Kane County outlines $20 million ARPA push to address aging HVAC, roofs and plumbing

Roger, a building management department official for Kane County, presented the county———————capital projects program at a Committee of the Whole meeting, detailing major maintenance needs and how the county plans to use federal ARPA funding and other capital dollars to address them.

The presentation said the county is using "somewhere near $20,000,000 in ARPA funds on infrastructure improvements," and that the county————————————has a five-year capital plan that was "just over $60,000,000 in estimated maintenance and repairs." Roger said the combined near-term capital reinvestment would total roughly $30,000,000 when ARPA funding is added to existing capital funds.

Why it matters: Kane County operates 27 buildings totaling just under a million square feet that house public safety, courts and other county services. Many mechanical systems are decades old and staff said failures can interrupt 24-hour operations such as the jail and juvenile center.

Roger described the county's prioritization: "public safety and preservation of assets" first, then other maintenance and program-driven requests. He said many major mechanical systems are older than 20 years and provided the judicial center chillers as an example, noting those York chillers dated to the 1980s and were replaced after staff found extensive wear and that rebuilding would approach replacement cost. He said new chillers were on site and expected to be piped in and operational by late March or early April.

The presentation included photographs and examples of recurring problems: corroded piping, clogged boilers, failing mixing valves, deteriorated insulation and failed light posts. Staff said those items drive frequent after-hours calls and large operating expenses. Roger said the building management team now includes 54 people who handle maintenance for the county——————————————————buildings and that the department recently moved custodial services from contract vendors to in-house staff.

Funding and timing: Roger listed ARPA dollars of approximately $20,033,873 on the slide and said that without that injection, the HVAC and other projects would likely have taken several additional years to address. He presented a rule-of-thumb that Kane County would need about $8 million to $10 million per year to sustain capital replacement across its building portfolio going forward.

Policy and procurement: The presentation noted the county follows its procurement rules, uses competitive bids and applies a responsible bidder ordinance and the county—————————green building policy where applicable. Roger said initiations of capital projects are brought to the board early in a rough-order-of-magnitude form; planning and contract awards come later if the board authorizes planning to continue.

Staffing and organization: Roger said a new chief of buildings, Kevin Harris, will start on March 3. He also named Brooke Roth as the administrative services director who handles purchasing and finance coordination for the department and noted coordination with the sheriff's office (Ed Kaddish), court administration (Andrew O'Brien and Jason Mathis) and facilities partners.

Board questions and next steps: Committee members asked whether the department had moved from reactive to proactive maintenance; Roger said the county knows far more about building conditions now than two years ago and that preventive maintenance and condition-based replacement will increase over the next one to three years. He said the county will present capital materials to administration, finance and then the full county board as part of the budget cycle, likely in late spring.

Ending: Staff asked board members to continue flagging problem areas. The department plans to publish progress reports and update a new capital projects web page to increase transparency about schedules and funding sources.