The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, October 17, 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, Pat LaVigne, Anita Turner, Roger Steimel and Pat Vary.  Eric Johnson was absent.  Others present were Ken Johnson and Margi Gilmour.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Ms. Turner, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from the September 2005 meeting.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

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

DRUG COURT UPDATE

Chairman Leifheit said that Judge Klein sends his apologies that he could not make it for this evening’s meeting.  Hopefully he will be able to come in November 2005.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

          Mr. Ken Johnson, DeKalb County Public Defender, said that he has noticed a trend in his office lately as to the number of felony cases that his office has open.  His numbers keep increasing, not at an alarming rate, but something that concerns him.  The opening of the compliance division program in the Circuit Clerk’s Office, is outstanding, he said.  This compliance officer took some of his cases for collection and, of course, his caseload was decreased.      He looked at his numbers over the last couple of years and they are a little bit higher than they were a year and a half ago.  The concern that he has is that when he took away the 40 cases on Fridays , his numbers should be reflecting lower, but they are, in fact, higher than they were before.

          He then mentioned that the State’s Attorney’s Office has a record felony year again this year by filing more DUI’s and felonies.  The domestic cases are now going to start skyrocketing, by his opinion.  Ms. Turner feels that more men and women are coming forward on domestic violence now than in years past. 

COURT SERVICES MONTHLY REPORT

          Ms. Margi Gilmour, Director of the Court Services Department, briefly reviewed her monthly report.  She says that the numbers on her adult report  show 23 new cases in August, which were the most so far this year.  Her adult officers handle between 120 to 130 active cases each.  The CRS hours show that the ordered hours and the completion numbers have both gone up.

          In her juvenile report, there were 6 detentions, of which, 1 was for the 1st time, 1 for the 2nd, 3 for the 3rd time. There are still 2 kids at Arrowhead, but she doesn’t have a firm base on them yet.

          She said that the money in the draw-down account for Kane County Juvenile Detention Center still seems to hold its own.  The September bill will show a big jump on the numbers, Ms. Gilmour said.

SHERIFF’S JAIL REPORT

Chairman Leifheit said that the average daily population was 92 in September.  She said that she spoke with Sheriff Scott today who mentioned that one day in September they had 101 inmates, which she had never heard of before.  The overflow of inmates were placed in jails outside of the DeKalb County.  As of September the jail is up to $74,000 to house inmates in jails outside of the County. 

          As far as the drug court update, asked Mr. Stiemel, do we know what is going on there?  Chairman Leifheit said that she does not know.  She said Judge Stuckert cancelled last month late in the day and now Judge Klein did for this month at the very last minute.  She just doesn’t know what is going on.  Ms. Vary asked if there is anyway to get a written update from the judges? 

          Mr. Johnson said that he is on that committee and one of the things that they have encountered is that in order to receive the grant monies is that if we begin the program before the drug court task force starts it, then we will not receive any funding for the program.  Chairman Leifheit asked Mr. Johnson if that may be the reason that the judges have not attended yet?  Mr. Johnson said that he can’t speak for the judges, but that is what was mentioned at their last meeting as a committee and Judge Klein was present.

ADJOURNMENT

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

                                                          Respectfully submitted,

__________________________________                        

Chairman Sue Leifheit

__________________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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