We're going to go ahead and get started with the meeting of the Administration and Legal Affairs Committee, Wednesday, May 13th, 2026 at 5 PM 2.0 prayer, if I can do that.
All right.
Dear Heavenly Father, we just thank you for a beautiful day.
We just ask you to help us navigate through these issues on the agenda and come up with the best solutions for everybody in the county.
And we just ask you to help the farmers and those working outside in this wonderful weather and have a productive planting season.
And just thank you.
And she's safe.
Amen.
All right.
3.0 Approval of Agenda.
Any approval?
Second.
All right.
All those in favor say aye.
All right.
And 4.0 Approval of Meeting Minutes from April 8th.
Make a motion.
All right.
Second.
All right.
I'm going to go right along and all those in favor say aye.
So Moot and Approval of Claims, under here I guess, $22,504.70, election must be over in a little bit.
Do we need to sign those?
We do, we have to approve them.
And I will sign it.
All right, all of them in favor say aye.
Hi.
Zoning.
Are you signing up?
Great.
Sign up.
Zoning.
Dale?
Oh, okay.
Let's move on to 5.0 approval, or excuse me, public comments, 6.0, public comments.
You've got three minutes, you want to state your name and when you do, then I'll start the clock.
Good evening, my name is Karen Klechner and I'm here to voice my concerns and objections regarding agenda items 9.2 and 9.3 on living business.
Regarding the burning ordinance language changes.
224.3, Giving any business owner in Stephenson County the right to burn landscape waste.
And I question if that's really what you want to capture every business owner.
224.4, Changes are more concerning because the proposed language is allowing waste to be hauled in and it is removing the restriction of obtaining the appropriate EPA permits.
The proposed language that states in accordance with the same regulations and restrictions applicable to other landscape waste generated on or off the property, what exactly are the same regulations and restrictions applicable to other waste is my question.
And that language should be better defined and made much clearer to the reader and what the intent is.
I also question the 224-4 language that reads all ordinance or parts of ordinances in conflict with this amendment are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.
Again, what exactly are the other ordinances that are being referred to here?
That should be spelled out much clearer to the reader.
The proposed changes seem very broad and vague in general, especially when it's applying to all business orders and it's a burning ordinance that considers people's health and safety.
My understanding is that county code may be more restrictive than state code and the proposed changes appear to be much more lenient and that is a huge concern.
Specifically asking and respectfully asking you with the following questions.
What is the county's intent with these proposed changes?
And what does the county gain from these proposed changes?
What's the benefit to the county by doing this?
And have the implications and ramifications of passing these changes been thoroughly considered and thought through?
How's the county going to enforce it to the Ag and General Language and who is going to police it?
And are there resources to police it?
My concerns is the negative impact the citizens of Stephenson County have that will be subject to the liberal burning ordinances, especially in my neighborhood's case where we all know the quarry owner will be hauled in waste.
Is he already hauled in such waste yesterday?
And he has already burned where we smell chemicals in the hang time of smoke pollution and we cannot freely open our windows in our homes or go outside.
The quarry should be operated as a quarry and not as a burn pit or landfill site.
Respectfully requesting that these agenda items Thank you for your time and the work you do as a board member.
Thank you for working on that.
And I also have at least like eight people that could not attend tonight that are in agreement with, you know, what I'm saying and our objections and concerns.
Great.
Thank you.
Anybody else?
You may begin my time now, all right.
My name is Jack Sosnowski and to the members of the and the Administration and Legal Affairs Committee regarding agenda items 9.2 and 9.3.
We respectfully urge the committee to postpone, delay or dismiss any vote of these proposed ordinance changes until additional research and public discussions can take place regarding the potential impact on surrounding neighborhoods and residents through Stephenson County.
The proposed amendment to chapter 224-3 would expand the current ordinance language and allow landscape waste burning, not only on the sites where the waste is generated or at sites supervised by the local government, but also by quote unquote business owners.
This is a significant change with potential broad implications, countywide.
As a nearby resident of the Quarry property owned by Zach Jeffrey, we already experienced concerns about burning activities at the site.
Fires have been left unattended, unsupervised for extended periods of time, raising concerns about safety, air quality, nuisance conditions, and the overall impact on the neighboring properties.
A quarry is not intended to function as a large-scale burning site.
We believe additional reviews are necessary before adopting any language that could substantially expand burning permissions for businesses across Stephenson County.
Residents who may be affected deserve the opportunity for further transparency, discussion, and evaluation of long-term consequences for these changes.
We respectfully ask the committee to delay or dismiss these actions until more research is done.
Thank you for your consideration.
And I would like to have all of our notes entered into the public record in the meeting notes.
Thank you.
Sorry, thank you, sir.
Interception here somewhere, so we got this in the zone.
Doreen Rogers, 532 York Street, Freedport.
It is.
I just, I'm sorry.
Can you start my three minutes, please?
Thank you.
Doreen Rogers, 532 York Street, Freeport. Myself along with nearly 100 nearby residents oppose the changes recommended by members of the Planning and Zoning Board.
As the current code states under purpose and context is to manage waste disposal and burning in a way that protects public health, safety, and the environment.
The proposed amendments do quite the opposite.
The Illinois Burn Ban rules, exemptions, and penalties spells out that even in counties where landscape waste burning is legal, local ordinances can impose additional restrictions or ban it entirely.
It does not suggest a County Board taking upon themselves to dismiss the seriousness of the ban by creating ordinances that are less restrictive or changing definitions to avoid IEPA permitting requirements.
Open burning is generally illegal in Illinois.
The IEPA has a very limited number of exemptions to this.
There are clear conditions for obtaining a permit, which include hours, wind requirements, and continuous and coordinated supervision by a government agency and the local fire protection district.
This is for safety and accountability.
It does not put the Fox in charge of the hen house by suggesting a business owner be granted this responsibility.
My case in point is Zach Jeffries.
As you know, he's the new owner of the once non-operational non-operational abandoned Fairview Quarry.
He has blatantly ignored the laws and EPA requirements.
You as our County Board have allowed him to do so.
Good thing we don't live in Tree City as he's been bulldozing all the trees on his property then openly burning them.
This trade waste was conducted without a required EPA permits or use of an air curtain destructor.
The flames and smoke could be seen from our home.
And continued for weeks on end.
And I have photos from the evening of February 26th and March 3rd.
This activity affected our quality of life as we had to keep our windows closed and had ash on our patio furniture and vehicles.
More importantly, this burning was highly illegal because it was unattended burning.
While Zach left, the massive fire went to his home in Dakota.
We had to worry whether a spark or air and cinder would start a fire causing any or all of us to lose our homes.
This activity only stopped when a concerned neighbor contacted the sheriff.
This is the business owner your proposed provision would protect.
This leads me to my next question.
In addition to the fines and penalties imposed by the IEPA, a person experiencing property damage or injury can file a civil lawsuit.
Can the County assure us that Zach has insurance to cover this?
Or is the County assuming the liability as you choose to allow this?
The IEPA reminds us that every, even every exempted activity still triggers a violation if it causes air pollution.
What you are considering here tonight is not in the best interest of many residents living in close proximity to has slowly created an air threat.
Thank you.
Do you want to submit that for.
I certainly would.
Would you also like the pictures of the burning this was, these photos were taken after Zach had gone home for the evening from my property and we can clearly see there was a fire in the woods.
And others.
I'm Karen Rivers.
My approach is a little different, but I agree with everything they've said.
At the April 6th, 26 planning and development meeting, I spoke reference ongoing concerns of Zach Jeffries not abiding by legal requirements and procedures and last year at his quarry located at 466 West Fairview Road.
One topic I mentioned was the burning he'd been doing with the most recent fire burning 24-7, nonstop and unattended for two and a half weeks.
At times the heavy smoke lingered throughout the neighborhood, putting local residents with asthma allergy, COPD and other medical issues at high risk.
The next day on April 7th, Director, began working on a new county burn ordinance and within two weeks was requesting it being put on tonight's agenda for approval.
Citizens were not made aware.
We only found out due to FOIA's done by the secrecy.
I have tried to obtain a copy of the new state law, the proposed ordinance has been said to be based upon in a FOIA return.
Mrs. Williams denied me info regarding unreferences stating the regulations are available online.
She did not mention the statute or chapter.
As of last night, even her Supervisor, County Administrator, Georgia Newformer, cannot locate it.
For Ms. Newformer, Beth Williams based her new ordinance on info received from an unknown source within the EPA.
I spoke again at a PNP meeting two nights ago, 5-11-26, expressing continuing concerns.
Yesterday morning, Zach Jeffrey, obviously a retaliation, spent quite some time building an extremely large pile of logs, approximately 20 to 30 foot from my lane.
It's about 25 to 30 foot high and 50 foot in circumference.
Should he light it, we would not have ingress of Ebers and at the major fire hazards.
I spoke with Zach at the bottom of our lanes yesterday.
I asked why he's building the burn site there and not in the pit area.
I requested him work with the neighbors.
Again, the EPA has cited Zach Jeffrey multiple times for violations.
The county has done a little to force him into compliance for a year now.
The lack of an occupancy permit should have shut him down, but realistically, he never should have been allowed to start operating without one.
The prospective burn ordinance as written without coefficients or exceptions being added to ordinance 224-6 is detrimental to not just our neighborhood, but the county as a whole.
Please come take a look.
So you're fully informed prior to voting.
I've had to keep my gate shut.
So if you call first, I'll let you up.
You won't see much from the road.
Where exact gate is open, consider driving down and speaking with terms of it.
Thank you.
Yeah.
I'm going to take a picture of this with my phone and then I'll give it to you, all right?
Yeah, and then let the rest of us use it.
When this part?
Well, when you send the picture, we'll put it in these.
And then, yeah.
I'll give you this.
I don't have a computer.
I'll give you this, but I need a copy for myself.
Okay, we'll support something else.
Okay, thank you.
Yes.
All right.
Start with the others.
My name's Kevin Soka.
I live just north of town, Fairbairn Road.
I'm here to discuss my displeasure with the rapidity in which the changes to zoning ordinances 224-4 and 224-3 are being requested.
In looking at the ordinances, definitions are definitely lacking.
I don't know who can do what, when, or for how long.
And it's just kind of a blanket, wide open permit to burn whatever some guy wants to burn wherever, whether it's Zach Jeffries, Corey, or anywhere else.
I cannot tell what a business owner is.
By definition, my wife is a business owner.
Could I haul commercial or landscape waste into my property and start burning just because I'm a business owner?
Nothing is really defined that way.
Could a person in Stephenson County, like Jack Zephyrs, haul waste in from Rockford Scottford or from Freeport or from anywhere else.
There are no limitations on what is proposed to be happening over there, which means that he could fill that quarry with landscape waste and burn it because it doesn't say how he's going to extinguish that fire in the evening that COVID-19 only says from dusk or from dawn till dusk.
But if you're burning big Logs, they burn for weeks, he was burning over there for weeks at a time with unattended fires.
My mom had COPD, she could not breathe with oxygen.
That residence area is about a half mile, there's at least a hundred residences over there and I'll bet you any amount of money there are people with breathing disorders that burning large amounts of landscape waste would make very it's very difficult for them to be outside.
There's no way on earth that that should be allowed.
Freeport doesn't allow.
Are we going to haul all of our stuff out of Freeport out there to burn it out there?
I disapprove of the way that this is going on.
We haven't had enough time to even evaluate what's proposed in extreme detail.
Permits, what permits are required for a business owner to perform this kind of waste burning?
What restrictions are in place other than the dawn, dawn till dusk?
Am I getting close?
Uh, 24 seconds, 24 seconds monitoring and enforcement.
Who's going to do the monitoring that when he's burning something, it's not within the agricultural commercial or, um, landscape waste.
He could be burning anything out there and nobody would ever know because there's been no monitoring what's been happening at that point forever.
And then the enforcement is a big deal.
So I respectfully request that you guys delay voting on approval of this until after we've had time to evaluate it clearly.
And if you would put a transcript of my comments into the minutes, I appreciate it.
Get it there.
Okay, thank you.
Yes, I didn't speak loud enough.
That's okay, just for that.
I was, it's for the new team thing.
But it's great to speak fast.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, you're welcome.
I just want to mention that you did say.
First thing I just want to mention, you did say that the claims were markedly less this month.
I would like to point out that mine totaled all of $10 of interest.
So when you see later the bills from the tax bill roll in, just kind of recall this moment.
So I'm assuming everybody who's had a chance to review the financial alert or sent the link, I believe Friday, May, referencing the cover page with the sales and income taxes Again, very steady, very reliable.
And as the monthly report indicates, the aggregate receipts increased by over 23,000 from the previous month.
And then last month was 33,000 from the previous month.
So we're doing fairly well there.
If you flip to page five, you will see that as of the end of the month, total county funds were down just 1.68%.
Compared to March's month-end, which is well below what you would expect in any month where there's no such accuracy.
So again, holding more than steady.
Back to the page with all the yellow, there's more yellow this month.
We had eight investment vehicles insured in April, pretty decent interest this time over $82,000, primarily due to 9-1-1 CDs a year.
So there was a lot of, over $59,000 of that was for 9-1-1.
So, and they have since, the Board has since asked me to reinvest two more in additional CDs for another six-month term.
So, as of the end of April, we have 17 investments in place across 10 different county funds, maturity days between now and next April.
This week, I placed another 2.7 million and Short Team Investments.
Rates are pretty steady between treasury bills and federal home loan bank items.
So I'm trying to skim as much interest as I possibly can for as long as I can.
So because everything is chugging along well, unless you have any other questions about the report, I'm just, yes, Jeff.
So you said 9-1-1 has really taken advantage of this.
Yes.
I know in the past, other departments have tried to get in where they could.
It is, everything depends on cash flow.
And so previously I would ask Tony and Township Motor Fuel if we could really call theirs in.
And now we can't do that because we're into their season.
But sometimes with townships, there's a little, you know, there are a lot Township Roads Supervisors.
So getting some consensus from them is a little difficult.
Even though I manage money, I still like to have their input.
So that's been a little bit trickier.
But for the most part, it's pretty easy to get people to participate.
But getting the rates that I do requires a larger balance than some of those funds carry.
So it has, at that level, it's not really doing better than the insured cash loop accounts that I have.
I try to get them in the best possible account that I can, so that if they're not invested, at least their regular interest is better than most.
Good question.
Thank you.
Alright, and then I'm going to move on to the collection side.
Tax season is fully underway.
So I received the final proofs, I'm verifying those right now.
Today.
Anticipate a mail date is a week from today.
They will be mailed directly from our firm.
The tax bill redesign, which I gave you all each an example here, allowed us not only to satisfy some new state requirements as to what must be on the back side.
So here's the back side of the bill.
Yeah, there's a lot happening there.
The larger size gave me additional space to include answers to some pretty commonly asked Questions, and or to help us avoid some of the verbal abuse that we've had before so we're hoping that these things spelled out clearly make it easier for people to understand.
I'm really excited about being able to print in full color so for the first time I can include that pie chart that we've had on our website in a while Child, so people can really get a better feel for where their tax dollars are going.
And the former example I gave you, I think for some people is shocking if you look at where 70% of this person's tax will, she didn't even realize it until she looked at that.
So it's, it's a little shocking.
Myself, but I think, you know, we've always had the verbiage above, but it's such small print.
Nobody really wants to read it, but I think that pie chart really gets someone's attention so that they do actually look up and read the fine print.
Okay, electronic notices for the bills will go out on May 26th, which is the same day that I'm posting the bills online.
I do that so that anybody lost your bill, you want to print one directly, go right ahead and do that.
We're again utilizing InvoiceCloud for electronic payment options.
It includes all credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, PayPal credit, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, EFTs.
If you can use it to pay anything, we'll take it.
And on the back side of the bill, you'll notice down here, each installment is a QR code that will take people to InvoiceCloud so that they can make any one of those payments they choose.
And then for people who aren't as savvy, there's a phone number on the back.
And Pat, they can call and do the same thing.
First installment, these are the big dates, June 26th, first day of the event, second installment, September 4th, last day to pay taxes will be November 9th, followed the next day by the annual tax sale.
Annual information to banks went out today, next will be the 100 plus taxing districts receiving their distribution information from me.
So if you have any questions about that, It was a lot and I spoke quickly.
Nothing really has changed other than the bill format itself.
Our due dates are literally a day off of where they were last year, only because I always keep them up Fridays.
So we're trying to maintain as steady a ship as we possible to them.
And just to let you know, I'm going to be out of the office all next week.
Then I'm going to UCCI Leadership Academy to present on the tax cycle, which everybody is fascinated by.
Mr. Monroe, we missed it last year.
Great presentation.
So, I'm just like really, really jealous.
So, but my staff will be there should you need anything in the meantime.
Yeah, that looks great.
This looks really great.
I love the four color.
Me too, me too.
And you know, the switching to the company, I think I mentioned this before, switching printers allowed me to go from a black and white clutter size to a full colored maple size.
Yes, and lots of questions answered.
Lots.
Yes, which is good.
Yes.
I have missed one or two.
So people usually let me know.
Well, same with a lot of phone calls.
Yeah, I hope so.
Yeah, we're pretty pleased with how they turned out.
It was, it was a little bit of, there was some heavy lifting to get there, but pretty pleased with the results.
That looks great.
Is there a walkthrough of the new format on the website?
Not yet.
I did not want to put the cart for the horse there.
So I kind of I kind of do that with how to pay the bill.
I have one of those too, but kind of an arrow.
Here's what this is.
That is in the works.
As clearly as it is laid out, a how-to is always there.
I think, you know, your eyes are used to looking at a certain place, and so now you have to look somewhere else.
So that's absolutely in the works.
That is all.
All right, so let's see here, County Clerk, she got a resented report back next month here, so I don't think there's any, I guess it's basically what they've been doing in here, so like I said, between elections, so it's a quiet time for years.
And then the other one to think of was the Supervisor of Assessments 7.3 and he'll also send in a report that helps pretty much standardize when he's got a new employee, is learning fast and fitting into the office very well, and she's doing the same work as she can.
They've got seven townships that need to be reassessed, including Jefferson, Warren, Aaron, Kent, West Point, Bottoms, and Winslow.
And then three or four townships will be reassessing properties in the city, and we have to do a few things to help them down.
And she's got a note in here about the deaf man thing, so there's a person who moved along here, and 7.4, County Administrator, There's the attachment on the agenda.
Oh, that could be something.
Okay, I could, if I could find it.
I guess I did download that one.
Thanks, Adam.
There it is.
I didn't know about that one, that's why it wasn't there.
Let's see what she's got here.
Bear with me.
I don't see it, I got it.
Okay, so Stevenson Nursing Center and the court continue to do what was done.
R1 Land Bank Unplanned Meeting Scheduled for 518.
SICKETS on site 420,430 and 56.
It's, it's in the packet, but was this for the YouTube folks, I guess?
Step Up program, for the walk with program and then make 10.
I don't know.
I probably had to buy.
I think I could.
I was like, Oh, no excuses.
Let's see, what else have we got here?
Solid Waste Program, Tasman, Terry, and Isaiah have put together updated information for P&D. I've got department head meetings for the drawings and discussion for next year.
And the shredding services will roll out 50% pretty much as an open year.
And so up to 7.5 IT managers.
Just an FYI, I have a meeting at 5.45, so if I step out after this, I'm not.
Oh, that's the final reason.
So, I just want to update everybody.
I think we finally got everything ironed out on the new STQL1 server.
I've been working with some vendors in regards to that.
I had some DevNet issues in regards to the KAMA approval that you guys are going to approve here later this meeting, I believe, or at least discuss.
That's the software for ANG in her department, things that they need.
So there were some issues there.
I had to do some back-end work on the server to get that up and working.
And then when I got it up and working, I found out they don't even have their full install done yet.
So I'm not for sure.
Maybe they've first seen a problem in the future.
So we got that taken care of.
Last night, I installed a new GAL PC box in the Circuit Clerk's Office for the public.
And for you guys, that basically is what communicates to Judici that everybody goes and looks at online from all the court cases and the records and such that needed an upgrade.
So I did that last night, did some testing to make sure that it was filtering through out to Judici.
So everything getting updated and such, so that is done as well.
Just moving into a lot of, this is kind of the season where I start re-upping our contracts for the next year as far as the ticketing system, our Microsoft office will go out for the quote and see what that's going to come back.
They have given me a heads up that has increased obviously, so I don't know what that price is going to land and by the time we get there, but so I'm working on those basically for the next year.
Outside of that, just taking care of the normal break fix.
And then we have some upgrades with certain switches throughout the network that we plan on getting upgraded, just trying to be proactive, you know, and get ahead of stuff.
So always busy, but I will say as of right now, it's not too stressful.
I mean, it's good.
Oh, one other update, County Boardroom.
Courthouse network has just been a mess from the beginning of time.
We had trouble with a few County Board meetings where things would just cut out and things would happen.
Traced a bunch of wires throughout that building, found a bottleneck along in the network.
Believe I removed that bottleneck, did a bunch of testing.
And last month's meeting finally went off without a hitch.
Everything worked, it was like it was supposed to be.
We didn't really have any interference.
There was nothing that crashed.
So again, I'm going to knock on wood.
I do believe that that problem is fixed and we will see how this month goes.
But so for all the testing and everything looks good and last month's meeting was fine.
So outside of that, does anybody have any questions?
Well, thank you for your service.
I know there's a lot going on and I'm sure there's more I'll say issues Yeah, it's just trying to undo years of multiple IT companies being in the building and one didn't report to the other what they were doing and you know sometimes you find connections you didn't even know were there so that's kind of been the fun part of tracing things out and following things through the beehive that is the network over there so.
Well, if that's all, let's jump on an 8.2 quickly here so we can leave it.
The AI Usage Policy, we're going to table that again.
I don't know if our liability insurance has gotten a bunch of these at the reviewing, but it's kind of get a backlog there as far as like their final approval.
On what, they made some requested changes to our last one and I re-sent them what they asked for and I was just asking for final approval.
I haven't yet to get that.
So until we do and we know that they're signing off on it, I would say that we don't rush it and get there.
The approval of the revised ADA upgrades, I would say we can take that off the agenda for now.
Chairman Helms passed along a company that I looked into and they don't deal with government agencies, so they kicked me to someone else.
But in the meantime, the mandated date for this has been extended a year.
So now we are out till April of 2028.
The plan is to be done way before then, but we have more time to really dig into this and get as many companies as we can to figure out what's the best fit cost-wise and for what we need.
So as of right now, I'm going to continue to do the homework on that and continue to have the meetings, but that were pushed out right away.
So we'll get to that in a timely manner.
It's good news, we'll get that off.
There's the agenda for now.
Yeah.
And then if it doesn't look like the AI thing is going, we'll get that off there as well.
We'll just bring it back, we'll let you see it.
Oh yeah, I've followed up with them and I'm just not, I've kind of just, they're not replying as fast as they used to.
So just let me know before next motion.
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
Perfect.
Alrighty, let's keep moving here.
9.1, Approval of Addendum to Agreement or TAMMA, the Edge License, Maintenance, and Support Contracts that have dealt with that.
Okay, Angie, the Supervisor of Assessments and at the bottom of her report is the contract for DevNet.
I need the upgrade in order to use my system.
You'd ask me to get approved the extra funds for the upgrade for the 2012-6 budget.
As you can see, the extra money is on charge.
One year, excuse me, one year over four equal payments.
So, that out.
They're talking about the bottom here.
What are the numbers now?
It looks like yes, four units here approximately 900 in January and then 48, 55, 48, 55, 48, 55 up until October 26th.
I remember, right, the increase on, actually next year's even lower, so that's a good deal.
And then 2028 was basically no increase either, so.
And then 2029 was no increase either.
Oh, that's a sad, that's, okay, yeah, oh my god.
So yeah, since there's no increases for the next, I'm going to say three years here, that's what it appears to me.
And she's going to need this.
So I'm going to make a motion to approve it now in a second.
I have a question.
You do?
Okay.
I do.
Was this part of her budget?
Yes.
What did she say?
We did a lot of it.
Yeah.
Okay.
Oh, the other part, her report.
Okay, got it.
Okay.
That's I mean, asking you to approve the extra funds for the upgrade from 12.6.
So yeah, that's in our budget.
If I remember right, she kind of gave us a warning this would be happening.
Yes.
Oh, yeah.
So this wasn't a surprise.
It's just we had to get it in this way.
Well, it was necessary upgrade.
Thanks, bro.
Okay, so we got a motion.
Okay, so we got a motion and a second?
Yeah.
Any other conversation?
No.
Okay, all those in favor say aye.
Aye.
So, let's go to 9.2, Approval of Code Amendment to Chapter 224-4, Virtual Trade Waste.
I just want to start off.
This is not a zoning code.
This is an administration's, um, it's been stated that it's zoning.
It's not zoning has no skin in this game.
Um, I am referring to an email that I received from a Corey Jacobson with the IEPA, um, I did receive a complaint at planning and development last month.
I checked with Mr. Jeffrey.
He told me he was okay with IEPA.
You don't always believe it.
I contacted IEPA, emailed, I emailed Brooke and Corey, I have the same problem, sorry, Brooke Schumacher and asked if we needed the estate here.
I said reaching out with another current question.
Currently we have in our code commercial trade waste, illegal burn commercial waste in the state of Illinois except for landscape and agricultural waste generated on the property.
And then B is landscape waste for the purpose of the Clearing Land New Development Business is a trade waste and they only be burned with an air curtain incinerator and after obtaining the appropriate EPA permits.
I was informed that this language may be outdated and we have a quarry owner that is clearing trees on his property and burning them.
The adjacent land owner stated he is required to have an air curtain incinerator and update EPA permits.
Could you confirm this or lead me to the updated EPA language?
So Brooke said to me, I believe, I believe, but we'll let Corey let you know, confirm.
So then Mr. Jacobson did reply back to me and stated, if the county has less than 50,000 in population, a company can bring landscape waste to their place of business and burn.
His understanding is that the place of business must be registered with the Secretary of State.
This was passed at the beginning of 2025, so our office was not aware of this until the 4th court.
Back in 2024, the Zoning Department went through the ZBA and we removed business owner from that portion of the code because the EPA stated at that time, business owners were not allowed to haul in.
They were only to burn what was generated on the property.
So after receiving this email from Mr. Jacobson, I went ahead and changed it back to what we had as Business Owned, it has been reviewed by Council.
Nothing came of it.
And then the section that says all ordinances or part of ordinances in conflict with this amendment are hereby repealed to the extent of such conflict.
That means any other preceding ordinances in the past.
So those are all null and void.
This would be the ordinance.
There was a question about a business.
The business has to be licensed within the Secretary of State.
You can go right online and look up businesses.
I do for property owners that call me and say, hey, does this person have a license?
We know Stephenson County does not require a license.
I'll do that for them.
And we go from there.
So that is that.
What questions do you have on it that I could possibly answer?
I have a lot of questions, and I'd like to make a motion just to table this until next- I agree.
There's just too many, too many what ifs, too many undefinable things at this point.
I'd like to table it until next month.
I agree.
I'll second that.
Is there still discussion?
We have landscape companies that are in violation currently.
If someone receives a call, then they have to enforce, I'm assuming.
We have a lot of companies.
I have a gentleman in my area that has a business and brings landscape waste to his property and burns as well.
I have asthma, severe asthma, and I close my windows.
When my husband burns out in the yard, I can't even sit around a campfire.
And I understand, I do understand, it's not geared at one specific area of the county that many people seem to think.
We're doing this as a county as a whole because we did have it.
I know it doesn't look like that, but it's just a county as a whole.
Whatever we decide on next month, if we do make a change, it affects the whole county.
It does.
And so these landscapers who are already in violation, who is the governing body to come in and find out?
Any office of the county.
Our code states that any environmental health could write a ticket.
That my office could write a ticket of city so please animal control.
I am not aware of- The Sheriff's Department.
The Sheriff's Department, yes.
I have asked the Sheriff's Department to have a citation written for an illegally burned house and it has not been written yet.
So that's the issues we do have.
I understand it's a big deal.
It's not something to be taken lightly and I don't take it lightly either.
We just have to, I just wanted to make the point that there is no air-curtain incinerator that's required by the EPA anymore.
I did some digging as well, looking into the new stuff, and I think I found it on the EPA thing, and then I found some older verbiage.
Right, I can find these back to 1982.
So they have an updated thing, so it's confusing for anybody.
That's why I reached directly out to the gentleman in Rockford.
Do we have an EPA representative for this area?
Yeah, Corey Jacobson and Brooke Schumacher over in Rockford.
Okay, so these are the two that you will converse with.
Maybe they need to come out.
I don't know if they will.
Well, maybe they need to come out and answer.
I mean, we have a lot of questions.
We have a lot of concerns.
I mean, I myself have half a lung.
I can't sit anywhere, you know, where there's fire.
So I get this, you know, other than the city though.
So there's ordinances there.
And we do currently allow the city to burn in the unincorporated areas of the county.
The city takes all their leaves out to the airport and burns and we can't do anything about it.
Yeah, I think I agree with me to kind of get this over.
I was trying to put some language together that might work, but maybe there's some other issues.
Right.
I can reach out to Corey tomorrow and Brooke.
Yeah.
Do you want me to include you in the email?
Please.
I feel like we need to hear from them and we need to get information from them.
And if there is a requirement because of change in state policies that we have to adhere to, I want that to the T, Right, we don't have to change our policy.
And that's where I think some of the confusion has come in.
Right, right.
No, we don't have to, but to keep businesses in Stephenson County, you know, I mean, yes, I understand Mr. Jeffery is bringing in, that's the question, how do you know where it's coming from?
It could be coming from Rockets.
If he's burning something other than landscape waste, if, if he is burning appliances, my and my neighbor Burn Appliances, we called the sheriff.
I don't know what that time, if anything was done, I called the EPA and he was cited and fined a hefty fine because they can go on a priority.
Yeah.
So if there's chemical smell, I advise them to call the EPA and the Sheriff's Department ASAP.
That will keep the really bad stuff going on here.
At that point, it's already in the air.
Well, I get it, but.
Well, I think we're all in agreement, but let's hold on to tabling this till next month.
You say aye.
Aye.
That would be Ms. Hayes first.
Okay.
We still have the 9.3 honor.
Right here, that's the Pleasure of the Community Motion to Table, I'll second that one.
So I think both of these, we'll get the understanding and the actual legislation or the rules that they put in place.
So it appears, from what I've found, that we can also impose some other restrictions as well.
But we've got to be, you know, realistic so it doesn't cause somebody out of business or do something like that, but we also want to be fair and try to make everybody happy, which is probably impossible.
So.
Okay.
Thank you.
Lawservant.
If you're burning chemicals, should you use this?
No, chemicals, obviously, that's- Or appliances that have all the- That's not what we're talking about.
Well, but- We're talking about- Well, if a business is doing that- Commercial waste and landscapes, that's what we're talking about.
Right.
And that applies to everything.
So anything other than that is EPA and Sheriff's Department right away.
That's- Yeah.
That's definitely illegal right now.
So- Yeah.
You got a motion in a second, right, on the second one?
Okay, all those in favor say aye.
Aye.
So that's tabled until next month or until we have, we'll talk about it next month as well.
We have some kind of understanding where we need to go with this.
Okay.
Thank you everyone.
All right.
Let's go on to 9.4, Approval of Engagement Letter with Lowenbaum Law.
Helms, I have that contract as well as there was an email from Georgia, if I can find it.
Basically Mr. Lombaugh has gone on his own and it's a renewal of a current service.
So council said we didn't have to send this back out for like bid for everybody.
And I think the rates, I can find this, the rates that he's charging was I think actually less than what we're currently doing, validating medicine.
So, I think it's kind of a no brainer to prove this, but we can have more conversation if need be.
So this is, This is to retain them for council and there's scope of services and is already raised by 100 and some other things that I believe has been reviewed as well.
So And has Carl attended?
Yes, we didn't need, Carl said we didn't need to send this out since it's a space and they do all sorts of searches, right, just a cleaning up of some of the paperwork more than anything else.
Yes, so, all right, so pretty good, right, I think, so I'm going to make a motion to approve this one.
Oh, second, second, Mr. Rodero, do you need further compensation?
All those in favorite say aye?
Aye.
All right, so move then.
All right, 10.0.
Comments from committee members.
Just like I say, kind of reflecting on the past few months for being the paperwork committee, we're getting a lot of interest from the community.
I think that's really interesting.
That's just for the record, I think that's great that we're getting engagement on what, on the face of it, are some pretty mundane things, but they do have an important impact, an important ramification, and the people know that.
Given our past three or so meetings, that seems worth pointing out.
Yeah, I mean, I'll just comment, I was thinking about saying something Thursday night too, but I mean, we had several tornadoes go through, you know, we had one in Troll City and one in Lena, and it was just amazing with all the people that came in and helped.
And as part of that help, believe me, I was out there helping for quite a bit, but there was a lot of trees and things getting hauled out and getting burned, and that was under the Agency, Florida that allowed that burning and stuff.
So I don't know if any of this material that came from me was taken out to that quarry or anything.
I don't know any of those details, but there was a lot of good hands and good people out there helping us the last three weeks.
And they're still working, I know that.
So we'll try to come up with a thing that works for everybody if we can.
I'd like to just thank you all for coming out tonight.
It's wonderful to get a perspective like Adam said.
I mean, we don't, we sit here in the paperwork committee and we don't get a lot of feedback.
So thank you for coming out and sharing your thoughts on this week.
Appreciate it.
Sounds like we need a T-shirt today.
Paperwork.
Right, the paperwork committee.
Take it out of Nate's budget.
Yeah, exactly.
All right, let's wrap this up.
11.01 Adjournment.
I make that motion.
In a second.
All those in favor say aye.
Aye.
Okay.
Thanks everyone.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Lou Ann, do you have a minute?
I do.
Can I just talk to you?
Maybe.