The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, December 12, 2005 @ 6:30p.m. in the DeKalb County Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Sue Leifheit called the meeting to order.  Members present were Rich Osborne, Anita Turner, Roger Steimel, Pat Vary and Pat LaVigne.  Eric Johnson was absent.  Others present were Judge Klein, Marilyn Stromborg, Ken Johnson, Steve Slack, Greg Millburg, Jill Olson and Margi Gilmour. 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

            Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from November 2005.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

            Moved by Ms. Vary, seconded by Ms. Turner, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.

DRUG COURT UPDATE

            Judge Klein introduced Ms. Marilyn Stromborg as the new special court administrator.  Ms. Stromborg’s goal is to set up the drug court over the next 6-8 months and hopefully at that time the drug court will commence.  She began on December 1, 2005.  Ms. Stromborg’s overall goal is to acquire funding for the drug court.

            Judge Klein and his team visited the various drug courts including Kankakee County.  He liked the way the drug court was administered in Kankakee County and is using that one as his model for DeKalb County. 

            Judge Klein said that he was told that if we have a drug court up and running that we would not be able to receive federal funds.  Because of this, he did not want to name Marilyn as the drug court administrator.  He continued by stating that the timeframe to get it up and running would be around six months.  They will also like to get the committee back together to begin working on this goal.

            Judge Klein continued by stating that Kankakee County is about the size of our County.  They screen the candidates for the drug court program very strictly.  They only accept two out of ten candidates and their success rate is at 80%.

            Mr. Steimel asked him how it would function?  He said that the public defender or defense attorney would come to court and suggest that their client is a good candidate for drug court.  The State’s Attorney would have to agree to this.  The person is then referred to a designated office or individual who would assess them to see if they are acceptable to the program.  They will be charged with a drug related offense and plead guilty.  If they successfully complete the program they may have their plea of guilty vacated and it will not appear on their record. 

            Ms. Stromborg said that to remember it is healthcare providers working with the court that account for the success of drug courts nationally.  Drug courts typically send .  candidates for intensive inpatient or outpatient treatment and therapy, too, if needed. 

            The committee asked Judge Klein how long the Kankakee County model has been active?  Judge Klein said about three or four years.  He also reminded the committee that our model would include teenagers and elderly. 

            Mr. Slack asked Judge Klein how the Kankakee Model is funded?  Judge Klein said that it was federally funded for 3 years and then it ran out.  It is now funded through county funds. 

            Mr. Slack then asked Judge Klein out of the $100,000 budgeted for the drug court here, is it paying for Ms. Stromborg’s salary?  Judge Klein said that it is paying for her salary and that is all at this time.  They are currently looking for space to house the drug court.  One option is seeing if a partnership can be developed with NIU and the recent NIU purchase of the Monsanto Building that is to be designated a health care campus. 

            Mr. Slack asked how much is Ms. Stromborg’s salary?  Judge Klein said that it is $45,000. 

            Mr. Slack continued by stating that most of the federal grants require matching funds.  He hoped to use the $100,000 for matching funds.  If we have to go back to the County now it may be for significant funds.

            Ms. Stromborg said that each case would run about $3,000 to get a client to complete the program. 

            The committee thanked Judge Klein and Ms. Stromborg for their informative update on the drug court.

CASA UPDATE

            Ms. Jill Olson, DeKalb County CASA Director, said that from her last report to the committee in June of 2005, the numbers remain consistent.  They served 102 children in 2004 and currently they have served 98 children in 2005.  The largest cases they have opened are child abuse cases, which amount to between the high 600’s to low 700’s in our county, that is, cases that have been reported to DCFS.

            The demographics of the bulk of children served are infants to children ten years old.  The more difficult cases are older children who have more complicated issues.  Since she has been here for the last 5 years, they serve between 55 to 70 children, we are advocating, obviously for more children, Ms. Olson said.

            The cases closed are a result of parental rights being terminated by the court.  They are seeing fewer cases of children being returned to their homes and families. 

            They currently have 55 advocates working with 3 people leaving.  Two are leaving because of job relocation and one person is leaving because of health problems. Ms. Olson said that each advocate is required to complete 12 hours of continuing education.  They will be trying training people in February 2006 and hope to add more advocates at that time.  They have 23 pro bono attorneys working for the children in our county, too.

COURT SERVICES REPORT

            Ms. Margi Gilmour, Director of DeKalb County Court Services, said that they are now handling about 400 to 450 adult cases and so far it is manageable.  The CRS hours have dropped in October.

            In her juvenile court services report it shows that there is one male left residential in the Quad Cities who is taking classes at a local college there.  He does remain in probation and has a parole officer there who he reports to regularly. 

            In the month of October there were 12 kids detained with one for the second time.  Out of the 12 kids detained there were 6 for the 1^st time, 2 for the 2^nd time, 1 for the 3^rd time, and 2 for the 4^th time. 

            She said that are doing well with the money for detention with the Kane County Agreement.  If we continue this route we will have about $85,000 left as a balance for 2006.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

            Mr. Ken Johnson, DeKalb County Public Defender, said that his department is under budget again this year.  Chairman Leifheit asked him how much the department was under budget?  Mr. Johnson said about  $14,000.00.

            In 2005 they had around 500 plus cases than 4 years ago.  Two hundred cases were given to the new compliance office in the circuit clerk’s office and it is working out wonderfully.  It he didn’t have they compliance officer, then his caseload would have increased by 700 cases.  They are also moving the cases through the court faster because of the sufficient staff that he has.

            He has been assigned a sexually violent case by the Attorney General’s Office.  The last one was done about six year’s ago under Judge Countryman.  If the courts file a civil case again this person then they are saying that he will be sexually violent again.  This person will finish his 37-year sentence soon.  This case could result in a voluminous caseload and files.  The expert witnesses that he will have to call will result in a substantial expense for his department.  There is currently nothing out there for grants to apply for and Springfield may have $2000 that he can apply for.  The other problem is that the State house these prisoners in Southern Illinois near St. Louis, which can result in a 3-day trip each time he sees them.  He may fly down there to keep the time away and expenses down. 

JAIL MONTHLY REPORT       

            Chairman Leifheit said that they average population in the jail in November 2005 was 94 inmates.  The rental costs for the entire year totaled $114,210.00 to house out-of-county inmates.  Our budget for 2006 is for $100,000.00, she pointed out. 

ADJOURNMENT

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

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        ________________________________  

                                                                        Sue Leifheit, Chairman

______________________________    

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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