The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 at 7:00p.m. at the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias called the meeting to order. Members present were Eileen Dubin, Julia Fauci, Michael Haines, Pat LaVigne, Robert Rosemier, Pat Vary and Roger Steimel.  Mr. Osborne was absent.  The committee invited Ms. Allen to discuss items from the Law and Justice Committee.  Others present were Ray Bockman, Sharon Holmes, Jerry Augsburger, Steve Walt, Anita Turner, Greg Millburg, Paul Stoddard and Liz Carney.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

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

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA       

            Moved by Ms. Vary, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda.

APPOINTMENTS

Building Board of Appeals:                                  Mr. Steve Bollinger

Mr. Ralph Tompkins

reappointment for a term of 5 years, until

04/30/2013.

DeKalb County Community

Mental Health Board:                         Mr. John Rogalin, appointment for a term of

4 years, until 12/31/2012.

DeKalb County Nursing

Home Foundation Board:                         Ms. Barbara Hoffman, appointment for a

term of 3 years, until 04/30/2011.

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

Appointments expiring for June 2008:

1.)            Workforce Investment Act Board – 2 positions

2.)            Community Services Administrative Board – 4 positions

Chairman Tobias explained to the committee that she is in need of appointees for the River Valley Workforce Investment Act Board.  She said that she needs two people, one person from the business arena and one person from the county board.

            She also said that she needs two people for the Nursing Home Operating Board of which Ken Andersen has shown interest in serving, so that means she would still need one more person.

            If anyone is interested in serving on these boards, please contact Chairman Tobias or the County Board Office.

RESOLUTION: RELEASE OF EXECUTIVE SESSION MINUTES

            Mr. Bockman said that this a housekeeping item that we do semi-annually to release executive session minutes that we are holding.  Usually they have to do with personnel issues or a land acquisition matter.  We really don’t do a lot of executive session minutes, he further explained.

            Moved by Ms. Vary, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and it was carried unanimously to forward this recommendation to the full board for approval.        

RESOLUTION: CERTIFIED LIST OF ELECTION JUDGES

Ms. Sharon Holmes, DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder, approached the

committee about a resolution on the certified list of election judges.  She said that this is a bi-annual event where election judges are chosen by the two political parties following the even number year of a primary.  Ms. Holmes explained that election judges are appointed for a two-year period.  The list of election judges that the committee sees included with the resolution tonight is about 90% of the same people that have been serving for a while now. 

            Moved by Mr. Haines, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to forward this recommendation to the full board for approval.

RESOLUTION:  AMENDMENT TO THE MARRIAGE LICENSE FEE

            Mr. Bockman explained that State law was adopted to fund the legal representation in domestic violence cases.  The counties have no choice to do this.  The attorneys told him, when he discussed this issue with them, was that this is a State law and that we should comply with it.

            He explained that in April 2008 the Maximus Corporation completed a review of various fees currently in force in DeKalb County including the Marriage License fee to determine the difference between those fees and the actual cost to provide the service.  What is being proposed is to increase the fee from $19.00 to $30.00.  Five ($5.00) out of that $30.00 will go to the State, $6.00 will constituted an increase in the Marriage License Fee locally.  You could go to $35.00 if you want or you could implement only the $5.00. 

Ms. Holmes said that the average number of marriage licenses filed is around 600 a year.

            Moved by Mr. LaVigne, seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to increase the total amount to $35.00, including the $5.00 collect to go to the State and to forward this recommendation to the full board for approval.

RESOLUTION:  REINSTATEMENT OF FEDERAL LOBBYISTS

            Mr. Bockman explained to the committee that back in December 2005 the County Board entered into an agreement with Marc Associates, Inc. to be DeKalb County’s federal lobbyists.  He is at a point right now that he is recommending that we rekindle the agreement with Marc Associates Inc. that we have interrupted.

            Originally it would have run through to the end of last year, however, it did not because we stopped paying them.  Basically it appeared that we had gotten nothing for our money.  The year was marked by the Jack Abraamoff scandal and was the worst year ever for federal lobbyists.

            During the next year our County did receive an earmark.  He found it ironic that in the first 160 years we have never gotten an earmark and six months after our lobbyists asked for one, we got it.

            Mr. Rosemier said that he would be interested in reinstating the agreement from now until the end of this year.  He could see spending that amount of money. 

            Mr. Haines said that he had a dim view on lobbyists. He suggested that we might wait until January 2009 and see what happens in Washington, D.C. after the election.

            Ms. Vary said that she feels that it’s a game, like if you don’t play it; you don’t get it.

            Ms. Fauci suggested that we may want to set up a bi-partisan committee from our board that would visit with our legislators about certain issues that we want.

            Chairman Tobias asked Mr. Bockman, what is our next step?

            He said that it would be do you want to do it and when do you want it to start?

            Moved by Mr. Rosemier, seconded by Ms. Vary, and it was carried to recommend that the County reinstate the agreement with Marc Associates Inc. beginning June 1, 2008 with a fee of $7,000 per month with an ending date of December 31. 2008.  There were 3 no votes and 6 yes votes.   The no votes were Mr. Haines, Ms. Dubin and Ms. Fauci.  The yes votes were Ms. LaVigne, Ms. Vary, Mr. Rosemier, Ms. Allen, Mr. Steimel and Chairman Tobias.

PROCLAMATION:  MOTORCYCLE AWARENESS AND SAFETY MONTH

            Chairman Tobias said that she was bringing a proclamation forward for the May County Board Meeting regarding that fact that May is Motorcycle Awareness and Safety Month. 

APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA

Mr. Ray Bockman, County Administrator, reviewed the County Board Agenda for the Board Meeting to be held on May 21, 2008. 

Mr. Bockman said that there is a resolution that will be included in the packet from the Ad Hoc Rules Committee. 

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

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Mr. Steimel, Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Committee, said the wind farms are coming back.   He said that Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) position seems to be similar to before.  He felt that most of the properties would be located south of I-88.  He also said that the Planning and Zoning Department is working with FPL too. 

Mr. Haines, Chairman of the Finance Committee, said that they heard from Mr. Fred Lantz of Sikich about the County’s audit.  He said that it was a very good report.  They also discussed the jail study and decided not to hire Mark Goldman, who was the consultant who wrote the study back in 2003, to update it.  Mr. Bockman wrote a letter to the County Board members regarding his findings and the committee thought that his numbers were more realistic to work with.

Ms. Allen, Committee Member of the Law and Justice Committee, said that they discussed establishing a Children’s Advocacy Center Fee and briefly discussed the status of the safe house.

Ms. Dubin, Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, said that her committee is still waiting to hear from the Department of Economic Opportunity regarding the grant proposal that they applied for.  They also discussed Welcome Signs to put up around the County and they heard from Paul Borek, Director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation on his update.  They discussed community-based farming, the September Energy Conference and Mr. Metzger, Sr., who is working on tourism for DeKalb County.

Ms. Vary said that she had nothing to report.

Mr. Rosemier, Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee, said that they heard from Mr. Michael Flora of the Ben Gordon Center who discussed addictive behaviors with the committee.  He also said that in July they will be holding a joint meeting with members of the Economic Development Committee regarding affordable housing. 

Ms. Fauci, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that they received their OSLAD grant, which is approximately $380,000. 

Ms. LaVigne, Chairman of the County Highway Committee, said that the had no report and to read the minutes from her last committee meeting.

Chairman Tobias reminded the committee about the Annual NACo Conference that will be held in Kansas City this year.  She said that the rules are that she can attend along with three members of the board.  She said that if anyone is interested in attending the conference to please contact Mary Supple at the County Board Office.

Chairman Tobias also mentioned that she will be speaking at the Metro West State of the County event on May 30, 2008 in Sandwich.  If anyone is interested in attending please let Mary Supple know.

Chairman Tobias then informed the committee that she is looking for a couple of county board members to meet with her, Eileen Dubin and Mr. Paul Borek of the Economic Development Corporation regarding the strategic planning program.

Chairman Tobias also mentioned that she attended the Thank You

Session for the community at NIU today.  She said that Ms. Sue Johnson mentioned that they were starting a Huskie on Parade initiative.  They are looking for businesses who would sponsor a Huskie and the money raised will go to the scholarship fund.  The initiative will run until homecoming day.

            Mr. Bockman reminded the committee about the County Board Workshop that would be held next Wednesday, 5/21/08, the night of the board meeting at 6:30p.m. to discuss Water issues and funding.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Mr. Steimel, and seconded by Ms. Vary, to adjourn the meeting.  The motion was approved unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

______________________________

Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias

__________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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