DeKalb County, Illinois

Minutes of the
Health & Human Services Committee

February 7, 2011

DRAFT

HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE

MINUTES

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

The Health and Human Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, February 7, 2011 @ 6:30p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Paul Stoddard called the meeting to order.  Members present were Marlene Allen, Sally DeFauw, John Emerson and Derek Tyson.  Mr. Jeff Metzger, Sr., called in remotely to participate in the meeting.  Others present were Donna Moulton, Dennis Miller, Kristine Decker and Greg Millburg.

Moved by Ms. DeFauw, seconded by Mr. Emerson, and it was carried unanimously to allow Mr. Metzger, Sr., to participate in the meeting remotely.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Moved by Mr. Emerson, seconded by Mr. Tyson, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from January 2011.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

            Chairman Stoddard said that he was adding Ms. Donna Moulton to the agenda to speak about the DeKalb County Community Block Grant.

Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Ms. DeFauw, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS – MR. DENNIS MILLER, ESDA DIRECTOR

            Mr. Miller informed the committee that he is working on updating the County’s Emergency Plan since it is up for revisions this year.  He finished the Evacuation Plan with Cook County and the City of Chicago (a copy is in his office).  He said that the plan shows that if there is a need for evacuations from Chicago about 200,000 people could be evacuated here to DeKalb County.  He and Karen Grush, Public Health Director, are planning more emergency drills for 2011 with other agencies and Northern Illinois University.  As a consequence of the snow storm last week, Board Chairman Larry Anderson declared the County of DeKalb a disaster area.  Any agency that goes over $1,000 in costs because of this storm should be able to get reimbursed.  Mr. Miller said that county-wide we would need to realize a minimum of $290,000 in reimbursements and he feels the county will have no trouble reaching this total. 

HERITAGE WOODS INTRODUCTION – MS. KRISTINE DECKER, ADMINISTRATOR

            Ms. Kristine Decker, Administrator of Heritage Woods, a supportive living center in DeKalb, approached the committee about the center and what they do.

            Ms. Decker said that they opened in 2008 and that they have maintained 100% occupancy for the past two years.  They have 76 apartments with half of them being one-bedroom apartments and half being studios.  They have one resident who just celebrated his 100^th birthday recently.  The average age in their facility is 84 ½ years old; 30% are 90 years or older; and one person who is 66 years old and is the youngest person living there.  She said that 79% of their residents are women.  They have 18 people on their waiting list.

            Chairman Stoddard asked whether volunteer groups were helping at the facility?

            Ms. Decker said that they have seen volunteer groups from NIU sororities and fraternities, local church groups, the Girl Scouts and the NIU softball team.

COMMUNITY BLOCK GRANT UPDATE – MS. DONNA MOULTON

            Ms. Moulton said that President Obama will be announcing his budget this Monday, February 14, 2011, and there is talk that Washington will be cutting the County’s Community Block Grant funding by 50%, which will be devastating to the department.  She is asking the committee members to write to their elected officials to vote “no” on cutting this funding. 

            Chairman Stoddard said that the proposed cut would be a shame because it would cut the programs that allow the County to help people.

BOARD OF HEALTH UPDATE – MR. PAUL STODDARD

            Chairman Stoddard said that the Health Department has made some cuts to their staff and that they have downgraded one or two positions and are combining other positions. 

MAY MEETING – CANCELLATION

            Ms. Supple said that she had contacted the appropriate people for the committee’s May 2011 meeting to reschedule them and has rearranged the schedule per the committee’s directions of last month.  Therefore, the May meeting can be cancelled if the committee so chooses.

            Moved by Mr. Emerson, seconded by Mr. Tyson, and it was carried unanimously to cancel the May 2011 meeting.

ADJOURNMENT    

            Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Tyson, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                                        Respectfully submitted,

                                                                        __________________________________ 

                                                                        Mr. Paul Stoddard, Chairman

____________________________________ 

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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