Rock Island Today

The Rock Island County Litigation Committee met Jan. 17 to consider repealing policies.

Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the committee:

Litigation Committee Minutes Tuesday January 17, 2017 5:00 pm

The Litigation Committee of the Rock Island County Board will meet 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. County Board Chairman Kenneth Maranda called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Minutes as follows:

1) Call to order and roll call

Committee members present: Scott Terry, Mia Mayberry, Don Johnston

Committee members absent: Pat Moreno

Others present: Dave Ross, Kenneth Maranda, Jerry Clyde, Mike Steffen, Drue Mielke, Rod Simmer, Jeff Deppe, Hayleigh Covella, Dewayne Cremeens, Ginny Shelton, Scott Noyd

2) Approval of the minutes from the January 9, 2017 meeting

Motion to approve: Mia Mayberry 2nd: Don Johnston Voice vote Motion carried

3) Public Comments

There were no public comments.

4) Closed session as per 5 ILCS 120/2(c) (11) - Litigation: when an action against,

affecting, or on behalf of the particular public body has been filed and is pending before a court or administrative tribunal, or when the public body finds that an action is probable or imminent

Mr. Maranda said he really doesn’t think the committee needs to go into closed session. He explained that Morrison is an injury from Hope Creek and Wesenberg is where the county truck backed into the front end.

Mr. Johnston said, speaking in general, the question is how they got here and not the cases themselves. Frankly they’re both settled, so what can the committee do? Like Mr. Clyde said at the meeting, they’ve got 30 days after a workman’s comp is settled, but itcan’t be settled until it goes to the County Board. There’s a contradiction right there. Mr. Maranda noted that the mistake on that one is Mr. Bert signed it. Mr. Maranda talked to Mr. McGehee about that and said he cannot sign it. That’s where Mr. Clyde came and said it’s been signed. Mr. Johnston said he understands. He asked if the question of how that got here is going to be taken up on the 23rd. Mr. Maranda said they’ll eliminate that tonight. They’re just going to repeal everything until they want talk about that on the 23rd or whatever. It’s on the agenda. It’s just the approval of these two and that repeal.

Mr. Terry said he doesn’t think that as a committee they’ve discussed the snow plow case. They discussed the other one, but they never discussed the snow plow. He would entertain going into closed session so he could hear the details. Mr. Maranda explained that this is the authorization for Mr. Ross under $5,000 and the confusion there. That’s why they’re repealing the policy. They’ve got the pictures. It’s kind of self-explanatory. It was in that deal where a year ago and it wasn’t brought back or whatever, so they’re going to repeal it. If there’s necessity for it they’ll discuss it on the 23rd.

Mr. Terry called for a point of clarification. He asked if they are talking about repealing a portion or the whole thing. Mr. Maranda said the whole thing right now.

Mr. Simmer asked if he could make a comment. He noted that this is what he does for a living. The settlement is 2% man as a whole. There’s no time lost. They didn’t lose any work. There’s only $100 of medical bills. He asked how they came up with that. Independent Medical Examiner is $500-$1,000 for one of those. Mr. Clyde explained that for the medical bills, those were what she was claiming were unpaid. They’re paying for that. There have been other bills that have come through before this. This is just what they say. Mr. Simmer said if there’s no time lost, no nothing, he’s just wondering how she got.Mr. Clyde said it was all handled under claims.

Mr. Johnston said that since they have both been done, he’ll move that the committee move these cases to the general Board.

5) Enter into open session

The committee did not enter into closed session.

6) Consider action as necessary based on closed session discussion

Motion to move Morrison and Wesenberg settlements to County Board: Don Johnston 2nd: Mia Mayberry Voice vote Motion carried

7) Consider repeal of litigation committee policy 200-15

Mr. Terry asked, if they’re repealing the whole thing, what the plan is and if it will come through committee. Mr. Ross explained that whenever there is a litigation case, whether it’s work comp, a fender bender, a slip and fall, or whatever, it will come to the Litigation Committee. They will then provide direction to State’s Attorney on however they want to see it proceed. The State’s Attorney will do their thing. He and Mr. Clyde will work with the State’s Attorney and do whatever they can to help them. They’ll let him know what they want and they’ll help anyway they can so they can best protect the county. It will then come back to Litigation. The committee will recommend whatever they recommend, then it will go to County Board. The County Board then approves or denies it, at which point if there’s a claim to pay, the county pays it. There’s no need for a policy then. They’re all on the same page. Mr. Terry asked about all the other policies they passed. Mr. Ross said just this one.

Ms. Mayberry asked for a point of clarification. She asked if they’re going back to how they used to do things before this policy was put in place. Mr. Ross said yes.

Mr. Johnston said he has one more question that might pertain to another case. It was a courthouse case he heard about. He asked if they just settled a case for $15,000, the wheelchair case at the courthouse. Mr. Clyde said that was over a year ago. Mr. Johnston asked if it was just paid. Mr. Clyde said no. Mr. Ross said that went to Litigation Committee. Mr. Ross said there’s another matter with him. Mr. Johnston said he understands he’s up and jumping around. Mr. Ross said they referred him directly to the county’s attorneys.

Ms. Mayberry asked if the Litigation Committee could possibly get an update when these cases come through them and go to full Board. She asked if the Litigation Committee can be apprised when they’re settled, taken care of, and done so they know when they’re finalized. Mr. Maranda said this is the only one they’ve had questions on with the new rule. Now they’re going back to the same one.

Mr. Johnston said one thing he has asked for now for a year, and Mr. Ross gave him a stack of papers that didn’t really pertain to the Litigation Committee - he’s got it in my car and it’s 21/2 inches of documents - he’d like to see this committee have a printout of the settlements over the last couple of years and attorney fees. Ms. Mayberry said she thought they had that recently. Mr. Ross said one thing he wanted to bring forth on the 23rd is a report for the last year or two on work comp. It breaks down the number of cases, dollar value by department, by injury type, and it’s going to help him a lot in looking at where they need to focus efforts for training and risk reduction. It’s general data. There are no names. He wants to talk to you this committee. Mr. Johnston said it doesn’t have to be that voluminous. Mr. Ross said it’s two sheets. Mr. Johnston said he wants the settlements they’ve had for the last couple of years. He wants mainly settlements. Mr. Ross asked if he wants a summary of all the settlements and attorney

costs broken down by who gets what. Mr. Johnston said there was a major one they settled for $215,000 that had at least $140,000 of attorney costs the county had to pay. Mr. Ross asked how far back. Mr. Johnston said a year or a couple years. Mr. Ross said he will try to have that for the next meeting.

Motion to repeal Litigation Committee Policy 200-15: Don Johnston 2nd: Mia Mayberry Voice vote Motion carried

8) Adjourn

Meeting adjourned at 5:09 p.m. by Chair Kenneth Maranda.