McHenry County Administrative Services Committee met Dec. 8.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
1. CALL TO ORDER
Meeting called to order at: 8:34 AM by Joseph Gottemoller.
PRESENT: Collins, Gottemoller, Althoff (Remote), Acosta, Bates (Remote), Jung Jr., Kearns, Vijuk
ABSENT:
Also present was: Peter Austin; County Administrator, Peter Austin; Deputy County Administrator, Alicia Schueller; Communications and Project Manager, Cheryl Chukwu; Director of Human Resources, Tom Burroughs; Director of Facilities Management, Tom Sullivan; Director of Information Technology, Kevin Bueso; Chief Financial Officer, Sandra Salgado; Business Manager/Sheriff, Chalen Daigle; County Coordinator, Adam Letendre; Director of Purchasing.
After the Roll Call no vote was needed, however, Mr. Vijuk made a Motion, Seconded by Mr. Kearns to allow Ms. Bates and Ms. Althoff to attend the meeting remotely. The Motion passed on a voice vote of all present members voting aye. As well Chair Skala verified all members could hear and participate.
2. MINUTES APPROVAL
1. Administrative Services - Public Meeting - Nov 3, 2021 8:30 AM
| RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: John Collins SECONDER: Michael Vijuk AYES: Collins, Gottemoller, Althoff, Acosta, Bates, Kearns, Vijuk ABSENT: Jung Jr. |
Kathy Johnson, of Marengo IL, regarding the Scheduling of County Board Meetings.
4. MEMBER COMMENTS
Chair Gottemoller stated that he hopes everyone has a great holiday and he hopes they all enjoy it.
Michael Vijuk wanted to announce that the Cary Grove High School football team won the Class 5 A Championship and he has had conversations with the Chairman about having a public recognition with the Administrator Peter Austin also, so he wanted to bring that forward. As well he wanted to bring up the last meetings discussion on the committee and the breakdown of them and he looks forward to the Chairs introduction to how they are going to discuss that. He has been in contact with the County Clerks office pertaining to the upcoming election and he has informed him that he is waiting on the illinois board of elections to determine a number of factors, as such that will have some impact on how they will have committee discussion and rule review. He is hopeful they can have those discussion at the beginning of next year, which is based on the discretion of the Chair.
5. PRESENTATION
None.
6. NEW BUSINESS
None.
7. ROUTINE CONSENT AGENDA
| RESULT: RECOMMENDED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: John Collins SECONDER: John Jung Jr. AYES: Collins, Gottemoller, Althoff, Acosta, Bates, Jung Jr., Kearns, Vijuk |
2. Resolution Authorizing the County of McHenry to Enter into a Two (2) Year Contract with Filterbuy of Talladega AL. for HVAC Air Filters.
3. Resolution Authorizing a Renewal for Cloudflare Enterprise Service and Magic Transit Layer 3 Protection in FY2022
4. Resolution Authorizing the Creation of Five New Agency Funds to Account for the Regional Office Of Education #44 Funds (Leadership and Governance)
5. 9604 - Pulled from Consent by Jim Kearns
6. Resolution Authorizing a Contract with Integral Construction of Romeoville, IL, for Phase V of the Government Center Building Envelope Rehabilitation Project (Quality Infrastructure)
7. Resolution Authorizing a Contract with Weatherguard Roofing of Elgin, IL, for the 2022 500 Russel Court Roof Replacement Project (Quality Infrastructure)
8. Resolution Authorizing a Contract with Integral Construction of Romeoville, Il, for the 2022 Building A Exterior Envelope Rehabilitation Project (Quality Infrastructure)
9. 9624 - Pulled from Consent by Jim Kearns
8. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT AGENDA
1. Resolution Authorizing the McHenry County Board to enter into a contract with FGMArchitecs for Architectural and Engineering fees for phase one and phase two of the McHenry County Training Facility Capital Improvement project, including construction manager cost and fees for phase one. Funding for the Training Facility Capital Plan project will include American Recovery Plan fund not to exceed $6,200,000 and Sheriff discretionary funds for remainder of project. (Leadership and Governance), (Quality Infrastructure)
Formerly agenda item 7.5
Sandra Salgado, Business Manager/Sheriff, joined the committee to discuss the resolution.
Mr. Kearns stated he wanted a rough overview of the funds and how it came to be, as well as what stages they are in. Ms. Salgado thanked the members for the opportunity to talk about the project. She stated since the day Sheriff Prim was elected he had been looking at different opportunities for a regional training facility, in late 2017 they worked with Administration on putting together a white paper for the Lobbyist regarding a regional training facility and trying to get federal funds to do so. At that time in the white paper they had all the local law enforcement chiefs sign off on it for support and other partners such as the DEA, the Marshall's and some training groups that would love to have another training site to provide training to law enforcement. She stated that following that they did not receive any federal funds assigned to that but they continued working with other local law enforcement chiefs on it, following that Cary came forward acknowledging the struggle to find a location so they entered into an agreement in October with Cary to use their old Village Hall/Police Station for a training facility, which is very exciting. Cary had FGM who is the requested architect within the resolution, she noted that they had already done a study on the building that they are going to be walking into so they feel it makes sense to move forward with them since they already done most of the work for the County. In addition they have conceptually looked at the Phase II, that is also in the resolution, of building the firing range on the other property that Cary is giving to the County, with that they were able to put together the budget that is bringing forward and it asks for a commitment of the ARPA funds and it commits funds from the Sheriff's discretionary funds. She stated most of them have been brought into the D365 accounting system, but there are still a few that they are working hard to move over for accounting purposes, and the funds will make up the balance of it. What is not included in the resolution is the memberships from the other law enforcement agencies in the County, so there are going to be other funds that are not going to be coming into this because even though it is going to be county billing it is going to be the regional training facility. The use from the other enforcement agencies will have a membership of some sort, they have discussed if it will be a lump some up front to help offset some of the fees then eventually have a membership fee that is going to help with the ongoing maintenance of the building but they have all committed and some have already gone forward to their municipal Boards. Mr. Kearns inquired on the funds that they are going to commit and if they will be added to this in additional funds, Ms. Salgado confirmed it would be in addition to what they are looking at, but for the ARPA funds it is a "not to exceed". Mr. Austin stated if Algonquin gives us $350,000 up front that might reduce the $6 million in terms of initial construction costs, but if they decide they want to pay us $25,000 a year moving forward then that might just reduce operating costs in 2026, 2027 and 2028 so they are going to work with the municipality on how they want to participate in both the shooting range and the training facility. Mr. Kearns inquired if the shooting range is an indoor facility, Ms. Salgado confirmed it will be indoors. Mr. Kearns then inquired if the ARPA is out of the first batch of about $29.5 million of the $59 million, Mr. Austin stated it would be out of the second batch.
| RESULT: RECOMMENDED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Michael Vijuk SECONDER: John Jung Jr. AYES: Collins, Gottemoller, Althoff, Acosta, Bates, Jung Jr., Kearns, Vijuk |
Formerly agenda item 7.9
Adam Letendre, Director of Purchasing and Peter Austin, County Administrator, joined the committee to discuss the resolution.
Mr. Kearns stated he was looking for an explanation of what areas it is going to cover and a time frame. Mr. Letendre stated the time frame construction should begin in 2022 and 2023 would be the year of completion. They are looking to finish the loop around the county, the western up to the northwest then back over to the east side of the county for the areas that do not have high speed internet service. It would connect around I-90 with Kane County up through Marengo/Union through Harvard across to Alden/Hebron and over to Richmond where it is connected to Wisconsin, then from south and a bit east towards Lake County and southeastern McHenry County to complete the loop. Mr. Kearns inquired about the total funding amount, Mr. Austin stated if it is done with no help it would be in the neighborhood of $20 million, he does not think that is how it would unfold because there is so much broadband money out there and there is a confident feel that some of those dollars can be accessed. Mr. Austin stated what the next round of contract will help them put together an RFQ that will get out as soon as mid January and they will get in front of all the big internet providers, such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast. As well as the smaller players, the ones that have risen more in the Northwest part of the state to fill in some of the gaps and let them compete for their access to our trunk line and access some of these costs. He stated the County has awareness of what the Illinois Connect Program is doing and they're putting out a third round of grants any day from the state, and can receive up to $10 million per phase and we have two phases. Those are all dollars that the state has from ARPA funds ten months ago and that is not even touching the new round of infrastructure funds of $65 billion that the government passed in October, if we are patient and aggressive at the same time in trying to access them he believes the County will be able to succeed without using much of its own funds. Mr. Kearns inquired if Mr. Austin believes the ARPA funds will cover almost all of the project, Mr. Austin confirmed yes and stated the $70,000 out the door will be used from the second $29 million to keep things rolling but if they access additional grants they are going to charge the grants back.
Mr. Vijuk stated for the sake of transparency, he inquired if HR Green Engineering Services were the ones used in Phase I, and if that is why they are being used again in Phase II. He stated this so if the question of other bidders don't arise. Mr. Letendre confirmed yes that they were vetted and approved by the Board back in June which the approval allowed Phase II and Phase III. Mr. Austin stated HR Green has a big imprint on this part of the state and offices in the County as well as Cedar Rapids and Dallas.
| RESULT: RECOMMENDED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: John Jung Jr. SECONDER: Jim Kearns AYES: Collins, Gottemoller, Althoff, Acosta, Bates, Jung Jr., Kearns, Vijuk |
None.
10. REPORTS
1. Capital Plan Update
None.
2. Communications
Alicia Schueller, Communications and Project Manager joined the committee to discuss the report.
She began handing out her report to the members and went gave them some important highlights of the report.
• She stated this is a tough time in the year for communications, it is slow in the newspaper industry and for the County. They are trying to counteract that by aggressively tagging people involved in certain projects the County is doing, especially the Board members.
• She informed them they have been getting ‘poked’ by herself on social media pages by tagging, because they want to aim for more share and likes and more engagement in general across the social media platform.
• She asked the members if they can like, share and comment as much as they can to get the word out there.
• Overall, they are increasing followers, which is the constant goal for the County.
• The monthly and weekly newsletter are increasing in open rates and they are doing better compared to other local governments.
a. Branding
Alicia Schueller, Communications and Project Manager joined the committee to discuss the report.
She stated that McHenry County has important announcements regarding branding and collaboration that will be happening going forward. She stated she will have a presentation for the committee in January, she informed the committee that some of the fonts will be changing in communications report as well as the Law, Government & Liquor report. It will shift a bit as they begin to incorporate a new branding scheme.
b. Legislative Software Update
Alicia Schueller, Communications and Project Manager joined the committee to discuss the report.
She informed the committee that she intended on getting a resolution to them this week regarding the Agenda Management Software that is utilized at the County. She stated MinuteTraq has been the software used for about a decade and it has come to the attention of the County that they will need to progress on the matter, she informed the members that she has gone through an extensive review of what types of software to potentially implement for the agenda management and users across the County have assisted with helping to look at different providers and software’s, along with a series of interviews, they do have someone in mind but they are working out final details, and a formal resolution will follow.
3. Administrator Report
Peter Austin; County Administrator, Scott Hartman; Deputy County Administrator and Cheryl Chukwu; Director of Human Resources, joined the committee to discuss the report.
He began stating that they have discussed a lot in the last few months about meaning to update the compensation program, he stated he and Ms. Chukwu met last week with an Usher group. They are looking at a program that would take about five months from start to finish to complete and thinking towards the end of January they will have some scenarios that do something's with what they are aiming for. When they are provided the scenarios, they will be able to see the cost of the changes, then they can share them with the committee. Ms. Chukwu stated in the meeting they determined forty job descriptions that form the core of the pay world structure grades one through twenty-two, they will all be updated and the CPQ’s and job descriptions which will go out to all the communities.
Mr. Austin stated next door to the committee meeting room they have been doing wellness testing with about eighty people, he himself got blood drawn in the morning, and they did about seventy a few days prior. Ms. Chukwu stated over two-hundred people will get tested this week for blood and blood pressure, those who participate will see a monthly reduction in their health insurance of $25.
Mr. Vijuk inquired about the salary on administration policy, on the first page it states it was revised on 11/18/21, so he inquired if the policy will be presented to the Board before it is enacted. Chair Gottemoller stated it was on the agenda already and was passed as item 7.1, but he did state it will go to the Committee of the Whole and the County Board. Mr. Vijuk stated he did have one change on page five under section d where is states “for internal promotions into a salary grade 17 or higher”, wanted to know if the County Board could be included on that item. He stated he will contact Administration on the matter. Chair Gottemoller stated the item was passed already.
Mr. Hartman briefed the committee on the changes to the cyber insurance as well as a meeting he and Mr. Letendre had to discuss the security contract for the individuals in the Administration building.
Mr. Austin concluded stating at 10:00 am there is a webinar that several of the staff will be participating in to discuss electric vehicles.
a. Update on Compensation Study
11. FUTURE TOPICS
None.
12. EXECUTIVE SESSION (AS NECESSARY)
A Motion was made by Mr. Vijuk, Seconded by Mr. Jung, to enter into Executive Session at 9:10 a.m. to discuss Personnel Issues. The Motion passed on a voice vote of all present members voting aye (absent was Bates and Althoff).
A Motion was made by Mr. Vijuk, Seconded by Mr. Collins, to exit Executive Session and enter back into Open Session at 9:28 a.m. The Motion passed on a voice vote of all present members voting aye.
13. ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Collins made a Motion, Seconded by Mr. Vijuk, to adjourn the meeting at 9:28 a.m. The Motion passed on a voice vote of all members present voting aye (absent was Bates and Althoff). -TCMcKinnon
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