DeKalb County, Illinois

Minutes of the
Health & Human Services Committee

August 6, 2012

DRAFT

Minutes of the

Health & Human Services Committee

August 6, 2012

            The Health & Human Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, August 6, 2012, @ 6:30p.m. in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Stoddard called the meeting to order.  Members present were Ms. Allen, Mr. Metzger, Sr., and  Mr. Tyson.  Mr. Emerson and Ms. DeFauw were absent.  Others present were Steve Scoughton, Derek Avery and Jeff Smith.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

            It was moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Tyson, and carried unanimously to approve the minutes from June 4, 2012.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

            It was moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Metzger, Sr., and carried unanimously to approve the agenda.

VETERAN’S ASSISTANCE COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT AND UPDATE – MR. STEVE SCOUGHTON

Mr. Steve Scoughton, with the Veteran’s Assistance Commission, represented the Commission this evening as Mr. Holderman was on vacation.  

Mr. Scoughton said that it has been a very busy year for the Commission.  They needed to hire a new service officer.  He said that with the prospect of Herb retiring after the first of the year, they needed to train someone new to get ready for that transition.  The young man that they hired is a full-time employee.  He is an expert on the G.I. Bill at NIU and he did work-study there.  He wanted to do this as a career and he has a real passion for the job.  He will be a huge asset to their department.

Mr. Scoughton said that they have generated about $320,000 in federal benefits that have come back to our County for our veterans.  Last year they generated over $700,000 last year.  It takes about six to ten months to process each claim. They also do health care claims for the veterans and thus save the county money.

He further said that the payroll numbers will go up a little depending on what happens at the beginning of next year with regards to Herb’s retirement. 

The Commission is currently under budget so far this year.  They may need a new vehicle since one of the cars that they have has 110,000 miles on it already and it is only 3 years old.

They are still helping veterans with their rent, grocery and utility costs. Mr. Scoughton said that those costs are up to $146,000 so far this year.  It has grown this year because of the economic situation in the country.

It is hard to find work for the veterans.  Hyvee did hire quite a few people when they opened.  They hired somewhere around 500 people.  He did not know how many of that number were veterans.

The Commission has taken action on over 900 cases for veterans in our County.  There has been an estimated 4 or 5 times that number of veteran’s that they have spoken with, though. 

Mr. Scoughton said that they have an annual budget of about $630,000.  They have paid off their portion of their suite in the Community Outreach Building.  He believes that there will be about $440,000 for next year and the rest of money collected will get banked away.  They are looking at saving money now to create a dental grant program for the veterans.   They will put about $25,000 initially for this grant program. They are looking at doing the same type of dental program that is being done in McHenry County. 

REGIONAL SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS – MR. DEREK AVERY

Mr. Derek Avery, Regional Superintendent of Schools, gave the committee an update on his department.  He said that he will be giving his Annual Report to this committee in September 2012.  He has been in his present position for one month now, so he is still learning and getting used to the job.  He hired Mr. Jeff Smith as his assistant in that month. 

Mr. Avery said that his office has received a grant for $96,000 for truancy issues.  They have served over 600 students who have truancy issues.  He said that the grant was re-approved for next year, but with a cut of $12,000 for a total of $84,000.

They also have money for safety issues.  If a school in the County has any code violations after he inspects them, the State of Illinois has maintenance funds or grants that can get appropriated for these safety issues.  There are six school districts and one vocational school that have been recipients of this grant. 

He also mentioned that there are currently 400 substitute teachers registered in the district.  There are a lot of teachers that are out of work currently so this probably is impacting that high number. 

They still teach bus drivers’ training classes at the Community Outreach Building. The next training class is scheduled in Sycamore for August 14, 2012. 

Mr. Avery said that there is talk in Springfield about a Regional Office of Education re-alignment being done, in which 9 offices may be eliminated.  That means that they would go down from 44 offices to 35 offices by 2015.  That elimination has to have a population base to it, which will now be 61,000 up from 45,000.  DeKalb County’s population is around 105,000.

Mr. Avery said that their county budget should be slightly below last years of $109,000. 

Mr. Avery spoke about the truancy numbers versus juvenile numbers that are in the system.  He said that he does encourage students to stay in school and get their degrees, not a G.E.D.  He also mentioned that there is talk that the G.E.D. testing will be available online for people to take advantage of soon.

PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT UPDATE – CHAIRMAN PAUL STODDARD

Chairman Stoddard said that the Public Health budget will decrease from $470,000 to $425,000.  He said that there will be fee adjustments and that one of those will be for dog license fees. Those fees will be doubled for dogs that have not had rabies shots. The deficit that the health department is facing is $27,000 in the Public Health portion, which will be addressed by not hiring an assistant for Jane Lux. 

Home Health Care is projected to see a loss of $300,000.  The Public Health Board will cover this deficit by taking money from the fund balance.  Refering to a recent Daily Chronicle article Chairman Stoddard said that the health department’s budget is not in crisis.  No final decisions have been made about what will happen with Home Health Care.  The problem is that they are seeing a lot of competition from private companies.  They are losing too many people to those private companies.  Currently the health department is looking at options.  One option would be for  Kishwaukee Health Systems to absorb the home health care operation and buy the County’s license. 

Mr. Metzger, Sr., suggested that the public health board look at writing a contingency into the agreement as to what happens if 4 or 5 years from now Kishwaukee wants to sell the license.  This is something that Chairman Stoddard would like to speak to Jane Lux about.

Chairman Stoddard thanked Mr. Scoughton and Mr. Avery for their very informative reports.

ADJOURNMENT

            It was moved by Mr. Tyson, and seconded by Mr. Metzger, Sr., and carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                            Respectfully submitted,

                                                            ________________________________

                                                            Chairman Paul Stoddard

__________________________  

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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