The Public Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, February 3, 2003, @ 6:30p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Marlene Allen called the meeting to order.  Members present were Pat LaVigne, Sue Leifheit, Steve Faivre, Eric Johnson and Robert Rosemier.  Members absent were Eileen Dubin, Julia Fullerton and Richard Osborne.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Ms. Leifheit, and it was carried unanimously to approve the January 2003 minutes.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Mr. Rosemier asked to amend the agenda to reflect the March meeting.  Chairman Allen placed that item at number 10b.

Moved by Mr. Faivre, seconded by Mr. Rosemier, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

Mr. Kenneth Johnson, Public Defender for DeKalb County, reviewed his report for the committee.  He stated that the numbers remain consistent.  He said that he found a replacement attorney for Ms. Morreli.  His name is Peter Gruber and he has some pretty extensive defense attorney experience in the juvenile area.  He started today and it was the first time in Mr. Johnson’s history here in DeKalb that he didn’t have to go with a new hire to court.  He was in the Public Defender’s office in Cook and Kane Counties prior to coming here.  He will be doing mostly domestic battery cases and juvenile cases.  Ms. Morrelli’s last day was last week Friday and they will definitely miss her personality and legal expertise. 

Even though the State has elected not to seek the death penalty on one of his cases, Mr. Johnson said that he still has two pending murder cases. 

Also the Treasurer’s Department informed him today that they have collected in fees in excess of $6,000 at the end of January.  This puts them over the $10,000.00 mark within the last two months.  They were projected, from this committee, to collect $15,000.00.  They are about $4,000.00 short of that mark after only two months, which is really wonderful.  He said that our judiciary is doing an outstanding job on this.  If we keep drawing in about $5,000.00 a month, we would be in excess of $40,000.00 in that line item, which will be outstanding, said Mr. Johnson.

Ms. Leifheit asked Mr. Johnson that with the death penalty case not taking place now, will he lose the help from the State?  Mr. Johnson said yes that there are several things that his office will lose.  The Judge did order Mr. Bursanti to remain on the case, however.  The State Appellate Office cannot come out to the county anymore, but will do summaries of the work that they did so far on the case.  The investigators can come out and testify if subpoenaed. 

COURT SERVICES REPORT

Ms. Margi Gilmour, Court Services Director, briefly reviewed her monthly Adult and Juvenile Reports.  The Adult Report and CRS hours remain consistent, she said. 

With regards to the Juvenile Report, there is one minor in residential placement yet and the child is doing well.  For the month of December there were 14 detained kids.  The Intensive Probation Program is doing well and they now have 18 kids in the program.  She said that it is being well received by the schools throughout the county. 

She has two vacancies in her department.  She needs one adult court probation officer and one juvenile court probation officer. 

The Learning Mentor Program is in its seventh session.  They have nine kids in the program and twelve mentors.

REGIONAL SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS INTRODUCTION AND ANNUAL REPORT

Mr. Tom Weber, Regional Superintendent of Schools, introduced himself to the committee and briefly explained what his department does and his annual report (attached to these minutes). 

Mr. Weber said that he has 5 people, beside himself, that work in his office.  Mr. Dick Stipher, Assistant Superintendent, Ms. Kristal Boda, Truancy Outreach Worker, Kathy Stoddard, Truancy Outreach Worker, Ms. Donna Millburn, Secretary/bookkeeper and Ms. Andrea Ruby, part-time college student. 

He also thanked the County Board and the Public Services Committee for continuing to provide the housing, personnel and financial resources to allow the Regional School Office to provide needed services. 

He said that he is the liaison between the State Board Of Education and the School Districts for DeKalb County.  He also said that his salary and Mr. Stipher’s is paid for by the State.  Part of their budget does not include their salaries but does include the salary of secretary/bookkeeper, their supplies and rent.  He also serves and chairs various committees and boards along with his assistant. 

 Most of the funds flow from the State Board of Education electronically right to the school district.  There are still a few that flow through his office though and they use electronic funds transfers too. 

Mr. Weber then reviewed student enrollment in the county.  He said that in 1990 – 2002 three of the largest increases in enrollment were with the Genoa-Kingston School District between 1990/1991 and last year where they increased by 104 students, DeKalb School District increased by 212 students and Sandwich increased by 71 students.  All the public schools increased by 306 students with the private schools increasing by 48 students for a increased total of 354 students.  In comparing this year’s to last year’s the committee will see a larger increase than this, he said.

Mr. Weber then talked about teacher certification.  He said that every teacher in DeKalb County needs to renew his or her certificate every five (5) years.  They issued 411 new certificates and 12 duplicate certificates last year.  They registered or renewed 855 teachers’ certificates.  Many of these were for substitute or inactive teachers.  He said that there is a shortage of teachers in the Special Education field, Spanish Teachers, Vocational, and some Science and Math teachers. 

JUDICIAL INTRODUCTION

Presiding Judge Kurt Klein introduced himself to the committee members and briefly reviewed his department for them. 

Judge Klein said that the Intensive Probation Program was implemented about six months ago.  He feels that it is going pretty good. He believes that they are saving the county a significant amount of money.  But, more importantly they are providing services to juveniles that they have not gotten in the past.  Down the road he feels that the county will see a real positive effect from this program.

In addition to the Intensive Probation Program, said Judge Klein, they are trying to organize a Day Reporting Center for Juveniles during the summer rather than having them be at home.  Right now he is working with the park district to try to put together a program for this summer that will include about 14 or 15 juveniles.  If that is successful, he will look at keeping it on and run it after school in the fall.  This program will run for about ten (10) weeks for about 6 hours a day.  It will have education in the morning, recreational things in the afternoon.  They will do field trips, museums in Chicago, maybe a play.  These are all things that he is planning.  He hopes to get some grant monies to help fund this, however if not, he has budgeted money out of the probation fund for it.  Those are not taxpayer dollars, they are user fees, he explained.  This program has been successful in other counties and he hopes that it will be successful here.

With juveniles, they don’t get the attention or discipline, structure at home that other children get.  Really the only way that he has learned to solve this is to become a surrogate parent.  The more that he can keep them out of the home, away from whatever the problems are at home, the better off they are and better chance the county has in exposing them to other environments and perhaps actually making an impact on these kids. 

Judge Klein then spoke to the committee about the courthouse.  He said that it is as crowded as it can be.  The county is building a new courtroom where the state’s attorney’s office used to be.  But, the courthouse has no room for anything.  They have no interview rooms for attorneys, they have no room for another courtroom, no room to expand for the circuit clerk’s office, or public defender’s office, no storage for files.  He said that over the last ten (10)years the cases have doubled in all categories in the courthouse.  Juvenile cases, criminal felony cases, criminal misdemeanor cases, civil cases, divorce and traffic cases, have all doubled in the last ten years.  He said that if the committee recalls, in the first 6 or 7 years of that ten years there really was no growth at all.  Most of the growth has been in the last four or five years. 

They have juries twice a month now.  They have no jury room.  They had to bring in seventy (70) jurors this morning and had to put them in an empty courtroom since Judge Golden was in DeKalb today, he said.  That may or may not continue in the future, but they have no place to gather our jurors.  Most courtrooms have a jury assembly room where they watch a movie on how to be jurors, they have reading materials while they wait for court.  When they call out jurors, they take a room that was designed for twelve people and put thirty to thirty-five people in that room.  It is not pleasant or comfortable, but they will keep doing that.  They are definitely running out of room.  They need a jury assembly room in that building. 

Another item, he said, is that most courthouses have a day care room for people who bring their children to courthouse.  Today they had juries going with screaming babies in the hall.  The county needs to provide a room for these children while their parents are in court, he said.

Years ago a decision was made to move the State’s Attorney from the courthouse to the new Legislative Center.  Judge Klein assumes that the decision was made with the encouragement and blessing of the former presiding judge.   He does not know what the thinking was for this decision and it may have served the Presiding Judge’s purposes for that time.  However, it does not serve the judiciary now.  The State’s Attorney and judiciary have certain statutory and constitutional responsibilities that cause them to work together several times a day.  Things come up in the courthouse where they are looking for an Assistant State’s Attorney.  Most jurisdictions have the State’s Attorney in the courthouse.  We should have ours there.  If we expand the courthouse he would like to see the State’s Attorney comeback.  He further stated that if we hire one more assistant state’s attorney he doesn’t know where they would put them or another assistant public defender.  If they hire another deputy clerk, he doesn’t know where to put that person either.  It’s packed at the courthouse.

He is recommending an addition to the courthouse if there is a decision to add more space.  Then they should have enough space for another courtroom in the future.  That building is sound, beautiful, and is an asset to the community. It should be protected as such, but everyone is out of space in the building.  His hope is that we keep the building and add on to it in the future and get these departments the space that they will need for the next 25-50 years.  He said that this is something that the county needs to consider, but he is not saying that it needs to be done right now.

Mr. Rosemier asked Judge Klein if parking is a problem at the courthouse?  Judge Klein said yes, it always has been a problem.  Mr. Rosemier said then this should be considered too.  Judge Klein said that he is concerned for the jurors that come in this bad weather and some of these people are older individuals. Some of them have to park two or three blocks to the courthouse.  He is concerned about that.

Ms. Leifheit asked Judge Klein if he made the jail study consultants aware of his concerns.  He said he told them that in the future he could see the community continuing to grow and the cases will too.  Also, as they are having more cases, the county will be sending more people over to the jail.  Did you suggest adding on to the courthouse? Asked Ms. Leifheit.  Judge Klein said no.  Did you share with them your concerns about the jury?  Judge Klein said no.  Mr. Bockman said that he did not think that it would be fair to add this to the consultant’s workload along with the jail study. They have only been hired for the jail study.  Judge Klein said that he feels that the Sheriff has much more of a crises now then the courthouse does. This is a problem, that’s going to, in five years, if we don’t have a plan to deal with it, is going to cause us a great deal of problems.

CIRCUIT CLERK’S INTRODUCTION

Ms. Maureen Josh, DeKalb County Circuit Clerk, introduced herself to the committee and briefly explained what her office does.  She explained that her duties are to be the record keeper for the courts.  As such, they interact with every agency that interacts with the court system.  They are currently in the process of upgrading their Information System.  As the record keeper for the courts their information system feeds off to all agencies.  They report the Secretary of State, Illinois State Police, which in turn goes to the FBI, State’s Attorneys, etc.  It’s critical that this system remains current at all times.  She continued by stating that this information system was bought into with Kane and Kendall counties.  But, her office has bought into a lot of autonomy in this, which is a good thing for DeKalb County. We will no longer be tied to Kane County on a lot of things.  Eventually from an attorney’s office, for a fee, they will be able to access this system through the Internet, to view cases, which will save a lot of work for them and her office.  Court Services has expressed an interest in getting a module installed that will play into the same thing.  The State’s Attorney’s Office has access to their system right now. 

Ms. Josh further said that for those of you that are unfamiliar with the court systems, ours is very unique.  It is unique because it functions extremely well because there are no real “prima donnas.”  There are no territorial “turf” issues in getting things done.  This is a huge benefit and a huge cost saving benefit.  They work together and that she feels that there is no better court system in the state that you could work with.  She said that she is talking about the Court Services Department, the State’s Attorney’s Office, the Public Defender’s Office and the Judiciary, in terms of really serving the public.  She said that she is really proud of it. 

Ms. Josh said that the space is tight, however.  Having an outside storage is wonderful, but it is difficult too.  Today, as an example, twice they had to run out there because cases were not in the courthouse that they had to have for court.  You just never know when it is going to become an issue from day to day.  That is a big expenditure.  They have no room for growth, she said.

STATE’S ATTORNEY INTRODUCTION

Mr. Ron Matekaitis, DeKalb County State’s Attorney, introduced himself to the committee.  Mr. Matekaitis told the committee that he has ten attorneys in his office.  Three are felony attorneys, 3 are misdemeanor attorneys, and 1 is a felony and misdemeanor attorney, 1 civil attorney, 1 juvenile attorney and then Mr. Matekaitis.  He said that the civil attorney acts as the legal advisor for the County Board and the County Department Heads.  He also is the attorney for DeKalb County through the Illinois Department of Public Aid for the collection of child support.

He said that right now juvenile cases are being heard two days a week.  About 20 years ago it was two and half day a month.  That’s how the juvenile court has changed. 

Mr. Matekaitis then spoke about how the cases have increased over the last few years.  In the six-year period between 1990 and 1995 there was an increase of 2,000 cases filed on traffic cases.  The seven years since then there’s been a 5,000 cases increase.  They were over 23,000 last year in traffic cases.  With regards to DUI’s – they went from 392 cases in 1996 to 735 last year.  That’s 343 cases more last year then in 1996.  Two hundred more felonies then in 1996 and 500 more misdemeanors then in 1996.    He also said that the number of felonies in the last two years has declined. When he took office his office has made a conscious effort, working with police agencies, to scrutinize those reports when they come in to only authorize those felonies that his office truly believes should be filed as felonies. 

Mr. Matekaitis complimented the County for recognizing the personnel needs for his office. Before he took over he did not believe that there had been any increase in personnel in the last fifteen (15) years.  In the last two years, through the good graces of the county board, granted his budget requests and added three (3) total positions to his office.  That includes 1 support staff, 1felony attorney and 1 misdemeanor attorney.  Dispositions for felonies as a result of this hiring has gone from 488 dispositions in 2001 to 653 last year.  He believes that this is the first time in the history of the State’s Attorney’s Office that this many cases have been disposed of those which were filed. 

Mr. Matekaitis then spoke about his staff and said that he has seven (7) support staff people and one (1) Operations Manager.  The space that they have moved into this past April is full.  They have no more space available to put anyone else.  If they should need another assistant they would have no where to put them.  In the Courthouse there is supposed to be an office space (to put files and make phone calls from) for his office in the space being remodeled for the new courtroom.  That would be the only place that they could put someone.  As a last resort, obviously, he would put someone there than not authorize a spot to be filled.  At the same time, he is guaranteeing someone of living a remote existence away from his office. From a personnel management point of view, that is not something that I would like to see happen, he said.

COMMUNITY SERVICES REPORT – SENIOR SERVICES TAX PROCESS

Ms. Mary Olson, Community Services Director, Introduced herself and briefly reviewed what her department does.  She said that they are the anti-poverty agency for DeKalb County.  They are working to help alleviate poverty in our County.  They work with the poor of this County.  Almost 90% of the money that they use in their department comes from federal grants.  While the County certainly has approval of her budget, the ultimate control is the federal government.  So far they have never had a finding in their grants and the grant people have been more than willing to look at what the needs are in DeKalb County and allow her office to write the grant such that it meets the needs of DeKalb County specifically.

She then presented the Final Quarterly Report for the Block Grant from last year.  She said that it’s through the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs that administers this grant.  The handout lists the various programs that her department runs.    Back in 1985, regarding the Loan Program, the State of Illinois gave every community action agency a portion of money for economic development loans.  This County did a loan at that time to a company that paid back a portion of that loan, a little over $8,000.00 of the principal of that loan and some interest.  Then the CEO of the company died and the company went under at that point.  That was all the money that was paid back to the loan, she continued.  That has been sitting in an account and the county has been able to use the interest that is drawn on that account for any community services program.   Currently there is $14,000.00 in that loan and someone has applied for it from Shabbona.  It is a hardware store.  They closed the loan on Friday for $12,000.00 of that money and they have their check in hand. 

She then explained the next handout shows the percentages of the clients that they had served last year.  The majority of their clients are single-family females with some college.  They are between the ages of 24 – 44 and they are employed.  Her clients fall underneath the poverty guidelines that apply for her services. 

Ms. Olson then briefly explained the Senior Services Tax Levy to the committee. She explained that her department is the one that administers those funds.  Last year there was $330,000.00 to administer and this year that figure should go up slightly.  She passed out the Quarterly Report for the Tax Levy that shows that Fox Valley Older Adults has not billed for several months.  She said that twenty letters have gone out to everyone that has ever applied or asked for information.  She has put it on the county’s website and the Notice To Bid went out this week.  The applications are due back to her office by the third week of February.  She will collect them all and then make copies of all of them for the committee.  She will bring these for everyone to our next meeting in March.  The agencies will come before this committee to speak at the April meeting.  She reminded the committee that this tax levy was created to prevent premature institutionalization of seniors. 

Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Mr. Johnson, to accept all the reports given this evening and to place them on file.

OLD BUSINESS - MEETING TIME:

Chairman Allen mentioned to the committee that there were two members on the committee that could not make the 6:30p.m. time for the March meeting and they have asked if that meeting only could begin at 7:30p.m.  

Moved by Mr. Faivre, seconded by Mr. Rosemier, and it was carried to accept the change in time for the March meeting only to 7:30p.m.

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Mr. Johnson, seconded by Mr. Fairvre, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

Respectfully submitted,   

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Marlene Allen, Chairman 

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Mary C. Supple, Secretary