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DeKalb County, Illinois |
Minutes of the
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The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, May 19, 2008 @ 6:30p.m. in the DeKalb County Administration Building’s Conference Room East. Chairman Richard Osborne called the meeting to order. Members present were Kenneth Andersen, Sally DeFauw, John Hulseberg and Ruth Anne Tobias. Ms. Allen and Mr. Lyle were absent. Others present were Margi Gilmour, Jill Olson and Diane Strand.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTESMoved by Mr. Andersen, seconded by Mr. Hulseberg, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from May 19, 2008.
Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Ms. DeFauw, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from May 29, 2008.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDAMoved by Mr. Andersen, seconded by Ms. DeFauw, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.
PUBLIC COMMENTNone. CASA UPDATEMs. Jill Olson, Executive Director of DeKalb County’s CASA Office, presented the committee with an update on her department.
From November 2007 the number of applicants have increased. The total number of children presently being served is 106. The number of children being served during the period of 11/18/207 to the present is 112. The end number for the calendar year for 2007 of children being served was 123, said Ms. Olson. She feels that the numbers will increase this year. As she mentioned in November 2007 where they have seen some increases has been because Judge Klein has decided to assign some cases to CASA dealing with truancy cases. What they are seeing in truancy cases is that when a child is consistently truant more often than not there are other problems in that household, she further explained. That is where they are seeing their growth.
Ms. Olson said that CASA has been working statewide to get the funding. She continued by stating that Illinois is one of 9 states in the whole U.S. where CASA programs are not receiving any funding from the State of Illinois. She encouraged the committee members and board members to remind their legislators how important the funding is for CASA through the Illinois CASA Program.
Mr. Andersen asked Ms. Olson what kind of money are you looking for?
Ms. Olson said, statewide, the CASA Program is looking for $5 million.
The committee thanked Ms. Olson for her report.
COURT SERVICES MONTHLY REPORTS Ms. Margi Gilmour, DeKalb County Court Services Director, presented her monthly Juvenile and Adult Report to the committee.
She said that regarding the Adult Report for the month of May 2008 there were 23 new probation cases. She also said that there were a total of 494 total active cases for that month. She mentioned that the CRS hours showed 58 adults that were referred to the program in May, who completed 3,000 hours.
Ms. Gilmour said that the Juvenile Report shows that they have their 4th residential placement. They had 5 kids that were placed in detention for the month of May. Of those 5 kids, 2 were detained twice, 1 for the first time, 1 for the second and third time and 1 for the ninth and tenth time.
Ms. Gilmour then pointed out to the committee that when she compares where they were last year in terms of dollars, they have significantly reduced their detention money spent in 2008 vs. 2007. However, the placement numbers have spiked in 2008.
Ms. Gilmour then said that Senate Bill 2275 passed at the end of May 2008. It is pending some amendments, from what she has been told. The bill does amend the Juvenile Court Act that will provide that young people under the age of 18 rather than 17 years old, will now be subject to proceedings under the Juvenile Court Act as opposed to the criminal code. The effective date for that to begin will be January 1, 2010.
Ms. Gilmour said that they have also made provisions in the bill for a Juvenile Jurisdiction Task Force to be established to study felony offenses. She said that everything that she has read on this bill is to expect a 30% increase in caseload. She has sent all of this information to the Judiciary, Mr. Bockman, Mr. Matekaitis and Mr. Hanson to take a look at their options and figure out the impact of this bill. Ms. Gilmour also said that she feels that once this bill goes into effect that the Kane County Juvenile Center will be full with no room for us.
PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORTChairman Osborne said that the Public Defender’s Report numbers are usual and if anyone has any questions about it to call Ms. Harris, DeKalb County’s Public Defender.
JAIL REPORTChairman Osborne said that the monthly Jail Report shows that the average daily population number has increased and what they have spent last month has increased a lot. He mentioned that if any committee member had any questions regarding this report to call the Sheriff’s Department.
ADJOURNMENTMoved by Ms. DeFauw, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
_________________________________ Richard Osborne, Chairman
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