The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 at 7:00p.m. at the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias called the meeting to order. Members present were Julia Fauci, Roger Steimel, Pat LaVigne and Robert Rosemier.  Members absent were Jeff Whelan, Julia Fullerton, Sue Leifheit and Dennis Sands.  Others present were Paulette Tolene, Jeff Metzger, Sr., Steve Kuhn, Greg Millburg, Steve Slack, Vince Faivre, Anita Turner, Jerry Augsburger and Eileen Dubin.   

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from August 2006.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA    

                Chairman Tobias said that she was moving item #7- General Discussion, ahead to item #5, right after Appointments. 

          Moved by Ms. Fauci, seconded by Mr. Rosemier, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

APPOINTMENTS:

Community Mental Health Board:            Ms. Cynthia Luxton, RN, MS, appointed for a term of 4 years, until December 31, 2010.

Victor-Adams Drainage District:            Mr. Bill Coultrip

                                                                                    Mr. Brian Miller

                                                                                    Both reappointments for a term of 3 years, until September 1, 2009.

Community Services Administrative

Board:                                                                         Ms. Dawn Littlefield, appointment for a term of 3 years, until July 1, 2009.

Housing Authority of the County

Of DeKalb:                                                                 Mr. Brian Bemis, reappointment for a term of 5 years, until November 1, 2011.

          Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Mr. Rosemier, and it was carried unanimously to approve the appointments as presented and to forward them to the full board for approval.

Appointments expiring for October 2006 are:

          Workforce Investment Act Board – 2 positions

          DeKalb County Cooperative Extension Board – 3 positions

          DeKalb County Sheriff’s Merit Commission – 1 position

          South Grove Cemetery Association – 3 positions

Mr. Whelan arrived at 7:03p.m.

Ms. Fullerton arrived at 7:05p.m.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

          Ms. Fauci, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee, stated that her  committee was handed their budget for the forest preserve and that they will be discussing it at the next two meetings coming up.  Improvements on Pottawatomi Woods are almost finished with the Forest Preserve District planning the opening in October. 

          Mr. Rosemier, Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, stated that they heard from Mr. Gil Morrison, Regional Superintendent of Schools, regarding his annual report. 

He also said that they heard from Ms. Mary Olson, Community Services Director, regarding a resolution coming to the board this month on a needs analysis that has not been done for our County for fifteen years.  It should be done every five or ten years, said Mr. Rosemier.  He explained that they will be engaging in the first Phase of the project and the group asked us if the County would like to participate and support it.  The cost of participation is based on the percentage of seniors that exist in the County.  They determined that our contribution would be $2500 for Phase I and then Phase II will follow next.  Our contribution for Phase II would be slightly larger.  It is based on the percentage of seniors, like I said before, at 14% and then they increased it to 19% because seniors require more assistance.   The money will come out of the excess funds remaining in the Senior Services Tax Levy funds, he further stated.

Mr. Rosemier also said that they will be transferring over $500 from the Senior Services Tax Levy for the purchase of fans, should an emergency happen. Lt. Quinn did deliver 36 fans to our County this summer because of the heat wave we experienced, and only 9 were given to Community Services.  Ms. Olson, Director of the Community Services Department, and her staff will be in charge of the fans that they purchase with the $500.  Her department will also determine who receives the fans.

          Mr. Whelan, Chairman of the Finance Committee, said that they were given their budget books for FY2007.  Mr. Hanson will hold a Question and Answer session on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 @ 6:00p.m. in Conference Room East. 

          Ms. Fullerton, Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, stated that her committee discussed the broadband proposal from NIU and the committee decided not to proceed with it.  Chairman Tobias asked Ms. Fullerton if she and her committee had thought about discussing Arts and Entertainment in our county?  Ms. Fullerton said no, they had not, but they had discussed agri-tourism.

          Mr. Steimel, Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Committee, stated that they are bringing a zoning text amendment to the board for sign regulations.  This would allow signs in the agricultural districts if adopted.  The Stormwater Water Management Plan has been scheduled for a public hearing on September 28^th following, which it will go back to the Stormwater Management Committee, then to the Planning and Zoning Committee, and then the County Board. 

          Mr. Steimel also spoke about the Drug Court kick-off session that he attended last week. He said about six other county board members attended it too.  They are looking at 16 candidates to begin the program.  It will take them about 14 months to finish the program, he said.  He continued by stating that Mr. Slack was recognized as the person who initiated the program.  The county board was also thanked at the session for providing the funding for the drug court program.

          Ms. Fauci asked what about transportation for some of these candidates, that is, for those who might have DUI’s?  Mr. Slack said that one of the criteria for this program that the candidates had to meet was to have transportation.  He further stated that the Task Force should revisit this issue. 

          Ms. LaVigne, Chairman of the County Highway Committee, said that there was no report from her committee this month.

          Chairman Tobias stated that the Multi-County Luncheon that they held in August was very well attended.  They had about 40 people there including the legislators from all four counties (Boone, DeKalb, Grundy and Kendall).  One issue that they discussed was that growing counties do not have enough funds to keep up with the county infrastructure.  They are trying to determine if there is a county impact fee that would be decided by referendum.  She said that  the legislators were very impressed with the sense of regionalism that is being shown between the four counties. 

PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION PLANNING

          Mr. Gary Hanson, DeKalb County Deputy County Administrator, said that it is an interesting opportunity for anyone to remove the results of a disaster before it happens.  Mr. Hanson said, before you is the request to apply for a planning grant.  It is understood that if you want to mitigate any problems and get federal funds, the federal government won’t even consider it unless you’ve planned for it.  The proposal before you is to also hire Molly O’Toole and Associates to do that for us.  The grant would pay 75% of the costs and it would cost us the remaining 25%. 

Chairman Tobias said that the other good thing about this grant is that it is the only planning grant funding in the State of Illinois and DeKalb County is the only county that will be doing it. 

Ms. Fullerton wondered if animal evacuation will be considered in the disaster plan?  She brought the disaster binder from the firm that she works for that includes language on a disaster plan for this issue.  She is giving it to the County to use for research on this subject.  The committee thanked her for it.

Mr. Hanson said that the other resolution refers to the creation of a committee for this purpose, that is, hazard mitigation.

Moved by Ms. Fauci, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to recommend the two resolutions, one for the creation of the hazard mitigation committee and the other one for hiring Molly O’Toole and Associates, and to forward this recommendation to the full board for approval.

EXECUTIVE SESSION MINUTES RELEASE

Chairman Tobias said that once a year the county releases the executive session minutes for public view and that is what is before the committee this evening.

Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Rosemier, and it was carried unanimously to forward the resolution to the full board for approval.

APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA

Mr. Hanson, DeKalb County Deputy Administrator, reviewed the county board agenda for the board meeting to be held on September 20, 2006. 

Moved by Mr. Rosemier, seconded by Mr. Whelan, and it was carried unanimously to forward the county board agenda to the full county board for approval.

ADJOURNMENT

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

Respectfully submitted,

______________________________

Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias

_____________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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