DeKalb County, Illinois
	Minutes of the Public Services Committee May 7, 2001

The Public Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, May 7, 2001, at 6:30 p.m. at the Administration Building's Conference Room East. Chairman Sue Leifheit called the meeting to order.  Members present were Marlene Allen, Dr. Conway, Eileen Dubin, Michael Haines and Robert Pritchard. Mr. Brown arrived at 6:40p.m.  Others present Ray Bockman, Ronald Matekaitis, Ellen Pauling, Margi Gilmour, Ken Johnson, Margaret Whitwell, Sheriff Scott, Sharon Holmes, Chris Rickert and Greg Millburg.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from last meeting.

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Moved by Mr. Pritchard, seconded by Mr. Haines, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda. 

Chairman Leifheit mentioned that there is one addition and she would like to place it on the agenda as item #5a.  It is a resolution from the State’s Attorney regarding the Juvenile Justice Council.  Ms. Dubin asked if it was the appropriate time to discuss the senior services levy hearings for next year?  Chairman Leifheit stated that she felt that it would be more appropriate to discuss it a couple of months before the next hearings are held.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT:

Mr. Ken Johnson, Public Defender, stated that the report for the month of April 2001 is consistent with the last few months.  He said that felony cases still concern him due to the amount he and his assistant are doing.  He also stated that House Bill 549 made it through the Senate and is at the 2^nd reading status now.  He further stated that amendments to it are being looked at right now through the State’s Attorney’s Association.  It involves the fact that currently the State’s Attorney’s Office receives a stipend from the State because the county has a university in it.  That is now being looked at for the public defender’s offices, too.  Mr. Johnson further stated that the investigator is really a blessing for his department and that there have been tremendous savings for his department since the county approved this position. 

COURT SERVICES REPORT

Ms. Margi Gilmour, Director of the Court Services Department, briefly reviewed her Adult and Juvenile Monthly Reports.  She stated that the open position for the adult probation officer should be filled soon. She will be making an offer soon for this.  She then went on to state that on the community services report it shows that the numbers have gone down due to the fact that she did not have anyone to fill that position yet.  She has now filled that position with a recent graduate from Western Illinois University. When that person graduates they will start work in two to three weeks. 

In her monthly Juvenile Report, Ms. Gilmour, said that they had 14 kids detained in March and one of the kids was detained twice.  Of those detentions, 9 were for the 1^st time, 3 for the 2^nd, 1 for the 3^rd, and one for the 7^th time.  Ms. Gilmour then stated that our Intergovernmental Agreement with Kane County continues to benefit us because recently Kane County has negotiated a contract with McHenry County.  As a result of that Kane County has reduced our per diem for whenever we exceed our 7-bed limit from $100.00 a day to $80.00 a day.  The more that they do that the longer we will be able to hang on to the money that’s in that account, she further stated. 

Ms. Gilmour then stated that the placements have increased.  We now have 6 kids in placement. She said that out of that six, two of them have been removed from placement and are in detention. 

Before the committee moved on to the next subject on the agenda, Chairman Leifheit mentioned that the Community Services 1^st Quarter Report was mailed in the packet.  She stated that it is right on track and that the only item on the first page that probably will not change is the revolving loan item.  And on the 2^nd page is the breakdown of the demographics of the people using her services.  She further stated that if the members had any questions, please call Ms. Olson at her office and she will be happy to answer them for you.

JUVENILE JUSTICE COUNCIL

Mr. Ronald Matekaitis, DeKalb County State’s Attorney, approached the committee to ask the county board to adopt a resolution for the creation of a juvenile justice council.  He said that this idea has been around for a while and that Ms. Gilmour, Director of the DeKalb County Court Services Department, has been trying to get it off the ground for the last two years.  This council is statutorily authorized and that the county board would appoint these standing members.  The creation of the council would provide a forum for the development of a community based interagency assessment of the local juvenile justice system, to develop a county juvenile justice plan for the prevention of juvenile delinquency, and to make recommendations to the County Board for more effectively utilizing existing community resources in dealing with juveniles who are found to be involved with crime, or who are truant or who have been suspended or expelled from school.   

Mr. Matekaitis explained that the council would consist of 25 to 40 members with a wide range of impact on how we would treat juvenile justice matters in the county.  The standing membership of the council is set forth in the by-laws.  That would include himself, the Presiding Judge of DeKalb County, the Chairman of the County Board, the presiding juvenile court judge and any current juvenile judge, the DeKalb County Sheriff, the Director of Juvenile Court Services, the Chief of the DeKalb County State’s Attorney’s Office Juvenile Division, the Public Defender, the Regional Superintendent of Schools, and the President of the DeKalb County Chiefs of Police Association.  The other members of the council may include representatives from law enforcement, schools, juvenile justice agencies, etc., (see by-laws attached to these minutes). 

Ms. Gilmour said that there is a group of individuals in the county currently that does discuss preventative issues in the juvenile justice system once a month and this council would formalize it.  Ms. Gilmour said that the grant monies for this council would be from the state and federal levels.   

Mr. Pritchard asked if she knew if there were other councils set up in the state currently?  Ms. Gilmour and Ms. Pauling, DeKalb County Assistant State’s Attorney, Juvenile Division, stated that there was one in Winnebago County and Lee County that they knew of.   Chairman Leifheit asked what the grant monies would be used for?  Ms. Pauling stated that they would be for intensive probation, sexual counseling sessions, felonies, burglaries, etc.  She said that when there is a young person who commits a burglary, usually there is something else going on in the boy’s life that makes him do that.  In another case, there is a ten-year old that has committed rape, and he is really petrified to go home, so DCFS was brought into the case and made a guardian for this child.  She said that she has been 12 years here and she’s never seen some of these crimes.  This is like a new world out there and we need to develop new ways to treat them.  Ms. Gilmour said that this is also being set up for the protection of the community.  There are some models out there that the council could look at.  This council would be the “coordinator” of all of the agencies devoted to helping juveniles that are out there now in our county, said Mr. Matekaitis. 

Moved by Mr. Haines, seconded by Ms. Conway, and it was carried unanimously to recommend the creation of the juvenile justice council and to forward it to the full board for approval. 

Mr. Pritchard asked if they anticipated a cost to this?  Mr. Matekaitis stated that administratively it would be nominal.  At the present time there would not be a request for funding from the Board, he said.   

Mr. Bockman asked about the indemnification issue of the new council members, do we indemnify their actions? Mr. Matekaitis stated that suggestions and nominations would be coming from the standing committee members. Those suggested names for the 11 or so remaining members to be appointed is not described in the by-laws and he doesn’t believe the county board appoints them.  It was agreed that Mr. Matekaitis and Mr. Bockman would sit down and discuss this further and review the council by-laws regarding this subject prior to the board meeting.   

SUPERVISOR OF ASSESSMENTS ANNUAL REPORT

Ms. Margaret Whitwell, DeKalb County Supervisor of Assessments, briefly reviewed her FY2000 Annual report (on file in her office).   She said that this year she devoted a page to definitions that might help county board members understand her department more.  She also explained what Certificate of Errors were. She said that two of the biggest items are exemptions that people have not filed and by statute we now have to give them.  Remember this is money that taxing bodies think they are getting, but will not get now.  Another one is that they get a lot of exempt property that is coming in from the Department of Revenue.  An exempt body, like a new church, files for an exempt status on the property; it goes to the Board of Review; they will make a recommendation to the Department of Revenue; and then the Department will make the final decision.  Sometimes it takes months to get them back, she further stated.  Those will qualify as Certificate of Errors that her department will have to issue. 

Ms. Whitwell then said that this is our biggest year for new construction than ever before. It is equivalent to approximately $129 million dollars of market value.  The total EAV is up about 5.3%, which is a $69 million increase from one year to the next.  She also stated that in the year 2000 a number of subdivisions being platted were down, from 36 in 1999 to 28 in 2000.   

On page 9 are charts of data that the committee had interest in last year, Ms. Whitwell continued.  They are the percent of Assessed Value by Use.  So, in 1997, 64% of our assessed value was residential, it dropped in 1998 to 63% and was picked up by industrial, if you look at that chart, she said.  Mr. Bockman stated that he felt it was also interesting to look back at 1987 where there were some big changes.  In 1987 farm values were at 27% of the total, they’re now 15%; residential was 51%, they’re now 63%, that would be the most dramatic shift in this county in years.  In industrial and commercial there was 1% difference, he further stated. 

Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Brown, and it was carried unanimously to place all the reports on file and make them a part of these minutes. 

SHERIFF’S JAIL STUDY

Mr. Bockman, DeKalb County Administrator, reviewed the findings of the jail population review committee.  He said that they went through the findings and recommendations of the previous two reports  (1990 and 1996) as a group.  They talked about what had been implemented in terms of the previous recommendations and then launched into a discussion on what was still out there from those who are operating in the system that we might still profitably look at doing.  There were things that we could do that don’t cost much money and some that do.  The things that don’t need any appropriations are already being worked on.  Judge Engel has been wonderful and is working on an order to expand the weekend bond call.  Mr. Matekaitis said that Judge Engel did today.  Mr. Bockman said that Judge Engel also spoke about the possibility of periodically reviewing sentenced prisoners to see if some of them can be released early.  Most of the other things really require additional staff if we are going to get into them on a serious level, he further commented.  They may be recommended sometime in the future because they would be more effective and efficient than adding jail space.   

One of the more interesting proposals, he thought, was a minimum-security facility.  One of the problems that the judges have is that they have a group of criminals that are basically defying the court on occasion, they just aren’t showing up.  The problem is, “what is the or else?” he further stated.  In some cases these people are not in anyone’s view dangerous to their neighbors, they are just inclined not to participate in the criminal justice system.  When your only two alternatives are placing them in a maximum security jail or releasing them under their own recognizance, it just seems that we need something else and we don’t know yet what that is, he said   

Another item that was discussed, Mr. Bockman said, was that part of the backlog is pre-sentences and one thing that could help that backlog out is speedier trials. One of the problems with trials is attorneys on both sides  have very large caseloads and they don’t have enough time to prepare.  You could add head counts to both sides, more court time, which means more judges; more courtrooms; more attorneys; and when you are counting dollars, that starts looking more expensive than a new jail.  We need to spend more time studying the problems and hopefully down the road we will be able to come back to this committee with more specific recommendations, Mr. Bockman further said. 

COUNTY CLERK’S INTRODUCTION AND PRECINCT LINE CHANGES

Ms. Sharon Holmes, County Clerk and Recorder, introduced herself to the new members on the committee.  She said that the county clerk is the keeper of the records for the county dating back to 1837.  She also keeps vital records, like birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, etc.  They also are the second step of the tax cycle.  She stated that the Assessor has the first step of the tax cycle to take care of all the assessments of the properties in the county, and while the Assessor’s doing that, units of government in the county numbering 130, are turning in levies into the county clerk’s office.  Those levies are combined with the assessed value of the property and then they come up with a tax rate, they then turn it over to the Treasurer who issues the tax bills and collects the money.  The Recorder’s side of her office keeps all of the land records since 1837.  They are currently one month ahead of last year in recorded documents.  In the Elections Department there have only been two election contests filed in court in her office in the 23 years that she has been there.   

Ms. Holmes said that regarding the precinct line changes there are suggested minor and major changes to 24 precincts in their boundary lines.  The precincts affected the most by the changes are in DeKalb, Sycamore and Cortland.  There is a new precinct, which is DK36, which is the Knolls subdivision in DeKalb.  The Woodgate subdivision in Sycamore would become DK21.  Some other changes are in Southmoor Estates, which will be using the railroad line; another is by NIU, which is DK14 and DK04; DK05 went with the city limits line.  In Cortland Township COO1 is split to create COO6 using the section line.   

Ms. Holmes said that the way to get these precinct lines updated and changed prior to the county board making the designation of the county board districts is to pass a resolution proposing the precinct line changes (see attached resolution and backup included in the county board packet). 

Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Pritchard, and it was recommended to accept the precinct line changes presented by Ms. Holmes, and to forward them on to the full board for approval.  The yes votes were, Ms. Allen, Mr. Brown, Mr. Pritchard and Chairman Leifheit.  Motion carried.  The no votes were Dr. Conway, Ms. Dubin and Mr. Haines.  Ms. Holmes invited everyone to come and visit her office prior to the board meeting so that they could view the maps and she could answer their questions for them.  Ms. Holmes said that she would include that invitation in her letter going out to the full board this week.

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Haines, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
 

Respectfully submitted,

_______________________________

Sue Leifheit, Chairman 

___________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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