Kankakee Times

Members of the Kankakee Court Services Committee met Tuesday, April 19.

Here are the meeting minutes as provided by the Kankakee Court Services Committee:

Court Services

Committee Meeting

April 19, 2016

MINUTES

Members Present

Mr. Mulcahy, Mr. Olthoff, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Hess, Ms. Webber, and Mr. Payton

Members Absent

Mr. Hildebrand, Ms. Evans, Mr. Skutt, and Mr. Tholen

In Attendance

- Board Members

Mr. Bossert and Mr. Byrne

- Department Heads

Chief Judge Kick, Gus Regas, Mike Downey, Tom Latham, Kevin Duval, and Brian

Gadbois

Media

None

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by the Committee Chairman, Mr. Mulcahy, at 7:30 a.m.

2. Public Comment

3. Approval of Minutes – December 15, 2015

Mr. Byrne made a motion to approve the minutes, and Mr. Hess seconded it.

Motion carried with a voice vote.

4. Judicial

Judge Kick stated that the committee is aware that Judge Wenzelman retired on

November 30, 2015, which created a vacancy in a Circuit Court position. There was a

recent election for that position and Judge Kramer won. There is no opponent in the

General Election, so Judge Kick sent a request to the Supreme Court asking them to

appoint Judge Kramer to fill the vacancy for the remainder of Judge Wenzelman’s term

which ends September 5, 2016. The Supreme Court has done that, and Judge Kramer

will be sworn in on Friday at 3:00 p.m., at the Courthouse, in Room 300. He will serve

the remainder of Judge Wenzelman’s term, and then be sworn in to his own six year

term. That will create a vacancy in the Associate Judge position that Judge Kramer will

vacate. Judge Kick will be asking the Supreme Court to declare a vacancy, and then

the Circuit Judges will pick the Associate Judge replacement.

5. Public Defender’s Office

- Monthly Report

A motion to combine and approve the February and March 2016 monthly reports

was made by Mr. Hess, and seconded by Mr. Payton. Motion carried with a voice

vote.

Mr. Regas reviewed and discussed his report with the committee.

Mr. Regas stated that he has his staff handling anywhere between 35 and 50 felonies

each, which he believes is a manageable case load, so he’s happy with that.

Mr. Regas stated that he would like to look at the Public Defender’s budget at the end of

the year. The majority of his office is part-time, and they don’t have a lot of support

staff. They have a receptionist and an office manager, so the Public Defenders have to

rely on their own resources at their private practice, and some of them don’t have a

private practice. A big help would be the office expenses of $300 that they used to

receive. They don’t have a lot of office personnel to help them with preparation of

motions, etc., and the monthly supplement of $300 would go a long way toward helping

him maintain a good staff.

6. Circuit Clerk’s Office

- Monthly Report

A motion to approve the reports was made by Mr. Byrne, and seconded by Mr.

Payton. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Ms. Cianci was not in attendance.

7. Probation Department

- Monthly Report

Mr. Hess made a motion to approve the monthly reports, and Mr. Olthoff

seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Latham stated they had over 2,600 successful contacts, so just under 7,000 year-todate.

There were 150 drug tests, with 462 year-to-date. They screened 38 juveniles for

detention, and detained 18 of them. They currently have 12 in detention, and they have

868 total detention days so far this year.

Mr. Latham stated that they are keeping their eye on some pending legislation that

mostly affects the juvenile population. There is one house bill now that would like to

make anyone who commits a misdemeanor under the age of 21 remain in juvenile

court. Currently, anyone under the age of 18 is a juvenile, and this would move it to

anyone under the age of 21, so would be a huge impact on our juvenile world. The

second house bill is both felonies and misdemeanors, so basically the juvenile world

would change to anyone under the age of 21. There is an email going around about

legislation that would require any juvenile detained to be returned the very next day to

go in front of the judge to determine further detention. This would mean weekends,

holidays, the very next morning, and would be a huge impact.

Mr. Latham stated that they did receive their State allocation through January, so that’s

good news.

Mr. Latham stated that they do have a contract that was signed April 1, 2016. Their

contract had expired November 30, 2015. They had an agreement by February 29.

Negotiations went well and quickly. He gives a lot of credit to the employees on the

other side of the table, the negotiation team, and all of the employees who came to the

table with a very realistic proposal. There was good conversation. The biggest part of

the contract was that it was a two year contract for the fiscal year 2016-2017, 0% each

year, but they would change the start time in their office from 8:00 to 8:30. That would

fall in line with basically all of the other offices in the circuit. There were also some

language changes on how vacancies are filled. There was zero back pay to be paid in

the Kankakee office.

Mr. Bossert stated that this will be talked about again at the Finance Committee

meeting, and perhaps a copy of the contract can be handed out. But, as Mr. Latham

stated, it’s been executed and in place. The County Board does not approve this

contract.

8. State’s Attorney’s Office

- Grand Jury Report

There was no Grand Jury Report.

- Computerization Update

Mr. Boyd was not in attendance.

9. Old /New Business

10. Adjournment

A motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:52 a.m. was made by Mr. Olthoff, and

seconded by Mr. Payton. Motion carried.

Mike Mulcahy, Committee Chairman

Diane Owens, Executive Coordinator