The Finance Committee of the DeKalb County Board, met on Wednesday, April 2, 2008 @ 7:00p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Michael Haines called the meeting to order.  Members present were Jerry Augsburger, Vince Faivre, Julia Fullerton, John Hulseberg, Roger Steimel and Ruth Anne Tobias.  Others present were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Christine Johnson, Greg Millburg, Ken Campbell, Laura Campbell, Diane Strand, Anita Turner, Joan Hanson and Jim Scheffers.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. Fullerton, seconded by Mr. Augsburger, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from March 2008.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

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

COMPENSATION FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS

          Mr. Gary Hanson, Deputy County Administrator, said that the worksheet before the committee this evening deals with compensation for the County Board members, Circuit Clerk and the Coroner. 

          Ms. Fullerton asked if they could separate out the county board members from the other individuals?

          The committee agreed to separate out the voting.

          Mr. Bockman said that the discussions that he has had have been about the way that it is displayed.  Typically the appointed officials salary is exclusive of the deferred compensation amount and is footnoted on the resolution.  Hopefully, you will have enough information in front of you to clearly show what people are making today and in the future.

          Mr. Bockman said that the County Board Chairman’s salary on the chart reflects that with DeKalb County being what is considered an urban county, this is one of the lowest salaries that we have seen. 

Mr. Faivre said to Mr. Bockman, when you do comparatives you just do them on government officials and not private individuals - private industry is lower on everything.

Mr. Bockman said that Kane County did a study on elected officials with the private industry.   As of a result of that study they are raising their clerk’s salary from $79,000 to $95,000 this year. 

          Mr. Bockman further stated that it’s not a matter of catching up with Kane County or DuPage County, no one will ever suggest that. Ogle County is looking at the Coroner’s position and Peoria County is looking at a substantial  increase for the Circuit Clerk and Coroner’s positions.

          Mr. Faivre said though that the people paying the taxes here in this county do not get a 22.6% increase in pay like these positions.

          The committee then discussed the Coroner’s part-time position and the ESDA Director’s part-time position that is shared by one person. 

          Mr. Bockman said that it is not a traditional combination of jobs.  The ESDA Director salary is at $37,000 and the Coroner’s salary is $47,500.

          Mr. Steimel said then that is about a $90,000 salary for this person.

          Mr. Augsburger said in a free market that since these are what we consider to be top management positions, you could not hire people into these positions at these salaries.

          Mr. Bockman said that managers in the private sector are making more than this, he feels.

          Chairman Haines, said that we are not the private sector, we are the public sector.  We need to discuss the position, not the people in these positions.  We could get a rookie in the next year or so if these people leave or retire who would start at this salary, who could be completely inexperienced. 

          Mr. Bockman also discussed that the Circuit Clerk does perform as the Court Administrator along with her duties as the Circuit Clerk.  She does not have an assistant to perform as the Court Administrator.  He believes that the Circuit Clerk does perform all of the work as the Court Administrator. 

          Chairman Haines said that we are setting the Circuit Clerk’s and the Coroner’s salaries now.  He suggested that the committee could separate the voting on this position and the Coroner’s too. 

After further discussion it was moved by Mr. Faivre, seconded by Mr. Steimel to increase the salary of the Coroner and the Circuit Clerk to increase it by 4%.

          Mr. Hulseberg asked if the voting on the two positions could be separated?

          Mr. Faivre and Mr. Steimel said that they had no problem on separating them.

          Chairman Haines said then we have two separate motions on the floor now.  Four percent (4%) to the Circuit Clerk and then 4% to the Coroner for their increases.

          Chairman Haines said that he would take the Coroner’s position first.

          Ms. Tobias said that she felt the Coroner’s increase was a little low with all the flooding and the NIU shooting event that the Coroner/ESDA Director responded to and has been working on.  She would like to see a 5% increase for this position. 

Mr. Steimel said that he could go with a 5% increase on this position.

Chairman Haines asked if the committee wanted to see a friendly amendment to make the increase 5%?  It would be a 5% increase per year, compounded annually.

Moved by Ms. Fullerton, seconded by Mr. Steimel, to have the salary increase amount to 5% for the Coroner/ESDA Director position. 

Chairman Haines said that Mr. Faivre has to accept the 5% friendly amendment too.  Mr. Faivre said that he would accept that friendly amendment along with Mr. Steimel.  The deferred compensation for this recommendation would be at 3%.

Chairman Haines then said that the motion that the committee would be voting on now would be for a 5% increase annually for the Coroner/ESDA Director position.  The committee voted unanimously to accept recommendation and to forward it to the full board for approval.  

          The committee then discussed the salary increase for the Circuit Clerk position, who also covers as the Court Administrator. 

Moved by Mr. Hulseberg to accept the recommendation as stated for the Circuit Clerk’s salary increases of 9% the first year and then 4% for the 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th year.  The deferred compensation for this position would be at 5%.  Seconded by Ms. Fullerton.

          Mr. Steimel said that he would like to see a 5% increase, not 9%.       

Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Faivre, to allow the increase for the Circuit Clerk’s position to be set at 5% for the 1^st year and then 4% for the remaining three years.

          Amendment to this motion allowed for the deferred compensation to be at 3%.

          Motion failed with two votes being yes and 5 votes being nay.  Mr. Faivre and Mr. Steimel voted yes.

          Chairman Haines said that he was returning back to the original motion of Mr. Hulseberg’s, that is, to accept the original recommendation of 9% increase for the 1^st year and then 4% for the remaining 3 years, with a 5% deferred compensation recommendation.

          There were 5 yes votes and 2 no votes, Motion passed with Mr. Steimel and Mr. Faivre voting no. 

          Chairman Haines returned to the County Board members, committee chairmen and Chairman of the Board compensation recommendations.

          Mr. Bockman said that more and more boards are going to salaries for county boards.  He recommended that the county board should look at forming a sub-committee to look after 2010 census and before 2012 to review how you are compensating the board, the size of the board, the chairmanship, etc. 

          He continued by stating that he just could not recommend changing the Vice Chairman’s position.  The Chairman’s salary is low.  To do the job right takes a lot of time and work to chair this board.  The Mayor of DeKalb gets paid $25,000, and County Board Chairmen in urban counties get a lot more, even the Kendall County Board Chairman gets paid more than our board chairman. 

          Mr. Steimel said that he supports the per diem payment.

          Mr. Bockman reminded the committee that the board only sets 2 years for the County Board Chairman’s salary.

          Moved by Mr. Augsburger, seconded by Mr. Hulseberg, to forward the recommendation as shown on the document passed out this evening by staff.

          Mr. Faivre made a friendly amendment to the motion to eliminate the committee chairmen compensation only to receive their per diem only if the committee meets.

          Mr. Augsburger and Mr. Steimel both stated that whether the committee meets or not, there is still a lot of work that the committee chairmen do.

          Mr. Faivre withdrew his friendly amendment.

          Back to the original motion made by Mr. Augsburger, seconded by Mr. Hulseberg to forward the recommendation as shown on the document passed out this evening by staff to the full board for approval.

          There were 6 yes votes and 1 no vote, Ms. Fullerton being the no vote.  Motion passed.

FACILITY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENTAL UPDATE

          Mr. Ken Campbell, Facilities Management Director, briefly updated the committee on projects that his department has completed for 2007 and new projects that they will be working on for 2008.

          He said that his office has a full print shop in their department.  They do multi-layer forms, envelopes, county board packets, etc.  They do about 130,000 pieces of print orders a month.  They have mail room services, too.

          In 2007 they replaced the fire alarm system in the Administration Building, did a large caulking project in the Public Safety building and Administration Building.  They finished a 4-year courtroom carpeting project too, where they replaced all the carpeting in the courthouse.  They upgraded the panic alarms on the Sycamore campus and performed a scanning project for the Assessments Department that now appears on our network.

          In 2008 they completed the upgrading of the panic alarm system and the carpeting project at the courthouse.  They renovated courtroom 204 and will be replacing the carpeting.  In the Public Safety Building they completed the replacement of the server for the air conditioner and in the Administration Building for the same thing.  They had 100-year old chairs sent out for repair and refinishing.  They reconstructed the Public Safety Building garage floor drains and replaced valves for 52 showers in the Jail.  They replaced the Public

Safety Building’s water heater and boiler, which will be much more energy efficient.

          The committee thanked Mr. Campbell for his very informative report.

ADJOURNMENT

          Moved by Mr. Augsburger, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.    

                                                          Respectfully submitted,

                                                          ____________________________________         

                                                 Chairman Michael Haines

| Home | Return to top | A-Z Index | Return to minutes |