Today is Wednesday, February 25th, uh 2026, and I call the Lake County Public Works and Transportation Meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.

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.

The meeting is being recorded through Zoom.

Per our 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.

We've been notified in advance that member uh member Clark that they request to participate electronically due to personal illness.

We have a uh physical quorum, so member Clark may be marked present, and they she is eligible to vote on matters before the committee today.

As a reminder to members attending remotely, please ensure your camera is on at all times.

Will you join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Member Castman?

Here.

Chair Clark.

Here.

Member Hunter?

Here.

Vice Chair Maine.

Present.

Member Roberts.

Member Watt.

All right.

So we have a quorum and we will begin the meeting.

Do we have any addenda to the agenda?

Do not.

One of my favorite phrases.

Do we have any public comment on items not on the agenda?

Do not.

No one remotely.

Okay.

Chair's remark.

Hello.

All right, there we go.

That's in deference to member um Hunter with his demands here.

Do we have any unfinished business?

We do not.

Great.

We will then move on to 8.0, which is new business.

The consent agenda is a single item 8.1, which is the minutes from February 4th.

Do I have a motion to approve?

Motion by Hewitt, second by Hunter.

Any corrections or comments?

Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

None.

The motion passes.

Thank you.

We'll now move on to the regular agenda.

Item 8.2.

Do we have government affairs associate of the RTA, Zachary Braun and Mobility Outreach Coordinator from the RTA, Katie Peterson.

Okay, they are joining us remotely.

And welcome, and we look forward to your report.

Thank you.

And you can go for a sec.

Okay.

Thanks, Kate.

Good morning, everyone.

We have a few quick updates on the state of regional transit.

First, our uh transit ridership data from the last year has been uh collected from the service boards, and we finished out 2025 with 12.3 million more rides than the previous year.

Uh CTA had a 1% increase and uh has the highest post-pandemic recovery rate of all of our systems.

Uh Metra finished the year with 8 million uh sorry, 38 million rides, and uh PACE bus ridership uh did decrease by 3%, providing 16.4 million rides, but is still uh at a 67% uh recovery uh ridership recovery ratio.

Uh we've also released our semi-annual project management oversight report, which uh is uh provides transparency on our capital program.

Uh there is about 11.2 billion dollars worth of projects detailed in that report, and it is available uh online and in the uh electronic version of the report we had sent over.

And then uh as we are preparing for the transition to the new Northern Illinois Transit Authority, we are putting out our comms team is putting out a great blog series exploring some of the changes uh in the NETA Act.

Uh things like consolidating fairs, service enhancements and safety and security uh are all on our blog or will be uploaded soon.

And then our board of directors is also um beginning to discuss the transition in more detail at this month's and last month's uh meetings, which you can find online and we're also happy to discuss as well.

And then lastly, a bit of local uh news for you all um in the village of Fox Lake, uh the zoning code updates that uh we're partnering with the village on are kicking off this month.

Uh this would advance more transit-oriented development around Fox Lakes uh metro station downtown area.

Uh and so this would all implement recommendations from your downtown master plan.

And uh we look forward to continuing our work with the village there.

Uh happy to answer any questions you all may have.

Great.

Thank you.

Let's take questions uh to Zach right now and Kate, then we'll get to you.

Does anyone have any questions for Zach?

Um, I I do too, so I'll do for the committee first.

But anyone in the committee?

Great.

All right.

So um Zach, I was wondering, you gave those percentages.

I wondered uh, or no, you didn't give percentages.

You said what the ridership was.

You said it had increased, and you gave an absolute number.

I was wondering if you could give a percentage over the year before, and if you happen to have how that related to pre-pandemic years.

Yeah, so CTA uh had a year over year increase of one percent, and they are at all modes, uh, so that's bus and light rail with CTA are at 78% of pre-pandemic levels.

Uh Metra had a 8% year over year ridership increase.

And I do not I do not have their uh recovery ratio uh handy, but I can get back to you on Metra and then pace uh had a 3% decrease uh in their rider ridership, but is that 67% of pre-pandemic?

Great, thank you.

And that would be um when you can get those Metro numbers, there's a lot of Metro riding here in Lake County, so that would be important for us to understand.

Is there um I wouldn't expect you to know it, but is there in a report, does it show um ridership percentage and absolute numbers changes year over year pre-pandemic per line or is it system wide?

Uh this is system-wide.

So Metro doesn't have numbers per line.

I can uh consult with our our counterparts at Metro and get those uh figures to you for the lines in Lake County, absolutely.

Thank you.

That'd be so helpful.

Member Kasman and then Chair Hart.

Thank you.

Um yeah, if we could have um if for future updates, Lake County specific numbers, that would really help.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, absolutely.

Chair Hart.

Thank you.

And um, I was going to say much the same thing, the pace decrease.

Um I'm interested in that for Lake County.

So thank you.

Uh and then the Fox Lake zoning.

I just wanted to understand if you could give us some background about how that went.

How did it go working with Fox Lake?

Were you attending some of the village board meetings?

Did you have outreach with the community?

If you could just talk a little bit more about that, please.

Yeah, um, that would be that was handled by our local planning team.

Uh so there was uh outreach with with the village and as part of uh adopting any of uh any of your master plans.

There is an outreach uh requirement, public notice requirement.

Um so that has all uh happened in the past as the plan uh has been adopted, and we are now uh moving towards the uh the implementation phase of that.

Okay, if I may, uh of course.

So you have a local outreach person or team that is working in sort of Lake County or just all the collars or whatever.

I I guess I just like to understand more.

So whatever you could maybe send us, and and maybe even our LCDOT team already knows about this or our planning and building development department does, but that's kind of new news to me.

Okay.

Yeah, certainly.

I can get more information on what kind of outreach uh was done uh by our local planning team and and report that back to you.

Okay, thanks so much.

Of course.

Member Hunter.

Thanks, Vice Chair.

Um, some of the just a background on on the Fox Lake thing.

Um one of the things that the committee's been doing for years now is we're trying to get that last mile.

And that's where this has come in because the train station, when it was redone is about a quarter mile down the road from the last RTA stop.

And now with us going through the whole um uh Rollins Road update or read redo of the bike path and everything there, the village and Lake County DOT have come up with a path that used to be an alley that will be all striped and done and everything else that they'll be paying for that.

They've got to coordinate with the RTA to understand that they're gonna go a quarter mile further because they turn those buses around in the plaza that are down there all the time, but they never get down to the train station.

So that's what that's all about.

They're trying to put two and two together.

Wow, that's uh it's a big thing.

So obvious, and yet it can be different mile down the road.

Yeah.

I mean, you can see the station, but you can't get there.

Wow.

Thank you.

Yes, member Wasick.

Thank you.

And I wanted to echo the request for Lake County specific data.

Um, also for Metro and the various lines that go into Lake County.

And also uh I'm excited about RTA's involvement in transit-oriented development, but I'm wondering if this sort of planning program will continue under uh Nita.

Yeah, so uh Nita is expected to take a larger role in in these kinds of planning.

Uh it's going to assume a lot of these responsibilities from uh CTA Metra and PACE.

Uh so you can you can definitely expect a lot more from from Nita uh in this regard.

And thanks for that.

And I would like to um add to what Chair Hart was saying, it was kind of news to us.

But if if you were to work with our planning, building and zoning department and department of transportation and throw another one into the mix uh CMAP, uh, I think that would be very helpful for us.

Thank you.

Yes.

Chair Hart, you had a follow-up question.

I do, thank you.

And it's kind of for Kevin, but also maybe for our guests.

Um, several was it a few years ago, we went to an opening uh for pace, right?

For the PACE bus.

And I said, Oh, well, obviously this pace bus goes to the train, and Kevin said, no, no, it just goes right here and doesn't make it to the train.

But I think we were at the Round Lake Cultural Center.

Yep, right?

Yep.

So are you telling me that it happens?

So in Round Lake and potentially in Fox Lake, there are two bus lines that actually don't go to the train station.

Is that what I'm understanding?

I I think what's happened over the years, if I might be, you know, the bus lines were established at one point and the train chaser was established at another point, but there was no collaboration between everybody.

Yeah.

Now that you have collaboration, now they got to fix it.

And oh, by the way, we're gonna upgrade the road.

So let's upgrade the road, fix that and do that at the same time.

Yeah, that's if if I might just yeah, say there's I think there's been a lot of consternation from our board as well.

Uh, but I would say from the collar counties in this new law, right?

This Nita law, and hey, we're gonna break down, you know, it's gonna be very complicated or whatever.

But to me, the fact that we had been operating in these silos is why we ended up with this.

Who would ever think that it would make sense to have a public bus that does not go to a train?

When Kevin told me that a few years ago, I I did turn to Melinda Metzger and I said, I don't even understand this.

And I'll just say the same is true right here in Waukegan, which they did get a grant to fix it, but the bus is up on Sheridan Road.

It is not down at the train, because I guess it's difficult for the bus to make it up the hill in the winter.

Well, I'm pretty certain it's pretty difficult for people to make it up the hill in the winter when there's ice.

So um for any concerns that people have about the need and the collaboration, I I am all in on it because we continue to have the same representation we had before, and we are forcing you know, the collaboration that that Kevin is really talking about.

So anyway, I appreciate my understanding when it's talking to Melinda Metzger was they were gonna fix that in the round lake area.

So I'll just follow up on that one.

So thank you.

Yeah, thanks.

Um I'm gonna contradict you here a little bit, um, member Hunter.

Those railroad tracks have been there for decades, right?

They were laid a very most of them, not all a very long time ago.

So to think that the bus system, when they were putting in, I bet the train was there before the bus system, that they couldn't make that it's like a marathon and that last 365 yards you can't get, huh?

So um, well, we all look forward to this seemingly simple but somehow intractable problem being solved.

Okay, great.

Um Zach, you're off the hot seat now, and we'll move on to Kate.

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you for those questions.

And for our mobility management update specifically, just a couple of updates from me.

Our access pilot program that's reduced fare for Metra for SNAP recipients.

That program has been extended now until December 31st of 2026.

So it was originally a pilot program.

We've extended that pilot program until December 31st of 2026.

Uh writers can still apply online through the mail.

And we're continuing to do outreach to get riders informed of this program.

And another exciting update, we rebranded our portal.

So we launched Portal 2.0.

This is our online system that people can use to apply for fare cards to the RTA in that portal, just sp some specific changes.

People can now update their demographic information.

They can change their photo, they can check their status through the fare portal and also upload any missing documents through the portal without having to restart a new application.

And we added some videos to help people to the process.

So that has been launched.

I'll include this all in my follow-up email, and you can have that link to our FAIR portal.

Any questions for me?

Well, I just want to say that that's great.

Um, when my mom was alive, we worked on getting her one of those senior cards.

And it was not I was doing it.

I was not gonna have my mom do it.

And um, it was a little bit of a challenge.

So I'm I'm glad to hear this.

Anyone else questions or comments?

Uh-huh.

All right.

All right, we used all our questions on Zach.

So that's why that's why you had him go first.

Good planning there, Kate.

All right.

Thank you very much.

And we look forward to your next quarterly report.

And uh, when you get those uh other pieces of information, please send them our way.

Thank you.

All right, we will now move on to public works, and I'll invite public works director Austin McFarlane to come up here.

So item 8.3 is a joint resolution authorizing the execution of an intergovernmental agreement for retail sanitary sewer and water supply services to the village of Grace Lake.

May I have a motion to approve, please?

Motion by Wassi, second by Kasman.

I turn it over to you, our director.

Good morning, Vice Chair and committee members, Austin McFarland Lake County Public Works.

Um, this is a new um intergovernmental agreement between the village of Grays Lake and the County.

We have a map here before you.

That the village is seeking to add to this new agreement.

And we'll also be providing water and sewer to the area in red.

And maybe talk about retail services.

We uh certainly mean that the county will these customers will be the right customers of the county, and we'll be doing the billing for services provided.

So for this IGA, the village is seeking to add services to the parses in red, and as I stated before, we'll provide in uh retail water and sewer.

The state attorney uh office has reviewed this agreement and has approved it.

And the village has also approved this IGA at their February 3rd meeting.

And so it comes before you today for your review, and I recommend approval.

Thank you.

Are there any questions from the committee?

Yes, member Wasik?

Morning.

This is the heart of my district.

I'm curious, um, kind of drilling down that third bullet point.

Are we expanding service because um they're going to be developing these areas?

I'm just seeking a why here.

Um it's not clear to me why this is happening.

And we didn't have service there.

I thought a whole village was covered.

So well, the the village has its own, you know, we have a wholesale service in place for sewer for most of the area.

The village does have Clotjoa water for most of its these areas.

Well, because of the proximity to the Wildwood water system.

Um, it just makes sense financially for the village to tap into the county's water system to provide the water service here.

Um I'm assuming that the village does have some plans in mind for development in the shaded area.

And um certainly when the once those permit comes through to us, we'll certainly have a better idea as to what they're looking to build there, but I'm sure they'll be more than happy to provide you with all the details as to their intent.

Right there.

I've been out of town, so I haven't been looking at the attachments.

So and then this would explain to me the difference in terms of our retail versus wholesale service.

So as I explained to understand that.

Well, the retail, we do the direct building.

Okay.

Everything related to services.

You know, we maintain the infrastructure and we do the billing on the wholesale side.

It's the village that collects all the revenues from the customers, the user fees, and then transport that to us, and then they are own the infrastructure that's in place.

Okay.

So even though, say we get water from Click Jawa, the the village would handle the billing on that, unless it's part of the on the wholesale side.

And the wholesale side.

Yeah, that that's something that will be a relationship between them and Cloud Java.

We don't own the water system there.

But here, these areas that are shaded in black and red would be an extension of our water system.

So we own the infrastructure there.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

All right.

Uh, member Casbin and then Chair Clark.

So how does that differ?

So then are they just essentially part of our system then?

Um, and if so, how do we determine what the capacity needs to be and what the infrastructure needs to look like?

So we have uh a limit on the amount of sewer that they can get.

Certainly they provide it's North Shore to provide the sewer.

So we do have a cap on the amount of sewer that we're allowing for that area.

The same is true for the water system.

We have an allocation from IDNR that we monitor.

So we certainly try not to exceed that.

So if the if there is capacity within an allocation and we can allow folks to add um to our system, we can do that.

Okay.

Yeah.

Did you have more?

I just have one more.

Okay.

Is it related to that?

Because I have a follow-up to what you had.

It is uh the first yes, yeah.

So if we were saying retail, is that is that the same as all of the other people who are on our system, or is that a different designation?

And also I'm assuming by the thresholds that you're talking about, the use it that we of course pay attention to whether or not we'll add adversely affect our other areas.

So if you look at the entire wildwood water system, that's all retail to us.

We own that, we do the direct billing.

Um larger part of Grays Lake is owned and monitored by Grays Lake, so that's a wholesale agreement.

They take care of all of that.

So that's a distinction.

Um Chair Clark uh Clark, I'll get to a moment.

Um I just want to follow up because that was one of uh my questions.

Is does the agreement specify a max amount of gallons of water?

That is is it already saying, hey, this is what the zoning is or what they anticipate it will be, and that we already have you know, whatever a gallon amount of uh this is sewer, you know, the PEIs or whatever that is that locked into this agreement open-ended.

It's locked in for the sewer.

Okay.

Um for sure.

We have a designated amount of the PE that you know, you need to there are people online.

It's very hard.

Having been online, it's hard to hear you if you could speak up more.

So the the sewer is locked in in terms of the limits as to how much they can discharge to us.

Okay.

There's no cap right now on the on the water because we have a fair amount under the allocation cap.

Okay.

Uh yes, Chair Clark.

Yeah, we think a lot of like uh vice chair.

My question too was like since we don't know what's going in here, would there be limits if it did ended up being something that was like very water intense?

Like would do we have to provide whatever amount of water they need, or is there something that would limit it in this agreement?

Um, well, once the permits come true for development, um and it makes it true to public works, we'll review that.

And if it's something that's going to be intense that would deplete and put a uh a drain on our system, we would have a discussion with them about that.

It would probably would not be permitted.

Okay, so we still have permits, so it's not just like a blank check on the water.

No, it's not a blank check for them to do as they will.

Okay, thank you.

Sure.

All right.

So then I have um I have my two questions.

One related to that since this is Lake Michigan water, then they have to abide by any of those water restrictions, the summer stuff of correct.

Of low water retail, right as they're retail yeah all of our water system are retail.

So they would have to follow all of those restrictions in our water use ordinance.

And then since this is new um they are going to have to pay any um connection fees correct no I don't believe there's connections fee associated here but let me double check on that one.

Yeah the connection fee because why wouldn't they?

Let me double check on that one if there's connection fee associated.

Okay.

So our vote on this is a vote on the agreement or vote to go move along with the move along it's not a final it'll it'll go what?

It'll go to FNA next okay this is the vote to execute authorizing execution of the and it'll go to FNA next and then the okay um can we wait I don't want to vote I personally don't want to vote on this unless I know about the connection fees because if there's not connection fees I would want to understand because if if we added something we put in connection fees right it depends on the situation in agreement that we have in place.

So for example if you you look at the Pacero water system um the the the connections fees there were embedded in the in the ARPA funds that we got so that was waived onto that agree on because those dollars were coming from someplace else to pay for that infrastructure.

Yeah.

So it's not always the same.

I I guess that's the point I want to share with you yes right but I want to know I would like to know where the money for that infrastructure dollars we can certainly get that to you today.

Okay.

Um member Hunter thanks my share excuse me uh on page 17 of the agreement connection charges oh okay sanitary sewer connection charges every customer located within the Grays Lake retail sanitary area here and after connecting either directly or indirectly to the county northeast central sewage system shall pay to the county a connection charge at the same rate that the county from time to time charges.

And also part B of that water supply connection charges.

Every customer located within the Grace Lake retail service area connecting either directly or indirectly to the county wild wood water work system shall pay the county a connection charge at the same rate as the county from time to time charges for similar water supply services.

Well thank you very much all right so you don't have to worry about that and I'm comfortable yes member wasick that this new connection would entail some embedded fees and I would like to know how much that would be per month or however you can give the user fees yes for customers surely I can give you a sample of that right now it it's going to be the standard of what the other people right it would be I have no idea what that is so in terms of of course it would be a tiered system like most of our water system so if our customer is using anywhere between one to two thousand gallons um the rate would be the combined rate between the county and Clot Jawa fee would be 237 per thousand you send me an email on that please sure just I have a record thinking yes member Kasman.

I just want to clarify um so just for people who might be watching from my unincorporated area um this will not at all affect their water service or how much they they are charged.

Absolutely not right okay I think a number of us here have people that are served by that wild wood system.

So and the county has put a lot of money over my long tenure here into the wildwood system and those things like that.

All right thank you thank you member hunter for your careful reading there.

All right are there any other questions seeing none all in favor say aye aye are there any opposed none the motion passes thank you director McFarland all right transportation director Shane Schneider um as he walks up I'll talk about 8.4 this is a joint resolution authorizing a contract with Semperfi Land Inc of Yorkville Illinois in the amount of 9780 dollars for ecological restoration management of wetland and upland buffer areas requiring native landscape maintenance and there's bullet points there but we'll get to that um motion to approve by uh Kasbin second by Hunter yes I'm turning over to you well good morning uh thank you uh Shane Schneider DOT director and county engineer so uh this is a low bid contract award for annual maintenance we do this every year to maintain our native uh landscaped areas along the county highway system these are primarily like detention stormwater detention basins that we've naturalized and they require some degree of maintenance uh they're also like our islands of our rounder about roundabouts or the splitter islands that you see with landscaping as you approach the roundabout

Uh thank you.

Uh Shane Schneider, DOT director and county engineer.

So uh this is a low bid contract award for annual maintenance.

We do this every year to maintain our native uh landscaped areas along the county highway system.

These are primarily like detention stormwater detention basins that we've naturalized and they require some degree of maintenance.

Uh they're also like our islands of our rounder about roundabouts or the splitter islands that you see with landscaping as you approach the roundabout.

Those are the areas that we're talking about here.

Umber Wazik, you had asked if we had any data on how much acreage we had.

So we did look into that.

Uh we've got about 101 acres of naturalized areas.

Um that's grown from 50 acres in 2015 to 101 in 2025.

Um, so this this work will be done uh this summer and fall.

Um, and it's prepared by uh like a landscape architect or ecological specialist.

Um they make these recommendations to us.

Okay.

I oh yes, you go ahead, member Hunter.

Thanks, Vice Chair.

Have we ever done business with Semperify Land before?

We have.

They're currently doing maintenance for us on the Buffalo Creek Wetland facility near Lake Cook Road.

And the reason I bring it up is the bid tab.

The the bids were $12.

I know.

I know I've never seen that.

I was gonna bring that up.

And and and McGinty's here in Long Groves, and then they're out in Yorkville, and I just want to make sure I I got the rules.

I just want to make sure that we've done because I know we've done with McGinty before.

Yep.

Okay, we have worked with both both of these consultants and extremely, I don't know if we've seen a closer bid than this one.

I I have never seen a close, it's it's not even a rounding error.

Yeah, and that the Buffalo Creek looks fantastic, by the way.

I've seen the work out there.

Okay.

Yes, Member Wasick.

Thank you, Chair.

And Shane, I'm just curious if you're going to expand this natural landscaping program into does it include uh management of invasive species?

Because some of these detention ponds tend to attract a lot of fragmenting, so really hard to get rid of.

Yeah, that's a big component of the work that we do on an annual basis, is trying to keep the invasives out.

Um, and we do expand the areas project by project.

Um, you know, as our stormwater needs grow or change uh when we make those modifications, we'll look always look for opportunities to naturalize the areas.

Um was there another question they missed?

I mean, do you is this part of a larger plan to say we're gonna have so many acres doing this uh going forward?

I'm just trying to get an idea of what your long-range plans are.

There's not a specific goal in mind for this because um it's really project by project based on need.

So we're kind of just it's on demand as as we need to make these improvements.

We're we're naturalizing them.

Okay, and one easy question.

I'm assuming Semperfy has something to do with the marine ex-marine ownership.

Um good question.

I'm not sure if that is it or if it's a military personnel veterans.

I'm not sure.

Okay.

Yeah.

Good to know.

Thank you.

Yep.

All right.

I um I was wondering um, are each of these locations visited in the year, or is this envisioned as uh, hey, one year we're doing the ones in the northern half, another, you know, come back next year with a contract, because that's going over to a lot of places for that amount of money.

You know, the acreage is one thing, but you still have to drive to something that's a quarter of an acre large or something like that.

So yes, our consultant actually physically makes site visits to all the locations and then makes recommendations.

Um, you know, sometimes trees die, and then so they're replaced as part of this.

Uh if we re uh like recently installed some uh vegetation and it's not doing well, it'll be replaced.

Um it's kind of ongoing, but they do make site visits and then make the recommendations based on that.

Okay, did I see yes, member Kasman?

Um, you said the acreage that we have to take care of is um increased significantly since 2015.

Can you help me understand what that's due to?

Um, largely just uh projects that have been constructed over the last 10 years.

So we've added to the area with each of those projects.

Um, like we just did the roundabouts on Daryl Road.

And so those had pretty large um naturalized detention facilities that were incorporated as part of those.

So that's new acreage, and that's kind of how the areas has has grown from 50 to 100 over the last 10 years.

Yep.

Okay, great.

All right.

If there are no other questions, um, we can do roll call on this right.

Or just a voice vote.

All in favor?

Any opposed?

None.

The motion passes.

Thank you.

Moving on to uh 8.5.

This is a joint resolution appropriating 2 million of the motor fuel tax funds for ice control salt materials needed.

The 2026-2027 winter season.

The king is dead.

Long live the king, huh?

Okay, we're not done.

Motion by Hewitt, second by Hunter.

Shame.

So this is uh it's a bid year for us.

So as a reminder, we've for the last several years, we've tried to coordinate joint bids with other local agencies.

So uh we're up to over 60 participating local agencies this year.

I know McHenry County and Cook County DOT, along with a lot of other municipalities and townships are going to join us in this effort that we'll be going out to bid this spring.

We've estimated we'll need about 16,000 tons for the 26-27 season.

So that will be the quantity we're submitting uh for the vendors to provide pricing on, and then we'll um we'll start ordering uh salt for this contract beginning um December 1st of 2026.

Okay.

Um member member Hewitt, then Member Wasick, the member Hunter.

Good morning.

Good morning, Shane.

Is that 16,000 tons?

Is that an average or is that an increase from this current winter?

So um it's the estimate that we think we'll need to purchase next year, but it is based on historical averages.

So our 10-year average uh annual usage is about 13,000 tons per year.

Um for this snow season, we've used 14,250 tons.

So trending just a little bit above average for this season.

Um, but the contract gives us flexibility to purchase between 80 percent and 120 percent of our of our um quoted quantity.

And our cost per ton.

Um, this will be for a new contract that we don't yet know, but our current contract is right around 90 per ton.

Thank you.

Yep.

Okay, then it was member Wasick, then member Hunter.

Um you were considering moving towards less environmentally impactful salts.

I mean potassium chloride versus sodium chloride is is this all gonna be sodium chloride, Dino, or are we using a different material?

Yeah, the rock salt is just regular rock salt.

The way we try to minimize the usage um is we we try to vary.

Well, we do we do that in a couple different ways, but one, we try to vary the application rate based on the type of storm that we're encountering.

So that allows us to you know minimize that.

Um, and we use like historical storms to determine their effectiveness, and then we um calibrate that.

Uh, then we also use liquids, uh beet juice primarily, and um that lowers the freezing temperature of water, so that allows us to apply less salt and the beet juice is always is very sticky, it's like almost like a syrup, a light syrup.

So it helps the salt stick to the road, so we don't have to apply as much.

Um so the combination of those two things.

Uh, I don't know the exact percentage, but I think it's like reduced our salt usage by around 20 percent.

Okay, thank you.

Member Hunter.

Thanks, Mr.

Chair.

Uh curiosity, what is our retention?

So what can we hold hold in the salt barns year to year that we don't use?

What's our capacity?

It's right around 18,000 tons.

So we can almost hold a year's worth.

Yeah, that's that's the goal.

Uh, because we added a second dome because one season a while ago, over a decade ago, there was we we ran out.

Right.

Yeah.

All right, thanks.

Uh related to that, but everybody that comes in on the contract, they're storing their own.

Do we store?

Do we are we a self-storage for anybody?

We we do, I mean, we all try to partner together in Lake County.

We we hold our own quantity, but for some small townships, we do hold a little bit.

Okay.

And uh when we're out actually treating the roads, um it's not uncommon for us to stop at like an IDOT yard.

Yeah.

If it's more economical, just stop there than rather than drive all the way back to Libertyville.

We'll go to an IDOT yard, fill up with salt, write down our quantity.

Yeah, and then um we'll true up after the storm.

Sort of like the gas doing you guys do that with gas, right?

Okay.

Yep, and I that will come to our yard if it's more efficient for them, we'll keep track of that, and then we'll replenish each other's supplies uh after the storm.

Good to know.

All right.

All right, seeing no other questions, all in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

None.

The motion passes.

Thank you.

Eight point six.

This is a joint resolution authorizing an agreement with Civil Tech Engineering Inc.

out of Itasca, Illinois.

And this is for phase two professional engineering services for the improvement of Martin Luther King Drive from Commonwealth Avenue to Illinois Route 137 at a maximum cost of 370,009 three dollars seventy-eight cents and appropriating 445,000 of max maxing tax funds.

May I have a motion to approve?

Motion by Hewitt.

Is there a second?

Second by Casbin.

Director Schneider.

Yes.

So primary effort here is to replace an existing uh box culvert that's under the road.

It's a six foot by six foot concrete structure that's at the end of its life.

We don't have the original plans, but it's at least 50 years old.

Um it's starting to deteriorate, spall on the inside, the rebar is showing.

Um, so it needs to be completely removed and replaced.

Um, and then after we do that, we'll resurface the road over the top of it and go all the way east to Sheridan.

And then just as a point of reference, we are resurfacing MLK, Martin Luther King Jr.

west of Commonwealth this summer, but we we stopped at this location so we can complete the box culvert replacement.

That'll probably take a couple of years to get through all the permitting.

Okay.

All right.

Any questions?

Seeing none.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

None.

The motion passes.

Thank you.

All right, moving right along.

Uh nine point eight point seven is an ordinance providing for the establishment of a county altered speed zone of 35 miles per hour, currently designated 45 miles per hour on Wadsworth Road from US Route 41 to a point 1400 feet east of US Route 41, located in Newport Township.

Is there a motion to approve by Hewitt?

Second by Hunter.

Okay, we've got our map.

All right.

So um requested by the township.

Actually, this one was there's a little bit of a history, but this is primarily requested by our own traffic department.

No.

Um some of you will recall we did a series of safety improvements out here.

We like we modified the uh entrances to the shanty and the gas station on the northeast corner to pull.

We consolidated the accesses.

Thank you.

Access points, and then we also moved them a little bit further east.

Um, so there wasn't so much congestion right at the intersection with 41.

Then we also installed a roundabout just west of here at Dilly's.

Then we've and we've also had a lot of conversations with the Forest Preserve about providing um a better crossing across Wadsworth Road.

There's bike lanes that go down from the um the forest preserve east to the canoe launch.

Um so there's a lot of pedestrian activity here.

Uh there is a history of crashes.

Um, and then there's some some driveways.

So all that taken into consideration, uh a traffic or a uh speed limit um reduction was warranted based on a traffic study.

Um and that'll also make the speed limit consistent from uh east of 41 all the way into downtown.

Um so we don't have people, you know, traveling fast and then trying to slow down right before all that pedestrian activity in the in the driveways.

Well, that's great great.

As somebody who's crossed that many times on my bike, it is a little anxious.

And if you have, you know, kids or somebody else who's less comfortable on a bike, it is uh, you know, a little feeling like whack-a-mole or something there.

Okay.

Um yes, member Caspin.

Yeah, I just want to concur with what you said.

I I appreciate your efforts to make this safer.

It's it's really kind of an interesting cluster of activity ingress and egress points.

Um I I'm there quite frequently, so I I appreciate the efforts to make it safer.

And it does make sense with b because I think people really zoom into Wadsworth.

Um and it's not appropriate.

So I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay, great.

Yes, member Wasick.

Yes, thank you.

And I would have to echo um the real improvement here because there are a lot of people going really fast on that stretch and having crossed that road many times on my bike.

Um, the river trail, that's the last leg going to the the northern terminus of it.

And if there's if I can make a further suggestion, if we could put in flashing lights at that intersection, just you know, put them down the road a little bit and just to tell the motorists that hey, you know, if if somebody enters that intersection on a bike on the trail, that they will know that somebody's trying to cross and it's catches catch can if they actually do stop.

But it that would be really helpful.

Yeah, we are coordinating with the forest preserve staff on that already.

Good to hear.

Thank you.

Great.

Anything else?

Okay.

All in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

None motion passes.

Thank you.

And then finally, item 8.8 is a joint resolution appropriating a supplemental amount of $1 million of motor fuel tax funds for right of way and other right of way associated costs for the improvement of Deerfield Road from Illinois Route 21, Milwaukee Avenue to Saunders Road.

I still move.

Second.

Member Hunter.

Yay.

So a lot of history on this project.

Um quick recap.

We we're in phase two design.

The design is done.

We're just trying to wrap up right away.

We're converting this section of Deerfield Road from a two-lane cross section to a three-lane cross section, and then doing some pretty significant intersection improvements at Milwaukee Avenue to additional turn lanes and through lanes.

And then we're also installing a new bike path along the entire corridor that you can see there in green, and then some sections of sidewalk that are shown in blue.

Um so the land acquisition process has been going on for over three years.

There were 39 parcels that we need to acquire interest in.

And we are um down to the last couple.

The original appropriation in 12 uh 2003 was based on estimated settlement amounts.

Now we're at the point in town where we know what those actual settlement amounts are, and that's what the supplemental appropriation is uh intended to cover.

Great.

And I'm gonna start here because I do have a long history with this.

Uh you've shown on this map shows uh lake dot trails, and just so everyone's aware that that brown um going over the river there, that is crossing where the Des Plains River Trail is going down.

So you can see that this is uh a huge connection in the in that middle, because there's trails leading of paths leading to 21, and then on the other side of Saunders Roads, there's trails that come down.

So this is really um connecting, it's a it's that gap in an east-west connection this time in terms of bike trails.

Um Shane, could you because I know um this um you guys are gonna have work at the bridge, and I know that the forest preserve committees, people have had concern.

I'm not concerned, but I think since we've got another group here, if you could explain, as you and I talked about the other day, the staging of the work and and when the trail will be closed, keeping in mind that the trail is fairly limited for people getting onto it.

But if you could explain that, it would be helpful.

Sure.

So our new improvement that's shown in green is gonna tie into the existing boardwalk that goes um over the river now.

Uh we will need to close the Displains River Trail underneath the Deerfield Road Highway Bridge for a period of time, not the entire project length, but just for a certain period when we're gonna have to do repair work on the bridge.

Um so the reason for the closures we don't want any debris on the bridge that's being worked on to fall down on top of uh a pedestrian or someone that's uh on the path.

So that's the reason for the closure.

Um not so much for any work that we need to do down on the trail, but it's what's happening on the bridge.

So it's really just safety, good safety to restrict that access.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments?

Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Any opposed, none.

Motion passes.

Do we have a county administrator's report?

Okay, we have no executive session.

Are there any members' remarks or requests?

Yes, member Wasick, then Member Caspin.

Washington, uh, yesterday at the NACO conference, we heard from the chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

They are beginning to mark up the surface transportation act reauthorization, formerly known as the highway bill.

Uh it wasn't clear whether it would include money for trails, but they're just at the front end of this.

And if there's any things that you really need to earmark, uh let us know, and we'll be in contact with our uh congressional offices to let them know uh of our specific needs and and thanks again to Matt and Ruth Ann.

And actually Chris Blanding joined us well with uh member Altenburg this year.

So uh that's the latest from Washington.

Thank you.

Member Casmin.

Um I reached out to Ed Gallagher from Pace just to give us um Lake County specific bus numbers because I that bus number was strange to me and interesting.

Um and I wanted to know how their on-demand ride service kind of accountabilized or you know, any of the the pace routes.

But so he said um we are up system wide for the year.

Uh overall, year over year ridership on all of PACE's services, saw an increase of 3.5% year over year.

This includes fixed routes, ADA, van pool, on demand, as well as all other services.

That represents just about 23.8 million rides system wide for the year.

As the end of December 2025, our system wide ridership was at 72.7 percent of 2019 ridership levels for the same pyramid.

Sorry, could you say that again?

It's a lot of numbers too.

Yeah, no, I get it.

Um, the last one, just the last one.

Okay.

As of the end of December 2025, our system wide ridership was at 72.7 percent of 2019 ridership levels for the same period.

The inclement weather did impact some of our services over the winter.

So these numbers did come in a bit lower than we had hoped.

As an example on this, in October of 2025, we had seen seven a 7.9% year over year growth through October 31st.

Okay, great.

Well, if it would be helpful, I think, because it was a lot of good numbers if you could forward that to um everybody on the committee and including our county chair on that, please.

Absolutely.

All right.

Anyone else?

Member Wasick, two bites at the Apple.

I'm not sure about this.

This is an apology.

I'm omitted to say that Chair Clark was also at the conference, and member Roberts as well.

Did I forget anybody else's name?

No, I'm gonna hear about member Frank is also present.

Oh, member Frank, thank you.

Well, I wanted to see that one play out.

Okay.

All right.

Uh I'm just going to adjourn us now.

Our next meeting is March 4th.

See you then.

Thanks, everybody.