Kankakee Times

Kankakee County - Criminal Justice Committee met Wednesday, March 15.

Here is the minutes provided by the

Members Present Mr. Byrne, Mr. Hess, Mr. Washington, Mr. Stauffenberg, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Snipes, Mr. Sirois, Ms. Evans, Mr. Payton, Ms. Dunbar, and Ms. Parker Members Absent Mr. Vickery, Mr. Tholen, and Mr. Skutt In Attendance

• Board Members Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Liehr Department Heads Jim Rowe, Sheriff Downey, Kevin Duval, Tom Latham, and Sandi Cianci Media Present

1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by the Committee Chairman, Mr. Byrne, at 7:30 a.m.

2. Public Comment

3. Approval of Minutes (Court Services): None

Approval of Minutes (Public Safety): None Approval of Minutes (Criminal Justice): February 15, 2017 Ms. Parker made a motion to approve the minutes, and Mr. McConnell seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

4. Judicial - Chief Judge Michael Kramer Chief Judge Kramer was not present.

5. Circuit Clerk’s Office - Sandi Cianci

• Monthly Report Mr. Stauffenberg made a motion to approve the monthly report, and Mr. Payton seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote. Ms. Cianci reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

• Computerization Update Ms. Cianci stated that they’re still moving forward with the e-filing project. She spoke with the Chief Judge, and the judges are setting up local rules, so when people file their documents, they will have certain standards that will be required to be met. The Courtview integration will not be ready until November, so when people e-file their documents, her office will have to print them out, and then scan them back in.

Mr. Sirois asked if they will be able to print from one program and scan to another.

Ms. Cianci stated yes, until November. That’s when the project is with Courtview for the integration.

Ms. Cianci stated that one of her staff members asked yesterday when Tyler Technologies was going to come train them. However, they don’t do that, plus they’re in Texas. There is a video her staff members will have to watch.

Mr. Snipes asked if there is anyone else in Illinois that has the project completed and could offer possible help.

Ms. Cianci stated that her office is in Phase 2, so they’ve already done Phase 1, not quite one-third of the State, so now Phase 2 is the second third of the State. Phase 3 will be rest. She is trying to get her date pushed back into Phase 3. However, even if they could help us, they have different case management systems. Courtview is our case management system, and we are the only ones in Illinois that has Courtview. They’re based out of Ohio, and their system is in many other states.

• Office Update Ms. Cianci stated that, in the last 10 years, her office went from 45 full time people down to 33, and a courtroom was added on top of that. She has one person retiring in May, and she is specifically trained for that job. She started the process of posting the position and moving people around. She has someone to fill that position, but it requires training. That will leave another vacancy, so she is posting and hiring for that.

6. Public Defender’s Office - Gus Regas Mr. Regas was not present.

• Monthly Reports Mr. Payton made a motion to approve the report, and Mr. Washington seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• Note from Gus Regas for the Committee Mr. Wheeler stated that Mr. Regas wanted to let the committee know that he let one of his attorneys go, and in order to fill the part time position, he was going to post the job and start taking resumes, hoping to fill that position sometime in April.

7. Probation Department - Tom Latham

• Monthly Report Mr. Hess made a motion to approve the report, and Ms. Evans seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote. Mr. Latham reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

Mr. Latham stated that they now have evening reporting hours in the Kankakee office. The second Thursday of each month, they’ll be open until 6:30 p.m., but only for individuals who are employed. If they need to add a second night later on, they will do so.

8. State’s Attorney’s Office – Jim Rowe

• Grand Jury Report Ms. Dunbar made a motion to approve the report, and Mr. Snipes seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote. Mr. Rowe reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

• Debt Collection Process Update Mr. Rowe spoke with Harris & Harris at length, and they have negotiated a new contract so that Harris & Harris will go forward until December 31st of this year as our debt collector for the debt that has already been placed with them. For new debt, and for old debt that has not yet been placed with Harris & Harris, we are free to give to another collection company, so that, at the end of the year, we have something to compare it against.

Mr. Stauffenberg asked if individuals do not pay this, does it affect their credit rating.

Mr. Rowe stated that it does not go against their credit, but if it’s a traffic ticket, it impedes their ability to renew their driver’s license.

Mr. Rowe stated that something else he wanted to bring up is that the County Board approved the whistleblower ordinance yesterday, and that was a great move forward and progress to restore some of that trust with the taxpayers of the County. However, if we’re going to talk about transparency, then we need to be about transparency. The word at the courthouse is that Jamie Boyd is going to put back into the Public Defender’s office as an assistant public defender. He believes that would be a way of rolling back the progress we are making here in the County. He thinks that would be a wrong move and he would encourage the County Board members to speak out and speak up against that, if indeed that’s what’s going to happen.

Mr. Wheeler stated that this whole conversation is something that people are having behind the scenes, and it is somewhat premature to have the official discussion here because no one has been hired. The resumes aren’t all in, and the decision making process isn’t even there. The public defender is appointed and serves at the pleasure of the circuit judges, not the Chief Judge. Our only teeth in this matter would be on budgets, and then we have to balance that on what’s best for the community and the people who have the right to a public defender. In my opinion, we actually need to consider this when there is something to consider, and I think that’s a proper course of action, and prudent, because everyone in this world has a right to earn a living.

9. Coroner’s Office – Bob Gessner (Eric Cavender)

Mr. Gessner was not present, and Eric Cavender spoke in his place.

• Monthly Reports

• Monthly Receipts of Money Mr. Washington made a motion to approve the reports, and Mr. Snipes seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Cavender reviewed and discussed the reports with the committee.

Mr. Cavender stated that yesterday they received from Mr. McCarty their numbers through February 28. It showed them spending just over $31,000 in the morgue fund. He believes that once the Auditor and Finance Department catch up with the claims, the actual number will be closer to $48,000. That’s significant because that means that they spent over 56% of the money in the morgue line item already this year, in only three months.

10. Sheriff/EMA Department – Sheriff Mike Downey

• Monthly Report Mr. Stauffenberg made a motion to approve and file the monthly report, and Mr. McConnell seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote. Sheriff Downey reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

• ICE Update Sheriff Downey stated that some of the committee may have seen the Tribune article relating to Kankakee County staging the detainees here to be moved to the airlift for deportation, and that article is accurate from the standpoint that it is happening. ICE holds detainees in Illinois in Pulaski County and McHenry County, and in Kenosha County and Dodge County, Wisconsin. When the Chicago court deems that the detainee is being deported, our officers are in Chicago daily anyway, so they get back on our bus and come here, which affects our population. On Friday morning, ICE is here, the Mexican Consulate is here, and all of these detainees get processed out, and are transported by buses that, so far, ICE has provided to us.

Sheriff Downey also stated that they are exploring options with the airport because the best case scenario for them would be that ICE flies into the Kankakee airport. ICE is interested as well. The Kankakee airport has a longer runway than Midway, but it’s just about the weight that it can handle regularly. Right now, they could handle an ICE flight with a 737 every Friday as we do now. Now, it’s just getting ICE to talk to their air operations people to make that happen. Utilizing this airport is going to be beneficial for the community itself to maybe increase the weight capacity of the runway so that we can handle 737’s on a more regular basis that would benefit cargo planes for the businesses and industries.

• Kankakee County Sheriff’s 2016 Annual Report Sheriff Downey distributed the Sheriff’s 2016 Annual Report to the committee. He stated that, if anyone has any questions about the report, they can contact him at any time.

• JCDC Food Service Contract Sheriff Downey stated that the three most important things that ICE looks at are food, medical, and security. His office has contracted with The Country Table for a long time, and they do an outstanding job of providing food for the detainees and inmates. Aleta Lowe from The Country Table is at the meeting today, and she has not asked for anything up until now. It costs us $1.50 per person, per day, for lunch, and $1.65 per person, per day, for dinner. What has happened since ICE has come here is that we have added an additional 14 meals to the rotation of the meals that ICE requires. The number of ethnic meals has increased. She is preparing approximately 7 special dietary meals, most relating to ICE, and those are two to three times the cost of your $1.50 and $1.65 meal. ICE is very pleased with the meal service. We are under contract with The Country Table; however, Ms. Lowe has gone the extra mile to get us where we need to be with ICE. He is requesting that we increase the cost of lunch from $1.50 to $1.55, and dinner from $1.65 to $1.70. He doesn’t feel that’s a lot to ask based on what she and her employees have done to make this program the success it is.

Mr. Sirois asked if this would just be for the ICE detainees.

Sheriff Downey stated no, it would be for everybody, across the board.

Mr. Hess made a motion to move this to the Finance Committee, and Mr. Snipes seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

11. Old Business/New Business

12. Adjournment

A motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:11 a.m. was made by Mr. Stauffenberg, and seconded by Mr. Sirois. Motion carried.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/31517.pdf