Kendall County Times

Kendall County Highway Committee met Aug. 12.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

MEMBERS PRESENT: Jason Peterson, Dan Koukol, Scott Gengler, and Brooke Shanley

STAFF PRESENT: Michele Riley and Francis Klaas

ALSO PRESENT: Steve Moeller (Village of Millbrook Trustee)

The committee meeting convened at 3:31 P.M. with roll call of committee members. Bachmann & Shanley absent. Quorum established.

Motion Koukol; second Gengler, to approve the agenda. Motion approved unanimously.

Motion Gengler; second Koukol, to approve the Highway Committee minutes from July 8, 2025. Motion approved unanimously.

Shanley arrived at 3:32 P.M

Motion Gengler; second Koukol, to recommend approval of an agreement for right-of-way consulting services between Kendall County and Mathewson Right of Way Company related to 3 roadway projects on Galena Road in an amount not to exceed $223,600. Klaas reminded the committee that they had recently approved engineering agreements for these 3 projects, including Galena-Little Rock Intersection, Galena-Rock Creek Intersection, and Galena Road from Eldamain Road to Ill. Rte. 47. The agreement with MROWCO is for land acquisition services on all 3 projects. Koukol wondered how much more it would cost if the projects had been broken up into separate pieces. Klaas wasn’t sure, but indicated that it might not change too much because the acquisition fees are generally parcel-based, and included appraisals, negotiations, closings, etc. Committee felt it was a good idea to package the acquisition services together for all 3 projects. Motion approved unanimously by voice vote.

Committee discussed the concept of more KC-TAP funds for the Fox River Bluffs to Hoover Trail. Koukol asked how much money was in the TAP fund. Klaas didn’t have an exact number, but indicated that most all the funds have been obligated through 2025. However, there would be another $150,000 budgeted for the FY 2026 fiscal year. He added that the Forest Preserve was asking for another $103,000 and that would be available with the new fiscal year on December 1st. Klaas also provided an exhibit that showed the distribution of all TAP funds to the various agencies in Kendall County since the inception of the program. Finally, he said that if the committee was in favor of the additional funds, he could alert the State’s Attorney Office to draft a new IGA and then run it back through Highway Committee and County Board. Peterson asked what the timetable would be for a new IGA. Klaas thought it could all happen in September. There was some question about whether the Forest Preserve had approved the low bid for the project. Peterson said that most board members were in favor of granting the additional funds.

Committee had a discussion about the coming update to the County’s 5-Year Transportation Plan. Klaas discussed some of the changes. One of the major additions was for intersection improvements at Millington-Millhurst and Millington-Rogers. Klaas indicated that there have been quite a few accidents at these intersections, and the department has received numerous calls to do something about it. The projects would be expensive and there wouldn’t be any funds available until the out years of the 5-Year Plan. Peterson recalled that he has been going through those intersections for 40 years and you just can’t make people stop. Moeller stated that the County has made several improvements at these intersections to improve safety.

Koukol asked about the intersection improvement proposed at Plainfield Road & Schlapp Road. Klaas stated that this intersection and the Plainfield-Collins intersection were put in the 5-Year Plan last year and are still in there for construction in 2029. Gengler asked about the Plainfield Collins improvement and whether it could address the deep ditch along Collins Road. Klaas indicated that Collins was a township highway at this location and would likely require an IGA for additional work. Gengler thought that the County project should go back on Collins and address the ditch. Koukol asked if we could move the Plainfield intersection projects up in the program. Klaas thought it might be possible to move them to 2028, but didn’t think they could be advanced any further due to the engineering, land acquisition, and utility relocation. Committee discussed the landowner at Plainfield-Schlapp and some of the difficulties in improving this intersection. Koukol volunteered to talk to Tom Gargrave, who lives at the intersection.

Gengler asked about the west leg of the Collins-Minkler roundabout, going out to Route 71. Klaas stated that it was anticipated to be a Village project. The County’s focus with the Collins Road Extension was connecting Orchard Road to Grove Road, which provides a connector from I-88 to I-80. Klaas thought that the west leg would eventually get annexed into the Village and the Village would require a developer to construct it.

Peterson asked Klaas if there were other areas that get a lot of complaints. Klaas thought the county highways were in pretty good shape. He had gone through the 5-Year Plan with Assistant County Engineer, John Burscheid, prior to the meeting, and they felt that the 5-Year Plan addresses all the major concerns. Gengler asked about the Route 52-Grove Road project. Klaas stated that the intersection was one of the highest accident locations on the county system; but IDOT was the lead agency for the coming safety improvement. Members talked about possible reasons for so many accidents at this location. No one knew the timing for the improvement.

Klaas stated that he can provide a map of all the proposed changes and get that information out to the committee members in advance of the next meeting. Koukol asked about the timeline for voting on the plan. Klaas stated that there is a State law that requires the County to have a 20- Year Plan with annual updates because of the transportation sales tax. He added that we have kind of gotten into a routine of approving a 5-Year Plan in September each year and the 20-Year Plan in November, which gives the Department some lead time to program projects for the spring letting. Committee members can change that if they want to. Shanley thought that if it was working for Highway, there would be no need to change it.

In Other Business, Klaas provided the committee with some of the most recent accident data for Illinois and discussed some of the reasons for increasing fatal accidents on Illinois Highways and nationwide. He indicated that fatal crashes have seen a significant increase since COVID. Committee members discussed some of the possible reasons for this.

Steve Moeller introduced himself as a Village of Millbrook Trustee. He expressed the Village’s continuing concerns about traffic and speed on Village streets, including Fox Rive Drive and Whitfield Road. He understood that a stop sign on Fox Rive Drive coming into town probably wasn’t going to be a possibility. He was most concerned about school buses stopping and the safety for the kids on the bus. He discussed some other specific locations and concerns. He related the Village’s coordination with the Sheriff’s Department to try to get additional enforcement. Koukol related an experience years ago when the Sheriff had done some additional enforcement in the Village and had irritated some of the Village residents because they had mostly given out tickets to Village residents. He related another experience in Oswego; but the bottom line was that you just can’t make people follow the law. He wasn’t sure what the answer was, but it is costing us (the County) millions of dollars to build all the highway improvements. Moeller reiterated that it continues to be a concern for the Village and wanted to cooperate with the County to try to continue to make things safer. He also discussed the idea of speed bumps on some of the other local streets. He was advised to work with Brad Mathre, the Fox Township Highway Commissioner, on that matter. Klaas reiterated that the MUTCD prohibits using stop signs for speed control, which is one of the reasons that there could not be a stop sign for southbound Fox River Drive. Gengler asked how the 2-way stop on a 3-leg intersection ever came to be. Klaas thought that it was originally set up that way so southbound trucks wouldn’t have to stop on the uphill grade. It is not the best scenario, but he was afraid it would create more accidents if the northbound stop sign was taken out, because it had been there for so long. Moeller and committee members discussed the old idea of installing a roundabout at the Fox River Drive-Millbrook-Whitfield intersections. Although there was no specific resolution to all these concerns, both the committee and the Village agreed to continue to work together.

Motion Shanley; second Koukol to forward Highway Department bills for the month of August in the amount of $561,350.77 to the Finance Committee for approval. Motion to approve bills was approved unanimously by voice vote.

Motion Gengler; second Koukol to adjourn the meeting at 4:18 PM. Motion carried unanimously.

https://www.kendallcountyil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/33643