County Board - Regular Meeting

Good morning everyone. Welcome to the Will County Board meeting for October 16th 16th.

Yeah. 2025. I'm calling this meeting to order. Member Butler will lead us in the pledge of allegiance and announce the clergy. I pledge allegiance 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. Okay, I'm a little nervous. I'm very excited. I've waited a long time to have um my friend come here today, so bear with me. Reverend David Spencer is the pastor of the Church of Chicago in Schiller Park, a multithnic congregation affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America. He has over 25 years of ministry experience beginning with his call to ministry in 1998 followed by theological training at Dallas Theological Seminary where he studied under renowned scholars and was mentored by Dr. Eddie Lane. While in Dallas, he served as Oakcliffe Bible Fellowship under Tony Evans and was active in community outreach and citywide ministry efforts. After returning to Chicago, he served as executive associate pastor at All Nations Community Church before founding the Church of Chicago. He has ministered locally and internationally, encouraging pastors in Europe and speaking at churches in Mexico. In addition to his pastoral work, Reverend Spencer is an accomplished trumpet player with over four decades of experience performing with prestigious ensembles such as the Count Basy Orchestra and the Carnegie

Hall Jazz Band. His career includes collaborations with legendary artists like Artha Franklin, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, and Kirk Franklin among many others. Passionate about both ministry and music, Reverend Spencer has also contributed to public discussions on spiritual life, race relations, and Christian living through speaking engagements and public uh published articles. A relationship with Christ and integrating God's word into their life should be paramount for every person. his mission to proclaim the kingdom of God with an anticipation of Christ's soon return. Some of the people in this room may be wondering, how does he know Dan? Well, Dave Osel is an accomplished martial artist and has studied at my school for five years with uh our Grandmaster. So, I'd like to take this opportunity for my friend Reverend Spencer to Wow. Who was that? Thank you so much. Watering dirt. Watering dirt. Spent the last uh eight days watering dirt. And the reason I was watering dirt was because I planted grass seed. Day after day, day in and day out, I watered dirt. One day I come out to see the dirt and dirt is everywhere on the curbs. It's everywhere. And would you know it that the squirrels had gotten into the dirt. Couple of days after that, this past Saturday, my neighbors had a party and the dirt that I had planted with the grass seed in it, now it's being trampled by my neighbors. What uh uh chance does uh that grass seed have?

Two days ago, I finally see it. Fuzz grass fuzz. But all this time, I thought that all the the uh grass seed that I was planted that it was for nothing. But it was for something only if you just keep watering. Jesus says this, "A sword went out to sew his seed. And as he sowed, to some fell along the path and were trampled underfoot, and birds of the air devour it, and some fell into the rock, and it grew up, it withered away because it had no moisture. And some fell into the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and it had choked it, and some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundfold." I applaud you because you're sewing seed. Sometimes you don't know whether or not if it's going to grow. But yet week after week, month after month, especially for this board and the community citizens, you sow seed. Keep the faith. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus name, we thank you so much for this time. We're asking you, Lord God, that you would bless this gathering of people. Lord, it's so difficult, Lord God. Anytime you get two or three people together to agree on anything, but yet, Lord God, the struggle continues, Lord, because we're concerned about one another, concerned about the very block we live on, concerned about the city we live in, concerned about the county we live in. So, Father, may you encourage everyone here today, Lord, and let there be a meeting of the minds all to your glory. Again, Father, bless this gathering today. And we ask you all of this in Jesus name. Amen.

Thank you very much for joining us. Madame clerk, will you please call the role? Richmond, Williams, Dean, Schlottman, Ogala, Pretzel, Butler here, Newquist, Balich, Axley, Brooks here, Winfrey, Bulock, Logan, Freeman, Revvice, Mitchell, Ortiz, Burkowitz

here. Hickeyi Costa Traer Bandai.

With 21 members being present, we have a quorum. I need a motion to place on file the certificate of publication. Revis motion by Revis, seconded by Brooks. Madame clerk, please call the role. Richmond Williams. Yes. Dean Schlottman. Ogala. Yes. Pretzel. Yes. Butler. Yes. Newquist. Balich. Yes. Oxley. Yes. Brooks. Yes. Winfrey. Bullock. Logan. Yes. Freeman. Revvis. Mitchell. Yes. Burkowitz. Yes.

Hickeyi. Posta. Traineer. Vanine. 21 in the affirmative. The motion carries. I need a motion to approve the minutes from the August 21st, 2025 board meeting. Motion by Freeman, seconded by Mitchell, previous by Winfrey, second by Nquis. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. I need an approval of the minutes from September 18th, 2025. Moved by Mitchell, seconded by Freeman. previous by Oxley, seconded by Hickeyi. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Next, I need a motion to approve the September 18th, 2025 executive session meeting minutes. Motion by Freeman, second by Burkowitz, previous by Winfrey, seconded by Mitchell. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Madame Clerk, will you please acknowledge elected officials and media present today?

We have County Executive Jennifer Bertino Tarant, County Clerk Annette Parker, coroner Lorie Summers, auditor Duffy Blackburn, Recorder of Deeds Karen Stuko, Superintendent of Schools Elizabeth Caparelli Ruff, Treasurer Tim Broofphy, and from the media we have Daily Southtown Michelle Mullins.

Thank you. Uh, there are no honorary resolutions or proclamations. So at this time we will move on to public comment for agenda items only. Anyone who would like to come up and speak on today's agenda items outside of land use. You will have an opportunity during land use. So at this is there anyone here who has comments on the agenda today? Once going twice. All right. Very good. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, okay. Sorry. Thank you. a little bit lighter than fuchsia orchid.

Welcome. Please state your your name for the record. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Christine Duran. I am the president and founder of Triple H Ranch, a nonprofit out in Manhattan. And I first wanted to say thank you to the board because your funds that you gave to the health department, specifically the 708 board, have allowed us to start a program for foster care children and post adoption children that we have been wanting to do for the past 10 years and have not had the funding. Since then, we have had several students start and 100% of our parents have come back with saying that there has been improvement in their children. already, and we have only been running this since May of this year, that one in four children within the first two years of aging out of foster care will be incarcerated and 80% of current prisoners in our system have been in foster care at one point in time or another. So, I wanted to say thank you for that funding because it's allowing us to expand. A little bit about Triple H. We do programs for veterans and first responders. Um we work with of course foster care and post adoption. We're very big into um addiction and recovery as well as mental health in general. The youngest that we have had in our program that's in our therapeutic writing who has tried committing suicide is 10. The average age is 12. for next year's grant for the 708 board. Triple H has found a facility within Will County that has 25 acres that will allow us to work on a 20-year dream that we have had of providing a residential space for adolescent girls and mental health crisis. So, I just wanted to say thank you because the funds that you are giving to the 708 board are truly impacting our community. Thank you for your time.

How you guys doing? My name is Kyle Hunter. I'm with Clear Armor. Um here today to discuss a project that I've been working on with Dr. Caparelli and all the Will County Roe. Um we're a soul source manufacturer.

Sir, I'm sorry. This you would be at the end of the agenda because there's nothing on the agenda for this time. We're not for Okay. Thank you. Sorry. All right. Anyone else for public comment on agenda items? Okay. Very good. Moving on to old business. All resolutions and ordinance from the September 18th, 2025 board meeting have been signed and returned. We are now moving on to uh new business where we are welcoming uh regional superintendent Dr. Dr. Lisa Caparelli Ruff who will have a presentation on the past year in the regional office of education. Thank you so much. Good morning honorable Will County Board and County Executive. Thank you for having me. I'm Lisa Caparelli Ruff. I'm the Will County Superintendent and I'm here to talk about several items today. Um, I want to talk about uh some of the updates at our area safe school showcasing ALAP success and I'm going to get into what ALAP is and an overview on our truency and safety. I'll keep this overview condensed, but please don't hesitate to reach out to me or my staff if you should have any questions or need details on anything I'll be mentioning today. To start things off, you have a packet in front of you, board members. Um, we added a couple of slides that may or may not be on the overhead, so please stick with me in the uh packet. So, I'm on page two. To start things off, we participated in several countywide events that directly engage students and families. These included KidsFest, Healthy Home, I'm sorry, Healthy Families, Healthy Homes, the Backpack Event, Trunk or Treat, the Will County

Spelling Bee, and the Steam Fair. The backpack event was a new addition this year and despite some logistical setbacks and last minute speed bumps, we managed to provide over 600 backpacks filled to the brim with school supplies for students. We were even fortunate enough to secure a dental van that offered free dental cleanings for over a dozen families. Next year's event will be even bigger. I'm on page three. Lincoln School has seen significant upgrades. The building received a new look with updated colors and logos, fresh paint, and improvements to the kitchen, new equipment such as the double oven, refrigerator, and freezer, which allows support for our dual credit partnership with Joliet Junior College. The partnership allows students to gain practical skills in a professional setting while earning college credit. This indeed is a resume builder for them. In 2024 through 2025, we had 11 Lincoln students met coursework requirements to graduate. This is twice the number from last year. Two more students have already met requirements this semester with several on track before winter break. Attendance has also improved across all three programs. Lincoln also partners with Unbroken Family Counseling and the Will County Child Advocacy Center to address barriers students face. In addition, students complete a service learning course combining academics and life skills. I'd like to take a moment and ask Will County ROE staff to stand up so that I can introduce them. To the right is Principal Richard Bane of our Lincoln school. Next to him is Teresa Ward. She is our director of safety and security. To her right is Dr.

Sparland, my assistant superintendent. To his right is Tommy Scorzo, my executive assistant. And just in the back is uh Andrew Elarone. He's in charge of truency. And next to Andrew is Mr. Paul Puce. He is in charge of our staff. And right here to my left is Dr. Patrick Idzik. He is our communications director. So, the next page that you have in front of you, board members, is a um full page with pictures of all the changes that we made at Lincoln School. First and foremost, you will see a picture of a bathroom. The only bathroom that Lincoln had due to its age was on the first floor. So, students had to walk down two flights of stairs to get to the one and only bathroom. So, we built a bathroom on the second floor. So, that's pictured in front of you. We also added new refrigeration thanks to um states attorney Glasco. He gave us refrigeration that lasted for two years. However, we needed to upgrade as it just uh stopped working. And underneath the refrigerator and the bathroom pictures are a picture of the double oven that we added so that our students can further their dual credit work. And right next to that is a picture showing you the cameras. It's just one picture. We have several cameras now. Lincoln didn't have cameras before, so we added that this year. Next, I'd like to talk about um the ALOP program. This is new to us this year, and I'm very excited about this program. ALOP means alternative learning opportunities program. And so, it's designed to increase graduation rates and by providing targeted support to at risk students. Will County didn't have this really started out in West 40,

which is another ISP within um Illinois. So, we piloted the ALAP program last spring at Lockport High School, and we had 30 students enrolled. This year, we expanded to Joliet 204 because of the massive success that Lockport had with this. And um we have advocates at 204, one at West, one at Central. and um Joliet 86 joined in as well. So we have an advocate at Farragate. Pictured in front of you are the four um ALOP uh staff that works uh with their students. So the the ladies pictured are advocates and each of them have a case load of 32, no higher. If more students are referred due to their atrisisk behaviors, we need to hire another case load worker. So traditional counselors have hundreds of students. They cannot work every day with hundreds of students. It's just unmanageable. So having this ALOP person in the building, if a student is absent or truent, they can quickly call a parent or if they're having some at risk behaviors, they can quickly call them out of school. What's going on? Call them out of class. Let's talk. So each student receives a student success plan created with their advocate, their parent, and the ROE. This plan sets clear goals in attendance, grades, and social emotional growth and post high school planning. If you follow me to the next page, we're on to truency. And um since the start of 2024, our truency department has received 209 new referrals from 25 of our school districts, including our own regional safe school. Out of those cases, 49 have

required court petitions to the state's attorney's office, about 23% reaching the final stage of intervention. Every student appearing in court since January 2025 has now completed a risk assessment through juvenile probation received a brief consultation and been connected with Aunt Martha's counseling services. We've also had real success stories. Seven students who are who were on track to drop out have enrolled in our new GED program launched in February and two are already at passing level. This year we hosted our first countywide truency summit bringing together all stakeholders, administrators, principles. Uh we even had um uh the judge come out, the uh public defender and the state's attorney so that we could all come together and make great decisions about how we are going to manage our truent students in Will County. Safety trainings is the page I'm on. On January 10th, we hosted the second Will County School Safety Summit. Educators, administrators, and first responders along with elected officials attended. Keynote speakers included retired deputy AJ DeAndrea and John Michael Keys of the I Love You guys Foundation. Their presentation on the Plat Canyon high school shooting emphasized the importance of standardized response and reunification protocols which we are now implementing countywide. Local resources were also highlighted including Creemon's healing pause project and Detective Rich Wistaki's juvenile justice online program now available to all districts at no cost. In November, the ROE will partner in the Joliet Active Threat and Mental Wellness

Conference. Speakers will include Molly Bradley Hudgens, who prevented a school shooting through direct intervention, and Captain Todd Hill on the Oxford High School. I'm on the Clear Armor page. This year, we launched a school safety initiative with Clear Armor. We reinforced one entrance and one exit at each of Will County's 21 high schools with shooter resistant window laminate. According to the US Government Accountability Office, roughly 20% of school related shooting incidents specifically occur at or just outside of main entrances, making these access points high-risk areas. The laminate makes glass shatterresistant, delaying forced entry attempts and providing additional time for lockdowns and law enforcement response. It also protects against severe weather, including tornadoes and hail. Phase two would expand protections to middle and junior high schools, and phase three lastly, would reinforce elementary schools. We'll end on a really exciting new initiative that the ROE has recently launched, the Educators of Excellence Awards. With the help of Dr. Heather Seagull Hickman, we're introducing this program to celebrate the people who make our schools thrive every day. Starting this month, we'll be collecting nominations across seven categories from early career educators to principles and student support personnel. A panel of regional educators will help us narrow down the nominations to three finalists in each category. We will officially recognize these exceptional educators at a special awards ceremony in April.

We're really proud of this initiative and look forward to making it an annual event. In closing, we've been very busy. We love what we do at the county and we hope that you can see that. Thank you for your time and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have. If you we run out of time or you prefer to write in your questions, please reach out to our director of communication or myself. His email is listed. Mine is online. Again, thank you so much for the opportunity to serve the students and families in Will County. I

think we have a few questions for you, doctor. We're going to start off with uh member Hickeyi and then member uh we have several here. Member Hickey and then member Logan. Sure. Good morning. Thank you for the presentation. Um you said that you had a dental van. Was that through the health department? It was not. Oh, okay. Okay. I tried. Oh, they they didn't work on the particular day that we hosted the event. They're busy. I I understand. Yeah. Um and so I I see the the clear armor information. Is this in the budget for the coming year? The

So, actually, I'm glad you brought that up. It was due to you guys through the cannabis budget um for of $75,000 last year and that's what enabled us to obtain the uh protective film on the high schools in W County. Okay. And then were there ARPA funds too? No.

No. Okay. Um All right. I I was there something with resource officers? I'm reaching back into my brain here. So, I would love SRO's, school resource officers at all of um our schools in Will County. Um I have reached out for our regional safe school and unfortunately um we're not getting enough people to apply to the police force and that's the answer that I'm getting. Okay, interesting. Yes. Okay. But with regard to phase two and phase three, are those things in your budget for the

It is not. I am asking that uh if there are more cannabis funds, we would love to get them to do phase two and phase three. That is my ask. Thank you. Thank you, member Logan. Um thank you. I I did hear we had a speaker come up a little while ago and he said he was from Clear Armor. Could he give us a little more information about exactly what this laminate is? I would like that. Now, this is a report that they're doing. will be able to come at the he'll do public comment. I would suggest you do it this yeah you know it's a question for the regional office. Are you an expert on clar?

I this is just a presentation. It's not a again yeah this is just a presentation. If you would like to know more about the program which is great I think it's you're well within your right to you know ask them but it's

okay. Okay. Well, we we what what what is your motion to amend the rules to do what? Okay, there's a motion to allow a a speaker to come. I got it. Is there a second? Okay, madame clerk, please call the role. Remember, we need how many? While they're looking up, please, Madam Clerk, please will get the number. Richmond 17. Did you say yes? You said yes. Williams. Jean Slapman. Ogala. Yes. Pretzel. Yes. Butler. Newquest. Yes.

Axley. Yes. Brooks. Yes. Winfrey. Bulock. Logan. Yes. Freeman. Revvis. Mitchell. Ortiz. Burkowitz Hickey Costa Trainer Band. Oh, sorry. All right. One, two, three. Kyle 19. Affirmative. The motion pass. Thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you. Thank you. If you could again just identify yourself and your Yeah. Yeah. Kyle Hunter. I'm a director of sales at Clear Armor. So happy to answer any questions that you guys may have or do you want me to just talk about product in general? Mr. Logan, can you repeat your question for me? Okay. I just want to know what it is.

Yeah. So, we have uh multiple products. Just depends on what we're going with. For the schools specifically, we go with a 15 mil laminate. So, it's three 5 mil layers. PET laminate run multiple directions kind of similar to plywood to bring up tensil strength. Um everything we do is made here in the US, made by us, installed by us. Um so, we are a sole source for the US government. Um and uh it's a PT base, but what it'll do is it'll stop somebody from gaining access to the facility. So the buildings that we did in the high schools or the entrances all have our 15 mil on them. So all the doors, windows adjacent to those entrances is what we started with. Um moving forward we'd be going to junior highs, elementary schools in phases two and three.

I do not I do not any good. All right. All right. And folks, remember this is a just a brief on the regional office of education, not so again, let's not make this go all day here.

So I I'm just interested in this uh because my wife worked at for 15 years in schools in some pretty poor neighborhoods and quite often people might not realize this, but there are gunshots out and you hear them in the classrooms. So I think this is a great thing. I just wonder like, you know, typically you would think of bulletproof glass like at the currency exchange. I mean, this is quite a bit less expensive of an option and and is it is like effective.

So, you there's two parts of that, right? Like one is it that there's no construction with what we do. And the biggest difference between us and bulletproof glass is if you're going to do a traditional bulletproof bulletproof glass application, you're usually removing hinges, walls, whatever you need to remove to add support. for that. Um, ours goes directly to existing glass. Uh, the 15 mil product is not bulletproof. So, it's a shooter resistant laminate, so it's just designed to keep somebody out of the building, right? Um, it can withstand being shot several times, beat on, you know, whatever the case may be. But how long is somebody going to stand there and beat on your glass or shoot it or whatever the case, you know, with that if something were to happen? Um, it's just to buy time for the SRO inside to do what they need to do. Uh, the same product can be layered up to the bullet resistant level. um depending on the thickness of the glass like quarter inch piece of glass which is standard in most commercial buildings or schools um it'd be a multi-lication so or multi-layered application so four to five layers of that same product and that would stop a 94045 buckshot and we do demonstrations at our facility all the time in Grace Lake so anytime you guys want to come up more than happy to have you for a day

is that invitation open to anybody anybody yeah well I thank you for that and I just want to say that I I just feel like this is something that should have just been done, you know, in today's age, you know, it's a simple fix and it should be done. Yeah. So, I I went to Lincoln Way East, so it it really is like personal for me, right? It was one of the first things that I wanted to do when I came on with this company was come to Will County because it was this is something we never had to worry about when I was a kid and obviously we didn't have anything on on Moina Junior High or Elementary School or any of the schools I went to because it wasn't a thing. And now it's every day it seems like there's something happening. So, um, yeah, it's a pleasure to be here. I appreciate you guys listening to me. So, member Richmond.

Thank you. Um, so I I guess it's not for the bulletproof glass guy. All right. Does anybody else have any questions for this gentleman? All right, hold on. We have one more since more. Yep, that's fine. Yep. Uh, member Van Dy. Thank you, Madam Executive. Um, I know when we use Will County dollars or aka cannibis dollars for this type of installment, do you guys have to are you guys required to pay prevailing wage to your your your workers?

Yeah. So, all of our workers are paid above prevailing wage typically. We don't we're not glazers, so we don't fall under the same union categories as they would. Um, but everybody's salaried that uh does work with us. So, all of our installers are are W2 employees. Um, but yeah, they're always paid at or above prevailing wage. Yeah, absolutely. Any other questions for this gentleman? I'm going to let him go. Sit down. Yep. All right. Thank you. Thanks. Um, we have a few more for you, Dr. Caparelli Roth. We're going to start with uh member Richmond.

Thank you. So, Lisa, thank you for coming out. But so I I heard in your presentation that you have a program where they can continue on to JJC dual credits. That's like regular high schools or that. So I commend you for that. That I think that's great because what it does is it gives these young men and women a vision or a a look into their future. Sure. So that's great. But I heard you also say truency and absenteeism chronic. Can you define that? Because to me it seems like if my kids miss more than two or three days that's chronic and that's unacceptable. Sure. I'm sure there's probably a different definition for that.

Sure. Chronic truency and chronic absenteeism. So chronic absenteeism is a student that misses 10% or more of the school year. There's 180 days in the school year. So that would be about 18 days. And chronic truency is 5%. So that would be nine days. Now is that consecutive or is that over the whole course of the year? full year. Okay. All right. Now, do you allow then for like somebody that's sick or something like that? Sure. For those are excused absences. Okay. All right. We're talking about unexcused absences um for the chronic. Okay. Yeah. It's been like 15 years since my kids's been in school. So, I apologize. I understand.

And also too is I don't think you ever mentioned like the the capacity or the amount of students that you could uh have at Lincoln School. I mean, it seems like you I don't know. What's a capacity? I guess that's 125 students. 120. Okay. I guess that's the 32 time 4 or that. Okay. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. Are there any more questions? I think you're all good. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here. Thank you to your staff. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Yes, for sure. Thank you.

Right. Very good. We are now moving on to land use and development. Chair Pretzel. Thank you, Madam Executive. I'd like to make a motion to open public hearing for all land use cases. Motion by Pretzel. Second. Seconded by Costa. Madame clerk, please call the role. Richmond, yes. Williams, Lotman, yes. Ogala Pretzel. Yes. Butler Newquist. Yes. yes. Axley, yes. Brooks, yes. Winfrey. Bulock.

Logan. Freeman. Revis. Yes. Mitchell. Yes. Ortiz. Burkowitz. Hickey. Costa. Trineer. Vanett. Yes. Very good. We are now in public hearing. Absolutely no new evidence or information will be allowed once this land use public hearing is closed. Are are any individuals here to talk before the county board on land use issues? Anyone to talk on a land use issue? Last call. All right, sir.

All right. I like where we're going here. I'd like to make a motion to close public hearing for all Andy's cases. Motion by Pretzel, seconded by Revvis. Is there previous? Previous. Second Mitchell. Previous by Hickey, seconded by Mitchell. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries.

Okay. First up on the agenda, zoning KZ ZC25016. This is a map amendment from R5 to R six and a special use permit for a multi-unit building in Joliet Township vacant property at the corner of Algangquin Street in Copperfield Avenue, Juliet, Illinois County Board District number six. We're going to vote twice here. First is the map amendment. If that is approved, then we can vote on the special use permit. Um, land use and development voted committee voted uh 7 to zero to approve and PZC I'm sorry this is for the map amendment 7 to zero to approve PZC was uh 1 to 5 recommending denial and on the um special use permit PZC was 4 to2 and land use and development was 7 to zero and I so move

motion by uh member Ptzel seconded by Galla so we are This is a map amendment. Correct. Correct. Yes. All right. So, uh motion second. Is there any discussion? Any discussion? Is is there a previous role by uh do we have do we have we had a vote on that? We had a open. Yeah. Previous role by Triner, seconded by Revis. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Next is the uh special use permit for multi-unit building and I so move by Pretzel seconded by Trir Mitchell previous roll call by Mitchell seconded by Revis all in favor I any opposed motion carries

okay next land use development uh resolutions resolution 25-275 SCXT25-018 this is a second extension for a special use permit for rural events with seven conditions in Green Garden Township at 11332 Westley Road, Mon Illinois County Board District number three. Land use and development voted unanimously to approve uh six to zero and I so move. Motion by pretzel, second by Nuclis previous. Previous by U Traer, seconded by Oxley. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. That's it for land use. Next scheduled meeting is November 6th, 2025. Thank you.

Thank you. Moving on to finance committee chair Nquist.

Good morning everybody. Uh first up we have a consent agenda consisting of a resolution 25-76 transferring appropriations within the Will County Health Department budget. B resolution 25-277 appropriating funds within the Will County Health Department budget. C. Resolution 25-278, trustee resolution. D. Resolution 25-279, fiscal year 25, budget transfer. E, resolution 25-280, appropriating funds on hand in the debt service funds. F. Resolution 25-281, appropriating funds in the coroner's budget. G resolution 25-282 appropriating funds on hand in the indemnity fund budget which is a special fund. H resolution 25-283 appropriating funds on hand in the Larway Communications Center budget and I resolution 25-284 appropriating funds in the Veterans Assistance Commission bud budget and I so move

motion by motion by Nquis seconded by Freeman is there previous roll call by Ogala seconded by Derer all in favor I any opposed motion Motion carries. Number two, resolution 25-285, Will County estimate of annual aggregate levy and ISO move. Second motion by motion by Nquis, seconded by Winfrey. Yep. First up, member Revvice. Uh I think this uh question might be for the supervisor of assessments. I don't know if he wants to come down or if we would permit that at this time, but um ask the question first and

uh specifically I want to uh understand uh the levy tax rates and what would be the impact to them if uh there was a decline in the housing market and housing prices uh decreased similar to what happened in 2008. Treasure coming.

He's coming. Do you need me to rephrase the question or I think you know the and say please state your name for Jello will county supervisor assessments I guess your question is kind of vague when you say housing prices decreases are you talking about for the end of this year are you talking about for next year just a broad thing

in general broad thing whether it's this year or next year I think the impact would still be the same on the uh at least the levy rates for the subsequent taxing year or you know fiscal year the assessments are based upon a three-year average the prior three years so if there's let's say 24 and 25 the sales are doing good 26 they start to drop in 2027 because the two years are probably strong and one year is bad values are not going to start decreasing until majority of those sales start to decrease. They lag behind. Okay?

It's the same as when sales start to if it's flatline and sales start to increase, um it takes a it's a delay before they start to increase because of the way the system's set up, which is why some residents are still their their assessment hasn't caught up yet and they're lucky because they're underassessed compared to what the actual value of their home is, right? that it it tends to lag. What it also tends to do is smooth things out where if you've got one year maybe it's going up 1%, next year it goes up 10%, a third year it goes up 2%. You won't see these drastic increases and decreases. It tends to smooth the overall values along where it you don't see these big bumps that way. Understood.

Um but if if home values de or I say not I shouldn't just say home values overall values because you've got home values, you got commercial, industrial, farm, everything else like that. If values decrease and the levy stays the same, the rate has to increase to compensate.

Thank you very much. That's exactly what I wanted to get to. And it's just to my point, it's that it seems like even though we see the levy rates decreasing and we keep trying to tout the fact, oh, our levy rate decreases, it really means nothing in comparison to the levy, which is where the real impact is found on the levy tax rate. And uh that's just my take on it. And uh you know, I obviously am not cheerleading for a housing market crash, but when you see where the direction's going, it seems like we're building up to a situation like 2008. And it's our job as a board to be prepared for what will happen to our government revenues if something like that happens. Thank you. Thank you, member Butler.

I have no questions for the treasur, the assessor. I Yeah, I just wanted to continue in the debate. Okay. Uh if you could hold on just since he's there anyone else for the assessor while he's here. All right. Thank you sir. Thank you member Butler.

So I mean it's a little bit hard to understand how this is. So we're basically have a resolution to propose a 2% levy. Is that correct? Okay. So I would like to amend that motion to make it zero. I would like because 2% means that we're raising the taxes again. So, I would say zero. Let's not raise the taxes this year. Let's go through a year and let people rebound and reassess. So, I would I you know, I would normally tell you where to insert and and and remove, but because it's a chart, I didn't know where to do that, but I I would like to amend this resolution to reflect a 0% levy.

Second, that

you have a motion by Mr. Butler to change the levy percentage to zero a seconded by pretzel. Is there any discussion? Member Hickey. Yeah. Um this is the first I'm hearing about this. I've been to all the finance meetings and the special meetings. So um pardon me if this is but what is the effect of going to zero? Where where would that money come from in the budget as it's been presented? You mean where where like can you clarify what he like are you asking the amount that would be about? Are you asking where he's going to do his Okay. All right.

Um well I will do we have the amount that a zero do we have this in writing so we can get you do you have this proposal in writing? We've had it for two months. Is there a proposal you can provide the board in writing? Well, um, if if so we I mean, yeah, we we have a question here. I don't have that. You can take the same resolution and take 2% off, you know, like it's not really written in a way that you can remove one aspect and put something else in. But we're talking about a levy. I think we understand that.

And I appreciate what you're saying. I'm just saying is this is a lot. I mean, we've had this for two months. Did any I mean if this was the idea, do we have anything in writing that we can show? So we can answer Miss I mean I can answer Miss Hickeyy's question. If I may just to explain a levy is usually what we talk about when we're going to increase taxes in in from the budget that we had prior year. And what I'm saying with a 0% levy, all we're saying is we are not going to increase taxes. We will leave them right where they are. So all of our budget and all of our programs that were put in place will be covered with the same money that they have been in the past. Do that's it.

Do we know and I'm trying to get back to her question. So do we know about and do we know about how much a 0% would be an estimate? Do we have is Rashawn here? No, she's out. That's right. Yeah. All right. Do you do you have that answer about I I can take a guesstimate about five million four million but I'll let um I have some um other values um if we did a 0.5 um levy say instead of a 2% we're looking at a difference of roughly two.5 million. So figure zero would probably be maybe 3 million

probably something on that order. That's just an estimate. Don't quote me. Okay. The second question, Mr. Butler, I and again I am just paraphrasing and again he's do you know where that do you have we will I will have momentarily I will have a written copy ready. Well I'm not I'm not waiting. We're moving on. So again we've had two months. We've had several. I mean, I'm just saying this is not something like a surprise thing. So, we have about three. She's second question for you was I don't think anyone's making a stink about it. So, I Yeah, I just you know, you can request Yeah. it in writing and I do have to provide that for you. I did not have to have it in writing before I came here. Those are the rules.

That's fine. Wait, wait, I will have it in writing for you. That's fine. But I'm not waiting. The second question she had was, "Did you do you have an idea of where you're going to reallocate those the the dollars that will be cut?" So, you threw it something. Do you have an Am I saying that correctly? And I I would love to to be able to say that, but we, you know, as a county board can only set a budget and we rely on like I could not tell the executive where to make the cuts in her um her department. So, so you know I

not I mean again as you know as we know this is the part that I I appropriate the money you allocate the money. So again we've had this for two months. It's the first I I don't I've been to finance committees. I haven't heard of any suggestions. Do you have any suggestions of where the possibly 4 million should come from is that's I think what we're looking for and and I understand that but what we're talking about here is not spending more money. Not spending more money. And I know it's it the the thing about this is when people talk about a tax levy, a lot of people just think that's the tax you pay. They don't understand that that levy is an increase. And it's so common and prevalent that that increase happens every year. Like we never stop adding taxes. So all we're saying is take a break. Okay? We're going through a transition. Food prices are up. Everything's up. Taxes are up, rents up. We just want to stay at the status quo and let everybody breathe here. So, I will provide that that that all the figures you want the new is coming right now. So, I have

uh before I let the the state attorney hold on I want to make sure Kelly has member Kiki is has her questions answered. I'm just again concerned because I've been to the finance meetings. We've discussed um both sides of the aisle have said that it's a really tight budget and I just don't know I think that we should have an aspiration of where we're headed with this. We need to have a realistic number and if we don't know where that money is going to come from I don't know how it can be realistic. So um thank you. Thank Mr. States Attorney would you like to

Yeah. My only concern here is is we have the the levy rate obviously or the levy increase. Uh but you also have money allocated to various funds and the motion as it stands now doesn't contemplate what we're doing with those funds. Is it intended that we just reduce every one of those funds 2%. Uh 0%. Oh, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. We're hitting each

I I'm sorry. I I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I I believe there's like 50 or 70 million dollars in the transportation that they're going to be doing a project. I'm just you asked and and a lot of the community, the local government don't want it. I mean, it doesn't have to be done. I mean, that's way more than what we're talking about. So just, you know, each department could reallocate and and do things, but here's an area you could take that money, that 50 or 70 million, and I bet you the health department would want one fraction of it. You ask me what I would do. What I wanted to make I know I appreciate that, but you have to also do things that are allowable to take, unfortunately, we can't take transportation funds by law and put them in health department. So, just so you know too, there are some

No, I I get that, but we could allocate less to that department and more to another as the county board. If you're asking me what I think we should do, right? And I and again, I and I I appreciate what you're saying. I'm just going to say that it's not it is I wish it was that simple, but we get transportation fund from outside entities. So, again, no matter how much we get, it has to stay in uh we could get five million, we can get 50 million, it has to stay in in in that pool. And that comes from outside dollars that we can and I can appreciate there is certain amount of grant money that does come with that. But there are also money that we tax our citizens with that we could use for other things than going there. That one.

All right. All right. Well, I'm going to do you have any other question comments? I'm going to move on to the next person then. All right. We have Mr. Ballage.

Um Dan beat me to the punch. I was going to ask for uh minus 10%. And then I figured you were going to argue like last time where I was told it's impossible to do minus 10%. So I would do minus one penny out of every line item that you know that way you know where it comes from. So if you took one penny out of every single line item, then we would have But I'm not making that motion. I'm agreeing with Dan, but that's what I would have ended up doing, just taking one penny out of every line item we got, and that would be a cut in taxes for all the people that live in Will County that really deserve a break. And you know, if you shake your head and you say, "No, I see people like, what the heck? You're taking one cent out of it." Well, freezing it is basically almost the same. So that's why I can agree with Mr. Butler. But to be honest with you, raising it at all is a problem for all the people, you know, and I said that every year. I say the same thing, but it's true. People are struggling. So the county raises their taxes because the county doesn't want to have to struggle. So taxes increase for the county. So we don't have to worry about how we spend our money because I think we have a spending problem as opposed to a revenue problem because the revenue keeps coming and we keep spending it and more. So I urge everybody to just vote yes with Mr. Butler.

Thank you member Traneer and then Burkowit.

Thank you madam executive. I sure wish this idea would have come up in any one of the prior finance committee meetings so that we could have had a discussion about it. I think it's um it's a shame that we have to wait until the last minute to try to play some sort of dramatic uh act. I guess I can tell you in my community the gas prices are down. Uh and my community charges a gas tax. Um I know that some prices are up, other prices are down. But if prices are up, as the other board member mentioned, then why do they think that we're not going to suffer from increased prices? Because I can bet every single vendor in that budget is getting more money from us next year than they got this year for the same service. We can't control prices. We can put out bids. We can hope for the lowest bid, hope it saves us a little money, but in the end, we are subject to the same price increases that our residents are. And it's just a fact. And we can't continue this the same services without increasing the cost to the government. So, I'm not going to be voting in support of Mr. Butler's motion.

Thank you, member Burkwit. And then Ogala. Thank you. Um, so first of all, we're talking about a budget. We're talking about taxpayer dollars. We're not talking about grants and things like that. We're talking about a reduction in taking an increase of taxpayer dollars. Taxpayers can't pay anymore. I've talked to thousands of residents over the last two months and very few of them said I can pay more or I I want to pay more. So we need we need to keep in mind that at the end of the day everything we do is paid for by the taxpayer. The county board our job is to approve this levy. Our job is not to fi tell the department heads how to um adjust their budgets or how to spend their money accordingly. That's their their prerogative. Uh the county executive has free reign over her operations. She has a budget and then she has the ability to spend it accordingly. It's not our job. We don't have to figure out where do we find this $100,000 in this particular budget. We have to respond to what our constituents and what the businesses out there are telling us and they're telling us they can't do anymore. DuPage County, which has over a million residents, was able to successfully balance their budget with no increase

for their residents. And I would challenge the Will County board members to do the same for the for the people who call Will County home. We need to realize that these are very difficult times. There are a lot of people unemployed. They're not getting federal holiday pay. They're they're trying to get a job. And these are Americans of all ages today. So, for that reason, um I I support this proposal put forward by County Board Member Butler and um I would encourage you all to really think about the message we're getting from our constituents. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, member Ogal, if you could just hold on a second. I think uh, the state's attorney's office wanted to quickly have a clarification.

And I just, as I'm listening to the comments, I just wanted to clarify this is uh, the estimate of the the levy. I understand those things are tied. You're just required by law to pass an estimate levy more than 20 days before the actual levy. Um, so this is for purposes of pel to make sure that we don't have to go to referendum, number of things. So I just want everyone to be clear. This is only step one in the process. Uh if if you look at the uh memo that was presented by the finance department, this is just step one. We're required to do this in advance in excess of 20 days of the actual levy process. You member Ogala.

Thank you. So in the past we've often had these conversations and unfortunately sometimes it does happen just at the full board meeting. That does happen. It's not like it hasn't happened before. It has happened before. I think we h it has happened before, Jackie. So, she's talking here. Okay. Okay, guys. Let's Okay, ladies and gentlemen, let's again I know again motional. Let's try to keep even our our own talk to ourselves and let other be respectful of other members. So,

member. So in the past when we have had really when we have passed nothing but new construction we have also gone ahead and said listen we've given you this money you figure out how it works within your department. That happens in everyday companies where they are stuck with looking at their bottom line and trying to figure out how they're going to make their ends meet for the next year. They make hard decisions. The board doesn't typically make hard decisions because for them there is no bottom line. It's it's an open pocketbook. You can tax the residents in your property taxes and they have to pay it. If they don't pay it, they're delinquent. So, I think it would be a great thing for us to come forward with with a leadership role. Somebody has some taxing body has to show a leadership role. I know I live in Will Township and they've not raised their levy in five years. So, it can be done. You can live within your means and still do the work that you need to do. Thank you. Thank you. We have member Richmond and then Nquis.

I uh I thought I heard coming out of Springfield that we need to look at a 4% uh budget cuts. And to me that would be a bipartisan type of initiative is to look at how we can hold the line on taxes especially here at the county. I think member Butler's recommendation of zero, I mean, it's we're not asking for cuts. We're just asking to status quo. So, um, I'd encourage everybody to consider voting yes for his amendment. Member Nquis.

Thank you. Um I just want to comment that okay so the proposal that um the the list of funds I should say that member Butler has provided us the only real discretionary fund if you will comes under corporate. I mean most of these other services are either mandated or they're required and those are dedicated funding sources. we can't take money out of any of those other funds and shift it over to corporate. So what that means about roughly and Mike or um or county executive correct me if I'm misspeaking here but we about 80% of our corporate fund is is a direct result of personnel or contractual costs. So that's a very small amount that we're that we actually can make adjustments on. So what that means is I understand member Burkowitz's point that um you know we basically set the budget and it's sub to the departments but we also have to realize that if we reduced our levy to zero the only way we can do this is by either cutting services or cutting people. And I think if we made that decision to go to zero, we need to be aware and responsible for knowing that we'd be making either service cuts or personnel cuts and we might want to have a say in how that might work. So thank you.

Thank you and appreciate the question and you're absolutely correct. uh the vast majority of our budget over 70% goes to personnel expenditures and uh just as we are tasked with administering the budget I just want to point out that uh in this decrease this 0% levy opportunity uh you will be shorting the tort immunity fund over $1.5 million those are settlements that this board approved we will be in default on settlement judgments approved by this board uh with that our workers comp costs as well have accelerated especially with our sheriff's department uh and and the dangerous job that those employees have. So, we will be short on workers comp costs. So, you may think that you're just reducing the levy to 0%, but those other funds would then have to be uh backed up by the corporate fund, which is our only discretionary fund. So, you'd be looking at probably a $7 million cut in the corporate fund. So,

thank you. All right, moving on. We have I'm trying to see who has not spoke yet. Mr. Van um Speaker Vanine Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Yeah, I usually let the speaker go last. I'm gonna let uh do you have a uh me me No, let's go. Go ahead. Member Dean Schlottman, then we'll go Van Dy. Sorry, I didn't see your button there. Sorry. And then we'll go back to second second time around. I thought you spoke.

I think to member Richmond's point when he has said that even out of Springfield, they have said that tough decisions have to be made and we need to find ways to make cuts. We cannot control what prices are, but we can control what we spend. And it is happening to every household all over Will County. So for the fact that we are going to sit here and say that it's just too hard to do, too bad, then we need to look harder. There are places where there can be cuts that are made that will make sense. Mr. Richmond goes through the budget line by line every year and gets shut down when he wants to show where those cuts can be made. So, this is not merely a oh, we're going to make everybody who's employed by the government suffer. This is we're just not worried about how we're making everyone else suffer. And the residents of Will County have had enough. I encourage everyone to vote with Mr. Butler's motion.

Mr. Van, I turn off. Thank you. Um, I know this has already been said, but uh, we we've had we've had multiple finance meetings. Uh, we've also offered special finance meetings to discuss this possible amendment. Um, I think, uh, as far as I know, everybody was comfortable with the 2%. So, I know kind of what's going to happen after this. We take a vote. There may be another another amendment. I would just uh let everybody know that I'm comfortable at sticking with the 2% no matter what amendment comes forward. Thank you.

Thank you, member Ravvice, and then Termine. Thank you, Madam Executive. Uh, this is for the state's attorney's office. I just want to clarify this is the first step in the levy process. You had said correct under under the law you're required to pass the annual aggregate levy. Obviously that has effects on everything else that happens. Uh but it's regards to pel and whether we're going to exceed the CPI or 5%. But this is the first step in the process. Uh this is not the actual levy. Yeah. And earlier you had mentioned that we would have to pass this to remain in compliance with PTEL and avoid something like going to a referendum. Correct.

Uh certainly uh you would you have to pass an aggregate one way or another regardless of what you're going to do. You need to pass an agg estimated aggregate levy. Okay. But if we would to fail to do that, let's just say we had 22 anti- high tax board members and we all voted no, the impact of that would be it would go to a referendum for the public to determine or no? No. Then then we I mean we we have to we ab absolutely have to at some point pass an aggregate levy or an estimate estimate aggregated levy whether it's mean it has to be within 20 days. I when you made the referendum comment that's what I'm going for.

Oh I'm sorry. The referendum comment. No it does not it does not go to a referendum simply because you passed didn't pass one. You have to pass a uh estimated aggregate levy. the referendum, you're you're getting the estimate so that you know whether it's going to be over the CPI or the 5% which triggers the the referendum question. It does not trigger a referendum if you're under that um that those CPI or the 5% whatever is lower. Got it. So to trigger a referendum, we would have to be in exceed PEL which is the either CPI or 5%. Correct. You absolutely have to pass an an estimate aggregate levy though. Um it's just the law requires it.

Understood. Um cuz I was going to say if that were the case, let's say we failed to pass this, we should, you know, um vote no on it, have it go to a referendum and let the citizens decide because I think they'd make it very clear. Everybody I talked to says they want their units of government to do something to lower the impact on their property taxes. And I know we're not a big part of the property tax bill when there are 13 units of government all with their hand in uh the the pot, but you know, we have to do uh what's proportional in terms of what our role here is at the county and at the forest reserve. So, uh I am going to uh support uh member Butler's uh um uh proposal and then uh when that ultimately fails, I will be voting no on this estimate. Thank you. Thank you, member Hickey, and then Butleran.

Thank you. Um, I

I would I hesitate to speak for everyone, but I I think that in my conversations with other board members, we're all anti- high taxes. Nobody wants to ask for Excuse me, I'm speaking. We We really have to try to learn to have some self-control here. I get it. I get it. It's emotional. if you can just do your real best to hold in your your your feelings. I have to do it a lot myself. So, please let's just try to be respectful of people's different opinion. We we recognize that people have very vast opinions on this.

Thank you. Um so, I spent several hours on the budget so far. Um I I know this is my first time going through this process. So I have talked to many staff members um who've been kind enough to share information. I've gone to every meeting and I I believe that was the time when we were working on this. So, I don't understand why those these things weren't brought forward then and I feel like this is just kind of a tactic and and not really very productive. Um, you know, no one wants to see more social services more than I do. However, I've said to several people in this room, I don't think this is the year to expand things if we don't know where the money's going to come from. So, I I believe that this is as responsible as we can be. Um, and I I hear you. I people are hurting. They will need more services when they're hurting. Um, so I think that we this is a balancing act that we're trying to pull off here. and I I really would hope that we could have some productive conversation about it. Thank you.

All right. I'm going to remind people if you're talking for a second time, you have two minutes. Member Burkowit.

Thank you, Madame Executive. So, more services from the government equates to taking more taxpayer dollars. And the message I'm getting is is that taxes are increasing in literally practically every levy on your tax bill with the exception this year of the forest preserve which it will go down a little bit like it did last year. Everyone else wants more. So more services equal more tax dollars taken out of their pockets. And we have to remember that when we grow, the only person that pays for that is the taxpayer. We get our funding from the taxpayer. I'm a taxpayer. My property was reassessed, I think it was 14% a year or so ago. 14%. And if I put my property on the market, I would the renovation and the the maintenance we would have to do would be stunning. It would be hundreds of thousands of dollars. That's real life. That's what our residents experience. We in government unfortunately take a house and we put a value on it, a financial value on it and it is completely unrealistic because a house is like a car. It breaks down. You need to maintain it. You need to constantly invest money in it. It's not worth the $700,000 or $500,000 that the assessor tells you it's worth. It's not

realistic. The system is flawed. And at the end of the day, as a elected official, my job is to listen to what the people are telling me. And yes, I will admit I have had people tell me I'm okay with my taxes, but that rarely ever happens. Burst, I need you to wrap up. Yeah.

Okay. Um I do want to mention we talked about cuts. County board is taking we we are we are taking uh a cut. We are we we we we have not increased our spending dramatically. In fact, we don't really even have a county boardroom. This is not ours. This desk doesn't belong to us. We don't get an office and people can snicker, but it's a fact. I like to tell people that the county we're is very frugal when it comes to their county board. We received an email saying that we

let's let's let's stay in focus. I need you to wrap up your over. So I believe that it isn't inappropriate to ask other departments to examine their budgets, consolidate where necessary, and we can maintain on what we took last year. Thank you. Thank member Butler for two minutes. I'll give you the same leeway, but I'll let you know. You're Oh, you're on.

All right. So, I just want to clarify a few things. You know, when we talk about the levy, most people think the tax levy is what their taxes are, but because it's so common that the tax levy is always in the positive. It's it's never zero. Never zero. Okay? So people but people come to think that that's what their taxes are that that they they think that's normal but it's actually an increase to their taxes every single year. I'd like to set a precedent that hey sometimes we don't raise your taxes. I know that's probably very, you know, foreign for a lot of people to think. And when I first came to this board, I was amazed at how the Democrat side of the board felt they needed to spend the money. It was urgent. And I used to think that they just didn't care, but they felt an urgency like it was their duty to spend the money. But I know that when I was raising my family, my four daughters and my wife, sometimes we didn't have a lot of money and we did without certain things. So when we talk about our needs as the government, we have to remember we're just a reflection of the people. So if the people need to save some money, then that's what we need to do. We don't just ask for more because things are tough. We have to do the same thing that all the families do because that's who we represent. So, I just want to keep things in perspective. I'm winding down because I have 18 seconds left and I'm just asking for everybody. Let's let's let's do something historic and and let's just not raise the taxes this year. Simple. All right. Thank you.

Thank you, member Revvice. Two minutes, sir. Thank you, Madam Executive. Uh, I just wanted to uh comment on I heard like three different ways that, you know, this is the first time I'm hearing about this. You know, this is the first time I'm seeing, then you're not listening. You're not paying attention because this side of the aisle, this is all we talk about. Uh, when I go talk to people at the in their uh districts and at their homes, this is all they talk about. So, I repeat this as many times as I can, as often as I can, whether it's at the Forest Preserve or here. So, while I appreciate that you're telling me that you hear us, but then right before that you said this is the first time hearing this, it's very disingenuous, at least in my perspective. So, you know, um I agree with everything member Butler said. I think it's time that we, you know, uh do the will of the people and lower property taxes and and do without and tell government no. So, thank you.

Thank you. We're going to close up with Cher Nuke. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. Just as I rem Oh, I'm sorry. Member Ortiz, the last minute push. I'm sorry. I just have a question. I'm going through this the paper that we were passed out and seems as though I don't know, maybe there's a typo in here and the IMRF line. It actually increases $2 million with the 0% versus the 2%. Is it supposed to decrease 2 million cuz it went I don't know who made

I don't know who is that a mistake. Is that a mistake? Hold on. We're going to let you I mean do we have who I don't know who put this together. You put this together Mark. So with 2025 the 2% CPI um proposed it says 14,200 for IMRF but then with the 0% Oh that is a good catch. It increased $2 million. So I was just wondering

well regardless what we're looking for is the same $16.2 million that we got in 2024 final levy and that's what it would remain for the 2025 final levy. $16.2 million. So it does appear yes that there is a typo there. However, 16.2 million would be a 0% increase. Thank you for catching up. Okay, thanks. So, we are now going to vote on the 0% levy that Mr. Butler proposed. 0%. Madame clerk, please call the role. Richmond Williams Dean Schlottman Ogala

yes pretzel Butler yes newquistic yes yes Brooks Winfrey Bullock Logan yes Freeman Revis Mitchell yes

Ortiz Burkowitz Vicki Costa Trainer and I do

what a break. No, was it 12 in the affirmative? The motion carries. Cheer. Well, that was number two. So, we're going Oh, now we have Yeah. Yeah. So, now we have to vote on as amended.

I'm sure. Sorry. Sorry about that. Okay. So, now um we're back to number two. Um um we're back to number two. Uh the Will County estimate of annual aggregate levy as amended. And I so move. Motion by Nquist, seconded by Ravis. All right, madam clerk, please call the role. Richmond or any discussion. Okay. Richmond. All right. Madam clerk, please call the role. Sorry. Richmond. Williams. Dean Schlottman.

Ogala. Rzzel. Yes. Butler, yes. Newquest, no. yes. Oxley, yes. Brooks, no. Winfrey, Bulock, Logan, yes. Freeman Revvice, yes. Mitchell, yes. Ortiz Burkowitz, yes. Vicki, no. Costa R. None

with 12 in the affirmative. The motion carries. Okay. Number three, resolution 25-286 community mental health board estimate of annual aggregate levy and I so move. Motion by Nquest, seconded by Costa. Any discussion? M. Oh, member Agala and then at Burkwitz.

Thank you. So, we've just gone through our first year of the 708 board having distributed funds to various organizations within the county. I think that we need to reconsider and um take a hold on the money going forward so that we can see how those funds are being distributed, how the program works. And that also gives the 708 board and those working with the 708 board the opportunity to evaluate their process and determine if they need to make changes. So I would propose that we make no change to the levy and keep it as it was last year which was at $8 million. I'll make that motion.

Second motion by Ogala, seconded by Ballage. Is there discussion on the amendment? Are there discussion on the amendment? Member Burkowitz and then Speaker Vandine.

Yes. Um we when this whole board first came forward and was passed through referendum um this committee was supposed to provide an annual report to the board which the first year did not happen. Uh we didn't get our financial reporting. Um we also had asked that the organizations that re received money would provide the board with a summary and a report. Um that really hasn't happened either. Uh again the issue with this whole process is accountability and transparency. Uh this board is not accountable to the C county board the way it's structure structured according to state statute. It's not accountable to us in any way. This board does not have to uh come to us for approval to allocate all this money. Uh it they don't have to um provide us with any reporting. Um there's no the vid I I don't believe that the meetings are recorded so the public can view them. Um because I would love to uh watch the meetings and and look at them later. Um I don't believe that's ever been started. I've requested that many times. Um, I do know it's a public meeting and but if you're not available that night, it it's really awesome for the organization to allow the public to

watch and review the meeting later like we do with the Will County Board. Um, so with that with those issues, I, you know, I don't know where how did the $8 million get distributed? Uh, where did it go? Where is a um a summary of the impact and the purpose for that $8 million? And the other thing too is we we're talking about the budget. Um this for example, they're proposing

we're talking about the levy. We're not talking about the budget.

Thank you. Um they propose I believe when they proposed $8 million, they actually received more money because when the treasurer sends the bills out, that's that's an estimate. And I believe that they received 88 $8,71,000 something like that. I don't have it in front of me. So this year they're coming forward now. They want 12 million. Well, they're going to get more than $12 million. So we have a figure, but it's not a it's not an exact figure. they can count on receiving even more than $12 million once those tax bills go out and the money is sent to our treasurer. So again, I would like to see accountability and transparency here. Um I I absolutely do not support this. This is outrageous. $12 million our previous

We're talking about the amendment that Matt uh that member Ogala said. Okay. Yeah. And thank you,

member Costa.

Thank you. I just want to mistate um correct some misstatements um and clarify, you know, where we were last year in the 2024 levy. Uh there was just a little bit over $8 million um in the 00263% levy. Um it was $8,29,001. Um there was not any more than that. Um with the $12 million that is being requested, we've heard several organizations today, including the ROE, the Triple H horse farm, the organizations that have come forward during the monthly meetings that we have for the mental health board saying that there is more mental health, ID, substance abuse needs across the county. And I think more than ever in a bipartisan way, all all parties are seeing that need. Um I'm I'm really happy to hear that um the proposal is actually at 8 million and not 2 million like it was last year. So I think that's an improvement and a progression in the direction of all of us seeing what the mental health needs are. And as far as accountability is concerned, um I'm not sure if everybody has been able to make the meetings, but the executive director of the mental health board, Tina Mackey, has been so responsive and responsible to come out to the required executive team meetings, the exe the required financial committee meetings to provide this information. Um, I'd like to ask member Winfrey to hold up the annual report that is in her hands that demonstrates the full um report for 2025. So, this information has been in all of our hands um and myself or um our staff on the mental health board would be happy to take in calls and have conversations outside of that. I will be supporting the $12 million. There is absolutely a need and I'm asking that um my fellow county board members do the

same. Thank you. We have member Van Dyene. I can't

thank you. Um there was a statement about transparency and that's what I wanted to mention that uh this Tina Mackey from the 708 board does come in on a quarterly basis to the executive committee and does do a presentation. It's unfortunate that some members cannot stick around for executive committee, nor can they um follow up and read what had what had happened. Um especially uh I'll save that comment, but uh you know, mental health, we can see that folks are in more need of mental health than ever before. I don't exactly know the reason, but I can I can tell that that folks it's very important to folks. This program is amazing. We funded it last year and I think it would do the county justice to provide more funding so we can help the folks that need it that cannot help the um the things that they are going through. So I I would be willing to absolutely be willing to stay at the 12 million. Thank you.

Thank you, Member Revvice.

Thank you, Madam Executive. Um, so this one is actually kind of difficult to me because I've gotten to see what the mental health board is, you know, working on and uh I got involved a little bit with uh this trying to get the CAC some funds funds from them and I know I see her member Herb Brooks shaking his head and uh you know it's just tough for me because I I you know I see a group like 3 and everything that they're doing you know and you know I look at this county board and I see a great need for mental health services in in the county. So um I say that with love everybody you know um I say that with love uh you know myself my mental health included um you know I know this job takes a a toll on all of us. So um so in that sense I do believe I'm going to support this amendment to uh for member Ogala to decrease it to the 10 million. But um you know if that fails I do believe I'm going to support the uh the community mental health board as is. Did I have that right? Was it 10 million or 8 million? 8 million.

8 million. Okay. Yeah, because we want to make sure. Member Ogala, can you repeat the number you said? Yeah. So, I I would like to make the motion to amend it to 10 million. Thank you. Yeah. So, so uh was that your Okay, hold on. Time out. Was that your you originally changing my motion? I'm withdrawing the 8 million and replacing with 10. Make it a friendly amendment. Okay. Thank you. All right. Do Do we have to do anything than that? Do we need a second though, don't we, though? Yes, we do need a second on that. Second

member uh motion by Ogala, seconded by uh Butler to amend the amendment to now 10 million. I don't know if that changes anyone's discussion points, but we will start fresh. So, member Revis, if you'd like to continue.

Okay. So, uh now it's 10 million. So yeah, I will support this uh to decrease to 10 million, but if that were to fail, I I will be in support of the 12 million unchanging just because I have seen the work of the mental health board and uh you know, I'm I have a lot of faith in uh what Tina Mackey is doing and how it's working in coordination with the county and uh uh member uh Costa as well. She's done a great job in her role uh there and it's she's going to be missed when she uh moves on from that assignment. Thank you, member Traneer and then Mitchell.

Thank you, Madame Executive. Um, I think there was a misstatement and I'd like to correct it. The mental health 708 board did not come forward last year and ask for 8 million. They asked for 10 million. Um, we negotiated with members from the other side of the board uh prior to the actual board meeting starting and agreed to uh an $8 million levy. And I think part of the reason some of our members agreed to that was the fact that this was new. We didn't know exactly what was going to happen, what the results were going to be. We've now seen the results and it was really good. The annual report was fantastic. The different organizations that the board has worked with, that our executive director, Tina Mackey, has worked with just stunning uh outcomes thus far. And this is really the first real year where we've, you know, handed out grants and worked with different organizations. And her annual report was stunning. Um, I don't see any re any needs going down in our community. In fact, I would think because of some of the terrorism going on in our community right now that our mental health needs are going to be even higher. So, I'm going to stay with the $12 million. Thank you. member Mitchell.

Um, nobody cares more about mental health and behavioral health than I do for a myriad of reasons. Um, but I'm going to say this though. I sit on the board of health. The board of health needs money. They need they need funding. And when you're looking at a budget, when you're looking at the money you have in your pocket, and you say, "This is what we have. I I don't know where I'm going to get anymore. People are already struggling." You got to say, "Well, we can't start this project or we can't expand this project until we make sure that this is okay." So, while I en while I I love the programs that I see that, you know, when um I think it's Triple H came to explain about their, you know, expanded projects, I'm actually happy about that, but it may have to be delayed if we have other places that need immediate attention and we're trying to help the taxpayers because I I think we need to like prioritize things a little bit better. So, I'm not saying no. I don't think any of us are saying no. We're just saying not right now because we don't we're in a in a precarious position right now and we don't know what our future looks like and we're trying to save the taxpayers money. So, we're not saying no. We're just saying not right now so that we can take care of things that have an immediate need such as our um Department of Health. So, that's it.

Thank you. We're going to go Member Freeman, then Dean Schlottman.

Thank you. Um, I too sit on the board of health and um, member Mitchell and I both signed a request for um, increased funding. They have a lot of services that are cut that trickle down from the federal level has been real. Um, we uh, the levy that was just passed, it's it's going to affect the health board. Um this is if we go to anything less than 12, it's going to affect the health board. Um member Revis has brought forth um the Juliet fire department with their cares and community. They would I all of all of these people need to expand services. It's and what I'm hearing is no. I understand that um it's tight. It's going to get worse. If you think that the what is coming down is not going to affect us, I I I want a drink of that Kool-Aid. I want just a small taste because I'm not seeing it. I'm seeing a great need in our community for so many services from the health department to our veterans services to our sheriff's department and we have to be able to fund that. So, I am in favor of the 12. Thank you. Thank you. Member Dean, did you change your mind? Okay, we're going to go around for a second time, so please keep it to two minutes. U member Ogala, thank you. So, as it was stated last year, they came forward with 10. We did negotiate for 8 million. We have seen the the annual report that was provided by Tina Macki, which which outlined many of the different services that are organizations that have benefited from the 708 board. Like I said, we don't know the outcome. my amendment to 10 is is still an increase over last year. So,

I think that's fair. I think it's fair to go up just that 10 and that's it. And um see see what happens. See what the outcome is. Let's look at the results. Let's see how many people they h they were able to help in each different organization because we need to be very mindful of the fact that again this money comes from our taxpayers. But our taxpayers understand that there are issues that happen that are going on and have been going on in our community and they want to support mental health which is why they voted for it. So I hope that you guys will all vote for um a a decrease in what they have asked for but still it's an increase over what they received last year. Thank you.

Thank you member Okasa second time if you could keep it to two minutes.

Thank you. Um, I appreciate the direction in which this debate is going and that we moved from eight uh to 10. Um, because of all of the positive outcomes we've seen thus far, we also know what the risks are if we don't continue the programming that has become available and opening up the door for other organizations who have not yet applied to get continued funding. Um, I did hear that maybe right now is not the time, but somebody that's suffering with a mental health condition, today is the time. this moment is the time. There is no future for that. When I hear that a 10year-old is, you know, needs to be saved from suicidal ideiation, that should concern all of us today, not tomorrow, not next year. Um, and I do hear that we are moving in the direction of um agreement that that mental health care services is necessary across the counties. So again, I ask all of my county board members, um, those that both voted and did not vote for our most recent vote on the, um, annual aggregate levy for the county, we're at 0% at this point. I think we have room here at this point to to move on this $12 billion. Thank you.

Thank you. And we have member Mitchell for two more minutes, please. Whoops. Sorry, it's not going to take two minutes. Okay, go ahead.

Um, I don't want to be misunderstood. Um, I I think I began what I said before as there is nobody in this room more concerned about mental health and behavioral health than I. For whatever reason, I do not believe that we can just blindly mention um uh 10-year-olds having suicidal ideiation and throw it out there as if I do not care about that. Obviously, I do. Um, I'm personally offended by that comment. I'm just letting you know that straight off. Um, all I'm saying is that there are currently pro there are currently programs that our board of health need they that are going on currently. They need to be taken care of so that 10 year olds, 12 year olds, 50 year olds can be uh taken can be I guess seen by a professional. But no way am I saying that they should not be taken care of. I'm just saying we should not we cannot expand right now to bigger projects if we if we can avoid it. Let's take care of what we have right now in hand so we can take care of people right now in hand that are waiting in line. So should they wait? Okay, that's it. All right. I see no further comments. We have a a motion to amend uh the resolution from 12 to 10. So this is what we are voting on from 12 to 10. Madame clerk, please call the role.

Richmond Williams. Dean Slottman, yes. Ogala, yes. Pretzel, yes. Butler, yes. Newquest, yes. Axley Brooks Winfrey Bullock Logan. Yes. Freeman Revvice Mitchell. Yes.

Ortiz Burkowitz. Burkowitz. Hickeyi Costa Trainer Vandine 12 and affirmative. The motion carries. Um, member Nquist, do you want to? Okay. So, um, sorry about that. Number three, now you need to, now we need a Right. Now, we need to vote on the community mental health board estimate of annual aggregate levy as amended. And I so move

motion by Nquist, seconded by Revis. I think we uh Okay, we have a uh comment. Uh speaker Van Dy, even though uh Thank you. Even though I am disappointed at the 10 million, I absolutely support this 708 board. So, I will be a yes. Thank you. Madame clerk, please call the role. Richmond Williams Dean Schlottman Ogala pretzel Butler yes newquist yes yes Oxley yes Brooks yes winfrey yes bullock yes Logan yes

revvis yes Mitchell yes burkowitz yes costa Traineer Bandine 21. No 21 in the Ferna. The motion carries. Chair Newquist. Sorry about that. I'm distracted here. Thinking about something. Okay. Number four. We have the monthly finance reports to be placed on file. And I so move. Motion by Nquist. Second by Hans. Seconded by Ogala. Um, madame clerk, any discussion? Madam clerk, please call the role.

Richmond Williams, yes. Uh, Dean Slottman, yes. Ogala, yes. Pretzel, yes. Butler, yes. Newquist, yes. yes. Oxley. Brooks, yes. Winfrey, yes. Bulock. Logan, yes. Raymond Revis, yes. Mitchell. Yes. Ortiz. Burkowitz. Hickeyi. Yes. Costa. Trainer. Van. Yes. 21 in the f 2020 20 in the affirmative. The motion carries.

Okay. We have a special finance committee meeting scheduled for October 21st, 2025. And then our next regular finance committee meeting is scheduled for November 4th, 2025. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you. Moving on. Member Traneer, public works and transportation.

Thank you, Madame Executive. Uh we have a consent agenda today consisting of four items. Um resolution 25287 confirming award of contract to PT Pharaoh Construction led on September 17th for Bell Road from 151st Street to Martindale Lane County Board District 4. Ordinance 25288 authorizing approval of the establishment of an altered speed zone 702 along 78th Avenue in Frankfurt Township County Board District 3. Ordinance 25289 authorizing approval of establishment of an altered speed zone 703 along Baloo Road Wesley Township County Board District number one. Ordinance 25-290 authorizing approval of the establishment of an altered speed zone 704 along Lakewood Drive, Wesley Township, County Board, District 1. And I so move.

Motion by Trinire, seconded by Dean Schlamman. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Our next public works and transportation committee meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 4th at 9:00 a.m. Thank you. Have a great member Butler. Thank you, Madam Chair. Public health and safety has nothing to move forward. Our next meeting will be November 6th.

Thank you. Member Ortiz, is there is there a vice chair? They're both not here. Um I'll just make the announcement. There's no agenda. Uh it or no resolution. The next meeting is November 4th, 2025. Capital improvements. Member Freeman. Thank you. We have nothing to bring forward. Do you have a next meeting date?

Thank you. November 4th. Sorry, I don't know if I had your mic on. Uh, yeah, that's fine. Chair of Landfill, Dean Schlottman. There's nothing to bring forward at this time. The next meeting is a Wednesday, November 12th.

Thank you. Moving on. Speaker Van Dy. Oh, hold on a second. Member Van Dyne, executive committee. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, we have four items to bring forward today. Resolution 25-291 authorizing the Will County Executive to execute a contract for the state lobbying services. This is also uh this is a a renewal of our state lobbyist Mack and Strategies.

We have a motion. Is there a second? Uh second member Revvis. Um thank you Madam Executive. I was uh just I had a question. I guess this I don't know who this would be directed to. I think you directly. Um but uh do we feel that we are getting the uh requisite amount of services uh for the $5,000? Is everybody satisfied? We're not having issues with Max Strategies Group. Everything's going uh swimmingly. I'm not on the legislative committee anymore and I'm just curious uh what someone who deals with them on a daily basis is uh has to say about it.

I'm going to let uh Speaker Van Dy speak on that because that was a question I know that was brought up yesterday and go ahead me member van. Yeah. Uh to to answer that question, yes. Um uh both individuals that work for Max Strategies have been very responsive. Um I personally believe they do a fantastic job for us down in Springfield. So that is why I would they were hired under my term and I and and exact I'm sorry they were hired not under my term but I am more than comfortable of keeping them. I think they do a fantastic job. Thank you.

All right. Seeing no other comments. Is there a previous or would you like to roll call on this previous roll call by Winfrey? Were you know last time? Yes she Oh. We're going to take a clean roll call here. Madam clerk, please call the role. We're voting on the contract. The the we are on number uh executive committee number item one. Madam Richmond, yes. Dan Schlottman, yes. Ogala, yes. Pretzel, yes. Butler, yes. Newquis, yes. yes. Oxley, yes.

Brooks, yes. Winfrey Bulock Logan Raymond Revvis Mitchell Ortiz Burkowitz Hickeyi Costa Traer yes Vany yes thank you 22 affirmative the motion carries thank you resolution 25-292 supporting the redefining of the Chicago sanitarian ship canal and I so move motion by van and seconded by Ogala. Any discussion? Previous roll call by Oxley, seconded by Winfrey. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries. Number three on Excuse me. You You want to know?

Okay, Mr. Butler's a no on that. Thank you. Number three on our car. Sorry. Sorry. Number three on our agenda, resolution 25-293, authorizing the county executive to extracude an IGA with town of St. John, Indiana to provide access to our countywide radio system. And I will make that motion. Motion by Van Dyene, second by Dean Schlottman, previous roll call by Winfrey, seconded by O Gala. Would you like to be a yes or stay no, sir? All right, we're going to change Mr. Butler to yes. All in favor? Any oppose? Motion carries.

Resolution 25-294 amending liquor control ordinance chapter 110. Uh amending the to increase the total number of available class B liquor licenses. I so move motion by motion by Ogala pre second seconded by Bage previous roll call by Revvis there's seconded by Brooks all in favor I any opposed motion carries

that concludes our uh report our next executive committee meeting is scheduled for November 13th 2025 moving on to the appointments by the county executive resolution 25-295 Five, approving county executive appointments to Sunnyland Sanitary District of Will County. And I'll make the motion. Motion by Van Dy, seconded by Ogala. Previous roll call by Bage, seconded by Coast. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries.

Ready.

That concludes our report. Thank you. Uh moving on to public comments uh relevant to matters under the jurisdiction of the county. Is there anyone here to make any comments relevant to matters under the jurisdiction of the county? You can come up now. Y Thank you. again. Please state your name for the record. Thank you.

Christine Duran, the president and founder of Triple H Ranch. Um, I want to thank you for your discussion over this 10 or this 12 million. I I wanted to give you a little bit more detail from an organization side, the point of view. I am a very small fish in this pond that I have had the privilege of serving over 5,000 families for the past 10 years. And in those 10 years, I have not paid myself and instead given back to the organization because I believe in the people that we're helping. And the need is so immense out there. We are not talking about children saying that they think they want to take their lives. We're talking about children who have actually attempted taking their lives. That I have adults come up to me and say, "I can't take anything from you because you have literally saved my life." that the money that you are giving to these organizations, mine would never be looked at. I'm so small. I'm insignificant. But we are significant because we are so deeply embedded in our community that you may hear from one or two people. We are hearing from hundreds or thousands of individuals in our community. The need is real. The money needs to be to these organizations because they are truly making the impact that I hear each and every one of you want for your community. That 708 board is going through and diligently looking at each one of our applications. Not only are we turning in quarterly reports, Tina Mackey is amazing and her team are phenomenal and they are checking in on us. They have come out to meet every single organization that they have given

money to because it was not enough for them to just see what we're doing on paper. They wanted to see it in person. I encourage you to look at their report to learn about every single organization that they are coming to. I invite you to come out to my ranch and see the small but very significant difference that we are making in our community. Thank you for your time. All right, we're going to move on to comments of board members. So, please press your button now. We don't want any late last minute. We do have executive session after this as well. So, press your uh your buttons and I'll get you as you come as you light up. Okay, we're going to start off with member Balage and then member Hickey.

Uh I just want to let everybody know that uh this month is Italian month based on uh the governor signing that into a law. And we had a great parade and there was all kinds of floats and all kinds of people and all kinds of good food cuz people like to give you food when you go to that parade. And the canoli's were good, the pizza was good, the beep was good. And you know, that's what you call bringing community together because there's people of every single nationality that show up at that thing. And they there's all kinds of Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, and people that love government, people that hate government, but they all come together as one because they support the Italian people. So, I just wanted to bring that out. And I'm wearing a rose from an Italian person. And if you can't see it, I'll stand up. This was a gift from a real nice lady that sits up over there.

That's all I have to say. And God God bless everybody. Member Hickey.

Thank you, Madam Executive. Um, I'd like to recognize some people who went out of their way recently to help a young man in Will County who was experiencing a crisis. Um, our county coroner, Lorie Summers, saw a person on the side of the road, um, who she feared was injured, so she pulled over to give assistance. Uh, she was joined by Christine Doran uh, from Triple H Ranch. Um, and also Michael Summer and Carol Wowski. I hope I'm saying that right. Um they were able to ascertain that the gentleman was having a mental health crisis. Um they contacted the Will County Sheriff. Um it looks like it is Sergeant Kraton assisted with the initial phone calls and then Deputy Troy Greenquist transported the young man to the living room in Juliet. And for those of you who don't know what the living room is, um it's at 2000 Glennwood Avenue in Juliet. It's a free alternative to the emergency room for people experiencing mental health crisis. The living room provides a safe, calm environment for deescalation and evaluation to asssure the appropriate level of care is received. Um, it's available to those 18 years and older uh at no charge and they are given uh resources that they may need. Um, and this is a great service that we have in the community and I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, thanks to some support from the county board. So, thank you. Um, I would really like to thank these people for what they did for this gentleman. Thank you member Revvice and then Trir.

Thank you. Uh Madame Executive, uh for those that don't know, I grew up I went to St. Mary's Catholic School in Planefield. Um fun little uh aside when I was there. Uh uh Paul Bertino would play the piano and I'd watch him uh you know tap on the keys and I was always inspired to play the piano because of that and I'm I am learning to play the piano. But uh the reason I bring that up is because uh St. Mary's is doing confessions now. uh uh during the week. So, I went I gave a confession and you know uh all of us we make mistakes. We all you know uh maybe say things in the heat of our uh debates and actually as I was going through it I think I've had to apologize to at least everybody on my side of the aisle before and uh I know I am due a couple other apologies to the opposite side of the aisle. Uh you know when I make a mistake I try to admit that and uh you know get a little grace. So you know um none of us are perfect. Uh uh yesterday I uh uh laid blame on uh uh Speaker Van Dyene for something that wasn't of his doing and uh I it just really was in the heat of the moment. So I do apologize for that. Um and uh I would like to say thank you to all of us today. I felt like we really had a productive debate uh and we zeroed in on my favorite Cword, compromise. And uh I think that's what really allows our board to uh you know thrive. And when when we rely on compromise, we we can thrive. So, uh, you know, thank you, uh, to, uh, member Ortiz and, uh, uh, Speaker Vanine and everybody on the opposite side of the aisle that was, uh, willing to come to a compromise today. Thank you,

member Traneer. And then Brett Whit.

Thank you, Madam Executive. Over the last three months, the federal government has engaged in a broader campaign to systematically incite violence and intimidation across the Chicagoland area. Rather than going after the worst of the worst, federal agents have indiscriminately targeted people based on the color of their skin, arrested elected officials, and more. In just the last 5 days, federal officials have rammed an SUV, then used pepper balls, smoke grenades, and deployed several rounds of tear gas. That was in the Chicago Town Sun Times. As a result of the protest, a 15-year-old US citizen was taken by feds for 5 hours and 13 Chicago police officers were exposed to tear gas. Black Club of Chicago reported this. Chased people inside a Walgreens, including a US citizen. This was on Facebook and ABC Channel 7 Chicago. Violently arrested and detained a WGN employee for 7 hours. Chicago Sun Times circled a Rogers Park church during a Spanish mass. ABC Chicago tossed to the ground and detained a Hoffman Estates teen. CBS News raided an O'Hare airport parking lot where ride share drivers wait between trips to pick up travelers. WTTW Chicago forcibly pulled a woman from her car in a local school pickup line in the West Loop. Fox News Chicago 32. Since the beginning of their violence and intimidation campaign, federal officers have also shot and killed Silva Sylio Villigas Gonzalez in Franklin Park, Illinois, and provided misleading information regarding the circumstances of the deaths reported by the Chicago Sun Times deployed a Blackhawk helicopter to the southside neighborhood in the dead of night, removing residents from their homes, zip

tying them, and detaining them in vans for hours, including children separated from their parents. ABC7 People magazine. In response, Governor Prrisker has directed state agencies to provide support and evaluate the treatment of children during the federal raid in Southshore snatched a family in broad daylight allegedly based on the color of their skin. Chicago Tribune arrested elected officials. Alder person Fuentes Facebook Oak Park Commissioner fired rubber bullets deployed near tear deployed tear gas against peaceful protesters black club Chicago arrested a reporter and used a chemical agent against another reporter unprovoked black club Chicago and blue sky deployed chemical agents on a busy street near an elementary school and grocery store Chicago sometimes that's just a few of them um I also note that a rate television station W or I don't recall the count qu all the call letters but it ended QC so it made me think it was Quad Cities. They literally picked up an autistic child and held him for days in a facility. His parents didn't know what happened to him. This is our federal government.

Thank you Burkowit. Member Burkwit. Thank you, Madame Executive. So, um, want to make it clear that I'm not against mental health. I know it's a real issue. Um, and I understand we all have experienced it one way or another. Um, in the past years that I've been on the county board, the county board has always put the priorities of the health department first. Every time they've come to us with a need, a financial need, the county board has stepped up and we have always supported them. Our previous executive director of the health department, Sue Len, expressed her concerns with the mental health fund. We have to remember that the mental health um the mental health board is not a service provider. They take taxpayer dollar and they redistribute it to organizations that they select and as I mentioned earlier there is no accountability to the board. The board takes the money from the taxpayer. We approve the levy. The taxpayer pays it. The treasurer gives that money transfers that money to this this board and they redistribute it. They never come back to the county board for approval or input. There is one county board member assigned to this committee and she's assigned by the committee the uh county executive. There's no input from the

community uh the county board in that respect either. And in the past, we've suggested, well, if we have one county board member, then why don't we increase it to two county board members and make sure that each caucus is represented? That's never happened either. And yes, that conversation has occurred. Just take a look at some of our the recordings of previous meetings. That conversation has definitely occurred. So moving forward, when this whole this whole levy was proposed, Sue Olenic indicated that her biggest concern was the fact that we're creating a new tax levy and it's not necessary because these are the services that the mental health uh the uh Will County health department provides. Her concern was that there would be duplication and also there would be an unnecessary cost in administration, legal, legal expenses and office supplies and everything else that comes with it. And I don't have my report in front of me, but I know it was well over a million dollars. So those are the facts surrounding this board and the issues that we have today. We could be taking these dollars that are spent on a board that is not accountable to

the taxpayer or to the county board. And the health department could easily be providing the same role and we'd have all that money to spend. We'd have more money to allocate. So, I just want to make make sure that everyone is clear that when we approved this levy today, it wasn't for services. It was for a board that they distribute the services, not us. Thank you. Thank you. Going to go to member Ogala, then Williams.

Thank you. Thank you. I just wanted to say that um I'm happy to see a lot of people in the audience wearing pink today in honor of uh breast cancer awareness month and in the past we used to have proclamations that would we would do that and it was very important we passed out these pink ribbons so I'm glad that everyone did that. I also want to make um awareness that um we had mental health a mental illness awareness week from the 5th to the 10th. We had World Health Day on the 10th and we had Columbus Day on the 13th. I think these are all things we can be proud of and enjoy here in in our um in Illinois as a resident of what happens and how we're proud we are at recognizing important things that are critical to everybody. But in in the meantime, I also wanted to mention this that working in participation with US and Mexican authorities, ICE rescued a three-year-old child who was abducted by a woman working in conjunction with an illegal charge with child rape. We could go on and on here and list off everything that's going on. The issue is that there are people here who have come and have done horrific things and they they in the past our past presidents have deported illegal immigrants who have done crimes and I think that that's something that we need to be aware of and what's happening. Another thing, federal agents u did dispense tear gas into a crowd with a hostile crowd in Chicago after DHS says it arrested two illegal immigrants accus accused of ramming their car into a border patrol vehicle before fleeing the scene. We can do this if this is what we want to do. I don't think we do. I think this is something that's beyond our our rural our control here as a county board. But we can do it if you guys want to

me. Oh, actually, you know, you're leadership, so I'm going to wait to call you if you don't mind. Yeah, sorry about that. Shar, uh, member Freeman.

Thank you. I have so many things that I would love to say about the federal government, but I'm not today because I could take the rest of the day. Um, I'm extremely frustrated. Um, the headlines alone are enough to make one cringe. Um, I'm going to focus on Halloween is coming up and we need to be careful out there. We need to be sure that our children are safe. If you do happen to see a child being snagged up by men and in um or women with face masks on, please dial 911. Um, we don't know if they're ICE or if they are kidnappers. So, please be on the lookout and keep our children safe out there. Keep your lights on. Um, some people are wearing whistles um just to ring alarm. Um, there are things that we can do as individuals, but we do have to keep our children and their parents safe. Um, I was unable to get the answers to my questions this um month, but I do know that the um Sunny Hill Nursing Home is having their holiday bizaar this month. It is a fundraiser to um raise money for things that we as a county do not supply. Um I was unable to find out exactly when they would like us to bring in our baked goods or our crafts, but um the the event is October 24th from 10:00 to 3. I do know in the past they have wanted the items there at least two or three days in advance. If they're baked goods, try to get them there close. You can also call Maggie McDow, I suppose, and get an answer to that, but they could use our help because they are going to be hurting now, too. So, I thank you.

Yep. Member Costa.

Thank you. I'd like to use my time today um to inspire us with some verses from the good book. Whether you are a believer in Jesus Christ or if you can just admire the stories of a man uh Jesus from Bethlehem, um I'd like to invite you to take in these words from the book of Leviticus. When a foreigner resides among you, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native born. Love them as yourself, for you are foreigners. From the book of Jeremiah, this is what the Lord says. Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor, the one who has been robbed. Do not wrong or violent. Do not do wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. And do not shed innocent blood on this place. From the book of Matthew. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. And in the book of Timothy, here is a trustworthy saying. Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. Now the overseer is to be above reproach, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not vi violent but gentle, not quarrelome, not a lover of money. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.

Now, the overseers of our faith-based community, I think, do their best to share this good word. And we are overseers of this county. We have a responsibility. And as overseers, we must love the foreigner, the immigrant, the sjourer, the stranger. We are overseers of their safety and security. And I leave you with that today. Amen. Thank you, member Butler.

So, I I just want to take the time to appreciate everything that was just said. You know, these are these are laws are given to us by the Lord to take care of our fellow peoples. But I just want to remind people that Jesus also said uh give unto Caesar what is Caesars's and not to mix the the the laws of God with the rules of men. And I also want to applaud the uh board member who spoke about, you know, the injustices done to people and crimes committed by government officials. Uh I I can appreciate that no government official should ever commit crimes against people and they should be held to a higher standard, but I do question the sources of information that were being quoted. And I just want to say that in the legislative committee coming up, I have a uh something that I wanted to add to it. Uh where it speaks to truth and media. And we're going to have um two acts, the uh fairness doctrine, I mean, and the uh Smith Munt Act. And these are two acts that were put in place so that the media had to properly report things. You know, some of us who are older remember when we watched the news and we could trust it because there was fair reporting. It it wasn't like today where big corporations have come in and taken over the news and anyone who wants to watch the news they want to hear can just tune into that channel. You if you want to hear uh news that is tailored for your ears, you just tune in to whatever channel that is. They don't offer both stories. The the fairness doctrine, it was required that anytime a story was brought up that you had to

give an opposing view. You know, and in the Smith Monk Act, it was actually put in place after the war so that the government couldn't spread propaganda in the country. And then it was called the modernization act. So that they said, well, any information should be accessible by Americans. We have a right to it, too. But when it's propaganda, it's it's not truthtelling, and we expect truthtelling from the government. And and so they said, well, then we'll just make it so that it has to have a a request that you can't just get it. Well, the request is a simple computer search. So when you Google something, you have made that request. I don't know about anybody else, but anytime I can't figure anything out, I will Google something. So I don't think that people will make the distinction of hm, am I getting propaganda or not? But if if if people don't figure out real soon that the media is all propaganda, we're going to be spouting out facts that aren't true. We're going to talk about crimes that aren't happening. There has not been any ICE agents committing crimes against people. We have agents, officers doing their jobs. Thank you,

member Ortiz. Thank you, Madam Executive. I just want to say on behalf of the Latino community, we really do appreciate all of the statements of concern truly. But with all due respect, words do not keep people safe. Actions do. The black and brown residents of this county are watching. And they're asking for us to do more and be more than just commentators. They're asking for us to lead, to take real action to protect them from the abuses of this administration. I've got multiple resolutions and ordinances already drafted that I'm ready and willing to support, but at this point, I don't know what else anyone I don't know what anyone else is willing to stand behind. So, for the sake of our communities, I really do hope that we can do more than just make comments at the county board. As leaders of this county, I hope we can actually do something. Thank you. Member Dean Schlottman then Nquis

with some of the frustration that I feel people have been rendering towards our federal government. I just want to say I'm so grateful that the 20 hostages that were remaining in Gaza are home with their families and alive. Praise the Lord. and that I am sure that the people there are extremely happy with how we have been working to help in that area. Again, I don't know why we needed to go down this path today. I thought member Revis ended the day with a great um thought about what we were doing as a board and then it became a circus again. But if again, if we're going to do this, we're going to do it. We're not going to sit here and listen to one side just tell us that everything that is being done is wrong. Especially when there are actual American citizens who have had issues themselves because of failed politics the last four years. So I really hope this isn't something we have to go back and forth and do. But again, we're willing to do it if we have to.

Member Nquis. So on Tuesday I had an interesting experience. I was in the elevator coming up to um the meeting and there was a gentleman in the elevator who said to me, "I'm 60 years old. My vision may be going, but my my my eyesight may be going, but my vision is clear." And I thought this was a really profound statement and I hope that our vision is clear. What I think is most important is that we keep our residents safe. All of them, whether they're here illegally, legally, um on a green card, I I think it's very important that we hold our law enforcement officers to the same standard that we hold our own um county deputies. I mean, they don't they're not allowed to wear masks. They need to identify themselves and they treat people with respect. That's all I'm asking of our federal officers. And I think I hope that's a vision that we can all agree on and that we urge our state and federal legislators to um pass laws accordingly. Thank you.

I see no other comments from county board members. I'm going to move on to leader Williams.

Thank you. Um I know that sometimes we question what our role is as county board members. So I have a little um I guess you could call it a poem that I would like to recite. They came for the LGBTQ and transgender community and I did not speak out because I'm not LGBTQ and I'm not transgender. It came for the Palestinians and I did not speak out because I'm not Palestinian. It came for the homeless and I did not speak out because I'm not homeless. It came for the quote unquote illegals and I did not speak out because I'm not a quote unquote illegal. It came for the government workers and I did not speak out because I'm not a government worker. They came for the anti-Americans and I did not speak out because I am not an anti-american. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. We cannot stand by and watch others suffer and do nothing. We must take whatever actions we can take as will county elected officials to keep our our residents in the county safe and secure. Silence is not an option. Thank you.

Member Richmond. So, uh, I did see an email going out that our strategic plan is moving forward. So that's all I have to say. I don't member or leader Van Dine.

Thank you. I'll try to end on a positive note. I've noticed some folks um have been wearing pink today. Um, I've been to many events and it seems like at the event there's always a speaker that wants to stand up and ask anybody that had breast cancer or any form of cancer to please stand up and you'll see five 10% stand up and then they go on and on and on about do you know a family member? Do you know do you know somebody that has some sort of cancer? and by the time they're done asking the question, um I would say probably 95% of the people at the event stand up. So, um I'm glad to see people are supporting breast cancer by wearing pink. And I know if you don't if you happen to forget, um it's okay. Um it's a it it's a it's a very bad disease that u we need some further research done on and uh and I feel sorry for anyone that has to go through that. And um it's October is always known as breast cancer awareness month. And um I would just like everybody to remember somebody that that is going through such a terrible disease. I I I hope that's a uh a positive note because we are aware of of the condition that they're going through. So with that said, um I hope everybody has an enjoyable afternoon and uh we will see you beginning of next month.

Thank you. A motion to go into executive session. Motion by Ravvice, seconded by Mitchell. Madame clerk, please call the role. Richmond Williams. Dean Schlottman, yes. Ogala, Russell, Butler, yes. Newquist Bichxley Brooks. Yes. Winfrey. Bulock. Logan Freeman. Revvice Mitchell Ortiz Burkowitz Hickey Costa Traer Bandine. Yes.

To clarify, we're going to executive session to discuss negotiation. Madam clerk, please call the role. All right, Richmond. I have to say what is No, we're No, no. We're coming out of roll call. This is roll call to come out. Yeah, we're coming out of We're coming out of executive session. Madam clerk Williams Dean Schlottman. Yes. Ogala. Oh, we're just to come out of executive. Okay. All right. All right. I just wanted to make sure. Pretzel. Yes. Butler.

Newquist. Yes. Yes. Oxley. Yes. Brooks. Yes. Winfrey. Yes. Bulock. Logan. Freeman. Revvis. Yes. Mitchell. Ortiz. Burkowitz. Hickeyi. Costa. Trineer. Van. Yes. All right. We're now out of executive session. Uh, Speaker Van Dang, I'd like to make a motion to approve option one as recommended by re as recommended by the state's attorney. No, it's our our labor attorney. Labor attorney. Thank you.

All right. Is there a second? Second by Dean Schl. Madam clerk, please call the role. Richmond Williams, this is the postpone. Postpone. No. postponing.

Okay. Williams, no. No. Dean Schlattman. Ogala. No. Pretzel. Butler. No. Newquist. No. Oxley. No. Brooks, no. Winfrey. Bulock. Freeman. Revis Mitchell. Ortiz. Hickeyi. Costa. I'm sorry. Costa. No. Trineer. No. No.

21. Negative. The motion fails. Madame executive, I'd like to make a motion to approve option two as directed by the uh labor attorney. Motion by Van Dy, seconded by Dean Schlottman. Madame clerk Richmond, please call the Williams. Yes. Dean Schlottman, yes. Ogala, pretzel, yes. Butler, yes. Newquist, yes. yes. Axley, yes. Brooks, yes. Winfrey, Bulock, Freeman, Revis, Mitchell, yes. Ortiz,

yes. Burkowitz. Hickeyi, Costa, yes. Trineer Van, yes.

19 in the affirmative. The motion carries. With that, I think we have concluded our our meeting. Um I don't I've lost my order here. I don't know when our next meeting is, but uh with hold on, what is it? November 20th. Can I get a motion to adjourn until November 20th? Motion by Mitchell, second by Oxley. All in favor? Any opposed? Motion carries.