January is now the target date to bring a new Joint Services operating agreement and building lease agreement to the City Council and County Board, officials said Tuesday.

Kenosha County Corporation Counsel Frank Volpintesta said the city and county still have only one issue that needs to be ironed out before the agreement is presented to the boards. He declined to elaborate further.

“I’ve been in talks with the city pretty much on a daily basis; we’ve had a lot of exchanges of e-mails over the last few days,” Volpintesta told the County Board Tuesday night. “We’re very close. There’s just one issue that’s kind of sticking out there.”

City Administrator Frank Pacetti agreed. But he, too, declined to specify what the outstanding issue entails.

“I don’t feel it’s proper to comment on that,” Pacetti said in a telephone interview. “It’s part of negotiations.”

The agreement will establish the city and county’s funding split for Joint Services, an independent entity that provides 911 dispatching, record- and evidence-keeping and fleet maintenance services for the city police and county sheriff’s departments.

Negotiators also are seeking to establish a long-term lease agreement for the Police Department’s rental of space in the county-owned Public Safety Building, 1000 55th St.

The county broke ground recently on a $15 million renovation and addition to the building, in spite of the lack of a finalized agreement. The addition will house a new 911 dispatch center, additional space for the Police Department and new headquarters for the county Division of Information Services.

Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $4.9 million bond issuance to fund about a third of the project. The measure passed on a 23-5 vote, with Supervisors Dennis Elverman and Jim Moore expressing concern about borrowing for the project before the agreement is finalized.

The board voted 28-0 to designate the county as a Recovery Zone, which makes it eligible to receive the bonding through a federal stimulus program that offers a 45 percent rebate of the interest paid on the notes.

Supervisors voted 27-1, with Elverman dissenting, on a $9.65 million issuance of Build America bonds to finance 2009 capital projects. Similar to the Recovery Zone program, Build America offers the county a 35 percent rebate of the interest paid.