Kankakee Times

Kankakee County Highways and Buildings Committee met April 19.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

Members Present:

Mr. McConnell, Mr. Hildebrand, Mr. Vickery, Ms. Polk, Mr. Tripp, Ms. Webber, Mr. Ritter, Ms. Parker, Mr. Mulcahy, Ms. Peters, Mr. Olthoff, Mr. Stauffenberg, and Mr. LaGesse

Members Absent:

Ms. Evans and Mr. Einfeldt

In Attendance:

• Board Members

Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Liehr:

• Department Heads

Mark Rogers, Brian Gadbois, Erich Blair, Kevin Duval, Jim Rowe, John Bevis, and Jake Lee

Media

None

1. Call to Order

• Roll Call The meeting was called to order by the Chairman, Mr. McConnell, at 9:00 a.m. Quorum present.

2. Public Comment

Mr. LaGesse made a motion to amend the order of the agenda, and Ms. Peters seconded it.

3. Executive Session – Lease of Property – 5 ILCS 120/2(c)(5)

Ms. Polk made a motion to enter executive session and Mr. LaGesse seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 13 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. McConnell, Mr. Hildebrand, Ms. Polk, Mr. Tripp, Ms. Webber, Mr. Ritter, Ms. Parker, Mr. Mulcahy, Ms. Peters, Mr. Olthoff, Mr. Stauffenberg, Mr. LaGesse, and Mr. Wheeler.

The committee went into executive session at 9:03 a.m. and came out at 9:23 a.m.

4. (from Old Business)

• Approval for Early Lease Termination Agreement for 270 North Schuyler Avenue, Kankakee, IL (State’s Attorney’s Office)

Mr. Rowe explained to the committee that, if the committee approves this early lease termination agreement for the State’s Attorney’s Office to move out of 270 North Schuyler Avenue, a yes vote would mean that the County would have no future lease obligation at that building beyond May 31, 2017. They would settle approximately $80,000 in past due debt attributable to the additional rent that is already owed to that landlord for 50 cents on the dollar, so they would owe $40,000, payable at $1,666.66 per month over a two year period. They would eliminate approximately 20 manpower hours of work per week for the Maintenance Department that could be put to use elsewhere in the County. They would be off the hook for the $4,750 per month rent over the next 11 months, and approximately $17,000 in additional rent over the next year. They would allow the landlord to put a tenant into that facility, which is a long-term tenant, so that they don’t have another empty building in the community. Roughly, the savings to the County would be $100,000 realized over the next 11-12 months.

Mr. Olthoff made a motion to approve the early lease termination agreement, and Mr. Stauffenberg seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 14 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. McConnell, Mr. Hildebrand, Mr. Olthoff, Ms. Polk, Mr. Tripp, Ms. Webber, Mr. Ritter, Ms. Parker, Mr. Mulcahy, Ms. Peters, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Stauffenberg, Mr. LaGesse, and Mr. Wheeler.

5. Approval of Minutes: May 12, 2016, June 16, 2016, July 14, 2016, August 11, 2016, September 15, 2016, October 13, 2016, November 10, 2016, and March 22, 2017 Mr. LaGesse made a motion to approve all of the above-listed minutes, and Ms. Polk seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

6. Highways - Mark Rogers

• Bidding and Letting

a) County - 17-00000-00-GM Supp 4 

b) Norton - 08-09106-01BR 

c) Pilot - 15-12153-00-BR Non MFT

Ms. Polk made a motion to open the bids, and Ms. Peters seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Rogers provided the committee with maps showing where the work is going to be done. He opened the bids and read each one to the committee.

Mr. Tripp made a motion to approve the bids as read, conditioned upon review of the bid tabulations and responsibility of bidder, and Mr. Ritter seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 13 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. McConnell, Mr. Hildebrand, Ms. Polk, Mr. Tripp, Ms. Webber, Mr. Ritter, Ms. Parker, Mr. Mulcahy, Ms. Peters, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Stauffenberg, Mr. LaGesse, and Mr. Wheeler.

7. County Engineer’s Pay Estimates

Mr. Rogers reviewed and discussed the pay estimates with the committee.

Mr. Mulcahy made a motion to approve the pay estimates, and Ms. Peters seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 13 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. McConnell, Mr. Hildebrand, Ms. Polk, Mr. Tripp, Ms. Webber, Mr. Ritter, Ms. Parker, Mr. Mulcahy, Ms. Peters, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Stauffenberg, Mr. LaGesse, and Mr. Wheeler.

8. Resolutions

None

9. Buildings - Brian Gadbois

• Facility Dude Report

• Financial Report

• Building Report

• Relocation Report

Mr. Gadbois reviewed and discussed the above reports with the committee.

Mr. Gadbois stated that when they previously moved the Public Defender and the State’s Attorney, he had 17 people in his department. He now has 8, so the committee needs to keep in mind that he is not going to be able to provide all of the manpower they’re going to need to move those offices. He is working with Chairman Wheeler on how they’re going to go about doing this. Mr. Gadbois did get some information about a moving company in town that may have to help them.

Mr. Gadbois stated that he has the vending contract for the vending machines at 189 E. Court, Courthouse, and Annex building. He received it back from the State’s Attorney’s office, and it’s ready to go. He wanted to be sure that the committee was ready to go out to bid on this, so just needs someone to give him the go ahead.

Mr. McConnell stated that Mr. Gadbois should go ahead with the bidding process for the vending contract.

Mr. Gadbois discussed with the committee problems that have developed about the purchasing of trees by the Kankakee County Bar Association for the Courthouse. After considering all of the issues, the committee made the decision not to proceed with either the acceptance of or the planting of the trees.

Mr. Gadbois stated that a point of controversy is the folder inserter for which we are currently under lease. He got in touch with Neopost about this. We currently rent the mail machine and the folder inserter machine, and pay $2,200 a month for those two systems. Nick Africano has stated that he will have no use for the folder inserter as he is outsourcing the tax bills. We are currently under contract until 2018 with Neopost as it was a 60 month agreement, approved by the State’s Attorney’s office. Neopost’s recommendation to us, if we are not going to use the folder inserter any more, is to re-write the contract and start fresh with the mail machine. We are not financially current with this company. The Neopost representative said the first thing we need to do is to get current, and pay the next quarter, which will give them time to write a new contract for the mail machine itself.

Mr. Blair stated that he was under the impression that, when the budget was built in August/September of 2016, we were going to have the folder inserter at our disposal for use when he gets ready to mail out the assessment change notices in the fall. His budget doesn’t support going outside to a third party vendor right now, and he’s concerned that, if we do move away from that machine, he will have to get some quotes as to what it would cost for a third party to do it. He also believes that the cost of that machine comes out of Central Services, so if the machine is still here when he’s ready to print and send the notices out, which is typically in September, he will use it so there isn’t a double expense. If the machine isn’t here though, he will have to scramble and come up with another company to do it for him. He is also wondering if the folder inserter goes away, would the cost of his mailings go into Central Services, or will it come out of his budget, which wasn’t built to absorb that cost. He further stated that he could try to put together some estimates from a few companies to see what it would cost him if we don’t have the machine. He could try to have it by next Wednesday’s Finance Committee meeting, but can’t promise anything with such short notice.

Mr. Wheeler stated that the information would be good for next Wednesday’s Finance meeting, but only if it’s coupled with the information that Mr. Gadbois would have on what part of that lease is for the folder inserter. If not for the Finance meeting, possibly by next month’s Highways & Buildings meeting, they can get it all together.

• Emergency Generator Purchase

Mr. McConnell stated that there was a problem over at the Health Department building with the generator as it is intermittently working.

Mr. Bevis stated that the generator that serves the Health Department was installed in 2002. It is a twin of the generator that sits next to it and serves 911. For the past year and a half, they have been experiencing some issues during the 35 test run of this generator as it was surging, not running properly, and disrupting service. They had the company who services the generator come out a number of times, and they were unable to determine anything specifically that seems to be the cause of that. Ultimately, they called the company out in another instance, and, at that point, they were able to determine one of the problems.

Mr. McConnell stated that in the crankshaft on the top that runs the pistons, one part of that crankshaft is bad.

Mr. Bevis stated that wasn’t even what was causing the problem with the surging. The company thinks there was a separate problem with that. The estimate they were given to repair the generator was going to be comparable in cost to getting a new one. Based on the age of the generator, including some things that had been going on from previous maintenance, and in talking with Mr. McConnell and everyone involved, the decision was made that the best route would be to seek out a new one. One of the reasons that this is very important is that the Health Department has approximately $20,000-$40,000 worth of vaccine that is required to be refrigerated or frozen at all times. Through the grant, there are specific stipulations with regard to monitoring the product. If there is any kind of issue in relation to the storage and temperature of the product, they could be on the hook for that cost, or it would have to be destroyed and replaced. Then there would be a delay in services when you go through that process. In the event that they were to lose power and not have the generator functioning properly, they do have a Plan B for offsite storage for a period of time until they were ready to go again. Also, it could take a couple of months to actually get the generator and have it up and running. They spoke with Mr. Rowe about this since it is an emergency situation for them so as not to have to go out to bid and delay the process. They have received two quotes, one from Ruder Electric, and the other from Interstate Power Systems.

Mr. Ritter stated that a licensed professional engineer should be consulted on this in addition to the contractor.

Mr. McConnell stated that they would take that into consideration.

10. Old Business

• Plan for State’s Attorney’s Office Relocation

Mr. Wheeler asked if anyone had any further questions about the plan for the move for the State’s Attorney’s office in addition to what Mr. Gadbois discussed earlier.

11. New Business

• Potential H & B Committee Meeting Day Change

Mr. Wheeler stated that he was approached by Mr. Olthoff who had spoken with a few of the department heads associated, wanting to switch around some meeting dates. The request was if we would move this committee meeting to the Thursday after the County Board meeting. We would put PZA in place of this meeting, being the day after Community Services. This would afford both Highway and PZA more time to handle the things that they have to do during the month. A revised calendar would be provided to everyone concerned.

The committee agreed to the proposed changes in meeting dates.

12. Other Business None

13. Adjournment

A motion was made by Mr. LaGesse to adjourn the meeting at 10:53 a.m., and was seconded by Mr. Stauffenberg. Motion carried with a voice vote.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/highway_41917.pdf