The Finance Committee of the DeKalb County Board, met on Wednesday, August 3, 2005, @ 7:00p.m. in the DeKalb County Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Vice Chairman Sue Leifheit called the meeting to order.  Members present were Jerry Augsburger, Dennis Sands, and Ruth Ann Tobias. Members absent were Jeff Metzger, Steve Faivre and Jeff Whelan.  A quorum was present.  Others present were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Ken Campbell, Steve Slack, Greg Millburg, Joan Berkes-Hanson, Christine Johnson, Anita Turner and Richard Osborne.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Mr. Sands, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from July 2005.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

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

          Mr. Ken Campbell, Director the DeKalb County Facilities Management Office, updated the committee on projects that his department has been working on. 

          Mr. Campbell reviewed the status of various projects that his department has been working on.  They are:  the replacement of the HVAC system on the Administration Building and the Public Safety Building’s Roof replacement, both finished.  They had all the windows replaced (under warranty) in the Health Department, a three-year project, which is now finished.  The carpet replacement in the courthouse is 95% finished.  The Jury Room and Judges Chambers are next to replace the carpet.  He is now working on the statue in front of the courthouse that needs to have the copper finish replaced.  They are still waiting for the cost estimate and scope of work to come in on this job.  Rehabing some jail doors in the Public Safety Building is in progress now.  His department is also digitalizing the architectural drawings of all the buildings owned by the county.  They are scanning the blueprints and putting them on a CDRom.  They have scanned three buildings so far and have three more to do.

          Additional projects that need to be done in the future, said Mr. Campbell, is the caulking projects for the Administration Building and the Public Safety Building.  He explained how they removed a large swarm of bees near the parking lot of the Legislative Center.  He said that they contacted Jonamac Orchards who recommended someone to remove the honeycomb and the bees.  A Mr. John Shipley came out and took a good part of the day to remove them from the premises.  They will be doing light fixture restoration in the courthouse and light retrofitting in the Public Safety Building, which will be a cost savings for the County, also warranty work.  They also are working on shower room repairs at the County Rehab and Nursing Center.  They have also worked on 1,535 work orders to date.  In May 2005 they won the MPACT Extreme Makeover Award, and were featured in the magazine and in local newspapers. 

The committee thanked Mr. Campbell for his very informative update.

NACO DRUG CARD PROGRAM

          Mr. Ray Bockman, DeKalb County Administrator, explained to the committee about the NACO Prescription Drug Card Program was introduced at their recent Annual Conference.  The target audience for this program is the under-insured, non-insured population.  Most target audience would be low-income senior citizens.  NACO selected Caremark as the company to present this service.  They have tested the program in 17 counties and those counties spoke about the program at the conference very favorably.  Caremark is keeping the rebates offered by pharmaceutical companies and offering the consumer discounts on the drugs. 

          This is a low hassle program in which we would market the program and run it for all county citizens.  There is no risk to the participant and they will not pay more for drugs with this card.  Caremark is also saying that any other pharmacy that would like to take part in the program throughout the county can contact them to be included.  Mr. Bockman said that the savings have averaged 14% off retail for brand name medicines and 34% off retail for generic medicines.  The mail order program provided savings of up to 50% off retail on generic drugs.

          Mr. Sands asked Mr. Bockman who is getting these rebates?  Mr. Bockman said that he has never gotten one, but normally he believes they split it with the pharmacy. 

          Mr. Bockman also mentioned that this card can be used for medicines for a person’s pet and for some medical supplies.  He further stated that some counties are even using it for the jail inmate’s medicines and for their nursing homes.

          Vice-Chairman Leifheit asked Mr. Bockman who would administer the program?  Mr. Bockman said that we would and that in other counties about 10% to 15% of the total population used the cards.  Some have even mailed them to all registered voters.  Ms. Tobias said that Lake County has implemented this program and they love it.

          After further discussion, it was agreed by the committee to have Mr. Bockman research the uses of the card for jail inmates and the nursing home clients.  He has sent the contract to the State’s Attorney’s Office for review and approval and has not received an opinion yet on it.  Ms. Tobias said that she would contact Lehan’s Pharmacy regarding private pharmacies joining the program.  The committee will bring this subject matter back to their September 2005 committee meeting for further discussion and to see what information Mr. Bockman has regarding the jail inmate and nursing home participation issue. 

ADJOURNMENT

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

                                                          Respectfully submitted,

                                                          ___________________________

                                                 Vice Chairman Sue Leifheit

____________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary