The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, October 16, 2006 @ 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 Vary, Anita Turner, Pat LaVigne and Paulette Tolene.  Mr. Steimel was absent.  Others present were Sheriff Scott, Kenneth Johnson, Margi Gilmour, Gary Hanson and Steve Kuhn.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. Vary, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes for September 2006.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

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

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

Mr. Ken Johnson, DeKalb County Public Defender, said that his domestic numbers seemed to have gone up slightly.  They closed more felony cases than opened this past month, too.  He did notice that with Judge Brady and Judge Wotecki being on the bench now, that his attorneys are setting more bench trials than jury trials.  This does save time and resources.

There is a big push again to reinstate the State Grant for investigators and experts. Because of the pressure from downstate, again, this one might have the possibility of coming back next year. This one is exceptional, if a client needs something, he will be able to hire an expert and will have the backing of this County. 

COURT SERVICES REPORT

          Ms. Margi Gilmour, Director of DeKalb County Court Services, said that they had 30 new cases in August, which is a big jump and a new record.  The CRS program had a big jump in the numbers ordered and completed. 

          She said in the Juvenile Report it shows that for the month of August they had 3 residential placements.  One of them was released in September and then they had a male youth placed in the Peoria Youth Farm also. 

Out of the 11 detentions that they had in August, 2 kids were detained for the 1^st time, 2 for the 4^th, 1 for the 5^th, 3 for the 6^th, 2 for the 7^th and 1 for the 10^th time. They had one juvenile detained twice that month.

Ms. Vary asked to see Year-to-Date figures for last year and this year on the report so that the committee members can see comparisons and trends?  Ms. Gilmour said that she would include it for next month’s report.

JAIL REPORT

          Sheriff Scott informed the committee that according to the Jail Report the average daily population for the jail was 102 inmates for the year.  They are usually sending out 22 – 24 inmates everyday to Boone County, Ogle County and sometimes Kendall County. 

          Chairman Leifheit asked Sheriff Scott how many guards are needed at night?  Sheriff Scott said between 2 to 3 depending on what’s going on.

          Sheriff Scott mentioned that the ordinance he is presenting before the committee this evening would allow to mandate doctors to charge the County - Public Aid rates for medical services.  This would equal a savings of approximately 40%, which is significant, he said.

          Ms. LaVigne asked Sheriff Scott, what about medications, are you going for that too?  Sheriff Scott said they would try.  Their real target is with the emergency room. 

          Ms. Vary asked Sheriff Scott if the Jail carries insurance to cover this sort of thing?  Sheriff Scott said that they do not have such insurance.  Ms. Vary asked, is it possible to look at such a thing? Sheriff Scott said that it depends on the premium.

Sheriff Scott said that he brought this ordinance to the Finance Committee as an informational issue.          Some issues were raised at the Finance Committee like, could the emergency room refuse to take the prisoners?  Is there a local doctor that would see them?  Sheriff Scott said that the emergency room can’t refuse them.  Ms. LaVigne said that KMA would see them.

Sheriff Scott said that the State’s Attorney’s Office is reviewing this ordinance.  One of the issues that was brought up at the Finance Committee was if the County Board does adopt this ordinance, is the Sheriff locked into demanding that they only charge us that amount?  Could he pick and choose? For example, we could say for this doctor - we will pay this price, but if the emergency room sees us, we won’t pay the full price.  This is the issue that the State’s Attorney’s Office is reviewing right now.  He has not heard anything yet.  Therefore, he is withdrawing the ordinance from the committee for tonight. He did want the committee to be informed as to why he was asking for it in the first place.

FY2007 Budget Discussion

          Mr. Gary Hanson, DeKalb County Deputy County Administrator, said that there were no appeals filed for the departments that report to this committee.

          He then passed out the change in wording in the budget regarding the Sheriff/Coroner’s and State’s Attorney’s request for additional staffing requests, please see sheet attached to these minutes.  He said that he had brought it before the Finance Committee already and he wanted to bring it before this committee as an informational issue.

ADJOURNMENT

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

                                                          Respectfully submitted,

                                                          ________________________________  

                                                          Sue Leifheit, Chairman