The Public Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, September 13, 2004, @ 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, Richard Osborne and Robert Rosemier.  Members absent were Eric Johnson, Steve Faivre and Julia Fullerton.  Others present were Mary Olson, Gary Hanson, Ken Johnson, Margi Gilmour, Greg Millburg, Ray Bockman and Steve Slack.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Mr. Osborne, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended August 2004 minutes.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

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

Mr. Eric Johnson arrived @ 6:35p.m.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

Mr. Ken Johnson, DeKalb County Public Defender, said that his numbers are pretty much the same with a little “bump” in juvenile offenders.  Many of the juvenile cases last just a little bit longer than they used to.   His felony numbers are a bit on the high side, but still manageable. 

He has hired a new attorney for the misdemeanor cases and his name is Chip Griswold, who is a native of this area and currently resides in Sycamore.  He has spent the last three weeks training Chip in the courtroom every day.  He is picking things up really quick.

Mr. Johnson said that he has submitted his budget proposal and the county’s recommendations were sent out.  If anyone had any questions with regards to this, he would be happy to answer them.  Ms. Leifheit asked what Mr. Johnson’s thoughts were on the budget recommendations for his department?   Mr. Johnson said that there are certain areas that he can understand the fiscal responsibility that the county board has.  He was very happy to see that they had recommended an additional attorney to his office and any addition is a welcome addition. 

Mr. Johnson further stated that he was able to utilize the grant from Springfield by $40,000 this year.  He is not sure about whether or not he will be receiving that same amount for the upcoming year.  The legislature and the State Appellate Public Defender’s Office have been working on getting additional monies for certain issues currently.

COURT SERVICES REPORT

Ms. Margi Gilmour, DeKalb County Court Services Director, said that her Adult Report reflects that they are busy, but manageable.  Community Restitution continues to plug away with a good chunk of numbers completed in July.  They have finished their Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program in the juvenile area and their last date was in August.  They were able to accommodate all of the juveniles that were ordered into the SWAP program, so they are all caught up.  The Adult section of the program still has two more dates to complete, one in September and one in October 2004. 

In her Juvenile Report, Ms. Gilmour, reflected that there was one child in residential placement in July and that the child was removed from the program due to delinquent behavior.  The court is asking her office to look at other places for this young lady and that there might possibly be another juvenile that will be ordered into residential placement, also, for a total of 2 kids.  

Out of the 8 detained admissions that they had in July, one was detained two times.  Of the 8 admissions, 3 were detained for the 1^st time and then 1 each for the 2, 3, 4, and 6^th time. 

She is continuing to watch the Intergovernmental Agreement with Kane County closely and hopefully they will be able to negotiate another contract with them.

            COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT UPDATE AND QUARTERLY REPORT

            Ms. Mary Olson, DeKalb County Community Services Director, reviewed her quarterly report for the committee.  She stated that under the line item titled  “family development” they have already served 15 people out of the 15 that she had budgeted for, so it is at the 100% completion rate.  She will evaluate the outcome at the end of the year.

            The scholarship committee met and has awarded the scholarships.  There were 3 students from N.I.U. and the rest were from Kishwaukee College.  The awards mostly went to returning students who receive the funds because their income met the guidelines. 

            Under the demographics of her report it shows that last year 25% of her clients served were single and this year 41% are, so far.  There was a corresponding drop in the number of single parent female.  They have served more people than they did last year.  Of the additional people that they have served as a result of this finding – they find that they have served more single adults.  That says something about our economy when a single person has trouble supporting themselves, Ms. Olson further stated.

            She then said that they used to have up to 80% of their clients employed, now they are at 51% - last year they were at 49%, so it is about where it was last year.  Fifty-three percent (53%) of the people they serve are very poor, up to 50% of the poverty level and last year they were at 41%. They are seeing more people, more single adults, and more of the very, very poor.  Most of them have not been able to work at all or have had very minimal income over the last 90 days.  The committee asked Ms. Olson was any elderly poor reporting to her?  There are not a lot of elderly poor in DeKalb County, only about 400, she stated.

            Last year they had 30% receiving food stamps and this year they have 65% now receiving them.  That is because the State of Illinois is trying to get everyone who is eligible for food stamps to put them on the program.  It appears in our county that it is mildly successful.  At least we are getting some, said Ms. Olson. 

            Mr. Bockman, DeKalb County Administrator, asked Ms. Olson what does “other” housing means?  Ms. Olson said that it is someone who is staying with a friend for a while, but not paying rent.  If they are staying there more than 60 days, then it is recognized as their residence and they are not considered homeless.

            Ms. Olson said that all of the agencies spent all of their money this year with regards to the Senior Tax money.  All the agencies are already expending this year’s tax dollars, too.

            Ms. Olson said that she has never asked for an increase in the amount of administrative money for the Senior Tax dollars. It has remained at $5,000.00 since the inception and she should really have asked for $7,000.00 to make it up.  The recommendation is for $6,000.00 and from now on she will be increasing that proportionately every year.  The committee asked her why?  Ms. Olson said that as the senior tax levy increases the portion that she uses for administration would go up, too.  If there is more money allotted for the levy and the number of agencies increase, then her time does increase in hours to visit these agencies and more phone calls would be needed to be made.

BUDGET DISCUSSION AND APPEALS

            Mr. Hanson said that in the Sheriff’s Department the recommendations call for 2 corrections officers to be hired.  He said that the Sheriff would like one of the positions to be a sergeant.  His first choice would be to upgrade a position that would cost $16,000. His second choice would be to give up an unfilled sergeant position from Communications and switch it to Corrections.  This choice would be at no cost to the county.  He said that the Sheriff would be approaching the Administrative Services Committee with this request at their October meeting.

            Mr. Slack asked about the compliance officer position for the Circuit Clerk’s office – could someone explain to him what that position would entail?  Mr. Bockman stated that the approximate cost for this position would be $48,000.00 all things included.  The person would be responsible for organizing and implementing collections in the Circuit Clerk’s office.  Mr. Johnson said that this would help with freeing up a day (Friday) in the courtroom whereby a judge would be performing the same task.  Mr. Bockman said that he was told that supposedly there is $400,000 to be collected out there currently.  This is an individual county effort not a circuit effort.  He said that Kane County may have one in place, but the one that everyone likes is the Winnebago County program. 

            Mr. Rosemier asked if this officer would free up six people in court then?  Mr. Johnson said absolutely if there are that many assigned to a case, but he feels that at least four people would be freed up in most cases and maybe even free up 4 afternoons of court. 

            Ms. Dubin  asked, what kind of qualifications in a person are you looking for to perform this duty?  Mr. Bockman said someone with collections experience.  It was further discussed that the presiding judge will do the oversight of this position.

            Before moving into executive session to discuss exempt employee evaluations the committee discussed whether or not it was necessary to do that.  Mr. Bockman said that if the committee has no questions regarding the agreements made with these two individuals and that they have done their jobs, then there would be no need to move into executive session.   Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Mr. Rosemier to remain in open session.

            Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously that Ms. Whitwell and Ms. Olson performed their jobs as outlined in their individual standard work performance agreements and have completed all of their duties as outlined in their individual professional agreements.

ADJOURNMENT

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

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        __________________________________

                                                                        Marlene Allen, Chairman

_________________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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