DeKalb Times

DeKalb County Board Committee of the Whole met April 13.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

The Committee of the Whole of the DeKalb County Board met in the Legislative Center’s Gathertorium. Chairman John Frieders called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Those Members present were Mr. Tim Bagby, Mr. Scott Campbell, Ms. Mary Cozad, Ms. Rukisha Crawford, Mrs. Karen Cribben, Mr. Patrick Deutsch, Mrs. Laurie Emmer, Mr. Steve Faivre, Mrs. Kathy Lampkins, Ms. Dianne Leifheit, Ms. Maureen Little, Mr. Jim Luebke, Ms. Terri Mann-Lamb, Ms. Michelle Pickett, Mr. Roy Plote, Mr. Craig Roman, Mr. Ellingsworth Webb, Mr. Larry West, Vice-Chair Suzanne Willis, and Chairman John Frieders. Those absent were Mr. Bill Cummings, Ms. Kiara Jones, and Mr. Jerry Osland. A quorum was established with twenty Members present, three absent.

Others present included Brian Gregory, Derek Hiland, Liam Sullivan, and several DeKalb County Rehab & Nursing Center staff and residents, as well as many individuals from the public.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

Mr. Faivre moved to approve the agenda as presented. Ms. Mann-Lamb seconded the motion and it was carried unanimously.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

It was moved by Ms. Cozad, seconded by Ms. Little and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from the March 9, 2022 meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Ms. Hannah Williams, an employee of the DCRNC, posed multiple questions to the Board Members. She asked who was responsible for ensuring that the DCRNC Operating Board was doing their jobs, why MPA was ever put in charge of the meeting minutes, and why no one inquired about cash reserves before there was already such a huge loss. Ms. Williams continued to report excerpts from the Operating Board Minutes which laid out a timeline of how the financial position of the facility was relayed. She continued to inquire about why the County Board’s involvement did not begin until the situation was dire.

Mr. Don Gates of Sandwich addressed the County Board’s voting down the Resolution to place a tax referendum for the Nursing Home on the Primary Election ballot. He also discussed the climate change of the facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Chuck Coulter, Maintenance at the DCRNC and President of AFSCME Local 3537, questioned what the County Board has done to help the DCRNC. He added that the Operating Board that was in place destroyed the Nursing Home in the last five years by their lack of efforts. Mr. Coulter noted that he believes the Board is trying to fast-track a sale in order to sweep their mistakes under the rug. Besides cashflow support, he inquired about what the Board has done to help the Nursing Home.

Ms. Dawn Lawton, Dietary Director at the DCRNC, addressed County Administrator Brian Gregory for noting he would help but implying he has not. She additionally addressed Board Member Mr. Cummings for negatively expressing that agency costs were so high but would not agree to any wage adaptations. Ms. Lawton again addressed Mr. Gregory and noted that he set the facility up for failure through the FY2022 Budget.

DCRNC Administrator Magdalen Niemi noted that the facility is now properly billing thanks to their working with a consulting company that is being compensated at a fraction of what MPA, the previous Management Company, was being paid. Ms. Niemi reviewed that long-term care is

a viable industry and she explained that the facility is bringing in revenue. She expressed that because they are a County Home, they received a lot of community involvement and they would lose that if the facility were to become privately owned. Ms. Niemi expressed that the County Nursing Home is viable and they need to be given a chance. She clarified that the Transitional Care Unit is completed besides furniture and occupancy permitting and that wing could bring in additional revenue as well.

Mr. Chuck Simpson, DCRNC 30-year Staff Member and Vice-President of AFSCME Local 3537, pleaded to the County Board to give them a chance to turn the facility around and to be able to stay a public, County-owned facility. He also questioned how the County let the Nursing Home get so low on funds.

CHAIR’S COMMENTS

Chairman Frieders thanked everyone for sharing their personal stories. He added that it has been a very difficult year-long+ journey. It is going to be very difficult in coming weeks and months. The Chairman apologized for where the Nursing Home situation is today. He also added that the

County Board Members are not making any decisions hastily and they’re not trying to rush anything. The Board is trying to make decisions that are in the best interest of the DCRNC as well as in the best interest of the residents of DeKalb County. The Nursing Home issue is very important and they are going to be moving forward.

The Chairman additionally shared that he is bringing forward the appointment of Mr. John Emerson to fill the unexpired term of Mr. Tim Hughes’s County Board District #2 seat.

PRESENTATIONS/DISCUSSIONS

Board / Committee Appointments

At the last County Board Meeting, there was a question as to the process for appointments made by the County Board. The Board Members were provided with a breakdown and explanation of all the entities that the County Board appointment individuals to.

It was explained that there are currently around two hundred sixty-five (265) positions that are appointed by the DeKalb County Board across around fifty-three (53) entities. These positions vary in length of term, ranging from one year to indefinite in length. Additionally, these positions also vary in compensation level, with some positions being volunteer and others receiving around $10,000 per year for their service.

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.

The appointment process begins with an application. There are four types of applications for appointments: Self Appointment, Citizen Appointment, Entity Appointment, and a Reappointment Application. The applications ask for the name of the Board/Commission, the Appointee’s personal information (name, phone number, address, etc.), and why the individual is being recommended for the position (special skills, qualifications, experiences, or education). After the application has been filled out, it is sent to the Administration Office.

Once an application is received, Staff reviews the application and narrows down a list of qualified candidates. The list of qualified candidates is given to the County Board Chairman for their review. The County Board Chairman will then bring their recommendation to the Executive Committee, who then forwards the appointment to the full County Board for approval.

The Committee additionally discussed the Housing Authority of DeKalb County a little more in depth. It was clarified that the County Board does appoint individuals to that Board but that is where their involvement ceases. The Housing Authority’s by-laws kick in once an individual is appointed and the County has no involvement of funding or oversight of the board.

DeKalb County Rehab & Nursing Center Financial Update

County Administrator Brian Gregory provided a PowerPoint Presentation to update the Board on the ongoing financial challenges at the DeKalb County Rehab & Nursing Center (DCRNC). Mr. Gregory additionally began by answering some of the questions that were posed to the Board under Public Comments.

There are currently funds in the Nursing Home account but on March 16, 2022, there will be an estimated $500,000 needed to meet accumulated invoices and payroll obligations, Mr. Gregory reported. This would bring the liability on the County’s borrowing to ($7,425,000). Mr. Gregory also detailed an updated timeline of the three options previously outlined by Marcus and Millichap from April 2022.

Mr. Gregory noted that he believed based on the way conversations with Board Members have gone that they were at the point in the process to begin discussing the option of a sale of the DCRNC. With an option like this, the Board would need to approve a Resolution, which will be on the Executive Committee’s agenda following this meeting.

There was a question of going back to the previous Management Company and holding them liable for not disclosing information. Mr. Gregory noted that the Administration Team is looking forwards and backwards to try and help any way they can to close the financial gap.

The Committee also discussed the potential huge liability the County faces for being self-insured and for the DCRNC’s being self-insured.

Many Board Members additionally questioned how they did not know about this and why no one had been alerted to these financial issues much earlier when they may have had more time to explore more options. They also discussed the audit and the booking of receivables.

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.

Chairman Frieders reminded that the DCRNC’s business model is based on a census of 175. The facility has not seen that census in many years and it is unknown if and when it will again. He also noted that multiple Counties have and are getting out of the Nursing Home business. There are very few Counties in the State of Illinois that still have County-owned Nursing Homes.

Knowing Mr. Gregory couldn’t answer the question because he wasn’t here at the time, Mr. West questioned why the County was not bidding the Management Company’s contract every four years. He explained that he had asked this multiple times in the past and was dismissed. He also noted that if the census is lower, then not as many staff should be needed and the business model should be rightsized. Mr. Gregory agreed that those were two questions he had early on as well. If the option were to ever go forward with a new Management Company there would be for sure a provision to re-bid the contract every four years. Mr. Gregory expressed that the expertise for rightsizing lies with a Management Company and the Nursing Home Administrator. The Board has committed now $7.5 million to ensure that patient care does not suffer and the County has to rely on the experts who are running the operation to cut costs where they believe they can.

There was also a discussion on how agency staff has been a detriment to the DCRNC operating budget.

Administrator Niemi addressed the Chair and the Committee and noted that there are 17 County Nursing Homes left in Illinois and the DCRNC is the fourth highest reimbursement for a Medicaid recipient. The facility has 70 Medicaid recipients right now. She added that they don’t want to make a profit, they didn’t want to be in this position, and there have been some mistruths that have been given by the previous management company.

Ms. Niemi also expressed that the DCRNC truly can downsize as a business model. She has been in discussion with the consultant Jordan Healthcare on doing so. She also shared that she believes there is a lot of information that has not yet been uncovered and a lot of information that has not yet been discussed. Ms. Niemi also noted that she doesn’t believe the facility has had an accurate budget. Then, Ms. Niemi shared that she can cut the cost of her staff by 25%.

Chairman Frieders questioned why Ms. Niemi hasn’t cut of staffing costs by 25% yet. She provided that she hasn’t been in her role very long and due to the press and the public nature of the possible sale, she has been losing staff. She is currently working to get staff in the door in order to lessen the facility’s need for agency staff. She also reiterated that she does not have accurate financials.

Ms. Mann-Lamb asked if Ms. Niemi had the right information right now how many months/years does she think it would take to recover to make the DCRNC self-sustaining again. Ms. Niemi provided that she thinks it would take at least one to two years.

Ms. Pickett inquired if the referendum for the .1% tax levy could be brought back and discussed again. It was answered that it would be too late now to put that question on the General Primary ballot.

Chairman Frieders asked if Board Members were willing to write a blank check in order to continue to fund the Nursing Home.

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. Campbell shared that if they could cover the liability with insurance and incorporate that into the operating costs of the Nursing Home and spend one or two months creating a new budget; at a census of 130 with Maggie’s commitment that they could meet that budget, that would give the Board an option other than selling. It would also be based on something they could write a check for, potentially. Then he would be able to answer the Chair’s question. Mr. Campbell noted that they currently don’t know what it would cost to operate the Nursing Home at a census of 130 and he thinks that is a question they need to be asking.

Mr. Gregory noted that at 130, that is 1/3 of the current budget and they currently don’t have insurance. He has no idea what that number would look like if they went out to the market. He reminded that this is a very personnel heavy industry. A budget at 130 residents would need to cut a lot of staff and so you can assume that the quality of care is going to then change.

Mr. Campbell apologized but clarified that he believes that creating that budget will show that the fixed costs are too great and the variable costs are too small to operate at a budget of 130. In order to achieve that, services would have to drastically be reduced to levels that no one would want to operate at. Mr. Campbell’s point was, the Board doesn’t have those numbers yet in order to make that actual determination. So, it is a hypothetical until they do.

Chairman Frieders lastly announced that something to remember is that if the Nursing Home is sold, it will remain a Nursing Home. That need for the community is not going to go away.

Following this meeting, if the Executive Committee so chooses, they can forward a Resolution to the full County Board for discussion that would authorize the sale, transfer, or other disposition of the DeKalb County Rehab & Nursing Center in accordance with 55 ILCS 5-21001 of the Illinois Counties Code.

Reports from Committee Chairs

Mr. Faivre, Chair of the Planning & Zoning Committee, shared that the Committee has no actionable items, but the Committee is working on changes and hopefully improvements to the County’s Solar Ordinance.

Mr. Plote, Chair of the County Highway Committee, shared that the Committee has forwarded six (6) Resolutions to the full County Board recommending their approval. He briefly reviewed each item with the Committee.

Mrs. Emmer, Chair of the Economic Development Committee, shared that the Committee did not meet and they had nothing to report.

Ms. Crawford, Chair of Health & Human Services Committee, shared that the Committee has met twice this month for the GY2023 Senior Services Tax Levy Funding Hearings. They decided to wait until next month to begin their allocation discussions.

Ms. Leifheit, Chair of the Law & Justice Committee, shared that the Committee did not meet and that they had nothing to report.

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. Bagby, Chairman of the Finance Committee, shared that the Committee forwarded some year-end FY2021 budget amendments that were determined through the audit. They also have been working on a County Procurement Ordinance over the past couple of months and now are happy with it and have forwarded to the full County Board recommending its approval.

Mr. Roman, Chairman of the Forest Preserve Operations Committee, shared that the Forest Preserve District did not meet last month but provided a short list of activities the District is hosting or is involved with coming up.

Vice-Chair Willis expressed that the new County Board Districts on the County’s website are not easily displayed and requested that section of the website be looked at and updated for better transparency.

COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

Mr. Gregory relayed from County Clerk Doug Johnson that County Voters have started to receive their new Voter ID Cards after redistricting. The vendor and software used are new to DeKalb County along with new hardware that has been put into place. Because of the extensive redistricting and the new vendor and software, The ID Cards for some of the voters has the polling place listed incorrectly. After the problem is fixed, new Voter ID Cards will be sent out to the voters affected. The vendor will be paying for the reissuance of the new Voter ID Cards.

ADJOURNMENT

It was moved by Mr. Faivre, seconded by Mr. Luebke and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 9:18 p.m.

https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/minutes-cow-04132022.pdf