Kankakee Times

Kankakee County - Criminal Justice Committee met November 15. 

Here is the minutes as provided by the committee:

Members Present

Mr. Byrne, Mr. Hess, Mr. Washington, Mr. LaGesse, Mr. Vickery, Mr. Tholen, Mr. McConnell, Mr. Snipes, Mr. Einfeldt, Ms. Evans, Mr. Payton, Ms. Dunbar, Ms. Parker, and Mr. Fairfield

Members Absent

Mr. Stauffenberg, Mr. Skutt, and Mr. Sirois

In Attendance

Board Members

Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Liehr

Department Heads

Tom Latham, Sheriff Mike Downey, Bob Gessner, and Kevin Duval

Media

None

1. Call to Order

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

2. Public Comment

None

3. Approval of Minutes: September 13, 2017 and October 11, 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

Ms. Cianci was not present.

     • Monthly Reports

     • Computerization Update

Ms. Parker made a motion to approve the report, and Mr. Payton seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

6. Public Defender’s Office - Gus Regas

     • Monthly Report

Mr. Regas was not present.

Mr. Vickery made a motion to approve the report, and Mr. Washington seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

7. Probation Department - Tom Latham

     • Monthly Report

 Mr. Vickery made a motion to approve the report, and Ms. LaGesse seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

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

Mr. Latham expressed the need to replace the 23 computers his department currently has.

The cost of the computers is to come from the Special Fund account. Next will be vehicles and radios.

He stated that the next Drug Court graduation is Friday, December 1st, at 9:30 a.m., in

Courtroom 200.

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

     • Grand Jury Report

Mr. Rowe was not present and there was no report.

9. Coroner’s Office - Bob Gessner

     • Monthly Reports

     • Monthly Receipts of Money

Mr. Tholen made a motion to combine and approve the monthly reports, and Mr. Washington seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Mr. Gessner reviewed and discussed the reports with the committee.

Mr. Gessner stated that he was nominated to be on the Governor’s Opioid Task Force Committee. Any business which is opioid related will now be covered by the grant, to include travel associated with Task Force Committee meetings in Springfield.

Tim Ryan, a recovering opioid addict and the current leading educator throughout the U.S. on opioids, will be speaking at Kankakee Community College on January 16, 2018. Flyers and brochures will be distributed, billboards erected, and the media will be alerted as advertising measures for this event.

Mr. Washington inquired about Walgreens stocking the antidote for opioids, and if will be made available locally.

Mr. Gessner stated that the antidote is to be made available locally by both Walgreens and CVS. To his knowledge, it is not yet available, but it is in Chicago and the cost for the antidote is approximately $70.

10. Sheriff/EMA Department - Sheriff Mike Downey

     • Monthly Report

Mr. Payton made a motion to approve the report, and Mr. LaGesse seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

Sheriff Downey reviewed and discussed the report with the committee.

 Sheriff Downey stated there is an increase in local population at the jail. In December 2016, the population was 203. The average numbers for the last few months of 2017 are: September - 267, October - 270, November - 282, with the highest number in November being 289. He stated that these are the highest numbers the County has had since the jail moved in 2005.

Mr. McConnell asked the reason for the increase in the local population.

Sheriff Downey stated it is probably because the State’s Attorney Office is following through with their commitment on jailing people and having offenders remain in custody.

Sheriff Downey stated that the number of ICE detainees continues to increase. In September, the number of detainees was 120, in October it was 133, and this month, the number, thus far, is 151.

Sheriff Downey asked the committee to consider allowing him to hire another office strictly to serve civil process papers.

Mr. Wheeler asked Sheriff Downey to consider looking into the private sector to process paperwork as he does not believe over the next couple of years there will be monies or support from Board members to add another officer.

Chief Ken McCabe explained when papers cannot be served and are returned to the attorneys, the attorneys then hire private entities to serve. The private entity gets paid for the job, but the Sheriff’s Department is not.

Ms. Dunbar asked if there is a way to determine how much revenue is generated from the Sheriff’s Department serving paperwork.

Sheriff Downey stated there is a fee schedule, but he would have to take a look to see exactly how much is generated per service and would return to the committee with those numbers.

Mr. Snipes suggested a cost benefit analysis on how much it would cost to outsource a private individual versus the money it may generate should another officer be hired.

     • Corrections Vehicles

Mr. Hess asked about the purchase of the two additional transport vans which were to be purchased after the last two. He was of the understanding that it was approved by the committee and moved on to Finance.

Mr. Wheeler stated that Mr. Hess was correct in his understanding. It was recommended to have a price for the vehicles go to Finance. There was no resolution out of Finance to purchase the vehicles. This committee has already approved and continues to see the value and need for the vehicles.

 Mr. McConnell made a motion to have the issue moved to the Committee of the Whole, and Mr. Snipes seconded the motion. The motion carried with a voice vote.

     • 2018 Squad Car Purchase

Sheriff Downey stated that the committee is aware that they replaced their 2011 squad cars, and now returns to address replacing 2012 cars in FY2018. Ten out of the eleven 2012 fleet vehicles are being used and seven out of the eleven vehicles are out of warranty, being over 100,000 miles.

     • Statistics

Sheriff Downey stated that the end of year report will be presented to the committee in January.

11. Old Business/New Business

None

12. Adjournment

Mr. LaGesse made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:23 a.m., and Ms. Dunbar

seconded it. Motion carried with a voice vote.

http://www.co.kankakee.il.us/files/committees/111517.pdf