Good morning, everyone.

Today is April 8th, 2026, and I called the Lake County Public Works and Transportation Committee 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.

This meeting is being recorded through Zoom.

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.

We've been notified in advance by Member Hewitt that she would request to participate electronically due to health reasons.

So Member Hewitt may be marked as present, and she's 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.

And can you all please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

And to the Republic for which it stands.

Can I get a roll call, please?

Yes.

Member Casman.

Chair Clark.

Here.

Member Hewitt is not online yet.

Member Hunter.

Vice Chair Maine.

Member Roberts.

Member Wasseck.

All right.

Do we have any public comments today?

No public comment.

All right.

No chairs remarks or unfinished business.

Our new business is the consent agenda.

Oh no, it's not.

There's no agenda.

It's an agenda, this regular agenda.

Item 8.1 is an ordinance amending chapter 52, wider regulations, chapter 53, sewer regulations, and chapter 54.

Can I get a motion in a second?

Motion by Hunter, second by Casbin.

Good morning, Director McFarland.

Good morning, Chair, Committee members.

Uh Austin McFarland, Lake County Public Works Director.

With me this morning is Brittany Sloan, our engineering supervisor.

Last week, we had an opportunity to present some updates on the water, sewer, and pretreatment ordinances for discussion.

During that discussion, we cited that the main driver for the updates was as a result of the USCPA requirement for the county to have a formal pretreatment program for its treatment facilities.

So when you look at the pretreatment program and the sewer ordinance, those were the ordinances that were primarily impacted by this USCPA requirement.

We went along to outline for you some of the major changes to the ordinances that were presented.

And so we wanted to bring all of that together to you to add that discussion.

So today we're back to um present the ordinance afresh to committee for action.

And we're happy to entertain any questions that you may have.

Thank you.

I know last week we had the discussion where we we talked about the you know changes with the pretreatment ordinance and then just also just codifying some things that practices we're already doing.

All right, are there any questions?

All right.

Oh my god last week was a great it was a great discussion.

All right, all in favor.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Thank you both.

Thanks.

All right, on the division of transportation.

Item 8.2 is an ordinance amending the adopt a highway program ordinance previously adopted and revised by this county board of Lake County, Illinois.

Can I get a motion in a second?

Motion by Roberts, second by Kasman.

Good morning, Director Schneider.

All right, good morning, committee member.

Shane Schneider, uh DOT director, and I have John Nelson, Assistant County Engineer with us today.

He's gonna provide kind of a brief overview of the changes here, but um just to kick it off.

So when we brought back our last uh annual adoptive highway program in October of last year, we mentioned some ideas for revising the ordinance to streamline things and modernize it.

And John will walk us through those changes, but essentially we're looking to uh open up the program for year-round enrollment and then officially codify the adopta path program as part of the adapt a highway.

So with that, I'll turn over to John and he'll he'll walk us through.

All right.

Good morning.

John Nelson, Assistant County Engineer.

So again, as Shane mentioned, I'm going to talk about the adoptive highway program and the uh ordinance update.

So just quick agenda for this uh presentation.

We're gonna talk about the program itself, um, the proposed ordinance changes and then the current enrollment process we go through right now and the challenges that that has.

We're gonna kind of walk through a journey of an applicant that would go through the process and then our proposed changes as well as our outlook in the program.

So the adoptive program is a very popular program.

Um we volunteers go out on the Lake County roads and clean up debris around along the roadways along the bike paths.

Uh right now, about 79% of our adopted highway sections are currently adopted.

Um volunteers remove about 155,000 pounds of trash and debris on the from roadsides and bike paths every year.

And this program does foster community engagement, teamwork, pride.

We see a lot of different companies, family groups, organizations uh enjoy going out and doing the adopt adopting the highway and cleaning it up.

So as Shane mentioned, the changes to the uh the ordinance, we're looking to refine and modernize the ordinance language to reflect the current operational practices.

So ordinance right now talks about uh letters and we're doing more electronic emails now.

It talks about setting out DVDs, we don't do that anymore.

It's all electronic videos for people to watch, and so just kind of modernizing that.

And we're also, as Shane mentioned, uh formalizing the adopt the path program, and then we're gonna really want to modify the enrollment process.

So the current enrollment process, so applicant will submit their application year round to the DOT, but then we hold that application until the next enrollment period.

So those enrollment periods uh are in January and August each year per the ordinance.

Uh, once we review the applications, we bring those in to this committee, typically around March and October of every year.

And then the agreement with the organization becomes effective April 1st or November 1st.

So the challenges with that, um, right now we have applicants that um submit outside the January and August time frame, they have to wait.

We have to wait until that next enrollment period comes in.

Uh, the process does limit us then to those two enrollment periods, and doesn't allow us to become very flexible at all.

Also, uh, applications require committee approval before agreements can be executed.

And so sometimes applicants will wait three to nine months then for submissions once they submit to become active to adopt.

So I'm gonna take a journey through again, talk to our friend Lindsay.

Lindsay is uh applies with uh Greenbird and Greenbird Engineering to participate uh in the adoptive highway program.

Uh she puts uh submits an application in February because she missed that January window.

She waits we wait until August to review her application, then we present it to committee here in October, and then November 1st, she can go out and start doing her cleanup of the roadway.

So if submit so that whole timeline is about nine months for that scenario right there.

So we're looking to do instead is allow applications to continue to come in every time and submit any time.

And then the applications once they're reviewed and approved, we're hoping to do that within 15 days at the DOT.

And then once that's approved or denied, we'll let them know.

But if it's approved, we'll allow them to get the agreement set up for the first day of the next month, find their application.

So again, the benefits are eliminates the delays caused by those fixed windows that are in the current ordinance.

That's year-round.

So when especially right now, we see people in the spring want to get out, want to start doing things.

If there's adopted highway section available near them, they want to adopt that.

Say, well, we have to wait till the open next window, and that can be able to get out on the road till November.

So it reduces uh time again, eliminates the need for approval here.

We still have discussions in here in this committee as well.

And it uh allows the applicants to know to join the program faster, improving that participation and engagement.

So with this new scenario with Lindsay again, so she applies in February.

Um, we review that application within 15 days, and they can start have their agreement set up by March 1st.

So again, that's just a one-month period.

So, what we'd like to do is still keep the committee here informed.

So, we would provide a report during our normal um annual update, the annual department update that we provide to this committee.

Um, also on our website, we have available listing of all the sections that are available with an interactive map as well as um a listing of just what's available to to be adopted.

Um, we're also gonna work with communications to kind of share this program publicly.

Want to refresh the marketing materials, strengthen social media presence, kind of really increase that membership and participation to get above that 80% area that we can sit in at for a while now.

And that's all I really have for this presentation.

Yeah, thank you.

I know.

Okay, I know we've got a lot, and I would first want to thank you both.

I know we'd heard some feedback from this committee and from you, suggestions on how to make this program a bit more efficient and more responsive to residents until it's allowed them to really engage.

Okay, well, and thanks, Jeremy.

Thank you.

Um that's great.

And as you're going through this, the how it is now.

I was thinking, why are we even voting on this?

The Forest Preserve has hundreds and hundreds of volunteers who are out doing burns and things like that.

We never approve any of the volunteers.

That's that's at a staff level.

They train them, they get that stuff done.

They're out there on their own doing things, and as I say, things such as burning things, so like require a higher level of training than picking up trash, right?

So we don't need to be involved in that.

Fine.

And once a year, say this is how many volunteers we have.

Great.

As a person who takes part in community groups, multiple that do this.

Thank you for keeping the enrollment for making the enrollment um all year round because I think we all um panic a little bit if we miss the window or we're close to missing the window.

And a lot of these organizations are volunteer driven.

So um thank you.

That's gonna be a huge improvement.

Member Hunter.

Thank you, Jerry.

I as a member of many other volunteer organizations, you have a certain window of opportunity.

And if we push them from to nine months from the time they say yes, that organization could fundamentally change.

Yeah.

And it it's just you know, in our in our instant gratification society attitude that we have these days, it would be crazy not to do this.

I mean, to take advantage of the opportunity.

I'd I'd sure like to be updated um when we do add somebody, especially if it if it's in my district.

I I I really want to know.

Um, not that I don't mind outside the district, but I know the people in the groups in my district.

So I I contrary to um Vice Chair Maine, I I would like to know earlier than once a year if somebody has done that.

Handle it.

I I get a lot of other stuff on my plate, but you know, there is that opportunity that that we could get one bad egg.

And if we have a bad egg, that could not wanna the program's too good.

I I don't want to screw that up.

But yeah, I shortening that window, I think is wonderful.

Thanks.

And just clearly the the the people will the list of people be available.

Can we look up like publicly the list of all the participants?

Yeah, well, the plan is we'll uh keep that current on the website.

Oh, thank you for turning the mic on.

Um yeah, the plan is we keep that current on the website um in real time, you know, if we get new ones in, we would we would update it so that would always be available.

And that'll be nice too, because if somebody had applied, we wouldn't have even known for nine months.

So now you can really see what's going on.

Member Roberts.

I'm just going around the table.

Thank you.

Everyone reasoning in at once.

I was like, okay, yeah, I just want to say thank you.

I love the idea of having it.

So we don't have to wait nine months, give so many more opportunities to clean those roads and highways.

And um I just can't believe we even had it before where you had to wait nine months.

So thank you for doing this.

It's it's a it's it's a positive all the way.

Thank you.

Member Wasick.

Yes, thanks, Kerr.

And um John, refresh my memory.

How many miles are involved in the adopt a path program?

How many people do we have involved in that's just it it seems like a kind of a newish program, right?

Over the last few years, I don't I don't have the exact numbers, but I can I can get those for you.

I'm just curious, and is it like is well subscribed as say the adopt a highway program?

It is we need more people and so we have I mean we have 62 miles of bike path, but some of those are done by maintained by villages as well, so they have their own adopts in their sections that they maintained, but I'll get you the numbers far as how many are on ours.

Great, thank you.

Don't working.

Oh, we have member Roberts.

Other thing I want to mention, this would be a great newsletter.

Uh uh blurb for our this would be great in our newsletters to let everybody know, get more people involved.

Yep, yeah.

We'll work with communications on that.

It might be a nice video.

There's a lot of action with this.

We're looking for stars.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It is a lot of uh as and someone, I know I think we've all done this.

It is very uh kind of exciting to see what you find while you're doing adopt the path or adopt the some are good, some are bad.

That is a feature whenever I do it.

The most interesting thing and the most um maybe not pleasant thing.

Yes, there's lots of categories.

Always feature it in my post.

Maybe you could make a bingo like a game.

Everyone can play.

Roadside bingo.

Never know what you're gonna find.

Something yellow, something this is something.

Well, thank you.

I said this is a terrific program.

And every time I've participated in it, it's been it like you said, it helps build community, but it also really helps clean up our roads.

And I mean, the amount of trash you said that is collected is pretty amazing.

And I didn't, you know, the adoptive path program really, especially for like people with younger children ever who don't want to be on a road, can be a really good example.

So I I do think now that it's much easier, well, that it will be much easier to sign up and and have the things maybe we can with more publicity, more communications, updating all the things.

Maybe we really will get more groups.

That's so yeah, to be it's a nice thing to do outside, especially in the spring.

For sure.

All right.

So thank you again.

Any other questions, comments?

All right, all in favor?

Aye, any opposed motion carries.

Item 8.3 is a joint resolution authorizing a contract with Denler Inc.

Joliet, Illinois in the amount of $59,386 and 94 cents to provide for crack sealing of hot mix asphalt pavement where necessary on various county highways and appropriating $72,000 of the motor fuel tax funds.

Can I get a motion in a second?

Motion by Hunter, second by Roberts.

So slightly less exciting item.

Um annual maintenance of the pavement.

So we're as cracks appear in the pavement, we we seal them up on an annual basis to keep water from infiltrating rocks and things like that, just that caused a further deteriorate um the road at a faster pace.

So annual regular maintenance.

Member Wasick.

So when you do the crack ceiling, I know it's a regular program, but how long is the seal good for when you apply it?

Yeah, so we're doing this like in between resurfacing.

So we typically resurface you know an average road, you know, maybe plus or minus 15 years every 15 years.

So we'll go in and do this treatment and the next one on the agenda in between that interval.

And you know, typically it's uh a handful of years that it'll last.

Um, you know, the the plowing and the heat in the winter and the cold and the in the in the winter does it'll it'll lose its um reliability over time, but it does get us a few years out of that crack ceiling.

Is this the rubberized compound or is this something else?

It's kind of like that.

It's an asphalt material, it's a hot, you know, it's a liquid, and then they spray it out.

They'll come, they clean out the cracks, they actually route them out with air or a tool to get all the debris out, then they fill it in with the liquid asphalt.

And this gives you maybe a couple more years of longevity on between resurfacing.

Correct.

Yeah, just to keep the water and everything out of the cracks.

Okay, great.

Yep, thanks.

Vice chair.

Thank you.

Um, this is a more general question.

I'm sorry, but I was just thinking of looking at asphalt things that are um you know, petroleum product based.

And do we have anything for prices?

I mean, there's been a huge um increase in in oil prices.

And so, or people who put in bids to say, hey, we're gonna do something, and then you know, the market has gone crazy, you know, the Strait of Hormuz, even if it's opened up, they've had to, you know, there's been infrastructure damage and other things moved.

Are there literally like act of war clauses in our contracts that would allow them, or they're like, well, you put it in then, too bad for you.

So it's it's a little bit of both.

So um the contractors do assume some risk when they submit their bid.

Right.

Um, you know, the market could go up or down for a variety of reasons.

Sure.

In our larger projects that typically we anticipate spanning multiple years, we include template documents for certain types of materials.

Fuel is one, okay, certain types of metal, and the contractor has the option to submit that um that document to say um I am going to select this as my price for these materials.

If it goes up or it goes down, I want to be able to adjust it.

So they there's upside and downside then.

Um we we include that in there as a standard.

I would say it's very infrequently used.

The contractor usually does not take advantage of that.

Okay.

So prices going up.

So if they haven't used it, prices going up, that might be out there.

But if they had selected a price is going down, are we overall monitoring you guys?

Because I guess you have estimates for things monitoring, hey, steel prices are going down, or these prices are going down.

And is there a flag in those contracts to go, hey, you said if it went down, ding ding ding.

We would get a refund.

Yeah.

And so typically the contractors don't want to write us a check back.

Right.

So they just choose not to submit that form.

All right.

Interesting.

Thank you.

Yep.

Member Hunter.

Thanks, Chara.

This is for Ruth Ann.

Isn't is it a forced major that is that we could will you explain that to the committee is what we do in sits instances like act of war and stuff like that.

So there is in some contracts a force majeure, which does allow us to the contractor to come back and ask for pricing.

But we also reserve the right to not accept an increase in pricing.

Um with public works contracts, you also have the public works change order act where it can't go over 50%.

So you're gonna have to go out to bid.

So a force majeure is absolutely a a clause that'll open up a contract for a discussion, and that's just what it is a discussion, and the parties have to come to an agreement.

They can't just simply single-handedly increase the price.

We start to put that in all of ours, and that happened as of a COVID because when COVID hit, it changed the rules.

And what this does is it forces vendors to be able to open reopen the conversation with them without putting a definitive if this happens, then this is gonna happen.

Thank you.

These are interesting times, I think we can say.

Most of it is done just by our maintenance staff making visual observation, but some of it does come through when we do our pavement testing.

You know, they do have a laser on the vehicle that does the testing, so they actually do a scan of the entire surface, and then we can get information from that as well.

Well say, because it's a lot of cracks and a lot of roads.

So to find all of them must be a lot of work.

Yeah, it's it's a very manual process.

Someone actually goes out and walks and sprays the liquid into all these cracks.

Yeah, yeah.

How about how many miles do you do each year?

It really depends just on the scenario.

You know, sometimes it's just one or two lines that kind of follow the path of the road, and sometimes they're squiggly and over.

So it really just depends on the given road.

Seems like a big job.

Yep, but it's important job.

Very cost effective for just adding a lot of life.

For sure, but yes.

That is a very good thing to do.

All right, any other questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.4 is a joint resolution authorizing a contract with Everlast Blacktop Inc.

St.

Charles, Illinois, in the amount of 499,667.29 cents for annual hot mix asphalt maintenance of various roads on the county highway system and appropriating $600,000 of motor fuel tax funds.

Can I get a motion a second?

Motion by Kasbin, second by Hunter.

Um so similar to the last one, this is annual pavement matching or patching.

This is what we do in between in between resurfacing projects.

So you can see the blue coloring, those are the roadways that you know have uh been looked at in person by our maintenance staff, and and then the patches have been spray painted on the pavement, quantities have taken off, and then we have the low bid price to complete the work.

You can see there's numbers next to those.

Uh maybe you can see those numbers.

Um, those are the number of patches that are going to be completed on that given roadway.

So it's not necessarily that that entire blue shading is gonna be the patch.

It's just along that corridor, there's going to be patching.

Um so this is done every year.

We identify areas that should be um ground out two inches of asphalt and then put in back, and that helps us get to that next major resurfacing interval.

Yeah, I was looking, it's a lot of them.

So is it when you grind it out?

Is it just like a certain area that it's a certain defined area that it's physically marked by our um maintenance staff?

And and then the contractor comes in, they actually saw cut the square rectangular shape, they grind out the area that's um in disrepair, and then they put new asphalt into that.

So this is for like larger than cracks, then this is for like potholes and other potholes and even bigger, you know.

You can have a 20 by 20 or you know, you know, even longer.

It could be maybe 20 by a thousand feet, just depending on on the road.

Yeah, well, this is important too.

Yeah, member Roberts.

So depending on the project, this is just like a day job.

Typically it's they're daily, they do them, you know, in a moving operation, so they'll just do like a daily lane closure, they'll complete the work in that lane and keep moving.

Yep.

Yeah, and how long till it um, because I think I've driven by these, I'm sure we all have how long until those like people can drive on it, is it right after?

Just a couple hours, yeah.

It's it's pretty quick.

And then once everything uh hardens up and cools off, and they'll come back at the end and then they restrict if they need to.

They'll put all the pavement markings back over those areas that were patched.

Yeah.

Well, this extends our road life too.

All right, very good.

Any other questions?

All in favor?

Aye, any opposed?

Motion carries.

I am 8.5 is a joint resolution authorizing a contract with Roush Infrastructure LLC, Des Plains, Illinois, and the amount of $2,152,618 and 82 cents for the Dillies Road Bridge Rehabilitation at Mill Creek and appropriating $2,584,000 of matching tax funds.

Can I get a motion in a second?

Motion by Hunter, second by Kasmin.

So this bridge, um, you know, we do routine inspections on our bridges, and uh, we discovered in 2023 that there was some deterioration in some of the beams that actually caused uh a load limit to be placed on the outside shoulder.

Um so we brought back to the committee in 2023 a feasibility study to investigate the bridge to see what kind of rehab was needed.

Um, and then we we determined that uh a replacement of the bridge deck and the beams would be needed.

So we uh proceeded with a phase two engineering contract at the end of 2024.

That engineering work has been done, the project's been out to bid, and now we're awarding the replacement of the bridge beams and the bridge deck.

Um the existing structure that the bridge sits on, the abutments, the concrete abutments that will stay in place, but uh everything on the top will be will be replaced.

Well, member Casmin.

So as you're inspecting the bridges every year, what kinds of equipment do you use to determine like whether it's in good condition or not?

A lot of it's visual observation, so trained um inspectors go underneath, they look all around, um, they take measurements, they take photographs, and then often what they'll do is they'll mark if they start seeing some deterioration, the concrete starts to crack and fall away, they'll mark that, they'll spray paint that, they'll take a picture of it, and then when they come back the next time, they see is it getting worse?

Oh, and then if it's progressively getting worse, worse, then we know that there's something structurally happening.

I mean, that's in simple terms, that's what they're doing.

I've seen I've seen those marks.

Yeah, like spray paint them, or sometimes it's uh a marker or yeah.

Yeah, okay, it's good to know that that's that's what that is.

Thank you so much for keeping an eye on all these.

I think it's uh it's a big deal.

I mean, we've all heard the horror stories when things go dramatically wrong.

So I appreciate that you you are all diligent about it.

Yeah, thank you.

Bridges are important, yes.

Member Roberts.

So question on this is was there an endangered species or something a year's ago on this bridge underneath, like a beaver or a fit.

What do I'm remembering that thing?

I think the um bat was it a bat.

Could be a bat, but I I think what I maybe recall is uh a darter fish.

Oh, it was a fish.

Went through the stream.

So luckily we're staying out of the stream.

Okay.

We're not gonna do that.

I was just wondering if that's somebody's gonna come up and say, Oh, you gotta stop this project because then so no that's a good that's a good question, but part of the design was going through an environmental review.

So as we were completing the engineering design, the documents also had to had to be submitted for environmental reviews through the different state agencies, and they you know everything was cleared.

Yep.

And just every number.

Yep.

You have a good memory.

Yeah.

And so um, and the bridge will be open during construction, couldn't it?

It'll be closed.

Oh, it'll be closed.

We're gonna have to we're gonna have to close it.

Um, just due to the nature of the beams, there's no good way to get in and take a just a few out.

So there'll be a 90-day closure.

Um so after we award the contract, we'll do a pre-construction meeting with the contractor.

We'll determine the exact schedule, and then we'll do public notification of when those dates are gonna be.

There'll be advanced signage, there'll be a formal detour out.

All that will be explained before work's work begins.

And um, that's gonna be this summer.

Correct.

Okay.

Yep.

All right.

This this summer and we're back reopened uh at the end of the year by the end of the year.

Perfect.

All right, important project, keeping these bridges, bridges safe.

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.6 is a joint resolution authorizing a contract with Gesky and Sons in Crystal Lake, Illinois, in the amount of 303,290 and 71 cents for the resurfacing of various roads in the Cuba Township Road District, which will be improved under the Illinois Highway Code for a total of 2.10 miles.

Can I get a motion?

Motion by Hunter, second by Vice Chair Meet.

And could I just make it 86 and 87?

Because they're they're both just town ships.

It's the same concept.

Yep.

So just uh well, I'll wait.

Well, yeah, you want me and okay, then and then if it's okay that I'm gonna read, and then we'll also take 8.7, which is a joint resolution authorizing a contract with Schroeder Asphalt Services Inc., Huntley, Illinois, in the amount of 110,418.90 cents for the resurfacing of various roads in Shields Township, which will be improved under the Illinois Highway Code for a total of 0.39 miles.

Okay, now can I get in a motion?

Did I already do motion and second before?

We have just as long as they accept that motion.

Okay.

And who we hunter and main.

Do you accept the motion?

Yes together.

Perfect.

All right, we'll take them together.

All right.

So yeah, these are township roads, so no count county funds, these are township MFT funds, but by state statute, the county board has to approve any expenditure of township motor fuel tax funds.

And um, our department has to review all of the documents.

And in these cases, we prepared the design plans and we'll oversee the construction, and the township pays us a fee to do that work on their behalf.

Oh, that's good.

Yeah, it's a good example of governments working together.

It is all right.

Any questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed motions?

Motion carries.

All right, item 8.8 is an ordinance providing for the establishment of an altered speed zone of 25 miles per hour, currently designated 30 miles per hour on Trinity Lane, Terry Lane, and Tracy Lane in the Trinity Terrace subdivision located in Antioch Township.

Can I get a motion in a second?

Motion by Hunter, second by Kasbin.

So these are township neighborhood streets.

The highway commissioner requested we undertake a speed study to see if uh uh the speed limit could be reduced.

We did uh undertake that study and a reduction was warranted.

Um so we're recommending a reduction from 30 to 25.

Yeah, just looking at that map, it seems like it makes a lot of sense.

So statutorily, when a new road is built, its default is 30.

Uh, and then they can opt to have a study done and reduce it.

Oh, that's interesting.

All right, any questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.9 is a joint resolution authorizing a contract with CTI Atasca, Illinois to upgrade existing audio video components to meet a more standardized and seamless functionality for all users hosting meetings at the Lake County Division of Transportation Main Conference Room at a cost of 49,419 dollars.

Can I get a motion and a second motion by Robert, second by Kasbin?

So this is just an end-of-life replacement of the technology in the main conference room at the DOT.

So if you've been in there, that's where we host the majority of our meetings.

So we get a lot of other departments and outside consultants using the room.

Currently, we're not able to take full advantage of all the modern AV technology.

So with this replacement and upgrade, we will.

So anyone will be able to come in, whether you're a Lake County staff member or an outside member, plug in with an HDMI cable and take full advantage of all the video conferencing technologies that exist today across any platform.

Um so the work will just take a couple of weeks, and hopefully by mid-summer it'll be be up and running.

And this is the main, this is on the second floor.

First floor, right when you walk in the main entrance on the right.

And you turn right.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

No, this is the the big one.

Oh this is the same.

So that when you go in and turn right.

Yeah, that is yeah, and that is used a lot.

So this the the user, you said I know we discussed this technology too, it uses all the different platforms.

So people come WebEx or Zoom or Teams, whatever.

So I mean, I think this is really important, obviously.

All right, any questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

Item 8.10 is a joint resolution authorizing emergency appropriations for fiscal year 2026 for the Lake County Division of Transportation Capital Funds for previously approved projects, additional revenue and interest that have been received for previous fiscal for the previous fiscal year, and for project-related reimbursement revenue from outside agencies and the related expense.

Can I get a motion in a second?

Motion by Kasman, second by Hunter.

This is a carryover we do on an annual basis.

These are all projects that we're actively working on.

They're in our five-year program.

Uh the county board has approved them at some previous phase, whether they're in engineering or design or construction.

Um because they're multi-year in nature, we have to carry forward the revenue and uh and expenses for these individual projects each year to continue to be able to work on them and pay all of our bills.

So there's about 215 million dollars being carried forward to put that in perspective of our five-year program, which is about 900 million.

That's about 20 to 25 percent of the program value just actively churning on an annual basis.

Yeah.

I mean, obviously the projects that you're working on are multi-year projects.

So we just have to keep the budgeting going.

All right, any questions?

All right, all in favor?

Aye, say aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

All right, thank you.

Okay, do we have a county administrator's report?

We do not.

There's no executive session.

Do we have any members' remarks?

Member Casmin.

I just wanted to say, Shane, um, that I was driving back to the place I was born where my family still lives in Indiana.

And every time I go, my family hears about how upsetting the county road situation is there.

And how um grateful I am to you and the staff for keeping our roads so safe and using science and engineering to keep things up to standard.

I mean, I think when we talk about those, the crack filling and um, I mean, because I do.

I I get on a soapbox with the kids, they're so tired of it.

And I said, you know, if they just fill these cracks, they could increase the longevity of this road by significant amount.

And it's like every time.

So they're a little tired of hearing it.

But I'm I'm really grateful to you all for being so proactive and so um safety conscious of our roads.

Um sometimes the you go somewhere else and there's so many death trap intersections and there's standing water in the and I just it it helps you realize how on top of it you are and how much I appreciate it.

Thanks.

Thanks so much for saying that.

We appreciate all the support.

I feel it every day when I drive to Kenosha.

They could use some crack feeling.

Member Wasig.

Thank you, Chair.

And Shane, as you're probably aware on Monday, uh there was another meeting the IDOT was having for the Route 120 project.

Now I know this is definitely not a county project, but they did mention that they had talked to your department, and they didn't say what they talked to you about.

I assuming I'm assuming it was about intersections that you know were county intersections and it that involves state roads, but I'm wondering if you could shed some more light on that.

Yeah, that's correct.

So they've been keeping us informed uh on their status um as they do these CAG meetings, just so we're not caught off guard of what they're proposing because there are a handful of county highways that intersect the state alignment.

So they're basically just sharing the same information they share at the at these community engagement meetings a couple days in advance, so we're just aware of what they're proposing on the county highways.

Anything out of the ordinary.

I mean, they they shared a lot of plans.

There's a huge information dump and they have all these alternatives and yeah, yeah, they're so there's still, you know, it's a federal feasibility study.

Um so it's a formal federal process so they can keep it federally eligible for whatever projects come out of it.

Um so right now they're throwing a lot of stuff out there to see what might be feasible, what might be constructible, what's you know, what what they can afford to do and what's politically acceptable.

So they're they're throwing a lot of different things out there.

So they got pretty creative in this round from our perspective.

Um, but you know, they're they're trying to make some improvements out there, so we think that's good.

So one of the uh design proposals involves sort of a dogbone roundabout at Haynesville Road.

I'd never even seen something like that before.

Have they ever done have we ever done that in Lake County?

We haven't done that, and I think that's just you know their way of trying to get creative to to solve some issues um on on alignment.

So some things are gonna work better than others.

I think for that particular intersection, they had a couple different options, and that was one of the the more creative ones.

I'm not aware of us having done something like that that I can recall.

Okay, creative is is a yeah, diplomatic term.

But it's working, I mean, it works well in the model, right?

So it's moving traffic.

You know, is it is it practical and feasible to build, you know, that they're not saying that yet, but they're saying, hey, we're trying to get some some ideas out there that would provide some relief.

Okay, thank you.

Yep.

And do you just one last question?

But Hun Club Road is I've been getting some questions about it.

Is that going to be completed this year?

The uh uh Clump Club and Washington Street?

Yes.

Okay.

It looks this year.

Okay.

It was supposed to wrap up last year, but we had a lot of utility delays and then utilities having to relocate and then relocate again.

Um so that that pushes into this construction season, but it will wrap up this year.

Okay, great.

Yep.

Yeah, it's a yeah, great project.

All that connectivity there is gonna be wonderful and making that intersection a lot safer.

Yeah, I didn't have a formal uh director's report, but because you're asking questions about construction, I can say that there'll be a uh uh a news release going out this week announcing the annual construction program.

So there's I think 30 projects and about 98 million dollars.

All right, that's always exciting.

All right, thank you very much for promoting.

Well, if there's nothing else, I declare this meeting adjourned.

Our next meeting is April 29th, 2026.

Have a great day, everyone.