Kankakee Times

Kankakee County Community Services Committee met May 15.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

Members Present:

Mr. Sirois, Ms. Webber, Mr. Stauffenberg, Mr. Vickery, Ms. Polk, Mr. Snipes, Ms. Evans, Mr. Payton, Ms. Peters, Ms. Dunbar, and Mr. Fairfield

Members Absent:

Mr. Tholen, Mr. Hildebrand, and Ms. Parker

In Attendance:

•Board Members

Mr. Liehr

• Department Heads

Julie Boudreau, Erich Blair, Dan Hendrickson, Lori Gadbois, and Anita Speckman

• Media

None

1.Call to Order/Roll Call

The meeting was called to order by the Committee Chairman, Mr. Sirois, at 9:00 a.m. Quorum present.

2. Public Comment

None

3. Approval of Minutes: April 17, 2018

Mr. Stauffenberg made a motion to approve the minutes, and Ms. Peters seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

4. Assessor – Erich Blair

• Monthly Report – May 2018

Mr. Snipes made a motion to approve the monthly report, and Mr. Fairfield seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Blair reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

5. Recorder – Lori Gadbois

• Monthly Report

Ms. Dunbar made a motion to approve the monthly report, and Ms. Peters seconded it. Motion carried with voice vote.

Ms. Gadbois reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

6. County Clerk – Dan Hendrickson

• Monthly Reports

Ms. Evans made a motion to approve the monthly report, and Mr. Liehr seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Hendrickson reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

• Disposal of Equipment - Fax Machine

Mr. Hendrickson stated that his office has an old fax machine that no longer works and requests that they be permitted to dispose of it.

Ms. Dunbar made a motion to approve, and Mr. Payton seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• Polling Place Change - Rockville

Mr. Hendrickson stated that the current Rockville polling place is the Rockville Township garage, and they would like to move it to Peoples Church.

Mr. Fairfield made a motion to approve the polling place change, and Mr. Stauffenberg seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• Polling Place Change - Essex

Mr. Hendrickson stated that he would like to wait until the next meeting to discuss this change. The Essex Village Hall is the current polling place and it’s a little small for the bigger elections. The Lions Club would work as a facility, but he wants to have Options-Center for Independent Living take a look at that building to make sure it’s ADA accessible.

• Election Judge Certification

Mr. Hendrickson stated that every two years, they send out notice to those judges who want to continue to work, and also to the precinct committeemen asking them if they can find judges. He needs approval for the list of election judges due for certification.

Laurie Mullett stated that once the list is approved, they will contact all of the judges, certify them through late summer/early fall, and then they will be certified to work the next two years. As elections come up and they need more, they’ll do supplement lists.

Ms. Polk made a motion to approve the list, and Mr. Fairfield seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• Precinct Consolidation (PowerPoint Presentation)

Mr. Hendrickson showed the committee a PowerPoint presentation regarding the precinct consolidation. The methodology that he chose to do when they were doing this is if there were 800 ballots cast at a polling place, that’s the maximum threshold. There is state law that says if you vote over 800 at a polling place at two consecutive general elections, you have to split the polling place. There is some talk about legislation increasing that number to 1,200, but right now it’s 800. The figures that he used for the calculations are for the ballots that were cast at the polling place at both the 2014 and 2016 elections.

Mr. Hendrickson stated that he would like to hold off on the options for both Otto 1 & 3 and Otto 2 & 3 for maybe a year. If this legislation passes, they may want to look at combining all three of the Otto precincts and possibly moving those to the fairgrounds.

Mr. Hendrickson stated that Kankakee 4 & 5 is one that they can do, but he would like to hold off on this for a year to get some more data.

Mr. Hendrickson stated that Kankakee 10 & 13 are both currently voting at Asbury United Methodist Church, so it’s already at one polling place. The judges have told them that they would prefer to have only one set of judges working there. They were only able to get five judges, so if they got those same five judges to work for future elections, there is no problem at all, but it is one of those areas where they do have difficulty finding election judges. It does merge two existing precinct committeemen, so it’s a consideration.

Mr. Hendrickson stated that Kankakee 14 & 15 is one that they previously brought to the committee for the primary election. They had to close the Pioneer Park building because of the water damage, and they moved those to the Housing Authority. They had four judges working in the primary election. Again, it’s another area where they have difficulty finding judges.

Mr. Hendrickson proceeded to discuss precinct consolidation options for Aroma 2 & 3, Norton 1 & 2, and Bourbonnais 4 & 9.

Mr. Snipes stated that if and when Kankakee 14 & 15 and Kankakee 10 & 13 are consolidated, he would like a letter drafted to inform voters of the potential change.

Mr. Hendrickson stated that he can work with Mr. Snipes to draft a letter if and when the changes take place.

Mr. Hendrickson also mentioned that if they are going to consolidate, they are required to do so at the June meeting, so that’s why he brought it to the committee’s attention today.

Ms. Dunbar made a motion to accept the consolidation of Aroma 2 & 3, Norton 1 & 2, Kankakee 10 & 13, Kankakee 14 & 15, and Bourbonnais 4 & 9, and Ms. Evans seconded it.

Discussion:

Mr. Snipes stated that he’s going to amend that motion to exclude Kankakee 10 & 13 and Kankakee 14 & 15 until he is able to contact those individuals in Kankakee.

Mr. Snipes amended Ms. Dunbar’s motion in order to exclude Kankakee 10 & 13 and Kankakee 14 & 15, and Mr. Payton seconded it.

Mr. Sirois asked Mr. Snipes which individuals he is going to contact.

Mr. Snipes stated that he needs the precinct lists for those individuals and he needs to get their input before we vote so he doesn’t have to deal with the same problems as before.

Ms. Peters asked if they could vote on each of them separately so that by the time it went to the board, Mr. Snipes would have enough time to contact people.

Mr. Snipes stated that the current motion is to exclude some, and it’s been agreed to consolidate the others. His concern is that we’ve had precinct consolidation already. The problem is that when we’re dealing with the City of Kankakee, they like to be informed, and if he can at least adhere to that consideration, we won’t have the problem that we would have with them coming here and saying they had no idea and there was no contact. He wants the motion amended not to move Kankakee 10 & 13, and 14 & 15 until he has time to communicate with them.

Mr. Liehr asked Mr. Snipes if he would get a favorable response after the communication, would he be prepared to make a motion on the full board floor including these consolidations.

Mr. Snipes stated that, if they’re in favor, then yes.

Mr. Snipes’ amended motion that Kankakee 10 & 13 and 14 & 15 be taken off of the combined motion previously made by Ms. Dunbar carried with a roll call vote of 7 ayes and 5 nays. Voting aye were Mr. Sirois, Ms. Polk, Mr. Snipes, Mr. Payton, Ms. Peters, Mr. Fairfield, and Mr. Liehr. Voting nay were Ms. Webber, Mr. Stauffenberg, Mr. Vickery, Ms. Evans, and Ms. Dunbar.

Ms. Dunbar’s original motion, excluding Kankakee 10 & 13 and 14 & 15, carried with a roll call vote of 11 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. Sirois, Ms. Webber, Mr. Vickery, Ms. Polk, Mr. Snipes, Ms. Evans, Mr. Payton, Ms. Peters, Ms. Dunbar, Mr. Fairfield, and Mr. Liehr.

Mr. Hendrickson asked if there will be a motion for Kankakee 10 & 13 and 14 & 15 to be presented on its own.

Mr. Snipes stated that he believes it will be if it’s brought back up after we get some feedback from that area.

Mr. Hendrickson asked, just for clarification, was that indicated in Mr. Snipes’ motion.

Mr. Snipes stated that his motion said to remove them.

Mr. Hendrickson stated that then, as it stands right now, Kankakee 10 & 13 and 14 & 15 would not be at the June County Board meeting.

Mr. Snipes stated no, it wouldn’t be at the June meeting.

Mr. Hendrickson stated that then we wouldn’t be doing it this year.

Mr. Snipes stated that’s right, but it can be revisited next year.

Ms. Dunbar asked if we could make a separate motion so that it appears separately on the County Board agenda.

Mr. Sirois stated yes, we can.

Ms. Dunbar made a motion that we consolidate Kankakee 10 & 13 and 14 & 15, to be voted on separately at the June County Board meeting, and Mr. Fairfield seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

7. Animal Control – Julie Boudreau

• Monthly Report

Ms. Evans made a motion to approve the monthly report, and Ms. Dunbar seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Ms. Boudreau reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

• Rabies Certificates

Ms. Boudreau updated the committee on the latest information about rabies certificates, and asked that they approve her changing the format for the official rabies certificate. It would be collecting the same information, just in a different manner.

Ms. Peters made a motion to approve the format change for the official rabies certificate, and Ms. Polk seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• Employee Needs/Openings

Ms. Boudreau stated that they have two openings right now, a part-time Kennel Technician and a full-time Animal Control officer. Their clerical person used to be full-time, but since maybe 2010, first they didn’t have anyone and then they had a part-time person, and that’s where it’s at right now. Their office is open six days a week, which leaves them with three days out of the six that they do not have a clerical person at all. It makes it difficult, especially since they don’t close for lunch. She would like to be able to add an additional part-time clerical person. The current clerical person does not want to go full-time. Having an additional part-time person would benefit the office and, being part-time, there would be no benefits or insurance. She had enough money in her budget last year surplus that would have covered this, as well as this year, she underestimated, and from her expenses to her revenue, she’s at about $86,000 under this year. To hire a part-time clerical person at this point in the year, it would be about $3,600, and maybe $7,800 for a full year. She is asking the committee for their permission to add another part-time clerical person.

Mr. Snipes made a motion to approve and to move this matter to Finance, and Ms. Peters seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

9. Old Business

None

10. New Business

None

11. Adjournment

Mr. Snipes made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:20 a.m., and Ms. Evans seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/comm_services_51518.pdf