DeKalb County Law & Justice Committee met April 25.
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 Vice-Chair Suzanne Willis called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Those members present were Ms. Mary Cozad, Mrs. Kathy Lampkins, Mr. Ellingsworth Webb, Mr. Larry West, and Vice-Chair Suzanne Willis. Mrs. Karen Cribben and Chair Dianne Leifheit were absent. A quorum was established with five Members present and two absent.
Others that were present included Tom McCulloch, Michael Venditti, Chief Deputy Jim Burgh, and Chief Carolyn Parnow.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
It was moved by Mr. Webb, seconded by Mrs. Lampkins 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 February 28, 2022 Committee Meeting. Mr. Webb 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. Out of three recent vacancies, he is down to one with an interview next week. Mr. McCulloch shared that the office has been getting by but assignments are changing on an hourly basis.
The March 2022 Public Defender’s Report was placed on file with the Committee. The report illustrated that there were 627 cases opened and 745 cases were closed.
COURT SERVICES REPORT
Court Services Director Michael Venditti shared that the numbers are picking up and there seems to be an increase in activity lately.
He additionally pointed out that the Juvenile Detention Placement Report shows a large increase within the month of March. There are a handful of juveniles that are currently being held for a lengthy amount of time due to some significant charges. One juvenile has been held now going on 110 days due to DCFS placement issues, a couple others are being held on felony charges, and another is needing an evaluation for some serious mental health issues.
Mr. Venditti expressed those issues with juveniles are being seen in all surrounding counties and he is being told that JJC is one of the last juvenile detention facilities in the area that has any vacancies and he is thankful that DeKalb County has an agreement in place with JJC. He is hoping to see some leveling out soon but wanted the Committee to be aware of the issues and that he is keeping an eye on the monthly detention expenditures.
Mr. Venditti shared that he too is down to one staff vacancy in the Court Services Department. That is for an Adult Probation Officer and they are currently in the interviewing process.
He also reviewed salary reimbursements for his staff that he obtains through grants. Those grants cover salaries, not benefits, but take a large burden off the County’s General Fund. Court Services total salaries for FY2021 were $1,114,842.18. The reimbursements that were received totaled $1,041,996.50. Mr. Venditti also noted that he requested an additional $200,000 in salary reimbursements from the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts for 2022.
A Bill that looks like it will be passed in the summer of 2022 would fully cover salary costs for six out of seven positions that are now only partially being reimbursed, Mr. Venditti relayed.
Lastly, Mr. Venditti provided some information on a side project that he has been involved with. At the beginning on the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Mr. Venditti spoke with the Assistant Director of the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts and Dr. Brian Lovett about participating in a study to examine the impact of serving probations clients by virtual means. The study would determine if clients were more likely to show up for their appointments, if they are more likely to get rearrested, if they are they more likely to have technical violations or not, things of that nature as a result of being cut off from physically seeing their probation officers.
DeKalb County and nine other counties were involved in the study and the initial results have been released. Attendance and technical violations were down, as expected. Some additional interesting information found was: 18% of high-risk clients were more likely to make their appointments and highest risk clients were 12%-22% less likely to have a new arrest while on probation. The outcomes showed that virtual means eliminated barriers such as transportation issues, traveling here from other counties, and taking time off of work. Mr. Venditti noted that they want to expand the study in order to assess the long-term probation practices.
JAIL POPULATION REPORT
Chief Parnow reported that the average daily population for the DeKalb County Jail in March of 2022 was 112. Last year at this time, the average population was 114.
The Overtime Report is on target but the numbers are slightly on the rise due to staffing shortages. As of April 1st, 23% of the budget has been expended.
ADJOURNMENT
It was moved by Mrs. Lampkins, seconded by Mr. West, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 6:55 p.m.
https://dekalbcounty.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/minutes-law-04252022.pdf
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