County Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. I would like to call this August County Board meeting to order. Before we jump in to the moment of silence and invocation, I would just like to take a moment to thank our METCOM 911 operators. who have performed above and beyond their duties today. We have Brandon Carr, Ramin Nazeri, Ben Over, Regan Henry, Ross Headinger, Michaela Smith-Peters, Kathy Weismer, Addison Jepson. We also had a supervisor who jumped in on the phones and radios to handle the extra volume, and that was James Peterson, and another supervisor who came in when he was not on duty, Ryan Gibson. I want to thank them for their excellent service to the county. I also know that the sheriff was... assisting the city of Bloomington today and trying to address the issues that we're facing as a community from the storm. So I want to thank the sheriff's office as well. And now I will turn it over in item number two to member Loeffler.

Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, if you'll call the roll.

Sean Fagan. Present. Buck Farley. Absent. William John Frederick. Present. Eric Hansen. Present. William Bezler. Present. Val Lehman.

Present.

Fran Leffler. Here. Mike O'Neill. Here. Adam Reeves. Here. Jim Rogal.

Here.

Natalie Rosamond Mendoza.

Present.

Jeff Tompkins. Here. Andy Zebarth. Here. Brian Bangert. Absent. Corey Byrne.

Present.

Beverly Bell.

Present.

Mark Kloss. Here. Absent. Oops. Hold on.

Hold on, Mark.

Okay. Leah Klein.

Present.

Alex Duffy. Here. Elizabeth Johnston.

I am here. I do want to take a moment to thank everyone for being here tonight. I know this was above and beyond for some of you as well, trying to get through town. I had to snake my way through as well. But having conducted the opening roll call and declared a quorum as physically present, I would like to inform the committee that Member Klaus has requested to participate remotely under County Board Rule 2020 and in accordance with the Open Meetings Act. Notice was received from Member Klaus in accordance with our rules. Per Board Rule 2020, Member Klaus will be authorized to attend the meeting electronically If a motion to approve the members electronic attendance is made seconded and adopted by a majority of the members of the committee. May I have a motion to approve member Claus's attendance. Motion by Bessler. May I have a second. Second by Fagan. All opposed. Sorry. All in favor. Any opposed. Motion passes. And that now we have member Claus joining us remotely and I think he's on the phone. So thank you for joining us. So we're sure that he is present for this meeting. Moving on, we will move on to item number five, appearance by members of the public and county employees.

Chair Johnston, we've had two requests for public speaking tonight. The first speaker is David Dawson. Is David Dawson here? Okay, we'll move on. Our next speaker is Jeff Jacobs. He can come on up. Mr. Jacobs, you'll have three minutes to speak. And the microphone should be on for you.

Good evening, Chairwoman Johnson, members of the McLean County Board, and community members. My name is Jeff Jacobs, and I'm a director of development with EDP Renewables. EDP Renewables has been a proud member of McLean County since 2008 through our Twin Groves 1 and 2 wind farms, and later, the Brightstock Wind Farm. Together, these projects have contributed more than $60 million in property tax revenue while supporting local jobs, organizations, and agricultural educational programs throughout the county. We were pleased to permit the second phase of the Brightstock Wind Farm last year and are working hard to start construction on that project in 2027. Tonight, I'm here to discuss the Twin Groves one and two battery energy storage projects. Last week, the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously recommended these special use applications. I respectfully ask that this Board approve the ZBA's recommendation. The ZBA thoroughly evaluated these projects with particular attention to community concerns regarding safety, siting, and compatibility with surrounding land uses. After that review, the ZBA found the projects with significant conditional requirements met the applicable standards for approval. In addition, it's important to recognize that the Twin Grove storage projects were evaluated against the more stringent siting requirements of the current McLean County ordinance, which has higher setback distances than what the new state statute directs and that are required in your updated ordinance considered this evening. In addition to adhering to the more restrictive requirements, we have actively engaged with each of the residents adjacent to the proposed projects. We listened to them and ultimately agreed to move one of the project's footprints approximately 500 feet to the east to further minimize impacts. Despite occupying only approximately five to 10 acres, these projects will continue EDP Renewable's long history of contributing to McLean County, including an estimated $11 million in additional property tax revenue. Battery energy storage systems are critical grid reliability assets that help manage periods of peak energy demand and allow the grid to capture excess generation. They are built and operated under stringent industry codes and standards with multiple layers of safety protections. The global installed capacity of utility scale best has dramatically increased over the last five years, while the overall rate of incidents has sharply decreased. Specifically, the failure rate has dropped by 99% from 2018 to 2025, as lessons learned from early failures have been incorporated into the latest designs and best practices. Regardless, in the unlikely event of an emergency, planning and coordination with local fire protection districts is already underway and will continue until emergency response protocols are finalized and adopted. Ultimately, these projects were cited to take advantage of the existing electrical infrastructure built for the Twin Groves wind farms. They will comply with the more restrictive setback standards of the prior ordinance and were modified in response to neighbor input. For these reasons, I respectfully request that you support the ZBA's recommendation and approve these projects. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, moving on. We have no other comments. Moving on to item number six, that is consent agenda. May I have a motion? Motion by Hanson and a second. Well, I got to get it on the floor first. And a second by Byrne. Member Friedrich.

Sorry for jumping the gun there, Chair.

I'd like to pull off consent 6C1C and D. Okay. Thank you.

All right. Any other comments? Member Bessler.

I will need to abstain from item 6C1B due to a conflict of interest of my employer.

Okay. Any other comments from the board? Seeing none, all in favor of item 6, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. All right, we will move on to item... Where are we? 7A, and that is the Executive Committee with Vice Chair Rogel.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Executive Committee brings two items for action tonight. The first one is 7A1A, Accept and Place on File Audit for Mental Health and Public Safety Fund, and I so move.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Adam Reeves, please. All right. Any comments or questions? All right. All in favor of item 7A1A, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

Next one is 7A1B, which is request approval of resolution of McLean County Board reporting retention of the closed session meetings, session minutes, sorry, and this would require a closed session if we'd wanted to discuss. And I so move.

Thank you. I may have a second. Second by Member Fagan. If there's any discussion, we need to go into closed session. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of item 7A1B say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

The Executive Committee has no other items for action. Our general report can be found on pages 23 through 31 of the unapproved minutes. And I can answer any questions if anyone has any.

Thank you. We'll move on to item 7B, and that is Finance Committee with Member Lehman.

Thank you, Chair Johnston. The Finance Committee has two items for action this evening. The first, 7B1A, is a request approval of an emergency appropriation ordinance amending the McLean County Fiscal Year 2026 Combined Annual Appropriation and Budget Ordinance for Animal Services. This requires a two-thirds county board approval, pursuant 55 ILCS 561003 and ISO move.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Member Loeffler. Comments or questions? I do want to take a few moments to thank the Jane L. and David Eric Menson CritterCare Perpetual Charitable Trust. They this is money that we are receiving as a grant from them to assist with a large hoarding population that was received by the animal services on the heels of a second animal hoarding situation so in the last month six weeks They've had a hundred cats and kittens delivered to animal services for care and for getting them ready for adoption So we thank the trust for stepping up to assist us with that to help the animals be ready for adoption as soon as possible. Any other comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of item 7B1A, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

7B1B is the request approval of an ordinance of the McLean County Board amending the McLean County General Compensation Plan for non-union employees and ISO move.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Member Vessler. Any comments or questions? Seeing none. All in favor of item 7B1B say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

Thank you again, Chair. The Finance Committee has no other items to be presented for action this evening. Our general report may be found in the unapproved minutes packet and happy to answer any additional questions.

Thank you. I'll move on to Item 7C, and that is Health Committee with Member Byrne.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Health Committee brings three items for action tonight. First up is 7C1A, Request Approval of an Emergency Appropriation Ordinance Amending the McLean County Fiscal Year 2026 Combined Annual Appropriation Budget Ordinance for Fund 2112. And this requires a two-thirds vote. And I so motion.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Member Klein. Comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of item 7C1A, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Moving on to item 7C1B, request approval of an emergency appropriation ordinance amending the McLean County fiscal year 2026 combined annual appropriation and budget and warrant Budget ordinance for fund 2107 also requires a two-thirds vote to approve and I so motion.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Member Hanson. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of item 7C1B say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Last, we have 7C1C, request approval of an emergency appropriation ordinance amending the McLean County Fiscal Year 2026 combined annual appropriation and budget ordinance for Fund 4401, also requiring a two-thirds vote to approve, and I so move.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Member Fagan. Comments or questions? Very excited to be receiving these funds from Ameren as a reward for our efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce the energy load out there. And so we get the savings, and then we also get a nice little check from them. So I'm very, very pleased to be receiving this. All right, then. All in favor of item 7C1C say aye.

Aye. Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Health Committee brings no other items for action. I do want to join the voices in calling out those who helped out today. We had a bit of an early end to our day at the Health Department today after some flooding and some weather damage forced the building to close down. But I want to thank all of our partners with that. I understand that we had several helpers from the fire service and other municipal agencies come in so appreciate that cooperation that community and just wanted to point out what happened today with the storm and driving in and walking around through my own neighborhood and East Bloomington could hear a lot of chainsaws out could see a lot of people out helping out neighbors with the significant damage that occurred today. And then driving in today with, for me, is usually about a 15 minute drive, took about 40 minutes today. But in several places where there was significant damage, I saw a lot of neighbors and regular citizens out directing traffic, helping to move things. The fire service and the emergency services are very, very busy today. And so it was just, it was really cool to see So many folks out there just stepping up and helping out. So it was a good day for our community. We're still looking out for each other. We're still helping each other out. It was very, very gratifying to see. In terms of health business, a lot of business as usual. We did get to profile a fabulous new organization called the Bridge to Hope, which is a new therapy organization geared towards helping out the LGBTQ community. They are new in town. They are very well funded. They got some fabulous professionals in there. We got to hear from them as well. So welcome to the community. And other than that, I think that's about it for today.

All right. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right. With that, we will move on to Item 7D, Justice Committee and Vice Chair Rogel.

Thank you, Madam Chair. The Justice Committee has four items for action today. 7D1A, which is Request Approval of an Emergency Appropriation Ordinance Amending in McLean County Fiscal Year 2026 Combined Annual Appropriation Budget Ordinance for Fund 1001, the Sheriff's Department. This requires a two-thirds county board approval pursuant to 55 ILCS 56-10. 1,003, and I so move.

Thank you. You may have a second. Second by Member Bell. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of Item 71A, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

Next up, we have 7D1B, which is request approval of an interlocal agreement between the City of Bloomington and the County of McLean for the 2025 Burn Justice Assistance Grant Program. And I so move.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Member Ziebarth. Comments or questions? Yes, Member Bessler.

I will need to abstain from this item due to a conflict of interest with my employer.

Okay. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of item 71B, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes.

Next up, we have 7D1C, which is request approval of an emergency appropriation ordinance amending the McLean County fiscal year 2026 combined annual appropriation and budget ordinance for fund 1001, public defender department 2021, This requires a two-thirds county board approval pursuant to 55 ILCS 56-1003, and I so move.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Member Hanson. Comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of item 71C, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

And last up, we have 7D1D, which is Request Approval and Ordinance of the McLean County Board Amending the McLean County Code, Chapter 184, Section 184-3. And I so move. Thank you.

May I have a second? Second by Member Bessler. Comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of Item 7D1D, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes.

The Justice Committee has no other items for action. Our general report can be found on pages 14 through 16 of the unapproved minutes. And I would like to quickly thank Member Roseman for running committee last week while I was teaching a class. Thank you.

All right. Thank you so much. We'll move on to item 7E. That is property committee with Member Layman.

Thank you, Chair Johnson. The property committee has one item to be presented for action this evening, 7E1A. Is there a request approval of a temporary ordinance of the McLean County Board amending chapters 205 and 282 of the McLean County Code and ISO move?

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Member Fagan. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor? We have it?

All right, Member Lehman. Sorry, just wanted to call out with this one. We do have a relatively newer Director of Parks and Recreation, Mr. Patrick Murphy, out of Kamlara Park. And this particular action item is one of the things that he's bringing to the table. It's a great experience. It's a great opportunity for anybody in our community who has never gone camping or who's maybe interested in going camping but just doesn't have all of the equipment, doesn't have the know-how for getting things set up. So this is a great way to give McLean County residents and anybody in the kind of surrounding area to give them an opportunity. to engage with one of our absolute gems in the community being Kamlara Park. So should we pass this evening, which I certainly hope we do, I would encourage anybody who has any inkling to go camping to check out this service because it has a lot of bells and whistles for you. You don't even have to have your own tent, and you even get a paddleboard or kayak rental that goes along with it. So very cool service, exciting stuff coming out of the park right now. Yes, it is.

Any other comments or questions?

Just making sure.

All in favor of Item 7E1A, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Motion passes.

The Property Committee has no other items to be presented for action. Our general report can be found in the unapproved minutes packet. Again, happy to answer any questions.

Thank you so much. We'll move on to Item 7F, Land Use and Transportation Committee with Member Klein.

Thank you, Chair Johnston. The Land Use and Transportation Committee has two items removed from the consent agenda. The first item is F1, sorry, 7F1A. Approve the application of Twin Groves One Storage LLC by EDP Renewables on parcels 23-13-200-004 for the battery energy storage system BESS and 23-12-300-008 for the electric substation in case SU-2608. It is requesting a special use to allow a BESS in the Agricultural District and to amend the electric substation to which it is connected. The properties are located in Dawson Township. The BESS property is approximately one-third mile west of 3000 East Road, immediately south of 1200 North Road. The electric substation is at 29230 East 1200 North Road in Ellsworth, and I so move.

Thank you. May I have a second? Second by Member Hanson. Comments or questions? Member Friedrich.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll be opposing this action item. There's a rather large hog confinement facility that's fairly close to the project with around 3,000 head of hogs and upwards of 7,500 small baby pigs. And as we've seen with today's weather event, In fire concerns, I understand what we heard from the applicant, but it's still a concern because it's virtually impossible to move, if there were to be an issue with the fire, to move that many hogs out. And secondly, the drainage situation on the farm, I'm very concerned about that. It floods quite a bit. I know the farm, and so therefore I will be opposing this.

I'd like to remind the members of the board that we can only consider testimony that was given in the ZBA hearing. That is a legal hearing. And so if you have the opportunity when we have these hearings, please review the content. The ZBA does work very diligently to assure that all safety standards are being met. And so we can continue to have discussion as long as it is regarding what was presented as part of the CBA hearing Any further comments or questions Yes member anew I'll be opposing this as well with the amount of livestock in the area with the hogs there's another neighbor that has a

cattle herd as well as this is good productive farm ground I think it was is not a good place for it to keep taking farm ground out of production so I'll be opposing it thank you any other comments or questions seeing none all in favor of item 7f 1a say aye

Any opposed?

Nay. Okay.

Motion passes.

Okay. Thank you, Chairwoman. We're now on to 7F1B. Approve the application of Twin Groves 2 storage LLC by EDP Renewables on parcels 24-12-100-003 for the battery energy storage system vest and 24-12-300-010 for the electric substation in case SU-2609. It is requesting a special use to allow a BESS in the Agricultural District and to amend the electric substation to which it is connected. The properties are located in Aerosmith Township. The BESS property is two-thirds mile north of 1200 North Road, immediately east of 3500 East Road. The electric substation is at 12493 North 3500 East Road, Aerosmith, Illinois, and I so move.

Thank you. I may have a second. Second by Member Bessler. Comments or questions? Seeing none, all in favor of item 7F1B, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That was O'Neill and Reeves. Correct? You're opposed. Okay. Also Member Friedrich. And the motion passes. And back to Member Klein.

Thank you so much, Chairwoman Johnston. I would just have one quick announcement. I would say our committee report is in the unapproved minutes, pages 2 to 6. But I'd just like to do one final reminder to the board members to ask for you to help spread the word that the household hazardous waste collection will happen on August the 22nd. To find more information about this, go to hhwmclean.org, hhwmclean.org. This is run through our Ecology Action Center. You do need to sign up for an appointment. It is, I think, the day before, just to make sure they have enough coverage for the different materials you're bringing in. But this is a wonderful service that is provided through the Ecology Action Center that helps you to get rid of that mysterious bottle of you-don't-know-what that you inherited in your garage. and old incandescent light bulbs and things like that. So please spread the word. And that is again on August the 22nd.

Thank you. Thank you, Member Klein. I'm moving on to item 7G with our County Administrator, Ms. Taylor.

Thank you, Chair Johnston. I do not have anything to present for action this evening. I will let the board know that we are hard at work at the budget and we will be presenting that at the next month's meeting for a proposed budget. I would also like to thank and recognize the facilities team with the pop-up storms that we're having, including today's storm. They are hard at work. I'm sure they're still hard at work right now getting our buildings secured and dealing with the flooding issues that come when we have such storms as we had today. Wanted to personally thank them for their efforts as well.

Thank you. Then we'll move on to other business and communication. Just a reminder to the board members, because we do have quite a few who are still newish. The presentation will be next month from the administrator. It will be an overview of the budget. You will be given budgets in each committee. In October meetings is when we will be having discussion and making any amendments or adjustments. And then it will be voted on in the November meeting. So if there are any questions about that, feel free to reach out to me or to administrative team. We'll be happy to help you walk through those pieces. But committee meetings is where the bulk of the work gets done. So please read your budgets for your particular oversight committee and be ready to come in with discussions. And I appreciate that. Member Byrne.

Thank you, Madam Chair. With school starting and so many thousands of our community's children going back to school, do be watching for folks. You're going to see a lot of walkers. You're going to see a lot more college students. You're going to see a lot more school bus on the road. If you are sending your kids to school, please do remember that there are vaccination requirements for public schools and our health department does offer a vaccination clinic. There is one more coming up on Friday, August 28th, but there are lots of other options for that. Don't hesitate to use your health department to help you get all those things in order.

Yes, Vice Chair Rogo.

Just also a reminder, Member Loeffler mentioned the farmers and getting ready soon to do harvesting. This is also, we always mention in April that we're getting ready to start construction season, but August is the highest portion of our season for our construction workers, so whether they're on county roads or whether state roads or city roads as you drive through Bloomington Normal. Please slow down and protect our workers. Thank you.

Thank you. It's also a reminder I've been driving out in the county recently and this is the time of year with very little visibility when you're driving through the cornfields. Also a good reminder to slow down around the equipment. and around intersections that may sneak up on you. So please be careful out there so that we can get through this season with everybody safely making it home. Any other comments or questions? Member Reeves.

Speaking of emergencies, can we get a status update on the emergency generator at the health department?

We can certainly ask for one. I'm not sure if we have one on.

I do not have that information in front of me right now, but I can bring that to the board in an email.

Anything else for the good of the community? Seeing none, I thank you for your service to the county and this meeting is adjourned.