Kankakee Times

Kankakee County Executive Committee met Aug. 22.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

Members Present Mr. Wheeler, Mr. Tripp, Mr. LaGesse, Mr. Hess, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Snipes, Mr. Byrne, Mr. Sirois, and Ms. Webber Members Absent Mr. Liehr, Mr. Olthoff, Mr. Skutt, and Mr. Hildebrand In Attendance

• Board Members 

None

• Department Heads Kevin Duval, John Bevis, and Michael Roof

• Media 

None

1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by the Chairman, Mr. Wheeler, at 9:00 a.m. Quorum present.

2. Public Comment 

None

3. Presentations 

None

4. Approval of Minutes: July 25, 2017 A motion was made by Mr. Byrne to approve the minutes, and Mr. Hess seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

5. Legislative 

None

6. Appointments 

None

7. Information Services – Kevin Duval Mr. Duval discussed with the committee the testing that his department has been performing on the sound system in the boardroom.

8. Health Department – John Bevis

• EPA Cleanup in Pembroke Township Mr. Bevis stated that he has been getting status reports from the EPA about twice a month and he forwards those to Mr. Wheeler. The EPA has pretty much finished their work out there and is off the site. They will come back later in the fall and seed the property with the natural grasses and plant material that would normally be there, but can’t be done right now since it’s not the time of the year to plant.

• West Nile Virus Update Mr. Bevis stated that this isn’t an update on the human case that we have, but it’s to inform the committee that, to date, we don’t have any additional new human cases. There appears to have been great demand for education, and our website and the locations where put out information, including newspaper articles, have been drawing public interest. He thinks people are more aware of it now, especially if they’re friends or know who the individual is, so they’re taking it seriously, as they should.

• Rabid Bats Update Mr. Bevis stated that we have four bats in Kankakee County that have tested positive for rabies within the past two months. Last year, in Kankakee County, we had two, and there were a total of 63 bats for the state. Like West Nile Virus, we know it’s here in the community, rabies is present in the community, but this just confirms it.

• Back to School Clinic Mr. Bevis stated that we had some back to school clinics this summer, one in late June and one a couple of weeks ago. These were basically helping to provide physicals for some of the children in relation to the school requirements and making sure that they have their immunizations up to date.

• Farmers Market Mr. Bevis stated that we held a WIC farmer’s market a week ago for our women, infants, and children. They came in and received some services and received coupons for food. Similar to the Kankakee Farmer’s Market, we hosted a mini one at our Health Department. Two local farmers came in and provided a huge amount of produce.

• Opioid Forum on September 25, 2017 Mr. Bevis stated that the opioid grant that the Health Department was able to secure, and working with Mr. Gessner and Riverside Hospital, some of the requirements to that grant are that we’re going to be performing three to four forums to discuss the opioid issue in Kankakee County, what we’re doing about it, the signs, symptoms, and recovery. The first one we’re having, and this is an invitation, is September 25th at ONU, in Wisner Hall, at 6:00 p.m.

Mr. Byrne asked if the seminars are going to be recorded so that they could be shared via social media with people who aren’t able to attend.

Mr. Bevis stated that he didn’t know, but he will definitely ask at one of the upcoming meetings.

9. Schools – Dr. Gregg Murphy Dr. Murphy was not present.

10. Veterans Assistance Commission – Michael Roof

• Monthly Report Mr. Roof stated that, as there have been talks of consolidating the County Board, there are talks of doing the same to the Veterans Assistance Commission. The statute states there has to be one delegate and one alternate from each charter ship post (VFW, Marine Corps League, American Legion, etc.). For some reason, when the VAC was set up years ago, someone thought there should be two delegates and two alternates, so we have twice as many as the statute allows. Our board is even larger than the County Board as he has 34 board members. That’s why there is no report because last month we didn’t have a quorum to even have the meeting. We’re working on that, and that’s one thing he’s tried to talk his commission into, to roll back to what the statute says.

• Veterans Court Certification Mr. Roof stated that they received the Veterans Court Certification letter last week from the AOIC, and proceeded to read the letter to the committee.

Mr. Wheeler stated that this being the first official certification for a Veterans Court, he thinks that’s worthy of consideration from the full board for a proclamation. Mr. McConnell made a motion for the preparation of a proclamation, and Mr. Sirois seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

11. Personnel/HR Issues

Ms. Mackin was not present.

12. Administrative Issues

➢ Resignations/Appointments/Reappointments:

✓ Resignation of David Snider from the Kankakee Township Fire Protection District Mr. Wheeler informed the committee of the above resignation.

✓ Appointment of K. Syreeta C. Jones, D.D.S. to the Kankakee County Board of Health Mr. Hess made a motion to approve the above appointment, and Mr. Snipes seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Wheeler announced the following openings to the committee:

➢ Openings:

✓ One Opening on the Kankakee County Board of Health ✓ Four Openings on the Kankakee County Regional Planning Commission ✓ One Opening on the Kankakee River Conservancy District Board Mr. Wheeler stated that any Kankakee River Conservancy District Board applicant has to live within the conservancy district full-time.

Mr. Sirois asked how the applicant would know whether or not they live in the district. Would it be on their tax bill showing that they’re paying taxes to that district?

Mr. Wheeler stated yes, exactly, and he believes there’s a map on the conservancy district’s website, but it’s better to check the tax bill first. This would be for their main property obviously, not for a part-time fishing cabin.

✓ One Opening on the Kankakee Township Fire Protection District

13. Other Business

• Declaration of Items as Surplus Property – Maintenance Mr. Wheeler stated that we don’t have a list of what Mr. Gadbois wants to declare surplus, so this will probably be brought back next month.

• Opioid Lawsuit Mr. Wheeler stated that he mentioned this item at the Criminal Justice meeting as well. He was approached by Chairman Franks from the McHenry County Board about several counties in Illinois getting together on an opioid lawsuit to sue the pharmaceutical industries, specifically the opioid manufacturers, on their perceived predatory practices. The first part of it was a fact finding portion. Everyone who signs up as part of this fact finding is their basis for the lawsuit, and it’s going nationwide. It won’t cost us any money and never will. This large, nationwide law firm is out of New York City, and they also have an office in southern Illinois. When that situation comes to a head, and they either proceed or don’t proceed, he will report back to the board on exactly what’s going on. The State’s Attorney’s office, of course, looked through all of the paperwork beforehand.

14. Information

None

15. Old Business/New Business

• River Valley Juvenile Detention Center Renegotiation Mr. Wheeler stated that the end of November was the expiration of the financial portion of the River Valley Juvenile Detention Center agreement between Will County, us, and the Will County PBC. We still have a lease, but there’s no financial portion to that lease at all. He’ll be going there with Mr. Rowe, and they’ll start working through the legalities of what this arrangement will be going forward. It is still his intent that we’ll be a partner in this facility. He further discussed this issue with the committee.

• Update to the Expense Reimbursement Section of the Kankakee County Handbook Mr. Wheeler stated that the version that was included in the committee members’ packets today is incorrect, but the corrected version was placed on top. This came out of a call about per diem reimbursements. A County employee never had to produce receipts for their per diem. Our policy didn’t say that; it said that you needed to have receipts. The new travel policy we adopted in January dovetailed into that, so at that point he realized that we updated a new policy in January, but never updated the employee handbook. He sat down with the State’s Attorney’s office and Ms. Mackin, and they worked out the details of the new policy page, which is self-explanatory. Mr. Hess made a motion to approve the update, and Mr. LaGesse seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

• Add Two Members to Ethics Commission Mr. Wheeler stated that this was previously talked about, but the Ethics Commission with three members was already in process at the time. We really need more than three members because if one person is not there, and they need to meet, they will run into situations where it’s a one to one vote and they can’t get anything done. He is asking that the Ethics Commission be increased to five and they bring two more people on. It’s an unpaid position, and we want to make sure that there are enough people to hear cases if there is ever a need. Mr. Byrne made a motion to approve the addition of two members to the Ethics Commission, and Mr. McConnell seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Wheeler stated that something else he wanted to mention was that he was approached by a board member about this, so he wanted to discuss the hiring he is currently doing in Administration. There is a position posted because the Attorney General’s office says that, by the end of the month, he has to appoint an ADA Coordinator, and that doesn’t exist right now within the County. All municipal units over 50 employees have to have an ADA Coordinator. If we’re going to hire a full-time ADA Coordinator, there won’t be enough work down the road for this person to do, so we’re going to have to train someone to take this position. He looked at our operations, and the efficiencies that could be gained with other duties this person could be doing to justify a full-time position. We also have an issue with Workforce Board since we lost a long term employee who handled everything. The claims part of that is something that can be done in Administration as part of that duty, which means we could get a reimbursement from Workforce Board for those claims duties to pay for a portion of the salary that isn’t the ADA portion. We wouldn’t be able to find an ADA person who would work part-time since it’s a highly specialized skill set.

16. Adjournment

Mr. LaGesse made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:55 a.m., and Mr. Snipes seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/executive_82217.pdf