Will County facilities report shows courthouse stone failure, renovations and new locations

Bill Fern, facilities director, told the Will County Capital Committee on Nov. 4 that county crews completed several building projects, performed emergency repairs and opened a new satellite office while preparing for winter maintenance and rebate-eligible equipment installs.

Fern said the converted Iowa/EMCO office space is essentially finished but move-in has been delayed by furniture deliveries. He reported mechanical work at the former Copperfield building, including rooftop-unit lifts and new high-efficiency boilers and hot-water tanks that the county expects will qualify for energy rebates. “We’re running gas and pipe and power,” Fern said, describing the scale of the air handler installations on that building.

The facilities team completed in-house repairs at Sunny Hill after concrete cracks and spalling were identified, and crews leveled and epoxy-sealed a loading dock that previously admitted pests, Fern said. He described improvements to the courthouse children’s waiting room (new lower chalkboard rail) and said staff participated with residents in an Alzheimer’s walk.

Fern also said the county received an environmental award from the Arbor Day Foundation tied to recent equipment upgrades; the foundation will plant 20 trees in Will County with the county’s name attached. He reported a nighttime power outage at the RBJ facility that county staff located and addressed before the utility was aware: “We found it, went out. We notified ComEd, brought River Valley Duval Detention Center back online, before ComEd knew we had an issue,” Fern said.

On the courthouse exterior, Fern described a recent incident in which a stone fell and county-contracted material experts concluded the primary cause was water intrusion and freeze-thaw inside a hollow column behind the stone. Fern summarized the consultant findings: “It basically is, freeze and thaw of water in the moisture barrier,” and said repairs and precautionary adjustments were made on the building elevations where the detail occurred. He noted county staff conduct annual visual inspections of the stone because removing stones to inspect backing materials would damage the finished pieces; committee members asked whether a scheduled inspection plan should be formalized for the future.

Board members asked about recent elevator outages; Fern said one elevator was down for inspection and that a separate health-department issue may be outside the five-year warranty window. “It was down for inspection, but I don’t believe there was a mechanical issue,” he said of the first outage, adding that the second repair appears to be outside the five-year warranty period.

Fern closed by showing photos from a recent grand opening for the North Branch EBO and thanked the facilities team for in-house work that reduced contractor reliance on routine maintenance and small renovations.

The committee did not take formal action on any facilities items during the meeting; members asked staff to provide follow-up information, including the date of the courthouse event (Fern identified it as Oct. 30) and the consultant report on the stone failure.