The Public Policy Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Wednesday, February 5, 2003 at 6:30p.m. at the DeKalb County Legislative Center’s Freedom Conference Room. Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias called the meeting to order. Members present were Pat LaVigne, Richard Osborne, Patricia Vary and Joseph Wiegand.  Mr. Hanson was also present.  Mr. Pritchard was absent.  

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

There were no minutes to approve.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Mr. Wiegand amended the agenda to reflect that there were no minutes to approve and that item #2 should be removed.  Moved by Mr. Wiegand, seconded by Ms. Vary, and it was carried unanimously that the amended agenda be approved.

PUBLIC COMMENT

No one was present for public comment.

OLD BUSINESS:  LEGISLATIVE BREAKFAST OVERVIEW:

Chairman Tobias reviewed the legislative breakfast for Friday morning’s meeting.  There will be a program that will introduce each of us, she said.  There will be three items that will be highlighted.  Ms. Vary will speak on Farmland Preservation; Ms. LaVigne will speak on Poll Workers and Mr. Osborne will speak on the Court Interpreter Fee.  These are the three issues that the committee felt were the hot topics. 

Chairman Tobias said that she had received a copy of the Lake County Legislative Agenda in which they also are seeking legislation on the Court Interpreter Fee.  Mr. Wirsing has actually signed the item last Friday since it was supposed to be submitted by then to get it into this legislative session.   It says “that if the court appoints an interpreter, the court may access all or part of the fees and the cost of any interpreter against the person for whom the service is provided.”   She said that she spoke with Mr. Bockman this morning about what to do with our item and he said to just let it go because that is the ultimate goal. 

NEW BUSINESS – COUNTY GOVERNMENT WEEK

Chairman Tobias explained to the committee about County Government Week and the committee’s role.  She said that last year she made posters of the county services and placed them in various libraries throughout the county.  The committee also held an essay contest for all junior high school students.  They wrote about ways of improving our website.  They had a little over 100 entries with the winner of the contest receiving $100.00 as the prize. 

This year, Chairman Tobias said, the topic is on “Counties Care for Kids.”  The County Government Week for this year runs from April 6^th through the 12^th.  NACO recommends recognizing the department’s that provides services for kids or programs for kids.  Just looking at programs for kids, she said that in the Court Services Department there is a Juvenile Justice Council that looks at ways to keep kids out of the court system.  They also have a Juvenile Mentor Program too that matches kids with an adult who can give them a positive self-image and a good role model.  In the Health Department there is the Well Child Program, Pre-School Screening, WIC and Immunizations, Food Supplements Program and blood test for lead.  In the Community Services Department there is a “Camp I Can Do It,” Parent Training, and Ms. Olson also has a one-day program for kids where she takes them fishing and they have a picnic and games.  The Forest Preserve has the Natural Resource Center that runs various kids programs throughout the year, too.  These are just a few programs that the committee could consider, Chairman Tobias said.

She also explained that the committee always does a Proclamation that recognizes County Government Week.  She would like to send something to NACO this year about what programs we do provide. 

Ms. LaVigne said that she used to really like the Back to School Health Fair that the County used to provide for kids whose family could not afford all the physicals and that.  This is for the working poor, she said.  So they provided school supplies, and immunizations, etc.  They stopped doing it at a certain point.  She would like to see some organizations help with this and the cost, she would like to see this come back. 

Ms. Vary suggested creating a brochure or something like it to highlight various county departments and the services that they provide for kid care.  She said that you could do it fairly cheaper on your own computers or through the print shop.  She recommended one foldout brochure that reduces in size to the size of a credit card.  It would show as many services for kids as they could put on the sheet of paper. 

Chairman Tobias then reviewed for the committee that last year they ran newspaper articles during the week on county services and appeared on three radio broadcasts during the week speaking on various topics.  This way they reached more of the public and made them aware of the services that the county provides.

It was agreed that Ms. Vary would get a copy of the foldout brochure to show to the committee next month.  Chairman Tobias also asked the committee to think about topics for the stories for the newspapers and possible radio stations.  The committee would also discuss which programs have the biggest impact.

SELECT NEXT CITY COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULE:

Chairman Tobias explained to the committee what they have done in the past with visiting different city councils.  Mr. Wiegand said that he felt that a good time to visit city council meetings would be after the Spring Elections so that the committee could see who the new people are that have been elected to the various city councils.  He would like to visit them in the summer and fall. 

Before adjourning the committee discussed whether or not they wanted to have their future meetings on the 1^st Thursday of every month @ 6:30p.m.  They all agreed to keep the meeting date and time on this schedule.

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Mr. Wiegand, seconded by Ms. Vary, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting. 

Respectively submitted,

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                                                                              Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias

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Mary C. Supple, Secretary