Pub Svs Min June 2001

DeKalb County, Illinois

Minutes of the
Public Services Committee

June 4, 2001

The Public Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, June 4, 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, Edward Brown, Eileen Dubin, Michael Haines and Robert Pritchard. Dr. Conway was absent. Others present Ray Bockman, Margi Gilmour, Ken Johnson, David Pauling, Joy Gulotta, Judge Douglas Engel, Diane Strand and Mary Olson.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

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

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Chairman Leifheit asked to add an item to the agenda to reflect the July Meeting Date. Moved by Mr. Haines, seconded by Ms. Allen, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

CONFLICT ATTORNEY

Judge Douglas Engel, the DeKalb County Presiding Judge, approached the committee to express the need for another conflict attorney. He said that we need to provide insurance for these conflict attorneys. That is really the only way that we can hire a private attorney to work for the pay that we offer him/her. We need a conflict attorney every time we have a situation where one co-defendant is pointing a finger at the other one or one make a deal with the State’s Attorney to testify against the other one.

Also, two years ago the state legislature mandated that DCFS, on cases where children are in foster homes for more than a year, is to start termination proceedings, continued Judge Engel. Before this legislation children would be in the system for five to six years before a termination proceeding would start. Now all of these cases are coming in, all of them that have been sitting for four or five years. In most of these cases all the people qualify for a public defender. The mother and father who are often separated, each get his or her own attorney, and the child gets an attorney. For each one of these cases we have to have three attorneys, which means the public defender takes one and we have conflict attorneys for each of the other two, usually the mother and father. Judge Engel continued by stating that he is at the point now where Mr. Carlson is threatening to quit because of the caseload that we have been giving him. He has tremendous knowledge in these cases, taking both the criminal and abuse and neglect cases. He has currently over 50 active files that he is working on, which puts him close to two days a week just to do public defender work. He really needs help to relieve the pressure on him. Mr. Krasner handles mainly the juvenile cases. Mr. Carlson not only handles the juvenile, but also the terminations as well as the conflicts for the public defender on felony cases.

The committee asked Mr. Bockman if he had any idea on the cost for this? Mr. Bockman responded that the full year’s pay and benefits together would cost the county around $20,000.00. Given the fact that we are a little over halfway through the year, it is estimated that if we hire someone at this point, it would cost less than $10,000.00. Mr. Bockman said that another consideration is that the staff favors this recommendation in that it really is an inescapable cost. Once someone qualifies to be defended, they are going to have to be defended. If we don’t have a conflict attorney to meet that need, then we need to assign the case an attorney whom we have to pay for delivery of services. Mr. Haines asked if that figure includes just the insurance or what. Mr. Bockman said it includes everything, the insurance and pay, $20,000.00 for the year. Mr. Haines asked where do we find the funding for this? Mr. Bockman said that if there is sufficient money in the judicial budget this year, then from there, but if not, there are several other sources that could be utilized. His recommendation is that we wait until later in the year to see if there is enough in the judicial budget. Mr. Haines asked if this is something that needs to be considered annually or once we hire someone it’s done? Mr. Bockman said the next time we would see it would be in the form of our annual budget review of the judicial budget. Ms. Allen asked Judge Engel if this position needed to be filled immediately. Judge Engel said yes, in a few weeks. Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Haines, and it was carried unanimously to increase the authorized position for conflict attorney from two to three immediately and to forward this recommendation onto the full board for approval.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

Mr. Ken Johnson, Public Defender, briefly reviewed his monthly report for May 2001. He said that once again it seems that he is seeing more serious charges coming through. He has two murder cases and an attempted murder which take a lot more time than other cases. From Springfield, the reimbursement for public defenders did make it through the Senate; however, going through the budget, which was approved through the state legislature, it is not funded. There is no mention of it in the budget. He doesn’t see it getting past the Governor’s desk because it is a non-funded mandate.

COURT SERVICES REPORT

Ms. Margi Gilmour, Director of the Court Services Department, briefly reviewed her Adult and Juvenile Monthly Reports. She stated that there has been a decrease in monthly residential placement. The young man at Arrowhead will be released in June. Chairman Leifheit asked what percentage of residential placement monies has been used? Ms. Gilmour stated that about half of the budgeted amount to date has been spent.

Ms. Gilmour then informed the committee that she has hired Carrie Nelson for the Learning Coordinator position. She has an opening for an adult officer yet. Once that position is filled she will have a full staff. Mr. Pritchard asked Ms. Gilmour where Carrie Nelson comes from. Ms. Gilmour stated that she is from Ogle County and that she is a Western Illinois University graduate.

COMMUNITY SERVICES ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD’S NEW BY-LAWS

Ms. Mary Olson, Community Services Director, approached the committee about the new by-laws for her advisory board. Due to changes in the Federal Act, the by-laws of the Community Services Advisory Board need to be amended. Some of the makeup of the board is included in the federal regulations so we don’t really have too much to say about it. There are some parts of the by-laws that the county can approve. She handed out a list of people who sit on her board currently (see attached to these minutes). Her Advisory Board has been changed to “Administrative Board.” The biggest change is Article VII was added on the bottom of page 3 (See attached to these minutes). Someone determined that there are probably groups out there that would like to sit on the board but are being excluded. Now they may petition the board in writing to be included. The issue with this addition, Ms. Olson said, is that previously the advisory board would make recommendations to the County Board Chairman to then appoint persons to the board. With this clause in here about petitions, if someone petitions the advisory board, and the board approves them for a seat on the board, it is not clear whether or not the County Board Chairman would still approve the appointment. Mr. Pritchard said that he feels that appointments should continue to be approved by the county board chairman. He said that there is another model similar to this one which requires that board representatives be from certain types of business or public sectors. There still is an appointment process under those kinds of requirements. Mr. Haines asked about item A. that states that 5 board members are appointed by the county board chairman. Does it say anywhere that the county board appoints the other ten members? Ms. Olson said not at this time, but we could add that in. Mr. Haines then asked if it is the intent here to have a portion of the board elected by the membership without the county board interfering? Ms. Olson believed that the intent of the federal regulations, was that there are people out there who feel that they should be sitting on the board, that there would be some way they could have their say and be heard. The committee felt there was a need for clarification in Article III (page 2), item (b.) and it should read: “These representatives shall be selected by a 2/3 vote of the members present and recommended for appointment by the county board….”

The committee then discussed the length of terms for this board. Ms. Olson said that they serve a 3-year term but there’s no term limit. At the end of those 3 years, said Chairman Leifheit, they do have to come up for a recommendation for a reappointment.

Moved by Mr. Haines, seconded by Ms. Allen, and it was carried unanimously to recommend the new by-laws for the Community Services Administrative Board and the changes made and to forward them onto the full board for approval.

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION UNIT’S INTRODUCTORY REPORT

Ms. Joy Gulotta, Director of the DeKalb County Extension Unit, introduced herself to the committee. She also introduced Mr. David Pauling who is a member of her Council. She said that they have numerous sources funding their programs, and they have programming in four different areas. Those areas are: 4-H & Youth, Agriculture and Natural Resources, including Horticulture and Consumer & Family Sciences, and Community & Economic Development. The County Board has supported the Extension for many years. The bulk of the money that they receive from the County Board goes directly to their Horticulture Program, specifically for the Master Gardener Program. This is a growing and successful program, and they currently have 25 active master gardeners. The most important thing master gardeners do is answer consumer questions. Extension has master gardeners in their office every morning during the growing season (April – end of October). Two to three weeks ago they had over 100 calls to our office already, reported Ms. Gulotta.

The Extension Unit has received $18,000.00 annually from the County Board for the past 10 years. This money, in addition to matching money of $18,000.00, represents 10% of their total budget. Since the Extension has not received an increase from the DeKalb County Board for the past 10 years, it is necessary, Ms. Gulotta stated, to request an increase in funding for the upcoming fiscal year. As the Unit Leader she plans to request an additional $4,000.00 so that their total grant would be $22,000.00 which would be matched by the university to equal $44,000.00 to support the current programming.

Mr. Haines asked Ms. Gulotta if the funds also pay for the newsletter. Ms. Gulotta said yes. Ms. Dubin asked how many families are in the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Program. Ms. Gulotta said that she didn’t have the numbers on that but that there were 60 at the last workshop. Another program that is funded is Camp Clover, into a four-day camp, statewide program, which offers to various park districts (Sandwich Park District) an education program.

JULY MEETING DATE

The committee discussed the July meeting date since it falls on July 2^nd, two days before the Fourth of July. We just want to make sure there is no problem with that date, said Chairman Leifheit. The committee agreed to leave it as is.

ADJOURNMENT

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

Respectfully submitted,

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Sue Leifheit, Chairman

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Mary Supple, Secretary