The Rock Island County Governmental Affairs Committee met Monday, July 11.
"This committee shall be responsible for the review, coordination and oversight of the state and federal legislative needs of the County. Such needs include, but are not limited to, legislation recommended by a standing committee, Board member or elected county official."
Here are the meeting minutes as provided by the Rock Island County Governmental Affairs Committee:
Government Affairs Committee Minutes Monday July 11, 2016 10:00 am
The Government Affairs Committee of the Rock Island County Board met at the above date and time in the Conference Room of the Administration Office on the second floor of the County Building, 1504 Third Ave, Rock Island, IL. Chair Scott Terry called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. Minutes as follows:
1) Call to order and roll call
Committee members present: Scott Terry, Brian Vyncke, Richard Brunk, Don Jacobs, Drue Mielke, Pat Moreno, Mike Steffen
Committee members absent: None
Others present: Bill Long, Kenneth Maranda, Ed Langdon, Hayleigh Covella, April Palmer, Karen Kinney, Louisa Ewert
2) Approval of minutes from the June 13, 2016 meeting
Motion to approve: Don Jacobs 2nd: Richard Brunk, Brian Vyncke Voice vote Motion carried
3) Public Comments
There were no public comments.
4) Reports to the Committee
a) Condition of Funds – Ms. Palmer i. State of IL Payments
Ms. Palmer presented two of her three standard reports. She noted that she did not have enough time with holiday last week to collect information from other offices to complete her cash report, but she will send those out to the County Board later this week.
Ms. Palmer referred to the trial balance or budgetary standings sheet. She noted that the fund and department in the General Fund that report to this committee are both fine and there were no approved changes, so no resolutions to consider. Ms. Palmer
Rock Island County 1504 Third Avenue Rock Island, IL 61201 (309) 558-3605
noted that that’s always a good thing. On the Fund Balance page, she pointed out that the General Fund balance compared to the current fund balance at last year at this same time is $1 million high, which is a wonderful jump to see. They also had the first distribution of taxes, which was a little larger this year. She noted that that’s a good thing, but it’s definitely not $1 million larger. The rest of the revenues are up this year so far as well, plus expenses to date are about $300,000 down from last year at this same time.
Ms. Palmer reported today’s General Fund cash as of this morning at $1,589,500 rounded to the nearest hundred. For State of Illinois payments, the county has received another month. That’s getting no further behind and is keeping the General Fund going. Ms. Palmer also provided her standard Budget by Organization report.
Motion to approve report: Don Jacobs 2nd: Mike Steffen Voice vote Motion carried
b) County Clerk – Ms. Kinney
Ms. Kinney presented her June vital report. She noted that they’re riding the high tide right now because of the summer marriages.
Motion to approve: Mike Steffen 2nd: Pat Moreno, Drue Mielke Voice vote Motion carried
Ms. Kinney noted that she does have something to talk about in regards to voter registration. She explained that there’s a group out of Chicago, and many may have received a mailing that looks like very official business. They’re from the voter participation center out of Chicago. Their information is like 50 years old. They’re mailing out to people. Ms. Kinney noted that a voter wrote and sent it back to Ms. Kinney’s office, “No kidding. I died October 19, 2013. I currently reside at the Rock Island Arsenal Cemetery.” Ms. Kinney said she doesn’t blame people for being upset, but she needs them to know that their information is current with her office. She can’t help what somebody sends from Chicago. She’s not sure where they got this information. Even one of her own employees received a letter from them telling her she needed to get registered to vote under the wrong name. Ms. Kinney noted that there will be many more groups on the same level as these people. Shereassured the committee that voter information is good with her office. It’s all current. Mr. Vyncke asked if there is any way to get that out there to people. Ms. Kinney said she may
contact Mr. Timmons and have him put out a press release. Mr. Vyncke said that would be nice, especially for the elderly. He noted that his mother-in-law gets that stuff all the time and doesn’t know what to do. Mr. Terry suggested posting something on website. Mr. Vyncke noted that Mr. Timmons is gone. Ms. Kinney said she didn’t know and asked who’s on the job now. Mr. Ross said he doesn’t know. He thinks Steve Elliott.
Mr. Terry thanked Ms. Kinney for bringing that to the committee’s attention. Ms. Kinney said she needs the committee’s help and asked them if they hear anyone saying that to please clear it up. Mr. Vyncke noted that this is all we need right now is more bad press. Ms. Kinney confirmed that it’s more confusion. She has a whole stack of these and there will be even more people doing things like this. She noted that most of this is generated from a candidate or group. She’s not sure who the candidate is, but you can bet they’re behind somebody. She noted that her office purges information daily. They don’t have any dead voters.
5) Consider approval of claims
Motion to approve: Brian Vyncke 2nd: Mike Steffen, Richard Brunk Voice vote Motion carried
6) Consider approval of treasurer’s disbursements (TDs)
Motion to approve: Brian Vyncke 2nd: Don Jacobs, Pat Moreno, Richard Brunk Voice vote Motion carried
7) Consider consolidated committee structure
Mr. Terry noted that Mr. Ross sent out to everybody who checks their email his recommendations and ideas. He hopes everyone reviewed those. He thinks it’s best to just open this up to the committee for input. He is strongly in favor. He noted that there’s a suggestion in the printed notes as to how to move forward.
Mr. Moreno asked if they have considered having a meeting as a whole. He noted that it looks like they’re only going to have to attend one committee meeting, but maybe if they had a meeting of a whole for everybody with no votes taken to talk about what everybody has in each committee, everyone would know what’s going on and what will
be voted on come County Board day. Then they can talk about it, discuss it, and then they’ll know what they’re voting on at the regular County Board meeting.
Mr. Mielke noted that they have to do that homework anyhow and it’s harder if they’re not in the meeting. Basically, all would be on the same page on Tuesday. Mr. Vyncke said it defeats the purpose almost, though he understands what they’re saying.
Mr. Ross asked for clarification if Mr. Moreno was asking to keep the committee structures they currently have and then have another meeting of the full County Board just to discuss. Mr. Moreno said and then vote at County Board just so everyone knows ahead of time. He knows this is one thing that Mr. Johnston has harped on: that he didn’t know what he was voting on before the Board meeting. Mr. Ross said, to counter that, obviously they have the notes, which are not perfect because they’re not there, but staff can also send out draft minutes. He noted that he always encourages any Board member to call him or the Chair if they have any questions whatsoever. He hopes the notes they get are enough to pique their interest and that way they’re not having an extra $2,500/month and having another meeting. Mr. Moreno said that was his other point. He asked how they would pay all of them $200 per meeting if they keep the pay structure the same. This way, they’d have to attend the committee of the whole meeting to get the other $100. It would be one committee meeting that they all attend. Mr. Ross explained that how it ended up getting approved is they’re paid for every meeting they go to. It’s kept the same. Mr. Moreno said they’d only have to go to one meeting. Mr. Terry noted that Mr. Moreno is saying that if they cut a meeting. but he’d also add that might be something, that’s a big difference. Like Mr. Vyncke is saying, if they cut a meeting out, they cut a meeting of pay. One big appeal to the public is the cost savings. He noted that he’s not against a committee of the whole as an informational meeting, but they’re still getting paid, so that’s not changing costs.
Mr. Mielke noted that if they did committee of whole, the meeting would be much longer. He thinks it would be justified since they’re committing more time. Mr. Terry suggested maybe they could have this meeting, but make it voluntary if you feel a need to show up with questions. His big thing is cost savings. Mr. Vyncke noted that then it’s another meeting and then all the extra time for staff to show up. He’s sure some people would be okay, but he thinks they have better things to do than go to a bunch of meetings all week. Mr. Ross agreed that they prefer to do other things.
Mr. Ross noted that from what Mr. Mielke is saying, one of the things they voted on before is to eliminate the committee structure and do a committee of the whole and then discuss and then the next meeting is the Board meeting where they vote, which is a total of two meetings per month: one committee and then County Board. What Mr. Johnston has been advocating for is doing the committee structure like now and then
also a committee of the whole and then also the County Board meeting. He asked if that’s what they’re talking about. Mr. Moreno said only if they restructure. The way he looks at it is they’ll only have one meeting that they each attend and then that would reduce costs. If they can’t mess with costs, then have a second committee of the whole meeting.
Mr. Ross said that from his perspective, whatever the County Board decides is what it will be. He’s okay with how it is right now even though he thinks they could accomplish some important things by restructuring, including reform and cost savings for the public. He thinks it’s going to be much better on staff if they reduce the number of meetings. He won’t speak for Ms. Palmer, but he thinks she’d be ecstatic only going to one or two meetings instead of eight. She’d only report to Finance and Personnel under this scenario. As a staff member, Department Head, or Elected Official, you wouldn’t be reporting to any committee anymore. You’d have an opportunity to show up at any of them and talk because there’d be an item on the agenda for staff reports. Mr. Ross noted that he polled Elected Officials and Department Heads eight or nine months ago out of curiosity. He was thinking about getting rid of a lot of these reports because it’s stuff they can put in writing and he sees it as more of a waste of time. Almost everybody said they liked the idea of providing a written report which would go to the full County Board and if they have something to talk about, they want to be able to show up. He only had one person who wanted to show up, and they could provide a report to any committee they wanted to. If something on the agenda deals with them, of course they’d be there. Mr. Ross explained that the purpose of the consolidated committee structure is, of course, cost savings, and facilitating a streamline of staff time. As the county is very minimally staffed and it may become worse, that’s more time they have to actually get work done if they don’t have anything they necessarily have to show up for. Staff is always welcome to show up and provide a report, but it wouldn’t be mandated under this.
Mr. Vyncke noted that more business would get done with fewer committees. If they want to go to a committee meeting and they see issues, they can reach out. There is no perfect scenario, but the way it stands now, unless you attend every committee, you’re not going to get any more. There’s no committee of the whole now. He’s not against it. His support for this is the cost savings. He thinks they need to be leaders and lead by example to the rest of the county. The rest of the county is tightening their belts and the County Board needs to tighten theirs. Mr. Mielke noted that if they can find efficiencies in time and cost, they need to pursue it.
Mr. Ross suggested that another option for anybody who wants to know more information than what he puts in his notes; they are welcome to show up at Exec. Everything is talked about there. He knows some County Board members do. Mr. Terry
noted that all committees report to Exec. Mr. Ross said that’s sort of a committee of the whole. It’s not because only chairs are there, but any Board member is welcome.
Mr. Brunk noted that as far as staff for scenarios of a streamlined committee AND a committee of the whole following, any staff that would need to be there would be fairly limited to specific items on agenda. He doesn’t think it would be a matter where they need everyone there every month. Mr. Ross said it would be him, Ms. Palmer, and whoever’s there for an issue. Ms. Palmer added Ms. Ewert. Mr. Terry asked if committee of the whole would be on the same day before the regular meeting. Mr. Brunk said no, not he’s specifying when, just sometime ideally Board members would have.he doesn’t know if it matters when, but between the committee and the County Board. The point is that he doesn’t think it would be a huge burden on staff because it would be limited on who needed to be there to answer questions. Mr. Ross agreed, but noted that one of the main purposes is the potential for cost savings. Having an extra meeting would eliminate that cost savings.
Mr. Terry said he was going to get on his soap box. He explained that last month, the Finance committee cut out two grand from two college kids who have done everything right and went through the process and the committee said, “So what?” Now they’re looking at something to save $2,500 per month. What he would like, he proposes this with a trial period. If it doesn’t work out, they do a poll or whatever and go back to the old structure if they need that safety net.
Mr. Moreno asked when they would do this. To him, they wouldn’t want to do it now and then again in December. He asked if they wouldn’t just wait until December. Mr. Ross said very possibly; that’s a wise move. It’s not that far out and would give him time to draft a resolution with the State’s Attorney that clarifies roles and responsibilities of different committees. Certainly the soonest they could approve that would be August to take effect in September. Whether they do that or they could approve it in August to take effect in December after the election. Mr. Terry said he thinks that legally, they run into this technically being compensation and they would almost have to do it after the election. He doesn’t know. Mr. Ross said it’s not changing compensation. It’s per diem. Mr. Mielke agreed and said if this committee didn’t meet for some reason, they wouldn’t get paid.
Mr. Ross explained that to give time to vet this, next month he’d work with the State’s Attorney’s Office, they’d have a resolution, take a look at it, then pick the implementation day. September would be the earliest. December would be a couple more months and would give them time to work on anything they foresee as an issue and they wouldn’t have to reassign everybody. After the election, the County Board Chairman would assign committees and they wouldn’t have to switch everyone around a lot. Mr. Maranda noted
that he’s got that on the table in there from what went through the committee that was out there looking for answers of downsizing and whatever. He and Mr. Ross have looked at it and anyone who has been in there has looked at it and he’s got to go with what Mr. Moreno asked. He asked what day the three committees would meet and said that instead of having the Executive committee meet, they could use that as the meeting of the whole. Mr. Ross said that immediately eliminates cost savings. Mr. Brunk said there would still be some. Mr. Mielke noted that they wouldn’t have Exec. Mr. Ross said maybe a little. Mr. Maranda noted that if he needs to call an Executive meeting, he can take the committee heads and Vice Chairman and bring them in. Mr. Terry noted that the executive committee serves an important purpose.
Mr. Jacobs noted that they’re talking little money here. They need big money. All of the tax money for the General Fund goes into the jail and child placement – every penny. He asked why the county should house all the city prisoners and they don’t pay a damn thing. Mr. Langdon agreed.
Mr. Terry said he thinks the Executive Committee serves unique purpose because it gives chairs and leaders an opportunity to come together and address how things relate. He doesn’t know if dismissing the Executive Committee and making it into a committee of the whole is the best option. As far as the little bit amount of money, Mr. Jacobs knows better than anybody, but a little bit of money is a little bit of money. They just said, “Sorry kids who did everything we asked for, a refugee being one of them, we can’t afford $2,000,” and here they are trying to figure out $2,500x12. Mr. Vyncke asked if there’s Committee Chair pay on there too and noted that that’s additional savings. Mr. Terry said it’s $40,000-50,000. Mr. Langdon asked who will be the Chair and if there won’t be a Chair. Mr. Vyncke explained that there will be, but there will be fewer chairs because there are fewer committees. Mr. Langdon said that’s a pay cut. Mr. Vyncke said some of them would. Mr. Jacobs said that’s one employee out of the 116 they have to lay off.
Mr. Ross explained that this is one of many ways to save money. Mr. Mielke noted that it saves time. Mr. Vyncke agreed. Mr. Terry added that it makes it easier for taxpayers. If they have a question, now they have to figure out which of seven committees to go to. This would be four committees. That’s more simplistic. They don’t have a line of people, but maybe that’s part of why they don’t. Mr. Vyncke reminded everyone that if it doesn’t work, they can go back. Mr. Moreno said they don’t have people here because they have meetings during the day. Mr. Mielke agreed. Mr. Moreno said that if they had them in the evening it would be easier for everybody. Mr. Mielke agreed. Mr. Terry noted that with four committees, it’d be easier to do it. Mr. Ross said they could do it in two nights: two one night and two another. If they came back next month, they could work out thoughts and concerns of when and what days. By the time they get this worked out, he
doesn’t want to rush this for sake of rushing it, it will probably be December 1st as far as implementation. That’s probably close to when they’d be comfortable doing it as well as they can. Mr. Terry said they can always attach a trial period.
Mr. Langdon asked what Ms. Palmer and Ms. Kinney think. Ms. Ewert noted that Mr. Ross mentioned that they already did meet with Elected Officials and agreed with what Mr. Ross had. Mr. Langdon asked if it would it make it better on them. Ms. Palmer said immensely. Ms. Ewert agreed. Ms. Palmer asked Mr. Langdon to look at how much time she spends up here with them, which is part of her job, but she could be downstairs doing more of her work. It’s just one of those things. Any time-consuming measure they can save is a bonus. Again, she thinks it would be a cost savings. The Elected Officials and Department Heads, of course, want the opportunity to address the County Board and Mr. Ross’s idea is perfect in being able to accomplish that as well. She’d like to be able to tell them what she needs to when she needs to. As long as that remains an open option, there are no negatives to it. She wouldn’t want to set it up to fail. She noted that they need to think about it and do it right the first time so it can be successful.
Mr. Terry said he would like to give authorization for Mr. Ross to sit down with the State’s Attorney, write the resolution, and bring it back to the committee and take it to County Board next month.
Ms. Kinney said that her major concern is that they keep the lines of communication open. It’s nice to know that if she needs to talk about something going on, she has a means to do so. Mr. Terry said he would still like Ms. Kinney to give her report. Mr. Ross said she wouldn’t be assigned, no one would be assigned, but she could show up at every single meeting and talk if she wants. Ms. Kinney noted that around election time she usually needs to.
Mr. Brunk asked what happens to litigation under this proposal. Mr. Ross explained that that would stay. He didn’t include it, but he should have. That would stay.
Mr. Brunk noted that there have been questions in past when comes to Chairmen being part of committees. In reviewing materials from Peoria County, they also have it set up that way where the Chairman is an ex officio member of each committee. They only count in the event of tie breaking or to meet quorum requirements. Mr. Ross said that’s how he intends to structure this. He’d clarify that in the resolution so they’d be able to see that.
Motion to approve authorizing Mr. Ross to sit with the Chairman and the State’s Attorney to write a resolution to bring back to committee next month: Brian Vyncke 2nd: Drue Mielke
Voice vote Motion carried
8) Review of pending/proposed state legislation & policy matters affecting Rock
Island County
Mr. Mielke noted that he was reading in the paper that there was a car accident the county had liability for. Mr. Terry said they voted on that last month. Mr. Ross said it’s another one. Mr. Mielke asked if they should have insurance that covers these things. Mr. Ross explained that whether or not the county continues to self-fund all matters of liability, work comp, etc. will be a question for the County Board. It is exceptionally time consuming to gather the information necessary to get quotes from insurance companies. They are 95% of the way through that process. Within the next month, they’ll have all the data necessary to submit to the insurance companies and get quotes so they can have a discussion of what it will cost to manage risk in addition to all the other work they’ve been doing: hiring the third party administrator and implementing various policies that deal with risk management. Mr. Mielke noted that people read it in the paper and he’s gotten some questions about it. Mr. Ross noted that they are looking at it and as soon as they have the information, the County Board will have the information to consider. Mr. Mielke said he can report back that they are actively working on it.
Mr. Jacobs noted that they’ve been going in and out of this insurance. They’ve had it before. Every year, they raise it sky high. That’s been way back. It was cheaper. Mr. Ross said that when he gets the data, they can have that discussion. Mr. Terry noted that lawsuits have been getting more expensive and more frequent.
9) Committee member opportunity for brief comments (no decisions will be made)
There were none.
10) Adjourn
Meeting adjourned at 10:34 a.m. by Chair Scott Terry
Future scheduled meetings on August 8, September 12, October 11, and November 7
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