The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 @ 7:00 p.m. at the Legislative Center’s Freedom Room. Chairman Sands called the meeting to order.  Members present were Marlene Allen, Sue Leifheit, Jeff Metzger, Roger Steimel, and John Wilson.  Ms. Tobias was absent.   Others present were Ray Bockman, Eileen Dubin, Greg Millburg, Julia Fauci, Gary Hanson, Steve Slack and Diane Strand.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Ms. Leifheit, and it was carried to accept the minutes of the March 9, 2004 meeting. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

          Chairman Sands noted that under General Discussion, he intended to bring up two items: 1.) Jail Overcrowding Issue, and 2.) POW/MIA Flag discussion. 

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

APPOINTMENTS

          Chairman Sands recommended the following appointments:

Regional Plan Commission:             Mr. Frank Altmaier, (Primary representative for the Village of Kingston), reappointment, for a term of 3 years, until 5/01/2007.
 

                                                          Mr. Mark Todd, (Primary representative for the Village of Waterman), reappointment for a term of 3 years, until 5/01/2007.

                                                          Mr. Michael Heiderscheidt, (Alternate representative for the Village of Waterman), reappointment for a term of 3 years, until 5/01/2007.

                                                          Mr. Don Pardridge, (Primary representative for the Village of Shabbona), reappointment for a term of 3 years, until 5/01/2007.

 

Ad Hoc Rules Review Committee:  Mr. Eric Johnson, Chairman                                                          Mr. Roger Steimel

                                                                              Ms. Julia Fullerton

                                                                              Mr. Frank Van Buer

                                                                              Mr. Robert Rosemier

                                                                              Mr. Richard Osborne 

All appointments for 1 year, until 4/01/2005.
 

            Moved by Mr. Metzger, seconded by Ms. Allen, and it was carried unanimously to approve the appointments as presented by Chairman Sands, and to forward them to the full board for approval.

Chairman Sands announced next month’s appointments that will be expiring as follows: The Board of Review – 1 position, Community Services Advisory Board – 5 positions; and Building Board of Appeals – 3 positions. 

Ms. Dubin asked why do we notify the committee about upcoming appointments when some of them are already decided upon?  Chairman Sands explained that last year someone came before this committee and requested that we start supplying that information to the Executive Committee members and the full board at their meetings.  Chairman Pritchard at the time agreed to do that. 

It was agreed that sometimes this creates confusion to board members because they don’t know if someone has already agreed to be appointed through their own board/committee’s decision or not.  Because of this confusion, the practice of notifying the committee members and board members a month ahead of time will no longer be done.

APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA

Mr. Bockman, County Administrator, reviewed the county board agenda for the board meeting to be held on April 21, 2004.

Moved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Ms. Allen, and it was carried  to forward the county board agenda to the full board for approval.

GENERAL DISCUSSION

          Ms. Allen, Chairman of the Public Services Committee, said that her committee held the public hearing for the Senior Services Tax Levy and allocated the monies to all agencies that applied.

Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Public Infrastructure & Development Committee, said that they have quite a few items coming before the board.  He highlighted the resolution that involves the designation of Malta Road as a freeway. 

Mr. Steimel, Chairman of the Planning and Regulations Committee, said that they will be sending 3 items to the board that were all passed by the committee unanimously.

Mr. Metzger, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that they did not have a meeting last month, but that Mr. Hannan, DeKalb County’s Superintendent of Forest Preserves, has been busy so far this month with “burns” being done in various forest preserves.

          Ms. Leifheit, Chairman of the Administrative Services Committee, said that her committee was pleasantly surprised this month with a quote that Mr. Ken Campbell received for the restoration of the large Stained Glass Window in the Courthouse.  They originally thought that it would cost approximately $200,000 to restore it, but Mr. Campbell received a quote of $50,000 from a nationally renowned stain glass restorer, which she felt was very good news.

She explained that the other item on their agenda deals with a proposed tax abatement for Park 88.  The company remains anonymous, but that it is for a warehouse/distribution center that would like to move into the site.  They would employ around 700 people.  What we are really voting on is, “if such a project moves into Park 88, would we stand behind our abatement”.  We will vote again on the actual name when they finally decide on the site. 

Chairman Sands said that at the committee level he voted no because he had trouble with a company that is asking us to vote on a resolution that the actual name is not known. 

Mr. Bockman said that personally he wouldn’t mind any company moving in that would create 700 jobs and build a 1.4 million square foot facility.  

Mr. Steimel said that he feels that we need to show a strong support for this item because there is a lot of competition out there for this project. He further stated that it would cover about 1/3 of the Park 88 Property site.  He also stressed that Mr. Hopkins, Director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation, said that currently the unemployment rate in DeKalb County has risen to 7%. 

Chairman Sands said that he will vote yes on this item at the board meeting so that this business could move here to DeKalb County and help create more jobs. 

Before adjourning, Chairman Sands updated the committee about the jail over-crowding problem.  He said that since the referendum defeat he felt that now we are ready to discuss what we are going to do in the future.  He called Mr. Wiegand, who at the last county board meeting requested that the Administrative Services Committee begin discussing the next step for the county to take because of the defeat of the referendum.  He called Mr. Wiegand and asked him if he could wait a month before we start discussing this issue again.  Mr. Wiegand said no problem.  Chairman Sands has begun talking individually to the judicial system department heads, Sheriff Scott and Presiding Judge Klein about what steps we should now take.  They will be meeting as a group soon and, hopefully, they will be able to come up with some ideas.

Chairman Sands then approached the committee about flying the POW/MIA flag on county property.  He said that the last time that we amended the Facilities Policy was in 2000 and that he is suggesting amending it again to reflect the flying of the POW/MIA flag for 365 days a year.  He said that he personally supports it.  He needs a motion to amend the existing policy and is asking the committee to do that this evening.

Moved by Mr. Metzger, seconded by Ms. Allen, and it was carried to amend the existing Facilities Policy to include the flying of the POW/MIA flag 365 days a year.  Mr. Wilson voted no.

Mr. Bockman said that another issue comes up along with this request and that is the flying of the flag at ½ mast due to a death.  The federal law states when the county can fly the flag at ½.  He is requesting that we designate a person to make this decision or adopt a policy instructing us what to do.  The committee suggested that the Presiding Judge and his alternate should be the one to make that decision.  Mr. Bockman suggested that we wait a month and think about it.  Then make a decision next month and recommend an amendment to the policy at that time.

Mr. Slack approached the committee about new business that he would like to bring forward for discussion.  He passed out a proposed resolution to establish a Veteran’s Transportation Assistance Fund.  This is a way to get our county veteran’s to and from veteran’s hospital and medical facilities, he explained. This request is to fund this “VET VAC” program with the sum of $35,000, using proceeds of unbudgeted monies received from the state as a result of the State of Illinois’ Tax Amnesty program and direct payment from this fund to the Voluntary Action Center upon proof of services provided by VAC through a separate and auditable “VET VAC” account.

He asked if this request could be mentioned at the board meeting also, just to notify the board members? Chairman Sands said that this item could be mentioned at the board meeting under new business and could only last about 1 ½ to 2 minutes long.

Mr. Slack also asked if this item could be assigned to the Public Infrastructure and Development Committee so that they could research it further and then bring it before the full board for approval?   

Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Ms. Allen, and it was carried unanimously to assign this item to the Public Infrastructure and Development Committee. 

Mr. Metzger suggested that in the future could we have a memo placed on the county board tables a month ahead so that the members could be informed that way too. 

ADJOURNMENT

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

          Chairman Sands asked to reconvene the meeting at 8:00p.m. so that the committee could amend the county board agenda to include the POW/MIA Flag amendment. 

          Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Metzger, and it was carried unanimously to amend the county board agenda to include this amended resolution.

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

                                                          Respectfully submitted,

                                                          _________________________________
                                                          Dennis R. Sands, Chairman

_______________________________
Mary C. Supple, Secretary