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DRAFT

The Health and Human Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, July 6, 2009 @ 6:30p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Jeffery L. Metzger, Sr., called the meeting to order.  Members present were Eileen Dubin, John Emerson, Pat LaVigne and Paul Stoddard.  Mr. Rich Osborne was absent.   Others present were Herb Holderman, John Horn and Ms. Donna Moulton.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Ms. Dubin, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from June 2009.

          Ms. Dubin said that she would like to have the second page, second paragraph, last line removed from her comments. 

          Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Mr. Stoddard, and it was carried unanimously to amend the minutes as specified by Ms. Dubin.
         

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Moved by Mr. Emerson, seconded by Mr. Stoddard, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda.

PUBLIC COMMENT
          Chairman Metzger, Sr., said that he would like to update the committee on the Kishwaukee Hospital’s Behavioral Care Center and possible closing. 

          Ms. Dubin said that the local newspaper stated that the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Commission indicates that the units should stay open since there are not enough beds. 

          Chairman Metzger, Sr. said that yes, they did an actual count on the number of available beds and the numbers are lower than what was recorded.  The board is meeting next week and then the task force will get together the day after that meeting. 

          Chairman Metzger, Sr. also informed the committee that the Illinois budget has a $16 billion plus deficit and what it will do to agencies.  A lot of agencies are looking at taking contingency measures like short-term loans, cutting personnel and borrowing against CD’s.

VETERAN’S ASSISTANCE – MR. HERB HOLDERMAN
          Mr. Herb Holderman said that his agency is 220% over on his direct assistance, which equals about $25,000.  In May they spent about $10,000 in assistance and helped 41 veterans.  In June 119 veterans visited their office for assistance of one type or another.  They assisted 63 veterans and paid out a little over $15,000.

          He also said that they gave out 19 or 20 food certificates to Vets.  They received an extra $1,000 in food certificates and they have used that up.  They are almost all out of certificates, and this month has just started.

          Mr. Holderman said that Transvac does transport some of their Vets to Hines Hospital and to Aurora.  If Transvac loses funding then the Veteran’s Assistance will have to take over and buy a vehicle for these transports.  The Veteran’s Assistance Office does have money that they have set aside for this purpose.

          His agency has had 71 claims for VA Healthcare, 3 widow pensions, 8 veterans pensions and filed 84 claims for service-connected benefits.  They wrote 50 claims last year.  Mr. Holderman said that they see 12 to 15 people a day and some are repeats.  Last year at the same time of the year, they were only seeing 6 to 7 people a day.

          His agency will be holding a Job Health Fair coming up on September 19, 2009 at the new Community Outreach Building.  He hopes that the Vets will get something out of this Fair by talking to different employers and that.  They will be looking at state agencies to help the Vets look for jobs.  He said that some of the Vets are highly skilled like the reservists who have some technical knowledge.

          Chairman Metzger, Sr., said that with these additional numbers coming in on how many people you are serving this year so far, can your staff keep up with all of this added workload?

          Mr. Holderman said yes, they have been able to handle it all, so far.

          They are seeing more claims for Post Traumatic Stress and Post Traumatic Brain Injury. 

          Mr. Stoddard asked Mr. Holderman what his entire budget is?

          Mr. Holderman said around $570,000.  He also stated that in his budget it shows that for health insurance is costs his department $42,000 for 3 employees.  He asked Ms. Supple, County Coordinator, if she knew why his insurance costs were this high for 3 people?

          Ms. Supple said that she did not know and that he should speak with Mr. Gary Hanson, Deputy County Administrator, about this. 

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION UNIT REPORT – MR. JOHN HORN
          Mr. John Horn, Executive Director, for the University of Illinois Extension Unit, updated the committee on his agency and their duties.

          He said that the FY2009 budget for his agency was $406,544.  They receive funding from grantors, including the DeKalb County Board and the DeKalb County Forest Preserve District.  However, over $90,000 of Illinois State funds has not been received for FY2009. Every effort is being made to protect and continue programming in our area.  He said that he had started a savings account for this type of shortfall and this $90,000 is about all that he had in this account.  But if this happens again next year then he will try to keep the key programs and will probably have to make some staff changes. 

          Mr. Horn said that their numbers are going up.  They are seeing more programs at the schools and more phone calls coming in.  The phone calls are mostly on what to do with small farm acreage and Master Gardener assistance.

          Chairman Metzger, Sr. said that Mr. Horn should sit down with Ms. Dubin, Chairman of the DeKalb County Economic Development Committee, to discuss this small farm acreage issue.

          Mr. Horn then said that they tried to hold a Home Energy Conservation Fair, but there was not enough interest to hold it.

          Ms. Dubin again stated that with the Go Green Initiative and her committee, possibly the two of them could discuss this issue, too and that they could possibly join him and his agency to help cut the costs.

          Mr. Horn said that he would like to thank the County Board for all of their support that they have shown his agency and that he really appreciates it.

ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Mr. Stoddard, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

         
                                                Respectively submitted,

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                                                Chairman Jeffery L. Metzger, Sr.

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