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DeKalb County, Illinois |
Minutes of the
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The
Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, August 7, 2001 @
7:00 p.m. at the Administration Building=s
Conference Room East. Chairman
Robert Pritchard called the meeting to order.
Members present were Veronica Casella for the Planning & Regulations
Committee, Marlene Allen as Vice-Chairman of the Public Services Committee,
Dennis Sands for the Forest Preserve Committee, Roger Steimel, Ruth Anne Tobias
and John Wilson. Robert Hutcheson, Sue Leifheit and John Morreale were absent.
Others present were Ray Bockman, Ken Campbell, and Diane Strand.
.
Moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Ms. Casella, and it was carried
unanimously to accept the minutes of the last meeting.
Chairman
Pritchard asked to amend the agenda to reflect another item under Executive
Session for Pending Litigation. Moved
by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and it was carried unanimously to
approve the amended agenda.
Chairman Pritchard recommended the following appointments:
Emergency
911 Board: Lt. Carl
Leoni, to replace retired Lt. Rick Prabasco until December 1, 2001.
Shabbona-Milan-Union
Drainage District: William
(Bill) Smith, reappointment for a term of 3 years, until the First Tuesday in
September 2004.
Squaw
Grove Drainage District: Mr. Allen Bark, reappointment for a term of 3 years, until the First
Tuesday in September 2004.
*Mr. Donald Willrett, appointment to fill the unexpired term of Mr. Wayne Bark, until September
1, 2002.
Clinton-Shabbona-Drainage
District #1: Mr.
Leonard G. Anderson, reappointment for a term of 3 years, until the First
Tuesday in September 2004.
Coon
Creek Drainage District: Mr. Frank Engel, appointment for a term of 3 years, until the First
Tuesday in September 2004.
Normal
Drainage District: Mr.
Stephen Storey, O.D., reappointment for a term of 3 years, until the First
Tuesday in September 2004.
Workforce
Investment Board: Mr.
Richard Underwood, reappointment for a term of 2 years, until 9/1/2003.
Moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried
unanimously to approve the appointments as presented by Chairman Pritchard, and
to forward them onto the full board for approval.
Mr. Bockman explained to the committee the new look for the county board
agenda. He explained that a one-line explanation would be under each
resolution or ordinance along with a Committee Action line that will tell you
how the committee voted. If there
is a split vote, the committee minutes will show who voted yes or no.
Before the committee approved the county board agenda, Chairman Pritchard
asked them if there were any items that they would like to discuss or have a
report on at the county board meeting? Mr.
Wilson asked what our stand is on the new Interstate being proposed between I-80
and I-90? Chairman Pritchard stated
that there have been no drawings for this connection of these two interstates.
Chairman Pritchard gave some background on the Interstate and that he has
been appraised of discussions that the State has had with Kendall and Kane
Counties and has sat in on some of those meetings.
It is still at the preliminary status because what they are looking for
is input from local officials and local people to decide where the best route
might be. Then given that route,
they would move forward to public meetings.
There will be plenty of opportunity out there for discussion at that
time. Ms. Casella said that we could discuss the pipeline.
Mr. Sands suggested discussing the Airport. Ms. Tobias will check to see if Senator Burzynski will be
available to speak before the county board meeting next week.
Mr. Ray Bockman, County Administrator, reviewed the Board Agenda for the
August 15, 2001 meeting. Mr.
Wilson, Chairman of the Public Infrastructure and Development Committee, stated
that there would be a bid opening on Monday, August 13, 2001, which involves the
surfacing of the parking lot and landscaping at the new county highway building.
There will be a special meeting then held on the evening of the county
board meeting @ 7:00pm. to make the award with the resolution to be placed on
the tables that evening.
Moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Ms. Casella, and it was carried
unanimously to accept the county board agenda as presented by Mr. Bockman.
Mr.
Kenneth Campbell, DeKalb County Facilities Manager, updated the committee on the
status of construction of the new Legislative Center Building.
He stated that the steel has been delivered and had it installed earlier
than the 5 days that were slotted for it - they were able to install it in 3
days. The precast concrete wasn’t
scheduled until the next week, so there was a time lapse there.
Actually they have lost about 9 days because of the soil sampling and the
rain. As of this Friday, the
project will start to fly because the metal wall panels will be delivered. In October there will be times when there will be 9 different
contractors on site. The next target date will be around the 1st of
November when the outside will be put up and the building will be watertight.
Chairman Pritchard asked Mr. Campbell if he attends the job meetings?
Mr. Campbell said yes, except for the one when he was on vacation and
then Mr. Bockman attended that one. Ms.
Tobias asked what will be happening with Exchange Street?
Exchange Street will be used for diagonal parking, said Mr. Campbell.
Ms. Allen asked about the security?
Mr. Campbell said that the security will be good in the new building just
like what we currently have in our courthouse and other buildings. Chairman Pritchard asked Mr. Campbell if the project is
coming in on budget? It is coming
in close to budget, said Mr. Campbell. Chairman
Pritchard thanked Mr. Campbell for his update and asked him to make the update
at the full county board meeting next week.
Ms. Veronica Casella, of the Planning & Regulations Committee, said
that they only had one item at their last meeting regarding the Walcamp request.
Ms. Allen, Vice-Chairman of the Public Services Committee, said that Ms.
Gilmour of the Court Services Department said that they would be working closely
with the NIU Sociology Department with regards to a research study that will be
conducted on residential placement. They
will see if it is working out or do they need to look elsewhere.
They will be looking at the last ten years and at other options.
Mr. Sands, of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that they discussed the
Boy Scout Camp again and that he personally has written 14 letters to different
newspapers in the area to explain the issue.
He said that there have been several articles that have appeared on the
topic already and that hopefully the WGN morning show will talk about it this
Saturday.
Ms. Tobias, Chairman of the Public Policy Committee, stated that her
committee will be discussing the legislative agenda items again and that the
October meting will be held in Genoa.
Chairman Pritchard suggested that one of the things that the committees
may want to look at when we are talking about regional planning would be
drainage, but maybe long term you may want to look at transportation.
He also suggested inviting some of our NACO Leaders to give us an update
on smart growth.
Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Public Infrastructure and Development
Committee, said that they will have a bid opening on 8/13/01 and that there will
be a special meeting on 8/15/01 @ 7:00p,m. before the county board meeting to
make the award.
There has been concern on a traffic issue regarding the rumble strips on
Annie Glidden Road. Supposedly they
are very loud to the neighbors that live there.
They have asked the State’ s Attorney for an opinion on what they can
do about the noise.
Mr. Wilson also said that they would be working on a policy that involves
a signal light that has a folding stop sign on it.
When the power goes off, these 4-way signs go up.
The Rules of the Road indicate that a darkened light at an Intersection
automatically becomes a 4-way Stop. We
theorized that not too many people know that or realize that, he said.
Mr. Wilson said that the State has taken a position that they are not
going to be recommending these stop signs on top of traffic lights because they
cause confusion to motorists when the power goes back on after a storm or
whatever. The lights are now green,
but the stop sign is still showing, he continued.
So there are contradicting traffic control signals and the State is
saying that they would rather just not have that.
Therefore, they are going to stop doing it.
The highway department will be talking with Sycamore and DeKalb because
they have more of these than the County does itself, he further stated.
He also informed the committee that the work on the Genoa Road Railroad
Overpass will be closed sometime this Fall and will be closed for 2 years.
There will be a detour at Five Points Road, however, he believes.
Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried
unanimously to move into closed session to discuss pending litigation and the
exempt employee evaluation of the County Administrator.
Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Ms. Casella, and it was carried
unanimously to return to open session.
Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Mr. Wilson, and it was voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully
submitted,
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Robert W. Pritchard, Chairman
_______________________________
Mary C. Supple, Secretary
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