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DeKalb County, Illinois |
Minutes of the
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DRAFTEconomic Development Committee November 9, 2011
The DeKalb County Economic Development Committee met on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 @ 7:00p.m., in the Legislative Center’s Freedom room. Vice-Chairman Riley Oncken called the meeting to order. Members present were Bob Brown, Julia Fauci, Jeff Metzger, Sr., and Jeff Whelan. Ms. Vary was absent. Mr. John Acardo, Mr. Paul Borek, Mr. Gary Hanson, Mr. Dan Halverson, Mr. Ed Harvey and Mr. Herb Kuryliw were also present.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Moved by Mr. Whelan, seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from October 2011.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Vice-Chairman Oncken said that he would be adding Mr. Paul Borek’s report to the agenda under item #3a. Moved by Ms. Fauci, seconded by Mr. Brown, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION UPDATE – MR. PAUL BOREK Mr. Borek gave a brief update on what is happening around the County with economic development.
He made a presentation to the association of Real Estate Brokers in Chicago and highlighted some of our recent projects including the 12-week completion of the SK Hand Tool project. The developers present were very interested and wanted follow-up information on how a development could be completed so quickly in DeKalb County and Sycamore.
He also attended the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors International Conference held in Chicago which focused on the resurgence of manufacturing in the United States and the competitive advantages of the Midwest and Northern Illinois for manufacturing.
He also mentioned that Ms. Karen Hoyle, with his office, attended the 2nd Annual Career Fair on October 27, 2011 at the new DeKalb High School. There were approximately 50 businesses representing various industries.
The committee thanked Mr. Borek for his report.
CHAIR’S COMMENTS Vice-Chairman Oncken said that Chairman Vary sent us her report and said that the committee members could read her report at their leisure and to call Pat if they had any questions.
PURCHASE OF FIBER STRANDS FROM NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY – MR. GARY HANSON Mr. Gary Hanson, Deputy County Administrator, said that the ordinance before the committee tonight is for the Indefeasible Right to Use Agreement (IRU) for 12 strands of existing fiber optic cable available for a critical path of approximately 144 strand miles to provide service from the City of DeKalb west to Kishwaukee College at a cost of $194,000, which is to be paid by a Federal Grant. He said that this has always been part of the grant since day one and it is more of a housekeeping item.
Mr. Metzger, Sr. asked if the State’s Attorney’s Office has reviewed the agreement yet?
Mr. Hanson said that it was in their office being reviewed currently.
It was moved by Mr. Metzger, Sr., seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to forward this ordinance, that has to be reviewed by the State’s Attorney’s office, on to the full board for approval.
Mr. Dan Halverson of DeKalb Fiber Optics, Mr. Herb Kuryliw of Northern Illinois University’s Network and Technology Architect and Mr. Ed Harvey with DeKalb County informed the committee on the status that the project is at currently. They said that they hope to have the hospital and clinics’ agreements done soon. They also hope to have all libraries in the county on the system soon. They have approximately 70 anchors signed on to the project. No private schools have signed on yet. They have about 130 miles laid already. They hope to finish by Spring of 2012. They have about 70% of the cuts installed and they are working with Leland and Earlville. They mentioned that several Internet Service Providers are inquiring about the services in DeKalb County.
COUNTY CLERK & RECORDER’S OFFICE REPORT – MR. JOHN ACARDO Mr. John Acardo, DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder, presented his office report to the committee (please see report attached to these minutes). He said that through attrition and the reliance on automation, fee based, fund, the office is able to save close to $80,000 from the general tax fund. Additionally, the budget was 3% or $14,000 less than last year’s budget request. Improvements to technology in the office have also realized savings in staff time. With the introduction of new efficiencies, his office will realize an approximate savings of $11,000 annually.
With their new vital record software that they purchased the time to process vital records used to take 20 minutes. Now with the new software it takes 5 minutes to process them. With the average of two staff members processing these requests to the tune of 3,500 requests annually, the savings in staff time equates to $7,200 annually.
He said that the Clerk & Recorder Land Record search portal, or CARL, will go live in late 4th Quarter 2011. This new feature allows their current DOS based database for searching land records to be used in a windows environment. Three staff members used to have to manually train up to 20 customers per week in how to use or look up for them, land records in the old system. Our testing reveals that with the new program, (designed at no cost by IMO), customers will not need assistance in learning the DOS based program. Savings realized from the integration of CARL into use in the office will be approximately $4,500 annually.
The committee thanked Mr. Acardo for a very informative report.
ADJOURNMENT Moved by Mr. Whelan, seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
______________________________________ Riley Oncken, Vice-Chairman
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