of looking at our um some of the rooms that are being used for storage down there uh State archives consolidating um and um even potential of having a vendor assist with uh documents that maybe our staff don't have the time to get to but could be removed uh due to retention retirements requirements um that's not a for sure thing just need to explore and and talk to them more about where they're at with that um and also maybe some storage in other locations of the building recorder's office and um the old search and rescue building we're all talked about as options of places where we might store things in a temporary capacity to free up some space down there um so more to come on that um Brooke and I have been kind of in conversations and and talking about that we hope to kind of have a a more detailed rough plan to go to the building committee on Friday the 13th I believe is our scheduled meeting and so we would we would talk about that there uh other items I I reached out to cleargov some of you know that cleargov was a a budgeting software that was purchased with the intention of um being a forward or public facing uh tool that the public would be able to to see um it's a project that you know James was working on pretty closely pretty independently um and so just want to reach out to them and make sure we have access to that tool that we purchased and figure out the status of the project I got some initial responses from them but I I haven't uh gained access or got a full status update but when I do I'm happy to share that with with everyone and then in our LEC uh bkv project round two is scheduled for the 12th and we're hoping to have uh Henry and the rest of his team show up and provide us with uh preliminary floor plans and just kind of they're commissioner White's been part of this process before they they take all the information that we give them and they they put something on paper and then we sit down as a group with all the stakeholders I've mentioned multiple times and look at it and figure out what works and what doesn't and usually in the past at least we've gone through two or three iterations of that process before they um before we find consensus on on what we're looking for um but that's again scheduled for the for the 12th then we'll provide updates on how that process goes once that's done as well um yeah few few messages and emails regarding the budget from the public um nothing that anyone wanted to be read or shared but just thoughts and concerns um yeah that's that's the most of it thank you move on to commissioner updates uh commissioner Johnson um I don't have anything to report today commissioner white uh I um was in on a zoom meeting yesterday for the coastal Waters of the lake of all of the Great Lakes it's a project the study won't get done till 2028 it's a massive undertaking but it's got representatives from two countries any number of states and then actually um it's about water quality and so it's the pollution it's silt it's erosion it's all of the cultural components that are impacting and climate components that are in uh that are uh changing our Great Lakes and it's a it's a focus is to keep and tribal Nations also it's to keep as best we can our Waters clean so that was that was about it all right thank you commissioner Mills um front of mine was the chb meeting yesterday in duth and um learned that uh Dave Lee the Carlton County Public Health Human Service Services um director will be retiring uh it's his last chb meeting as well as um Patty Martin who is the public health supervisor will also be retiring um so two very significant leadership positions in Carlton County um are are changing over uh we also had one resignation from uh chb staff member who uh will be starting her own business as um kind of a wellness coach um and um she was in charge of mesh and um our children and family home visiting program throughout the region and so it's a very important and significant position that I'm sad to see her go but um but we'll start that search as well um what else can I share well I guess that's probably all um yeah that's all for now right commissioner storle thank you um well last week was a short week with the um Thanksgiving and all but over the last couple weeks I've received um some concerning phone calls about the vertical Tower and then also about the fact that we raised the fees on the VRBO pretty high because it had just been raised two years ago so trying to console people that you know know it's not just for somebody to update a record goes for a lot of different areas so hopefully that will be satisfactory to folks who are concerned about it one particular person has three vrbos so I can understand you know where they're coming from with with the amount of fees then that's been raised so but um and I also think because we had um a uh very large committee looking into all this you know three years ago four years ago maybe five um maybe next year is time to look at it again and um just kind of see where we've been and where we want to go and um update some things from the variety of people that U were on that committee too to see what their viewpoints are it's always good to refresh I think that's a really good suggestion and I know Andrew beavers is um you know working with all of the licensure for 2025 and maybe when that's all completed um that would be a good time to take a look at that that'll be it oh I'm looking forward to AMC absolutely well being a short week um I had a number of meetings that were pushed to this week um and the C County Coalition of Lake Association does not meet in December because they attend minola the Minnesota Coalition of Lake Associations they do offer a zoom option on that so I'll be attending that tomorrow and uh we also have cclp and firewise coming up later this week so I'll report back at our meeting next two weeks from today and with that we have recognition of Staff we have several staff anniversaries here in the month of December Mark Buckman with the law enforcement center two years Neva Maxwell with Land Services three years also in Land Services Diana linquist for 11 years Allison McIntyre with phhs 12 years years and Lisa sorley with the highway department 16 years so we so appreciate their efforts and then a couple of Milestone anniversaries both from the law enforcement center Ben Hallberg and Lindsay milky 20 years with C County we thank them greatly for their service and with that is there a motion to adjourn so move thank you commissioner Sterly is support controversial support thank you commissioner Johnson we have a motion in support anything further all in favor I I opposed motion carries thank you so much yeah well we're just waiting your last chances to be important in making motions it's okay don't need it