County Board selects finalists for administrator role, discusses next steps on building projects

Kirsten Wisniewski | February 27, 2025

With a wide-ranging series of items on the agenda, the Board of Commissioners met on Feb. 25 to move forward with several major county efforts. The board discussed the administrator hiring process and the plans for the next step in the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). They also touched on the transfer station project.

Hiring an administrator

After several weeks of selecting finalist candidates and making schedule adjustments, Interim County Administrator Rowan Watkins told WTIP that the board is on track to interview three applicants on March 12. The interviews will take place during a public meeting with the entire board in attendance, which means that the public can watch in person, or stream a video of the meeting through the county website.

During the Feb. 25 Board of Commissioners meeting, the commissioners discussed how best to incorporate public input with DDA, the HR firm assisting with the hiring process. DDA suggested the use of a feedback form, which can be used to collect public opinions and impressions following the interviews. Watkins explained that using the DDA form should help eliminate any feedback that isn’t appropriate to consider during a hiring process, like comments about age.

Watkins said the form will be available through the county website, and that the county will use social media and their typical communications channels to let the public know that it is available.

The board has a followup meeting scheduled for March 13 to discuss the interviews, and potentially select their top choice for the job. They will have the option to offer the position to one of the finalists, though they are not obligated to select a candidate at that time.

CIP plans

The Feb. 25 meeting also included a presentation to the board from BVK Group, the architectural firm working on the Law Enforcement Center (LEC) expansion that is part of the CIP. The board approved the project’s master plan last year, and this was the first time for the full board to see the architectural plans.

A portion of the presentation took place in a closed session. Watkins said this was done for security reasons. “It’s a it’s a jail,” he said, “And so, not wanting to show the exact floor plan and design and layout of the law enforcement center, the recommendation from BKV was to go into closed session for security reasons and not show that information.”

The board gave feedback to the design, and had a chance to weigh in on the question of which deferred maintenance projects for the existing building would be worth addressing at the same time as the expansion. Watkins said coordinating those projects could prove to be more efficient in the longer term, and help minimize the ongoing disturbance of a building that is actively used every day of the year.

The next step for the LEC project is for Johnson Wilson, the construction manager at risk for the project, to provide the board with updated cost estimates. Watkins said he expects to see those updated prices in roughly a month.

County transfer station project

Amidst the usual county business, the Feb. 25 meeting also included two public hearings. The first, at which no members of the public spoke, dealt with fee schedule changes. The second, at which two residents gave public comment, centered on the transfer station project, and the special assessment that would help pay for the building.

The transfer station public hearing aimed to establish a solid waste service area and established rates and charges for solid waste management. The service area was defined as Cook County, and the rates and charges refer to a previously discussed assessment for property owners in the county. Watkins explained that the move did not establish any prices for waste removal or dumping services. He said, “I think it’s important to just clarify that that fee is just simply related to how the county is going to pay for the infrastructure.”

During public comment the question of equity was raised around the fees. The board previously decided on a flat fee of $50 for residential properties and vacant land, and $100 for commercial and multi-family properties. The concern from the public hinged on those fees being set, regardless of the assessed value of the property.

Watkins acknowledged that concern, saying, “We don’t want to get into a formula that’s so complex that the county is having to hire another half time person just to manage this data and figure out, you know, who owes what, because the formula so complex. And so the conversation really went trying to find strike that balance between what’s fair and what’s easy enough to manage that isn’t so administratively burdensome that it creates other unintended consequences that we don’t want to see.”

WTIP’s Kirsten Wisniewski spoke with Interim Administrator Rowan Watkins about the Feb. 25 Board of Commissioners meeting. Audio of that interview is below.