DeKalb Times

DeKalb County Committee of the Whole Met March 10.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

The Committee of the Whole of the DeKalb County Board virtually met via Zoom. Chairman John Frieders called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Those Members virtually present via Zoom and/or by phone were Mr. Tim Bagby, Mr. Scott Campbell, Ms. Mary Cozad, Ms. Rukisha Crawford, Mrs. Karen Cribben, Mr. Bill Cummings, Mr. Patrick Deutsch, Mrs. Laurie Emmer, Mr. Steve Faivre, Ms. Kiara Jones, Mrs. Kathy Lampkins, Ms. Dianne Leifheit, Ms. Maureen Little, Mr. Jim Luebke, Ms. Terri Mann-Lamb, Mr. Neill Mohammad, Mr. Roy Plote, Mr. Craig Roman, Ms. Linda Slabon, Mr. Larry West, Vice-Chair Suzanne Willis, and Chairman John Frieders. Those Members absent were Mr. Tim Hughes and Mr. Jerry Osland. A quorum was established with twenty-two Members present and two absent at the time of roll call.

Others present included Brian Gregory, Derek Hiland, Lisa Gonzalez, Sheila Santos, Bridget Nodurft, Terry Hannan, and a couple members of the public.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Mr. Mohammad moved to approve the agenda as presented. Mrs. Cribben seconded the motion. Those voting yea were Mr. Bagby, Mr. Campbell, Ms. Cozad, Ms. Crawford, Mrs. Cribben, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Deutsch, Mrs. Emmer, Mr. Faivre, Ms. Jones, Mrs. Lampkins, Ms. Leifheit, Ms. Little, Mr. Luebke, Ms. Mann-Lamb, Mr. Mohammad, Mr. Plote, Mr. Roman, Ms. Slabon, Mr. West, Vice-Chair Willis, and Chairman Frieders. All Members presented voted yea. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

Mr. Luebke moved to approve the minutes from the February 10, 2021 Committee of the Whole Meeting. Mr. Cummings seconded the motion as presented. Those voting yea were Mr. Bagby, Mr. Campbell, Ms. Cozad, Ms. Crawford, Mrs. Cribben, Mr. Cummings, Mr.

Deutsch, Mrs. Emmer, Mr. Faivre, Ms. Jones, Mrs. Lampkins, Ms. Leifheit, Ms. Little, Mr. Luebke, Ms. Mann-Lamb, Mr. Mohammad, Mr. Plote, Mr. Roman, Ms. Slabon, Mr. West, Vice-Chair Willis, and Chairman Frieders. All Members presented voted yea. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments.

Mr. Tim Hughes arrived at 7:06. The roll now reflects twenty-three Members present and one absent.

CHAIR’S COMMENTS

Chairman Frieders remembered former County Board Members and friend Mr. Russell Deverell, of Kingston, IL. Mr. Deverell passed away on Saturday, March 6, 2021. A Moment of Silence was held in his honor.

PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS

COVID-19 Situational Update / Q&A with Public Health Administrator Lisa Gonzalez

DeKalb County Public Health Administrator Lisa Gonzalez joined the Committee to provide a situational update regarding COVID-19 and vaccine distribution. Ms. Gonzalez provided a graph that depicted the County’s COVID-19 cases by week which was a representation of just shy of a year. She added that although the current numbers are showing a large decrease, she wanted everyone to keep in mind that local testing has also decreased drastically. The weekly summary as of March 5, 2021, showed there has been 112,464 negative tests reported, 120,984 of total tests reported, 702 are in a recovery period, and 7,705 have recovered.

The Health Department is currently in high gear with vaccination roll outs and are vaccinating individuals who live or work in DeKalb County.

The DeKalb County Health Department receives a pre-determined allotment of vaccines by the Illinois Department of Public Health each week. The Department completes a survey weekly to order the number of doses based off of pre-determined allotments. Unfortunately, there is not enough supply to meet the current demand.

The vaccine that Health Department is administering is the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. It requires a second dose, 28 days after the first dose. There have been 11,000 doses administered as of March 5th but that number (about 4,200) does not include doses that have been transferred to local partner organizations (Northwestern Medicine’s Kishwaukee & Valley West Hospitals and Greater Elgin Center for Family Health). Ms. Gonzalez reviewed what their allocation amounts have looked like, which also involved a large decrease in 1st doses in the last few weeks. They are seeing an increase already in 1st doses again and they are being told that they will see those numbers continue to increase throughout March, shared Ms. Gonzalez.

She continued to share that the Health Department is currently vaccinating individuals in Phase 1a and Phase 1b (individuals 65+, first responders, K-12 education, daycares, public transit workers, and shelter workers). Until the vaccine supply increases, DeKalb County will not be expanding to Phase 1b+. According to the 2019 U.S. Census estimates, approximately 13,500 individuals who are 65+ reside in DeKalb County. As of March 9th, 9,377 doses have been administered to those individuals who are 65+ and 2,685 are fully vaccinated.

Ms. Gonzalez also reviewed with the Committee how the Health Department’s Vaccine Notification System works. She also shared local and state efforts to expand vaccine access. She lastly took questions from the Committee Members regarding COVID-19 and the vaccine allocations.

Note: These minutes are not official until approved by the Committee of the Whole at a subsequent meeting. Please refer to the meeting minutes when these minutes are approved to obtain any changes to these minutes.

2020 Census & Redistricting Update with IMO Director Sheila Santos DeKalb County IMO/GIS Director Sheila Santos joined the Committee provided an update on the status of the 2020 Census and the progress as everyone goes through the redistricting process. The Census Bureau has officially announced a delayed release in the State’s redistricting data. Previously the data was to be released in April and now it is scheduled to be released by September 30th. The data includes the tabular data, which contains the population numbers that the County needs for redistricting. Typically, that information is received in the first few months of the year and there is plenty of time to prep it, so this now definitely puts a kink in that timeline, Ms. Santos expressed.

IMO/GIS has received geographic layers from the Census Bureau but not any population data. Those are basic polygons of the census tracks and blocks. That will help a bit to prepare in advance for when they receive the tabular population data. They will be able to manipulate that data a little bit now to get it into their software and get it ready to go for County Board Redistricting. Before they turn the data over to the three designated individuals who draw the Fair Maps, IMO/GIS is still going to have prep work to do after they receive the tabular data, but it won’t be as much since they were able to receive some of that geographic data in advance.

Normally the County Board would be adopting new County Board Districts by July and now that is not going to be able to happen. Ms. Santos shared with the Committee that she will be keeping a close eye on what the State does because that statute actually states that the Board Districts have to be adopted by July. The County will be waiting to see what the State does and what guidance they will give in the coming months.

A few years ago (2014), a Fair Map Ordinance was adopted and was made part of the County Code (Sec. 1-3). That Ordinance set parameters that need to be met for redistricting. In those parameters, in an effort to make populations as equal as possible among the districts, there are certain criteria that are outlined.

Ms. Santos took those new parameters that are set in the Fair Map Ordinance and tested them using the 2010 contender maps. Unfortunately, every single map failed, so they would not have met the County Code. Ms. Santos explained that she recalls the Ordinance was based on one from Iowa, and although she thinks the concept is good, their population figures were probably higher and easier to reach the goals as stated. Ms. Santos explained that she will be bringing some small amendments to the Ad Hoc Rules Committee for their consideration. The amendments will be meant to alter just a few works but to maintain the concept of what the Original Fair Map Ordinance was trying to achieve.

Chairman Frieders added that he will be appointing a new Ad Hoc Rules Committee and they will schedule a meeting shortly after the full County Board Meeting next week to review and discuss the potential amendments surrounding the Redistricting Section of the County Code.

Reports from Committee Chairs

Mr. Faivre, Chair of the Planning & Zoning Committee, shared that the Committee forwarded an Ordinance for a Solar Garden for property located on Bethany Road in Cortland Township.

Note: These minutes are not official until approved by the Committee of the Whole at a subsequent meeting. Please refer to the meeting minutes when these minutes are approved to obtain any changes to these minutes.

Mr. Plote, Chair of the County Highway Committee, shared that the Committee is recommending approval of four Resolutions. He reviewed the Resolutions with the Members which included, Appropriation of MFT Funds for Peace Road Bridges Preliminary Engineering, Local Agency Agreement with the State of Illinois for Suydam Road, and two Award Resolutions for 2021 General County Letting and 2021 Aggregate Projects, Crack Route and Fill Projects and Drainage Pipes.

Mrs. Emmer, Chair of the Economic Development Committee shared that the Committee went through the evaluation and interview process and ultimately recommended the appointment of Ms. Bridge Nodurft as the new DeKalb County Supervisor of Assessments.

Ms. Crawford, Chair of Health & Human Services Committee shared that the Committee received a similar COVID-19 situational update that the Committee of the Whole received earlier in the evening. They also received training on the new online platform for the Senior Services Tax Levy Allocations Applications which will be reviewed next month between two meetings. Lastly, they received an overview from Board Member Linda Slabon on what the DeKalb County Food Security Council is.

Ms. Leifheit, Chair of the Law & Justice Committee, shared that the Committee received an overview of the Circuit Clerk’s Office by the DeKalb County Circuit Clerk Lori Grubbs. Ms. Leifheit also updated the Board Members that the Digital Radio System is supposed to be completed in April and provided a brief update on the changed that are being made to the system to complete the fine-tuning.

Mr. Bagby, Chairman of the Finance Committee, shared that the Committee forwarded a Resolution to the full County Board recommending the approval of year-end budget transfers and appropriations for the FY 2020 Budget. He additionally shared that the deadline for Finance Director applications will be Friday, March 19th at 1:00 p.m.

Mr. Roman, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Operations Committee, shared that the District also forwarded their year-end budget transfers Resolution to the full Board of Commissioners. He also noted that the Committee is planning on meeting in-person later in the month at the Natural Resource Education Center at Russell Woods.

County Administrator’s Report

County Administrator Brian Gregory shared that since he began on March 1st, he has been meeting with Department Heads and County Board Members as well touring the various County Buildings and Campuses.

He also shared that Governor Pritzker’s preliminary budget proposes a 10% reduction ($155,000 to the County) in the Local Government Distributive Fund. Although it is still early on in the state budget process, Mr. Gregory assured the Committee that he will continue to keep an eye on it and update them as the budget progresses.

Note: These minutes are not official until approved by the Committee of the Whole at a subsequent meeting. Please refer to the meeting minutes when these minutes are approved to obtain any changes to these minutes.

Lastly, Mr. Gregory reminded that Sexual Harassment Training is required on an annual basis for all employees. The County utilizes an Anti-Sexual Harassment video prepared by the State’s Attorney’s Office to provide an overview of federal, state and county laws and policies followed by a certificate of completion for each employee. The goal is to have all County employees, including County Board Members, watch the video and complete the training by the end of March.

ADJOURNMENT

Ms. Cozad moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:07 p.m. Mr. Deutsch seconded the motion. Those Members voting yea were Mr. Bagby, Mr. Campbell, Ms. Cozad, Ms. Crawford, Mrs. Cribben, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Deutsch, Mrs. Emmer, Mr. Faivre, Mr. Hughes, Ms. Jones, Mrs. Lampkins, Ms. Leifheit, Ms. Little, Mr. Luebke, Ms. Mann-Lamb, Mr. Mohammad, Mr. Plote, Mr. Roman, Ms. Slabon, Mr. West, Vice-Chair Willis, and Chairman Frieders. All Members presented voted yea. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/min21-cowmar.pdf