6:30 PM, Monday, May 11th, meeting of the Planning Development Committee.
Dale, would you like to start us off with a word of prayer?
Certainly.
Heavenly Father, we come to you tonight to thank you for all the blessings.
Thank you for bringing this group of people together tonight to discuss important Stephenson County Business and please guide us as we make decisions and have discussions about current businesses and thank you Jesus for, for the love in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you very much.
Approval of agenda.
Any additions or corrections?
Move to approve.
We have a motion.
Second.
And a second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Motion carries.
Next we have approval of claims.
This evening, we have claims totaling $1,872.50, again, mostly of necessity, so moved to approve, motion to approve.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
With that, we have public comment.
Right?
Did I miss something?
Minutes, please.
Oh, I skipped the minutes.
I thought I did that, sorry.
Right.
Did I miss something?
Minutes please.
Oh, I skipped the minutes.
I thought I did that.
Sorry.
All of the meeting minutes from April 26th.
Move to approve.
Second.
Motion and second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
That motion carries as well.
Thank you very much.
Now we'll go to public comment.
If you would just come here while you're speaking, state your name, if there's any.
Anybody can come up and speak one at a time.
You get three minutes.
Three minutes, one at a time.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
So, excuse me for feeling a little nervous and not comfortable with public speaking, but I. Say your name, excuse me.
Oh yeah, it's Kevin Sokop.
I live north of town on Fairview Road.
So I became aware of an operation of stone quarry that used to be owned by Ken Shield last year that was sold to Zach Jeffery.
And I didn't know that Zach Jeffery was planning on operating that quarry as anything other than a stone and gravel quarry.
Court, I had heard that he was going to start operating it as a concrete and as fault recycling operation, which kind of surprised me because they didn't think that same thing as harvesting gravel and selling it.
So I scheduled a meeting with Beth, Stevens County Zoning Commissioner to ask her about it.
She told me that the only thing that Zach was going to be able to do at that quarry was harvest and crush and sell grafting.
That she was not even aware that the concrete asphalt recycling operation was in the lungs.
So I assumed that that was correct and I assumed that that was correct also.
I have no reason to doubt otherwise.
So in the time since then, it's become evident that he's going to be allowed to recycle asphalt and concrete.
And last year, he was having asphalt and concrete dumped at his site in preparation of recycling it, not as dumping it, not using it as filth, but in preparation of recycling it.
And I was also aware that at that time he did not have a certificate in occupancy.
So in my mind, if you're dumping materials in preparation of operating that quarry for that purpose, that's operating the quarry without proper permitting.
On March 9th during the, oh wait, January 20th, let me back up a little further, 1974, April, 1974, the then Acting Commissioner, Zoning Commissioner issued a Zoning, a violation of Zoning Ordinances to Ken Shealy and said that, ah, there's a big list that's really hard to meet.
If you meet the conditions of the cup, which there were two of, one was plant a row of trees and build a fence, and then we'll give you a certificate of occupancy.
He never, in the 50 years that he owned that, planted those trees or built that fence and that occupancy certificate has not yet been awarded.
So he was operating that quarry, in my opinion, illegally that whole time.
You need both according to the Stephenson County ordinances in order to operate it.
Got it.
That's your time, sir.
That's your minutes?
Yes, sir.
I'll be back.
Sorry about that.
And Director, Bethany Williams, the end of April 25th, reference act Jefferson Tensions, for his quarry at 466 West Fairview Road.
Ms. Williams said that he was not allowed to conduct any aggregate activities, including the removal of rock or gravel out of the quarry.
About a month later, she said he could remove rock.
At the August 25 PND meeting, Mr. Sokov and I both spoke, referenced our continued concerns as Mr. Jeffrey had expanded his activities involving the quarry.
He has since been in violation of numerous EPA County Regulations and has been cited a number of times by the EPA but has continued to operate.
I've expressed my concerns for our neighborhood's health safety environment multiple times at county meetings regarding Mr. Jeffrey's ongoing activities.
For nigh on a year now, at last month's PND meeting, I spoke in part of concerns with his 24-7 nonstop, unattended, two and a half straight for eight weeks of burning, at times the heavy smoke lingered throughout the neighborhood.
People with asthma, allergies, COPD, and other health issues are at great risk due to his assorted actions.
The day after the April 6th meeting, Mrs. Williams began working on a new county ordinance as it was learned a portion required updating due to a change in state law.
There are numerous questions regarding the changes as it appears the health risks will intensify, will be intensified for neighborhoods if improved without additional prohibitions or exceptions being added to 224-6.
The addition of business owners is very vague and concerning for us should any owner of the quarry at 466 West Fairview obtain Secretary of State approval in the future.
Citizens were not informed of the prospective changes and the new ordinance had FOIA has not been done in the past month, we would not have known why the secrecy.
There is no info stating exactly which ordinances or parts of ordinances are in conflict and will be replaced.
I'd like to request an open meeting with discussion being allowed prior to the probable approval in two days at the administrative meeting.
Just citizens speaking of concerns for three minutes and not allowed to ask questions to obtain answers isn't sufficient.
Mr. Jeffrey has owned the quarry for approximately two years and has been operating without compliance nor an occupancy permit and abiding by its requirements for a year now.
On September 29th of 25, Ms. Williams told me she'd again tell Mr. Jeffrey he was required to build a fence.
On November 6th of 25, she stated Mr. Jeffrey was issued a fence permit and needed to start building by November 30th or he cannot.
I invite you all again, please come out and look for yourselves in person.
I'm Carl Kastney and I'm back in the thirties and nineties.
My wife and I built a house in Oakland and I don't know that We were totally unaware of a gravel pit there, but there was nothing going on.
It was completely abandoned and we were never worried about any concerns there.
And the thought now, and even last summer, we saw truck after truck after truck, falling concrete up to the pit there.
And the thought of crushing that in the noise that that provides, and it's quite, quite a bit of noise would be very pretty breaking down to our neighborhood I think and if you think about where our homes are probably some of the higher priced property taxes that we pay and add more homes within a pretty easy area, probably a hundred homes that would be significantly than.
Significantly driven by that noise.
It would be not, it would not be good for the county to find property loss that we're going to see over a period of time as people aren't going to be able to sell their homes with the noise that's going on there.
And I think as a county, we would lose a lot of that income and need to do a better job of managing that than I think where we are.
My name's Carl Chris, live on 542 Fairview Road, and we moved there about six years ago, and the board was said not to be active, and we didn't know none of this was going on, and we just worried about water and noise and pushing, and they were smacked in front of it, 200 feet, it's right there.
So no concerns about air quality and water quality and for everybody in here, it's going to attract all of them.
So that's all I can say.
Start my clock now.
My name is Jack Sosnowski, 530 Delmar Drive in Freeport, Illinois.
Anyway, I want to add to what Kevin started and was rudely cut off when his three minutes expired.
One thing that during the March 9th meeting, as we were sitting here, Mr. Steve asked a very specific question to Beth, and that was, where are the trees?
What is the timing of the trees and the fence?
And Beth repeated 45 days from when is the question, because it's been 45 days.
The second thing is within a mile of an operating quarry or asphalt recycling, real estate values drop 30%.
I hope the County is ready for people within a one mile circle to come and ask for a reduction in taxes.
Thank you.
Good evening, my name is Karen Fletcher and I live at 489 West Fairview Road and the PORI address is 466 West Fairview Road so it is very very near to my home too that we built 20 years ago and we're told that that PORI was inactive and was never going to be used as a PORI and I echo a lot of the concerns as far as Hatter, Lushen, Noyes, all of that, but I want to specifically address another ordinance that I understand is going to come before the committee or board in the next week regarding a burning ordinance that is going to allow the owner of that quarry to burn landscape waste and who knows what else.
I have huge concerns about allowing burning in that area due to the following.
It's a very populated area of higher quality homes and it's detrimental to like our quality of living and I have witnessed and smelled unauthorized burning of not only yard waste coming from there but some chemical smell that is probably from dumped appliances that have been there such as refrigerators and other old appliances.
Concern about allowing that type of burning ordinance at all and allowing it to happen there is a huge concern.
And ideally, there would be no burning allowed.
If you have to consider such, I ask that you restrict what may be burned, such as only landscape waste that is specifically generated from the quarry and not hauled in, and restrict when burning may be allowed, like one day a week, and during limited hours.
I've witnessed many times it's a beautiful day like today I want to open my windows in my home and you have smell and smoke and it fumigates your home and that interrupts our lives that have built our homes there and why we built there is because we wanted country air and farm fresh air and rolling landscape that we see.
So I guess I'm at a loss of why the county would want to allow such burning in a people populated area of residential homes that are well tapped and heavily taxed and moved there for their quiet neighborhood and country life of farm fresh county air.
The city doesn't allow this kind of burning.
So why should the county?
And it's like our own little city out there.
I'm also aware that the greater Freeport partnerships presents information and updates, at least to the administrative committee that meets, I believe this Wednesday.
And I want to bring your attention to some of the things that are on their website regarding their mission, their values and they say they emphasize quality of life and they also emphasize that housing is a main attraction in Stephenson County and being one of the most picturesque spots in Illinois as the county does offer it and their mission includes the words of enriching the fabric of Stephenson County and this ordinance would not enrich our lives.
Thank you.
Anyone else?
May I go again?
No, sir.
Okay, thank you very much.
Again, to remind the audience that these are articles that are on our website.
Thank you very much.
These are items that are on our agenda for us to be able to discuss with you, and I hope you understood that coming here tonight.
We do appreciate your comments, and as we move forward, you know, we do have some discussion that will go on, but we can't address your issues at this time.
But that will continue with our agenda.
All reports to the committee first.
Greater Freeport Partnership.
Hi, I am not Andrea.
I'll kick off with that.
I'm Leslie Mastriani, the Economic Development Manager with the Greater Freeport Partnership.
Kind of had me freaked out for a minute there, but I'm okay.
So I have Andrea's cheat notes, but if you want to know anything else, I can Tryon, and muddle through it.
It's a busy time of year for her as she has a son graduating Sunday, so it's end of the year stuff needs to be covered for her.
Employment numbers for March 2026, which are the most recent apples to apples comparison that we have.
Stephenson County's unemployment rate is less than it was in March at 4.7% and for reports is at 4.9% which is also down from February's 5.6%.
As has been the trend lately, there are 1,087, why did I write that, no, 1,097 unemployed persons in Stephenson County.
However, there are 1,207 unique postings.
So we have, again, more jobs than we have people to fill them.
These are not, you know, fast food service jobs.
These are jobs that pay a median salary of $32,016.
$32.16 An hour, so they're not menial jobs, they are out there.
We are working on finding what that disconnect is, why we can't get those that are unemployed into those positions that are open.
Many of them do require, or many of the jobs that are available are in health care.
Probably do in part to Mercy Health is doing see pretty aggressive recruiting.
So we assume that that's one of the reasons why that health care need is so high.
Construction logistics such as truck drivers and then manufacturing kind of rounds out at the top, the top tier of the jobs that are available.
We do work very closely with Highlands Business Institute, as well as the college and with the school districts talking with guidance counselors and saying, what can we do to keep our people here as they graduate from high school or those who are looking to, who may be under employed and want to upskill into one of these positions.
So the jobs are there, the people not so much.
We're actively, we meet quarterly with a larger group.
With the larger group, George has been at our last meeting and trying to figure out with our stakeholders, with our employers, with our educators to see what we can do to get these positions filled and to keep people here and move them into those positions.
I'm trying to three minutes.
So that those are my numbers for employment.
I would rather have more jobs than people than more people than jobs.
That's an easier problem to solve in my mind.
We have our future events.
May 21st, we have our business after hours at Parkville, of the Dallas Golf Course, and June 4th, Rise and Shine at Oakley Courts, and then the debut of the Center Series of Music on Chicago on June 5th.
And as members, you are more than welcome to join us on any of those events.
And then a few things I want to highlight.
We do have our next Workforce Alignment Meeting, which is a continuation of the meeting that I referenced earlier, and that is on June 11th, and if you're interested in attending, just give our office a call, or you can get the information from either Chairman Helms or Georgia, and it's on our website, and so you're more than welcome to join, get more More information, can you hear where the employers are coming from as we work to align this this workforce in balance.
We also are hosting the Manufacturers Roundtable scheduled for May 29, a little bit excited about that.
We have our DCEO or Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity representative coming to talk about a new grant program that the state is offering.
Not a lot of details, but it's geared more toward, in other words, they don't have a qualified missed yet.
But the state has grant funding to assist manufacturers, but that pool of money is geared more toward those very large manufacturers.
And all, like Stellantis or, you know, the, the larger, um, and it kind of leaves out our smaller manufacturers and these funds, the goal is to address their needs, um, and bypass the larger, um, folks at hand.
Otherwise we're continuing to work with, um, our site selector at the state, um, marketing properties that are available.
If I write no race crossing on one more RFI, I'm going to lose my mind trying to get it fully occupied and along with other properties we're working with, with Alberta's airport to do a five year economic development plan.
Hope to have that wrapped up optimistically the end of June.
And I think there's a lot of opportunity there that, that can be captured and, and really creates some growth out in that area.
Um, we are expanding the enterprise zone.
Andrea is working on that, um, and more to come on that as she gets ready to finalize the paperwork to send into the state and housing as always is an issue.
Throughout the county as, you know, people struggle with affordability, also availability, availability of, you know, good, decent, safe housing stock is always an issue.
And so we're working on that and we have several ideas about our upper storey residential and downtown Freeport and not just downtown Freeport, we've talked about that in Lena pre storm so right now that's not high on Lena's priority list and building second storey residential But, um, and then we're also looking at, um, doing some infill housing, um, in spots throughout the county, wherever there may be, um, uh, a vacant lot in, in town, which is very efficient because the utilities are already there.
Um, and that'll, you know, just help the community if we can put cities and housing there.
I think that is all I have, unless you have questions.
I have a couple of questions, Andrew, considering expanding the enterprise zone, if you can find out.
Yeah, I know some areas, but I can't give you a comprehensive, but I will get you one.
So it's going to be contiguous, are you able to expand at all on the infill housing initiative?
More specifics?
Do you have developers?
For infill, Gertrude Heimer, the Community Development Director, she brought to the NAACP Housing Group, of which we're a member.
The idea of putting modular housing, not manufactured, but modular, where, you know, they truck in a home and put it in, and that's kind of the direction that we're leaning for some parts of the city.
The homes are affordable.
They're, you know, very nice homes.
Helms, can be custom, have custom finishes and such.
That's one option.
There is a, I believe it's Dossau, dealer out of Apple River.
And so he's been targeted to, there's been conversations to have him come in and that would be a city led, they didn't fill in with the, with the matches of housing.
We do have a developer.
This isn't necessarily infillable.
We do have a developer that's really getting ready to, um, dive off the diving board on a housing projects, um, behind meadows back in that area.
There's, um, it's already zoned, flatted.
The whole thing was sort of stride.
It's not Hans Drive?
No.
I can't think of the name of the street that goes in there behind us back in that area.
Yeah.
Yes.
There are currently homes there.
And then the other is what is it?
Park Preserve off of Demeter and Park Boulevard.
I have to get away from saying the old so and so place because it's been a while since I've People lived here, people look at me like, what are you talking about?
Um, gosh, it was, I can't even think of his name.
I'm sort of like a, the free book home.
This question, the children's safe.
What would the city be funding that, or are they still looking for developers?
I think they're looking at a developer to come in and, um, sets back homes.
And then whether they'll do that, I mean, that's kind of our faith.
So funding is always an issue because once you tap into any grant funding, then you're tied to income Co. Directors stretch, which in some areas not a problem, other areas more so.
And so we have to be careful about what restrictions we.
The minute you take federal or grant money, then you have to start putting by someone who has these rules so you don't have lots of taxes on them, maybe.
Sure.
This is coming from a grant writer.
Right.
Yeah.
Lived and Learn, you know, what can I say?
Trustee?
Yes, sir.
So speak of that area you're talking about, at the end of Hans Drive, in that area, isn't that floodplain?
You're talking about behind the old KMAR building or?
But if you go back in there, there's a condo complex back in there, and all of those are out of the flood point.
Yes, I know where the condos are.
Back in that.
Yeah.
Okay, so it's back in that.
And if you finish and get there from going in between Physicians Immediate Care and the Clinton and Bertrand Hills too, you can get back down into that area.
The deposit for the month of April was totaled $16,314.80.
The total deposits to date for the general fund are 151,345.77.
We are seeing a large uptick in buildings this year.
I believe, don't quote me on this, I think we've had at least three or four new dwellings since January 1, which is amazing.
Nicole and I issued six code enforcement violations for the month of April.
We closed two cases and one is pending.
Two of those were for downed trees that have been down for a couple of years.
And the other ones were no building permits for structures and the assessment office always sends us letters on those.
Nicole and I visited each county owned landing as well as the camp monument to close them down to the flooding in the area.
We met with a representative from a communications company to discuss a potential upgrade to a local solar facility in Western Stephenson County with a possible small scale data center.
We also discussed the possibility of a co-located wind farm located in Eastern Stephenson County and Western Winnebago County.
Nicole performed nine inspections.
I performed 12 for the month.
We had our monthly meeting with a representative from the IBEW.
Nicole and I attended the annual IACZO Conference at Starved Rock State Park.
And I attended a webinar on energy storage held by University of Illinois.
Our building inspector did resign as he is formally retiring.
He thought he would take our county on part-time as needed.
And he decided that he is going to formally retire.
So we'll be discussing a new one this evening.
Mrs. Ginger, Joe Ginger was on the Friends of the Peck and one of the founding members.
And Mrs. Ginger has donated a bench in memory of Mr. Ginger.
This is similar to the bench at Bobtown Landing.
And this will be placed at West Black and finally the lien on the 26th North House was recorded and filed.
Great.
Thank you.
Any questions?
Good.
So in the Water District right now, so we'll probably see farmers are out hitting the crops in and they're working with them to assist them in the any of the construction projects that they have to do as far as conservation projects, whether it's new waterways or other programs that they provide and making sure that any questions are answered, that they're building those projects within the parameters that they agreed to build them in.
And they're out checking any changes where land may have come out of Conservation Reserve to be Farmed Again, and making sure that those plants have been met, and making sure that that ground is back into, it's not wetlands, and that it can go back into production.
So that's where they're keeping, spending most of their time right now.
Steve, I do have a question.
Yes.
When is the Soil and Wire District still doing the fish and tree sales?
Yes, that was back in March.
So it's done?
It's done.
And there's a couple other places that do trees in the county, but again, those are, they were done earlier.
Sometimes you can squeeze some out of somebody in April, but now you'd have to get quarter in some place else.
Onto recreation and trails, Dale, any?
Yeah, there's one item we are going ahead with a bridge repair.
It's the bridge J8 just north of the brush tree road.
And we've got a grant for $250,000.
The local match will be 20%.
This has all been budgeted.
And we're just moving ahead with it.
The original plan was to start the project in March and with a and the completion date of June but they moved that back to begin mid-July and be completed by September.
It's a rather large bridge.
So we still have some more bridges that need to be updated, that's fair, but they're doing those as long as they're still usable, you know, as we can afford them or get the money from them.
Is our bicycle guy going to still be on board up there?
Yeah, he's, as far as I know, he's still, he's, he's in business.
I've been going to go out there, but there, if you look at his website, first, I don't have that on top of my head either, but different days, he's at different locations.
One time he said, you know, so what the heck is the name of the company?
I'll look it up and get back to you.
Steve.
Yes, sir.
The cons portion of the match for that grant for that bridge, I have no report from Black Hawk Hills at this time and I don't have anything to report here.
Mr. Remmers, would you want to talk about facilities?
And not only facilities anymore.
Okay, anything else?
And we'll come back.
We'll have that full business discussion on potential County office building.
I have not seen any size things or anything like that come from anybody in this building yet.
So that building is still available, even though there's no operations in it whatsoever, the remaining operations that Newell has here across the hall here.
I do have some information from the department heads they did put together within the building what their space currently is of the spaces that we have.
And can I have a discussion on that then?
I mean, you and I. Anybody have any comments on that, otherwise we'll move on.
Looking forward to that discussion and opportunity to take up development and it sounds like a great idea to me if it's to pick it up in.
That has been one thing that I've heard from everyone in the building is they like to look at it too.
Tunnel, and tell me when, I mean, we, we, some of us went and we could do that again.
I'm sure that they'll be glad to, I spoke with her today just to make sure that it was still available.
It hadn't been sold yet because there were some stories flying around and it was sold and it stopped.
So, so any of the time if you want me just to pick a time or I can do that.
Well, I'll check my schedule.
I can call you.
Okay.
You know what works for me or you can pick a time and I'll try to make it work.
We'll take a look.
I can talk to them.
And I'll get their availability too.
That'd be great.
Thank you very much.
On to new business approval of quote for term removal at Kent Monument.
And that I think is Wally, do you think they have quotes right in their backers too?
Yes.
I can't even get to it.
As you're well aware of, there was two trees that came down in the storm off the Kent Monument.
One was a hackberry tree.
This is the root ball, it's 20 foot across.
It's just massive.
So we have, I have one verbal quote and two hard quotes.
The verbal quote was quite a bit more money than what you have, what we have in front of us.
Just go to the low bit.
Well, we had two bids.
Area Tree Service out of German Valley and Fransons out of Baileyville.
Fransons was the better quote at $1,250 to clean up the two downed trees.
I thought that was pretty respectable.
My high verbal quota was 4,000.
That's, I suppose, that's, so I recommend moving with the, for instance, then I have something else to talk about then, of course.
Go ahead.
When you say complete removal, is that filling the holes back in?
They're gonna tip the stump back in and then we have to have a stump grinder to take care of that.
I kind of overheard you talking a little bit about having somebody carve something into the stump, so you weren't.
I did have a conversation with the Pearl City Historical Society and they were asking, they would be willing to come up there and do some work too.
They didn't say all.
Help, because they're looking at the timeframe on when they're going to have their event out there.
If, if we wanted to allow them to help with cleanup there, they would be more than willing to come with equipment as well.
What's the timeframe of these quotes?
Would they be able to get done prior to grossing?
You should say Franssen can do it next week?
Yes, Franssen can do it the week of the 18th.
We just have to let him know as soon as possible.
While you're thinking about this, it's kind of funny, but it's not funny.
Two years ago, we had a big tree go down and it landed right on top of two of the new saplings I had planted.
This tree went down and went right on one of the ones they planted last fall.
So not doing very well with planting them in the right spot, I guess.
Well, actually, you're planting them where they need new ones anyway.
Well, kind of.
I need a motion and then we can have some more discussion.
We have a $1,250 quote for, but that does not include removal of the stones.
Correct.
They're just starting a motion to approve the $1,250.
Is there a second?
A second.
Any other thoughts on that?
Is that they're going to clean it up?
Yes.
Whatever size do you want?
Do you want to involve the group in Pearl City at all?
Just asking.
It sounds like with the short, if they're ready to do it next week, that's probably, I mean, I don't know if they can just tell us how much of the stump they need left and just.
They would tell you that.
Then, you know, if that would be the case, and that would, I don't see where that would be a Robin, and if they follow through with the carving, you know, we're not left with a big stumped.
So, you know, I'd be okay with that if we can tell them how long to leave it and they'll stand it back up.
Well, I may have some conversation with them, but we can be friends and then we can get it done.
And they can cut it off.
Any other thought?
The whole board doesn't.
So just the decision is yours then to decide what, if you leave a stump, what it will look like.
So you need to decide that.
For instance, those that might be interested in working on this, do they know they might have help they may not want?
Well, we don't have to let them help.
Unless they've been asked.
I mean, if you wanted to leave the stump, they can cut it off at eight foot and just tip it back in the hole and take it out a bit later.
But I guess the real question is, do we want a wooden eagle carved out of a stump?
That's a good question.
Just because it's going to be more maintenance and I'm thinking liability wise, if it's if the tree stump is stable and being tipped back up, I don't know.
Well, our motion is to have Fransons take care of the stump and the tree removal.
We don't need to add anything else to it.
No.
So, we have a motion and a second.
We'll go with that then.
All those in favor of Fransons taking out the stump for 1250, second, right, I say nine.
Any opposed?
Cutting up the tree for 1250.
I would like to make the committee aware of another pending issue up there.
I'm sure you're all aware that there's a Lincoln statue up there.
It's been there four to five years now.
Four to five years now.
The reason a lot of these trees are coming, a lot of the oak trees are coming down.
They have oak wilt.
They are dying.
This is the best I can do for you.
Look over there.
Here's the Lincoln statue over here.
This oak tree is dead.
If it comes down in the direction it looks like it's coming, it's going to land on the statue.
We need to remove this tree also.
Joseph, some sooner rather than later, in my opinion.
Franssen also included a price to remove that tree at $1,200.
There's another tree also nearby that would hit the Lincoln statue if the right winds pushed it over.
It also was an oak tree.
That one's also, they all have oak wilt.
They're all gonna die, they're all gonna die, yes.
We wouldn't have to do the second tree, but what's the quote on the third tree, pardon, did they quote the third tree?
Yes, 1,200 a piece.
Well, the question is, is there money in a bucket to cover the second tree?
We looked it up, there's 3,000 for maintenance in the budget.
And there's other like a maintenance line and a mowing line.
Yeah, there's, yeah, there's actually 3000 almost in each of the, even for the landing.
So it could pull some money from another, from the landings if we had to.
Well, if I'm just speaking as one of the board or one of the members here, it looks to me like if we have Franzen willing to be there next week and he could do all three of them we'd be way ahead of the game.
Yeah, especially if there's a funding source.
If you put all three of them together it's $3,650.
I think that's really reasonable to have through the big alteration vote.
It doesn't take the stumps away, but at least the trees are gone and we won't have possible damage or so.
We would need to entertain a motion to do that.
Do we need to resend the other motion or no?
No, we need to have a motion on it.
Remove the other group of trees.
We take all three of them.
My friends in tree service.
Second?
All those in favor?
Aye.
Motion carries as well.
Thank you very much.
We're going to have to get a little dirt in there and get some grass seed planted right away.
It's not going to be pretty, but it'll be.
That it should be.
Yes.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Okay, on to the discussion and updates on the County Solid Waste Program.
That is me.
You.
And Ms. Whipple from the, our Public Health Administrator, yes, actually between Jasmine myself and Ms. Whipple, we've met a couple times, gone through this and gathered the information and I'm going to let Ms. Whipple take the lead since she has done probably I think this was brought up last meeting.
The state contacted Jasmine and said you need an updated plan.
The one that they had on file was 20 years old.
You're supposed to update them every five years.
So we got a hold of the one that's 20 years old.
And the paperwork that they're asking for is they want to know what's the update on that recommendation from 20 years ago and then what's your new recommendation?
So, I think the goal tonight is to just kind of go through that, hear what you have to say, and then there's a process that the state has where we have to submit it to them.
They have to lay in wait for 90 days.
We have to have a public hearing during that time.
So, tonight what we really want to get at hopefully is can we go ahead and send this out to the state.
I think you got this in your packet.
I just wanted to go through these really quickly unless you had any questions.
What you see in the italics is what the old recommendation was from 20 years ago, and then the bold is what we've updated.
So the first one was create a full-time position for a solid waste coordinator within the environmental health section of the students health department.
Pretty much the update is this is not happening because there's no funding to do so.
I think before when this was going on 20 years ago, there was a small pot of money to hire a part-time person to do this, that funding went away, that office that gave that funding went away.
And so currently there's no funding to hire someone to work specifically on this.
So our recommendation then is just to remove that from the plan.
I'm just going to keep going, I'm showing questions.
The second one, provide waste management education to the residents of Stephenson County.
And there's a whole bunch, I'm not going to read all of that.
We talked with the city of Freeport.
They do have educational materials that they give out regarding brush and recycling.
What we had a hard time establishing was whether the outlying communities do the same thing.
And I tried to get a whole lot back and forth with We've played phone time for a long time.
I wanted to see what kind of services they provide outside of report.
And we just cannot connect to find that out.
So the recommendation then would be that we would establish relationships with those outside villages and townships to increase awareness about the benefits of recycling.
And then we can provide additional information on the website, county website, three encourage or require industrial commercial and governmental facilities within the county to educate their Mayor and Waste Management.
We do know that the City of Freeport does this.
Once again, we're not sure about outside of Freeport.
Public Works does utilize metal dumpsters, but there's no consistency, uses metal dumpsters for recycling.
There's no consistency among county offices.
So, for example, there is a recycling dumpster here for county employees that work here.
This old plan said, excuse me, that there was The Health Department doesn't have access to one.
We do think that the courthouse has access to one.
So what it's asking us to do, we can do, but we don't have dumpsters at every facility where county employees are.
So that makes me work at the gym, which is fine.
So the revised recommendation would be to increase communication with working on those dumpsters, as well as, sorry, omega.
The other issue is that in our building, for example, We don't have anywhere to put the recyclables even if we did, we're not sure the cleaning people know that needs to be separated.
So we might have a blue bin and a brown bin and put the recyclables in the blue bin, but they're putting it all in the same trash can.
And so our recommendation would be to make sure that at least among all counted buildings or educating and cleaning crew that recyclables go here and just in all of them, in order to do that, we have to have these bins consistently across all counties.
Continue with volume-based charges, it says the current county recycle ordinance should be expanded to include multifamily housing units with consideration being given to industrial and commercial sectors.
So since this was written, the county ordinance does now include multifamily dwellings, but that is six or fewer attached units.
So if you have an apartment complex, for example, they're not included there.
So the revised recommendation would be to revise that again to include manufacturing or commercial dwellings more than six units.
Discurse the demolition of existing buildings.
So 20 years ago, they were very much about, you know, recycling what you can, don't demolish the building, get what you can out of it, et cetera, et cetera.
It also suggested the county should explore and implement a feasible demolition permit process with appropriate fees.
So the update is that according to the code, we do require a permit for demolition of a property through the zoning office.
It doesn't seem that we're still discouraging demolition.
It sounds like we're trying to get rid of unsightly buildings, right?
So I think that part of the plan should probably be taken out.
And then our revised recommendation then would be collaborate with Greater Frontier Partnership to provide resources for owners to bring their property under code or pay for the permit and demolitions.
So we would look for resources for people to be able to follow the, either get the permit to conduct demolition or to bring their properties up to code.
Just waiting to do that.
Why does that, just asking the question, how does it apply in the agriculture world?
Because they're going to tear down buildings that aren't used, they're going to tear down barns and take a hole and push them in the hole and burn it.
And that's all permitted.
We still require a demo permit for any egg buildings as well, because we have to make sure the electric's turned off, the gas, the water, everything appropriately.
So if I tear down a barn at my farm, I need to come get you a permit.
Yes.
Then I lower my taxes when I do that.
That's why we do the permit, honestly, is so we send it to the assessment office so that can come off the tax records.
Because I'm sure that that's done all the time.
No, we've started the demo permit about two years ago.
We've been finding more and more people aren't doing the demo permit.
We have EPA actually looking into one right now.
That's another.
That was just my question.
Development of a landscape composting facility.
Again, this was, you know, 20 years ago, with the closure of the landfill by the City of Three Quarter, their operation of the landscape composting facility was ceased.
So basically, the previous recommendation was to explore, you know, the establishment of landscape composting.
We do know that GILS accepts landscape waste now.
So that's one of the revisions, and then again, similar to the first one, our revised recommendation would be to encourage villages and townships outside of report to develop a plan to properly dispose of landscaping material, and then the county could provide technical assistance if necessary.
Next one, continue curbside and drop off recycling programs.
I think the difference here was that before The county did not address multifamily dwellings and or business or commercial waste.
So the recommendation was to develop a recycling program for those issues.
The update is that, oh, it also says in this ordinance, sorry, recommendation that the Highway Department has a place where you could take waste every day.
The Highway Department does not.
So the update is the County Highway Department does not have recycling availability and outside villages and townships, the only thing we could finally do offer community burn piles, but only in an emergency situation.
Multifamily dwellings haven't added to the county ordinance, but only for those with six or fewer units.
So again, if we were to revise Article 346-1 to include manufacturing or commercial dwellings of more than 60 units, that would be our recommendation.
Stephenson County Hazardous Waste Collection Day, so this was about having hazardous waste collection days in the county, writing a place for county residents to properly dispose of their household hazardous waste, and I read this waste from landfills.
The update that we have is that the City of Freeport does host Refresh Freeport on the first Saturday of the month for Freeport residents only.
This helps to promote the correct disposal of bulky trash items.
The request report is not for hazardous waste, and there is a need for hazardous waste and battery recycling in our county.
So the only recommendation we can really give right now is that we can potentially look into determining who can provide these services for hazardous waste and battery recycling and then publicize that on our county website.
We're good though.
Nine, continued disposal of sewage waste on agricultural lands in accordance with regulatory Fireman's, this had to do with making sure that sewage waste is not disposed in agricultural land.
So the recommendation or the update is that the health department does inspect the trucks of septic pumpers.
When there is a complaint about sewage waste, the health department does has issued two warnings and then refers the case to the State's Attorney's Office for further legal action.
And the revised recommendation would just be to continue to continue that current practice the way it is.
Site and construction and moving the landfill and our transfer station.
This is before the transfer station was operational.
So the update is that the Freeport Transfer Station is operational.
It does take trash and bulk items, but it's for Freeport residents only.
And so the revised recommendation would be to collaborate with the city and waste haulers to expand services to outside villages and townships.
Waste to energy, this had to do with things like using tired, deride fuel, using waste to make energy.
As far as I can find, that's currently not happening in Stephenson County.
So the revised recommendation would be just to be to continue with that same recommendation.
Waste Hauler Licensing and or Franchising.
This has said that apparently before there were licenses for waste haulers, the Health Department no longer does that.
The only thing I could find is that the deletion of this section of the Stephenson County Code was approved by the County Board in March 2013.13, and the Southern Advisory Recommendation is to remove that from the plan because it's no longer applicable.
Steve, could I ask a quick question on that?
Sure.
Do you think that's beneficial at all to restart that?
I think we would have to look at the cost benefit.
What would be the benefit of starting at how much, I mean, who's going to control that?
Yeah.
It was in place for a reason at one time.
I was not born in 2013, but what was the purpose of having it permitted in the first place?
We don't do a lot with this, to be honest with you.
Like I said on the previous one, if we get a complaint about certain hazardous waste, we can issue a warning, but I am not the expert on this.
And when I kind of got in contact with Craig about some of this, you know, before my time, he said he's not involved with it, so.
So, in a perfect world, you have people wanting to do it, but you're still not certain it would be beneficial to point and place?
I would have to do more research.
Okay.
Thank you.
Two more.
Siding of construction and demolition debris landfill.
Again, this must have occurred right after the explosion of the Hooper landfill.
It says the problem of proper disposal of construction demolition debris became a larger problem.
Even though students and counties through discipline discourage the demolition of buildings, I recognize that there are instances where demolition and construction are necessary, and as a solution, students and counties should continue to explore methods for hauling construction and demolition debris, including possible siting of a construction demolition debris landfill.
The update that I can find is that the owner of such debris is responsible for contracting with waste haulers for removal.
So the county does not do that.
The city does not do that.
And so the revised recommendation that would be to remove that solution.
Last but not least, implementation of surcharge fees.
This was when there apparently was a solid waste fund.
There is no longer a solid waste fund, so this recommendation should do.
That's all, Kyle.
That solid waste fund was absorbed into the general fund in 2018-2019.
And Dean.
Do you recall Georgia?
It was before me, so.
I'm trying to remember how much was in it.
Seems like it's substantial.
My understanding was it was a parking person, that's all I knew.
I don't have such a long knowledge.
If you remember, 20, I think it's truly 18.
We're doing the budget for 2019.
We tried to sort of follow the things that weren't happening.
I remember that Mark was heading that up at the time.
Yeah, I think we did a flat budget that year.
If you make these recommendations within the plan, is the state expecting us to carry them out?
They expected us to carry it out 20 years ago.
The intent and everything is this information needs to get to the state State, so that they can tell us if we're on track with what we're doing or not, in order for them to get back to us so we know what we have to do before their clock starts ticking.
We're hoping that an update is what they're looking for.
Moore.
I'm not well-thrown about starting a subject landfill.
What are you asking?
I'm just talking out loud.
Well, but I think you're taking the construction and debris landfill.
You're not doing that any.
Yeah.
I know what the recommendation is to start that.
No, I thought the recommendation was to take that out.
Oh, I misunderstood.
Remove that recommendation.
Because owners are paying for that.
All right, misunderstood.
Thank you.
I feel better already.
Good.
I'm glad you did that.
So at this point, I think really what we need is to permission, I guess, to move forward with some of this to the state.
If you have any recommendations or changes you'd like to see.
And then, like George just said, they kind of tell us if we're on track.
And then we have a public meeting about it as well.
So does this require the villages outside of Freeport to be part of the plan, or are they able to do the things that they're already doing?
They are able to do the things they're already doing.
This is the unincorporated.
So, what we need is a motion to submit this revised recommendation to the state.
I make a motion to submit this to the state.
Just a second.
All those in favor?
Aye.
I thought they were going to move it.
It's not actually actualizing.
Yeah, we just need consensus, but I'm going to take this to the full board next Thursday and then we'll review it as well.
Just so we have all 16 of us looking at it.
But I assume by your motion, your second, your vote, you have consensus.
I believe so.
That's unanimously, sir.
The Release of Regulatory Land Use Agreement and Mortgage Yes, so I don't know how many of you remember back in, you know, January of 2023, we had some similar mortgage releases come before the Board.
Mr. Mollox signed on through the state for an SRP grant for the property owners.
They were given a five-year window to complete projects that were approved under this.
And at the end of that five years, the grant did not need to be paid back.
So they get their property.
So as these properties have changed hands, there has not been releases on the paperwork Mark, that was filed initially on those, those mortgages.
So talk to Mr. Larson about that.
He had prepared the mortgage releases for the previous properties.
I think we had four of them in 2023.
This property falls with the same guidelines with us.
So, so this is This is just for one pen.
Yeah.
So, markets release on one property.
Do we need a motion to do that?
I'm making a motion.
Second.
Any discussion?
Second.
Motion.
Okay, you're done.
All in favor of the approval of the mortgage release for the land use agreement?
In fact, by saying aye.
Aye.
Any opposed?
And she carries on to the special use permit for Scott and Tiffany Ferry on AYP Road.
Yes, Scott and Tiffany Ferry purchased the two acre lot with an adjacent 50 plus acres and that all is in the floodplain.
A portion of this two acres is, they plan on using it as recreational hunting ground.
They're going to be constructing, if this is approved, a full shed with living quarters and at our minimum square footage is 750 square feet.
That's what they plan on doing.
I believe they've already gotten their soil boring and it's on conventional septic and we have no objectors as of today.
Motion to approve this discussion, use permit.
Second.
There was a motion.
Second.
Motion by Bill, seconded by Blutens, all in favor?
Aye.
That motion carries.
Vote amendment for Article 4.
Fences.
We technically do not have a fence ordinance and currently we've been running into issues with a company that has been installing fencing.
They get their fence permit, and they have it on the property line.
We get adjacent landowners complaining that it is on the property line.
I have checked with other counties, this has gone through council and most counties do not allow it to be on the property line because of landowner disputes then, except for farm fences.
So that is the reason we did this.
Agricultural districts fences are permitted as necessary with no permit needed, visibility at intersections, no fence or wall shall be erected and maintained so as to obstruct visibility.
It should be common sense, but sometimes it's not.
So we put that in there.
Prohibited fences in residential districts would be barbed wire, double fencing.
Fence is constructed of scrap material debris, materials not intended for fencing, and that's it.
Any questions?
So this is in what areas?
Residentially zoned districts.
districts.
Where do we have those at Stephenson County?
Shepherd Drive, Royal Oaks, Country Squires at Shepherd Drive.
Willow Lake.
Where else do we have them?
We have them at Camp and Estates.
That's what I call it.
Oakwood Glen.
All those areas.
We have had issues with with Ciota Mills, somebody put it on the property line, the neighbors took it down, which technically you can because it's on your shared property line.
So that was a big deal.
That's the biggest one we had on this.
So this is going to stop that it has to be on?
Yes, if it's not in the plans that we have, Nicole and I have gone out and looked to make sure that the fences have been placed two feet off of the property line, as we suggested in the first place, this will now just require that has to be.
And if it is not, and it's not removed to be two feet off the property line, they get their first letter, their second letter, and then they go in front of the hearing officer.
And then the hearing officer will either, will more than likely find them and have them remove the feds off the property line.
City of Freeport, when I put mine up, they said we had to be three foot off of the property grant.
Which was okay.
You got to know that side anyway.
Right.
Yeah.
And you didn't want to, didn't you?
Just a little.
The neighbor knew it.
But no, that seems reasonable to me.
So is there a motion?
There is a motion.
Yes.
Second.
Any discussion?
Well, so is that a motion?
That is a motion.
Yes.
Second.
Any discussion?
All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
That motion carries as well.
Text amendment for chapter three sections.
Yes, vehicles and operable.
We're having a lot of issues with this as well.
It has been working that they had to keep them behind a fence.
We are now requiring, we're cleaning up the wording.
And then in section F, it states motor vehicles on the premises of agricultural business owner or a farm as defined in subsection 400-6.
We are now taking that out because we have been receiving complaints from townships that farms have inoperable vehicles just scattered all over the place.
They aren't combines, haybines, things like that.
We're not going after that as it will stay.
It just states, passenger cars, pickup trucks, vans and other highway licensed vehicles shall be subject to enforcement.
One perfect example is out on 20 and across Kitty Corner from right out 20 Bar and Grill.
There are three vehicles sitting there, they're crashed.
One has an engine out, one's got a hood up.
They've been sitting there for two years.
We have three farms in Aaron Township that probably have a good 10 to 15 cars on each property, just with vehicles strewn everywhere.
There is, they're just, that's why we're removing that.
We will not go after any farms, farm equipment.
And then we're changing it to be a $100 a day fine for any day that the vehicles remain.
That has also gone to council and has been approved.
This is part one of those businesses that have 50 cars out there, like they do on Henderson.
That is on my list to take care of as well.
He is not allowed to have that many cars there.
I went by and took photos today at my Audi.
Yes, he has cleaned that up.
I went out and did an inspection about a month and a half ago.
It was cleaned up quite a bit.
And last I knew he told me he was trying to get out of that business.
So he is one that I keep and watch out as well.
And that's close our schools to.
Right.
Thoughts or Emotions?
Motion.
Second.
All in favor?
Aye.
Any opposed?
We should carry this as well on to discussion on agreement with Miminski for building inspector.
Yes.
My apologies for having this late to you.
He got it to me just this afternoon.
Our previous inspector retired, like I spoke earlier.
He's just, he thought he would be able to do it for the part time and just decided that he was out of the game.
He highly recommended this gentleman.
This gentleman also works for the Village of Lanark and does a lot of inspections out at Lake Carroll.
So he does work with Carroll County.
He's got his licensing that we require and his insurance is in there.
And I do understand if you need to, you know, if you don't want to approve it tonight, I greatly appreciate it if you approved it tonight because we have several houses we need to get inspected.
But it's pretty much self-explanatory.
What are the changes in this from the last- There aren't any.
There aren't any changes.
I'll review this at the last minute tonight, which was greatly appreciated and said it looked like a normal, Welber has words, basic, something that I legal contrary at the county could enter into.
I'm a specialist there, a previous inspector.
He doesn't do any, none.
Didn't think we did, but yeah.
Is it still saying three hundred?
Yes.
Any other discussions?
Two questions, but I'll wait until you get a motion.
Sure.
You're still in five.
I'll make a motion to approve.
I'll second it.
I'll share the second because I'm pretty expected.
Yeah, so section 4.3, Invoicing and Payment, that says County shall pay undisputed amounts for some 30 days of receipt that needs to be changed change to at least 45 to fit into our, uh, then 5.1 status.
I don't know if we're just, let's run together what we're trying to do here where it says independent contractor.
Yeah.
Personnel dependent.
What is that?
Independent.
Is the word personnel supposed to be there?
I do not believe so.
I can double check and let you know in the morning.
Or just if it's not pertinent.
11.1 Termination, I personally would like more than a seven day ready notice, and what's customary is at least 30 days, I'd prefer 60.
So you would like 60?
I'd prefer 60.
Okay.
Just by the timing of committees and getting to the board, the final items on the insurance, and I know he's just showing this.
He doesn't have an agreement with the county, but this does show the City of Blanark has the additional insured.
Of course, that would have to be changed to Stephenson County.
I think he did state that in his phone call to me that he did not get that changed today.
Can date be the dates that we enter into an agreement if we do it in that, an older version, since it's just a declaration page.
That's all I got.
So the date that the Board does approve, if they do approve it?
Yeah, so the week from Thursday.
18Th?
No. 18Th is Monday, so it would be the 21st, I think.
Thank you.
20Th Chuckett, something like that.
Yeah, 21st.
Okay, 20th Chuckett would be Brian.
Is everybody good with those?
They're going to make our motion assuming that those are all going to be.
If you agree to them.
Yeah, if you agree to them.
I agree with 100% of your recommendations.
I do.
I'm just wondering if here to view it more correctly, in my mind, I would say We pass it on to the Board and let Beth get those things, give her the opportunity to get those things corrected, but as a consensus, we pass it on to the full Board for approval, allowing them to get those corrections.
Well, that sounds like that's what we'll do.
And then we have one last item.
Do we need to vote on it?
Yeah, please.
We have a motion in a second.
I guess we do need to vote on that.
All those in favor?
Aye.
And I am one of them as well.
So that motion changes.
Discussion on the Illinois Department of Employment Security Report.
Employment Security Report.
Yes.
That monthly update that I get, Chairman Helms asked if I would add that to the agenda as a discussion since we get into the conversation with Gregory Freeport partnership monthly, just so that we're all more in tune to it, yeah.
It's rather interesting to look at.
The information is in that last HR Roundtable for the Economic Development, Was there insight also here, everyone's perspectives, ideas?
There's numbers are mind boggling to me, because the number of open jobs and the number of our employees just doesn't make any sense.
It's just not, you know, I'm not ever disqualified for those.
Right.
But some of them have to be.
And a lot of the employers are willing to provide education as well.
I have heard from several people that with some of the social services you can get, some people are better off making less money, and if they make just a little bit more money, they start losing social services, so there's a balancing act there, so that's obviously beyond our, you know, what we can do.
But it sounds like it is a quite common thing.
Well, I don't know how you get around that either.
Well, yeah, that's, I appreciate reminding us of- I think it's a good addition.
Yes, I agree.
Any other items?
Now's your opportunity.
Hearing none, motion to adjourn.
So moved.
Second.
Aye.
All those in favor.
Aye.
Well, what is your favorite?
Hi.
We're in the middle of the cell.
Board members.
Pardon?
And Sam. Board members.
Pardon?
Thank you.