The Health & Human Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, September 11, 2006, @ 6:00p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Robert Rosemier called the meeting to order.  Members present were Marlene Allen, Eileen Dubin, Sally DeFauw, Julia Fullerton and Ruth Anne Tobias.  Paulette Tolene was absent.  A quorum was present.  Others present were Gil Morrison and Mary Olson.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from August 2006.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

          Chairman Rosemier mentioned that there was a change to the agenda this evening because Mr. Rubin could not make it.  Under Old Business Ms. Olson will be talking about the Community Foundation Needs Analysis. Chairman Rosemier will also be speaking under Old Business about assistance to Service Organizations with grant proposals. 

Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Ms. DeFauw, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

REGIONAL SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS – ANNUAL REPORT

Chairman Rosemier introduced Mr. Gil Morrison, Regional Superintendent of Schools, to the committee.  Mr. Morrison presented his annual report (attached to these minutes).  Mr. Morrison said that they employ one full-time Truancy Outreach worker and two part-time workers.  This program began about two years ago through a grant.  It has been going very well.  They were also able to employ a part-time clerical assistant because they added a fingerprinting machine to their office.  This machine has incredibly increased the traffic for the office. 

Mr. Morrison said that he sits on various boards and committees.  His assistant sits on the LINK and the LAN Committee.  Chairman Rosemier asked what these two committees stand for?  Mr. Morrison said that LINK stand for -Local Interagency Networking Council.  It’s a council that overseas some of the local resources and grant monies that are provided to different organizations and then LINK overseas their operations.  LAN is the Local Area Network.  It is specifically called the Child and Adolescent Local Area Network, said Ms. Olson, who also sits on the committee.  Where can we find out about both of these?  Mr. Morrison said from those committees and their members.  Ms. Olson said that she would get information to Chairman Rosemier on the LAN Network Committee.  Mr. Morrison will get information on LINK for Chairman Rosemier, too.

The duties that he performs are found on page 2 of the report.  The Distribution of Funds is found on page 4. Some of the funds for various State Aid do still flow through his office and he distributes them to the appropriate school districts.

Mr. Morrison said that the total school enrollment in the last five years increased by 1,125 students to a total of 17,555.  Last year alone, enrollment increased by 382 students countywide. 

Mr. Morrison said that the total number of 2005-2006 applications made for GED testing was 49 fewer than during 2004-2005.  The number of diplomas is 149.  Four percent of GED applications and four per cent of the diplomas were issued to residents of the DeKalb County Public Safety Building.   

After further discussion, Chairman Rosemier thanked Mr. Morrison for his very informative report.

EXEMPT EMPLOYEE EVALUATION – COMMUNITY SERVICES DIRECTOR

Chairman Rosemier said that the committee had to perform the annual exempt employee evaluation for Ms. Mary Olson, Community Services Director.  Ms. Olson said that she set up goals about two years ago that she still follows and that she has met all of them.  There were no findings on her agency with her CSBG grant.  She further stated that the State held an inspection of the State grant and no findings were found there either.

Ms. Olson said that one of the projects that were new this past year that she and her office worked on was the Katrina Disaster project.  She said that people from the Disaster area in Louisiana moved up here for relief.  Her office performed Case management work for them.  Some of the people that they met needed intense case management help.  Her office is still working with some of them because they have had problems with self-sufficiency. 

Chairman Rosemier reminded the committee that Ms. Olson also administers the Senior Services Tax Levy. He further stated that Mr. Bockman, DeKalb County Administrator, wrote a letter to the committee stating that Ms. Olson had met both her Standard Work Plan and her Professional Work Plan.  He recommended that Ms. Olson be considered for a one career step.   Ms. Tobias explained that the Executive Committee at their November meeting would determine the one career step amount.

Moved by Ms. Fullerton, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried unanimously to accept the recommendation by Mr. Bockman and to forward this recommendation to the Executive Committee for consideration. 

OLD BUSINESS  

          Chairman Rosemier said that a few months back the committee discussed a FAN program through the Lt. Governor’s Office in Springfield, whereby Ms. Olson received 9 fans for the heat wave we had this summer. The fans were to help senior citizens and young children with the heat wave that we had.  Ms. Olson said that they were able to help 1 senior citizen and the rest of the fans went to families with very small children.  Additional fans numbering 27 were also distributed to the Salvation Army, RAMP, and Elder Care Services.  All but 4 were distributed except 4 which remained at Elder Care Services as on August 27, 2006.

Chairman Rosemier asked Ms. Olson if she felt that she could have used more?  Ms. Olson said yes she could have.

After further discussion if was moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Ms. DeFauw and it was carried unanimously to transfer $500.00 into a “cooling fund” line item in Ms. Olson budget from the senior services tax levy funds to be used for funding the purchase of fans for senior citizens in the future on an “as-needed” basis. 

          Ms. Olson then approached the committee regarding the community foundation needs assessment that several representatives spoke to the committee about a few months ago.  This group would be doing human services assessment for the County of DeKalb, which has not be done for fifteen years.  She said that the County’s portion for this assessment research would amount to $2500.00 and would cover the costs for Phase I of the project.  There will be another request for Phase II of the project in the Spring of 2007.  Ms. Olson did not have the amount at this time.

          Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously to recommend the funding of Phase I of the Human Services Needs Assessment Project in the amount of $2500 to the full board for approval. 

          Chairman Rosemier informed the committee about a company called eCivis that helps local governments with the grant process. They have a Grants Locator that is found on their website that companies can use to help them locate various grants for their communities.  This is not a free service.  He and their representative will be meeting with Mr. Bockman, DeKalb County Administrator, next Wednesday, September 20, 2006 @ 11:00a.m., if anyone is interested in attending the meeting.

          He said that McHenry County is using them and appear on their website as one of their users.  Mr. Rosemier stated that the representative told him that their company lets the user know where to find the grants.  ECivis does not write the grants, they help with locating them.  They also can provide on-site and on-line training for persons involved in the grant planning/writing process.

          The committee watched a brief computer presentation on eCivis about their web services, then.  They state that they have about 4,000 Federal, State and Foundation grants that they make available to their users.  Chairman Rosemier said that the County would pay a fee to use their services, but then we could charge outside users from within our county to use it.

ADJOURNMENT

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

                                                                   Respectfully submitted,

                                                                   ________________________________

                                                                   Robert Rosemier, Chairman

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