COMMITTEE REPORT. COMMITTEE: Executive CHAIRPERSON: Ron Mapes DATE/TIME: June 2, PRESENT: Merri Berlage Jody Carroll Bill Cooper

Transcription

1 COMMITTEE REPORT COMMITTEE: Executive CHAIRPERSON: Ron Mapes DATE/TIME: June 2, 2008 PRESENT: Merri Berlage Jody Carroll Bill Cooper Dane Jackson Ron Mapes Yerda Potter Marv Schultz Jack Zillig Other Board Members: Others: Dan Reimer Executive Committee Chairman Ron Mapes called the meeting to order at 7:03p.m. 1. Minutes Approval Bill Cooper made a motion to approve the committee minutes of May 5, Dane Jackson seconded and the motion passed. 2. Citizens Comments none. 3. Unfinished Business a. County Board retreat follow-up. Some of the committees have begun working on objectives from the County Board retreat that were assigned to them. Mapes requested that delegated objectives be included on respective committee agendas and the development of a capital improvement plan should be the responsibility of the Executive Committee. b. Vice-chair policy and Board Rules and Procedures. This topic will be held until the next meeting. c. Development of an appendix of county policies. Reimer reported that the next step is to research older County Board minutes for policies not currently archived on the network drive. This item will remain on next month s agenda. 4. New Business a) Establishment of a JDC E-Bay Account. Cooper reported that at the last ICTC committee meeting it was decided that GIS/IT Coordinator Joe Kratcha will establish an E-Bay account to sell unique County items of value such as computer firewalls. The department that originally purchased the item will receive the proceeds from the E-Bay sale. There are no fees required to establish an E-Bay account. The ICTC needs to inquire about the payment terms available. Carroll stated that you can request that payments be made via cashier s checks. Kratcha will develop a policy and send it to the State s Attorney for review. b) Discuss County Administrator s Office. Reimer reported that Office Manager Cindya Ramirez will be resigning effective the end of July, She will be relocating to Florida. Reimer stated that the workload of the Administrator s Office is more than two people can handle effectively and said this is an opportune time to review the responsibilities, workload, needs and expectations of the County Administrators office. He believes that \\Jodav\admin\County Board Committees\Executive Cmt\MINUTES\2008\ doc 1

2 instead of just one office manager, an additional year round part time person is needed. Examples were given to give a broader view of the volume of work that this office handles in addition to the time consuming task of transcribing six sets of committee minutes (a three hour meeting can take at least six hours to transcribe). Reimer suggested that the committee consider developing a revised job description for the office manager position and also incorporate part-time help. Various options were discussed including, using the FTP website for posting transcribed minutes, delegating tasks to other departments, having a part-time permanent person solely responsible for transcribing minutes (which could be done remotely), or hire from a temp agency. It currently takes at 20 to 30 hours per month to transcribe the committee minutes. Discussion centered on the pros and cons of department heads or committee members transcribing minutes or would it be more efficient and cost effective to have a part-time person responsible for this task. Schultz shared that there is technology available now that can transfer the recorded minutes into a text version. The immediate focus will be on hiring a full time person to transition into the office manager position before Ramirez leaves. Reimer will review the resumes of those who were invited to interview when Ramirez was hired. Once a new office manager is in place Reimer will develop a job description and budget for a part-time year round position. Berlage noted that this arrangement will require another computer. Regarding board packets, which consists of a compilation of all committee meeting packets from the previous month and departmental monthly reports, Schultz said he is in support of providing a laptop to each board member so that instead of hard copies of the board packet (usually over 300 pages), the electronic version of the packet can be loaded onto a disc or downloaded into a network drive for board members to access. A laptop will also be needed for the State s Attorney, County Clerk and the Administrator, who also attend monthly board meetings. This arrangement will decrease the expense of copier paper, copier usage and staff time to copy. Cooper will work with Kratcha on identifying computer vendors that would offer the best pricing on a bulk order of laptops. c) Inter-committee comments and discussions. Reimer reported on the May 27, 2008 department head staff meeting. Topics discussed were the internet password policy. Implementation will begin the week of June 16 th. Safety manual for the county the Safety Committee has made additional revisions which will be remained one more time at the June Department Head meeting. It is expected that a recommendation will be made to the Executive Committee to adopt the safety manual and that a parttime risk manager position be created to oversee the County s safety program and provide safety training to departments. The Certificate of Insurance policy has been implemented. Research on the Purchasing Card program is ongoing. The Surplus Property sale is scheduled for June 30, The FY2009 budget calendar was reviewed at the department head staff meeting and approved by the Finance committee. Two plans need to be developed the capital improvement plan (fixed assets) and the capital outlay replacement plan (computers, copiers, office furniture etc.). Discussion continued to fixed assets and the need to update County s furnishings and \\Jodav\admin\County Board Committees\Executive Cmt\MINUTES\2008\ doc 2

3 equipment inventory list. Mapes stated that the capital plan will be a part of next month s discussion. Dane Jackson reported that discussions are ongoing for courthouse security in light of an upcoming murder trial. A new hot water heater is needed for the Pubic Safety building. Berlage reported that discussions are underway to determine if existing vacant property (owned by the county) can be developed to provide secure storage for Public Works materials. Steve Keeffer will talk with representatives from JoCarroll Energy to see if they would be interested in trading or selling property adjacent to the Public Works building for this project. Potter reported that Board of Review meetings are underway. Tax bills are tentatively scheduled to be mailed by the middle of July, Regarding delinquent taxes, most taxes are paid on time, less than one third of 1% actually go to the annual tax sale. Township assessor options and providing computer equipment and software to township assessors was discussed. The Board of Review applied a multiplier to Apple River / Thompson townships. The 2008 prevailing wage ordinance is being recommended for approval. The FY2009 budget calendar was approved. Also discussed was the idea of asking the full board to attend the four budget joint meetings in August (with compensation). This will ensure that everyone hears the same information at the same time. The state has reimbursed the county $17, for inmate medical costs. The total cost as of May, 2008 prior to this reimbursement is $40, Regarding the budget calendar, Berlage suggested that the scheduled budget presentation be moved up in case the budget needs to be revised or is delayed for any reason. It was agreed to move the presentation to the time frame of November 11 th to November 25 th. Cooper reported that data back up tapes have been switched at various county departments. All old PC s that will be on the Sheriff s sale have been reformatted. The projector screen has been purchased and an oak mounting board will be made in order to install the projector (steel wall studs prohibit mounting directly to the surface). A new wireless access point was installed in the Health department. Two laptops, 3 refurbished PC s and a new network printer were installed in the WIC offices. A new printer was installed in the Highway department. The new password policy will be implemented. The use of RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is being explored. This is a system that provides automatic distribution of internet content from news related sites. If suitable, this could be added to the county website. A GIS intern will not be hired this summer. Berlage reported, she is still waiting for an answer from Representative Sacia s office regarding the regional superintendent of schools expense distribution formula (per student versus % EAV)). The 708 Mental Health Board. Berlage spoke to Ms. Ramirez, the Executive Director of the \\Jodav\admin\County Board Committees\Executive Cmt\MINUTES\2008\ doc 3

4 Association of Community Mental Health Authorities of Illinois regarding the mental health tax levy. Ms. Ramirez is not aware of any law suit against member Counties. Berlage and Reimer will draft a letter and a list of questions to Ms. Ramirez. When received this information will be provided to the Finance committee. The Legislative Committee needs to gather more information on Home Rule. TIF Districts were reported on. New legislation was added to the watch list including: HB 5653 the criminal code of disarming a peace officer, HB 4139 police fire arm possession, HB 733- expansion of the prevailing wage in an Enterprise Zone. Schultz reported that several positions from Workforce Investment Board have been cut due to budgetary constraints. The items for the surplus sale are being gathered. A link can be added to the county website directing viewers to surplus information. Several FOIA requests have been received this past month. Mapes reported on the Greenways & Trails survey and Economic Development report. The proposed East Dubuque Enterprise Zone was reviewed. Mapes stated that the East Dubuque Enterprise Zone connection route is being recommended to follow Hwy 20 from the Rentech property. A Building & Zoning refund policy is being recommended. Reimbursement of expenses incurred by Pat Leitzen-Fye to attend several workshops was approved. A draft text change will be presented to the Planning Commission/ZBA for consideration, the change as proposed would increase the acreage requirement from 40 to 80 acres for both Ag and non-ag residential. Berlage and Carroll believe that non-ag should not be included in this change. 5. Board Member Concerns a) Schultz asked if anyone had suggestions for the raffle ordinance. Cooper suggested that the raffles be assigned a number which would be printed on the raffle tickets sold. This would identify that the raffle is legitimate. b) Mapes shared that AJ Bos was granted approval on May 30th from the Illinois Department of Agriculture for Tradition South. Mapes asked the committee how they would feel if AJ Bos came forward with an Enterprise Zone request. The Committee consensus it s up to AJ Bos. c) Schultz would like the entire Board to attend the joint budget committee meetings and pay a per diem if there is enough funding available in the budget line item. d) Regarding the NIDA executive director search, ideas on how to set up meetings to interview the candidate were discussed. It was agreed that the candidate will meet with the Development and Planning committee. e) Reimer shared information on the upcoming Top of the State Tourism Tour, scheduled for the 13 th & 14 th of June. All Illinois house tourism committee members have been invited by Representative Jim Sacia. f) Reimer explained an invitation that members of the Development and Planning Committee received from Moshen Javadi, Senior Project Manager from the Bloom Companies. Mr. Javadi is very interested in \\Jodav\admin\County Board Committees\Executive Cmt\MINUTES\2008\ doc 4

5 making the Highway 20 project become a reality and has arranged a meeting by invitation to US 20 Tri-State Corridor Progress Report on June 20, 2008, 10:30 am, at the Apple Canyon Lake Clubhouse. Invited quests include US House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hassert, Iowa DOT Director Nancy Richardson, and IDOT Deputy Director George Ryan, and about 60 local officials from Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. 6. Citizens Comments. None 7. Closed Session a) Cooper made a motion to go into closed session at 9:25 pm for the purpose of personnel section 2(c) 1, collective bargaining section 2(c) 2, litigation section 2 (c) 11, purchase/lease property section 2 (c) 5. Berlage seconded and the motion passed. b) Berlage made a motion to leave closed session at 9:32 pm. Jackson seconded and the motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 9:33 p.m. following a motion by Berlage and seconded by Cooper. \\Jodav\admin\County Board Committees\Executive Cmt\MINUTES\2008\ doc 5