Kankakee Times

Kankakee County Highway Waterways & Building Committee met March 13.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

The meeting of the Kankakee County Highways, Waterways, & Buildings Committee was held on March 13, 2025 and was called to order by Committee Chairman, Mr. Carrico at 9:00 am. The following members were present:

Mr. Carrico, Mr. Fetherling, Mr. Kerkstra, Mr. Smith, Ms. Amber Turner, Ms. Parker, Mr. Crutcher, Ms. Denise Turner, Mr. Dunnill, Mr. Miller, Mr. Hess, Mr. Swanson, Mr. Long, and Mr. Alexander-Hildebrand

Members Absent –Ms. Rittmanic-Emme, Mr. Nims, Mr. Marion

Mr. Swanson made a motion to approve Mr. Fetherling to attend by zoom and Ms. Denise Turner seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Department Heads Present –Greg Heiden, Ben Wilson, Eric Cavender, Ted Workman Media - None

Public Commentary –Don Zack commented on the Kankakee River Conservancy District grant.

Minutes of the Last Meeting

• Highways, Waterways, & Buildings – February 13, 2025

• Buildings & Grounds – February 15, 20224 & March 14, 2024

• Highways & Waterways – February 22, 2024 & March 21, 2024

Mr. Dunnill made a motion to combine and approve the minutes and Ms. Parker seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• Bidding and Lettings

Mr. Crutcher made a motion to open the bids and Ms. Amber Turner seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• County 25-XX000-01-GM (Covers & Sealcoats)

Mr. Heiden read each bid to the committee for the record. Discussions were held. AC Pavement Striping and Grosso Construction Co. were the only two bidders with Grosso Construction being the apparent low bidder on all projects.

Mr. Heiden advised that the bids would be reviewed in detail to be certain each was correct and had the requirements attached.

Mr. Swanson made a motion to approve the lowest responsible bidder and Mr. Kerkstra seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 13 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. Carrico, Mr. Fetherling, Mr. Kerkstra, Mr. Smith, Ms. Amber Turner, Ms. Parker, Mr. Crutcher, Ms. Denise Turner, Mr. Dunnill, Mr. Miller, Mr. Hess, Mr. Swanson, and Mr. Alexander-Hildebrand

• County Engineer Pay Estimates

Ms. Amber Turner made a motion to combine and waive the reading of the pay estimates and Ms. Denise Turner seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

There were no comments or questions on the pay estimates.

Mr. Dunnill made a motion to approve the pay estimates and Mr. Swanson seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 13 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. Carrico, Mr. Fetherling, Mr. Kerkstra, Mr. Smith, Ms. Amber Turner, Ms. Parker, Mr. Crutcher, Ms. Denise Turner, Mr. Dunnill, Mr. Miller, Mr. Hess, Mr. Swanson, and Mr. Alexander Hildebrand

• Resolutions

• NGPL Facility Adjustment & Reimbursement Agreement for Required Pipeline Improvements on CH 9 East of US 45 in Manteno

Mr. Heiden stated that normally when they reconstruct a road and utilities are in the way the utility company moves them and we do not pay for them but unfortunately a pipeline has their own right-of-way and we bought right-of-way in their right-of-way so now they are requiring us to pay to re-case the casing in the extended right-of-way that we bought since their right-of-way was there first.

Ms. Denise Turner made a motion to approve and Mr. Kerkstra seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 13 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. Carrico, Mr. Fetherling, Mr. Kerkstra, Mr. Smith, Ms. Amber Turner, Ms. Parker, Mr. Crutcher, Ms. Denise Turner, Mr. Dunnill, Mr. Miller, Mr. Hess, Mr. Swanson, and Mr. Alexander Hildebrand

Waterways

• Aroma park Sediment Management Project Update

Mr. Wilson stated that he does not have an update.

• Kankakee County Waterways Advisory Subcommittee Update

Mr. Carrico stated that the subcommittee will be meeting next month on the first Thursday of the month if anyone would like to attend.

Buildings – Ted Workman

• Facility Dude Report

They did 114 work orders throughout the buildings last month with 25 still in progress.

• Financial Report

Mr. Workman reviewed the report with the committee. He is below budget compared to where they were last year at this time.

• Building Report

Mr. Workman reviewed the various projects in progress throughout the various county buildings.

Mr. Workman stated that he and Mr. Cavender had a zoom meeting with a ComEd energy representative on February 27 and they addressed the electric use in this building. They suggested lowering our set points at night for our HVAC systems and he went ahead and did that. They will have a review meeting on March 17 to see how it has changed our use. ComEd has a small business energy program and a representative came out and went over all of our lighting at 189 E. Court and he came back with an assessment to change out all of our light fixtures to LED light fixtures at a cost of $113,079 but with the incentive that ComEd has it brought the cost down to $66,801. There is also an extra incentive that has to be used by the end of March, if the money is still available, and that is another $26,720 which makes the total cost to Kankakee $19,558 to replace every fixture in this building.

Mr. Alexander-Hildebrand stated that this is great for the County and he gives credit to Mr. Workman and Mr. Cavender for working on this.

Mr. Workman stated that the State’s Attorney’s Office has said that they can move ahead with this without going to the full board because it could be considered an emergency because of the deadline of the incentives, the benefit to the County is dramatic, and we did not seek out the consultant so they moved ahead and we are now locked in for both of the incentives. They are also going to put in devices that will turn off the lights when a room is not in use for a certain amount of minutes. They are looking into taking advantage of the incentive and installing those devices in other county buildings.

Mr. Workman stated that he has also been working on saving money when purchasing items that he orders for the buildings, such as, paper products, cleaners, mops, etc. He believes he can save 15% to 20% with ordering everything from one company instead of three or four companies which is what he does now.

Mr. Crutcher made a motion to combine and approve the reports and Mr. Smith seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• Old Business

None

• New Business

None

• Other Business

None

Adjournment

Mr. Hess made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:37 am, and Mr. Smith seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

https://www.k3county.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_03132025-2166