Rock Island County Public Works and Facilities Committee met March 9.
Here are the minutes provided by the committee:
1. Call Meeting to Order:
Chairman Larry Burns called the Public Works and Facilities meeting to order at 8:30am
Members in Attendance: Larry Burns, Dave Adams, Rich Morthland, Bob Westpfahl, Tim Foster. Member absent: Chuck Layer
Also Present: Richard “Quijas” Brunk, Matt Miller, Greg Thorpe, Jim Grafton, Jared VanTieghem, Jim Nelson, Liz Mast, Nick Camlin, Ron Finley.
2. Public Comment– None
3. Approval of January 12th Public Works & Facilities Minutes:
Motion: David Adams Second: Tim Foster
via voice vote
Motion carried
4. Reports to Committee:
• Zoning & Building Director Greg Thorpe reported he had No Zoning cases in January 2026. Mr. Thorpe also reported that he had 141 receipts for a revenue of $22,720.00 estimated value of work was $1.37M, compared to last year we had 112 receipts and revenue of $12,000 estimated value of $300,000 year to date we have a little more activity and the Contractor registrations are being processed much quicker this year but fees and valuation are down. We do have three new homes being constructed. New home construction is up $223 per sq. ft. Motion to approve: David Adams Second: Rich Morthland
via voice vote
Motion carried
• County Engineer Matt Miller reported that the Highway Department is taking advantage of the frozen ground and cutting trees down. We had to purchase an additional 2,000 tons of salt for Milan and 1,000 tons for Hampton.
Motion: Richard Morthland Second: David Adams
via voice vote
• County Fleet Director Ron Finley reported that a 2025 Sheriff’s Deputy vehicle was involved in an accident in Coal Valley and the insurance companies insisted on totaling the vehicle out. We are ordering a replacement vehicle from Sexton at $2,500 below the State bid price. The replacement vehicle will cost $45,231.00. We have stripped all useable accessories from the damaged vehicle. Our staff has gone through free training with WHELEN for emergency lighting repair and replacement, we also have some free training from Federal Signal at our shop to show us how to install I want to install all lighting at our shop. I am certified as a master now under WHELEN.
Motion to approve: Tim Foster Second: David Adams
via voice vote
Motion carried
• County Administrator Jim Grafton reported that they have been looking into garbage and recycling service in the County. In this building for example we are paying almost $9,000 for recycling pickup and we tentatively renewed it until we had a review of all of the contracts. We did get that reduced $6,000 per year just on this one service. We have Millennium that handles Animal Control and Forrest Preserve and we also have Republic. We are getting a bid from both of them and I am sure we will see some savings. I wanted to mention that we had an incident that happened out at the Forrest Preserve with an employee getting locked into one of the cages fortunately it was not with a dangerous animal. What we did was have our Building Maintenance Supervisor Kevin go out there and take a look at it because the story we were given was that incident got turned into OSHA. We really do not have a Risk Management Program in place and we are going to rectify that and put a Risk Management team in place and look at every facility to look for any potential problems. So, we did a quick investigation and it turns out a disgruntled employee locked another employee into that enclosure. So, we changed the locks so you cannot be locked in. I just wanted to bring that up it will not be any additional costs, but it does relate to Public Works because it affects facilities and I thought you should know.
Motion to approve: Dave Adams Second: Bob Westpfahl
via voice vote
Motion carried
• County Board Chairman Richard Brunk noted that there were reports that the White House was going to lower tariffs on granite and other items from India. I am still waiting to reach out to the monument contractor and once that is confirmed the plan is to move on getting the granite shipped, but we obviously want to wait and hope nothing changes while it is in transport.
5. There were No Zoning Board of Appeals Cases:
6. Consider Johnson Controls Service Agreement
Motion: Dave Adams Second: Tim Foster and Bob Westpfahl Discussion: Mr. Grafton said that they have done all the work in this building the chillers and the heating and cooling systems. A year is up so now we can get into the non-warranty work. We want to do a preventative maintenance program, So, back in April we met with Johnson to get some proposals for servicing all of these units. I would like it done twice a year, in the spring and again in the fall. In the Spring to make sure the chillers are ready for the work and in the Fall to make sure the Boilers are operational. We got a quote from Johnson for $35,000 for a good program the best they could offer was $51,000 I thought that was way out of the ballpark. So, we worked on getting those numbers down after having them in here a couple of times. What could we do with our team versus what we can’t do. So, we want them in here to do a Spring and Fall checkup and then every unit to check its operation. But, what we are going to do is have our team, the maintenance guys look over their shoulders of the service guys when they come in to do their work and prepare our own you tube videos so that we have our own PM program. Also, in addition to this I added 40 hours of service credit for any kind of service calls over the year. This will also cover Animal Control. What we don’t know about is the software that operates this system and it is important that we understand how that works. That is another part of this preventative maintenance. We will go through all of the equipment we will do things like change filters, grease bearings there is a lot that they go through and the cost is $19,51200 for the one year. I am only looking at doing this for one year. Committee Chair Burns mentioned that we have 40 hours of labor, what if we don’t need is. Mr. Grafton stated that it carries over. CBC Brunk said on the dollar amount is the agreement and the briefing memo says $19,512.00 is that correct? Mr. Grafton answered yes. Bob Westpfahl asked of the $19,000 is 40 hours’ worth of labor is included in there whether we use it or not. Mr. Grafton answered, if we don’t use it in the one year it can be carried over. Mr. Westpfahl then stated if we renew the contract and if not and we call them out we have that credit. Mr. Westpfahl said it was his understanding that there are a lot of computers and software in this stuff and they are the only ones that have access to it. Mr. Grafton said that is true and we are going to go through their actual training we are not going to be dependent on somebody else.
via voice vote
Motion carried
7. Closed Session: None
8. Consider action needed based on closed session: None
9. Committee member opportunity for brief comment:
10. Motion to adjourn
Motion: Dave Adams Second: Tim Foster
via voice vote
Motion carried
Meeting was adjourned at 8:49am
https://www.rockislandcountyil.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/2139?fileID=2158
