DeKalb Times

DeKalb County Committee of the Whole met April 8.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

The Committee of the Whole of the DeKalb County Board virtually met via Zoom on Wednesday, April 8, 2020. Chairman Mark Pietrowski called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Those Members virtually present via Zoom and/or by phone were Mr. Tim Bagby, Mr. Scott Campbell, Ms. Rukisha Crawford, Mrs. Karen Cribben, Mrs. Laurie Emmer, Mr. Steve Faivre, Vice-Chairman John Frieders, Mr. Tim Hughes, Ms. Maureen Little, Ms. Dianne Leifheit, Mr. Jim Luebke, Mr. Roy Plote, Mr. Chris Porterfield, Mr. Craig Roman, Ms. Linda Slabon, Mr. Paul Stoddard, Mr. Larry West, Mr. Jeff Whelan, Ms. Suzanne Willis, and Chairman Mark Pietrowski, Jr. Those absent were Mr. Tracy Jones, Ms. Terri Mann-Lamb, and Mr. Jerry Osland. A quorum was established with twenty Members present, three absent, and one seat vacant.

Others present included Gary Hanson, Derek Hiland, Nathan Schwartz, Pete Stefan, and Greg Millburg.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Mr. Luebke moved to approve the agenda as presented. Mr. Stoddard seconded the motion and it was carried unanimously by voice vote.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

It was moved by Mr. Plote, seconded by Ms. Slabon and it was moved unanimously to approve the minutes from the March 11, 2020 Committee of the Whole Meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments.

Chairman Pietrowski shared that he and Vice-Chairman Frieders have been conducting multiple conference calls with organizations throughout the County. They have done with the all of the School Superintendents, on with small businesses, non-profits, and with Mayors, Village Presidents, and Township Supervisors. All of these conference calls have been to assess to the various responses and needs associated with COVID-19. Additionally, the Chairman has been in direct contact daily with Public Health Administrator Lisa Gonzalez, as well as with Sheriff Scott and Coroner/ESDA Director Dennis Miller. He wanted to ensure the Board Members that County Leadership has been in constant contact through this pandemic and strive to get as much information out to the public as possible.

The Chairman also announced that he and the Vice-Chair are holding a conference call series starting this Friday, April 10 at 12:00 p.m. to share general information and identify needs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This format will start a weekly call series every Friday at noon with the same call-in number and pin. More information on the call series is available on the County’s Website. He also reminded the Board Members that they are welcome to call-in and listen to the call series but asked that they refrain from participating in the discussions in order to keep in compliance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act rules and regulations.

PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS 

Reports from Committee Chairs

Mr. Faivre, Chairman of the Planning & Zoning Committee, shared the Committee did not meet so they have no action items for the Board to consider. He additionally shared that he and Community Development Director Derek Hiland have been in contact with the County’s Hearing Officer and State’s Attorney’s Office to assess the possibility of holding Public Hearings virtually. At this point, it seems that holding them virtually could open the County up for litigation so they may need to postpone some Hearings that are currently scheduled. They were hoping to hear from the State to provide guidance on this since many other counties are facing similar challenges but there has been no word yet. Going forward the Committee is planning to take a look again at the 402D.2 rule, Mr. Faivre reported.

Mr. Plote, Chairman of the County Highway Committee, shared that the Committee held a short virtual meeting but has forwarded four Resolutions to the full County Board. He reviewed the two Engineering Agreement Resolutions and the two Award Resolutions with the Committee. Mr. Schwartz has been collecting data on Plank Road for the past couple of weeks. He noted that he would like to get at least four weeks of data collected to assess any possible trends before releasing the data. The four weeks should be completed by the middle of next week. Mr. Schwartz also shared that County Highway Crews are still working but are practicing social distancing. No employees are riding in the same vehicles together and are following CDC guidelines. They are performing spring maintenance and crack fillings.

Mrs. Emmer, Chair of the Economic Development Committee shared that the Committee did not meet but they do have two business items identified for next month so they will be meeting.

Mr. Porterfield, Chairman of Health & Human Services Committee shared that after speaking with Mental Health Board Director Deanna Cada, Tasha, and Vice-Chair Little he decided not to have any meetings for the Senior Service Tax Levy in April in light of the COVID-19 situation. He explained that the Committee will meet on the first Monday in May, at 6:00 p.m. At that meeting, they will make their decisions about Senior Tax Levy allocations based on the distributed funding request applications. Representatives from the requesting organizations will not be giving presentations or answering questions this year. Given that the organizations and programs are the same as past years, he didn’t think they needed to spend the time or encourage the health risks of having the representatives present. If there were any questions from Committee Member though they could reach out to Ms. Cada, Tasha or the organizations directly to receive answers before the May Meeting.

Ms. Leifheit, Chair of the Law & Justice Committee, shared that the Committee did not meet.

Mr. Bagby, Chairman of the Finance Committee, shared that the Committee did not meet but he had received a few questions from County Board Members in regards to estimates of budgetary impacts of COVID-19 in terms of: decreased sales tax revenue, decreased revenue due to decrease in housing/commercial real estate taxes, and other reductions in revenues estimated as a result of COVID-19.

County Finance Director Pete Stefan shared that at this point, there is no feasible way to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 emergency. Data on reduced revenues and impacts to fund balance is not yet available and the length of the Shelter in Place/Stay at Home Order is unknown since the current date of April 30th has been the subject of numerous debates on whether or not that should be extended. He could, however, provide some data (attached) for everyone to consider as they attempt to gauge the impact to the County's finances. There is no recent relevant data available for the revenue sources including income tax, replacement tax, and local use tax as other major revenue sources that will be impacted. To provide perspective on the potential magnitude of any decrease in revenues, Mr. Stefan provided a summary of major revenue sources listing the 2019 actual totals and the 2020 budgeted totals. In regards to the property tax bills, those will be mailed out on time at this point. One final item he pointed out is the impact of the 2020 market returns on the County's pension funding obligation. It's anybody's guess where we will end the year at but it's almost a guarantee it will be substantial negative return for the year. IMRF uses a five-year smoothing technique that will ease the pain in the first year but the tradeoff is a good deal of pain for five consecutive years in terms of required funding levels. This will be an unknown until early 2021.

Mr. Stoddard, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Operations Committee, shared the Committee did not meet. The County Forest Preserves are still open but the shelters, restroom, and the Natural Resource Education Center are closed. Forest preserve staff is working independently on spring maintenance projects at the various preserves.

County Administrator’s Report

County Administrator Gary Hanson shared that the COVID-19 pandemic has consumed all of his time lately. Related to that, the Public Building Commission met yesterday regarding the Nursing Home Expansion. Part of the project entails renovating a hallway with 13 rooms for short-term Medicare stays. That work is halfway completed at this point. The Commissioners and construction crew are assessing the idea of discontinuing that work in order to turn that hallway into an isolation wing for any new incoming residents or for current residents who have or suspected to have the coronavirus. There are no residents that are in need of isolation but the said hallway is ideal because it can be shut off from the rest of the building.

Related to the Nursing Home, he had mentioned last month that the bond market was currently favorable and that the County needs to sell $13 million worth of bonds for the Rehab & Nursing Center Expansion Project. Now, during the current pandemic, the markets are no long favorable. The County will continue to get things ready for issuing bonds but it may be put off now until at least fall.

The County is currently beginning its first-ever virtual audit with the fiscal year ending December 31, 2019. This is a bit of a new challenge but at least doing the audit is a bit of “normal” during this nothing-but-normal time, Mr. Hanson reported.

Property tax bills are scheduled to be mailed out on time around May 1st.

There are many COVID-19-related payroll changes and forms being rolled out. Even when drafts are being sent to the Finance Office, before they can get them out, new versions are coming in.

Looking ahead, the Economic Development Committee will be requested to forward an Enterprise Zone Boundary Amendment in May for Project Buffalo. The Law & Justice Committee will be reviewing new five-year dispatching contracts with the four entities (that were referendum PSAPs). Lastly, the Finance Committee will also possibly be looking at financing scenarios for the potential Courthouse Renovation Project.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Vice-Chairman Frieders, seconded by Mr. Stoddard and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:43 p.m.

https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/min20-cowapr.pdf