Good morning.

It is 8:31 a.m.

on Thursday, August 7th, 2025.

I call to order the Lake County Board's Financial and Administrative Committee.

In addition to being able to attend in person, remote attendance has been made available to the public via Zoom at the link on the agenda per county board rules and the open meetings act.

Attendance via remote means is permitted for qualifying reasons, as long as the majority of the committee members are physically present, which they are.

We were notified in advance by Vice Chair Parek that uh he's requested to participate electronically due to a qualifying reason.

A quorum is present and he will be uh marked present and able to participate unless there is an objection.

Member Maine.

Yeah, I just what's the qualifying reason?

I don't have it in front of me.

Oh our rules are unlike the forest preserved, don't require that you say that's correct.

At the county, we don't we don't we're not required to state it.

Is there an objection?

Okay.

Um and I was notified in advance by member Hewitt that she's unable to be here.

And unfortunately.

So that is an excused absence today.

I have no chair's remarks except to say on the agenda.

Um, I know that sometimes we will reorder things if we have a lot of folks here for an individual topic.

We do have a couple of substantial conversations today.

So I think we're going to stick to the order as on the published agenda, and we'll go uh as as published.

Would you please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

And to the Republic for we could stand one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Can we have a roll call poll?

Yes.

Thank you.

Member Clark here.

Chair Frank?

Here.

Member Hewitt is absent.

Member Maine, present.

Vice Chair Park.

Here.

Member Peterson.

Member Bolitzick.

Thank you.

On to uh unfinished business.

We have none.

Our new business begins with consent agenda items 8.1 through 8.12.

Any request to pull any of those items.

Motion to approve by member Clark, second by member Peterson.

Comments or questions on any of the consent agenda items.

Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Consent agenda items are approved.

On to our regular agenda.

8.13 is a resolution accepting the Illinois State Board of Elections Voter Registration State Grant 2026 and authorizing an emergency appropriation in the amount of 440,326.57 cents for specific purposes of assisting in maintenance and other costs associated with the county's voter registration system to facilitate communication with the centralized statewide voter registration system as required by Title III, Section 303 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

Motion to approve by member Clark.

Second by member Volitic.

Good morning, Clerk Vega.

Good morning, uh Chair Frank and committee members.

This grant, we get this grant every year from the state board of elections.

This year our appropriation is about 440,000.

It pays for the voter registration audit where we audit the voter rolls to keep them accurate.

We will be conducting one this fall.

For that contract that was just approved on consent.

So uh just so I'm clear on the budgeting timeline.

It says in here, this was not previously budgeted because it's a new grant.

Correct.

And the expenses were were budgeted.

So this was something, like you said, was just approved in the previous item.

So this is paying for something that we're currently doing in the current fiscal year.

Correct.

Okay, great.

Other questions.

Seeing none, all in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

8.13 is approved.

8.14 is a presentation and discussion regarding potential economic development opportunity in Lake County.

We do have some public comment on this item.

I neglected to ask Administrator Sutton.

Do we have any public comment on non-agenda items?

No, all public comment was on um agenda items.

Great.

So let's take the public comment first, and then we'll hear from Kevin Considine and the county partners.

Before we go into public comment, I have some statements that will apply to the public comment for the entire agenda.

An individual has three minutes of cumulative time to provide their public comments.

Public comment must be related to the business of the county board and not redundant or political.

When appropriate, matters raised by public comment shall be referred to the appropriate standing committee.

The public shall refrain from commenting about private activities, lifestyles, or beliefs of others, including county employees and elected officials that are unrelated to the business of the county board or county government in their public comment.

Comments that are uncivil, rude, vulgar, profane, or otherwise disruptive will not be allowed.

Candidates running for public office must refrain from including comments that are political in nature or that promote or support a candidate, including refraining from identifying oneself as a candidate for public office.

Our public comment on this item is from Thomas Mallard.

And you can go to the podium and you'll have three minutes when you begin speaking.

Awesome.

All right, good morning.

Thank you, uh, Chair Frank, uh members, uh, obviously staff as well.

I appreciate your time saying uh my name is Tom Maylord.

For those that don't know, um, here on behalf of the Saywalk Keegan Mayor's Office, Office Mayor Sam Cunningham.

Uh, and again, we appreciate your consideration of today's item.

Uh, I don't want to uh steal any of the thunder from the actual presentation itself, but we just want to come and convey our our immense gratitude for the consideration for this partnership.

Uh, for those that aren't aware, um, the Sewok Keegan is an environmental justice community uh having uh long served as a home for industrial uh jobs here along our lakefront.

At one point in time, 30,000 jobs that serviced uh and provided uh employment to members of our communities all throughout Lake County.

Tremendous impact as that industry moved out in the 70s and the 80s.

We have obviously been left with land that is less productive for all of our members.

Uh so today's uh presentation and the commitment, the support of you guys really helps us move this forward into a productive uh capacity.

City Walking, we have tried to do our part.

Um, we've uh already committed $10, 150,000 towards this project in conjunction with Lake County Partners, in conjunction with the governor's office.

Uh this is an opportunity the governor's office and partners uh made us aware of for a really future-minded uh energy and jobs opportunity that can really be cohesive for others.

The 150,000 will work for site preparation to get it ready.

We are in competition with other states.

This is the final Illinois competitor site uh with other states.

This is a national uh competition for U.S.

headquarters.

And so we are just tremendously grateful for your participation, your partnership, and anything we can do if you if you have additional questions beyond today, our our staff is always open and really thank you for your time.

Thank you.

That's all we have on this item.

Great, thank you.

Good morning, Kevin.

Good morning.

Uh, thanks for the opportunity to be here.

Uh, I'm Kevin Considon, the president of Lake County Partners.

I'm joined by my colleague, senior director Ron Lands, uh, and Derek Vandervorst from So Large.

Um, we're grateful to build on the conversations from last week.

Um, and we wanted to share this opportunity uh for what we think is a great economic development opportunity, bringing uh jobs and investment uh to Lake County.

Um understand there there will be lots of questions, which we're looking forward to.

Um, and hopefully uh a robust discussion, and we'll get to a chance to cover, you know, why we're having this conversation, why we think this is important, uh, and ultimately what the opportunities are.

Um, to get it kicked off.

Um, I'm gonna throw it very quickly to uh to Derek to introduce us to So Large and the project.

Thank you, Kevin.

And good morning.

Thank you so much for for having us and uh giving us the opportunity to present about our our project.

Uh my name is Derek Vandevorst, uh CEO of So Large USA.

As you can hear, I'm from the Netherlands.

Uh moved to the North Shore uh about six years ago, actually, August 14th, uh exactly six years.

Um the reason I'm I'm here is that I've been asked to help um a Dutch company, uh so large, um, with finding the right location for their factory in the US.

And uh I've prepared a few slides.

Um you you may have been able to see them already, but I'll I'll talk through a little bit.

Um the first few slides are about the company and the product and the problem that we're hoping to solve as a company.

And then the second part is about um the site selection process and the opportunity for um the site here in Lake County.

So let's see if I can get this to work.

Yes, perfect.

So um So Large uh was founded in 2018 by three co-founders um who had basically seen uh a problem with the solar panel industry.

Currently, solar panels are heavy, they have a high high CO2 footprint, they have toxic material materials like antimony and PFAS.

They're very difficult to recycle.

And basically, we're creating a huge waste problem.

So they went uh and said we want to solve that and looked at how how to do that.

They formed a partnership with a large chemical company called Sabic.

Um and they spent several years in uh developing the product to create a fully sustainable uh module.

Now I'll have a few slides on that, so I'll I'll mention that later.

Um after the product was developed, um, patents were filed.

We have a shared uh patent portfolio with Sabek of 12 patents that protect the technology.

Uh the first factory was built in the Netherlands, and since uh uh um the middle of 2003, uh 23, uh, we're producing these solar panels in in the Netherlands uh successfully uh for all kinds of projects.

Um I had planned to show a quick video, but I can send the link later because um uh the video didn't come through uh uh completely.

But um uh to show you the existing uh building.

It's basically a uh a very sophisticated uh uh uh um manufacturing process um to build up these solar panels in uh a similar way to traditional solar panels, but with some key differences.

Um and and I'll cover those in a in a little bit.

Um so the the problems that we were trying to solve.

Um one is commercially, if you look at the commercial and the industrial rooftop market for solar panels, a lot of roofs cannot carry the weight of traditional panels.

Because we have uh built our panels with um uh polymers instead of with glass and aluminum.

Um our panels are less than half of the weight of the traditional panel.

And if you don't mind, I'll pass it around so you can feel it for yourself how light how lightweight it is.

Uh um now, like I mentioned, most solar panels have um have toxic materials like PFAS and antimony, both cancerous materials that at the end of the lifetime of traditional solar panels end up in our groundwater and potentially drinking water.

So that's another big problem that is only growing with, of course, uh uh the solar installs going up.

And then the third problem uh is that the China dominates the solar industry.

85% of the world production is is coming from China, and they produce these with a very high CO2 footprint.

So if you look at the picture on the right, that it creates a huge waste problem where by 2035, every week we can fill four metallife stadiums from bottom to top with solar panels that are difficult to recycle and have toxic materials.

So that's the problem that we're trying to solve with with our with our product.

And this is maybe a little bit small, but I'll I'll highlight that the most important items.

So the lightweight is because we use the polymers and we don't have to import glass from other countries or or aluminum.

Um toxic materials whatsoever.

That's that's of course that's in our DNA to do what's good for for the the environment.

Um fully reusable materials.

So we guarantee that at the end of the lifetime, we pay our customers money to take the panels back because we can we have a process to heat up the different layers, pull apart every small component and reuse 100% of the materials to create new solar panels.

Um we can build these with an 80% lower CO2 footprint because we can use bio waste and post-consumer plastics.

Um another huge uh huge benefit to our panels, and then we can produce them locally.

So currently uh we're producing them in the Netherlands, and obviously we're looking at uh finding a good site for our factory here in the US.

Um, the materials we can we can make these with 100% domestic materials.

So there's the Sabic factory in Mississippi where we will get the granulates for for the plastics.

Um we um basically for every component we have a local supplier here in the US.

Last part, they're also unbreakable.

So during installation, during transportation, during a hill storm, these panels won't break because there's no glass.

So obviously that's a that's a big uh uh uh benefit for for people who own solar.

So those are kind of the highlights of the product.

Um I won't go into too much detail.

I'll skip through uh some of these slides, but this is kind of the build-up of the product with the different layers.

Um we use the standard solar cells that other companies use as well.

So we get the same efficiency out of these panels.

Um we the the kind of the magic is and where the patents are focused on is in the front layer, which is which gives it the UV protection for 25 years.

Um this is about the the weight improvement.

So from 2.3 pounds per square foot, we go down to 1.1 pounds per square foot.

So many more rooftops can carry these.

It started off in the 70s by hey, solar panels are great because we can create green energy.

Now people are aware that okay, some panels are made with a very high CO2 footprint, and some are made with a lower CO2 footprint.

And then the next step, which we are really leading worldwide, is the material circularity.

So I won't go into too much detail.

And then I think, yeah, this also looks at the this the recycling program.

So both on the plastic side, where the granulates can basically become the same quality as virgin uh virgin plastic.

So instead of burning oil and creating CO2 pollution, we're reusing this forever, right?

So it's actually a good use of oil.

Um and then the solar cells also have a process to be recycled fully.

Um this was a short video, about three minutes on uh um the largest project we've done so far in Belgium, um, a rooftop solar project.

Um I I can send you the link, the the links actually there in the in the in the in the in the slides.

So the focus in the US is uh commercial and industrial rooftop solar, um, because of course, because of the weight, the weight benefit, uh, solar car ports, and then other applications are floating solar, uh residential housing, mobile homes, recreational vehicles, because of the weight, the weight preferences.

Um and and obviously I'll address it uh immediately.

Um the reason why we've taken a little longer to make our decisions and and whether we want to push forward is the the big beautiful uh bill that uh recently was uh was passed.

Uh of course, there's some new regulations in there that affect our industry.

Um we had you know we studied this, we had experts uh uh advice us on this, and our take on it is uh there's a it's a net positive for us.

Um the reason being the most important uh tax um uh um mechanism in there uh for us is the the 45x uh advanced manufacturing tax credit, and that has me remained intact um until 2031.

So that is a huge benefit to produce locally here in the US.

Uh, we can actually produce because of that, we can produce these panels at a much cheaper uh cost uh than we can in the Netherlands or even in in Asia.

Um the second part is um the the foreign entities of concern um uh rules.

Um companies from China are affected by that and basically don't get any of those tax credits.

Uh in our benefit is that we have no Chinese ties.

Uh we're we're 100% uh owned by Dutch shareholders, um, no Chinese ties, also in our technology, there's no Chinese uh ties.

So that really works in our our our benefit.

So we we believe that the the coming years, companies with Chinese ties, which is 85% of the market, will have uh issues with this, and we will not.

So that will make put us in a better position to gain market share.

Um the two things that are of course of of interest or are negatively impacting our business case is the the sunsetting of the uh incentives for residential solar.

Although, as as you could see, our focus is not on residential, it's we can do it, but our focus is on commercial industrial.

So the sunsetting of that incentive by the end of this year doesn't really impact us.

Um the sunsetting of the other tax incentives for commercial projects by the by basically January 1st, 2028 does impact us, but um the general consensus in the industry is that because of the actions that the current administration is taking, um the energy prices will go up.

So even without incentives, uh solar becomes an attractive uh option, and like it is in many parts of the world.

So the the the bottom line is uh the the big beautiful bill is a net positive for us, even though we were scared uh to begin with.

So that was kind of the the company introduction.

Um I don't know how this format works.

Do you want us to ask any questions now, or do you want to go to the next part?

Uh why don't we hear from uh Lake County Partners and we'll hear everything you guys want to put forward and then we'll have some questions for you.

So the so the next part.

So we have Derek has some additional slides talking specifically about the project, uh, the location here, uh, and some of what uh what that looks like.

So maybe we should roll into that.

Yeah, if that's okay.

Okay, that'd be great.

Thank you.

All right.

All right.

So this is the project specifics uh uh slides.

So um basically the status of our project is um that we have secured financing for a project, which of course is a is a big deal.

It's actually uh an Illinois-based um investment uh uh um company, Senti Ventures.

Um they've they invest in the circular economy, uh renewable uh energy.

So a very good fit with uh with what we what we do.

Um in terms of the site selection process, we work with JLL and Meredith O'Connor is our uh our advisor, our consultant in this.

She she wasn't able to to join the meeting, otherwise she would have been here.

Um but they've basically uh been tasked by by our by our board to um do a site selection process, look at all the different states uh that that would come into um a consideration.

And um after and this is many months of of visiting sites and all kinds of kinds of locations, um, we're down to two sites.

Uh one is the Waukegan site and one is a site in in Kansas.

The main differences are that the site in Kansas is a green field site.

Um uh it has a high high status of of readiness.

Um, and obviously, if you just look at the you know the cost of doing business in in Kansas, it is lower than Illinois.

However, what we really like about the Waukegan site is that um it provides an opportunity for us to build our factory, but actually showcase our own products right next to our factory.

And I don't actually know if I put a uh a picture of it.

I think there is.

Oh, there is okay.

So actually, I'll go back and forth.

So you probably you may or may not be familiar with the site, but but uh for those who aren't, this is the the Johns Banville site.

It's a super fun site.

Um there used to be asbestos uh manufacturing there.

Uh it was basically closed down in the 90s and has been uh cleaned up since by the EPA and IAPA.

Um the the good news for a project like ours is that uh on the the yellow piece, the 110 acres, um there is a uh no further remediation ladder.

So that piece is good to build buildings like there were buildings in the past for manufacturing.

Um the green area is uh a location 125 acres where there is still some asbestos in the in the ground, but it's been covered, it's been capped by a three to six foot cap.

So you cannot build buildings there, but it's ideal for solar.

Um, and then there's uh interestingly, a 40-acre uh uh um pond there, which was the the borough pit where they dug out the the soil to cover the the contaminated land, and that created an a 40-acre uh pond, which um I think you may have seen it.

One of the benefits of our panels because they're so lightweight is floating solar.

So this creates a unique opportunity for us to have our factory right there, showcasing our product on a ground mount um uh solar field, on a floating solar uh uh uh setup, and of course, also on our on our own building on the rooftop, on the solar carports, uh, to really create a an international uh headquarter to showcase our product and show how we can build sustainable panels and and how they produce uh energy in the right way.

What it also does is uh it creates the first net zero uh solar manufacturing uh facility in the US, um, because we can produce so much solar power uh right on the site that we'll actually be sufficient for our own factory, but in addition to that, we can provide community solar to low-income families, which is another big part of why we like this site.

We can help transform a location that has been suffering from um asbestos pollution, but also from the coal plant that was that's right next door um for for decades um into a you know an uh uh an economic contributor uh uh to to uh the county to the to the city to uh to the state.

So let me think if I missed anything on this uh first slide.

So those are the unique benefits that that really make this site attractive.

Um as you heard the city of Waukekan is very supportive, and we have actually quite a lot of support from other uh other organizations in the state.

We have uh the Illinois Manufacturers Association, Mark Densler is very very supportive of our plans, P33, MHub, uh a few other organizations that we interact closely with.

We're actually going to install our solar panels at the MHub building uh soon.

So uh there's a lot of support in the state.

Um uh Cook County actually has a project for rooftop solar uh on 18 million square feet of of their buildings, um, and we're in consolation to be to be part of that project.

So we believe that Illinois is a is a great uh place to be.

And we've already had several meetings with Lake County Community College who are actually set up to build a training program of specifically for our employees to attract new employees, to train existing employees.

And that is not just in Wokeegan.

Actually, it's more logical to do it at the advanced technology center in Guernie and at Grace Lake, where there's a robotics uh specialism.

So I think one of the questions was does this only benefit Wokeegan?

Well, I think it benefits the whole the whole county and the whole state.

On the um kind of uh the the other side of things, maybe less uh pure economic, but more like in the sustainability.

Obviously, build being able to build world's most sustainable solar panels uh here, I think is a is a great uh um kind of also marketing uh uh tool for for for the county.

Um creating a net zero factory, providing community solar to low-income families.

And we recently saw that, and I think you know, great job to to everyone that works for for Lake County uh to position uh to kind of strengthen the position as an economic development uh leader uh nationwide.

I think our project fits right into that.

So we are in a competitive situation.

Um I have to you know uh uh um present this to our board and their the the business case needs needs to work, right?

So um the first step is how can we bring this the site to a readiness level that is similar to uh the the Kansas side?

And as you as you heard, the the city of Wokegan has provided a budget of 150,000, which is without us making any commitments, right?

So that's that's kind of they're taking that risk, which we very much appreciate.

Now, of course, that benefits this the site.

So even if we wouldn't uh decide for for this this location, um it helps the site readiness and it would be valuable for another another company.

But of course, we wouldn't go through all this effort if we didn't believe that this was a very viable option.

Um I think there's already conversation between the state, the county, and the city um uh to support our plans.

Um things related to adjusting the zoning to light industrial use, um annexing the the borough pit, which is currently uh Lake County.

Um I don't know what's the proper term for it, but it's part of Lake County and not incorporated into Waukegan is is one of the things.

Of course, the serviceability of getting the utilities, we we we will consume a lot of power, and before we have our own solar power all up and running, we will need to get power from Comet, of course.

Um, and then there's because it's a super fund site, there will be additional cost in terms of the uh the site-specific construction work, the the roads, the the foundations of the building.

Um it looks like we cannot dig into the the ground because there's remedial barriers that that protect, of course, any any um uh pollution that's underneath.

So we we it looks like we have to bring in like five feet of uh engineered soil uh that will kind of serve as our foundation.

So there's a lot of cost uh related to this specific site, which of course are higher than if we go to a greenfield site.

So financial support to to help with that uh would be would be greatly appreciated, uh, but also would make this site, of course, uh a stronger contender for for our decision.

Um last parts is uh is you know permitting uh um there's the designation of an enterprise zone and equity investment eligible community, which uh is is um is very beneficial for the community solar project, probably a little bit too much detail, but uh there's a few uh um things that of course need to be uh arranged, and there's administrative and bureaucratic uh processes that need to be followed, and hopefully we can shorten those timelines so so it makes sense for our project to come here.

And then of course, finally, if if uh uh the the city, the county, the state would consider using our solar panels in their projects and help us become more successful.

That is of course uh the end the end goal, uh create a uh a growing business and and contribute to um to the economy.

I think that is it.

No, let's go to questions.

So thank you.

Um I really want to acknowledge and thank you for being so transparent with us.

You know, we had a sort of non-specific conversation in this committee recently, just about our academic development support policy.

And it's really hard to engage in that without understanding exactly what it is we're talking about.

And um, you know, uh, I know that Lake County Partners does a great job of keeping their prospects confidential when necessary.

Uh bringing this level of detail to the conversation was really helpful for us to understand.

Um, I first and foremost would be you know extremely proud to see your facility located here, the all the things that you talk about, all the benefits um would be something we we would be promoting.

We would be really proud to call so large a lake county business, absolutely.

Um, but I think you know, there's some things that we need to evaluate and think about in terms of our policy and how we get involved and and how we could provide support if if we decided to.

Members, do you have any comments or questions?

Member Clark.

Thank you.

And I also think you um I really didn't exactly understand how this would fit into you know what for economic development here.

And your your um presentation answered all my questions.

I thought it was really informative, it's really interesting, and I agree.

Like this is the type of project that we'd really like to see here in Lake County and just see happen.

So I teach economics, so like the whole circular economy and is something that we talk about a lot.

And it's nice to see it, hopefully, in action.

So thank you.

I did have a couple questions, and I'm just about what we're doing today.

I know there's questions about you know, potential support from Lake County, um, you know, and how that would work.

I don't know if that's what we're going into details about now.

I had just some general questions about um, I know like with the construction jobs, um, and and also like funding.

If there's going to be state funding in this project, um, if we know, and then would that be tied to um you know, with the types of jobs sometimes then you use jobs that have to have um like follow the responsible bidder ordinance or things like that, if you get state money, and if any of that is going to be involved in your project.

And and um, and sorry, because I didn't understand one of the terms you just mentioned.

So there's um um, I mean, sometimes with state money, then you hire construction firms that have an apprenticeship program.

Yes, absolutely.

That's that's part of it.

Yes.

Yeah, so so uh yes, the uh in all honesty, the project will only come here if we get state uh money, right?

So so and and getting state money means that we um uh will uh use for the construction piece um um preventing wage and or union uh uh uh uh uh workers.

Um apprentice uh apprentices apprentice, that's a very very difficult word for a Dutch guy.

Um is is part of what we have discussed already with Lake County uh community college.

Um so absolutely that is that is part of uh what we're what we will be doing.

Um I don't know if that answers your question.

That does.

And and when we're looking at like funding, it sounds like so, because I know there's like um grants for super fund sites to that that I believe the city of Wachan could apply for to help do this.

And so are you looking at kind of like a mix of potentially federal grant money and then state money?

And I know the federal grants interesting right now.

So I can see that.

But so you're also finding like I guess city of Akigans talking to the state.

So there's different play people playing playing roles, I guess.

Maybe potentially for the funding.

So we have uh already applied for and have been uh granted a uh a Rev 2 uh application.

I don't know if you're familiar with that, but it's the reimagining electric vehicles uh uh program from the the state, which high level um gives us if we are in an underserved community, which in this case uh we we are um a 100% refund on the state income tax that we pay on uh our employees' salaries.

So the 4.95% uh state tax, we don't actually have to pay.

So that's that's that is one thing, and they actually give that for an initial 15 years and another 15 years, so a total of 30 years.

So that's that's a a huge uh benefit.

Then there's things with regards to um uh no sales tax on uh uh the construction um um materials, um uh lower or no utility taxes, uh the prime sites uh grant, which is uh basically 10,000 per employee.

So if we hire 500 employees, that's a five million dollar grant, two and a half million up front, two and a half million uh when we hire the people.

Um and there's a several other I think Ron probably knows knows even more details, but so there's a whole package of incentives that the state has already offered us, and we have yeah kind of uh an offer for that.

In addition to that, um what we're requesting from the state is to use the the closing fund of the state, and that could indeed be partly the closing fund and partly this the and I don't know what's the correct term, the side remediation fund or um um I don't know if anyone uh recognized that term, but but that's at a state level.

We're currently not counting on any federal uh money.

We have had uh conversations with the the department of energy before the the current administration came into place, uh, but a lot of those programs have kind of been uh sunset or or slowed down.

So we're not counting on that.

And are we talking more about what we the request of Lake County today, or are we just sort of talking about I'm assuming that there's a request of Lee County?

Yeah, and there is, and you asked what what are we doing here on this item?

Yeah, and so my goal for this conversation is for us to come to agreement to say we're interested in talking about this further.

I'm I I'm not we're not prepared to agree on anything uh specific, but I feel like we should get the sense of ourselves.

Like, do we do we have more questions?

Do we need more information?

Do we want to continue this conversation?

That would be my goal for our conversation today.

Member Maine.

Thank you.

Well, I think you know, definitely want to continue this conversation.

Thank you, Mr.

Van Derborst for the really great um presentation.

I do want to say with that circularity, which is a little bit of a tricky word for me to say, is that um I think a brownfield site really fits that uh with your image, as opposed to taking a greenfield site where you're taking.

So I'm just gonna do that little plug that it it fits with your whole image there.

Um so uh Chair Frank, you you touched on some of that.

What is, I don't know if it's for you or for the gentleman here.

What's our time frame?

Like what, you know, yes, we say we want to have this conversation, which I'm guessing the committee is going to say that we meet again the end of August.

Well, we get additional materials.

I mean, what is our time frame and your time frame is best you are able to share with us.

And again, I appreciate how much you have shared with us and your and your process.

We're we're hoping to make a decision by the end of September.

Okay.

All right.

So um, so the idea would be we say yes, we want to talk more, and then you're gonna have like a really you, Kevin, someone's gonna have a really specific list.

Because that list up there was helpful.

And clearly a lot of those things are out of our purview.

I mean, if Joaquegan changes the zoning, that's on Waukeegan, right?

The borrow pit annexation.

That's probably on Waqiga.

You know, there are a lot of things that need to be done, but are pretty straightforward in in those sorts of things.

So end of September.

All right.

That's that's fast.

But we but we we are nimble.

We may be older, but nimble.

Sometimes I'm looking positively.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

Sure.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

And I really, it's an exciting company, and it's fun to hear more about it.

And um really commend your founders for wanting to fill some of those needs and those those gaps, particularly in manufacturing without taxic chemicals.

So that is most of my questions have been asked, but um in the in your own manufacturing process, even though you aren't using toxic chemicals, are there tax like uh and is there environmental degradation to consider in your own process in terms of water use or water discharge or pollution of some sort?

Yeah, sure.

Uh and and and of course, that is that is uh a topic of of of interest and concern.

And and the good news is there there's no um, so we don't actually use any water in our process.

We do use a lot of electricity, um, but actually we can power that with our own solar panels, so it's not uh it's fully green.

Um there is for a couple of processes, there are some mild mildly well, I don't know if tox toxic is the the right way, but you you don't want to breed it in uh the whole day.

So but the factory is equipped with the right filtering systems and exhaust systems to clean that uh and and have no uh toxic materials enter the the environment.

Okay, great.

That's great to hear.

Thank you.

Um I'd be supportive of continuing the conversation.

Yeah, if possible, it'd be useful for us to understand what those emissions are.

We don't have the ability to regulate emissions, it's not uh under our jurisdiction, but as we're talking about this, it'd be useful for us to understand it if we could, you know, Chair Hart.

Thank you.

Um thanks so much for being here.

Really appreciate hearing more about this project.

Um, and I really want to thank the committee for having an open mind on this, as we talked about last week.

Um, many of us had never seen you know this economic development in excuse me, economic incentive policy because it is used so infrequently.

Um, I know Ann had seen it and Linda and myself.

Um so I you know, if you look at our mission, if you look at our vision statement, it is about sustainability, it's is about, I would say, lifting up all portions of Lake County.

And um, I I think to echo Chair Frank, I would be immensely proud if this board can be part of really um continuing to put those words into action in a project such as this that can bring critical jobs to Waukegan that has lost, I think Tom said, 30,000 manufacturing jobs.

Um, I we're talking about like brownfield sites and then um one of the things, what did we say?

It was called infill, right?

We were talking, Paul.

Um, you know, we use a lot of um money to push west, right?

Farm fields and things like that, right?

We're building roads, we're widening roads, we're doing a lot of work out west.

Um, and if we only concentrate on that kind of infrastructure and not look at, hey, how else can we drive economic development in these other areas?

And we just looked at that.

It would be very difficult for us to invest uh in Zion, Winthrop Harbor, Waukegan, North Chicago.

So I think this policy, us looking at it last week was great.

Um to me, this makes all the sense in the world.

And and you know, to be clear, I think your company sounds wonderful.

Um, what I like about what I think the ask is is how do we get this site so that it is on a level playing field with a different site.

So we sometimes talk about, well, I don't really want to be in the business of picking winners and losers, and I think that's a really good way.

Like, you know, we're in government, that's not what what maybe we should do, right?

And in my perspective, but if we can look at where sites where we can bring economic development to um an environmentally environmental justice community, a community that's been hard hit because they have for a myriad of reasons, but also because they have these super fund sites that they've been saddled with for decades.

Um, I I just think it would be a tremendous opportunity for us to really um make a difference.

And you know, look, the state of Illinois has economic development uh resources that they give, the cities have it, and the county has it too.

So I just really believe in in what is being contemplated here.

And um I look forward to future conversations.

So thank you, Chair.

Yeah, thank you, Chair.

And I I do want to say I think you and I had a little bit of disagreement uh at the beginning of this conversation.

I was pretty skeptical, I would say, and I didn't have your enthusiasm for it as I do now.

So I appreciate your uh patience and the presentation was really helpful to us.

Um I just have one other question, which is you know, as you as we consider these kinds of um investments, we want to think about the credibility of the partner as well.

Um, we've seen other communities that have made bad choices in that area.

Can you talk about your sort of market penetration in Europe?

I know that the European solar market is a lot more mature than the US, obviously.

So um it, you know, you probably a later stage entry uh to some extent, but can you talk about have you been successful?

Do you have a price competitive advantage?

Like how how how are you doing in Europe?

Yeah, sure, sure.

And um uh so we we started recently, right?

So so we're still in a kind of a scale up mode.

Um, but our growth is tremendous, right?

We grew um the last three years, like with like 400% per year.

Um we have a group of investors that supports our our mission.

And um, so even in Europe, which because it's a more um um was just you just mature.

Yes, that's uh which your market um is actually also more difficult to uh to to compete in.

So it's in the in Europe, it's very difficult to compete on on price.

Um in the US, therefore, um uh because of these these regulations, the price point of solar panels is more healthy.

So solar manufacturers can make a living here.

And the good news is because of um our production process and um the use of materials, we can actually produce these panels at a lower cost than a traditional panel.

Now, if you add to that the many benefits that it gives, we actually think we can ask for a premium.

So if you look at our business plans, our price points have been very conservative.

They're kind of way below what is currently the market price in the US.

So we can be competitive from day one in the US.

Um, but hopefully even charge a bit of a premium because of the benefits of our product.

Great, thank you.

We have one more question for you, Vice Chair Park, and then member Clark.

Yeah, and it's really not a not a question.

Um Chair Frank, uh, just more.

I mean, I'm fully supportive.

I like many of the members on our committee.

I think we find something like this to be just in meeting so many of our goals, right?

In terms of our strategic goals, but I was less familiar with our policy around this, so I'm excited about that.

And I want to keep this conversation going.

Also, want to thank Kevin Um for bringing this to our attention and and really appreciate what he's done around this.

One one question I I guess I do have maybe more for for Kevin is just looking at the capacity for these types of products here in Lake County, right?

It will if this were to come here, could we also look to work with businesses to encourage more adoption of of these types of panels?

Yes, um, I I think there's lots of upside.

I'm not gonna uh claim to be an expert in the uh what the market opportunities for, particularly rooftop solar.

Um we have a decent industrial base here, and I'm thinking industrial buildings in that sense.

Few of them have rooftop solar.

I can think of a handful, there's one very large project that's going on right now, which in and of itself is cool.

Um so I think from that standpoint, there's there's quite a bit of uh of upside.

I think frankly, uh you guys, Derek, have done the market analysis, and you wouldn't be coming here if there wasn't pretty pretty significant upside.

And I think I'm I'm quite sure that uh we'll get an elbow from Derek once once we're up and running to help on the uh on the sales front as well.

So that that's coming, I'm quite sure.

Excellent, thank you, Remember Clark.

Sorry, I forgot to ask this earlier.

I just had to ask, you know, we're on a migratory flyway with the birds migrating birds, and so looking at this project, and I mentioned this earlier.

Is this I saw that you're working with um sharing our short lakeshore and other groups, and so I just wanted to just ask about the birds with the micro.

Yeah, and and uh we're not working uh with them yet.

We have identified that they're uh community uh groups that uh we want to interact with when the timing is right, right?

So um you can I think hear it in in everything we say, right?

Uh protecting the environment is in our DNA.

So we want to do what's right for the the local species.

Um there's a there's a piping plover nesting area identified on our piece of land.

The the latest reports say that there have there hasn't been a bird uh uh since 2016 on on that piece.

So but if we can help um those local species to find their natural habit and and create things to to make it better for them, we will do that.

Um we will work with the local community groups to to um find what's right for everyone.

I guess I don't know if the effect of all the solar panels that affects birds, I just don't know.

So I just want to just put us we just have to be mindful of the case.

Yeah, I mean of course we have some customers that have um um birds can soil uh the the solar panels and and reduce the performance of your solar panels.

Um but that you can clean them and and there's uh but there's I have no information or ever heard about solar panels negatively impacting impacting um birds or any other species.

I just want to keep them in mind, thank you.

Yes, member Peterson.

Thank you.

But I'm looking around the table here, and I think I'm the only one sitting here that would remember this, but 50 years ago, I used to work at the card house, and I remember what downtown Wa Kegan was like, and it was it was booming, wonderful restaurants, great shops.

It was great.

And it's just the difference of night and day now.

It's so sad.

I a few weeks ago I drove down Genesee Street and Yeah, very sad.

Very sad.

Anyway, I think a project like this would really, really bring a lot to Waukane.

And I know that you probably have a little bit more to do, but I think it would be a big boost for Walk Kegan.

And if if we could help out in any way, it'd be great.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Member May.

Thanks.

I just um obviously it seems like we all want to continue.

I just also want to caution this committee to not make um the perfect the enemy of the very good.

And we have to keep in mind that by things like using solar power.

Um, yes, we are on a flyway.

And I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm probably the biggest bird watch.

Is Tammy here?

Okay, Tammy's gone.

Otherwise, she and I would claw to the death on who's seen more species there.

But um, yes, we wanna be careful of our flyway, but there's many flyways across the country and other types of environmental and energy use are damaging things in those places.

So I appreciate the concern, but I just wanna make sure that um that we don't get unrealistic.

It's always very easy for people to forget there's an eastern flyway going through West Virginia and all those other places where there is other damage being done.

So I think we also have to look holistically at an entire system.

And for me, I want a really good system, but I realize that you know there may be some things that there's gonna be room for improvement, but uh that overall we see a really positive direction and that we don't let some things that we're like, oh, I wish it were that stand in the way of great progress forward.

Maybe one last thing that I I kind of want to mention is that you you probably don't notice, but the the the main airport in in the Netherlands, Amsterdam Skip Hole Airport, uh they have a lot of solar fields around them, and they're glass panels, and they actually have to take down thousands and thousands of these solar panels because of the glare.

The one of the other benefits of our panels is that uh the the there's much, much less glare.

So there is uh uh a little less impact on you know airplanes, but for that, uh I think for birds uh too.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you again for being here for the transparency for the uh really positive conversation.

We'll be mindful of your timeline, and we're gonna continue the conversation.

So thank you very much.

Thanks, Lake.

We'll look forward to thanking you all again soon.

Thank you.

Thanks, members.

Okay.

Um 8.16.

I'm gonna introduce the item and then member Clark I'd ask you to just drive for a minute because I gotta step out for a second.

Okay, thank you.

Uh 8.15 is a resolution authorizing.

I'm sorry, member main.

Yeah, uh I just I just wonder for the committee here if you have any sense of what you're gonna give us as next steps.

Like, is there gonna be some side communications?

You're gonna bring things back to us.

Are we gonna need a special meeting?

Yeah, really.

I was just about to look up the the calendar so I could see what our other meetings are.

I know that this committee meets at the end of August.

Right.

And then we have I think two meetings in September.

Um, my thinking at the moment is uh that Chair Hart and the administrator and I would have a conversation about what a specific proposal would look like.

Okay, and we'd have additional conversations with Kevin and we would bring something specific to this committee to consider.

Okay, because we would need something by the September 9th board meeting, right?

Because if we we're that this something like this, I just want to confirm something like this requires, as we said before, board action.

So I just also want to make sure Kevin understands that that we're if you need something by the end of September, our board meeting is September 9th for action to occur.

Thank you.

Yeah, sorry.

You know, there's a few elements that we want to talk through.

And just that we talked about last week, clawbacks, specifics, those kinds of things, funding sources.

I think we have an idea about that that wouldn't impact our budget adversely.

Yeah.

So I think we have some ideas.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you again.

8.15 is a resolution authorizing an intergovernmental support agreement between Naval Station Great Lakes and Lake County for demolition and installation support services.

Motion by member Clark.

Second by member May.

Good morning, Director Carr.

Good morning.

All right.

So you have two community engagement items right in a row.

And uh, this is one that we've been working on for a little bit with the Naval Station and with the US Navy.

Um, so this is an intergovernment intergovernmental support agreement.

And good news is it has gone through all the levels of the Navy.

They have signed off on it.

And now it's uh up to the county board to go ahead and ratify that and improve that.

Uh just as a quick summary to refresh your memories.

Uh it is what it says in the statement there is for demolition, demolition and installation support services.

Uh primary focus is on the Halsey Village in North Chicago, which is on the corner of Green Bay Road and Buckley.

And it's a demolish those housing units that are there so that it can be developed sometime in the future.

Uh so the county, what we'll provide is oversight of the contract, and the Navy will provide the funding, most importantly.

And uh secondly, they will provide the on-site construction management and project management itself.

Uh, what we will receive is uh beyond the cost of the contract, whatever contract value we provide or we agree upon, uh, we'll also receive a somewhat of an administrative fee, which would cover the our costs for executing a contract work.

Uh so next steps, uh once the county approves, we'll have a joint signing ceremony, communications, Tammy has reached out to the Navy.

They have a date set up for 1 p.m.

Thursday, August 21st at the Navy station, naval station at the museum of the American sailor.

Uh so if there's if you haven't seen those invites, look for those and we'll get those out to everybody.

Uh and as far as funding goes, uh the Navy has indicated they intend to fund as early as this fall, uh, but no real hard timeline on that.

As you might imagine, there are some fun things going on with uh federal funding at this point in time.

So we'll see how things shake out.

Um it should be noted that uh as funding is provided and we develop these projects.

Every contract action will come through this board for approval because uh the the tent is to use the JOC program, uh JOC contract, and our and our rules dictate that we bring those actions to you for approval.

So no matter what value they are, whatever action we have, you will see that again and that that process will step along that way.

Member Clark and Member Maine.

So it seems like I mean, this uh sounds great.

I mean, I know this is a big project um that Lake County has a lot of interest in having move forward.

This will be really good for the county and the area.

Um, so for in this, I guess um look so is the are we is Lake County going to be taking the lead on deciding like this is the part of the contract we're doing next, like these buildings are the one that are coming down.

Like, are we are user office providing like the strategy and the project management in the direction?

And then do we get like reimbursed or or is this something that they they they put a like we tell them what they should do, then they pay for it, and then we execute it.

I'm just trying to figure out like how it's going to like the actually work with deciding because it is a huge project, right?

This could go on, I think for I would say could go on for years, maybe maybe, or maybe you're gonna be really fast, depending on what I'm thinking this is.

Um, but so how does that exactly work?

So the mechanics of the contract is essentially we're the hammer, and they they are the person swinging that hammer.

So it's uh then the Navy is going to go ahead, they will fund it all, they will scope the work, however much work they want to do.

Uh will depend dependent on the funding that they have available.

Uh, we will collectively work together to scope out how much the how many the buildings to the demo, the roads to demo, all these sorts of things.

We will work very closely with them.

Uh we like county will go ahead and work with the contractor to refine that pricing, refine the scoping.

And once the the Navy provides that funding, then we'll execute that that job order on that contract.

So it's very much the Navy's dictating how much they want to do.

They are using our contract.

We are navigating our internal job order contract system in order to put it on a contract so that they can use it.

Uh, we are also constrained by the limits of our contract.

There's only so much we can do.

Uh now, with that said, there's always possibilities of modifying a contract to fit the needs of whatever specific action we'd like to do, but that is a conversation for another day.

Okay.

So we don't know that right now.

Well, we'll get to that point if and when we get to that point.

And do you think it's um has an administrative cost on top of it that would pay us?

So do you think it'll need more staff for this?

Or do you think I mean that I'm assuming that costs will help pay for any needs.

I just guess I can't figure out how much they're going to ramp up right away because it, you know, with what they uh no real indication yet uh far how how great that's gonna ramp up.

Uh we we do we are aware that the Navy has uh gone into a support agreement in intergovernmental support agreement with a village, sorry, villager city, city of North Chicago uh for similar functions.

So there's a possibility that the Navy uses our our contract or North Chicago's contract or any other any number of different ways they want to do it.

But as far as ramping up, it's it's an unknown at this point in time and how intense it's going to be for us.

Uh we know what it takes to administer administratively operate this contract, uh, but working through these the the day-to-day is gonna be kind of interesting uh for us.

Uh mostly on admin side, processing invoices, that sort of stuff is is relatively we could do that with her you know, has tied behind our back.

Uh that's easy.

But the uh the day-to-day functionality with the Navy is gonna be somewhat of an interesting thing.

Yeah, I think especially since we're gonna be voting on these contracts, but we would not vote on a contract unless we already knew it was being funded by the Navy.

So correct.

It will it will not come to you without funding and all those things lined up and ready to go.

But then we're on the thing.

All right, well, this will be interesting.

Thank you.

Member Main.

Thank you.

Um, and some of my questions are related.

So page seven of the contract under financial details under C has availability of funds.

And I don't know if you wanna, it's it's uh it's a uh table and talks about project size.

There's yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

So that minimum admin fee, is that what would be coming to us?

I'm just trying to figure out okay.

So there's a contract, yeah.

Whatever it costs to the contractor to do it with the associated fees to do that work to the contractor and that percentage, and that's based off all the personnel costs that we were able to calculate.

Okay, so and we did an um because I feel like sometimes with our and and this is great.

I mean, I support this.

I feel like there's been other instances throughout the county in which we have not been recovering our our admin costs and our other things like that.

Do we feel confident that the things that went into this are complete with you know insurance, retirement and all stuff like that?

Do we feel I feel confident?

Okay.

Does our county administrator feel confident?

Yes.

Wow, wow, I I really want to take that to the bank.

Okay.

It's a little bit hard, yeah, not really knowing the level of effort to be perfectly honest.

Okay.

Um that's why this one was difficult because we just don't know, you know, if they're gonna utilize both contracts or even go out and get other intergovernmental contracts.

So it's really hard to know the level.

Um, we do feel like this was a good place to start.

Sorry, sure.

What what is the Gordian fee?

Uh that is a essentially a digital service or an online service that it has all the contract costs, all the project you like individual task order contract catalog, which has it's really line items or unit costs per to do a uh certain task.

Okay.

So they own this giant catalog, and that's what we utilize for the job program in in total.

So that Gordian fee is a essentially sliding scale cost depending on the value of the contract itself that's added to every single job order that we execute.

We that that is the same cost that we have for I just hadn't seen it.

I was just wanted to learn.

Um, and and I do see that the the last column there um, you know, adds up the percent of the project fee, a pro core fee and the Gordian fee and gives uh sort of a min administrative fee.

Does that mean there can be, let's say we've done two of these, and we're like, it's a great idea, but we're kind of we're losing our shirts here.

Does does that min admin fee or does this contract allow us to say to have wiggle room to say, look, we've done two of these, and and this minimum administrative fee is is not enough to actually cover our costs.

And for the for a five million dollar project instead of 3.6%, we really need 3.8%.

Do we have the ability in this to negotiate based on current experience, or would that be a whole new deal?

Or is that too hard to say?

Mutually agreed upon a contract and agreement.

So everything is renegotiable.

Okay, just because it had a minimum fee, which suggests that there's room on individual contracts to go up.

As long as they fit into these parameters, yes.

Which parameters?

Project size.

So if it's is it as as an example zero to one million that minimum admin fee would be 4.58% added to the contract value that would be paid to us in total before we do the work.

Okay.

That's good enough now.

Thanks.

Thanks.

Sure.

Very excited about this contract.

These are really good questions that uh member Maine is bringing up but um and I should say uh just moving forward with the demolition of that space you know we don't know what the Navy is going to do with it but so I can't remember I think it was 68% of the homes in that neighborhood were condemned.

Yeah they're so disgraceful to be able whether the Navy decides to keep it and maybe have more housing um having better housing that perhaps mirrors the housing that uh military families enjoy in Fort Sheridan uh perhaps they could have that same nice housing in North Chicago that would be wonderful if the land becomes an opportunity for um a mixed use development and there's commercial you know whatever it is it's uh it's definitely a benefit so thank you very much for being here and presenting this and for uh your willingness and leadership to work on this project thank you so no other questions this is item 8.15 correct yes okay all in favor say aye aye any opposed 8.15 is approved point one six is a resolution authorizing an agreement with orc and LLC of Atlanta Georgia for pest control services for various like county locations for one year period with four one year renewal options and the animated estimated annual amount of 4504 motion to approve by member of Litzik second by member Clark George Carr.

Yes so this is a renewal of our our pest uh pest control services contract um this is really for county spaces that facilities manages and this work is funded through our annual operational budget so it is uh fully funded uh this contract is through a cooperative agreement that's why it's a one year contract with four renewals each year so pretty straightforward for essentially pest control spraying inside of buildings that we operate yes okay correct um would you say it's accurate that if we have less buildings the cost for this and other items that are on a per building basis would be less yes I agree with that that's what I want to okay any other kinds of questions member Clark do we look at the what type of pest control they use only that I know some I mean I'm assuming we use the you know the most not just I mean that is least because I know sometimes there's like baits and things you can use that can have um you know long ramifications down in the you know with like birds eating them or squirrels eating them versus like traps which can you know scale so do we does anyone just look over to make sure that we're doing that is why we hired professionals okay uh so yes depending on the pest or the varmit it did yeah that is the they use the appropriate product for that okay because I know I've heard of like I mean I know like cats or dogs dying because they eat a mouse that had eaten baits and so there's things just to be thoughtful of and I'm hoping we're being mindful of how because I'm you know we need to do pest control but just to make sure we are being thoughtful about how we can do it has the least effect on you know water and other pets and other animals our pest control I guess to leave some of those fears our pest control is primarily on the inside of our building so we we do do not treat out to the exterior off yeah but the mice do run out so okay but thank you mindful member me well except if I look at the chart under agreement price and I'm okay with it it says monthly exterior rodent repellent so actually all the buildings do have monthly I mean that's what the cost is the 4500 is for exterior and then additional if need is exterior bait station interior you know multiflight traps blah blah blah so really this is exterior not into I mean I'm just looking at your and exterior okay the chart only says that our monthly is exterior okay other questions okay member sorry I'm glad you guys that you push this member Clark because um I had a peripheral thought about it and just didn't push it so I'm glad you I'm glad you did um is this to treat existing problems or like because repellent and poison are can be two different things is this to keep rodents away or is it to deal with an existing issue?

Because there are um some ways to repel that aren't using poison or toxic chemicals.

Mice, you know, it it is an issue.

They they don't stay in the in the in the building itself, particularly if they've ingested a poison and then go searching for water because they're so dehydrated, they they leave the building where they live, and that's when owls and and dogs and other animals eat them and then and then die.

So I really would be hesitant to be contributing to this issue.

Um, or to we need to um rodents like uh, you know, uh chipmunks and mice, they do damage to buildings, no doubt.

We can't have electrical wiring and all the you know the issues that come with having rodents in a building.

Totally agree.

I we need to have something, but I would like to know uh have be a little bit more thoughtful about what we're doing and what we're putting out there.

Um so that's I I don't know what the I did read through the the brief, but when is when is it up right now?

When is our current one up contract?

Uh expires in gosh, I don't have that exact date on me.

I can get back, I can get back to you on that one.

Like if there's any wiggle room, I mean I would like to know what there are companies out there that offer more uh wildlife friendly services.

I I don't I I know I'm opening up a can of worms, but it's before us, and so I think we should consider what we're putting out there into the environment.

It's an important question.

Have we ever piloted alternative methods on any of our buildings?

Have we ever tried like the the sound sort of like um nuisance avoidance, you know.

We have technical facilities perspective.

We take every effort to eliminate avenues for mice in particular to get into our buildings.

We uh whether it's thresholds or uh rubber gaskets, that sort of stuff.

The the problem is we have a readily available food source within our buildings.

We have uh on the in the lobby downstairs, we have uh that the our um wonderful I guess the the food that we sell, the the other micro market there, and we also down at the jail, which is the really where the largest problem is we have a full service kitchen.

Um and it's not so much even within the building, but when you have uh biodegradable waste that's outside in the dumpsters, that is a a definite siren call to all uh all the the mice that come into the area.

So that is where the most of our exterior controls reside is that we have that here because it is a problem.

We have a have a known problem within that jail kitchen, and we are trying to control that.

Um and we know we have a problem even within this building because of the dumpsters area and going into the micro market area.

And it's a again, we keep providing food sources for these uh small animals that come in.

Uh so trying to control that is the big biggest thing, but this also provides us to do other services, whether it's uh other six-legged or eight-legged creatures that are walking around to control them as well.

So it's uh a more humane way of pushing and distracting or trying to uh eliminate the pests from coming into the building.

It's it it becomes very difficult, but we do take all the physical measures that we can prior to going trying and try to bait them or uh kill them in other ways.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

No, I was just gonna say this is for a one year with renewal.

So this would come back in a year.

Uh this one wouldn't.

It's a essentially a five-year contract.

So it's up because of our ordinance or a purchasing ordinance, it's allowed for the finance to renew it every.

It says March 5th, 2029.

Under recitals.

Those are those are one year renewals.

There's a one-year contract with one year, one year renewals.

Correct.

For one year renewing.

Yes.

So we don't usually bring those back.

Yeah, right.

I'm sorry, member of listening where you don't know.

Go ahead.

Okay, go ahead, Chair.

Thank you.

So I was just, oh, excuse me.

I was just trying to see who we had used in and I'm just doing a search feature for pest control and and I um, so who did we use before?

Organ.

So we've always used Orkin, but it's maybe doesn't come before this board.

Never the dollar figure.

Yeah, the dollar the threshold may not have breached the 30,000 dollar.

Oh, because we've expanded services because of our micro mart downstairs.

Because of the micro mart downstairs that has increased the contract value.

Because the micro mart increased the contract value.

Oh, because source well, they they're our micro mart.

Help me understand why is that increasing.

We have more controls that we need, more pest control.

There's more of a need for pest control because of the lobby micromark.

Oh, interesting.

More need for pest control because of the lobby versus when we used to have a kitchen, which I know wasn't a fully operating kitchen, but that's interesting.

I would never think that vending machines or whatever would have a greater need than actually having people serving fresher food.

They can get in there.

They can get into the machines.

I get don't thank you, Paul.

You can see that little face just scratching right there next to your.

I didn't say that.

Yeah, you did not.

And so I think these are all really good questions.

Anyway, I'm so we don't know when the current contract ends.

I don't think I'm sorry, I don't have that right on the top of my head, but I can get back to you on it.

Member Clark.

You know, um, and that's you know, looking at it, it does, as member may point out it does say monthly exterior rodent repellent.

And you know, maybe we just need to have a bigger conversation just about this in general.

Because sometimes I feel like we've been doing things a certain way.

Obviously, we even see this contract before, that it just might have always been this way.

But maybe there is a way to look at it to just re-inal, you know, have a new analysis.

Maybe there are some more uh up-to-date ways that we could look at pest control.

Um, so I don't know if we could have a converse.

I know this is renewing, it does look, I mean, maybe because at each year, if we have to renew it, maybe just in the next year, we could just, you know, maybe take some time to have this be a discussion or just to look into is it just because it really says just exterior rodent repellent.

That's mostly what we're paying for.

And then it looks like we pay per cost for things like well, other things that could happen that infestation.

Investation, yes, bait stations, fly traps, and that's like 400.

So it's got like other per thing, you know, per value.

But it seems like every month, according to this, they put out bait, and I'm all for not having mice.

Um, but sometimes there can be different you know, different ways that maybe we could just look at.

So maybe we can renew it, but then in the next year have a discussion or at least come back to find out more about alternatives or best practices or something.

I I think that's a good approach.

And uh the risk to other animals is not a hypothetical.

I've seen it myself.

I've seen a bird eating a poison mouse.

I've seen a dog that ingested poison, you know, incidentally.

So I think um if it's possible we should approve this with the direction to uh director carried and county administration that before the one year renewal comes back to us, we have a discussion about how to mitigate those risks and what other alternatives would be.

Members, are you okay with that?

Member of Litzik.

Yeah, I am, but also with the um added note that the renewal do come do come back.

Yeah, yeah, would require the renewals to come back to this committee.

Yeah.

Yes.

Okay, great.

Okay, with that guidance, direction, and understanding, all in favor of a point one six, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

8.16 is approved.

We will see it back here next year.

Can't wait.

And discussion before that.

Thank you.

We can't wait a year.

Yeah.

8.17 is a resolution approving the execution of a sub-recipient agreement with the city of North Chicago for environmental remediation at the Sheridan Crossing property.

Motion to approve by member Volitsick, second by member Clark.

Good morning, Deputy Ms.

Fair Myers.

Good morning, Madam Mars Deputy County Administrator.

Continuing with the theme of polluted properties today.

Uh, we are talking this morning about the Sheridan Crossing property at the northwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr.

Drive and Sheridan Road in the city of North Chicago.

I have discussed this with the committee over the last number of years.

In 2022, I applied for uh in coordination and um in conjunction with the city of North Chicago, uh, a community project funding earmark request with uh Congressman Schneider's office.

Um we were happy to obtain four million dollars for the environmental remediation of the shared and crossing property.

The challenge was we received the appropriation at some between when we submitted and when we got the appropriation, North Chicago's name was crossed off of the request and Matt Myers of Lake County stayed on.

I worked for three to six months trying to get my name off of the congressional record and found that um it would take an act of Congress to do so.

So uh I reported that back to this committee and stated that we wanted to continue to move forward and ensure protections as my name on that congressional record means that Lake County is on the hook for the four million dollars should there be any uh misuse of the funds.

Um so that's the intent of this intergovernment agreement.

It sets those standards as to how we're gonna work together with the city of North Chicago as a sub-recipient to transfer the funds via reimbursement to the city of North Chicago for their use in the environmental cleanup of the property.

Um this agreement did go forward through North Chicago on Monday and it was approved.

And um, we are saving 100,000 of it for our administrative costs.

Our intent is to hire a consultant to support us in the review of all the materials that would be coming from the city of North Chicago to ensure compliance with UD, who is the provider of the funds.

I think that and the City of North Chicago does have additional funds, and they do have the funds to uh get the project rolling as it will be reimbursement.

Member Clark.

Well, I want to thank you.

I know you worked really hard with the city of North Chicago to do this.

Not everyone gets to be in the congressional record, so that's pretty cool.

But uh, but I know that um, you know, this is going to be such an is such an important project and the priority of the city of North Chicago.

So I really, especially going the extra mile to make sure that this does happen and also looking at it that it protects the county and the city.

Um so I really want to thank you for all your work on this.

And this is so important.

Um, and it's a really good example of working together with our municipalities.

So thank you.

Come on, questions.

I last I just do want to thank Dominic Strezzo, who's here, who has been a massive support to this project and a and a great uh providing significant guidance uh throughout the way to ensure that we're following the right steps as based on his vast experience with these project types and hood.

Great.

Happy to see this moving forward.

Thanks for all your work.

All in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, 8.17 is approved.

Thank you.

8.18 is an ordinance proposing the dissolution of the Lake County, sorry, the South Lake Mosquito Abatement District.

Motion on this item by member Clark, second by member Volte.

Good morning, Assistant Administrator Hall.

I believe there is public comment on this item.

I just ask if you want to hear that um before we have a discussion.

Great.

Let's go ahead with the public comment.

The first public comment is from Dean Mosher.

Please, you can come up to the podium and you'll have three minutes once you start.

My name is Dean Mosher.

I'm a Highland Park resident.

I am uh also an SLMAD trustee, but I'm speaking today as a private citizen.

And I'm here to urge you to dissolve the South Lake Mosquito Abatement District.

I've heard it said that you know we shouldn't dissolve the district because it does such a great job of mosquito abatement and it'll leave a void if they dissolve it.

So let me be clear that SLMAD does not perform any mosquito abatement itself.

It contracts with Clark, which is a large national firm for all its turnkey mosquito abatement services.

And many Lake County towns, um, Libertyville, Mundaline, Vernon Hills, also contract with Clark for exactly the same services, the same package.

But here's the problem.

SLMAD pays Clark about three times more per square mile than these towns do.

And for the same services.

If you add an SLMAD's 106,000 a year of administrative costs, taxpayers are paying four times more per square mile.

Uh, I'd be happy to uh share my calculations and source documents uh for your review review and and and verification.

But even worse, SLMAD strips away local control.

So under state law, five unelected uh appointees have final say over mosquito control decisions in the district.

And they can override elected officials, and that's happened.

As an example, in 2013, SLMAD decided to do aerial mosquito spraying from a plane over the entire district.

The stated reason was for nuisance mosquitoes.

West Nile virus, uh West Nile virus was not even mentioned.

So in Highland Park, where I live, residents were up in arms.

They didn't want it.

The city council unanimously opposed it.

SLMAD ignored the mayor, as they have a right to do and sprayed over Highland Park anyway.

And I think we can all agree that that's not how we want our communities to be governed.

So in a nutshell, dissolving SLMAD will save money and restore local control.

What will happen?

Well, after the Lake Bluff Mosquito Abatement District was dissolved, the sky did not fall.

Lake Bluff contracted directly with Clark for the same services at much lower cost with their elected representatives now calling the shots.

Mosquito abatement continued seamlessly.

The same can happen here in SLMAD.

And I just want to say briefly, I so uh enjoyed your conversation uh about Orkhan because you were asking all the right questions and it really highlights how you know many how difficult it is to manage uh a subcontractor.

And they may want to do things in a toxic way and they may have reverse incentives.

Sorry, your time is up.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Next public comment is Randy Merrill.

Good morning.

Randy Merrill from Riverwoods Preservation Council.

But today I'm speaking with you as a resident.

We've been very lucky to have this partnership with Lake County for our mosquito abatement.

I'm sure you're aware that if the communities take back the responsibility, the cost will increase.

The expense to the municipalities will rise.

The expense to the homeowners will increase.

The expense is as such, many communities will need to reduce their level of service that they provide with less testing, less treatment.

It's inevitable.

So once the resident realizes that the mosquito and treatment is insufficient, they're going to contract for their own private services.

So for those of you who express concern about the hazards of this product, imagine what it'd be like to have our era filled with mosquito joe, mosquito hunters, and homemade products that will be sprayed at inappropriate times and inappropriate ways.

So please give thoughtful consideration to your position and vote to retain the South Lake Mosquito Abatement.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next up is Laura Trevino, please.

In discussing this issue with residents from Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Deerfield, and Highland Park.

One of the key questions is what price do you put on public health?

A key purpose of having the SLMAD was that municipalities by joining together could achieve economies of scale and efficiencies for the district's residents and communities.

Dollars were even able to be put aside for those times when climate and weather conditions would require more services or treatments.

The SLMAD committee effectively manages the fiscal highs and lows to prevent raising taxes every year.

Dissolving the SLMAD removes the economies of scale and efficiencies and will force residents to pay more for less services.

These discussions happened at several of the meetings that I was part of the decennial committee.

As part of that committee, I was able to see the committee number one, align on Clark services and approach because it's eco-friendly, diligent, and prudent with its tracking, reporting, and prevention techniques.

Two, I saw the committee evolve.

Those new to the committee came in with the idea that it should be dissolved.

However, they changed their minds once they got the facts and became ambassadors for keeping the committee and allowing it to help protect its residents.

The decennial report was created to address the team's findings, its key action steps, and that includes determining how to best grow the district or align with other districts to learn more and gain further efficiencies.

Dissolving other mosquito abatement districts in the county doesn't mean it was the right thing to do.

The argument that dissolving other districts would reduce costs doesn't align with the reality of municipalities providing less services for the same or more money.

Now is the time to pass.

Now is the time to fix past mistakes.

Having less agencies doesn't mean it costs less for residents.

It's the opposite here.

Dissolving the SLMAD will cost us more for less protection, and residence health shouldn't have to be compromised by the county.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Next is Lester Raffaell.

Good morning.

I'm a retired pathologist with a 45-year career in medical laboratories.

For much of that time, I directed the microbiology laboratory to community hospital and displays.

Could begin.

Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we did not.

But one thing is always clear the best way to cure an infection is to prevent it from happening in the first place.

We might tolerate mosquitoes if they were just a nuisance, but we know they are vectors of disease.

Our municipalities working together provide an effective and inexpensive way to keep those vectors at bay.

It is in everyone's best interest to preserve that protection.

I ask you as a citizen, as a physician, and as a trustee, please do not dissolve the South Lake Mosquito Abatement District.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next, Sarah Merritt.

Good morning.

My name is Sarah Merritt, and I'm a director with the Riverwoods Preservation Council and a lifelong resident of Riverwoods.

I'm here speaking today strongly against the dissolution of the South Lake Mosquito Abatement District.

The South Lake Mosquito Abasement Abatement District plays a critical role in our community, not just controlling nuisance mosquitoes, but more importantly, protecting public health.

The district conducts regular mosquito testing, which alerts the public to the presence of West Nile virus and other vector borne diseases.

The early detection allows for quick and targeted responses, something that simply would not happen without the dedicated agency.

As someone who is a caregiver for an older parent, it is critical to have control over the mosquitoes since the vector borne diseases have a higher impact on the elderly and those with weakened immune systems.

One of my close friends who is a resident of Highland Park has shared how it gives them peace of mind, knowing that there are people in the community who are working with mosquitoes to protect the children as they spend their time outside enjoying nature and what Highland Park has to offer.

Beyond the beyond public health, there is an environmental argument that cannot be ignored.

As somebody who is deeply involved in the environmental preservation through Riverwoods Preservation Council, I understand the need to balance pest control with ecological stewardship.

SMLAD uses targeted methods such as larvacide treatments and adult asiding only when necessary, which are more focused and environmentally responsible.

If we eliminate the mosquito district, we are we are risking turning mosquito control over less specialized and more generalized efforts like broad spectrum insecticide spraying.

These methods don't just kill mosquitoes, they harm beneficial insects like pollinators, including those who are already threatened species like monarch butterflies, lightning bugs, and native bees.

The RPC is working actively to support pollinator populations in riverwoods, planting native species and preserving habitat.

Dissolving the SMLAD could unintentionally undermine years of environmental work by introducing careless or overly broad pest control strategies.

In short, keeping SMLAD intact means we maintain public health and environmentally responsible mosquito control, as well as a valuable local resource to our community specific needs.

As a resident conservationist and neighbor, I urge you to consider the long-term consequences and vote to preserve the South Lake Mosquito Abatement District.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our last in-person comment is Chris Ford.

Well, hello again.

As you can see, I was accompanied by two of our trustees and executive members of the Riverwoods Preservational Council.

We speak in support of the South Lake District.

Since the issue has arisen in 2023.

My experience has been to see new district board members join with expectations of dissolution, only to find that they are now, they would now consider expanding the services of the district.

While some of the criticism is reasonable, it should be noted that the old board prior to the 2023 did consist of members, members with academic credentials and municipal experience.

The board was left in disarray by a swift move to replace all the old board members.

And the board operations have suffered in the past two years, with the focus being shifted to education of the new board members in mosquito control, as well as municipal governing experience.

But let us not overlook during this period the actual work of mosquito control, which is outsourced to a single highly rated service in the county, most highly rated service in the county, has not failed, and the cost to residents remains consistently low.

Uh, so we have an entity that delivers an important public health service with a million dollars in the bank, no debt, no staff expense, no cost to the municipality at a low price to the taxpayers.

I suggest this is an enviable position.

Uh the president uh has only attended one meeting.

During her doing her job as chair will take effort, and it would be to her credit to write this ship and bring important health services forward with little or no increase in what are already low taxes.

As a public official, I know we are all fiduciaries of the public good, and you are all taking this issue very seriously.

When we sit on a board, our duty is to the board we sit on and to the residents we govern as a board.

My duty is to my residents to represent their interests to the best of my ability.

In this room, my residents are your residents.

I ask for your consideration in rejecting the process of dissolution of the South Lake Mosquito Abatement Board.

Thank you.

Thank you.

There was written comment received, and that was um sent out to the committee members as well as the full board.

But as per our county board rules, that it will not be read today.

There's no more public comments.

No.

Thank you.

Thank you all for the comments.

Um assistant administrator hall, did you want to just go over the process a little bit for us?

Sure.

Um, Dan Hall, assistant county administrator.

I wanted to share since our last meeting, um, I was given the direction of drafting the proposing ordinance, which I did with our state's attorney's office.

I did share a draft of that with all the municipalities that are um impacted by a potential dissolution of the um abatement district.

I did receive one edit back from the city of Highland Park.

They're asking that um we remove language that um state for that the proposing ordinances for the dissolution and that um there be a focus on that it be for um moving forward with the audit.

As I stated the last time, part of the state statute says that upon approval of a proposing ordinance, it will require an audit of the financials of the mosquito abatement district.

Um that is done in-house by our finance departments.

Um, and an audit will indicate what revenue and expenses have been paid over the uh, I think we were looking at a one-year period, um, and identify what the remaining cash balance would be should the dissolution move forward and there be a distribution of the remaining funds.

So that would be a direct action if this proposing ordinance moves forward to the county board for approval.

That audit would come back to the county board.

We would present the findings and we would ask if you would move forward with an authorizing resolution for dissolution.

That authorizing resolution sets forth another um step in the process, which allows for what they call a backdoor referendum, where it would allow for the municipalities who are impacted by this dissolution to get a I think 7.5% of their voting population or 200 registered voters, they could sign a resolution or a referendum and ask, and that takes place following the um publication of that authorizing resolution in a newspaper.

They have 30 days to do this referendum and to sign it.

If that is presented in with the correct number of signatures, we would move this matter forward to the voters at the next general election.

Okay.

So just to clarify, if we approve this uh ordinance today, and then it goes to the board, and the board approves it next week.

The district is not dissolved.

It triggers the audit, which would then be shared with us and presumably the municipalities, so they can understand the financial impact on them as well.

And then we would have at some point after that, a final action.

If our board approves it, then there would be public notice in that period by which uh residents could follow the process for triggering uh referendum if they so choose, they could force it to referendum.

If not, then it would be become dissolved following that second action by the board.

Is that accurate?

That is accurate.

There's a final step.

Should we actually move towards the dissolution?

And that is the appointment of a trustee in dissolution.

And that process is then submitted with our state's attorney for court action to dissolve.

That process still takes an additional six months.

Okay.

Thank you.

And I think it's important that we recognize that the audit is not going to give us a value statement.

It's not going to say this, this is good, this is bad.

It's just going to show us the dollars.

It's going to show us what they have in terms of assets, revenue, expenditures.

But I still think that's important for the municipalities to have it so they can understand it.

And I think we need to hear from all the municipalities as we as we make these decisions.

Member Maine.

Thank you.

And I appreciate that last point, Member Frank.

And I I know one of the speakers has left, but I appreciate everyone coming and taking all this time.

So I had a good conversation with Assistant County Administrator Hall yesterday.

And thank you for that clarity today.

I felt that on me, that part of our conversation last time, um, we were talking.

Well, uh, I won't use the word efficient.

Can we use the word effective?

Is effective okay?

Um, in terms of government, that we were going to get a sense of, hey, like one of the one of the issues, there's a couple, it's a little like whack-a-mole here.

There's a couple different things going on.

Um, are they effective?

Right.

And the audit does not show us that.

Is that correct?

It's just, I mean, how is the audit?

Like I can go on their website right now and I can pull up their financial statement, which is this is what we have in the bank.

This is what we took in, here are our expenses for the year.

How is the audit different than what is currently on their website as required by our ordinances?

Patrice will correct me if I'm wrong, but what the audit will do is it will take all of the information that they have, all of their invoices, all of their bank statements, and it will validate those financial statements.

It'll give us a real-time accounting of what remains.

Um, because those financial statements are there as a uh a point in time, correct?

If I could, we did have um assistant county administrator Hall pull the audit that we did do for the last mosquito abatement district so that you could see the report that you would get.

Um, as is the case with any audit, this is a point in time analysis of their assets and their debts.

And that's what the purpose is is really to identify how the funds were utilized so that the right decisions can be made going forward, but there is no um assessment whatsoever of efficiency or effectiveness.

Thank you.

That that is really clear and and Chair Frank brought that up.

So I and I'll put this on me that I didn't understand clearly.

I thought we were gonna get more.

I I thought I thought one of the points was to say, hey, are they providing a service that is effective?

So uh an unfortunately the uh the member Hotchworth had you know had to leave and you know, mentioned their administrative costs, which also include um more than half of that was um communication um materials and things like that.

So I feel like this information is not gonna answer that question, right?

That that this information is gonna say they spent here, they spent there.

There is no comparison.

We don't have a sense of was that money well spent or not, because it's a point in time and there's nothing to compare it to.

So let's keep in mind that if the other um if these services are absorbed by the communities, um, they too will need to probably pay their lawyer a little more.

They're gonna have to have a trustee, they're gonna, they're gonna have to do, they're gonna have to have staff take care of these things.

So there's a cost, there's still a cost.

If the services are provided, there is still a cost.

I feel it's a little bit similar to the um drainage districts, and that we have assets that would be divided up.

Is that correct?

If this were to dissolve, those assets would be divided among the communities.

Am I correct about that?

You mean the remaining balance.

Yeah, if it was dissolved.

There is there is a lot of people.

Well, you're right.

I meant cash property.

Yes, cash.

Right.

That that would be divided up and that would cover a few years, and then the community is gonna have to increase their own taxes or find out a way to do it.

So I um when I agreed to the audit last um week, I thought I was gonna be getting more information than I am.

I feel that if we are looking truly to say, is this an effective service?

If that is the question, this is not going to answer it.

So I'm not sure why we would do it.

I think that we would need something broader.

Some of the other issues, and then I'll let somebody else talk.

You know, this that hey, they're non-elected.

I brought this up last time.

We we have other um units of government that are non-elected.

And um are we going to be tackling those?

Are we going to be tackling fire protection districts and those representatives are also not elected?

So there's plenty of instances where we have non-elected.

I do feel that mentioning something that happened in 2013 um hasn't happened since.

I think the the board learned so to have to go back 12 years to find one incidence and saying, hey, they weren't really responsive.

Um I'm not sure that's important.

I think it's also important to realize that when you have these groups together, you have an economy of scale.

And that the contract allows them to do services that um individual communities doing it by themselves might not be able to do.

I think it's also important that we we note that we have people such as um Ms.

Trevino, who as residents took the time to attend a lot of meetings, who it who were on the decennial com committee and and were invested enough to put in.

And then finally, I'm going to reiterate the point that um uh Mayor Ford made is that yeah, I'm sure there's things that can be cleaned up about this.

But in 2023, there was a wholesale removal.

Some people were moving out of the district, but there were people who are relatively new to that board who wanted to stay on that board, who were not reappointed.

And so I think we all understand if you have a brand new board with nobody experience on that board, you're gonna struggle for a little bit.

So you have a board in which every member on that board has been there two or fewer years.

And I spoke out against that two years ago, and I said, hey, you're getting rid of people who had only been on the board for like two or four years.

They had a little bit of experience.

So, you know, it was like, hey, let's get new blood in here.

Some people had then been there for a long time, but other people had not been there so long.

And I think that could have helped the board.

I think we did them a disservice by eliminating any knowledge of how that board worked.

That's all.

Vice Chair Parra.

Yeah, I I thank you, Chair.

I think um member Maine uh nicely summed up some of my concerns.

I I was hoping that the audit might shed some light on how we're utilizing the funds.

One of my so I think in our last conversation, I made a few points.

One being while I appre look, I've I've recommended several board members, and I think they do have um really uh trying to do what's best for the community.

I just don't see the uniqueness of our specific community and needing this board was one of my concerns.

But one of my other concerns was um how effectively and efficiently we are using our funds uh versus being able to have each municipality being able to utilize the thinking and the funding along a broader opportunity within their ecological services.

And so we'll will like my question is will the audit have give us a sense of how much we're spending on attorneys' fees, how much are we spending on website fees, how much are we spending on communication as a percentage?

I don't have the document that was shared, obviously, if we can make sure to make that available electronically.

Yeah, um, and is one year enough.

I mean, I personally it it seems like the audit is of purposes of of hey, if we're dissolving it, here's how the assets would be divided up, versus understanding how the dollars have been utilized from our our residents over time, and and that was more of my question in understanding the audit because I do have a concern of the allocation of fees that are into non what I would call service-oriented use, more towards administrative.

And so if the audit's not going to do that, then I guess the question is is it just fair merely perfunctory and and doesn't necessarily provide any action opportunity for us, and it's just we're making decisions with with or without it.

So I guess that's my question.

And then lastly, what's the next step from here?

Yeah.

So thank you, Vice Chair.

And um you don't have the benefit of having the paper in front of you, but staff will send it to you.

But it's the sample from Lake Bluff from 2021 that we're looking at, it does indicate amount of funds expanded on legal and and other services.

And for Lake Buffett was 9.6% total expenses.

Uh Chair Hart and then Member Clark.

Thank you.

And I really appreciate this conversation, having people come in from Riverwoods.

Thank you very much for being here.

Um I just regarding the audit, my understanding is that is by state statute that audit is required, right?

As a process, correct.

It's the next step in the process.

Okay.

So while it it is not a value judgment, I think, as Chair Frank had said, as member Maine had said, it's just something that is required.

Um I can tell you, as a resident of Lake Bluff, when the Lake Bluff Mosquito Abatement District was dissolved, and having several friends who had served, now serve, we have had no increase in our property taxes as a result.

Um I can also tell you that for the Lake Bluff Mosquito Abatement District, theirs maybe was 10 times more in their costs for Lakelough Mosquito Abatement than what somebody who had researched it and what it costs other municipalities.

I I think the previous person who was here, I can't remember the number that he said, but it was about 10 times more.

I do believe in the importance of local control.

Uh, when we had a Lake Bluff mosquito abatement district, sometimes bogging would occur in areas and residents, even if they received notice beforehand, did not want it.

And there was nothing, nothing that could be done about it.

Um the gentleman who spoke talked about something that had happened some time ago.

Um, I see from the minutes, they're still spraying for nuisance mosquitoes.

So the purpose, the mission of a mosquito abatement district is for public health.

So if that is the mission for that mosquito abatement district, and the rest of Lake County does not have a mosquito abatement district, and they still contract with Clark, you would expect that we would have, and I brought this up last week, uh, you know, serious concerns about all the West Nile virus that is showing out showing up elsewhere.

And that is not happening.

So to keep a district around where we see the costs are higher, where local control is quite frankly non-existent, right?

Because the control comes from whom we appoint here in Lake County, and then they serve that area.

I'm not saying that they don't serve it well or they're they're doing what they think is right.

But you know, when you are tasked with your job is a mosquito abatement district.

So that is what you are going to focus on.

I'm only going to focus on abating those mosquitoes.

And who am I going to rely on to be my specialist, my professional?

The mosquito company, the chemical company who does that work.

So I I think having local control is something that I'm very much in favor of.

Thinking that this is sort of the same as a fire protection district.

That is true.

We do appoint people to fire protection districts.

That's a different type of service and has to be looked at differently.

Um, but I can tell you for Lake Bluff Mosquito Abatement District, there has been no concerns.

Uh, they still have money left over.

And I think using it to uh more think more holistically about how to uh deal with mosquitoes, and that can be done through education, mosquito dunks, things like that.

Um I I it has already been shown that that does have economy, excuse me, is is more economical for the residents to deal with it that way.

So and I hope that the committee will move forward just to do the audit as per outline by state statute.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair, Member Clark.

Yeah, for me, I think this has been such an interesting conversation the last couple weeks and finding out more.

You know, we do want to thank everyone for coming for public comment.

It's good to hear from residents and I heard from residents besides this.

Anyway, in my town in Libertyville, it's done by our village.

And I mean, and you look at there's two things, I think there's the price, and then there's the local control.

And from a price standpoint, I mean, um, for a if you look at economies of scale, you know, different towns can band together and get contracts if they want.

But also, if you look at it, I think it, you know, in Libertyville, they also contract with Clark, no relation.

Um, and they do the the for the best, and they just have a, you know, it's part of someone's job.

It's like each year they do the contract that takes very little of their time, and you're paying that person a salary to do many other things.

So to think that we would invent this whole system we're like let's just take out this one thing and put an entire board around it and then have to have all this work of appointing people to this board and all this work of trying to administer this which is you know and try to find people to me it and if you look at the numbers it would be much more efficient and much more economical to have it done at the municipal level from a cost savings what part.

And then the other part for me is the local control.

And to me that is probably the strong I mean just as strong an argument is that I know in Libertyville and I've my neighbors and people don't want to know about the spring or what they're using we go to our trustees and we can go to a meeting and ask and they can find out where we make that call and they are responsive.

They have changed things they've looked into things from responses to neighbors and I'm really surprised to hear municipalities say that they don't want to be in charge of being responsive to their residents and that they don't know what's best for their residents.

Because I would say that my town really is accountable to our residents and they should be the ones deciding what is what these chemicals are what the type is for the public health for their own residents.

And it really worries me to think of a of a board being able to override what a would a village an elected village council and president want to do.

And to me that is the biggest reason that I think that this should be dissolved.

If if a town votes and they they they know best their own town and their municipality and they should be able to do the mosquito control and the best public health for their residents not a board that you know how am I going to find them I have to track them down.

They don't have to be responsive to me and and so I'm surprised that this I I was surprised to hear it wasn't done at a municipal level all throughout Lake County because my experience with my board is they are very responsive and they are anywhere to go to and they can do this best.

So I am definitely for uh moving it forward and I know the audit is just part of the process but that's where I'm at to your point member Clark I want to say that um far be it from me to say that in Southeast Lake County we don't think we're special.

We do we think we're special but I'm not sure that mosquitoes know that we're special in the way that we think we are and um you know we're maybe what 10% of the residents of the county within the South Lake Mosquito Bateman district it's the only district that remains in the entire county everywhere else uh mosquito abatement is handled at the municipal or or other other ways um in terms of land mass it's probably less far less than that because uh it's you know these towns are more dense it's probably closer to five seven percent of the county is covered by this district no other no other part of the county has has a district that has this function and I think um residents would feel like they have more uh direct feedback and access to the policymakers and the staff that would administer this contract I think of it um almost like waste disposal you know people know they have to call city hall when the their recycling doesn't get picked up or they got missed or they're trying to find out something um it it is obviously in some ways there's some cost effectiveness because there is no full-time staff and it is just the board members and uh clerk control pest control that that manages the the decisions there but that also is a challenge because when residents uh have questions or need information it's a little harder to come by so um I'm I'm I'm I'm supportive of moving forward in the process I'm anxious to hear from the municipalities about this as well.

Other comments or questions okay so um this uh ordinance if we approve it it'll go to the county board as we said on Tuesday and if approved by the board will then uh initiate the audit process similar to what we saw for Lake Bluff and um then we'll have an uh some point in time do we know what the time period would be for between Tuesday and any final action is it prescribed we say anywhere from six to eighteen months um because a lot of steps and it's the audit is done uh within 30 days or as reasonably um can be done again this has been done but this is going to be completed by our finance department so I do want to give them a little grace as they're working uh heartily on the implementation of the ERP so the statute says between six and eighteen months well no if you add up all the steps yeah and based on our past experience it is taking anywhere between six to eighteen months for full dissolution of a district the next step here is the audit which can occur 30 days after the adoption of the proposing ordinance or is reasonably can be completed by um the finance department so my hope is it can be done within 30 days but I'm not making absolute definitive promises I've got to work with our CFO Regina TuSek.

Okay so I'm just trying to forecast what the timeline looks like for receipt of the audit sharing it with the municipalities and then for us to like you know just to estimate when we would see final action coming to the board for the 60 to 90 days authorizing resolution yeah I would say 60 to 90 days is reasonable.

Authorizing resolution.

Yeah, I would say 60 to 90 days is reasonable.

Thank you.

That's helpful.

Okay.

Any other questions?

Okay.

Great.

So all in favor, please indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

So I was muted.

I as well.

I'm opposed.

Right.

Okay.

Um the chair believes that the motion has adequate votes and uh declare 8.18 approved.

Um, I know I'll know we do have executive session.

County administrators report.

No report.

Okay.

So can I please have a motion and a second to enter into executive session for the purpose of periodic review of closed session minutes, pursuant to five ILCS 120 slash two C21.

Motion by Member Clark, second by member Velitzek.

Oh, I have to read this as well.

Thank you.

Um, executive session also is for the purposes of discussing claims, loss, risk management, information, records, data, advice, or communications from or with respect to any insurer of the public body or intergovernmental risk management association or self-insurance pool pursuant to five ILCS 120 slash two.

That's included in your motion, right, Member Clark.

Okay.

Roll call, please, member Clark.

Aye.

Chair Frank?

Aye.

Member Maine.

Aye.

Member Peterson.

Aye.

Member Volitzek.

Motion is approved.

We'll head into executive session.

11.1 committee action approving FNA Committee executive session uh minutes from May 29, 2025.

Motion by member Clark, second by member main.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

11.1 is approved.

11.2.

Do we have a motion to postpone by member Clark?

Second by member Maine.

We will postpone a committee action regarding periodic review of closed section minutes to a future meeting.

All in favor, please say aye.

Any opposed?

11.2 is postponed.

Any member remarks, comments, questions?

We're adjourned.

We'll be back.

Oh, there's no motion.

Please go ahead.

Or update.

And that is um based on last week's meeting.

I did reach out to uh SMC executive director Walford.

He and I spoke, and it is on the agenda for SMC uh tonight to talk about a little bit impact of dissolution of drainage districts.

So I just want to let the committee know that that was going to be discussed.

Thank you for doing that.

Anything else?

We're adjourned.

Thank you.