DeKalb County, Illinois
	Minutes of the Administrative Services Committee April 4, 2001

The Administrative Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met Wednesday, April 4, 2001, at the DeKalb County Government Administration Building’s Conference Room East. Chairman Roger Steimel called the meeting to order. Members of the committee present were Ms. Sonya Conway, Mr. Tige Hoffman, Mr. Robert Hutcheson, Ms. Sue Leifheit, Mr. John Morreale, Mr. Robert Pritchard, Ms. Ruth Anne Tobias and Mr. John A. Wilson. Also present were Ms. Joan Berkes, Mr. Ray Bockman, Mr. Ken Campbell, Ms. Karen Grush, Mr. Gary Hanson, Ms. Sharon Holmes, Ms. Christine Johnson, and Marilee McDermott.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mr. Hutcheson moved, seconded by Mr. Hoffman to accept the minutes of the Administrative Services Committee meeting of March 7, 2001. Motion carried unanimously by a voice vote.

Ms. Leifheit moved, seconded by Mr. Wilson to approve the evening’s agenda. The motion then carried unanimously by a voice vote.

            Mr. Hanson distributed background information on election judge compensation which he had prepared and previously sent out to the committee members. (They will be place on file with these minutes in the Finance Office.) Chairman Steimel invited Ms. Holmes, County Clerk to give an overall review of her departments "Big Day and Election Night". Ms. Holmes reported that the turn out was good at about 37%. She described the activities as a busy one with a lot of coordination of people. She said the job of an election judge is not an easy one when working with broad groups of people in hectic situations. She praised her election judges as the ones people look to for help and they make a hectic situation comprehensible. She said that election judges work a 15 hour day and the base rate is $85 per day and would like to see them get an increase in pay. They receive an extra $10 for each election if they go through her training class that she offers every two years (election judges serve a two-year term). Ms. Marilee McDermott was a guest and also has acted as an election judge since 1950. The committee applauded her dedication. She felt serving as an election judge was her civic duty to her community. She stated that she enjoys the responsibility and loves the people. However, the job has had increasing responsibilities and would like to see the rate of pay more adequately compensated. After much discussion, It was moved by Mr. Wilson to increase the Base Pay $5.00 from $85.00 to $90.00 and to increase compensation for the Training $10.00 from $10.00 to $20.00. The motion was seconded by John Morreale. Motion carried unanimously by a voice vote.

            Ms. Karen Grush, Health Administrator distributed a booklet prepared with information on the Employee Wellness Program which will be kept on file with these minutes in the Finance Office. She was asked to give a presentation which is a joint effort between the Health Department and Finance Office which was implemented in 1996. She stated the goal of the program is to have healthy people working for the county and secondly, help reduce cost of health insurance because of early intervention. She reported on an employee who participated in the program, Norman Berth of the Sheriff’s Office. She stated that his test indicated a concern and after an exam prostate cancer was detected in a very early stage but is healthy today.

        The booklet showed trends by percentages of the participants in Blood Pressure Comparatives, Cholesterol Comparatives, Cardiac Disease Risk Comparatives, and Body Composition Comparatives. Ms. Grush reported that the number one area of concern is poor eating habits of the participants. The County is currently implementing a 5 day fruits and vegetables promotion to help with better eating habits. Indicators show that the participants do not have healthy eating habits, do not exercise enough and are stressed.

        Ms. Grush also explained to the committee the cost breakdown. The total cost of the $205.00 would be if all tests were to be taken, the County’s portion would pay $119. 00, and employee would pay $86.00. She said that if a physician ordered the ALL of the tests the cost would be $973.00 plus a doctor’s visit. The point is to have cost effective measures in place to help and save insurance costs and employee’s money she stated. She also stated that confidential results are sent to the employee and 2^nd copy employee that they can give their own doctor. Other interventions which usually offer a cash incentive include the following:

Weight Watchers classes at work

Smoking Cessation Classes

Understanding and Managing Stress Classes

Offers Reduces memberships to the YMCA and Wright’s Athletic Club

Free Blood Pressure screenings at the Health Department

Free Flu shots

Nutrition Information distributed through the County Newsletter and Payroll stuffers

        Ms. Grush concluded her presentation by saying that this program is overly praised by employees who appreciate it and ask about it. It is offered once a year usually at the beginning of the new year. She said that a lot of the same employees use the information every year and needed a way to get those who do not participate in the Wellness Program to become participants.

        Mr. Campbell, Facilities Manager passed out information he prepared and is on file with these minutes in the Finance Office. Mr. Campbell updated the committee of projects his department is currently working on. He had taken several photos of all the projects and a copy of them are on file with these minutes.

COURTHOUSE
- H.V.A.C. motors are not working and will be replaced with new
- Doors need repairs
- Elevator thresholds repairs
- Painting

PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDING
- Telephone Room relocation 75% finished
- Legislation Building Site
- Relocation of Recycling & Waste Area

ENTIRE SYCAMORE CAMPUS
- Elevator thresholds repairs
- Application of floor wax

        Mr. Campbell also wanted to inform the committee of the volume of mail his departments handles. He reported that an average of 604 pieces of mail is outgoing daily and is hand sorted by his staff and between $4,000 and $8,000 is paid in postage per month. He was asked at last month’s meeting by Mr. Pritchard about using software to help manage the task such as PostalSoft and report his findings. He reportedly investigated the company and others as to their service and found them to not fit his needs. Mr. Steimel thanked Mr. Campbell and congratulated him on his work.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS - QUARTERLY FINANCIAL REPORT

        Mr. Hanson announced that Nation County Government Week (April 22 - 28^th) is upcoming and focusing on e-government. He stated the DeKalb County’s contribution would consist of a coloring book of DeKalb County Government Icons and a quiz will take individuals through our web site to find answers about county government fulfilling our goal of learning about our county. Ms. Tobias wanted to share a quiz and other fun things she had prepared for the event as well. Another side note Mr. Hanson mentioned, was the usage of our website on election night. Statical data indicated there were 700 different users downloading information from our website with some 2,500 to 3,000 hits on different pages. He stated that he was happy knowing it was a convenience to DeKalb County citizens, however, it was a challenge to generate the on-line data. He conveyed the fact that the county was not able to automatically load data from the election system which was frustrating. He stated that it took Ms. Berkes, Director of Information Management, and an assistant a couple of days building files with links to the different races and input by hand the updates and final results. He said he was hopeful it will be streamlined in the future.

        Mr. Hanson distributed the Quarterly Financial Report Analysis which was previously sent to the committee members for review and will be placed on file in the Finance Office. In the past the report is given to the members at the board meeting and then come back to it if there are any questions. He said this is something new to give the members background and analysis. Mr. Steimel had a questions concerning Non-Departmental Commodities and Services and asked why it was over budget. Mr. Hanson explained that the contribution is made annually to the Special Projects Fund. Those are capital items so when they budget it is put under the Capital Budget. He continued saying that the accountants stated that the move is considered a transfer from one fund to another and that hits the Commodities and Service line. Mr. Hanson stated that these financial statements are being done by the auditor’s even though the budget was done for their explanation. He added that when it is adjusted finally, they would see they were at 76% and while that would normally be high, because it is capital won’t reoccur to the year so the fund is "ok" why the variance shows up. Chairman Steimel asked if there were further questions and none asked, he thanked Mr. Hanson. HELP

        It was called to the attention of the committee that July’s meeting falls on Independence Day (Wednesday, July 4^th) and the committee would need to select an alternate date. Tuesday, July 3^rd, was agreed upon by consensus.

        Mr. Wilson moved, seconded by Mr. Hutcheson to adjourn the meeting at 8:13 p.m. Motion carried unanimously be a voice vote.

_______________________
Roger Steimel, Chairman

________________________
Lisa K. Sanderson, Secretary

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