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DeKalb County, Illinois |
Minutes of the
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The Executive Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Tuesday, May 11, 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, Ruth Anne Tobias and John Wilson. Others present were Ray Bockman, Greg Millburg, Julia Fauci, Gary Hanson, Vince Faivre, Pat LaVigne, Julia Fullerton and Diane Strand.
APPROVAL OF MINUTESMoved by Mr. Wilson, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried to accept the minutes of the April 13, 2004 meeting.
APPROVAL OF AGENDAChairman Sands amended the agenda to reflect item #6a.) Ethics Ordinance. Moved by Ms. Leifheit, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried unanimously to approve the amended agenda.
APPOINTMENTSChairman Sands recommended the following appointments:
Building Board of Appeals: Mr. Patrick Balentyne, reappointment for a term of 5-years, until 05/01/2009.
RESOLUTION: AMENDMENT TO THE FACILITIES POLICY Mr. Bockman, County Administrator, said that he approached the Presiding Judge about being the person to decide whether or not the flag should be flown at half-mast when questions arise. The Judge said that it would be okay with him to answer all the questions. Therefore, the resolution before the committee this evening states that all questions regarding the flying of the flag at half-mast will be referred to the Presiding Judge. Mr. Metzger asked what if the Presiding Judge is not available, who would answer the questions? Mr. Bockman said the Acting Judge, he believes, would be the next one in line to answer the questions.
SALE OF REAL ESTATE – LOT 13 DEKALB MARKET SQUARE AND OPPORTUNITY HOUSE/HEALTH FACILITIES SITE Mr. Bockman, County Administrator, explained to the committee that he is not looking for any action tonight because there is none being sought at this point. Some months ago, per the request of John Kroos, of Opportunity House, he approached this committee as to whether or not they would like to make some space available adjacent to our Public Health Department and Nursing Home for an Opportunity House residential project. The committee authorized it and we are in the process of going through the various processes that we need to in order to subdivide this property.
At the City’s request every time they take an existing lot and divide it into two or more lots you have to go through an elaborate process, called the subdivision process. At their request, we are going to try to divide this property so that we only have to go through this process once. That is the reason that you see the number of lots that you do on this proposed subdivision, said Mr. Bockman. The project that we are talking about will sit on this one parcel of land as shown in the schematic drawing that he mailed to the county board members. That is a suggested location for a number of reasons. The first being, we do not want to diminish the purpose of the land for potential commercial uses if they pop-up later. The second reason is the location of utilities and we will need a utility plan for the entire site. If a project comes along that requires more land than one of these lots has in it, we could combine two or more of the lots without going through the subdivision process, which is the underlying logic behind the larger number of lots.
The uses being proposed are within the Planned Unit Development – Commercial designation that the City has zoned it. You are required to go back to the City when we obtain more knowledge about the project. Also under discussion is, if the Rehab and Nursing Center Board would want to possibly construct a supported living facility and the Health Department may want to house their Visiting Nurses Operation, in the future.
The County is currently obtaining an appraisal. The County can’t give land to anyone, we have to say that we received the highest price known to be obtainable, explained Mr. Bockman. To that end, Opportunity House understands that, and part of our agreement will be that whatever land they wind up purchasing – it will be bought at it’s market value.
The committee asked Mr. Bockman where the Hope Haven project location is at when you look at this drawing? Mr. Bockman said that if you look at where the detention basin is drawn, the Hope Haven project would be just south of that. Mr. Bockman said that he is also updating the Public Building Commission about this project because they own that land.
Mr. Bockman then informed the committee that the Theater approached him about Lot 13. He said that Lot 2 is owned by the Theatres and Lots 1 and 3 are owned by the County, on either side of it. Lot 1 is about 9 acres and Lot 3 is about 5 acres. The Theater is talking to the County about the possibility of adding to their parcel sometime in the next coming year (that’s shown in the two lower schematics). The schematic drawing that the County will probably recommend is the very last one (at the bottom). You can see that Lot 1 has been subdivided into ten smaller lots. He has been told from a marketing perspective, the small commercial lots of that nature are in greater demand in this market than the larger ones at the moment. Lot 3 would be divided into three lots and there’s a possibility that the top one labeled #3b, may have to be given over for detention, it’s not clear right now.
All of this is again preparing Lot 13, that sits behind Kohl’s, Best Buy and Wal-Mart, for development. This lot is included in the Market Square development agreement. What we are trying to do again, is to go through the subdivision process only once, Mr. Bockman said. With the City, the zoning is not going to be a problem, but we do have to go back to them when projects occur and get their concurrence.
Mr. Steimel asked about the open space behind Kohl’s, who owns that? Mr. Bockman said that First Rockford owns that property, and the property can be developed by them.
Ms. Fauci wondered with the Opportunity House project, is it possible that with that kind of construction going on, does it concern you that the services are very much the same, that is, health care, mental health, etc.? Has there been discussion about concentrating services because the you can deliver them better? Mr. Bockman said that some of them have in their rules a prohibition. Opportunity House, for example, could not put another facility on their site. There’s a state law that states that they can’t construct these residential facilities any closer than 600 feet to each other. They are supposed to be scattered sites, not clustered. We want the supported living facility, on our campus, because it is viewed as a graduated living facility.
MODEL ETHICS ORDINANCE Mr. Bockman approached the committee about an ordinance that he received this morning regarding a local ethics ordinance that that the State of Illinois said we should adopt by May 19, 2004. It is an 11-page model ethics ordinance and behind that you have a 6-page guide for implementation. It is very self-explanatory and you will need sometime to review it, he further stated. There are only four sections in the ethics ordinance that you are required to adopt, there are two others that you may adopt, but don’t really have to. Article XV calls for the appointment of an Ethics Advisor – you do not have to appoint one, and if you do, it could be an existing county officer, that is, the State’s Attorney. Article XX calls for an Ethics Commission, and again, you don’t have to do this, but you may. The other two basically are definitions, a statement of what violations consist of; and penalties for violating them.
The committee discussed that they would like to have more time to review the ordinance before making a decision. Moved by Mr. Steimel, seconded by Mr. Metzger, and it was carried unanimously to assign this ordinance to the Public Policy Committee for possible mark-up and then present it to the full board for approval in June 2004.
Mr. Bockman requested that we include the ordinance in the packet for all board members to be able to review with a memo telling them that it is assigned to the Public Policy Committee and if they would like to attend this meeting they can.
APPROVAL OF THE COUNTY BOARD AGENDA Mr. Bockman, County Administrator, reviewed the county board agenda for the board meeting to be held on May 19, 2004.
GENERAL DISCUSSION Ms. Allen, Chairman of the Public Services Committee, said that her committee heard the annual update of the River Valley Workforce Investment Act Board, from Adrian Duesler, their Marketing Director. They also heard from Ms. Sharon Holmes, DeKalb County Clerk and Recorder, about her request to forward the election judges resolution to the full board for approval.
Mr. Wilson, Chairman of the Public Infrastructure & Development Committee, said that his committee discussed whether or not they would hold a public hearing for the Malta Road Extension. Mr. Lorence, the County Engineer, will be writing a letter to the Mayor of Malta asking if they would like a hearing in Malta, and if so, we would be happy to do it.
The other item that they discussed was about a pilot program for the transportation of veteran’s in DeKalb County called “Vet VAC”. There was a lot of discussion on this subject and it was ultimately tabled due to the fact that there were only four members present at their meeting and they would like to have more people present to discuss this important issue.
Ms. Leifheit said that she knows that there may be funds for this program this year, but that she would not like to see a program implemented and then next year there would not be any funds. Mr. Sands said that one suggestion was to create a levy for it. Ms. Fullerton said what about applying for grants? There is a grant out there for eligible vets for transportation to health facilities that we could apply for. She doesn’t feel that we have fully explored all the ways that we can receive revenue funds and provide this service.
Mr. Wilson said that we just wanted this committee to know that it is on the table and that it will be coming back to their committee at their June 3, 2004 meeting. Mr. Bockman said that maybe we should ask the Veteran’s Administration if they could schedule all of the appointments for 1 day a week. That way we don’t have to transport one or two people a day, wait a long time with them at Hinz Hospital in Maywood, and then transport them back home. This can be an all day affair, said Ms. LaVigne.
Finally, Mr. Wilson said that they also heard from Mr. Roger Hopkins, Director, of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation, who gave his updated report.
Ms. Tobias, Chairman of the Public Policy Committee, said that they are forwarding a proclamation to the full board regarding May being the Mental Health Month. She also is trying to get a picture of the courthouse on the NACO’s website that showcases about 100 courthouses around the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains this section of the site and said that it was done to honor the photographer who worked for them for over 50 years, who has retired. However, they liked the picture of our courthouse so much they would like our permission to use the photo for advertising. The committee felt that anyone can take a picture of the courthouse and did not feel that she needed permission.
Mr. Steimel, Chairman of the Planning and Regulations Committee, said that there are three items coming before the full board this month that are all non-controversial.
Ms. Leifheit, Chairman of the Administrative Services Committee, said that her committee is forwarding the elected officials salary resolution to the full board for approval. All the support materials will be included in the packet for all county board members to review. The Tax Sharing Resolution involves the County picking up the cost of the Tollway and in return is guaranteed the sharing of the new ½% tax sales from the City of DeKalb. The final resolution involves HIPPA compliance and the appointment of the payroll specialist to be the designee. Mr. Wilson said that he just wanted to point out that the loan from the Rehab and Nursing Center proves that the Business Plan they adopted was and is a very good one and that we should be grateful for the management of the Operating Board itself. Mr. Bockman said don’t forget the county board, and he couldn’t be prouder of them, to take on the task of converting that facility from a business that was hemorrhaging cash to what it is today.
Mr. Metzger, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Committee, said that they have three resolutions this month. The first resolution is to provide safety from trees falling on power lines and maintenance over time. The second one is the Open Space Land Acquisition, which is a grant that we always apply for and we need the commissioner’s approval to include in that application. The final item is the support for the continuation of the Open Space Land Acquisition Grant Program. Mr. Steimel asked what the OSLAD Grant expenditures are per year? Mr. Metzger said that he believed that it wasn’t a huge amount, but did not know the exact amount.
Chairman Sands mentioned that he would like to have the board review the Facilities Policy again next month regarding allowing filming crews to be able to use the courthouse exterior and interior again. He said that he did speak with Judge Klein about it and he is very receptive to the idea as long as the rules and regulations are agreed upon ahead of time. He is very proud of the courthouse and would like to open it back up to allow filming to take place.
It was agreed that that Public Policy committee would be assigned this issue to discuss at their next meeting. Ms. Leifheit stated that she was on the board when they amended the policy to stop the filming process and other non-governmental uses. The idea was that the film crews were disruptive and that there was a bad experience at one time. She is opposed to letting it go back to the way it was. Chairman Sands said that he was informed that the groundwork wasn’t’ even done ahead of time before the filming began and that was the problem with that incident. He also said that they would not be filming while court is being conducted, it would be during the weekends. Mr. Metzger said that he has contacted some counties to see if they have any contracts with filming crews. He spoke with Kane, Winnebago and Sangamon counties, who have strict contracts now that provide provisions for everything that we are discussing this evening. The committee agreed that a letter should be written to them to see if we can get a copy of their contracts.
Mr. Bockman said that another item that needs to be discussed is if we are only going to allow film crews on the courthouse lawn and inside the courthouse and say that. Otherwise, you will be asked to allow weddings, signs to go up on the courthouse lawn, etc. You will need to make sure that it only includes filming and that’s all.
The committee ended the evening by stating that the courthouse lawn looks beautiful, currently.
ADJOURNMENTMoved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Mr. Wilson, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
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