McLean County Property Committee met Oct. 6.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
The Property Committee of the McLean County Board met at 4:45 p.m. in Room 404 of the Government Center Building, 115 E. Washington Street, Bloomington, Illinois.
Members Present: Chairman Josh Barnett and Member Logan Smith in person, Members Jacob Beard, Elizabeth Johnston, Gerald Thompson and William Friedrich (all via remote attendance)
Members Absent: Member Lyndsay Bloomfield
Other Members Present: None
Staff Present: Camille Rodriguez, County Administrator; Cassy Taylor, Assistant County Administrator; Ms. Cathy Dreyer, Assistant County Administrator, Samantha Vasquez, Assistant State’s Attorney – Civil Division; and Ms. Julie Morlock, Recording Secretary;
Department Heads/
Elected Officials Present: Mr. Tim Daugherty, Facilities Management (via remote attendance); Mr. Michael Steffa, Director Parks and Recreation Department (via remote attendance)
Others Present:
Chairman Barnett called the meeting to order at 4:45 p.m. and declared a quorum.
Chairman Barnett presented the minutes from the June 16, 2020 special meeting and July 2, 2020 regular meeting of the Property Committee for approval.
Motion by Smith/Johnston to approve the June 16, 2020 special meeting and July 2, 2020 regular meeting minutes of the Property Committee.
Motion carried. Roll Call Vote – all present voted yes including the Chairman.
Chairman Barnett confirmed appearances by Mr. Greg Koos Interim Director and Julie Emig incoming Director of the McLean County Museum. Mr. Koos went over projects the History Museum is involved in including upgrades of restrooms and restoring the historic lighting in the building. He indicated the work is being done through grant funding and will begin in September and hope to have it completed in December of this year. He also indicated that while the restrooms are being upgraded the Museum will remain closed. Mr. Barnett asked if they would be keeping the original light fixtures Mr. Koos confirmed they would be restoring them. Ms. Julie Emig went over Museum programming that is continuing during the reconstruction and COVID 19. She indicated they would continue the Cemetery walk and are working on a platform the community will be able to access online between approximately between October 3rd and November 2nd. She indicated the historians are busier now more than ever as people are home and working on their ancestry or going through storage and finding historical items. She also indicated they are working on virtual programs. She stated they have been able to invest in these because of a very successful capital campaign. Mr. Beard congratulated her on the position. Ms. Emig indicated she would like to bring updates regularly to the Committee. Mr. Barnett indicated that would be a good addition. Ms. Johnston stated when the Committee first started talking about the restroom remodel the heat was discussed and wondered if that was still part of the project. Mr. Koos went over two door design for the restroom as well as heating under flooring that would help. Mr. Koos indicated they had hired a company to conduct a survey of the heating and ventilating units in the building and the report indicated that several of those are failing and need to be upgraded to help with the preservation of the documents they have in the building. Mr. Koos indicated he felt this is part of a delayed maintenance issue the County has on a whole and encouraged them to look at this during their consideration of the budget and capital improvement plan. Mr. Barnett thanked him as he felt we have been in a reactive mode and are working toward a proactive mode. Mr. Koos indicated he would be sharing the report on the heating systems with the Committee and Administration.
Mr. Michael Steffa, Parks and Recreation Department Director presented his year to date report and went over numbers that are based on numbers of people and not revenue. He stated he also worked up the revenue amounts for Administration and could provide those to the Committee if they would like. Ms. Johnston asked if this was comparing Jan - July to Jan - July of each of these years. Mr. Steffa confirmed that was the case. Ms. Johnston asked if income for pontoon boat had paid for the pontoon boat. Mr. Steffa provided updated numbers and indicated it was paid off and earning income. He stated he requested another one for next year as they are turning several people down. Mr. Friedrich asked if there have been any issues with extra people at the park. Mr. Steffa indicated there were no major issues. Mr. Barnett thanked him and his staff for all of their work. Mr. Steffa also provided an update on the sewage treatment plant.
Mr. Tim Daugherty, Facilities Department Director presented for action a request to approve a Hood Cleaning Agreement with GETZ Industrial Cleaning. He stated it was for the new annex and this contract would cover the semi-annual cleaning of the exhaust system.
Motion by Smith/Thompson to recommend approval of a Hood Cleaning Agreement with GETZ Industrial Cleaning.
Motion Carried. Roll call vote – all present voted yes including the Chairman.
Mr. Daugherty presented for action a request to approve an Inspection Agreement with GETZ Fire Equipment Company. Mr. Daugherty indicated this is for the suppression system.
Motion by Johnston/Friedrich to recommend approval of an Inspection Agreement with GETZ Fire Equipment Company.
Motion Carried. Roll call vote – all present voted yes including the Chairman
Mr. Daugherty presented for action a request to approve a rental contract with Polar Leasing Company Inc. Mr. Daugherty indicated this is a temporary cooler while the existing cooler is replaced and explained where it would be located, electric and ramp access. He stated the agreement is for two months even though would probably not need it that long. He stated it was difficult to find someone to rent a cooler for this application and this company has been more than willing to work with them. Ms. Rodriguez indicated placement had been important and was glad they were able to place it in the sally port. Ms. Johnston asked how long this project would last. Mr. Daugherty indicated it would be about 5 to 6 weeks. Ms. Johnston asked about refund if we do not need it for the entire two months. Mr. Daugherty stated shortest term was for two months so did not feel a refund would be possible. Ms. Johnston asked if the closest place was Indiana. Mr. Daugherty indicated Company has a station in Illinois and to get something closer it would have been a drive-in trailer in the parking lot that would have caused larger issues of ramp and electrical access. Ms. Johnston thanked him for his time and effort on this project. Mr. Friedrich asked him about security on the cooler. Mr. Daugherty indicated where it would be set up coroner staff will not be seen entering or leaving cooler and indicated it will be locked.
Motion by Beard/Smith to recommend approval of a rental contract with Polar Leasing Company Inc.
Motion Carried. Roll call vote – all present voted yes including the Chairman.
Mr. Daugherty presented his monthly report to the Committee including reports on status of projects in each of the buildings. He went over elevator work and inspections at the Law and Justice Center. Mr. Daugherty indicated he was just notified yesterday about breakdown of condenser fans at the Museum and as far as he was aware everything else at the Museum was in working order, so he is looking forward to getting the heating system report from Mr. Koos. Mr. Smith stated he was concerned about elevators and asked how many were down in the Law & Justice Center. Mr. Daugherty went over items and indicated that only one elevator was not in use. He stated that elevators have been inspected and are operations, items waiting on are not safety items. Mr. Friedrich indicated he had asked for a list of what they experienced on a daily basis and struggled with. Ms. Rodriguez indicated the list had been prepared but not put in the packet. Mr. Friedrich asked why companies with items on the punch list were not coming in to get the work completed. Ms. Rodriguez indicated they have been trying to get them in to complete the work. She indicated that Mr. Daugherty had put together a list of items and had a meeting with vendors and staff to go over outstanding issues. Chairman Barnett asked if there were any further questions, hearing none, he thanked him.
Ms. Rodriguez, County Administrator presented for action a request to approve a critical hire request from the Facilities Department.
Motion by Friedrich/Johnston to recommend approval of the critical hire request from the Facilities Department.
Motion Carried. Roll call vote – all present voted yes including the Chairman.
Ms. Rodriguez provided information on the Capital Improvement Plan Process. She indicated the document in the packet is a way they would encourage departments to bring forward their requests and also a way for them to document completion and when items should be addressed in the future. She indicated that Department Heads and other employees do not see the plan as something they interact with. Mr. Barnett stated he and Ms. Rodriguez had looked at some capital improvements plans from other local governments to see how they put their plans together, executed those plan and tracked projects and one of the things that came from the discussion was the document in front of the committee. He stated if members had thoughts or suggestions, they should please bring them forward. He also said they would be trying to put together an annual flow for projects that would involve the committee, staff and department heads. He stated he felt we have been reactive and need to try to move to more of a proactive role. He stated that they looked to take a deeper look at this at the September meeting.
Mr. Smith said he was hoping to get more public involvement in this process, and he noticed this meeting is not on Facebook. He stated as we go into budget season would like to have meetings on a space where constituents can watch. Ms. Rodriguez stated the Board decided to continue streaming through the end of the year and Staff feels it will probably go into next year, so Staff had some hard decision to make. She then went over the reasons they eliminated streaming on Facebook. She stated Staff wants to work toward streaming the meetings ourselves to be more self-sufficient and only way we are going to be able to do it ourselves without hiring out in the future is without the multiple platforms. Ms. Rodriguez indicated they appreciate being able to watch other meetings so understand those who want to watch our meetings, but had to also consider cyber security as we pay a lot for liability insurance and to help ourselves reduce our risk we felt we should reduce our cyber footprint. She stated she also asked colleagues through the Illinois County Administrators Association as well as with the Town and the City and they stream on one platform which is You Tube. Ms. Johnston stated she felt we could use Facebook to direct people to You Tube as you can schedule posts that includes a link that will let people know meeting is occurring. Mr. Smith stated that he would like our presence on You Tube to be more professional and more official and felt we need to invest to bring it in line with our other online presences.
Mr. Beard said he is looking forward to next month’s discussions about the capital improvement plan as the age of our buildings demands we become more proactive and less reactive. He thanked Mr. Barnett and Staff for their work on this over the last few months.
Ms. Rodriguez presented her positions filled report. Ms. Rodriguez stated she meets with the Museum regularly to provide updates on items happening with the County and to receive updates from the Museum. She provided the Committee with an update on the roof project at the Museum.
Chairman Barnett stated it had been pointed out that the Auditor had not updated bills on the website since last fall and he asked Administration about getting bills distributed to the Committee either in the packet or as part of their minutes.
Chairman Barnett asked if there were any other matters to come before the Committee; hearing none, he moved to payment of the bills
Chairman Barnett presented the bills from the Auditor with a Prepaid Total and Fund total amount of $1,622,588.39
Motion by Smith/Thompson to approve payments of bills from the Auditor in the amount of $1,622,588.39.
Motion Carried
Chairman Barnett stated there was no other business to come before Committee and adjourned the meeting at 6:04 p.m.
https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/7693
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