DRAFT
Law and Justice Committee
Minutes
March 21, 2011
The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, March 21, 2011 at 6:30p.m. in the DeKalb County Legislative Center’s Gathertorium on the East Side. Chairman Marlene Allen called the meeting to order. Committee members present were Ken Andersen, Riley Oncken, Stephen Reid and Derek Tyson. Ms. Anita Turner was absent. A quorum was present. Others present were Margi Gilmour, Sheriff Roger Scott and Denny Miller.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Mr. Tyson, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from February 2011.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Moved by Mr. Andersen, seconded by Mr. Oncken, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.
CORONER’S AND ESDA DEPARTMENTS ANNUAL REPORT – MR. DENNIS MILLER
Esda Annual Report:
Mr. Dennis Miller, Director of the DeKalb County Emergency Services & Disaster Agency (ESDA), said that the Disaster Plan is being updated and up for review. This happens every two years. He then highlighted various items in his report. The L.E.P.C. and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, held a 5-day training course in DeKalb. The training exercise simulated a rail car that was leaking a hazardous material. His weather coordinator, Barry Leonard, conducted two different weather spotter training programs throughout the county. Last year DeKalb County was host for 4 IEMA training courses, also.
The ESDA Department has also been working with several agencies within the county to develop a Tactical Interoperable Communications Plan. The plan will be used to inform state and federal agencies of our communications capabilities throughout the county in the event other outside agencies would need to respond to assist during times of a large scale incident. It also may allow federal funds to be used to purchase equipment in the future.
The Federal mandates that are required by the National Incident Management System (NIMS) will continue to be addressed and implemented. His staff and the volunteers look forward to continued progress in the years ahead. The Chairman of the Board has to go through training courses, too since he is the chief elected official in the County.
His office was notified that President Obama announced the Federal Declaration for several counties in Illinois, which includes the Highway Department, the Sheriff’s Department, school board’s, municipalities and other taxing bodies throughout the County. There will be a meeting down in Utica next week. He feels that they will be able to recoup 75% of their expenses.
Coroner’s Annual Report:
Mr. Dennis Miller, DeKalb County Coroner, then reviewed his Annual Coroner’s Report for Fiscal Year 2010. He said that has been an increase in the death caseload in the County for 2010 (see page 13 in his report). There were 551 death cases in 2010 and so far in 2011 there have been 129 death cases. They have one pending death case and that case is the NIU case. There were 346 cremation cases and this year they already have 80 cremation permits so far. They have 1 court ordered death certificate, which is the first one in his career .
Mr. Oncken asked Mr. Miller if he saw a trend in the death cases.
Mr. Miller said that what he sees with regards to the trend is heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
Mr. Miller said that he is getting more requests to bury bodies because of the economy.
Mr. Miller said that he gets tissue donations, eye donation, skin, and heart valve sometimes.
Mr. Miller notified the committee that about once a week he has been getting requests about the cemetery to bury or dispose of bodies. He had purchased extra coffins a while ago for this type of request. Direct cremation costs about $2500 and he has been able to get the cost down to $500.
The committee thanked Mr. Miller for his 2 informative reports.
COURT SERVICES – Margi Gilmour
Ms. Gilmour reported that there were 15 new cases in February added to the Adult Court Services with 9 successful terminations. There were also 5,589 hours ordered for CRS hours in the month of February 2011. They closed almost 5,000 hours in the same month.
They had one detainee in February for Juveniles. There was a young man placed at Onarga since May 2010 pending adult charges and he remains at Juvenile Justice Center (JJC). They have another young man at Onarga who they may have to move out and into Focus House in Rochelle who offers an independent living arrangement.
Intergovernmental Agreement Update
Ms. Gilmour then briefly informed the committee about the history of the Intergovernmental Agreement with Kane County with regards to the Kane County Juvenile Detention Center. In 1997 the County Board had the foresight to contribute $1 million dollars to go towards construction costs of the Juvenile Detention Center to detain our youth. It solved our bed solution for kids that needed to be detained on a regular basis. That $1 million was depleted in 2006, which lasted longer than we thought. The Intergovernmental Agreement has been renewed several times and basically it says that DeKalb County has 7-beds at $80.00 a day out of the General Fund – Special Ed Board and Care. In 2010 we spent $69,760 which was up from 2009 or a 28% increase, she said. Ms. Gilmour said that if you look, however, at 2008, 2009, 2010 the numbers are significantly lower than the numbers in 2007. The reason being is that they finally were able to do their job differently in 2008 by finding alternatives to detention. They hope to continue to hold those numbers down.
PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT – Ms. Regina Harris
The public defender, Ms. Regina Harris, was not present.
JAIL REPORT – Sheriff Scott
Sheriff Scott said that the average daily population for the month of February 2011 was 144 inmates. Today the population was 130 inmates in custody. There were 17 inmates with psych medications and 22 that they have proof are gang members. So, today, this is 13% with mental health issues and 17% with regards to gang membership housed in the Jail. They have sent two people down to the Department of Human Services who are holding them until they are fit for trial. There are two facilities, one in Elgin, Illinois and one in Chester, Illinois.
Mr. Andersen asked Sheriff Scott if he had any information on the wrongful death case.
Sheriff Scott said that it is still pending.
Before adjourning, Mr. Oncken said that he contacted Chief Feithen at the City of DeKalb to see if the Gang Unit can come again this year to make a presentation to the committee again. Chief Feithen said that they could come in June 2011. Chief Feithen will contact the county board office with any questions or for more information that he may need.
ADJOURNMENT
Moved by Mr. Oncken, seconded by Mr. Andersen, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
_________________________________
Marlene Allen, Chairman
MA:mcs
|
