Kankakee Times

Kankakee County - Criminal Justice Committee met Aug. 9.

Here is the agenda provided by the Committee:

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

• Board Members Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Liehr

• Department Heads Sheriff Mike Downey, Gus Regas, Kevin Duval, Tom Latham, Brian Gadbois, and Sandi Cianci

• Media None

1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by the Committee Chairman, Mr. Byrne, at 7:45 a.m.

2. Public Comment None

3. Approval of Minutes: June 14, 2017 Mr. Hess 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 Reports Mr. Stauffenberg made a motion to approve the monthly reports, and Mr. Vickery seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote. Ms. Cianci reviewed and discussed the reports with the committee.

• Computerization Update Ms. Cianci updated the committee on the e-appeals and e-filing mandates.

6. Public Defender’s Office - Gus Regas

• Monthly Reports Mr. Snipes made a motion to approve the reports, and Ms. Parker seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote. Mr. Regas reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

7. Probation Department - Tom Latham

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

Mr. Latham stated that they have received the grant and aid for October.

Mr. Latham stated that the Drug Court auction would be on October 27th, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., at the Knights of Columbus, and the Veterans Court graduation would be on September 14th at 10:30 a.m. He will be getting some documentation to Diane to forward on to the committee.

• Surplus Vehicles Mr. Latham stated that they have a 2003 Chevy Impala with over 200,000 miles on it that they would like to have declared surplus. Mr. McConnell made a motion to approve declaring the vehicle surplus, and Mr. Hess seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

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

• Grand Jury Report Mr. Rowe was not present. Joe Kosman reviewed and discussed the report with the committee. Mr. McConnell made a motion to approve the report, and Mr. Hess seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

9. Coroner’s Office - Bob Gessner

• Monthly Reports

• Monthly Receipts of Money Mr. Stauffenberg made a motion to combine and approve the reports, and Mr. Washington seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote. Mr. Gessner was not present. Eric Cavender reviewed and discussed the reports with the committee.

Mr. Cavender stated that Bob had previously talked about the grant money we had applied for with the Health Department at Riverside. We did get the full $225,000, and it’s in the bank. The money flows through the Health Department, and part of the prevention and treatment aspect of that grant money is that we have to do public education forums. The first one of those is on September 25th at Olivet, at 6:00 p.m. We’ll have more information at next month’s meeting about that, and he’ll probably send some documentation to Diane to send out, too.

10. Sheriff/EMA Department - Sheriff Mike Downey

• Monthly Report Ms. Dunbar made a motion to approve and file the monthly report, and Ms. Parker seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Sheriff Downey reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

• Vehicle Declared Surplus Sheriff Downey stated that we have a vehicle that we need to be declared surplus. This was done through the State’s Attorney’s office, and it’s actually a Court Order for a 1996 Crown Victoria that belonged to a bank robber in Chebanse and Momence. We were able to seize his car, and it’s not one that we can use, so we would like to declare it surplus and send it down to Clinton. Mr. Hess made a motion to declare the vehicle surplus, and Mr. Sirois seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• U. S. Marshal Inspection Sheriff Downey stated that the U. S. Marshals were here within the last few weeks to inspect our jail as they do every year. As he’s spoken before about the things that have been done here with ICE, and some of the improvements that we made, there were no issues with the Marshals’ inspection. They were very happy with what we’re doing, and our numbers with the Marshals are up around 130 right now. Last year, they were down to about 75, so those numbers have increased as well.

• Lateral Hiring Update Sheriff Downey stated that the Merit Commission did meet, and we have been accepting applications for lateral police officers. His position as Undersheriff was never replaced when he was appointed Sheriff in May of 2016. We have since lost two officers to retirement and, in addition, Al Swinford, who was our Chief of Operations, retired and is now the Chief in Manteno. We have not replaced any of those. Obviously, that has put a burden on our sworn side, so we are interviewing later this month, but are unsure as to how many we will hire right now.

Mr. Sirois asked if Sheriff Downey could define the word lateral.

Sheriff Downey stated that lateral means they’ve already been trained. They’ll still go through our FTO, but they’ve already been certified.

• Additional Corrections Vans Update Mr. Hess stated that he asked that this be added to the agenda, and is wondering if the vans have been ordered.

Sheriff Downey stated yes. They’ve been in contact with Court Street Ford, and they are 2018’s. To have gotten the 2017’s, they would have had to get them by June and that didn’t work time-wise.

11. Old Business/New Business

• River Valley Juvenile Detention Center Renegotiation Mr. Wheeler stated that this is more informational at this point, but our agreement for the Juvenile Detention Center is still in effect, however, the financial component has expired.

They left another ten years on the end of that agreement when it was negotiated with the intent of us renegotiating the dollar amount for the operations, maintenance, and what we pay overall for that facility. Our intent is to still have an arrangement, but we need to understand, based on our usage of that facility, what their usage is, and what the economics look like going forward, and then to also consider our financial position in the County, what works best for everyone. We’re just getting this started, so he will bring something back to clean up old business.

• Opioid Lawsuit Mr. Wheeler stated that he was approached by the Board Chairman of McHenry County about joining in a state-wide lawsuit of the counties against the opioid industry. They’re basically suing the pharmaceutical industry about practices on how they approached getting opioids into the public’s hands. We’re joining in the fact finding part of that, and if there is that basis, then he will come back and let everyone know that this is a full on lawsuit, and then we’ll sign on. He agreed to be a part of the process for the County, and he’ll bring it back once we decide. It’s a national firm. They have an office in southern Illinois and one out in New York. He believes the lawsuit is out of New Jersey.

Mr. Wheeler stated that he did want to mention one more thing that is more informational than anything. It’s more for Highways & Buildings than it is for this committee, but it deals with public safety and criminal justice. We did hear back from the Attorney General. The committee may remember that he worked with Brian Gadbois and the Sheriff to put together a response to the Attorney General’s complaint. Much of it has been accepted, which is very good news. They’ve given us a date certain on a lot of the items. For example, one of them is that he has to have an ADA Coordinator by the end of this month for the County. All counties with 50 employees or more have to have an ADA Coordinator. Some of the more major fixes have to be done by September of next year.

Ms. Dunbar asked if he had someone from the Historic Preservation Commission helping him out with that.

Mr. Wheeler stated that they have to work with the State historic preservation group. They have to be consulted because of the ramp going into the building. It’s not necessarily a part of the building.

12. Adjournment

Mr. Snipes made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:30 a.m., and Ms. Dunbar seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/8917.pdf