Kankakee Times

Kankakee County - Criminal Justice Committee met May 10.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

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

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

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

Mr. Hess informed the committee that the meeting will not be live streamed today, but should be in June.

2. Public Comment None

3. Approval of Minutes (Court Services): June 21, 2016, July 19, 2016, August 16, 2016, September 20, 2016, and October 18, 2016 Mr. McConnell made a motion to combine and approve the above minutes, and Mr. Vickery seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Approval of Minutes (Criminal Justice): April 12, 2017 Ms. Parker made a motion to approve the above minutes, and Mr. Payton seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

4. State’s Attorney’s Office - Jim Rowe

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

Mr. Rowe stated that, on June 15th, they are having a Senior Safety Fair at the Quality Inn, on everything from scams and prescription safety to the Coroner’s office. The Sheriff will have some representation there, along with the Bradley K-9 program, senior agencies, and a lot of resources for the seniors. It’s all free, and there will be a lunch served as well.

Mr. Rowe stated that the Circuit Clerk’s office and the State’s Attorney’s office are working together to coordinate a June Amnesty Program. That would be where, in June, people would be able to come in and pay any unpaid fines they have that are owed to the County, without the additional 30% collection fee or interest. This will only be in June, and he doesn’t anticipate doing this often, and maybe never again.

5. Coroner’s Office - Bob Gessner

• Monthly Reports

• Monthly Receipts of Money Mr. Vickery made a motion to combine and approve the reports, and Mr. Sirois seconded it. Mr. Gessner reviewed and discussed the reports with the committee. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Gessner stated that heroin is not really the leading drug; it’s the fentanyl, and fentanyl is the one that is producing the deaths a little quicker than what people think. He previously spoke about the seven different kinds of fentanyl, and there are six of them in Kankakee County.

Mr. Gessner stated that he does have some good news to share. Earlier this year, Health & Human Services released a $16.3 million grant, and the money will be released for the purpose of addressing the opioid crisis, increasing the treatment, and reducing the opioid overdoses in additional prevention. In February 2017, he went after this grant, along with Riverside Healthcare and the Kankakee County Health Department, to apply the maximum amount for Kankakee County to receive $250,000 for this grant. He is happy to report that earlier this week it was announced that Kankakee County will be receiving these funds. The exact amount has not been released yet. After the deduction of administrative costs, the maximum the County can receive is $225,000.

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

7. Circuit Clerk’s Office - Sandi Cianci

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

• Computerization Update Ms. Cianci discussed the upcoming e-appeals and e-filing mandates with the committee.

8. Public Defender’s Office - Gus Regas

• Monthly Reports

Mr. Payton made a motion to approve the report, and Mr. Sirois seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote. Mr. Regas was not present.

9. Probation Department - Tom Latham

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

Mr. Latham stated that he spoke to the committee previously about there being numerous federal lawsuits regarding the cash bail system in other states, and he thinks there’s one filed in Cook County. As a result of that, the AOIC is pushing to establish or enhance pre- trial services. That is something they had in the past, but with the 2010 cuts, that was eliminated. Those individuals started getting regular cases to supervise. On April 28th he received word from the Illinois Supreme Court issuing a state-wide policy to establish or enhance pre-trial services, obviously with the goal to reduce pre-trial incarceration. This is something they have to move on, but, unfortunately, additional funding for positions has not been part of the conversation yet. This will be a population they’re really not dealing with at all right now, and the numbers will increase quite a bit. As he has said before, bond reports are part of that, so it requires two officers minimum to go out to the jail early every morning, interview individuals who are in custody, complete the report, background checks, employment checks, and get the report put together for afternoon court call. They use that bond report to set bond and to set conditions of pre-trial supervision.

Mr. Sirois asked how far in arrears the state is on the grant and aid.

Mr. Latham stated that they have only received July of 2016.

Mr. Latham stated that Senate Bill 1799 is another issue that he had brought up before. Right now, a juvenile taken into custody has to be brought back within 40 judicial hours, which is basically saying 40 hours, not including holidays and weekends. There is legislation to change that to 48 hours. Senate Bill 1799 requires the minor to come back within 48 hours, including holidays and weekends. This is basically establishing a holiday court for juveniles, as there is for adults now. It passed 54-0 on April 7th in the Senate, so it now moves to the House. It will be coming soon, and his office is trying to put a procedure in place.

10. Sheriff/EMA Department - Sheriff Mike Downey

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

Sheriff Downey stated that all of their 2009 vans, of which there are four, have over 118,000 miles, with a top end of 139,000 miles. They have two buses, a 2007 22 passenger bus with 82,000 miles on it, and a 2005 24 passenger handicap-accessible bus with 84,000 miles on it. He will be asking for two more vans for next year at the next Finance meeting.

Sheriff Downey stated that they have one issue that they’ve been dealing with for the past couple of months, and they can’t seem to narrow down why. They used to get what is called a Notice to Witness from the State’s Attorney’s office. Those are given to the deputies or given out to other police agencies when there is a trial coming up or when they need to appear in court. Lately, there have been issues with the courts and the State’s Attorney issuing subpoenas instead. The problem with that is that means his office has to serve them. They have to subpoena police to come to court. His office is not the problem on not showing up to court as they’re still getting Notices to Witnesses, but they are forced to serve other police agencies subpoenas so that they show up to court. It burdens his staff as they now have to subpoena police, and are not getting paid for it.

Mr. Wheeler asked if it was ever indicated to the Sheriff that there was a history and a reason for this, with police not showing up.

Sheriff Downey stated that there may be, but he doesn’t think everybody always looks at who the process affects, and it’s something his office can’t continue.

Mr. Wheeler stated that he thinks this should be put on the agenda to talk about next month when Mr. Rowe is here.

Original motion carried with a voice vote.

• ICE Update Sheriff Downey stated that the ICE numbers are increasing at a slow pace, partially by ICE’s choice and partially by ours, mainly due to staffing. Staffing is slowly getting up to a number that is adequate. Right now, it’s still at 106.

• “Routine” Traffic Stop Video Sheriff Downey showed the committee part of a video from a dash-cam traffic stop, and followed up with a discussion afterwards.

• Staffing Update Sheriff Downey stated that they are still at 106 correctional officers, and 44 sworn. They are looking to replace those who have retired, and are emphasizing lateral replacements, which mean people who already have experience and are trained so that they don’t have to send them to training for 12 weeks.

Sheriff Downey stated that Chairman Wheeler gave him a New World agency agreement that we have with all of our agencies. There is a new Chief of Police in Momence, so he needs to enter into this agreement with the County, and the Chairman will need to sign this agreement as well. We have this with every other agency, but Chairman Wheeler wanted him to bring this to the committee’s attention.

Mr. Sirois wanted to bring something up that is starting to be a problem with some unwanted dumping out in the country areas. There are some farmers who are getting things dumped in their fields, like garbage, wood, and things like that. He’s been asked by a couple of farmers what they can do. They have the trail cameras that they put up for deer. If they brought in trail camera pictures, would that be enough for a ticket to be written for dumping?

Sheriff Downey stated that they would certainly take look at it to see if they can identify the individuals.

11. Old Business/New Business

Mr. Wheeler stated that this was passed last year, but we didn’t know about it until now. It’s the Illinois Noxious Weed Law, and he just received a letter that we’re in non- compliance of this law. He read the law at issue to the committee. He wanted the committee to be aware of this, but he’s still investigating which department this should actually fall under.

12. Adjournment

A motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:10 a.m. was made by Mr. Stauffenberg, and seconded by Mr. McConnell. Motion carried.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/51017.pdf