The Public Policy Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Thursday, April 1, 2004, at 6:30p.m. at the Legislative Center’s Liberty Room. Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias called the meeting to order. Members present were Mr. Osborne, Mr. Sands and Ms. Vary.  Those absent were Ms. LaVigne and Mr. Wiegand.   Mr. Bockman was also present.  There was a quorum present.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Ms. Vary, seconded by Mr. Sands, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from February and March of 2004.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Chairman Tobias said that she would like to amend the agenda to reflect NAMI Update and Prairie Parkway Discussion.  Moved by Mr. Sands, seconded by Ms. Vary, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

PUBLIC COMMENTS:

There were no public comments for the evening.

OTHER COUNTIES’ LEGISLATIVE AGENDAS

Chairman Tobias passed out a one-sheet list of items that other counties raised with regards to their legislative agendas.  Some of those on the list that the committee is interested in pursuing are: #1. Update of Coroner’s Fees – to increase 5 of the 7 fees in the state statute; #2. increase the income limitation for Senior Citizen Assessment Freeze; #3. Allow assessment publications on the Internet; #6. Consumptive use permit for water withdrawals – seek legislation requiring permit for new high capacity wells and for new wells supplying community water systems; #7. local and county transportation coordination; #10. Multimodal Transportation – pursue continued assistance with expanding transit, bike and pedestrian facilities; and #16. federal funds for election system upgrades.

Ms. Vary said that she felt that items #6, #7 and #9 were important to her to look at and support them.  Mr. Bockman said that we are supporting them through our membership with Metro Counties.  Chairman Tobias said that we can add any of these to our legislative agenda if we want to. 

TRANSPORTATION ARTICLE FOR COUNTY GOVERNMENT WEEK

Chairman Tobias mentioned that with regards to the Highway Department, our County Website is great highlighting many items for that department.  She said that we have 201 miles of county roads; 2,288 signs on the county roads and that they are changed every 6 years for wear and tear.  The Highway Department also maintains 46 bridges and that we have no mass transit in the county. 

Chairman Tobias also mentioned that the article will mention Voluntary Action Center and MedVac.  She said that Trans Vac uses 35 volunteers for these transportation services.  It costs $1.50 each way for TransVac and $0.50 cents a mile for MedVac.  Meals-On-Wheels has 1200 volunteers, which is wonderful.  She said that they have seen a tremendous increase in numbers served because of an increase in the senior population.  They serve 400 meals a day.

Chairman Tobias said that the other information that she gathered for the article is on the Adopt-A-Highway Program.  She said that there are 35 groups that have adopted 87 miles of roads to clean.  They perform this duty four times a year. 

Ms. Vary asked about the status of the Railport and what was happening with that?  Mr. Bockman said that it is only operating at about 7-10% currently so it’s really too early to see the impact yet.  Supposedly there are 80 trains a day that come through DeKalb County and may increase to 120 trains a day.  Mr. Bockman explained that there should be less trains after the Railport opens, not more. What we are going to get here in DeKalb is increased truck traffic.

Ms. Vary said that she submitted a future dream(s) list for the county.  She explained that she wished for efficient transportation, better mass transit, open a train depot here for traveling to Chicago, etc.   She and Chairman Tobias agreed that they would be working on the Transportation Article together for County Government Week.

The committee also discussed the letters that were mailed out to the various university counties throughout the State of Illinois.  They have only received two replies and agreed that a second request should be sent out to the remaining counties.  Chairman Tobias said that she would draft a second letter to those remaining counties and send it out in the very near future.

NAMI UPDATE

Ms. Vary summarized for the committee what the legislative seminar involved for NAMI.  She said that Kendall, Kane and DuPage counties have mental health court programs going on in their counties.  Kendall County has been doing it without any real funding mechanism.  They have asked the staff involved to devote a little more time with intense counseling with the youth and 1^st time offenders.  They are seeing some positive results and that their efforts are making some affect on the numbers.    She further stated that Judge Doyle has been donating his own time to help with this program and that he has been concentrating on teenagers and 1^st time offenders in the mental health courts and drug courts.  They have seen their numbers decrease since implementing these programs.  What happens is that if the offender pleads guilty to the charge, they must begin an intense program with daily, weekly and then monthly meetings.  They must do this for 3 years and then the offense is stricken from the record.  DuPage County has seen an overall decrease in crime since doing this.

PRAIRIE PARKWAY

Ms. Vary said that she attended the Prairie Parkway Meeting recently and pointed out that they have the presentation on their website and on I.D.O.T.’s website.  She explained that they are only 25% along in the process for the project.  She said that she spoke with someone after the workshop about issues in DeKalb County and that they recently sent a letter to her regarding the Mass Transit issue for DeKalb County.  She will also be attending a Land Alliance Trust Workshop on 4/23/04 on conservation easements in Madison, Wisconsin.

Before adjourning Chairman Tobias mentioned that she would like to recommend the Regional Plan Commission for an award with the Metro Planning Council and that she will be speaking with Mr. Paul Miller, DeKalb County Director of Planning and Zoning about applying for it.

ADJOURNMENT

Moved by Mr. Osborne, 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