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The
Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, February 11,
2003 @ 7:00 p.m. at the Legislative Center’s Freedom Conference Room.
Chairman Robert Pritchard called the meeting to order. Members present were
Sue Leifheit, Jeff Metzger, Pat Vary and John Wilson. Ms. Tobias and Ms.
Allen were absent. Others present were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Steve
Slack and Julia Fauci.
APPROVAL
OF MINUTES
Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Mr. Wilson, and it was carried
unanimously to accept the minutes of the January 2003 meeting.
APPROVAL
OF AGENDA
Moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Ms. Leifheit, and it was
carried unanimously to approve the agenda.
APPOINTMENTS
Chairman Pritchard recommended the following appointments:
Genoa
– Kingston Fire
Protection District:
Mr. Randy Jennings, appointed to fill the
unexpired
term of Raymond Anderson who is deceased, until
3/01/2005.
DeKalb
County Rehab & Nursing
Center
Operating Board:
Mr.
Nate Kloster, appointed for a term
of 1-year, until 02/01/2004.
Moved by
Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Mr. Wilson. and it was carried unanimously to
approve the appointments as presented by Chairman Pritchard, and to forward
them onto the full board for approval.
Chairman
Pritchard informed the committee that next month there would be numerous
fire protection district appointments, DeKalb Sanitary District and the
Community Advisory Board.
FIRST TIME
HOMEBUYERS BOND
Chairman
Pritchard stated that this is a continuation of a program that we began last
year. Mr. Bockman explained that the board adopted a resolution in November
2002, whereby the County Board agreed to, once again, offer the first time
homebuyers program. At that time it was indicated that it would be
necessary later to adopt a bond resolution and an intergovernmental
agreement to implement the program. These are the documents that you have
before you tonight, he said. This program helps the individual with the
down payment for a home. Chairman Pritchard said that this program does not
cost the county anything and it makes home ownership available to people for
a competitive rate and offer some financing to help them. Moved by Ms.
Vary, seconded by Ms. Leifheit, and it was carried unanimously to forward
this recommendation onto the full board for approval.
NATIONAL
POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (NPDES) COMPLIANCE.
Mr. Bockman
explained to the committee that this resolution is for the authority to hire
a consultant to assist the County in compliance with the NPDES National
Program to help reduce the amount of pollution discharged into the waters of
the United States. This is under the auspices of the Clean Water Act, Phase
I regulated cities and counties in excess of 100,000 population and Phase II
brings most of all the rest of us under the fold. It will also now apply to
constuction projects as small as 1-acre where before it used to be more than
10-acres. The resolution before you tonight is actually to approve a
consultant contract for Baxter and Woodman, and to make a transfer of funds
to the Planning and Zoning Department to help pay their half. The agreement
is for $7800.00. Half of that will be borne by the Highway Department and
the other half by the Planning and Zoning Department, explained Mr. Bockman.
The consultant will make an assessment of our current waste and
regulations. A recommendation by the consultant to the departments will
then explain to both departments to bring the county under compliance and to
help them establish some best practices, and develop some goals and
objectives to implement the program.
Mr. Bockman
wanted to give credit to the City of DeKalb for taking the lead on this and
suggesting to the County and a number of other local governments to group
ourselves together to save some money by hiring a single consultant who will
do the basic underpinnings of the plan that we all have in common and save
us all some money. Moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Ms. Vary, and it was
carried unanimously to forward this recommendation onto the full board for
approval.
LOT 12 –
DEVELOPMENT UPDATE
Mr. Bockman
informed the committee that as of the third Friday in January, Kohl’s
Corporation approved the Market Square transaction and we are entering the
documentation stage. Since then it appears that there will be a Best Buy
deal to go along with it. It is not done, but it looks like it probably
will be happening, Mr. Bockman stated. It will be a great boost to that lot
by putting those two together. Mr. Bockman further stated that the Best Buy
is about a 20,000 square foot store and the Kohl’s is a 88,000 square foot
store.
APPROVAL OF
THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA
Mr. Ray Bockman, County Administrator, reviewed the county board agenda for
the board meeting to be held on February 19, 2003. Moved by Ms. Leifheit,
seconded by Mr. Metzger, and it was carried unanimously to accept the county
board agenda as presented.
GENERAL
DISCUSSION
Mr. Wilson,
Chairman of the Public Infrastructure and Development Committee, said that
his committee was run by Mr. MacMurdo while he was gone and they have the
two issues coming before the board.
Ms. Leifheit, Chairman of the Administrative Services Committee, said that
they had an excellent update from the Central Plant Department and the
Information Management Office. She said that Mr. Campbell is doing just
amazing work around the campus. She said that the G.I.S. work being done
currently is just “morphed into this marvelous thing” and there was a
request to make this public. Ms. Berkes-Hanson will be looking into that
request.
Ms. Leifheit, Committee Member of the Public Services Committee, said that
we had an introduction and annual report from the Regional Superintendent of
Schools, and introductions from Judge Klein, Maureen Josh, Circuit Clerk,
and State’s Attorney Ron Matekaitis. It was a very good meeting.
Ms. Vary, Committee Member of the Planning and Regulations Committee, said
that there is a very big issue coming before the board on the 19th
regarding the Wind Farm. She also said that the vote was split on the
issue from the committee where it was 6 yes votes and 3 no votes.
Mr. Metzger, Vice-Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that he
has invited the Sheriff to visit with their committee and explain to them
what his department does for the Forest Preserve District. He also said
that the committee members will be bringing back a goal that they would like
to accomplish by the end of two years. He also said that Sannuak Forest
Preserve will be closing one of the exits there and only have one entrance
and exit then, that will be better for traffic flow. He will be meeting
with Mr. Hannan, Forest Preserve Superintendent, to discuss the grant monies
that they have coming in and new funds that they might recieve.
Mr. Hanson
said that the Legislative Breakfast went very well and had about 45 people
that attended. There were three legislators there who spoke and three
county board members that spoke on the three hot topics.
Chairman
Pritchard said that there will be a University of Illinois Extension Series
Education Meeting on the 20th of February. There are also Summit
meetings in DeKalb that deal with growth. He also was in Springfield and
spoke with a few people there regarding the budget and what the impact will
be. He doesn’t feel that we as a county will get too much out of
Springfield next year. He did bring the major bills that have passed the
last general assembly and the “Tax Handbook for Legislators,” which gives
some information on our tax codes for county board members to read. Mr.
Metzger also said that he received an invitation from the Soil and Water
Conservation District for a Dinner on March 14th. Chairman
Pritchard said, yes, that is an invitation to all board members.
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Ms. Leifheit, and it was voted unanimously
to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully
submitted,
_________________________________
Robert W.
Pritchard, Chairman
_______________________________
Mary C. Supple, Secretary
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