DeKalb County, Illinois
	Minutes of the Administrative Services Committee January 3, 2001

The Administrative Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met Wednesday, January 3, 2001 at 7:30. p.m. at the DeKalb County Government Administration Building’s Conference Room East. Newly appointed Chairman Roger Steimel called the meeting to order. Members of the committee present were Mr. Tige Hoffman, Mr. Robert Hutcheson, Ms. Sue Leifheit, Mr. John Morreale, and Mr. Robert Pritchard. Ms. Sonya Conway, Ms. Ruth Anne Tobias and Mr. John A. Wilson were absent. Also present were Ms. Joan Berkes, Mr. Ray Bockman, Mr. Ken Campbell, Mr. Gary Hanson, Ms. Christine Johnson, and Mr. Greg Millburg.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Chairman Steimel welcomed the new members present to the board. Chairman Steimel praised the past Committee Chairman George Daugherty for his sincerity, hard work and drive and also the past committee members Dick Underwood and Joe Wiegand. Mr. Hutcheson moved, seconded by Mr. Morreale to accept the minutes of the Special Administrative Services Committee meeting of November 15, 2000. Motion carried unanimously be a voice vote. Mr. Morreale moved, seconded by Mr. Tige Hoffman to accept the minutes of the regular meeting of November 1, 2000. Motion carried unanimously be a voice vote.

Ms. Leifheit moved, seconded by Mr. Hutcheson to approve the evening’s agenda. Motion carried unanimously by a voice vote.

Chairman Steimel opened the floor for nominations. Ms. Leifheit moved to nominate Mr. John A. Wilson, seconded by Mr. Hutcheson. There were no other nominations. Mr. Hutcheson moved, seconded by Mr. Hoffman that the nominations be closed and an unanimous ballot be cast. The motion carried with five yes votes and one no by Mr. Morreale.

ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARD MEETING DATE/ TIME/ LOCATION

Ms. Leifheit asked if the committee could consider changing the meeting time to 7:00 p.m. rather than the current fixed time of 7:30 p.m. After some discussion it was approve by consensus to keep the standard meeting date and location the same but to adjust the time to 7:00 p.m.

Ms. Johnson furnished the committee with a resolution seeking the committee’s approval of the institutions listed in the annual resolution and asking it be sent on to the County Board (and is attached to these minutes as Appendage 1). She noted a few changes to the list from past year’s. 1) Paw Paw State Bank no longer is on the list and no longer collects taxes for the county. 2). The First National Bank of DeKalb/Sycamore has changed it’s name to Castle Bank in DeKalb/Sycamore. 3). Old Kent Bank still collects taxes for the county but stated they are to be bought out by a bank called Fifth Third and will not change until April or May of 2001. Ms. Johnson stated that all the banks in the county are in very good condition. Ms. Leifheit asked Ms. Johnson if the county and Old Kent had a collateral agreement? Ms. Johnson stated her office has been working on obtaining an agreement over the past six to eight months. She explained while trying to secure the collateral agreement with the Federal Reserve she has experienced drawbacks from them because she is an elected office holder rather than nominated by a board. She reported she is working on it but until she can get the collateral agreement, she can’t open it up for bid to Old Kent. Mr. Morreale asked about an outside agency reviewing collateral rates. Ms. Johnson reported an outside firm does review the financial standards however, her office staff does the investigation of the collateralization rates and does not have an outside agency perform that service. Ms. Johnson stated that in the past the office had relied on the banks for their reports but if they were held by a third party those reports were not accurate so they have a system in place which cross checks for errors. Motion to forward the resolution to the County Board was moved by Tige Hoffman, and seconded by Mr. Hutcheson. Motion carried unanimously by a voice vote.

Ms. Berkes spoke of the need to amend the County’s E-mail policy which was sent out to the members prior to the meeting. She stated that the Public Defender’s Office can’t allow monitoring offices because of criminal investigations and that there was an omission of the word "internal" from paragraph 7 of the policy which needed to be added to allow the Public Defender’s Office to be included in this policy. She stated that the new State’s Attorney Mr. Ron Matekaitis reviewed the policy and gave it his approval which the County can exercise as stated in paragraph 12 of the County’s E-mail policy, which says "The county reserves the right to change the policy with such prior notice.....". Ms. Berkes stated, that the County, exercising that right, sent all existing users notification of the proposed change and had no feedback of any kind. Mr. Pritchard moved, seconded by Ms. Leifheit to approve the amendment to the e-mail policy and pass it along to the full board. Motion carried by a voice vote.

Mr. Hanson is responsible to make sure the County is in constant compliance with the federal tax laws and distributed an Amendment 1 to the DeKalb County Cafeteria Plan prepared by our auditing firm Sikich Gardener, Ltd. who periodically sends amendments that need to be approved by the board. (The entire plan is on file in the Finance Office). Mr. Hanson stated that if it is passed along and approved by the board it will be effective back to January 1, 2001. Motioned by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Mr. Hutcheson to approve the amendment to the flexible spending plan and send it on to the County Board. Motion carried by a voice vote.

DEPARTMENT ORIENTATIONS

Chairman Steimel stated he felt since several members are new it was a good opportunity to review by having the different departments that report to this committee briefly summarize their departments and to have a question/answer dialogue.

Ms. Berkes began her presentation by distributing a booklet (which is on file in the Finance Office) she designed which was a brief overview of her department. The Mission statement best describes her office which is to "create and maintain an infrastructure that allows County departments, County employees and the general public to share digital information." She stated that their goal is to be an "Enabler". She defined the structure of her department, the specific job titles and responsibilities of each, the current status, challenges, and defined trends. Mr. Pritchard asked about the length of time responding to requests of the departments (currently 180 exists). Ms. Berkes said it would depend on the issue which ranges from set up of equipment to installing a new mouse.

She also reviewed the Network Goal Timeline which includes challenges, to possibly upgrade to Windows 2000 and upgrade the tax system Mr. Morreale asked when the tax system would be available to the public. Ms. Berkes stated that it is available at the terminals in several different offices. Mr. Morreale stated that the County’s web site was very nice and appreciated the information such as meetings, minutes and agendas available on-line. He wanted to mention that the departments should look over materials that leave their offices and put the County’s web address (www.dekalbcounty.org) on them. He asked about the activity the site generates and what the status was future plans to add new information. Ms. Berkes stated that Mr. Bockman, Mr. Hanson, Chairman Pritchard all had put out the call encouraging departments to think along those lines. She stated some of the big issues are something that the board will have to address this year. Mr. Bockman stated that recent bid specs and job applicants have heavily used this site. Ms. Leifheit asked if there was a committee to oversee the web site. Ms. Berkes stated that last year there was an Ad-Hoc Technology Committee which put together recommendations but it was not a long-term committee. Mr. Pritchard stated that if the Administration Service Committee wanted to delegate that responsibility it has the power to do it.

Lastly, she reviewed the timeline of the GIS department and shared a diagram of the County’s WAN. She reported the creation of the Municipal Street Guide which is a map and street index for every municipality in DeKalb County which delighted many.

Mr. Campbell is the new County Facilities Manager. He distributed a booklet (which is on file in the Finance Office) which he designed to highlight the staff, their years of service and areas they cover. He addressed the responsibilities of the department which includes the Print Shop, Telephone System, Health Department, Snow Removal, Mail Room Service, Public Safety Building, Administration Building, Courthouse, Energy Management, Landscaping, County Equipment Repair, and 2001 projects. Ms. Leifheit asked if he had had a chance to study the practice of hiring an outside landscaping company. He reported that he was not sure what his department’s capabilities are yet, but does have a meeting scheduled next week with a landscaping company. He also discussed his personal goals as well as departmental goals and wants to become more orientated with the department and has worked side-by-side with the staff to evaluate equipment and different obstacles the staff encounter. He said he would review the department’s contractor relationships as well.

He envisions a very good team and is working on team building. Mr. Pritchard asked if he was exercising a practice to perform a daily walk through of the buildings. He stated that he did walk through each building per day and stopped in to follow up with departments on maintenance issues as well as rotating staff walk-throughs. Mr. Steimel asked for a status report on the newly contracted cleaning service. Mr. Campbell reported a few minor issues but when they come up were dealt with and he will continue to monitor their services. Mr. Pritchard asked if the electrical problems were solved. He said that he has inquired departments who have reported no problems and that the problems seem to happen more frequently in the summer. Mr. Pritchard also asked about the status of evaluation of power outlets. Mr. Campbell was not aware of this endeavor but hasn’t gone through all the paperwork in his office fully. He stated he understood the potential problems with the outlets and would look it to that issue. Mr. Steimel noted that Mr. Campbell seems to have grabbed a hold of the job and reported that he was very impressed with his work to date.

Ms. Johnson distributed a very brief synopsis (which are on file in the Finance Office) of accomplishments in her office over the past six years. She stated that her office acts as two functions the first one as Treasurer for the County Government and the other as County Collector. Ms. Johnson outlined her procedural practices, described newly implemented automation procedures, electronic fund transfers to distribute tax dollars to the taxing bodies, and gave recognition to her staff, their titles and responsibilities to her office. She reported that starting in February the first property auctions would be held from property acquired through delinquent property taxes and put those parcels back on the tax roles.

She concluded by stating the progressive attitude her office conducts in regards to the use of new technology, standardization of technological equipment under the advice of Ms. Berkes and her office, and has placed on-line information such as News Releases and job openings on the County’s web site. She added her e-mail address to documents going out of her office and has been contacted by public inquiries. Mr. Morreale asked about tax information being made public on-line. Ms. Johnson stated the County Board would make decisions regarding the extent and content of the web site. Mr. Morreale would like to look at the cost analysis and what it would take to make that information available to the public other than through the telephone or visits to the office. Mr. Steimel asked what percentage of employee paychecks are directly deposit has reached. Mr. Hanson reported the current percentage is ninety percentage and still striving for higher. Mr. Hutcheson asked if all of the townships were cooperative in direct deposit of tax dollars and Ms. Johnson reported that all of the taxing bodies were included in this process as well.

Mr. Hanson distributed a photo of his department. He wanted to illustrate his office by telling the committee about the people who work in the office. He stated the employee’s name, title, years of service, responsibilities, complication of the position, and talents. Kathy Aichele, Payroll (County employed since 1988) has a very complicated and complex task to comply with at least 18 different sets of rules to follow while working on payroll; Cris Woodin, Administrative Assistant (County employed since Feb 2000) works on insurance, worker’s compensation, follows fix assets, and special projects; Gary Hanson, Deputy County Administrator (County employed since 1983), Lisa Sanderson, Finance Secretary (County employed since 1996) updates the web site, handles special projects, takes minutes, and a helpful resource; Karen Kahl, Accounting Supervisor (County employed since April 2000) primary task is to coordinate the audit, and is developing a revenue and procedure manual; Deb Beazley, Benefits Coordinator (County employed since 1998 and since September 2000 in the Finance Office) is to be a friend to employees, an advocate for them to protect their rights, and a support of the employee, responsible for flexible benefits, health insurance, prescription drugs, wellness programs such as blood drives and the recent startup of an aerobics class; and Leanne Snyder, Accounts Payable (County employed over twenty years and in Finance since 1990) operates the claims which numbers exceeds a thousand invoices per month and has the unique talent of recognizing when someone is paying a bill twice, she does her job very well as does all of the staff.

Mr. Morreale asked if the County had to change the way the County accounted for their assets. Mr. Hanson stated that the change would be implemented in about two to three years. A discussion ensued and will be discussed more in detail in the future. Mr. Steimel asked the number of County employees. Mr. Hanson said the County issues around five hundred check every two weeks and it is a deadline that cannot be missed. He also stated that he sent out the budget calendar and if changes are wanted, it should be discussed before spring. Mr. Morreale also asked Mr. Hanson if there was any information available on-line. Mr. Hanson stated the audit report, trends, and the budget has been made available. Mr. Morreale asked if the introduction of the audit could available and Mr. Hanson said he would include it.

Chairman Steimel asked that the change in the meeting time be highlighted in the packet so that everyone is aware of that change. Ms. Leifheit moved, seconded by Mr. Morreale to adjourn the meeting at 8:55 p.m. Motion carried unanimously be a voice vote.

_______________________
Roger Steimel, Chairman

_________________________
Lisa K. Sanderson, Secretary

  | Home | Return to top | A-Z Index | Return to minutes |