DeKalb County, Illinois
	Minutes of the Executive Committee March 12, 2002

The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 @ 7:00 p.m. at the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Robert Pritchard called the meeting to order.  Members present were Robert Hutcheson, Sue Leifheit, John Dlabal,  John Morreale, Roger Steimel, Ruth Anne Tobias and John Wilson.  Others present were Ray Bockman, Dennis Miller, Veronica Casella, Tige Hoffman, Brian Adams, Dr. Conway, Eileen Dubin, Diane Strand, John Dlabal, Gary Hanson, Greg Millburg, Bill Lorence, Joan Berkes-Hanson. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

            Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Hutcheson, and it was carried unanimously to accept the minutes of the February 11, 2002 meeting. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

      Chairman Pritchard moved item #8 to #4b.) and Mr. Hutcheson asked to speak on something from old business under General Discussion?
       Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Mr. Hutcheson, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

APPOINTMENTS

       Chairman Pritchard recommended the following appointments:

          Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Mr. Morreale, and it was carried unanimously to approve the appointments as presented by Chairman Pritchard, and to forward it onto the full board for approval.

GREENWOOD ACRES DRIVE RESOLUTION

          Mr. Ray Bockman, DeKalb County Administrator, informed the committee that originally we were going to recommend that the entire section (from point “B” to point “D” on attached map) be awarded to Curran Contracting.  We’re now told that the section between “C” to “D,” who’s underlying land is owned by the County, needs to be subjected to competitive bidding.  The resolution before you this evening proposes that we acquire the land in an “improved” condition, that is, with the road built on it to the urban standards that are outlined at Attachment B in the proposal.  Once the road has been completed and been accepted by our engineers, we would then take possession of it and the price would remain the same at $352,600.00.  The proposal is that we share the costs equally with the City of DeKalb.  The portion between “B” and “C” will be bid out and the cost will be paid by the county initially.  The county has recapture rights for this section which are divided between the developers of the Clare Property and Lot #12 of DeKalb Market Square.  The Highway Department will draw up the specifications, distribute those and once we receive proposals we will come back to this committee and ask you to consider the award of the second part of the project.  Mr. Bockman also said that the DeKalb City Council will have this item before them for consideration later this month.

            Moved by Mr. Morreale, seconded by Mr. Wilson, and it was carried unanimously. 

HOMELAND SECURITY UPDATE

      Chairman Pritchard stated that he had recently returned from the NACO Legislative Conference held in Washington, D.C. and the general theme there was Homeland Security and the role that the 1^st responders play in response to emergencies.  All counties in the United States are considered 1^st responders.  They invited some of the 1^st responders from Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and New York City.  Many of the speakers and breakout sessions were on this point.  One of them was conducted by the Secret Service stationed in New York where they were talking about Cyber Security and how it is inter-related with a lot of emergency services like 911 for example. This got him to think that Mr. Miller had recently submitted an updated plan with regard to our Emergency Disaster Plan and he would like him now to review some of it for this committee this evening.  He then introduced Mr. Miller to the Committee.

            Mr. Dennis Miller, DeKalb County ESDA Director, reviewed for the committee the County’s Emergency Disaster Plan.  He stated that about once a week his office and the Chairman’s office are updated by the State as to what they are doing with regard to Homeland Security.  A couple of years ago the State started a Terrorist Task Force to study what should be done if somewhere in the state a terrorist attack were to take place.  Many departments in the County have a role in the county’s plan.  Some of them are:  the Sheriff, the Health Department, the Highway Department, the Planning & Zoning Department, Coroner’s and ESDA Department, the DeKalb County Firemen’s Association, the Red Cross also have roles.  The Chairman of the Board is responsible for the well-being of everyone in the county and must be able to plan for the response to an emergency.  In the absence of the Chairman the authority reverts to the Vice-Chairman of the County Board, the Chairman of the Administrative Services Committee, the Chairman of the Public Services Committee, the Chairman of the Public Infrastructure and Development Committee, the Chairman of the Planning & Regulations Committee, the Chairman of the Executive Committee, and the Chairman of the Public Services Committee, in that order. 

            Mr. Miller has a resource manual that he refers to when helping people out with questions that he doesn’t readily have answers for.  If there is an emergency then the first person that he calls is the Chairman of the Board and if they are not available, then he speaks to Ray Bockman County Administrator and Mary Supple, County Coordinator and apprises them of what is going on.  The next call would be the state emergency management office.  If we run out of equipment we could call IDOT for it.  We would call the National Guard for any security that we may need, but first he would confer with the appropriate department head prior to contacting these agencies.  The county’s Emergency Plan Ordinance was adopted by 1993 and tells what we can and cannot do.  The State has an Emergency Management Act to use as a guideline in case of an emergency or terrorist attack.

            A major portion of the Plan is the Hazardous Analysis for the county that covers everything from man-made incidents, railway, airplanes, agricultural hazards, flooding, winter storms, etc.  Our Plan assesses what the actual risk would be to our area, how effective would we be, how often would it occur.

            Nuclear incidents have been discussed especially with the 9/11/01 disaster. When Byron Nuclear Plant was first built we were considered a host city, but we are no longer.  We do work very closely with Ogle County.  We would assist them if needed as common courtesy.  Commonwealth Edison tells people that the affected area, if an incident should occur, is a 10-mile radius. 

            Last fall Mr. Miller was invited along with several of our agencies to Oregon, Illinois to listen to a terrorism assessment workshop.  What they were instructed to do if they wanted to take part in it was to fill out a Hazard Analysis form for the county.  He contacted the agencies that attended but they did not want to do it and were told that we didn’t have to do it.  Now, those who did do it they received funding from the state for equipment for 1^st responders.  The majority of the counties received $15,000, which is not a lot of money.  It will be offered again this year.  He also said that he thought about what areas in the county may be targeted by terrorist attacks and he thought of hospitals, NIU, government offices, etc.  He does, however, feel that most of these attacks, if any, would be in more densely populated areas.

            Chairman Pritchard asked Mr. Miller if he would ever have authority in an emergency situation, like in “Marshall Law”.   Yes, I will commandeer different buildings for shelter.  He will coordinate with the schools, veterinarians for lost pets, Trans Vac for transportation, buses, uniformed police officers to direct traffic, etc.

            After further discussion Chairman Pritchard thanked Mr. Miller for a great presentation.  Mr. Miller said that we need to try to stay calm and think with a clear head when and if these situations arise. 

REGIONAL PLAN COMMISSION RESOLUTION

            Mr. Bockman stated that the resolution before the committee this evening only reflects the communities that have adopted the Intergovernmental Agreements for the creation of the regional plan commission as of this date.  He said that Mr. Paul Miller, Director of the Planning & Zoning Department, told him that we are expecting more to come in the next few days.  Those would be from the City of DeKalb, City of Sycamore, Waterman, Genoa, Somonauk, Genoa, etc.   Mr. Bockman believes that we will have nine or ten communities that will sign on.  He is also asking for the authority to add more names to the resolution before Wednesday evening. 

            Mr. Morreale said that this is very different than what came before us a while ago.  Now are we going to discuss what it is in front of us and what our expectations are as participating as a county?  This is “watered down” and the board is very different than before.  He felt that we already came up with an advisory plan a couple of years ago.  What advisory plan is this board going to come up with other than what we already have?  Chairman Pritchard said that discussion of a Unified Development Ordinance is different and that it will be an instrument where everyone participates in its development.  Mr. Morreale said that he feels that we should have some expectations that we are going to get for it.  Ms. Dubin said that she feels that this commission should be accountable for the $200,000 that we will spend and hopefully spend wisely.  Mr. Bockman said that we first need to establish a level of trust between the partners.  We need to start somewhere to establish a regional dialog. 

            Moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and it was carried to recommend the regional plan commission resolution and to forward it to the full board for approval.  Mr. Morreale voted nay. Motion carried.

AMENDMENT TO THE INDEMNITY RESOLUTION

            Mr. Bockman said that this is an amendment to the Indemnify Policy Resolution where we will be indemnifying the regional plan commission members. 

            Moved by Mr. Morreale, seconded by Mr. Hutcheson, and it was carried unanimously to recommend the amendment to the full board for approval.

APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA REVIEW

            Mr. Bockman presented the County Board Agenda for the meeting to be held on March 20, 2002.  Ms. Tobias asked that a Proclamation be read at the county board meeting regarding county government week in April.

            Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried unanimously to accept the county board agenda as presented by Mr. Bockman. 

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Mr. Hutcheson, Chairman of the Planning & Regulations Committee, stated that he had some old business with regards to bringing items forward to the full board for approval.  He was able to cite various passages from the county code supporting his comments on this subject.  He stated that under Section 2-32 it speaks of “general meetings,” Sections 2-33, 2-35 – “chairman will set the agenda with advice of the Executive Committee”….. and 2-36 “regarding new business” and Section 2-44 “regarding committee reports shall be in writing”…….”must be delivered to the chairman seven days prior to the board meeting.”    He said that he wanted to bring this to the committee’s attention because there were some people who were not aware of these various provisions.

Mr. Morreale, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that their meeting was canceled last month.  At their next meeting though they will have a family present who will be donating land to the forest preserve and he hopes that many board members could attend it.

Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Public Infrastructure and Development Committee, said that resolution #R2002-29 he wanted the committee to know that they only had one bidder which was Road Oil Company and that they were $87,000 (14.6%) over the estimated costs by our highway department.  However, when our highway department reviewed the costs again, they realized that trucking industry rates have gone up and contractor insurance costs were up about 30% and, in fact, if we re-bid it we may not get any response or it would even be higher.  Therefore, they recommended that we accept the bid. 

            Mr. Wilson also stated that they have been working on a Snow Removal Policy change and the staff at his request has given him information which he compiled into a booklet.  That will be on their agenda in April to discuss further.

Ms. Tobias, Chairman of the Public Policy Committee, said that her committee will be going to Genoa, she believes, in May and that they will be bringing a proclamation forward next week on county government week.  She also said that the county will be doing various things during that week like an essay contest with all junior high school students who will write on how they feel we can improve the county’s website.  There will also be some of the committee members and department heads that will be appearing on various radio stations talking about different subject matters like Forest Preserves, Regional Planning Commission, Emergency Preparedness, etc.

Mr. Steimel, Chairman of the Administrative Services Committee, said that their committee heard an excellent quarterly report from Central Plant’s Director, Ken Campbell and felt that he was right on track.

Ms. Leifheit, Chairman of the Public Services Committee, said that her committee had heard from Presiding Judge Klein, Ron Matekaitis, State’s Attorney, and Circuit Clerk Maureen Josh, regarding updates on their different departments. She said that Judge Klein said that the judges have been studying the effectiveness of placements with research being conducted by NIU.  Their preliminary conclusion is that it is not working out.  The judges are looking at different ways to deal with this.  They then heard annual reports from the Regional Superintendent of Schools and the Sheriff.

          Chairman Pritchard notified the committee about different meetings to attend. One was the Public Information Open House for Routes 23 and Routes 72  to be held on March 20, 2002 from 1:00p.m. to 6:00p.m. at the Resource Bank in Genoa.  He also said the NACO Annual Leadership Workshop will be held from July 12 – 16, 2002, in New Orleans, LA, if anyone is interested in attending they should contact him or the county board office.  He then notified the committee that the Illinois Employment Training Center will not be moving out to Kishwaukee College now, because they are faced with more expenses than they were going to get an income on and just couldn’t do it.

ADJOURNMENT

            Moved by Mr. Hutcheson, seconded by Mr. Wilson, and it was voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        _________________________________
                                                                        Robert W. Pritchard, Chairman

_______________________________
Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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