Kankakee Times

Kankakee County - Criminal Justice Committee met September 13. 

Here is the minutes as provided by the committee:

Members Present

Mr. Byrne, Mr. Hess, Mr. Washington, Mr. Stauffenberg, Mr. Vickery, Mr. McConnell, Mr.

Snipes, Mr. Einfeldt, Ms. Evans, Mr. Payton, Ms. Parker, and Mr. Duda

Members Absent

Mr. Tholen, Mr. Skutt, Mr. Sirois, and Ms. Dunbar

In Attendance

 Board Members

Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Liehr

 Department Heads

Kevin Duval, Jim Rowe, Sheriff Mike Downey, Gus Regas, Tom Latham, Brian Gadbois,

Chief Judge Kramer, and Sandi Cianci

 Media

None

1. Call to Order

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

2. Public Comment

None

3. Approval of Minutes: August 9, 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 stated that the Veterans Treatment Court has been certified by the

state, and it is the first veteran’s court in the state to be certified. The first graduation is

tomorrow. He came to the meeting today because he is concerned as they are seeing an

increase in criminal caseload due to the aggressive efforts of the new State’s Attorney.

They are on track to double the number of felonies charged this year. This affects the

system and the extra caseload falls on the Circuit Clerk’s Office and the Public Defender’s

Office. There was an issue where the same public defender had two trials set in two

different courtrooms at the same time and, as a result, there is a person sitting in jail for

another two to three months until the next trial date. The Public Defender’s Office doesn’t

have the manpower that the State’s Attorney’s Office does.

5. Circuit Clerk’s Office - Sandi Cianci

 Monthly Reports

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 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 Report

Mr. Washington made a motion to approve the report, and Mr. Stauffenberg

seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Regas reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

Mr. Regas stated that with the increased caseload, he is asking for one full-time lawyer,

one part-time lawyer, one investigator, and one secretary.

Mr. Wheeler asked Mr. Regas how many full-time attorneys he has on staff.

Mr. Regas stated that he has one full-time attorney.

The committee recommended that Mr. Regas go to the Finance Committee with a

breakdown of needs and costs.

At this point, Chairman Byrne had to leave, and Vice-Chairman Hess took over the

meeting.

7. Probation Department - Tom Latham

 Monthly Report

Ms. Parker 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. Duda asked if the drug screens generally come back with a positive or negative result.

Mr. Latham stated that there are more positive results than negative.

 State Fiscal Year 2017 Grant & Aid Update

Mr. Latham stated that the general fund covers 95% of the salaries and they receive a

portion of that back from grant and aid. They have not purchased vehicles since 2008.

They have the oldest camera system in the County, and those are getting to the point

where they cannot fix them. The cameras are important since the building is unsecured.

There are also computers that need to be replaced. They are watching Senate Bill 2034

which is bail reform and could impact their caseload. He is not asking for additional

County funds as it will come from a grant of $88,513.60.

Mr. Snipes stated that he would like to have it explained to the Finance Committee, but he

otherwise does not see it as an issue.

Mr. Latham stated that it would be a great use of the money to replace the cameras.

Mr. Latham stated that the Drug Court Auction is October 27th at the Knights of Columbus,

and Drug Court Graduation is December 1st at 10:30 a.m.

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

 Grand Jury Report

Mr. Snipes made a motion to approve the report, and Mr. Payton seconded it.

Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Rowe reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

 Budget Update

Mr. Rowe stated that the State’s Attorney’s Office did not get a budget increase this year.

The budget amendment restored funding to last year’s levels. Last year’s budget was

$858,000, and it was restored to that amount. There has not been an influx of funding into

his office. Instead, they cut the administrative assistant position, moved back to the

Courthouse, got rid of two vehicles, renegotiated the Westlaw contracts, and got rid of

non-essentials like coffee and water subscriptions. The $100,000 grant from the Illinois

Criminal Justice Information Authority pays for a full time prosecutor and part-time

investigator.

Mr. Duda asked if that was an ongoing grant.

Mr. Rowe stated that as long as the funding source remains at state level and numbers

are met, it should be.

Mr. Duda stated that he applauds the grant writing that is done in Mr. Rowe’s office.

 Juvenile Justice Council

Mr. Rowe stated that the law allows the State’s Attorney to initiate a Juvenile Justice

Commission that requires participation from Probation, Public Defender, the County Board

Chairman, and the Sheriff’s Department. Everyone has agreed to participate, and they

plan to focus their efforts on truancy prevention, as keeping people out of the system

comes back to keeping them in school. There is no cost associated with the commission;

the goal is to bring community leaders to the table.

Mr. Duda made a motion to approve formation of a Juvenile Justice Council, and Mr.

McConnell seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

9. Coroner’s Office - Bob Gessner

 Monthly Reports

 Monthly Receipts of Money

Mr. Snipes made a motion to combine and approve the reports, and Mr. Vickery

seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Bob Gessner was not present. Eric Cavender reviewed and discussed the reports with the

committee.

Mr. Cavender wanted to thank Mr. McConnell as they finally got their morgue fan issue

fixed, and Mr. McConnell engineered the solution to that. He also wanted to thank Mr.

Gadbois for his department’s assistance.

10. Sheriff/EMA Department - Sheriff Mike Downey

 Monthly Report

Mr. Vickery made a motion to approve the monthly report, and Mr. Stauffenberg

seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Sheriff Downey reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

 Local Jail Population

Sheriff Downey addressed this issue in his reports earlier, but did want to add that the jail

administration does notify the State’s Attorney about bond levels, and when individuals are

there for an extended period of time with a low bond.

 Outdoor Recreation

Sheriff Downey stated that currently they will never meet the ICE standards for outdoor

recreation. He will come up with some ideas, plans, and costs of what it would take to

establish an outdoor recreation area along the Phase 3 portion of the property. It does not

have the baseball fields or football fields, just fresh air. He stated he thinks this will make

the jail more attractive, and some judges are leaning to move inmates to jails with outdoor

recreation.

Mr. Vickery asked if the outdoor area would be for ICE only.

Sheriff Downey stated that basically it would involve everyone.

Mr. Duda asked if there would be an increase in inmate levels if outdoor recreation was

added.

Sheriff Downey stated that yes, it would make the jail much more attractive to ICE.

 Bus Drivers for ICE

Sheriff Downey stated that, as the committee already knows, on Fridays, ICE gathers here

from outside of our County, including some that we have, for deportation. At this time, we

transport them to the Gary, IN airport. ICE provides two buses, and, right now, they

provide the drivers; however, they would like us to provide the drivers. We have our own

local buses right now, but ICE buses are more like Greyhound buses. The certification

that our drivers need is a passenger endorsement, and we are having some deputies and

correctional officers go through that process. We won’t have to buy any buses, and ICE

will then reimburse our salaries during that transport for us to drive the buses.

 Staffing

Sheriff Downey stated that we lost two deputies and one of our chiefs. The Merit

Commission has completed interviews, and we have started backgrounds, and we will hire

two as soon as the backgrounds are complete. These will be lateral hires that don’t have

to be sent to training through the Police Training Institute.

 Move Location of 1/10/18 Meeting or Move Date

Sheriff Downey stated that we have New World training in this room that week, and the

room will be full of computers. We can keep the date the same and move it to the County

building at 7:30 a.m. instead, or move it to a different week here.

Mr. Wheeler stated that we’ll just keep the date the same and move it to the County

building at 7:30 a.m.

Sheriff Downey stated that our Governor signed Senate Bill 31 which is the Trust Act. One

of the interpretations of that is that we would no longer be able to house ICE in Illinois.

The way that he and Mr. Rowe interpret it is that it will be no different than what we’re

doing now. The issue becomes that when someone is arrested on a local warrant, and we

find out while he or she is in custody that they are illegal, under SB 31, we cannot contact

ICE and let them know.

11. Old Business/New Business

 Order of Succession

Mr. Wheeler stated that the order of succession in the event of a disaster actually names

the succession order by name of the person. We have to redo it and name it by position.

We’ll bring it back to this committee for the motion and approval, and then send it to

Executive and on to the full board.

Mr. Washington made a motion to approve, and Mr. Duda seconded it. Motion

carried with a voice vote

12. Adjournment

Ms. Parker made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:22 a.m., and Mr. Washington

seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/91317.pdf