DeKalb County Seal
DeKalb County, Illinois

Minutes of the
Executive Committee


May 13, 2003


            The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, May 13, 2003 @ 7:00 p.m. at the Legislative Center’s Freedom Conference Room. Chairman Robert Pritchard called the meeting to order.  Members present were Marlene Allen, Sue Leifheit, Jeff Metzger, Dennis Sands, Ruth Anne Tobias and John Wilson.  Roger Steimel was absent.  Others present were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Steve Slack, Julia Fauci, Eileen Dubin and Greg Millburg.

           

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

            Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried unanimously to accept the minutes of the April 2003 meeting. 

 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

            Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Ms. Allen, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda.

 

APPOINTMENTS

            Chairman Pritchard recommended the following appointments:

 

General Assistance Appeal Board:            Ms. Jean Augsburg. appointment for a term of 3 years, until 06/01/2006.
                                                                     and
 Mr. Arden Awe
                                                                     Ms. Janet Troutman
                                                                     Mr. Norman Troeger
                                                                     PatriciaLaVigne
                                                                     All reappointments for a term of 3 years, until 06/01/2006.

 

Moved by Mr. Metzger, seconded by Mr. Wilson, and it was carried         to approve the appointments as presented by Chairman Pritchard, and to forward them onto the full board for approval.

 

 

ORDINANCE #2003-15:  LIQUOR CODE AMENDMENT – Amends the DeKalb County Code to establish procedures for the liquor control commissioner in dealing with matters before the commissioner.

 

Chairman Pritchard explained that the amendments to the Liquor Code said that they are changes developed by the State’s Attorney’s Office as a result of a hearing that they had late last year.  Because we did not have a county board ordinance that stated we could share the minutes of our hearing with the Liquor Control Commission, said Chairman Pritchard, the State Board required a re-hearing in Chicago, and it was rescheduled three times.  This is the reason that we have decided to change our ordinance, said Chairman Pritchard.  Now as a part of this document, which has changes underlined, we really are codifying the procedure that is suggested when we have hearings and the very last point (f.) makes it a public record that our minutes of the hearing are available for others, especially the State Liquor Control Commission, to review, he continued. 

 

Moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Mr. Sands, and it was carried unanimously to recommend this Ordinance to the full board for approval.

 

APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA

Mr. Ray Bockman, County Administrator, reviewed the county board agenda for the board meeting to be held on May 21, 2003. Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Ms. Leifheit, and it was carried unanimously to accept the county board agenda as presented.

 

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Ms. Tobias, Chairman of the Public Policy Committee, said that her committee discussed the fact that they will start selecting which city council meetings they will attend and try to get on their agendas.  They are also following-up on the legislative agenda items.

 

Ms. Sue Leifheit, Chairman of the Administrative Services Committee, said that at the last meeting, which included the County Board Workshop, the auditors did a wonderful review of the County’s annual audit. 

 

Ms. Allen, Chairman of the Public Services Committee, said that her meeting went well.  They heard annual reports from CASA, River Valley Workforce Investment and Margaret Whitwell.  They were all very good.

 

Mr. Metzer, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that they will be meeting next Tuesday and will be discussing the new forest preserve and goals that they would like the committee to meet.  They will be putting these goals together like the legislative agenda list and have it ready for the June meeting.

 

Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Public Infrastructure and Development Committee, said that item #B is a $100,000.00 project for the future planning of the transportation system through G.I.S.  He said that the county’s share of the project is $20,000 and I.D.O.T.’s is $80,000.00.  Item #C is an item that was on the county board agenda a couple of months ago and was sent back to committee.  The City of Sandwich is now ready to accept the portion of the jurisdictional transfer and that’s why it is returning to the full board for consideration this month.   

 

Mr. Dennis Sands, Vice-Chairman of the Planning & Regulations Committee, said that the request from Our Savior’s Lutheran Church was sent back for public hearing because the committee felt that there was more information constantly coming out about the whole process.  He said, for example, currently they are talking about the drainage issue because they can’t go west, which was the original plan.  Now the new proposal is to go south and rent/lease the property for a holding area for the water to go to until the City of Sandwich is able to annex that area and put city sewer and water out that far.  That is the latest news on that issue. 

 

The Wind Tower Permit Fee is coming back again at $2000.00 to the full board for consideration, said Mr. Sands. This is the same amount that was approved by the committee before, he said.  Chairman Pritchard said, “isn’t it my understanding that the State’s Attorney said that this amount is not an appropriate level?”  Mr. Sands said that he did not use those words, but the committee members felt that there was a lot of expense going into this particular project, much more than the proposed amount by Mr. Paul Miller, DeKalb County Planning and Zoning Director, which was $550.00 per tower.  The committee felt that $2,000.00 per tower was more appropriate to cover the costs that the county will incur.  Mr. Bockman said that he and Mr. Miller were told by the county’s legal counsel that it was inappropriate for building fees to exceed actual building inspection costs. Mr. Miller was directed by Mr. Bockman to propose a fee that he could justify.  Mr. Sands said that what he felt the committee was saying was that the cost for the county for this project will be a lot more than $16,000.00 and that it will be closer to $60,000.00 (see his handout attached to these minutes).  Chairman Pritchard said, that we do know that if it is highly technical we will contract out and those costs will be charged straight through to the petitioner.

 

Ms. Dubin said that at the public services committee meeting that they were told that the multi-family program was cut and that she thought the public services committee initiated this program.  Mr. Bockman said that he thought the program was initiated by Judge Edmundson while he was here.  She said that she would really like to know why this program was cut.  It was agreed that Chairman Allen of the Public Services Committee would contact Ms. Gilmour and ask her if she has heard any reason now as to why the program was cut, but to remember that at the time of the committee meeting Ms. Gilmour did not know.  She will then call Ms. Dubin and let her know the results of her conversation with Ms. Gilmour.

 

Chairman Pritchard said reminded the committee about the breakfast meeting tomorrow @ 8:00a.m. being hosted by the River Valley Workforce Investment Board that is being held at the Mill Creek Golf Course.  He also told the committee about a job fair on May 23rd at Waubonsee Community College.  It is being hosted by the Illinois Employment Training Center Partners for their annual “Working for the Fox Valley Job Fair”

 

ADJOURNMENT

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

 

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

 

 

                                                                        _________________________________
                                                                        Robert W. Pritchard, Chairman

 

_______________________________
Mary C. Supple, Secretary


  | Home | Return to top | A-Z Index | Return to minutes |