Quincy Reporter

Adams County Board Executive Committee Met June 7.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

Chairman Snider called the meeting to order at

PRESENT: Dave Bellis, Bret Austin, Kent Snider

ABSENT: Becky Weed

OTHERS: Ryan Niekamp, Gary Farha, Bryden Cory, Anthony Foster, John Simon, Jessice Frese, David Hochgraber, Drew Zimmerman, Kevin Brommer, Rich Wagner

Chairman Snider called the meeting to order at 5:36pm

Chairman Snider entertained a motion to approve the May 3rd, 2021 Executive Committee meeting. Mr. Austin moved to approve the minutes. Mr. Bellis seconded the motion. The committee approved the minutes unanimously.

Chairman Snider provided a Search Committee update. They have been interviewing candidates and plan to do second interviews. He hopes to have the process wrapped up in the next week.

Chairman Snider also discussed a letter of agreement with Bellwether. He explained that this is who they will run all of their projects through and they will advise if they are legal. It is a $10,000 fee each year, for two weeks. Mr. Niekamp explained that there is a packet for everybody in their email. Chairman Snider entertained a motion to accept the Bellwether Agreement.. Mr. Austin moved to approve the agreement. Mr. Bellis seconded the motion. The committee unanimously approved the agreement.

Mr. Austin stated they have talked about Cooperative programs. He explained that this is just initial planning documents and nothing is set. He explained that they are receiving more information about what types of things will be accepted and things that are not allowed and there will also be a recording basis that acts as an audit on what the money is going towards. Mr. Bellis clarified that Bellwether is not liable. Mr. Austin stated the first quarterly report is due by October 1st and after that, there will be required, quarterly updates to the federal government that Bellwether would create those to be approved. Mr. Austin reviewed some of the projects. The first being the Bellwether agreement. He explained they will call the program ARPA. The first project he spoke about was the Adams County Non-Profit relief program where the non-profits would prove their loss throughout the COVID time. This would be a partnership with the City of Quincy. The next project Mr. Austin explained was the Adams County Residential Stimulus Program that would be a direct stimulus check or Adams county money. This would be money that would be only spendable on Adams County Businesses and would be put on a gift card or something similar. This project would be $2 Million if there was $100 given to every household. It would be split with the City of Quincy. He explained the next project, Adams County Rental Relief Program, would be landlords proving up rent decrease. This might be a backburner project to see if the State of Illinois’ program does what it is supposed to do. He explained that idea #4 is an internal project of Loss of Public Sector Funds Replacement that would take the form of reduced fees in our county offices from the last two years of lowering fees for services, permits, etc. provided. He said you cannot do it to the level that you would reduce your tax rate. We cannot lower the tax rate by using it. Next, Mr. Austin explained some infrastructure projects. The first was an Infel Housing Initiative. He explained that this would be a partnership with the City of Quincy. Cooperative Street Repair Program was another infrastructure project presented. Mr. Austin explained that there is an overlap of City and County roadways would be an example of what we could partner on with the City of Quincy. He said we have to be careful about the infrastructure parts, but sewer and water infrastructure is specifically listed as permissible. Mr. Austin explained idea #3 is Adams County Fairgrounds Infrastructure Improvements that came up in several discussions. He stated the Fair Committee could put in a request to improve the infrastructure of their facilities. The next project is the replacement of the Health Department HVAC system, which Mr. Austin explained again that infrastructure is not specifically listed. He said that the Health Department systems are specifically mentioned as being approved. The next project he discussed was the Network Infrastructure upgrades which is mentioned 6 times in the ARPA agreement. He stated the idea would be to upgrade out IT to be able to do more remote work. He stated the cost would be $1 Million over 2 years. He stated this was a priority. Mr. Austin stated the next proposed project was the Adams County Courthouse Elevators which is another that they have to be careful with because there is strong language about not just replacing, but putting in an elevator that didn’t have access before. There are already estimates for the elevator projects. The next project he presented was the improvement of the Adams County Courthouse Technology which is specifically mentioned as an approved item that would be related to cameras, conferencing systems and other things to improve the courtrooms costing around $250,000. Mr. Bellis asked if they keep track of their equipment in court and if the state pays for that. Mr. Bellis stated that they provide some equipment, but this would be on us. The next project Mr. Austin presented was a potential Tourism program which is specifically mentioned in the ARPA documents. Next was Riverfront Improvements which also relates to bringing in tourism to the county and city. Mr. Austin explained the next project presented was Amtrak improvements that came from different sources. He stated we have a detached Amtrak station and we don’t have a lot of transportation systems after being dropped off at the train station. Mr. Austin presented the next project as a Talent-Attraction program that GREDF has been working on, but this would amp it up. He explained that we would see other cities to find people that would like to come to the Midwest for jobs. Mr. Austin stated that he left out a lot of the infrastructure things, but that he’s read a lot on it and those types of things just aren’t permissible with ARPA. Mr. Austin reiterated that these are just ideas and that there was no specific order on these projects that are being presented. Chairman Snider expressed his intent to go forward with the Health Department HVAC system and the Network Upgrades. Mr. Austin also added the Adams County Courthouse Technology which Chairman Snider agreed was a good one to move forward with. Chairman Snider entertained a motion to submit those three projects plus the Elevators to Bellwether. He explained we should take it to Bellwether first to see if it will be approved and then present it to the full board. Mr. Austin asked others if they were okay with that plan. Those attending the meeting agreed. Mr. Cory stated that if any of it is misspent, we will be forced to levy for it.

Mr. Austin explained that he has more things and that they will come back around to those. He stated there are a lot more projects that will need more looking into. Mr. Farha stated that the State could still give money out to the counties as well. Mr. Niekamp stated he sent an email earlier today of someone asking about landbanks. He also stated he submitted a premium pay request for essential workers of elections that would be a slam dunk as well looking at the language in ARPA. He said two of his projects he submitted were remote work projects. Mr. Cory stated that he sent a similar request as well. Mr. Austin stated that he must have missed those requests and to re-submit them.

Mr. Simon stated he has some ideas he was getting ready to submit. He explained that one was about our rural station replacements rather than just repairs. He also explained that the ambulances don’t fit in the stations and that can lessen the longevity of the ambulances.

Mr. Austin stated that he will look for those ideas that he missed in his emails.

Mr. Peter made a motion to submit the 4 projects to Bellwether. Mr. Bellis seconded the motion. The board voted unanimously to submit those projects to Bellwether.

Mr. Bellis made a motion to enter executive session. Mr. Austin seconded the motion. The committee went into executive session at 6:21pm.

Present – Gary, Bret, Mark, Ryan, Simon, Jessica, Kent Snider,

Employees: Kasey Mercurio, Brandon Riley – Shop Steward, Kevin Brommer – Business Rep

The committee exited executive session at 7:10 PM. Mr. Bellis seconded by Mr. Peter.

Mr. Bellis made a motion to adjourn. Mr. Austin seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 7:11 PM.

https://www.co.adams.il.us/home/showpublisheddocument/5889/637617601956870000