Capital Improvements Committee: County Office Building EV Chargers Not Working, Board Member Tells Panel

Will County Capital Improvements & IT Committee | October 6, 2026

Article Summary: Board member Jacqueline Traynere told the Capital Improvements and IT Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, that she tried and failed to charge her vehicle at the Will County Office Building parking lot, despite installed signage and a working app. Director of Facilities William Fern said he had believed the chargers were finished and would check.

EV Charger Key Points:

Traynere said she downloaded the app, plugged in her vehicle and got no electricity from the charger.

Fern told the committee the chargers “are not working” and said he thought the installation was complete.

Signage and the charging app are already in place, Traynere said.

No cost, vendor, contract or completion date for the chargers appears in the October agenda packet.

WILL COUNTY — Will County’s electric vehicle chargers at the County Office Building parking lot are installed, signed and connected to a phone app — but they are not delivering power, a county board member told the Capital Improvements and IT Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.

Board member Jacqueline Traynere, who is not a member of the committee but spoke during the facilities update, said she had tried to use one the previous week.

“I attempted to charge my vehicle in the parking lot. Was sorely disappointed,” Traynere said. “When is that going to change?”

Director of Facilities William Fern asked what had gone wrong and then said: “They’re not hooked up.” He added that he had understood the signage had not yet been installed.

Traynere said otherwise. “They put the signs up, and they actually have an app, and you can download the app and you can scan your phone and you can plug it in, and then it’ll say whatever it says, but it ain’t giving you any electric,” she said.

“You’re telling me something I didn’t know,” Fern said. “I will walk out and check that. I was under the impression that this was finished.”

Traynere pressed the point before the committee moved on. “If we’re going to have them, they should work,” she said.

The exchange is the full extent of the public record on the chargers. The Facilities Department’s October capital projects status summary, which runs to 21 slides and covers the Monee DOT garage, two roof replacements, the Community Health Center parking lot, the countywide work order system, life safety training and operations, does not mention electric vehicle charging at all.

Nothing in the packet or the meeting record identifies who installed the chargers, how many were installed, what they cost, what funding paid for them, when they were expected to be operational or what is preventing them from delivering power. No committee member asked for a follow-up report, and the committee took no action.

The County Office Building is at 302 N. Chicago St. in Joliet, where the committee meets.