The Public Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, October 4, 2004, @ 6:30p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Marlene Allen called the meeting to order.  Members present were Eileen Dubin, Steve Faivre, Julia Fullerton, Richard Osborne and Robert Rosemier.  Members absent were Eric Johnson, Sue Leifheit and Pat LaVigne.  Others present were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Vicki Chuffo for the Public Defender’s Office, Ronald Matekaitis, Margi Gilmour, Greg Millburg, Margaret Whitwell, Dennis Miller, Sheriff Scott, Jerry Lane, Christine Johnson, and Steve Slack.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Mr. Rosemier, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously to approve the September 2004 minutes.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

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

ESDA REQUEST – ADOPTION OF N.I.M.S. RESOLUTION

Mr. Dennis Miller, DeKalb County ESDA Director, presented a resolution to the committee this evening regarding the adoption of the National Incident Management System (NIMS).  NIMS has been identified by the Federal Government as being the requisite emergency management system for counties in the United States.  Failure to adopt the NIMS policy may preclude reimbursement to the local governmental agency for costs expended during and after a declared emergency or disaster and for training and preparation for such disasters or emergencies.

Moved by Mr. Faivre, seconded by Ms. Fullerton, and it was carried unanimously to forward the resolution to the full board for approval.

COURT SERVICES REPORT

Ms. Margi Gilmour, DeKalb County Court Services Director, said that her Adult Report reflects that they are busy, but manageable, again.  Each of her adult court officers handles about 120 – 130 active cases each.  The Community Restitution continues to move along fine.  They have completed about 2,000 hours in the month of August and they will probably see that number go down in the winter months. 

In her Juvenile Report, Ms. Gilmour, reflected that there were no children in residential placement.  She further stated that there were 9 kids detained in August.  Of those 9 detained admissions, 1 was for the second time, and then 5 for the 1^st time, 2 for the 2^nd time, 1 for the 3^rd time, and 1 for the 10^th time.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

Ms. Vicki Chuffo, Assistant DeKalb County Public Defender, said that her department’s numbers are pretty much the same with a slight decrease in felonies.  There were more cases opened up under the juvenile caseload.  Many of the juvenile cases last just a little bit longer than they used to.  

Pat LaVigne arrived @ 6:40p.m.

COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH ANNUAL REPORT

            Mr. Jerry Lane, DeKalb County Mental Health Director, briefly reviewed his Annual Report (attached to these minutes) for the committee. Mr. Lane informed the committee that he would be leaving the employ of the DeKalb County Mental Health Board by the end of the year.  He thanked the committee and the county board for everything that they have done for his department over his years of service.  He really appreciates the working relationship that he had with the DeKalb County Board. 

            Mr. Lane then handed out an article that appeared in the State Journal-Register in Springfield regarding the latest shooting of a Capitol Security Guard.  He said that this involves a young man that has a long period of treatment for mental illness.  There is another young man that committed a similar crime at the Federal Capitol who is currently in a state of mental illness because his attorneys will not allow him to be treated. They feel that if he is treated then he will be seen as being sane and would then be eligible for the death penalty. 

Some of the common reasons why people do not get effective treatment are because of the high cost of medications, side affects, etc.  Very little money is being directed to the mental health system in this State.  The nation has failed to meet the needs of the mentally ill, also.  We are seeing a little bit of progress being made, per the Surgeon General’s Report a few year’s ago, whereby they identified problems that were re-highlighted by the President’s Commission about a year ago.  Some action has been taken on the federal level, but very little new money is going into the system.  There are a lot of competing demands right now, one of which is the Homeland Security Department, who is taking a lot of money to sustain their programs. 

He stated that about two-thirds of their resources goes for treatment for mental illness, about 14% for substance abuse, 17% in developmental disabilities and 6% that goes into programs that cut across these boundaries, i.e., transportation, nutrition programs, etc.  They did a study a couple years back and found that the proportionate funding that their board has given out over the years, reflects pretty closely, the proportion of the disabilities as they occur in our population.  He feels that the board has been fair over the last few years in allocating the resources across these different disability groups.

Mr. Lane further stated that the DeKalb County Mental Health Board is allotting more money to the Ben Gordon Center for outpatient programs than the State is and that is not supposed to happen.  These core services are to be mainly paid by state funds and then backfilled by the DeKalb County Mental Health.  This is not happening because they are not being adequately funded at the State level and the demand is not going down.  In the long run, the money that we spend is going to save us money because it’s going to alternatives that are less costly. 

The committee thanked Mr. Lane for his many years of service to the public and wished him well in his future endeavors.

            ANNUAL EXTENSION OF THE BOARD OF REVIEW RESOLUTION

            Mr. Bockman addressed the resolution that was sent out to the committee members regarding the Supervisor of Assessments’ annual request for the extension of the board of review.  He said that it was just a housekeeping item.

            Moved by Mr. Rosemier, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously to forward this resolution to the full board for approval.

BUDGET DISCUSSION AND APPEALS

            Sheriff Scott said that he originally asked for 10 corrections officers to bring his department into line with appropriate staffing and to relocate the Command Center from the current site in the Communication Center to the jail floor.   His department and Central Plant asked for $700,000 to deal with physical needs in the jail, which included a new roof and new alarms along with a whole list of other things.   He was told, per the Administrative Recommendations, that the County did not have enough money to fund all of his requests without hurting other services within his department or in other county offices.

However, he was granted monies for 2 corrections officers and allocated $250,000 for 2005 for the jail.  When the county board voted down the budget requests at the September board meeting, it not only hurt his office significantly, but also other departments. He feels that he must appeal this budget request because it’s not only dangerous for his officers, but for the inmates as well.  He feels that it would be irresponsible of him to let this go by  - to settle for 2 out of 10 officers is questionable, but settling for 0 out of 10 when he had 2 officers granted, is not acceptable. He is very disappointed about the decision and wanted to point out that the daily population now is in the 80’s.  When they were running the referendum, the daily population was in the 70’s.  They now have 5 inmates at the Boone County jail and they they are transporting them.  They have 80 inmates on the floor that they have to move them, they have GED programs, mental health programs, transportation increases.  All of those things that they said that would happen are beginning to happen.  What he needs are those 2 officers back.  He is requesting that the county board restore his budget cut of 2 additional corrections officers and the allocation of $250,000 for the jail.  He further stated that there is “no fluff” in any of the requests done by all the agencies, whether it’s the State’s Attorney, Public Defender or any of the other departments who’s budgets were cut.

Mr. Rosemier said that the referendum would have allowed for the relocation of the 911 center - was that just put on hold for if and when the referendum goes through?  Sheriff Scott said that he hope to accomplish that at some point. The equipment move is only about $43,000, but that’s not the problem.  The problem is staffing the new center. He feels that it is very critical and important and will be coming back after it.  Right now they will remain the same in the communication center. 

Moved by Mr. Rosemier,  seconded by Ms. Fullerton, and it was carried unanimously with a positive recommendation to restore the budget cut for the Sheriff’s department and to forward it to the Administrative Services Committee for their consideration at their October meeting.

Ms. Vicki Chuffo, Assistant Public Defender, highlighted Mr. Ken Johnson’s letter, (DeKalb County Public Defender) which was sent to the committee members regarding his budget cut.  Ms. Chuffo said that recently when they increased, in Kane County, the State’s Attorney’s Assistants by 2 people, and the Public Defenders Office by 2 people, they were able to lower the jail population because they were able to get cases done quicker.  She feels that the same thing would happen here in DeKalb County, too.  If they get their additional attorney she feels that they would help the jail lower their population and get the cases moved through the system faster.  In other counties, like Kane County, felony assistant public defenders average about 40 to 60 cases, right now, herself and the other felony assistant average about 200 cases. 

Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Mr. Rosemier, and it was carried unanimously with a positive recommendation to restore the budget cut for the Public Defender’s Office and to forward it to the Administrative Services Committee for their consideration at their October meeting.

Mr. Ron Matekaitis, DeKalb County State’s Attorney, then spoke on his appeal.  He said that what they do in the criminal justice system, he feels is the most important function that the county has to offer its citizens.  Public safety is never far from the minds of our constituents.  He also said that every case that the public defender has, of course, his office does too, along with any cases the private defense bar has, too.  He feels that our county pays their attorneys competitive wages with neighboring counties.  What is not competitive is the workload expectation for our staffs.  Our caseloads are averaging about 2 ½ to 3 times more than a felony attorney’s caseload in Kane County. 

His office is also on pace to equal or exceed DUI’s filed last year.  The felonies are on pace than any other year since he’s been State’s Attorney.  One out of every three felony cases is directly or indirectly related to drug activity.  Each of those types of cases, particularly the drug felony related cases and DUI cases, are what he refers to as “motion intensive”.  The DUI offender is going to lose his/her license if the conviction is entered.  That’s the only disposition available to a repeat DUI offender - is a conviction – they can’t get supervision again. Supervision is only available once in a lifetime in the State of Illinois.  As a result of this, if the offender is charged with a second DUI, they have nothing to lose if they challenge every aspect of that arrest. 

With regards to the felony drug case, the offender can get up to 6 years in prison.  You have to get that search tossed out because the hand-to-hand deliveries often times are used to undercut that aspect of the case, if you don’t it’s a loser for the defense.  So you have to do whatever possible to challenge whatever happened up to that point. 

They have undertaken forfeiture activities with seized vehicles, too.  It takes a lot of time and paperwork to do. 

            He is asking to have his budget cut restored because it would apply some relief to the felony and misdemeanor responsibilities.  He further stated that he feels it is the County’s decision about how they prioritize public safety and the list of competing demands that the County has before it. 

            Moved by Mr. Rosemier, seconded by Ms. Fullerton, and it was carried unanimously with a positive recommendation to restore the budget cut for the State’s Attorney’s Office and to forward it to the Administrative Services Committee for their consideration at their October meeting.

ADJOURNMENT

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

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        __________________________________

                                                                        Marlene Allen, Chairman

_________________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

| Home | Return to top | A-Z Index | Return to minutes |