Order tonight.
If everyone with me here would designate their attendance by voting, please.
We have everyone present except for Mr. Newton, who is excused as he's traveling to New Orleans tonight for NACO.
With that, Mr. Fricke, would you please lead us in prayer?
And Mrs. Hayes, the Pledge of Allegiance.
May I please get an approval of the agenda?
So moved by Mr. Moderow, second by Mr. Mr. Jogerst, is there any discussion on the agenda?
Seeing none, if you would please vote for the approval.
And that passes 13 to 0.
Thank you very much.
The consent agenda, is there any board member that would like to remove either A or B from the consent agenda?
Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?
By Mr. Didden, second by Mr. Brandt.
Any discussion on the consent agenda.
Seeing none, if you would please cast your vote.
That also passes 13 to 0.
Thank you very much.
Is there any public comment tonight?
All right, with that we'll move into executive session 5 ILCS 120 slash 2 C 11 litigation, when an action against, affecting, or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, or when the The public body finds that an action is probable or imminent.
Is there a motion to go into executive session?
Mr. Busker, is there a second?
Mr. Diddens, any discussion on going into executive session?
If you would please cast your vote and that passes 14 to zero.
Thank you very much.
Recognition I would like to do with Dr. McGee.
Dr. McGee, would you please come on down?
That's right.
Very nice to see you.
Thanks for coming in.
Dr. Joanne Ruth McGee.
Dr. McGee began her college career at the age of 17, earning her first degree in Interpersonal Public Communication from NIU in 1994, returning to her hometown where she began her first professional job in criminal justice as a victim systems legal advocate to victims of domestic violence she began a lifelong career intertwining the criminal justice system with the spirit of helping others.
From there she went on to become an addictions counselor and then moved further back into the criminal justice system to becoming a probation officer in Stephenson County on July 2nd of 2001.
During her time as a As a probation officer, Dr. McGee continued to advance her education by earning her master's degree in public administration.
Additionally, she served as a volunteer in the capacity of Vice President of Tyler's Justice Center.
Through persistence, perseverance, and faith, Dr. McGee earned her PhD in public administration with an emphasis in law and public policy from Walden University on February 13th, 2022.
On June 23rd, 2022, Dr. McGee was offered and accepted the position of Director of Court Services here in Stephenson County, making her the very first African-American woman in the history of the department to hold that position.
You've worked here for 25 years.
In my time as chairman, I've known you to be very dedicated and tireless in your service to the county and the probation department, the citizens, and I've seen you do nothing but bring compassion and professionalism to the office.
So thank you very, very much.
Would you like to say anything?
Thank you.
Thank you to my colleagues and friends for being here.
They told me to keep it very brief, but I'm communications major.
We don't do that.
I just want to begin by giving thanks to God.
The Word of God says give thanks and everything, so I I absolutely have to do that.
I would not be here if it was not for the grace of God.
I thank him for his mercy.
I thank him for equipping me with the skills and giving me a heart to serve others because it is not an easy job and you're dealing with a lot of diverse people and I'm just grateful that God has equipped me for this and give me the tools of resilience, boldness, compassion, empathy, and most importantly, Sermon throughout my time.
I also just want to give thanks to my parents for their sacrifices because I wouldn't be able to have earned all those degrees without their love and support and some of their money.
I again want to thank my colleagues because you can't do this alone so I thank you so much for your unwavering support and making the sacrifice to be here tonight.
I truly appreciate that.
In closing, I just want to say that I know that my journey is not done.
I am grateful again for everything that I've accomplished thus far.
The journey's not over and my steps have been ordered.
I know that for fact for those of you that are believers.
I got a testimony you wouldn't believe but I know that this is not the end of my journey and I look forward to whatever the next chapter is within the probation department and just in my career.
So thank Thank you.
God bless each and every one of you and have a good night.
I would like to present to you the small token of our appreciation and recognition of your 25 years of service and incredibly impressive starting as a 10-year-old.
So congratulations.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
I'm just going to get a picture.
Thank you, Dr. McGee.
Thank you so much, you guys.
I appreciate it.
All right.
We will move on to the presentation from greater Freeport partnership Andrew Schultz-Winter is here to give us that presentation and get your microphone on as well Fantastic.
All right.
Well, thank you everyone and thank you for the opportunity to be with you this evening Tonight I will cover The strategic goals and cover key highlights from the partnership second quarter activities full digest of activities is included in our quarterly report which is being distributed currently.
You've heard us talk before about the importance of workforce development.
To grow or expand any existing businesses, recruit additional industry, the number one thing we always hear is that workforce is necessary and crucial.
We continue to track employment data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security and from January of this year, unemployment in both Stevenson and Stephenson County and Freeport has decreased, which is wonderful, more people are employed.
However, there are still more jobs available than unemployed people looking for work.
This trend has been consistent and signals that there's a structural workforce.
Signals that there's a structural workforce imbalance, also consistent that the top occupations looking for employees are clustered into three main industries, healthcare, logistics and manufacturing.
So in May of 2026, there were 995 unique job postings in Stephenson County by 355 employers.
At the same time there are 831 individuals who are unemployed and looking for work.
Last quarter we began our workforce alignment strategy.
We are committed to coordinating migration and employment data tracking, creating a dashboard from our HR human resource feedback to understand the employer pool, attrition, onboarding and other barriers to retention and attraction.
I wanted to share some data highlights with you this evening from our initial survey.
Approximately 19% of the jobs are represented in this first initial survey covering all key sectors.
So though we only had 16 responses, it covers, they were from our large employers, so it covers about 20% of the jobs that are here in Stephenson County.
Employers believe that less than 25 percent of the job applicants are well qualified for the jobs they're applying for, signaling that there is vast room for improvement regarding job training.
Employers also noted that the highest skill gaps identified were technical skills, poor work history, attendance and reliability, and lack of certifications.
Again, this information we are sharing We are committed to the branding and communication work so that we can retain our local talent and attract talent back to the area.
Working with our area high schools, we surveyed graduating seniors.
And looking 13 districts responded so this extends outside Stephenson County representing 653 graduating seniors.
Of that pool 70% were continuing their education at a two or four year university, 23 were directly entering the workforce or a workforce training program such as the trades and 3% were headed to the military.
And these are key figures we're trying to continue to market to our graduating class and underclassmen to make sure that they're aware of the career pathways that are here and upon graduation, whether that is directly entering to the workforce or a two-year degree or a certification from the trades or coming back to the area after a four-year degree that there are employment opportunities that are here for you.
The efforts I just reviewed as well as the launch of our Young Professional Networks and Home campaign that will be discussed shortly are all the priorities that we're working around to stabilize and grow our prime workforce.
Again, these are some of the targets that we're trying to reach the metrics that we're watching to make sure that our efforts are tracking, are moving the needle in the right direction.
Transitioning now into small business support and entrepreneurship development, April we We culminated our Business Academy for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs, our base camp program with a pitch competition.
Three businesses were issued monetary awards which were made possible by a grant from the Stephenson County Farm Bureau.
We thank them for their partnership.
We've relaunched our Young Professionals Network.
We know that attracting and retaining young talent can be challenging for our employers, especially when those employees are from outside the area and don't have existing family or friend network locally.
This program will offer quarterly events providing professional development resources and opportunities to network with peers.
Business education programming for the remainder of this year has been scheduled and will be promoted in coming weeks.
The Partnerships Business Climate Survey is currently open.
If you've received the survey link, we ask that you complete the brief survey.
If you haven't received the survey yet, we will continue to promote, and we will share results with you next quarter.
This year, the partnership turns eight, so we're a second grader.
And we'd like to celebrate with our government partners and our business membership.
We're holding an open house on August 20 at our office from 4 to 7 PM, so we welcome you all to attend.
Please stop by there before you come here.
It's the same night as the County Board meeting just a little bit before.
Moving on to marketing the region.
Tying all of our initial initiatives together as a collaborative agency, we continue our work in the workforce arena with our talent retention and attraction Come Home campaign.
The program launched on May 8th using specific social media channels that lean into the target demographic of 25 to 44.
In addition, we are increasing the number of meetings and attendees for our Stephenson County Area Advocate Program.
As a reminder, we send postcards to every address where a new deed is recorded and invite them to learn more about the area.
We have several households participating in group meetings as well as requesting one-on-one meetings.
Our employers are increasingly referring new hires or potential hires to the Partnership for Community Tours.
Our staff request that they knew a potential hire or anyone interested in a tour, fill out a short survey so that we make sure that that tour is specific in catering to their interests, their hobbies, anything that they want to know about the area.
And this time of year, oops, excuse me, moved on too quickly, Community of Branding and Messaging, The partnership continues to push the Freeport motto of the Pretzel City USA with a holistic approach spreading through events, small businesses, and economic partnerships.
On May 25th, we hosted the Pretzel Fest with 216 participants that took place in the Great Pretzel Bite and a full day of free pretzel-themed community activities.
We're excited that our Sister City partnership with Lidditz, Pennsylvania is thriving and and we are able to stock the Tom Sturgis Pretzel in multiple locations throughout the community.
Finally, our continued promotion of Pretzeldum has spurred the opening of a new storefront in downtown Freeport in the old Hildale Deli location for Cheesecapes, which is also home to the Freeport Pretzel Company.
We look forward to new promotions and continuing to embrace our Pretzel USA status.
Tourism update, visitors abound.
They do this time of year, but this week they're staying indoors when they travel.
We are happy to support events and organizations from across Stephenson County, and during the second quarter that included Lena Jett Memorial Dedication, Stephenson County Museum Tour, Cedarville Community Celebration, Juneteenth, and Tuddy Baker Fest.
Each of these events brings different audiences to enjoy amenities to our area, and we are thrilled to promote each one and provide follow-up visitation data as the organization's request.
Talking more about a visitor attraction, we had three great groups that came to the area bringing a different demographic with each group.
The free aqua Laquanah Cycle was held on June 6th.
Hosted 35 riders from downtown Freeport to Lake Laquanah.
People from all over the Tri-State area enjoyed bikes and trails and outdoors.
Sick Summer welcomed 300 drag and drive car enthusiasts.
Filled our hotels on a Thursday evening and had great economic return.
And finally two full tour buses traveled to Freeport on June 25th and while they didn't spend the night they certainly visited multiple area attractions and ate in restaurants.
We are very excited that the Baymont transitioned to the City Express by Marriott.
As you probably are aware the Marriott brand carries tremendous name recognition in the hotel sector with loyalty programs and search availability that change also brought about a complete remodel upgrade to the interior exterior and parking lot of the of the property as you know as you the County Board approved the renewal of the local tourism board tax designation first of all thank you the partnership continues to receive state funds for tourism expenses that the partnership currently matches at 50% with local Tourism dollars.
Additionally, the partnership is taking advantage of another opportunity to receive additional tourism marketing dollars.
We have applied for the state's marketing partnership grant.
Notice of award will be issued next quarter.
And last but not least, based on occupancy graph shared in the quarterly report in front of you and the Placer AI geofencing data that is linked in our monthly board reports, the 2026 tourism season stands to surpass both 2024 and 2025 and the number of occupied rooms visitors in the area.
Occupied rooms, visitors in the area, and overnight stays.
We're very excited to see this trend, and we'll continue to update in future reports.
With that, thank you for your attention.
I'm happy to answer any questions.
Questions from anyone?
Mr. Chairman, can we get your microphone on here, Mr. Diddens?
That would be great.
OK.
Thank you for the presentation.
You're very welcome.
All good news.
Most of it's good news yes.
I'm just kind of curious who who where did the tour buses come from and who organized that event?
So that is a result of Nicole's partnering.
She goes to a group tour conference every year and with that I would quickly kind of it's kind of like speed dating between destinations and tour companies that organize the tours.
These two tour groups came out of a Chicago Suburb.
They were day trips.
Freeport was their destination and Tim Connors as well as Nicole once they got to Freeport jumped on board and acted as the local tour guide and took them around to different sites and helped the driver somewhat negotiate some of the the roads here and then they stopped for Lunch, and then made their way back.
Nice.
Yeah.
That's cool.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Anything else Mr. Diddens?
No, no thanks.
Anyone else?
All right, thank you Andrea.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
All right, with that I will go into the Chairman's report.
The budget process for fiscal year ending 2027 officially kicks off next month at your committee meetings.
I would respectfully ask that all of you review the approved budget policy prior to your meetings feel free to print off a copy take it with you use it as your guide as we move through the next three months of this fun process.
UCCI is sponsoring a Washington DC trip on September 15th through the 17th which is a Tuesday through Thursday.
UCCI will reimburse Stephenson County up to $5,000 for travel and other related expenses if you would like to attend please notify me as soon as possible.
I believe Mrs. Baker you have already indicated your desire to go is that correct?
So if anyone else would like to go the sooner the better to notify me.
And then finally I'd like to personally thank each and every one of you for your professionalism and your attention to decorum during these meetings.
After viewing a recent Freeport City Council meeting a week or two ago I was shocked by that behavior and it caused me to think about our board and the dedication that each of you has to the communities that you represent and you've not lost sight of that so thank you I really appreciate that we really are doing the people's work and again I I can't tell you enough how refreshing it is to see after viewing that.
So, all right, moving on.
We will move into action items and information from standing committees.
First is finance.
Mrs. Baker, no action items.
Any information out of your committee?
No, not to mimic what you basically just said.
Department heads should be reaching out to committee chairs to start the review of the Budgets.
Budget items to start showing up on committee agendas in August.
Great.
Thank you very much.
Move on to Public Property and Safety.
Mr. Bush, you have one action item I believe, sir.
Yes.
Resolution to establish the salary for the Office of the Sheriff effective July 1st, 2026, whereas the amount of compensation for the Office of Sheriff is set by state statute and must be at and at least 80% of the state attorney's salary was 55 IELTS CS536,075, whereas the state of Illinois shall reimburse the county of 66.6% of any increase, again the same number, whereas the state of Illinois had increased the salary of the sheriff by $7,193.88 effective July 1st, 2026.
Whereas the Sheriff Health Insurance contribution has been set at 24%.
Now therefore be resolved, the Board of the County of Steveson, Illinois approved the increase in the annual compensation for the position of the sheriff by $7,193.88 to be paid in accordance with the standard payroll practices of Steveson County effective July 1st, 2026, be it further resolved the Steveson County Board instructs this treasurer to make application to the state of Illinois for the reimbursement of 66 and two thirds of the increase on a monthly basis.
And I so move.
Thank you, Mr. Bush.
Second by Mr. Busker.
Is there any discussion on this?
Mr. Jogerst, go ahead.
Thank you, Chairman.
I'm absolutely for these pay raises, it's just not surprised by the state of Illinois that they mandate these salaries at a certain pace and then they were so kind to help us with the increase and then next following years we're going to have to pay that ourselves.
So it's just wonderful how the state works.
Thank you.
Anyone else?
All right so we have a motion to approve by Mr. Bush, second by Mr. Busker.
You may go ahead and cast your vote for that.
Okay that passes 12 to 1.
Looks like Mr. Fricke you voted no, correct.
And there's 14 of us here.
Mrs. Lawfer did not vote.
Okay.
Thank you.
All right.
Anything else out of your committee, Mr. Bush?
No.
All right.
Thank you, sir.
We'll move on to the administration committee.
Mr. Jogerst, I believe you have four action items tonight.
Thank you, Chairman.
First up, we have the approval of the renewal of the Microsoft licensing agreement.
That's for $120,907.03, and that is for 12 months.
I'll make a motion for that because it is the main software of the county government to use.
So thank you.
Very good.
Motion to approve by Mr. Jogerst.
Is there a second by Mr. Diddens?
Is there any discussion on that?
Mr. Hadley, go ahead.
Yes, this says ship to the Circuit Clerk.
Is this for the whole county or just for the Circuit Clerk's office?
I believe it's for the whole county sir yes okay what year are we in this contract is this our first year because it says a three-year price lock and are we I'm not sure Nate might know on that one Nate do you know we had the first or the third year where we at thank you this is an annual contract that we do the price lock it's locked in for three years as long as we continue each year.
Is this the first year or second year, third year?
It's renewed every year.
So this is, they give us a three-year price guarantee.
We can leave after a year.
They're just locking in the price if we continue for three years.
It's only a one-year contract.
Okay, but we're locked in, this is our first year doing it with this company?
No.
Okay.
No, it's an annual contract.
They're just giving us a three-year price lock.
Okay.
Okay, thank you.
Anything else Mr. Hadley?
No.
Okay very good.
Any other questions?
Okay seeing none you may go ahead and cast your vote and that passes 12 to 0.
All right your next item Mr. Jogerst.
Thank you Chairman.
The second one up is the approval of payment to Ninja 1 LLC for $18,754.80.
This is also a 12-month pricing contract and this is the ticketing and also the data server protections.
The data server protection stuff that we do and I will make a motion to approve.
Motion by Mr. Jogerst, is there a second?
By Mr. Zimmerman, is there any discussion on this?
Seeing none, please cast your vote.
Passes 12 to 0.
All right, your next item please.
Next one is the approval of resolution establishing the 2027 holiday calendar.
I'll make a motion to approve.
Thank you, is there a second?
I second.
By Mrs. Hayes.
Any discussion?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and cast your vote.
That passes 14 to 0.
And your final item please.
All right, the next one up is the approval of the resolution appointing election judges to serve for the November 2026 through March 2028 election cycle.
Let's see if we got that here.
So I'll make a motion to approve.
You want me to read it?
I can.
It's your committee sir.
I don't Motion by Mr. Jogerst to approve.
Second by Mr. Brandt.
Is there any questions or discussion?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and cast your vote.
That passes 14-0.
Any other information on your committee, sir?
I believe that is all.
Thank you, Chairman.
All right, thank you very much, Mr. Jogerst.
We'll move on to court services.
Mr. Diddens, I believe you have two items.
You may go ahead.
All All right, the first is the resolution establishing the salary for the Office of State's Attorney effective July 1st, 2026.
Whereas the amount of compensation for the Office of State's Attorney is set by the state statute 55 ILCS 5 slash 4 dash 2001.
Whereas the state of Illinois shall reimburse the county for 100% of any increase taking place after December 31st, 1988.
Whereas the state of Illinois has increased the annual salary of the state's attorney by $8,992.35 effective July 1st, 2026 and will submit appropriately increased reimbursements.
Whereas the state's attorney's health insurance contribution has been set at 24%.
Now, therefore, be it resolved that the county, that the Board of the County of Stevenson, County of Illinois, approves the increase in annual compensation for the position of state's attorney by $8,992.35 to be paid in accordance with the standard payroll practices of Stephenson County, July 1st, 2026.
And I would make a motion to approve.
Thank you.
Is there a second?
Second by Mrs. Lawfer.
Is there any discussion?
Seeing none, please cast your vote.
And that passes 13 to one with Mr. Fricke voting no, I believe, is that correct, sir?
Thank you.
Your next item, Mr. Diddens.
Yes, thank you.
Next item is resolution establishing a salary for the Office of Public Defender effective July 1st, 2026 and January 1st, 2027.
Whereas the amount of compensation for the Office of Public Defender is set by state statute and currently must be at least 90% of the state's attorney's salary, whereas the state of Illinois has enacted PA 104-300 effective January 1st, 2027 to increase the compensation for the public defender to 95% of the state's attorney's salary.
Whereas the state of Illinois shall reimburse the county for 66.6% of any increase.
Whereas the state of Illinois has increased the annual salary of the public defender by $8,093.12, July 1st, 2026.
Whereas the state of Illinois has increased the annual salary of public defender by an additional $11,415.89.
Effective January 1st, 2027.
Whereas a public defender's health insurance contribution has been set at 24%.
Now there, now therefore, be it resolved that the Board of the County of Stevenson, Illinois approves the increase of the annual compensation for the position of public defender by $8,093.12 effective July 1st, 2026.
And in addition, an additional $11,415.80 29 cents effective January 1st, 2027, each to be paid in accordance with the standard payroll practices of Stephenson County.
Be it further resolved, the Stephenson County Board instructs the treasurer to make application to the state of Illinois for reimbursement of 66 and two-thirds of the increase on monthly basis.
With that, I would make a motion to approve.
Thank you, Mr. Diddens.
Is there a second?
Mrs. Hayes, any discussion?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and cast your vote.
And that passes 12 to one with Mr. Fricke voting no.
Any other information on your committee, Mr. DeMis?
Yes, one more thing.
I would like to congratulate Chanel Bardel, our circuit clerk of Stephenson County, on completing the required course to become a certified court manager, Cohort B.
This certification comes from the Supreme Court of Illinois Judicial College.
This is quite an accomplishment and I appreciate her dedication and the job she has been doing.
So, thank you, Chanel, and congratulations.
Thank you, Mr. Diddens.
With that, we'll move on to the nursing center.
Mrs. Lawfer, no action items.
Do you have any information you'd like to share?
I do.
The census stood at 80 residents as of July 9th, 2026.
There's 138 agency hours was used due to staffing over the 4th of July weekend.
Union Representative Cody was coming Tuesday, July 14th 2026 to speak to the facility administrator Monica and that's all I've got.
Great.
Thank you very much Moving on to planning and development.
Mr. Fricke, no action items.
Any information sir?
I don't have any action items I just put out there we we are looking at working with the Jade Adams Trail to work on a memorandum of understanding with them in the future since the old one has expired that will probably be here next month to talk about.
I just want to note as well if you don't have anything to do Mrs. Hayes.
German Valley's hometown celebration this weekend.
And to remind you that the Stephenson County Fair is coming up next week.
Please attend both.
Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Frick.
Appreciate that.
All right we'll move on to Public Works.
Mr. Brandt you have a full plate here.
You have one presentation, six action items.
Yeah thank you Mr. Chairman.
There's so many on there.
You mind if we take a break about halfway through?
I'm just kidding.
First up tonight is the presentation of the railroad elimination grant.
I'd like to call it Mr. Rasmussen, our county engineer.
Great, thank you.
Give me a second to get things set up.
We received a grant to evaluate the grade crossings countywide.
The selected consultant for this was SRF Consulting Group and so they were the ones put this presentation together.
We don't have enough money in the budget for them to give all the public meetings so you're stuck with me.
So I'll give you the presentation.
This is just an introduction to the project.
We're in the very beginning stages of data collection and public involvement.
So the slide here shows a milepost marker at the great crossings.
If you ever see any problems at a great crossing, there's a 1-800 number there.
And then the crossing identified is on the bottom there.
So, if you're ever in a situation, call the Canadian National and give them that mile post number and tell them what the problem is.
So this presentation, the agenda for that is a study overview, our schedule, existing conditions, the stakeholder involvement, and what our next steps are.
So the study overview, Canadian National is a Class 1 railroad that traverses from the northwest part of the county all the way down to the southeast part.
There are 26 at-grade crossings in the county.
There are a number of private crossings, but we're only evaluating the 26 crossings.
Some of them are in the village of Lena and the city of Freeport, and we'll be looking at them also.
So here's a map of all the crossings in there.
If you remember, there was a fatal crash in 2020 in the northwest part of the county, and then they've identified all the other high points in there.
You can see the crossings.
There we had three data collection points in the county where they put up a sensor at the crossing to look at train traffic look at delays and part of the process of collecting data for this for this study and it identified the railroad yard in here now there's a number of different types of crossings in the county if you see the ones and cut different types of protection the The first one was just a cross box on a gravel road with the hot mix crossing and looks like the cross material is wood and then if you look at some of the in-town crossings you'll see the traffic, the crossing arms and signalized crossings.
So the purpose of the study is to assess whether grade crossing separations, crossing closure consolidations, or advanced traffic management technologies can deliver measurable benefits and gain stakeholder and committee support.
Like I said, we're in the data collection and analysis phase of the project.
We'll be doing some stakeholder community engagement.
We gave a presentation last week to the Public Works.
This considered a public outreach in this meeting and then we got a we're in the agenda for the next Unifred command committee meeting so we'll also have some meetings with the village of Lena and Freeport so we're in the process of getting involved with them in the public and they're part of that as to develop alternatives for the crossing what if there's anything we can do to close crossings, consolidate them, and then part of the whole this whole study is to do a benefit-cost analysis based on mobility, safety, community impacts, and stakeholder acceptance.
What this will do is this will give us a tool because a benefit-cost analysis will be part of the funding.
If there's funding opportunities to improve the crossings, those benefit-cost analysis will go towards looking for funding to do some improvements.
So we're in there like a Like I said, we're in the existing condition analysis phase, public engagement goes all the way through the whole process, later on they'll develop alternatives, evaluate safety strategies, and come up with final study recommendations in this winter or early next year.
We'll engage those most affected by potential great crossings, improvements or changes including county residents, municipal partners, emergency services, and businesses in the railroad.
We'll do public meetings, online comment map, and a survey and stakeholder coordination meetings.
Now here you see a QR code.
If you scan the QR code, you can access an online survey and put in there any comments you have about some of the crossings in the county.
We have just put this presentation on the website so you can access through the website and there's always an opportunity to comment about the project.
And then finally the you of course you know where I'm at and then the project manager with the SRF consulting group Justin Scott he's the one who puts his presentation together and we've been working closely with him on getting this project worked on.
So that's all I have any questions or comments?
Mr. Chairman?
Mr. Diddens, could you press your microphone?
Thanks Dale for the information.
I just have a couple of questions about this whole process.
Does it, is the county responsible for the railroad crossings that just crossed a county road or if it's a highway?
We are looking at all public crossings on this project and not just county highways.
Okay, but we're not we're not we're not on the hook for the.
No, this project was 100% and then if there's any kind of improvements on the crossings, I would anticipate 100% funding.
Our other projects we have using great crossing protection funds is 100% funding.
We're doing a great crossing improvement on five corners.
In fact, it's on your action item.
It's an improvement on crossing at five corners in West Point Township and that's 100% funded by great crossing protection funds.
Great.
Thank you.
In fact, I probably wouldn't sign up for a project if it's not 100% funded.
Anything else, Mr. Diddens?
Okay.
Thank you.
Mr. Moderow?
Yeah, I wanted to highlight, going back a little ways, this fits right into our strategic plan that we developed a couple years ago, specifically as it relates to road safety, accessible transportation, and how our county roads interact with the highway department.
So I love to see continued progress long-term planning specifically as it was outlined at that plan we don't get the chance to talk about that as often as we'd like so I'd like to take the opportunity when we can.
Great, thank you.
Anyone else for engineer Rasmussen?
Dale, any update on Route 26 and McConnell Road?
Yes, as of today I talked to the we got the review of the final plans from IDOT.
They had a few minor corrections.
Fairgram is doing the final corrections and they're gonna get it back to IDOT next week and we've got it set up for letting in August.
So it's right now it's set up for August 25th letting but I anticipate well we actually have an advertising so I'm hoping it can get in earlier into August but yes we will be going to letting in August sometime.
Great I look forward to that being in the 2027 construction season and getting another five years out of you.
I'm sorry.
All right, thank you very much, Dale.
All right, Mr. Brandt, on to your first action item, please.
Thank you.
The approval of the memorandum of understanding between Winslow Township and the state of Wisconsin.
This is for three bridges that actually cross the State Line and what it does is make the maintenance responsibility ours.
I came here with last month and we got rid of two of them.
This month we pick up three so we'll see where it goes next month but with that I moved to approve the MOU.
Thank you.
Is there a second by Mr. Jogerst?
Is there any discussion?
Seeing Seeing none, please cast your vote and that passes 13 to 0, thank you.
Your next item.
Next is the approval of the oversized overweight permit for monthly or yearly access.
We had a trucking company come to us and ask to be able to increase the size of their trucks and to do that we need to consider the overweight permit.
And your packet of information, the highway department went through a truck weight comparison using various information of weights and trips made each day.
And it is in their opinion.
And it is in their opinion that there will actually be less damage done to the road because there will be less trips than if we had smaller trucks and more trips.
So that's in the ESAL part of your packet here.
What they're specifically asking for is to be able to go from Illinois Route 73 west on Dublin Road down to the cheese factory in Kent.
There would be that route or also Kent Road straight off of Route 20.
We would be able to still dictate which route that they take.
There's one bridge that they would have to cross, but there's no weight restrictions on that.
And this is a this is a permit that's that's actually under state statute because it is fluid milk products other trucks cannot apply for this so this has been thoroughly studied it passed our committee there is a fee involved it's a $150 for a 120 day permit, the Stevens County Highway Department recommends passage of this and with that I'm moved to approve.
Thank you, is there a second?
Second by Mr. Jogerst, is there any discussion?
Mr. Frick, go ahead.
Mr. Brandt, do you know about how many loads a day they're talking about or a week?
They're talking about three currently and with the larger truck they would be able to get down to two.
Per day?
Thank you.
Mr. Zimmerman.
How long is that good for?
Is that for forever then that that company is allowed to do that?
It's a very good question.
I believe it's just 120 days and then it gets renewed.
Okay and then we have the ability as a board to revoke that?
Yes.
Okay.
Anything else Mr. Zimmerman?
Anyone else?
Seeing none you may go ahead and cast your vote and that passes 13 to 1.
I cast the only no vote.
Your next item please.
Next is HD 2613 which is the Cedarville Road full depth Payment Reclamation Project.
It will run from the Gleaner Road intersection east approximately three-quarters of a mile to the new road.
This was out for bid.
Helms Civil had the bid at $4.36501.
06.
I move to approve this resolution.
Motion by Mr. Brandt.
Is there a second?
Mr. Jogerst.
Any discussion?
Mr. Hadley, go ahead.
Is this going to be the last phase on this project yes it should be except for the intersection work that's that should take us up to the new road okay then and there was the I see that way below was there a lot of bids on this or that I can't say okay two bidders thank you that's all thank you mr. Hadley mr. Frick Patrick, go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Brandt, we're going to do that section from Galena Road to where the new road starts.
Is that going to have any interference when they do the roundabout that's scheduled then after that?
I mean, are we going to rip up new road to put in a roundabout later?
No.
Thank you.
And that was a no for anyone that Anything else Mr. Frick?
That's all I have, thank you.
You bet.
Any other discussion on this?
Seeing none, you may go ahead and cast your vote and that passes 13 to 0.
Your next item please.
Next is HD 2614.
This is Dakota Roads full depth pavement reclamation.
We're gonna start at Illinois 75 and move north approximately Half a mile is all we're going to get under this and up to Dakota on Dakota Road The low bidder was Helms Civil at 383-963-25.
I move to approve this resolution.
Thank you.
Is there a second?
By Mrs. Lawfer, is there any discussion?
Just for point of clarification.
I think you said Helms Civil, correct?
Helms Civil.
Yes.
Thank you.
Sorry.
Thank you Mr. Hadley, go ahead.
I see this is phase one.
How many phases are we looking at for this project?
I'm sure it depends on the money.
Okay.
If a big lump sum come in, we probably could do it in two phases.
But we're just working away at doing what we can.
And this, how many bids on this one?
I'm just curious what we're getting these days.
Okay, thank you.
Two bids.
Okay, anything else, Mr. Hadley?
Nope, that's it.
Thank you.
Any other discussion?
Seeing none, please go ahead and cast your vote.
Passes 14 to 0.
Your next item.
HD 2615, which is the Five Corners Road grade crossing protection in West Point Township.
This is a grant improvement to change the grade on one side of a crossing.
100% Grant funded by the ICC.
It was awarded to Fisher Excavating in 18983.
I move to approve this resolution.
Thank you.
Is there a second?
By Mrs. Williams.
Any discussion?
Seeing none, please go ahead and cast your vote.
And that passes 13-0.
Your final item, please.
Of course, it wouldn't be right to not leave the best for last.
This is a grant agreement for rural and tribal assistance.
It is to study and do the planning and design of a roundabout at Glena Road and Cedarville Road.
This is a huge win for the county.
This is a grant that totals $523,900.
We couldn't possibly do this study and this design work without this.
So, no, it's not construction, but this is the first step and only one of two Illinois counties were awarded this project.
So tremendous win by our County Highway Department without further ado I move to approve.
Thank you.
Is there a second?
Mrs. Williams is there any discussion on this?
Mr. Hadley go ahead.
Yes I was reading through this agreement I see if I'm correct right it's a hundred percent we don't have to pay nothing for this.
Correct.
And Mr. Brandt I want to thank you tonight for explaining all this stuff because I think it's very important that the public hears all these projects are going on in Stephenson County and I commend the highway person to get these projects done.
It's very important to the county.
Thank you.
Mr. Jogerst, go ahead.
Thank you Chairman.
I just wanted to make a comment for the folks in that area up there where I'm at that basically the only thing that's going to fit in that is the roundabout so because of the the nature of what we got surrounding it with the the swamp land and some buildings and the solar field that's the only thing that's going to fit in there so if people are not aware of what's going on I just want to bring that out so thank you.
I'm sure they'll all learn to love the roundabout.
I think we've got it figured out now so.
Any other discussion?
Seeing none you may go ahead and cast your vote.
That passes 14 to 0.
Any other information out of your committee?
Just one last thing.
420 West Meadows Drive is the new home of our animal control and that's an exciting thing.
It's been a long time coming but please stop in and take a look around.
It's still going to be work in progress.
We've got work to do there yet but that's exciting.
So 420 West Meadows Drive.
I'm just happy that as of January through now we're no longer paying rent for three places.
Yes, we've finally consolidated.
Places.
Yes, we finally consolidated down to one.
That is great.
Mr. Brandt, Engineer Rasmussen, I want to thank both of you and everyone on that Oversight Committee for the work that you're putting in on these projects that are coming to fruition.
It's a true testament to what's going on and consider that when you keep talking about retiring, doing a great job.
Is there a motion to adjourn?
Mr. Busker, seconded by Mrs. Hayes, broke your streak.
Mr. Bush, I I apologize.
Any discussion on that?
Seeing none, please cast your vote to adjourn.
That passes 13-0.
Thank you everyone.
Have a safe weekend.