The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 @ 7:00 p.m. at the Legislative Center’s Gathertorium. Chairman Sands called the meeting to order.  Members present were Marlene Allen, Sue Leifheit, Jeff Metzger, Roger Steimel,  Ruth Anne Tobias and John Wilson.  Others present were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Vince Faivre, Greg Millburg, Eric Johnson, Eileen Dubin, Steve Slack, Julia Fauci and Robert Rosemier.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

            Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Wilson, and it was carried unanimously to accept the minutes of the December 2003 meeting. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

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

APPOINTMENTS

Chairman Sands recommended the following appointments:

DEKALB COUNTY BOARD:                 Appointment:

Vince R. Faivre, to the fill the unexpired term of Robert Pritchard who resigned, until 12/1/2004.

DeKalb County Planning &
Regulations Committee:                    Howard Lyle, as Vice-Chairman of the Committee to
                                                          replace Dennis Sands.

                                                          Vince R. Faivre, to replace Dennis Sands until
                                                           12/01/2004. 

DeKalb County Public
Infrastructure & Development
Committee:                                       Mr. Nate Kloster, appointed for a term
                                                          of 1-year, until 02/01/2004.

DeKalb County Public Policy
Committee:                                       Dennis Sands, to replace Robert Pritchard who
                                                          resigned, until 12/01/2004.

DeKalb County Administrative
Services Committee:                         Jeffrey Metzger, to replace Robert Pritchard, until
                                                          12/01/2004. 

Regional Plan Commission:               Roger Steimel , appointment to fill the unexpired term of Robert Pritchard, until 04/01/2005. 

Dennis Sands, appointment as alternate member, to replace Roger Steimel as alternate, until 04/01/2005. 

Community Mental Health
Board 708                                          Ms. Maureen Russell
                                                          Mr. Norman Gilbert
                                                          Ms. Regina Parker
                                                          Ms. Opal Zitka
                                                          All Reappointments for a term of 4
                                                          years, until  02/01/2008.           

Mr. Doug Fraley, appointment for a term of 4 years, until 02/01/2008.

DeKalb County Rehab & Nursing
Home Operating Board:                     Mr. James Kirby
                                                          Ms. Jeannette Heinisch
                                                          Mr. Blake Richter
                                                          Ms. Ruth Anne Tobias
                                                          Mr. George Daugherty
                                                          Ms. Eileen Dubin
                                                          Mr. Nate Kloster 

All reappointments for a term of 1 year, until  02/01/2005.

Chairman Sands introduced Mr. Vince Faivre and stated that he is a farmer, the former president of the DeKalb County Farm Bureau for 5 years, former member of the Zoning Board of Appeals,  DeKalb High School Sports Booster Present for 2 years, served on the late State Representative Wirsing’s Agricultural and Advisory Committee, and is currently serving on State Representative Pritchard’s Educational Advisory Committee.  Chairman Sands said that he feels that he will make a fine board member and that he will be recommended for appointment first at the county board meeting.

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

ELECTION RULES

Chairman Sands said that the memo from Mr. Bockman included the election rules from last month’s meeting that have now been done in an Ordinance format.  Mr. Bockman said that he had the State’s Attorney review it and he made a few small changes.   Mr. Bockman said that he also had the State’s Attorney look at automatic succession and it appears that it would require a change in state law.  It states that when there is a vacancy in the board chairman’s position, the board must hold an election and elect one of its members to fill that vacancy.  There is nothing to stop the board from electing the vice-chairman to fill the position, but there is nothing that we can come up with that would compel them to do so either. If the board wanted to, he’s sure, that we could suggest a change in that section of the state statute to permissively allow boards to provide for a line of succession.  Chairman Sands said that at a later time, after the jail referendum issue is finished, he would like to bring the entire board rules to the executive committee to review them.  As far as a change in the state statute, Chairman Sands assigned the Public Policy Committee to look into the issue this year when they compile the next legislative agenda items.

Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Mr. Metzger, and it was carried unanimously to forward the recommendation to the full board for approval.

APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA

Mr. Bockman, County Administrator, reviewed the county board agenda for the board meeting to be held on January 21, 2004. 

Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried unanimously to forward the county board agenda to the full board for approval.  

GENERAL DISCUSSION

            Ms. Allen, Chairman of the Public Services Committee, said the Sheriff explained the upcoming jail expansion referendum and how he is going around the county visiting with various clubs and organizations informing them of the issue.  She said that so far he stated that he has had a very good response to his presentations.

            Ms. Leifheit, Chairman of the Administrative Services Committee, said that they discussed the bank depositories that is standard every year; that the property tax deed will mean that a piece of property is back on the tax rolls; and the exempt employee bonus programs is really meant for people that perform above and beyond their job descriptions

Ms. Tobias, Chairman of the Public Policy Committee, said that the Legislative Breakfast will be held on the last Monday in February, which is, February 23, 2004.  Ms. Supple, DeKalb County Board Coordinator, mailed out copies of our agenda to the legislators last week. Regarding the Public Safety Sales Tax Referendum her committee has decided to write to various local newspapers about the issue.  She also informed the committee that Mr. Hanson and Mrs. Joan Berkes-Hanson have graciously accepted the task of hosting the event along with the Public Policy Committee.

Mr. Steimel, Chairman of the Planning & Regulations Committee, said that the first ordinance deals with people who want to downgrade their building; the second one is about a piece of property in Elva whereby the people want to combine a couple of lots to enable them to build a home; and the third item enables the committee to send issues back to the hearing officer like they did with the gun club.  He also said that Mr. Miller handed out his annual report, too.

Mr. Metzger, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that their meeting will be canceled for this month.

Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Public Infrastructure & Development Committee, said that his committee is continuing the pursuit of the safety and welfare of the people that travel the highways throughout the county.  He also said that he has asked the highway staff to put together a report explaining where all the rumble strips are in the county and the effects that they have made in the county.  He said that it is a low cost system that works towards safety features on the county’s highways.  Mr. Wilson also informed the committee about the recent snowstorm of the year and what effect it had on the highway department.  He said that they had 300 overtime hours, 45 hours for contract snow removal, 500 tons of salt and 775 gallons of fuel for a total of $29,500.00 for the County’s first snowstorm.  He also said that the management report on the county signs states that the county has 2317 signs and has spent $20,000.00 year to date on them plus 2 men who maintain them from the highway department.

Mr. Steimel asked Mr. Wilson what the expected life is on rumble strips.  Mr. Wilson said that there are 41 total rumble strips with only 27 that are raised.  We are now going with the cut-in strips.  Some of them have to be replaced every year because of the weight of the vehicles, number of cars, and the snowplows are reasons for this, he explained.

Chairman Sands informed the committee that at the next Administrative Services Committee there will be a presentation by the Mental Health staff regarding the alternatives for the jail issue.  Mr. Rosemier said that at the Ad Hoc Jail Study Meetings that the numbers and dollar amounts that Ben Gordon presented really seemed to be pretty flexible where he asked a question and they answered that it could be cut in half.    Some people felt that they were saying that the mental health costs could be very costly.  Chairman Sands said that in the presentation in February they aren’t trying to sell their services, they are going to present what the mental health field can do to keep people out of jail.

Chairman Sands also said that he has assigned Steve Slack to head up a sub-committee to research and discuss the drug court issue.  At the February meeting Steve will have names to recommend for appointments that this committee will consider, explained Chairman Sands.

Mr. Hanson, Deputy County Administrator, wanted to inform the committee that he is doing an internal track on the jail issue with presentations and jail tours. The second track is the political track by the Citizens for Public Safety group.  They are raising money without using tax dollars to help support the group by donating $5.00 and publicly endorsing the issue.  They have produced two cards for this purpose.  One is for the donations and endorsements and the other one is for email addresses to help the group. 

EXECUTIVE SESSION – ACQUISITION OF REAL ESTATE

It was moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Wilson, to moved into closed session to discuss acquisition of real estate.

It was moved by Mr. Metzger, seconded by Ms. Tobias to return to open session.  No action was taken.

ADJOURNMENT

            Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Metzger, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        _________________________________
                                                                        Robert W. Pritchard, Chairman

_______________________________
Mary C. Supple, Secretary