The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, August 7, 2007 at 7:00p.m. at the Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias called the meeting to order. Members present were Julia Fauci, Michael Haines, Pat LaVigne, Rich Osborne and Roger Steimel.  Ms. Dubin, Mr. Rosemier and Ms. Vary were absent.  Paul Stoddard was invited to sit in for Mr. Rosemier and Steve Walt for Eileen Dubin.  A quorum was present.  Others present were Ray Bockman, Gary Hanson, Anita Turner, John Hulseberg, Jeff Metzger, Sr., Ken Andersen and Jerry Augsburger.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. Fauci, seconded by Ms. LaVigne, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from July 2007.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA     

          Mr. Ken Andersen asked if he could address the committee this evening?  Chairman Tobias said that she would place him as item #5a. on the agenda.

          Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Mr. Steimel, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.

APPOINTMENTS:

Squaw Grove Drainage District #1:               Mr. Allen Bark

Union Drainage District #1:                           Mr. William Smith

Normal Drainage District :                            Mr. Stephen Storey

Clinton-Shabbona Drainage

District #1:                                                     Mr. Leonard G. Anderson

All reappointments for a term of 3 years

until 9/1/ 2010.

Fairdale Street Light District:                      Ms. Mary Powell, reappointment for a term

of 3 years, until 4/30/2010.

Shabbona Community Fire                             Mr. Joe Suddeth, to fill the unexpired term

Protection District:                                          of the Mr. Wayne Rissman, until 3/01/2008.

Appointments expiring for September 2007 are:

Workforce Investment Act Board – 1 position

Community Services Administrative Board – 5 positions

Public Building Commission – 1 position

Chairman Tobias said that Mr. Frank Beierlotzer contacted her stating that the Local Emergency Planning Committee needs two County Board members to sit on their committee.  They meet quarterly on the third Monday, she said.  Ms. LaVigne said that she could sit on that committee.  Chairman Tobias said then she would need one more County Board member to volunteer and if anyone is interested to please contact her.

RESOLUTION: RELEASE OF EXECUTIVE SESSION MINUTES

Mr. Bockman said that the resolution for the release of the executive session minutes is done about every 6 months.  We do try to keep it around that timeframe.

          Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Haines, and it was carried to move forward this resolution to the full board for approval.

MR. KEN ANDERSEN REQUEST

Mr. Ken Andersen, County Board Member, approached the committee regarding some procedures that he would like to understand why they are done a certain way.

He said that the seating arrangement at the County Board meeting was one issue that he had.  He would like it changed to be able to see all the board members and rearrange the meeting room.

His other question was the voting style or method that we use.  Why do we start with the A’s one month and the Z’s at the next month?  He has attended other meetings in the county and they rotate the votes.  That is, Ms. Allen would go first on the first item, He would vote first on the second item, Mr. Larry Anderson would vote first on the third item, and so on and so on.  He said that this way a lot of times those first votes out, maybe your vote won’t mean anything.  It can also influence people on how they vote. 

Mr. Osborne said that he thought that there was a Ad Hoc Rules Committee that studied this issue and they thought that it was more trouble then it was worth.  There were so few votes that are controversial enough in nature that it was not necessary to do it.

Ms. LaVigne said that it is done this way because of the way it is written into our handbook.

Mr. Andersen said that he just brought it up because he was wondering if we should study it again as a board. 

He then said that last night he attended the Sycamore City Council Meeting and informed them about what is happening at the County level.  A couple of things that were brought up at the meeting were questions  on changes to a speed limit on DeKalb Avenue off of Peace Road.  Another item was from an alderman who suggested for the jail issue to possibly look at doing a referendum that would pay for housing of prisoners outside of the County.  That the referendum would pay for these costs.

He is encouraging all fellow county board members to try and attend their local village, town or city council meetings and inform them of what the County is doing.  He said that he believes that it opens up some discussion and new ideas could come out of those meetings.

Ms. Fauci said that regarding his suggestion of the voting sequence at the county board meeting, she would be fine with it but could it be done every month, that is, have Marlene Allen start 1^st for the first month.  Mr. Andersen starts the voting for the 2^nd month.  Mr. Larry Anderson starts the voting for the 3^rd month, and so on and so on.

Mr. Haines said that he thought Mr. Andersen’s suggestions were all worthwhile items and that maybe this would be a good time to reconvene the Ad Hoc Rules Committee.

Mr. Andersen also said that he was wondering why the committees, after each election, had so many new members on the committees where it seems like they are starting all over again.  On the Economic Development Committee that he sits on there is only one existing member from last time and after the latest election there are five other new members, where they are starting all over again. 

Chairman Tobias said that people are assigned to the committees sometimes because they have shown an interest in it. 

Mr. Bockman said that they can also serve on a committee for life that they are interested in.

It was moved by Mr. Stoddard, seconded by Mr. Haines, and it was carried unanimously to re-establish the Ad Hoc Rules Committee to study these issues.  Mr. Stoddard said that he would be glad to chair the committee along with Mr. Osborne, Mr. Haines and Mr. Hulseberg who volunteered to serve on it too.  Chairman Tobias said that there should be 5 or 6 people that should sit on it.

APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA

          Mr. Ray Bockman, County Administrator, reviewed the County Board Agenda for the Board Meeting to be held on August 15, 2007.  Mr. Bockman reminded the committee that they would be sending the Release of Executive Session Minutes that was voted on earlier this evening.

          Moved by Ms. LaVigne, seconded by Ms. Fauci and it was carried unanimously to forward the county board agenda to the full county board for approval.    

GENERAL DISCUSSION

Mr. Stoddard, Member of the Health and Human Services, said that they heard from Mr. Dan Templin and Mary Olson-Ramp who informed the committee of Phase I of the Needs Assessment Study.  They identified some of the human service issues.  They made a point of separating out human services from health and human services.  They did this because health is such a big thing and that it will overwhelm everything else. 

Mr. Osborne, Chairman of the Law and Justice Committee, said that they had the routine monthly reports.  He also said that the Public Defender has said that she may ask for an additional attorney.  She is looking into making broader changes to the office too.  They will wait and see what happens in the near future, he said.

He then said that they heard from Marilyn Stromborg about the Drug Court Quarterly Report.  Ms. Stromborg said that they received an award from the Workforce Investment Act Board and that they are looking at adding 2 new clients to the Drug Court.  They currently have 7 people enrolled in the Drug Court.

Ms. Fauci, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that Sunrise Rotary has approached them about the fact that they are interested in paving the entryway into Potawatomi Woods.  It is very costly, but they will see what Sunrise Rotary can do.  They will be discussing the budget for FY2008 next month, too. 

Mr. Haines, Chairman of the Finance Committee, said that they are sending the one resolution on the First Time Homebuyers Program to the board.  The committee did some brainstorming on the FY2008 Budget, too.  They discussed the funding for the jail.  They also discussed the current status of renting space out-of-county in the short-term, which is in pretty good shape.  They discussed that the County would probably need to pursue a referendum to fund the jail. The costs will be larger then what our budget can accommodate, he said. They also discussed whether or not to continue the accumulation of funds to address the savings account for law enforcement.   He continued by stating that the advice from the administrative staff was to wait and see what we get back from the department heads regarding the budget to see what we can put into the savings account.

Mr. Steve Walt, Vice-Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, said that they did not meet last month.  They will be discussing the Renew DeKalb Project Resolution tomorrow evening and that Mr. Mark Biernacki, DeKalb City Manager, will be present to answer questions.

Mr. Steimel, Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Committee, said that they discussed one item on extending the Special Use Permit for a church located on North First Street.

Mr. Steimel then informed the committee about the last Regional Plan Commission meeting where they discussed the issue of a Ground Water Plan for the County, City of Sycamore and City of DeKalb.  They will be the contact commission for this issue and Mr. Paul Miller has been assigned as the point person on this subject.  There is a graduate student from NIU who is studying the Troy Valley Aquifer who is interested in working with the group on this issue, too.

Ms. LaVigne, Chairman of the County Highway Committee, said that they have one item coming before the county board this month.  She said that regarding the state of the County’s bridges they found that there is no bridge with a critical fracture.  We do have some bridges that have some work that needs to be done for repairs, but that is all. 

Chairman Tobias informed the committee about recent events in the County and those that are coming up.  She reminded the committee about the Quality of Life meeting that is being held at the Farm Bureau tomorrow morning.  The Regional Water Supply Planning Board met at the Gathertorium recently and almost all their board members attended.  It will take at least 18 more months to continue and meet on this issue, they decided.  She also had a meeting with Karen Grush of the Health Department and a group of people from DuPage and Access Healthcare to discuss providing healthcare services for people who are unserved in our County.  They would like to set up a satellite office here, hopefully, she explained.

PERSONNEL

          The committee discussed Mr. Bockman’s proposed new employment contract.  Mr. Bockman said that it was drafted to balance his interests and the County’s.  It was created in good faith.  The County Board may fire him if there was a cause to do so (refer to Section 3-A.) and that Mr. Ron Matekaitis, DeKalb County State’s Attorney, reviewed the contract.

          Moved by Mr. Haines, seconded by Ms. Fauci, and it was carried unanimously to approve the employment contract for Mr. Bockman until his retirement in March of 2011.

ADJOURNMENT

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

Respectfully submitted,

______________________________

Chairman Ruth Anne Tobias

_____________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary

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