Kane County Reporter

Kane County Committee of the Whole met Aug. 9.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

***SPECIAL MEETING***

1. Call To Order

2. Roll Call

Chairman Pierog called the meeting to order at 3:03 PM.

PRESENT Board Member Deborah Allan

Board Member Mavis Bates

Board Member Dale Berman

Board Member Mark Davoust

Board Member Ron Ford

Board Member Michelle Gumz

Board Member Leslie Juby

Board Member Michael Kenyon

Board Member Chris Kious

Board Member Bill Lenert

Board Member Anita Lewis

Board Member Myrna Molina

Board Member Bill Roth

Board Member Monica Silva

Board Member Cherryl Strathmann

Board Member Clifford Surges

Board Member Bill Tarver

Board Member Vern Tepe

Chairman Corinne M. Pierog

ABSENT Board Member Gary Daugherty Board Member Mo Iqbal

Board Member Michael Linder

Board Member Jarett Sanchez

Board Member Rick Williams

Board Member David Young

Also present: ITD/BLD Exec. Dir. Fahnestock & staff Lasky, Thompson, Files; Fin. Exec. Dir. Hopkinson; Dev. Dir. VanKerkhoff; PIO Mann; KCHD Exec. Dir. Isaacson; ASA Coyle; Sup. of Assessments Armstrong; Co. Clk. staff Weilandt, Pollock; KC VAC Supt. Zimmerman & staff Johnson; HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo; Enviro. & Wtr. Res. Dir. Wollnik; Court Admin. O'Brein & staff Mathis; and members of the press and public including Jason Dwyer, Danielle Appello, Kevin Havens, & Rutuja Kadam from Wight & Company and Dan Forbes from Speer Financial.

3. Pledge of Allegiance

Madam Chairman asked Fin. Exec. Dir. Hopkinson to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. 4. Approval of Minutes: None

5. Public Comment (Agenda Items)

(County Board Member Kenyon arrived in-person at 3:05 p.m.)

There were no public comments.

6. Presentations/Discussion

A. Facilities Master Plan - Planning Workshop

Wight & Company's President of Design and Construction, Jason Dwyer, provided a presentation on the Kane County Master Plan. He explained the steps taken to date. (County Board Members Kious and Bates arrived in-person at 3:06 p.m.) He recapped the primary sites of the County buildings. At the last Committee of the Whole (COW), a series of building options were presented of the Government Center, Judicial Center, and the Fabyan Parkway site. He reviewed the three main goals for today's meeting. (County Board Members Molina and Silva arrived in-person at 3:10 p.m.)

Fin. Exec. Dir. Hopkinson provided information on how the County could fund major capital projects. Referencing a presentation, she listed the financial stability, external forces, oversight functions, and performance of the County, regarding finances. (County Board Member Lewis arrived in-person at 3:11 p.m.) She shared a chart depicting the Continuous Improvement/Best Practices of the County's governance, core services, and resource management. Hopkinson spoke on the County's financial position. She provided additional information on the County's financial resource management, cash flow management, liabilities, long-term debt, and fund balances. She shared numerous graphs showing Kane County's Financial Position - Trends, such as total expenditures funded the General Fund. She broke down the multiple funds that make up the County's General Fund's finances. (County Board Member Allan arrived in-person at 3:26 p.m.)

Hopkinson listed several significant taxes the County collects, such as the Sales Tax, Income Tax, and County Motor Fuel Tax. She reviewed the County's RTA Transportation Sales Tax and Local Option Motor Fuel Tax Financial Policies. She listed the County's funding options, such as the funds collected by the property tax revenue and grants. She reviewed Kane County's debt limits. Currently, the County has minimal outstanding debt. Over the past 30 years, the main source of debt has been due to the Transportation Department's large construction projects. Currently, the largest debt the County has is for the Longmeadow Parkway Project.

Speer Financial, Dan Forbes, stated if the County wanted to incur debt there are three options. Those options are using the General Obligations Referendum Bonds, Debt Certificates, and/or the General Obligation Alternate Revenue Bonds. He reviewed the contents of each option. The last option is used most by counties. Forbes reviewed the considerations when issuing long-term debt, such as debt limitations. Forbes and Hopkinson addressed questions and comments from the Committee. Discussion ensued.

Dwyer shared the County's other Master Plan projects. He listed the potential projects in priority order. The main priority would be to build a new Health Department. The most significant project is the Judicial Center Expansion.

Dwyer shared the Government Center's main issues. He listed the main reasons the County should consider building a new Government Center. He reviewed the Government Center's extensive space needs. The total gross square feet for a new Government Center would be 116,323 sq. ft. (The Committee took a five minute break.)

Dwyer continued with a presentation on potential site for the Government Center. He requested the Committee look at the scenario options. The Committee ranked each scenario from highest to lowest. Wight & Company's Associate Principal, Danielle Appello, presented the site scenario's evaluation criteria for location, site attributes, building organization, public service, logistics, and cost. Wight & Company's Executive Vice President, Kevin Havens, presented the scenarios for each site. Appello explained how to use each scoring table when evaluating a potential new location of the Government Center. Wight & Company's Representatives addressed questions and comments from the Committee. Discussion ensued. (Madam Chairman Pierog left at 4:33 p.m.) Havens presented the site scenario for the existing Government Center location. He provided three options on how to reconfigure the site. Wight & Company's representatives addressed questions and comments from the Committee. Much discussion ensued. The Committee participated in a table top exercise to come up with a consensus on the importance of the evaluation criteria.

After the table top exercise, the Committee provided their feedback. Appello presented the Committee's ranking for the evaluation criteria options for each scenario site. The overall consensus was to utilize the Fabyan Parkway location as a potential new Government Center site. The Committee participated in a poll of which scenario option each individual would prefer. Fabyan Parkway location was voted as the most plausible option for the Government Center. Between utilizing the Fabyan Parkway and the Government Center sites, the Government Center was overall the most popular option. Dwyer thanked the Committee for their votes and feedback.

7. Executive Session (if needed)

None.

8. Public Comment (Non-Agenda Items)

None.

9. Adjournment

RESULT: APPROVED BY VOICE VOTE

MOVER: Michael Kenyon

SECONDER: Mavis Bates

This meeting was adjourned at 6:05 PM.

https://www.countyofkane.org/MeetingMinutes/6909/23-08-09%20Spec.%20COW.pdf