DeKalb Times

DeKalb County Law & Justice Committee met Feb. 28.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

The Law and Justice Committee of the DeKalb County Board met in the Legislative Center’s Gathertorium in Sycamore, Illinois. Madam Chair Dianne Leifheit called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Those members present were Ms. Mary Cozad, Mrs. Karen Cribben, Mrs. Kathy Lampkins, Mr. Ellingsworth Webb, Mr. Larry West, and Chair Dianne Leifheit. A quorum was established with all seven Members present.

Others that were present included Tim McCulloch, Michael Venditti, Sheriff Andy Sullivan, and Chief Deputy Jim Burgh.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA 

It was moved by Mr. Webb, seconded by Mrs. Cribben and it was carried unanimously by voice vote to approve the agenda as presented. 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES 

Ms. Cozad moved to approve the minutes of the January 10, 2022 Committee Meeting. Mrs. Lampkins seconded the motion and it was carried unanimously. 

PUBLIC COMMENTS 

There were no Public Comments.

PUBLIC DEFENDER’S REPORT 

Mr. McCulloch reported on the office’s ongoing staffing issues. He received another resignation from an Assistant Public Defender that morning. He finally got someone hired and now he will again be down two attorneys. He has been advertising at NIU and other area law schools as well as on Indeed.

The Committee continued to discuss the potential reasonings behind the attorney shortage and hiring struggles. Mr. McCulloch expressed that he has requested in the past and continues to request that the County Board and County Administration look at salaries, assignments and parody across the County Departments to ensure that Public Defenders are being adequately compensated for their time and caseloads.

The January 2022 Public Defender’s Report was placed on file with the Committee. The report illustrated that there were 3,454 cases opened and 3,442 cases were closed.

COURT SERVICES REPORT 

Court Services Director Michael Venditti shared that he recently submitted his annual plan to the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts. As part of the process, he placed a formal request for some additional salary reimbursements for existing staff members. The request he made would be somewhere up to several hundreds of dollars annually in additional reimbursement grant dollars that would be deposited into the County’s General Fund.

Mr. Venditti additionally reviewed some of his own staffing issues within his department. He hired one new probation officer earlier in the day, is in the process of hiring someone in the Treatment Courts Division, and his hopeful that an intern will be filling another vacancy once they graduate.

The Committee briefly reviewed the monthly Adult, Juvenile, and Pretrial Reports that were provided. Following COVID-19 restrictions being lifted, the department is finally starting to see more Community Service Hours completed than ordered.

In good news, Mr. Venditti explained that legislative changes did not occur for the proposed State-wide Pretrial Program. Now on January 1, 2023, only Counties that do not have a, existing Pretrial Program will be involved in the State-wide program. This means that DeKalb County will remain in control of their very successful County Pretrial Program.

The Juvenile Report was lastly reviewed. There was a large spike seen with some significant offences. The Juvenile Detention Budget still remains under budget and is $15,000 less than this time last year.

JAIL POPULATION REPORT 

Sheriff Sullivan reported that they are three individuals short in Corrections, two in Communications, and two on Patrol. He is hopeful that three individuals are close to being hired.

The Overtime Report is on target but the numbers are on the rise. The Sheriff noted that has he is able to get individuals hired, the overtime will level out and/or decrease.

Mr. Webb inquired about being able to see last year’s jail population numbers on this year’s reports in order to obtain a historical comparison. The Sheriff noted that he could add that.

Sheriff Sullivan lastly reported that he and the County Administration recently met with the owner/management team of Suburban Estates in DeKalb and had a good meet. They met on how the managers respond to their residents as well as how the County would potentially help with security for the property.

ADJOURNMENT 

It was moved by Mrs. Lampkins, seconded by Mr. West, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 7:12 p.m.

https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/minutes-law-02282022.pdf