Capital Improvements Committee: Electrical Review Finds Key County Offices Lacked Generator Backup

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

Article Summary: Will County Director of Facilities William Fern told the Capital Improvements and IT Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, that a countywide electrical compliance program discovered that equipment in the county clerk’s, treasurer’s and assessor’s offices had never been connected to the standby generator. Crews have since run new wire and breakers to those areas.

Facilities Update Key Points:

Equipment in three county offices, including part of a ballot machine, was found to have no standby generator backup; the work to correct it was completed over roughly the preceding three weeks.

Fern said the county has completed the electrical program at three buildings with no deficiencies found and expects at least a year to finish all 19 county buildings.

Fern said the work is “a pricey process” and will have to be budgeted; no cost figure was given at the meeting and none appears in the packet.

Roof replacements are moving at the Court Annex at 57 N. Ottawa and at Sunny Hill Nursing Home, 421 Doris Ave.

WILL COUNTY — A countywide electrical maintenance review turned up a gap in Will County’s own emergency power arrangements, Director of Facilities William Fern told the County Board’s Capital Improvements and IT Committee on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.

Fern said that while working through the Will County Office Building under the NFPA 70B program, staff found that certain key equipment in the county clerk’s office, the treasurer’s office and the assessor’s office had never been tied into the building’s standby generator.

“We assumed, we hadn’t ever had an issue, that this was already done,” Fern said. “Now it’s done. So that was a great find.”

Over roughly the preceding three weeks, he said, crews ran new wire and new breakers to those areas. Part of the ballot machine downstairs in the building is now on the backup generator as well, he said.

A Standard Few Have Heard Of

The finding came out of work on NFPA 70B, which the packet describes as the official standard for electrical equipment maintenance and which, according to the presentation, became enforceable in 2023. The standard requires facilities to implement a formal Electrical Maintenance Program.

Fern described what compliance involves: thermographing all switchgear, transfer switches and every electrical circuit breaker panel in a building, and correcting any deficiencies found. A weak breaker must be replaced; a transfer switch that has not been exercised automatically by a power failure in the past year must be exercised manually.

“It’s several electricians and an outside company with specialized equipment that photographs, looks for hot spots,” Fern said, describing a process that can flag a pump running hot or windings that may need replacement.

Asked by Chair Mica Freeman whether the county is compliant, Fern said the county is compliant now because a program is in place. Completing all 19 county buildings, he said, will take at least a year. He said he would work with the county executive’s office on budgeting for it, calling it “a pricey process.” Neither Fern nor the packet put a dollar figure on the work, and the committee did not ask for one.

Fern said three buildings have been completed with no deficiencies. The packet’s life safety slide separately reports that, in collaboration with the Joliet Fire Department, the county’s life safety specialist has completed three target hazard buildings — the Courthouse, the Court Annex and the Veteran’s Assistance Commission — and that NFPA 70B work has begun at Sunny Hill Nursing Home. The presentation names Elliott Electric among the electrical contractors involved.

Roofs, Sidewalks and a Parking Lot

Fern reported bid documents are in for a new roof on the State’s Attorney’s Office/Court Annex at 57 N. Ottawa, with an anticipated start “in the next week or so, weather permitting.” The packet lists bid documents from July 2026 and both an anticipated start and finish of fall 2026. Fern said the existing roof is “in terrible shape.”

A roof replacement is also moving at Sunny Hill Nursing Home, 421 Doris Ave. Fern said bid documents should be back by the end of the month, after which the project can go out to roofing contractors. The packet schedules bid documents for fall 2026 and construction for spring 2027, start to finish.

At the Community Health Center, 1106 Neal Ave., the county has been restoring the parking lot and sidewalks after recurring problems with heaving and trip hazards that had required grinding every year. Fern said the work was being done alongside the parking lot project and would be finished by the end of the week. The packet’s operations slide states that the parking lot issues have been addressed and “restorations are now complete.”

Fern said rerouting some of the asphalt and rebuilding the sidewalks allowed the county to pick up two additional accessible parking spaces, “which is always good.” The packet includes nine pages of before-and-after photographs of concrete work, curb replacement, new asphalt and restriped accessible stalls.

Fern also reported the Courthouse water softeners have been modified and are working more robustly, that Sunny Hill completed its annual sprinkler inspection, and that power outages at the County Office Building caused by recent storms have been resolved through work with ComEd and the facilities team.

The facilities update was an informational item. The committee took no vote on it.