DeKalb County, Illinois

Minutes of the
Executive Committee

December 10, 2008

DRAFT

The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, December 10, 2008 at 5:30p.m. at the Administration Building’s Conference Room East. Chairman Tobias called the meeting to order. Members present were Marlene Allen, Ken Andersen, Larry Anderson, Eileen Dubin, Julia Fauci, Michael Haines, Pat LaVigne and Jeff Metzger, Sr.. Others present were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Aaron Ruder, John Emerson, Anita Turner, Jerry Augsburger, Greg Millburg, Scott Newport, Riley Oncken, Paul Stoddard, Kevin Chambliss and John Hulseberg.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Mr. Haines, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from November 2008.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Ms. LaVigne asked if she could speak to the committee about changing the board rules on a quorum? Mr. Bockman asked if he could speak on the 1^st Time Homebuyers Program? Chairman Tobias placed Ms. LaVigne’s item as 5a. and Mr. Bockman’s item as 5b. on the agenda.

Moved by Mr. Anderson, seconded by Mr. Metzger, Sr., and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

APPOINTMENTS

1. River Valley Workforce Investment

Act Board: Ms. Jean Petesch

Mr. Mark E. Thate

Mr. Phil Amberg

All appointments for a term of

2 years, until 12/31/2010.

2. Board of Health: Mr. Scott Starkweather

Dr. Linda Liston

Mr. Jesus Romero

All reappointments for a term

of 3 years, until 12/31/2011.

And

Mr. Paul Stoddard, appointment for a term of 1 year, until 12/31/2009.

3. Union Drainage District #1: Mr. Dennis Johnson,

reappointment for a term of

3 years, until 12/31/2011.

4. #14 Victor-Clinton Drainage District: Mr. Rich Konitzer

Mr. Floyd Hunt

Ms. Judy Larson

All reappointments for a term

of 3 years, until 9/01/2011.

Appointments expiring for January 2009:

1. DeKalb County Nursing Home Foundation Board: 1 position

2. DeKalb County Rehab and Nursing Center

Operating Board: 4 positions

3. DeKalb County Supportive Living Facility Board: 6 positions

4. Community Services Administrative Board: 1 position

Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to forward the appointments to the full board for approval.

Mr. Hulseberg said that he had spoken with Ms. Mary Ramp about being the county board representative on her administrative board and so he is volunteering to sit on that board.

APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA

Mr. Ray Bockman, County Administrator, reviewed the County Board Agenda for the Board Meeting to be held on December 17, 2008.

The committee discussed the items from the Highway Committee since they only had 3 members present at their meeting and they did not have a quorum. The committee discussed that as the Executive Committee they can vote on sending the Highway Committee materials to the full board for approval since a quorum of the Highway Committee was present at the Executive Committee tonight and the chairman and vice-chairman of that committee agreed to this.

Moved by Mr. Anderson, seconded by Mr. Haines, to place the Highway Committee items on the county board agenda with the consent of the Highway Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Highway Committee.

Returning to the original motion to approve the County Board Agenda, it was moved by Mr. Haines, seconded by Ms. LaVigne and it was carried unanimously to approve the county board agenda and to forward it to the full board for approval.

COMMITTEE STRUCTURE DISCUSSION

The committee then discussed Ms. LaVigne’s request to amend the Rules of Order of the DeKalb County Board to change the quorum qualifications from 4 members to 3 members present.

It was moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to amend the language of the Rules of Order of the DeKalb County Board to state “a quorum of a standing committee shall be a majority of its members” and to forward this recommendation to the full board for approval.

1^st TIME HOMEBUYERS PROGRAM

Mr. Bockman, DeKalb County Administrator, that there will not be a 1^st Time Homebuyer’s Program this year. He explained to the new county board members what that program is. He said in the past that the County was not the issuer and that it did not cost us anything. This year the State sent a letter back stating that we couldn’t do a joint agreement with these governments and have a single issuer. We have been doing this for several years and many communities have been participating in it, so why would you want to stop.

Mr. Bockman continued by saying that there are 70 entities involved in this program and they all received the same letter that we did.

He said that we are pursuing this issue and will find out what is happening with this program, and hope that it will get reinstituted.

He will be sending out a letter out tomorrow to Springfield telling them that we object to what they have done.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Mr. Metzger, Sr., Chairman of the Health & Human Services Committee, said that they revisited two proposals for the one-time allocation request for the Senior Tax Levy funds. Family Service Agency came back and gave the committee more detail and information on the 12 PDA’s that they want to purchase. The committee agreed to fund this request. Elder Care Services was not present and they did not break down the figures individually on the laptops and printers/scanners that they wanted to purchase, so the committee decided to fund only one laptop and one printer/scanner and case for now to see how well it runs. Mary Ramp informed the committee that the poverty level in DeKalb County as of the 2000 census was around 9,000 and currently she currently estimates that the number could be about 14,000 people. Her concern and the concern of the committee is that that number could increase by 5% or 10% in the county next year because of unemployment and foreclosures. The committee will be keeping a close eye on these numbers

Mr. Andersen, Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Committee, said that they have one item coming before the county board for approval this month. He also said that they will not be meeting in December.

Ms. Allen, Chairman of the Law and Justice Committee, said that they would be meeting next Monday evening.

Ms. Dubin, Chairman of the Economic Development Committee said that

they will be meeting later this evening.

Ms. Fauci, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee they will be holding an education type meeting next week and she invited all new county board members to attend.

Mr. Haines, Chairman of the Finance Committee, said that they had no meeting in December.

Ms. LaVigne, Chairman of the County Highway Committee, said that their meeting date in January is the 8^th @ 6:00p.m.

EXTENSION OF THE FEDERAL LOBBYISTS CONTRACT

Mr. Bockman approached the committee about extending the contract with the federal lobbyist firm Marc Associates. He stated that when he contacted them to inform them that we would not continue our association with their company, their reaction was not to do that now. He said that there are rare opportunities on the horizon with regard to stimulus monies that will be appropriated at the federal level. They are convinced that DeKalb County and others who are represented will do better at that than those that are not. They also said to hang on for six more months, that they would cut their fee to $4,000 a month and go to the end of June 2009. He said that the risk reward ratio has changed by their substantially reduced fee and by the federal activity. He feels that they have been doing a lot for our water initiatives and roadways.

Mr. Bockman continued by stating that he felt that they were instrumental in our County receiving an earmark for $175,000 for our Drug Court.

Mr. Metzger, Sr., said that he has been hearing more and more from people that it is important at the state level to have representatives lobbying on their behalf. He asked if there was some way that the lobbyists could report back to this committee with progress, like a monthly report?

Mr. Bockman said yes, they could do that.

Mr. Oncken said that he felt that it was a great way to spend our $24,000 for a short-term contract of 6 months.

Mr. Haines asked how anyone could know whether funds we received were because we had a lobbyist or would they have come to us anyway due to resurgence in federal spending?

After a brief discussion, it was moved by Mr. Andersen, seconded by Mr. Metzger, Sr., and it was carried to forward this recommendation to the full board for approval. Mr. Haines voted no.

EXECUTIVE SESSION: LAND ACQUISITION

It was moved by Mr. Haines, seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to move into closed session to discuss land acquisition.

It was moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to return to open session.

It was moved by Ms. Fauci, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and it was carried unanimously to recommend the acquisition of the property located at 111 Walnut Street in Sycamore, Illinois in the amount of $105,600 and to forward this recommendation to the full board for approval.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Ms. Fauci, seconded by Mr. Haines, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

______________________________

Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias

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