Kankakee Times

Kankakee County Finance Committee met June 28.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

Members Present Mr. LaGesse, Mr. Washington, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Hess, Mr. Mulcahy, Mr. Sirois, Ms. Webber, and Mr. Payton Members Absent Mr. Johnson, Mr. Skutt, Mr. Hildebrand, Mr. Einfeldt, and Mr. Ritter In Attendance

• Board Members Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Liehr Department Heads Bruce Clark, Delbert Skimerhorn, Kevin Duval, Mark Rogers, Nick Africano, Steve McCarty, Lori Gadbois, Jake Lee, Sandi Cianci, Erich Blair, Brian Gadbois, John Bevis, Jim Rowe, and Sheriff Mike Downey

• Media Present

1. Call to Order

• Roll Call The meeting was called to order by the Committee Vice-Chairman, Mr. LaGesse, at 9:00 a. m. Quorum present.

2. Public Comment None

3. Presentation

4. Approval of Minutes: May 24, 2017 Mr. Sirois made a motion to approve the minutes, and Mr. Washington seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

5. County Auditor’s Office – Jake Lee

• Monthly Claims Mr. Payton made a motion to combine and approve the monthly claims, and Mr. Hess seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 8 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. LaGesse, Mr. Washington, Mr. Hess, Mr. Mulcahy, Mr. Sirois, Ms. Webber, Mr. Payton, and Mr. Wheeler. Mr. Lee reviewed and discussed the monthly claims with the committee.

• Auditor’s Update Mr. Lee showed the committee a Powerpoint presentation regarding the FY 2017 Second Quarterly Financial Report. He then discussed it and answered questions from the committee.

6. Insurance/HR – Lynn Mackin

• Staffing Levels Report Ms. Mackin was not present.

• Cyber Insurance Policy – Chairman Wheeler Chairman Wheeler stated that this issue has been discussed in the past. Our Health Department currently has a cyber insurance policy. They are required to because of some grants they receive, and the subject came up when we were looking to secure cyber insurance with the hacks that have gone on, and the attempted ransomware. Since the Health Department has to do it anyway, why not look at the cost of an umbrella policy for the entire County. As we go forward, there could be one policy, rather than two, and we can drive down the cost. The total premium is $6,133 a year. The Health Department alone was a little more than half of that, and we have many more terminals than they have over there. Next year when we go to renewal, maybe we can combine this and we can both spend less money. The limits are $1 million, and then each claim coverage that goes out. Mr. Vickery made a motion to approve the cyber insurance policy at $6,133, effective August 1, 2017, and Mr. Sirois seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 9 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. LaGesse, Mr. Washington, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Hess, Mr. Mulcahy, Mr. Sirois, Ms. Webber, Mr. Payton, and Mr. Wheeler.

7. Treasurer - Nick Africano

• County Treasurer’s Report – May 2017

• County Collector’s Report – May 2017

• Monthly Resolutions for July 2017 Mr. Washington made a motion to combine and approve the reports and monthly resolutions, and Mr. Payton seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote. Mr. Africano reviewed and discussed the above reports and monthly resolutions with the committee.

Mr. Africano informed the committee that Corelogic, who is the largest escrow agent in the country, and is responsible for about 6,550 parcels in our County, was late making their payment. He has engaged the State’s Attorney’s office on this as Corelogic owes us 1.5% interest on $11,800,000, which is about a $177,000 interest payment. Corelogic deposited the money on June 14, but, despite repeated attempts from us, never were able to get us the file until three days after the due date. While the money was there, there were no ties as to where that money went. They seem to think that’s fulfilling their obligation, but clearly it’s not. We intend to fight this vigorously and get the money that’s due this County. We’ve received a significant amount of phone calls from people who had their taxes escrowed and still showed a late payment. Those people obviously don’t have a legal obligation to pay that. That will be their escrow agent’s responsibility. Corelogic seems to want to solve this issue very quickly.

Mr. Africano stated that he’s had a couple of phone calls with hotel/motel operators in town who have been late with their tax payment in the past. He made it very clear, via letter and phone calls, that there will be no more grace period. The taxes are collected on our behalf. It is money that is owed to us that’s already been paid by the consumer to the hotel. From this point forward, if they’re late, they will be fined the statutory amount which is $500 for the first 30 days, then $1,500 plus the $500 for the next 30 days, and so forth.

8. Finance Department –- Steve McCarty

• Miscellaneous Financial Reports & Discussion Mr. McCarty reviewed and discussed the reports with the committee.

• Cash Flow Update Mr. McCarty reviewed and discussed the cash flow update with the committee.

• FY17 General Fund Budget Amendments Mr. Wheeler showed a PowerPoint presentation, and then reviewed and discussed the amendments and a proposed three year budget plan with the committee. Mr. Washington made a motion to forward the FY17 general fund budget amendments to the full board, and Mr. Vickery seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 9 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. LaGesse, Mr. Washington, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Hess, Mr. Mulcahy, Mr. Sirois, Ms. Webber, Mr. Payton, and Mr. Wheeler.

• Recognition of Nicole McCarty’s 14 Years of Service to County Mr. McCarty presented Ms. McCarty with a plaque recognizing her 14 years of service to the County.

Ms. McCarty thanked the many people that she has worked with over the years, especially the Finance Department where she has worked since she was hired right out of college. She will be leaving the County’s employment to work for the Bradley School District.

Mr. McCarty also acknowledged Chris Koerner, who is taking over and training for Ms. McCarty’s position. He started as an intern from ONU with the Finance Department ten years ago, has since graduated with an accounting degree, and has been an integral part in their department as he moved from intern to their full time accountant.

9. Sheriff’s Department - Sheriff Mike Downey

• Monthly Update Sheriff Downey stated that, as far as the ICE update, we are through May, which is the halfway point, and some of the information that Mr. McCarty passed out to the committee is consistent with what we have. Right now, our increased revenue is up $1.6 million from where it was last year.

• Additional Corrections Vans Sheriff Downey stated that he asked last month about Corrections vans, and he will ask again. We have four 2009 Corrections vans that, right now, have anywhere from 119,000 to 139,000 miles on them. We have two buses – a 2007 22-passenger bus that has 84,000 miles on it, and a 2005 23-passenger handicap accessible bus that has 88,000 miles on it. Those buses are still usable. They’re fine, other than regular maintenance. We also have two 2011 vans – one is currently in the shop. It’s the one that broke down in Sauk Village on I-57 with ICE detainees in it, and that van has 145,000 miles on it. We have another 2011 van with 185,000 miles on it. Our transports aren’t decreasing; they’re increasing. Obviously, those are issues that affect us from the standpoint of safety, mainly for our officers, but also the inmates and general public as well. He is asking for two more vans. The two vans that were approved last year were just put into service, so they will utilize those quite a bit, especially to and from Chicago. Mr. Hess made a motion to lease two new vans, and Mr. Vickery seconded it.

Discussion: Mr. Wheeler stated that, if this passes, we can look over the next month to see where the funds could come from.

Original motion carried with a roll call vote of 9 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. LaGesse, Mr. Washington, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Hess, Mr. Mulcahy, Mr. Sirois, Ms. Webber, Mr. Payton, and Mr. Wheeler.

• Declare Wave Runners Surplus Sheriff Downey stated that we have two wave runners and a boat trailer which carries the wave runners. They are 2004 Polaris wave runners that were previously used for river patrol. River patrol, from the County’s standpoint, has been non-existent for quite some time. They pay every year for the wave runners to be winterized and then open them up just in case they may need one. One of them runs very well, and the other does not. Mr. Vickery made a motion to declare the wave runners surplus, and Mr. Mulcahy seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

10. Other Business

None.

11. Old/New Business

• (Informational) NIMEC Aggregation Bid – Chairman Wheeler Mr. Wheeler stated that we were able to secure a lower rate of 6.95% for three years versus ComEd’s rate of 7.122%. The 6.95% is one of the lowest in the state. We were able to leverage this type of a program to benefit a lot of the citizens. It should also be noted that the new rate is only 1.9% higher than what we did three years ago, so he thinks we’re doing pretty good work for the citizens of the County who are able to participate.

• Revolving Loan Fund Write-Off Mr. Wheeler stated that this committee may be aware that last year we were notified that the State Department of Commerce was no longer going to have the revolving loan fund program. They basically wrote us a letter telling us we could do what we want with the money. When he found out about this earlier this year, he needed to find out which loans were outstanding because we had to settle that situation and decide what to do with the money. We received roughly $74,000 from the incubator out of Chicago. The committee may remember that we wrote off the Exceptional Healthcare revolving loan last year. We granted for the Mechanic Street project out in Momence, which was part of the revolving loan fund at the time. Pembroke Township was awarded $45,654.36 on April 29, 2011, for building repairs and purchase of furniture and equipment for the power center. We never received a payment, and the balance is still owed. The furniture and equipment purchased with the loan was also offered as collateral on a loan. There is no value there for us to pursue this, so he is asking the committee to write this off to get if off of the books. Mr. Washington made a motion to write off the revolving loan for Pembroke Township in the amount of $45,654.36, and Mr. Vickery seconded it. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 9 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. LaGesse, Mr. Washington, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Hess, Mr. Mulcahy, Mr. Sirois, Ms. Webber, Mr. Payton, and Mr. Wheeler.

Mr. Wheeler stated that the final one we need to tie up is Main Street Momence. We granted them $50,000 on December 10, 2009, to create their own loan program to provide loans for improvements to the downtown buildings. The funds were to be repaid in 2015, or an extension granted to continue the program. He and Mr. Vickery had some conversations with Main Street Momence, and they have that money tied up into micro loans of their own. We have to settle our books on this revolving loan issue, so the discussion he had with them was to call that a grant, much like we did for the Mechanic Street project. He believes, in helping that organization do the façade improvements and the other things they have going on within Momence, it’s a good use of the money. Yes, we could use the money over here, but that would actually pull the rug out from under that organization when the money is still in play with their own micro loans. His recommendation to this committee would be to term that a full on grant to get our books settled, and then we can decide what we want to do with the rest of the revolving loan fund money and where we want to house that. His recommendation would be contingency for right now. Mr. Vickery made a motion to change the Main Street Momence revolving loan to a grant and waive repayment, and was seconded by Mr. Washington. Motion carried with a roll call vote of 9 ayes and 0 nays. Voting aye were Mr. LaGesse, Mr. Washington, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Hess, Mr. Mulcahy, Mr. Sirois, Ms. Webber, Mr. Payton, and Mr. Wheeler.

Mr. Wheeler stated that, at the full board meeting, we are also going to have to approve the audit. In looking at the minutes from the last meeting, we noticed that we had talked about the draft, but never approved it. We posted it, so it’s out there, and we’ve all received the link as board members, so we’re just going to bring it to the full board meeting to be adopted on July 11.

12. Adjournment

Mr. Hess made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 11:10 a.m., and Mr. Mulcahy seconded it. Motion carried.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/finance_62817.pdf