The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, June 10, 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, John Gudmunson, Roger Steimel, Ruth Anne Tobias and Julia Fauci.  Jeff Metzger and John Wilson were absent.  Others present were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Diane Strand, Eileen Dubin and Greg Millburg.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

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

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

            Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Tobias, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda.

APPOINTMENTS

            Chairman Pritchard recommended the following appointments:

Board of Health:                                          Mary Beth Shear, MD, appointment to fill the unexpired term of
                                                                     Dr. James Cole who resigned, from June 18, 2003 to
                                                                     November 30, 2004.                                                                       

Community Services Administrative
Board:                                                          Mr. Robert Morrison, reappointment for a 3-year term until
                                                                      6/01/2006.

East Pierce Cemetery Association:             Mr. John H. Kirchman, appointment to fill the unexpired term of Mr.Raymond Nehring who resigned, until September 1, 2008.

Community Mental Health
Board 708:                                         Ms. Julia Fullerton, to fill the unexpired term of Mr.
                                                                      Denny Sands who resigned, until 1/1/2005.

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

ANNUAL RELEASE OF EXECUTIVE SESSION MINUTES:

Chairman Pritchard said that the list of minutes include all the executive sessions minutes for the county board’s standing committees and county board meetings.  This is an annual occurrence, he further stated.

Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Ms. Allen, and it was carried unanimously to recommend the Resolution for the Annual Release of Executive Session Minutes 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 June 18, 2003.  Chairman Pritchard said that the local legislators have been invited to attend and speak about the legislative agenda issues.  If they all come then they will appear under Communications on the agenda.  Ms. Leifheit said that the Capital Grant Monies needed to be included on the agenda coming from the forest preserve department.  Ms. Tobias said that she would like to mention at the county board meeting about the Great American Smoke-out that the Public Policy Committee would like to participate in.  Chairman Pritchard said that he would include that under Communications.

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

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Mr. Roger Steimel, Chairman of the Planning & Regulations Committee, said that they had a supplemental hearing on the Sandwich Church request.  They spent a considerable amount of time at the last meeting hearing the presentation from Land Vision on the Regional Planning Commission’s work.  The comprehensive plans that have been pulled together by each of the municipalities show that some are very aggressive and some are slower.  At the DeKalb Growth Summit meetings he feels that they have come to realize that they need to back off of growth a little bit.  One of the issues is the amount of sewer capacity, which is ample at this time for DeKalb to expand.  However, Cortland is about at the end of their sewer capacity.  They are looking at a water purification plant that’s being used at different places.  They are looking east of town and the water would be irrigated on farmland.  He attended a meeting in Cortland last week and they mentioned that they need 70 acres for the plant and 250 acres to begin with for the irrigation process. 

Ms. Fauci, of the Public Infrastructure and Development Committee, said that their meeting was cancelled and that they may not even meet next month.  One update is that the Genoa Bridge opened up last week.

Ms. Tobias, Chairman of the Public Policy Committee, said that her committee discussed the Great American Smoke Out Initiative whereby each county needs 3,000 signatures on pledge cards turned into NACo by 7/31/03.  The 4H club in DeKalb County through the Cooperative Extension Office will be helping with the project.  There are 21 counties out of 3200 in the country that are going to be participating.

She then informed the committee that Mr. Weigand wanted a resolution to go to the full board for this month’s county board meeting regarding an opposition to a quarry being proposed in Monroe Center in Ogle County.  She said that the committee opted for a Testimony of Concern Letter for Mr. Wiegand to present to the Ogle County Zoning Board of Appeals this week. 

She also informed the members that her committee will be developing a legislative agenda calendar for the entire year.

Ms. Allen, Chairman of the Public Services Committee, said that her committee heard from the Cooperative Extension Office with their annual report and from Court Services on their Annual Report.  The committee asked Ms. Gilmour if she had heard anything about why the Family Mentoring Program had been cancelled and she said not yet, but that maybe the judiciary was going to be suggesting another program to replace it.  Ms. Allen also mentioned that Ms. Holmes, County Clerk and Recorder, mentioned that there is some federal legislation that could affect her department regarding elections and voting machines. 

Ms. Sue Leifheit, Chairman of the Administrative Services Committee, said that at the last meeting, there was a resolution from the Treasurer regarding Joseph Meyer and mobile home taxes collection.  It is the same thing that she currently does for the regular real estate taxes.  The most exciting thing is the Internet Access Resolution for the GISWeb site.  Ms. Leifheit said that Ms. Berkes-Hanson did an excellent job of getting this set up what with all the hurdles she had to go through up to this date.

Mr. Gudmunson, of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that his committee discussed the Grant Assistance Proposal for the Greenways and Trails Plan.  Ms. Fauci said that they had met with the Department of Natural Resources and they said that they like to work at the county level. There is a $20,000.00 grant available to hire a professional to study this issue.  

Chairman Pritchard stated that either this Friday or next week the County should be closing on the Kohl’s deal and hopefully will come to fruition.   He also mentioned an invitation that had been emailed to all county board members about the “Restoring Manufacturing in Illinois” event in June 2003 to be held in Elgin, Illinois.

ADJOURNMENT

            Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        _________________________________
                                                                        Robert W. Pritchard, Chairman

_______________________________
Mary C. Supple, Secretary