DeKalb County Law & Justice Committee met November 25

By Angelica Saylo Pilo

Feb 7, 2020

DeKalb County Law & Justice Committee met Nov. 25.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, November 25, 2019 in the Administration Building’s Conference Room East in Sycamore, Illinois. Committee Chair Dianne Leifheit called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Those members present were Mrs. Karen Cribben, Ms. Linda Slabon, Mr. Paul Stoddard, Mr. Jeff Whelan, and Chair Dianne Leifheit. Mr. Jones and Mr. Jim Luebke were absent. A quorum was established with all five Members present and two absent.

Others that were present included Gary Hanson, Brian Kerner, Maureen Josh, Tom McCulloch, and David Berault.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

It was moved by Mr. Whelan, seconded by Ms. Slabon and it was carried unanimously by voice vote to approve the agenda as presented.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mr. Stoddard moved to approve the minutes of the October 28, 2019 Committee Meeting. Ms. Slabon seconded the motion and it was carried unanimously.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT

DeKalb County Public Defender Tom McCulloch joined the Committee to place on file is October 2019 Public Defender’s Report. The report reflected that there were 285 cases opened and 356 cases closed in the month of October. The total cases opened to date have been 2,767 and 3,243 have been closed.

In addition, Mr. McCulloch reminded that Ms. Dietrich had left for her deployment and newly hired Asst. Public Defender Mr. Bruce Steinberg of Kane County, Illinois was hired as her replacement. He regretfully shared that Mr. Steinberg only lasted ten days on the job. Mr. McCulloch believed that the short stay was due to an overburden by the amount of caseload that was put on him. He is now back to square one on finding a replacement.

There is one new Attorney in the Office and Mr. McCulloch described him as a bright young man, just out of college.

COURT SERVICES REPORT

DeKalb County Court Services Director Margi Gilmour was not in attendance but her monthly reports were distributed to the Committee. It was noted that there was nothing unusual relating her any of the monthly reports.

APPROVAL TO PROCEED TO THE DESIGN DEVELOPMENT PHASE OF THE COURTHOUSE RECONFIGURATION PROJECT

Mr. Hanson introduced Mr. Brian Kerner, Architect and Senior Associate at Dewberry. Mr. Kerner reviewed schematic drawings of the three levels of the Courthouse. He reviewed:

- Lower Level = Pretrial & Treatment Courts

- 1st Fl = Public Defender

- 3rd Fl = State’s Attorney’s Office

Mr. Kerner shared that Pretrial & Treatment Courts were pleased with the proposed drawings, same with the Public Defender’s Office. The State’s Attorney’s Office has been back and forth with different options and a 3rd option for the 3rd floor was revealed at the meeting that had not been reviewed or shown to the other departments.

DeKalb County Circuit Clerk Maureen Josh was present and respectful rejected to the 3rd option for the State’s Attorney’s Office that was proposed. Ms. Josh provided a historical perspective of how she came to fund (from her own office funds) and have constructed a storage location and office on the third floor of the Courthouse. She was not pleased to see that the State’s Attorney’s Office would encroach on a large portion of her storage location. She shared that she would be willing to part with a small portion of that space by not a huge chunk of it.

Mr. Kerner assured Ms. Josh that he had not fully reviewed this last option and would be able to come up with something better that would not take up much of her space. He would work with the State’s Attorney’s Office further to come up with an option that would fully fit their needs and not overstep any boundaries.

Looking ahead, the next step after finishing the layout (Schematic Design) is Design Development. During that phase, some of the things that will be worked on include:

• Update the floor plans with information about electrical and data requirements

• Update Code Plans

• Develop casework elevations and details

• Develop restroom details and elevations

• Develop reflected ceiling plans

• Present color palettes for review

• Begin discussions with Jim Scheffer’s about the MEP requirement

• Start the door schedule and discuss hardware needs

• Begin the specifications

Following that is Contract Documentation, Bid Docs, Construction (if the project were to continue with further Board approval).

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Mr. Stoddard, seconded by Mr. Whelan, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:38 p.m.