The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, March 19, 2007 @ 6:30p.m. in the DeKalb County Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Richard Osborne called the meeting to order.  Members present were Marlene Allen, John Hulseberg, and Mr. Ken Andersen.  Ms. DeFauw, Ms. Tobias and Mr. Lyle were absent.  A quorum was present.  Others present were Margi Gilmour and Ken Johnson.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Mr. Andersen, seconded by Mr. Hulseberg, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes for February 2007.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

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

COURT SERVICES REPORT

          Ms. Margi Gilmour, Director of DeKalb County Court Services, reviewed her Adult Report, which shows that they have 29 new active probation cases, with 470 active adult cases between the 4 officers currently.

          Under the Community Services (CRS) the juvenile numbers are really down in the last few months.  She feels that a lot of her kids have been ordered into the Sheriff’s work alternative program right away. 

          In her Juvenile Report, Ms. Gilmour, said that they had 2 kids in residential placement, which is down from 4 kids a couple of months ago.  There were12 kids that were detained in the month of February with 5 kids detained once, 2 for the 2^nd time, 2 for the 3^rd time, 2 for the 8^th time, and 1 for the 14^th time.

          Ms. Gilmour also said that the Mentor Program Graduation is scheduled for the end of April.  There will be about 7 kids that will be graduating.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

Mr. Ken Johnson, DeKalb County Public Defender, said that his office had a good month last month and that their numbers are consistent.  Their win ratio involving court cases is substantial and that it is one of the highest in the State for Public Defender’s Offices. 

JAIL REPORT

          Chairman Osborne said that the Jail Report for the month of February shows that the average daily population in the jail was 107.  He also said that there were 2 typos in the report that are found on the second page of the report.  Under the column that reads “FY2007 Rental Cost” the Original Budget figure should read “200,000”.  Under the column reading “FY 2006 Rental Costs”  the Original Budget figure should read “100,000”.

STUDY FOR VIABILITY OF A HALFWAY HOUSE FOR HELPING TO ALLEVIATE JAIL OVERCROWDING.

          Mr. Hulseberg, said that he attended the jail subcommittee for the last two meetings.  There was discussion on a possible halfway house being proposed to help alleviate the jail over crowding problem as a minimal security facility.  He passed out an article that was done by the Department of Justice in 2003 on the different types of halfway houses (see attached to these minutes)  Some of the people that would be eligible for the halfway house would be mental health cases, some drug issues, shoplifting cases, etc.  They would stay in the halfway house until their case comes to court. 

Ms. Tobias arrived at 7:00p.m.

He said that the members of the ad hoc committee spoke about various locations in the community to house the halfway house.  He said that he spoke recently with a person at the Opportunity House in Sycamore who told him that they might be vacating a space soon that the County might be interested in. Another site that was discussed at the jail sub-committee meeting was using some space in the old Kishwaukee Hospital.  

He would like to take it to the next step and invite Sheriff Scott, Judge Stuckert, Marilyn Stromborg and the ad hoc committee members to our next committee meeting to discuss this further.  The committee agreed that they would also like to discuss this further with the people that Mr. Hulseberg mentioned at their April meeting.  Chairman Osborne said that he would put it on the agenda for next month.

ADJOURNMENT

          Moved by Mr. Hulseberg, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                          Respectfully submitted,

                                                            ___________________________  

                                                          Richard Osborne, Chairman

RO:mcs

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