DeKalb County, Illinois

Minutes of the
Public Policy Committee

May 20, 2002

The Public Policy Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, May 20, 2002 at 6:30p.m. at the DeKalb County Administration Building’s Conference Room East. Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias called the meeting to order. Members present were John Dlabal, Eileen Dubin, Jeff Metzger and Pat LaVigne. Mr. Brown and Mr. Barr were absent.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Mr. Dlabal, seconded by Mr. Metzger, and it was voted unanimously to accept the minutes from the March 2002 meeting.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Moved by Ms. Dubin, seconded by Mr. Dlabal, and it was voted unanimously that the agenda be approved.

PUBLIC COMMENT

No one was present for public comment.

NEW BUSINESS:

Recruiting Poll Workers Initiative: Chairman Tobias told the committee members that she received the latest NACO newsletter and it talks about recruiting poll workers. She said that it basically says that there are several states that are looking at initiatives in trying to recruit poll workers. She also spoke with the DeKalb County Clerk, Sharon Holmes, and asked her if she had enough people for election judges and Ms. Holmes said no that they still need them. There is legislation mentioned in the NACO newsletter that would support county employees or government employees that could apply as an election judge by giving their employer at least “20 days notice” and not lose their daily wages. They would be paid extra at the going rate for an election judge too for that specific day that they missed work for. This is now in place in California, said Chairman Tobias. She also said that California has put legislation in place for teenagers to also work the polls. She feels that the committee should look into these items more and they agreed. She would also like to include legislation for this upcoming year that speaks to this matter.

County Volunteer Initiatives: Chairman Tobias spoke about another issue that appeared in the NACO newsletter that talks about county volunteer initiatives. Some of the ideas that NACO came up with is an increased Neighborhood Watch Program, a police volunteer service program whereby the public could volunteer to watch the phones and office for the police stations so that more officers could be out on the street. Another program is a Certified Emergency Response Team that would deal with emergency issues like Dennis Miller, DeKalb County’s ESDA Director and Ms. Karen Grush, DeKalb County Public Health Director.

OLD BUSINESS:

Legislative Agenda: Chairman Tobias said that she met with Representative David Wirsing to discuss

our legislative agenda list. He said that Springfield is only talking about budget right now and not much otherwise. Mr. Wirsing also said that the best time to submit the legislative agenda would be in October or November of each year.

Ms. Dubin said that she had seen an article in the Chronicle regarding a Transportation Forum to be held at the Farm Bureau on May 29, 2002 from 3:00p.m. to 5:00p.m. Ms. Dubin said that she did call and asked to be placed on their agenda to tell what our committee has been discussing on this topic.

Film Commission: Mr. Metzger updated the committee by telling them that there is a movie being shot in DeKalb County right now in the Sandwich/Somonauk area. It is a movie made for HBO, which stars Jessica Lange. He also said that they would be filming in downtown Somonauk in a coffee shop and in a Church off of Chicago Road. He did not know, however, when the movie would be released. Mr. Metzger also said that parts of the movie would be filmed in Lee and Earlville too. Ms. Dubin asked Mr. Metzger if he knew how this might have helped local businesses? Mr. Metzger said that he knew that the film crew was staying in a hotel in DeKalb and they have frequented restaurants too. He didn’t know too much more than that at this point in time.

Regional Planning Commission Meeting: Chairman Tobias said that she attended the first Regional Planning Commission Meeting the other evening and thought that it went very well. The members that were assigned were really seemed interested in what other smaller communities were doing. There are two other communities that are still waiting to become members but that there were some representatives from their towns that attended too.

June Meeting in Genoa – 3^rd Tuesday: Chairman Tobias said that she had spoken with the City Clerk of Genoa and she said that on the 3^rd Tuesday of each month the finance committee meets @ 6:30p.m. just before their City Council Meeting. Chairman Tobias said that we would need to meet before that time. The committee discussed it further and suggested the 1^st Monday in August, which is August 6^th and Chairman Tobias will check with Genoa to see if that is good. Chairman Tobias also said that she would check with the City of Sycamore about meeting with them this summer. Then Chairman Tobias asked the committee if they would like to meet in June at Lake Shabbona and have dinner there along with our meeting? They agreed for her to find out when and how much and get back to them.

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Mr. Metzger, seconded by Mr. Dlabal, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

Respectively submitted,

______________________________
Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias