Rock Island Today

Rock Island County Committee of the Whole met June 14.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

1) Call to order and roll call

Members present: Richard Brunk, Larry Burns, Kim Callaway-Thompson (arrived at 5:32 p.m.), Dewayne Cremeens, Jeff Deppe, Don Johnston, Ed Langdon, Ken Maranda, Mia Mayberry, Drue Mielke, Luis Moreno, Pat Moreno, Rich Morthland, Scott Noyd, Cecilia O'Brien, Ron Oelke, Robert Reagan (arrived at 5:36 p.m.), Ginny Shelton, Rod Simmer, Mike Steffen, Kai Swanson, Scott Terry, Brian Vyncke, Bob Westpfahl

Members absent: None

2) Public Comments

Mr. Maranda thanked Mr. Mielke for remembering Flag Day which was started in 1885. He thinks it was up in Wisconsin from a kindergarten teacher. He was reading up on it today. Then it was Truman that passed it through Congress. Mr. Steffen said Woodrow Wilson made it national. Mr. Maranda said he had one then it went to Congress in 1949. Mr. Steffen said he’s just quoting the Dispatch this morning. Mr. Maranda said he just read it online.

Mr. Maranda said now he would like to have a moment of silence for Mr. Oelke’s mom who passed away last week. Mr. Oelke has the County Board’s prayers and condolences.

[Moment of Silence]

3) Approval of minutes from the May 10, 2017 meeting

Motion to approve: Luis Moreno

2nd: Mia Mayberry

Voice vote

Motion carried

Ms. Callaway-Thompson is present.

4) Equal Employment Opportunity Plan Report

Mr. Clyde explained that in 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed under Lyndon Johnson. Because of that Act, one of the policies here at the county is the Equal Employment Opportunity Policy. Mr. Clyde provided a packet to the County Board and noted that the policy is in that packet. Under that, it has progressed to the point where many of the federal departments, and especially the Department of Justice, are requiring that you plan for how you’re going to enforce the Act, which is Title VII under the 1964 Act. That has forced the county...the County Board approved the initial plan. It was called the “Equal Employment Opportunity Plan,” and for the sake of a lot of words Mr. Clyde said he is going to call it the “EEOP.” The County Board passed that in July of 2015.

Mr. Clyde said he would step back and explain when an organization has to have this plan. The plan is required whenever you have a federal grant of more than $25,000. Then you have to have an EEO Plan that’s been approved by [the public] body. If the grants total more than $125,000, it then has to be submitted to the Office of Civil Rights for their review and approval. That’s how it’s been for the last number of years. It has come to light that in the last year that the Office of Civil Rights has now started that anytime you have grants of more than $25,000, you have to actually submit a utilization report. This report shows where you have deficiencies of hiring for the protected minority groups. This came to light last spring when the Sheriff’s Department, which has a pass through grant of about $30,000, had to submit a utilization report for the Sheriff’s Department. Further conversation with Office of Civil Rights determined that since the Sheriff’s Office is part of Rock Island County as a whole, Mr. Clyde had to submit a utilization report for Rock Island County as a whole.

Mr. Clyde explained that what he needs to get from the County Board next Tuesday night would be approval of the EEOP itself. That’s also included in the packet. Within that plan, he addresses where Rock Island County has deficiencies. He is very pleased to say Rock Island County, as far as representation of all the various minority groups, which includes black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, and others...Within those groups, Rock Island County has just a few deficiencies.

Mr. Reagan is present.

Mr. Clyde directed the committee to the last portion of the packet. He explained that the first group is white females within the Protected Services Nonsworn. That’s basically the county’s jailers and Correctional Officers over in the jail. In talking with the Sheriff, that is one of the most difficult positions to hire females for. It’s not the type of position a female would normally be really interested in doing. The Sheriff has increased the amount of activities he is doing to help enhance the hiring of white females into that positon.

Mr. Clyde noted that there are four other deficiencies the county has. The next one is Hispanics or Latinos in Service Workers. Service Workers make up positions such as CNAs and cooks at Hope Creek. It is also made up, believe it or not, of deputies within the Sheriff’s Department. Again, it’s mostly driven by the county’s Hope Creek activity. Again that is one of the most difficult positions to recruit Latinos in, especially for Hispanic CNAs. It’s just not something they see. There is a shortage of CNAs anyway. He is not too worried about that.

The three other categories are within Technicians, which is more like LPNs and upper level healthcare workers; Administrative Support; and Service Workers again. All three of those are for white male workers. That is showing that nonwhite minorities are well represented within the county. That is something to be proud of. It does not mean Rock Island County can’t or should stop trying to hire more males to balance that out.

Mr. Clyde explained that at this point this is what he is presenting as his report. He is asking for the EEOP itself to be adopted by the full County Board next Tuesday night and for the County Board to accept his report. This is an annual report that needs to be made. He is not recommending any changes at this time in Rock Island County’s recruiting activities.

Mr. Westpfahl asked if the county is still in violation of the act if no one applies for these jobs in the minority groups Mr. Clyde is talking about. Mr. Clyde said they are not so much in violation as showing that they have identified activities to help recruit those groups. Within the administrative plan, which is part of the EEOP, he has identified those action plans that will be taken. As long as the county is doing those and can have that well documented, then he has no real fear Rock Island County would be cited for any violation.

5) Recognition of HR Director

Mr. Ross noted that before he started with the county, he had been hired but hadn’t started yet, he met Mr. Clyde in the hallway outside his office and he looked at him and said, “I can’t wait until you get started. There are so many things I want to get accomplished, HR-related, with the county.” That positive nature Mr. Clyde had, Mr. Ross found nonstop during his time here. He’d go to Mr. Clyde and say, “Can you get this done? I need this on a deadline. I’ve got these other four things I know you’re working on.” Every single time the answer was, “Absolutely. I’ll get right on it.” He stuck with it.

One of the unfortunate side effects of not having adequate funds in the county is there have been layoffs in the past year. Rock Island County laid off someone in Human Resources and someone in Building and Zoning. Friday is Mr. Clyde’s last day. He is being laid off. Mr. Ross wanted to take a minute to recognize Mr. Clyde for all the excellent work he’s done with the county, his positive attitude, and give him an opportunity to talk to the County Board.

[Group applause]

Mr. Clyde said, “Thank you very much.” He joked that he did have an hour and forty-five minute speech prepared but Mr. Ross blew him away. When he came on board three years ago, he told Mr. Camlin and the search committee at the time that he was only going to stay for four years. He had reached the end of his career and saw this as the opportunity he wanted to end his career with. He cannot fault or say he looks back one second in taking on this challenge. He knew the reputation of Rock Island County. He knew the problems that were going on. That’s the type of challenge he was looking for.

Over the past three years, some of the things that have been accomplished that he is very proud about is, first of all, the first night he was here he was appointed to give support and guidance for the search committee for the County Administrator. He was very proud to be on that committee and thinks they did an excellent job. Some other things include, and this is not just him but his whole team and Mr. Ross getting these things accomplished, the development of a risk management plan for the county. The county implemented regular sexual harassment training. That’s important. It shows Rock Island County wants a respectful type of environment that wasn’t always present here. As he presented tonight, he developed the EEOP. One of last projects he has been working on that is not quite finished yet but is close is he is in the process of revising and updating all county job descriptions for all positions. That has been a huge task. For work comp, when he came in to the county, work comp was in total disarray. Rock Island County was losing its shirts on it. He wasn’t qualified to adjudicate work comp and that was the situation. He’s very proud Rock Island County brought on a third party administrator that has gotten the county to a position it needs to be for work comp.

One thing he really is the most proud of is he thinks he brought a change in the culture as far as the way the county looks at Human Resources. Human Resources was more of an antagonizing element before he came on board. He really deeply feels that Human Resources, whether it’s him or the team he had, is looked upon as a resource. He thinks the biggest thing he is going to leave this county with is the fact that Rock Island County can look to the people in the HR Department to be that resource. With that, he wants to say it’s been an honor to serve the citizens of Rock Island County, the County Board, and all the employees here.

[Group applause]

6) Condition of Funds report

Ms. Palmer started with the trial balance or budgetary standings of the departments in the General Fund and other funds of the county. Budget-wise, the county is 50% of the way through the fiscal year that begins on December 1 as of May 31. That being said, she usually does a quarterly paragraph form write-ups of where each fund and department is standing at this time. In assisting the payroll office, the HR office, with a lot of turnover and with Mr. Clyde leaving and a medical leave, she is doing payroll so the County Board will not get those quarterly paragraph write-ups. She hopes to institute that again in September when the third quarter is done. In keeping with state statute, she feels that it’s still important to report to the County Board monthly, so these reports qualify for over-reporting.

Back to the budgetary standings, as of this time there are only a couple of funds that are actually over budget. There are reasons why. One of them is the Coroner’s Fee Fund #101. That is because he took a truck purchase out of that fund and is getting his vehicle up to date. That actually saves his office money because he does a lot of transportation on his own instead of outsourcing it to funeral homes and the sort. Ms. Palmer is happy to say he was able to do that out of that fund. Also the IMRF rates that came in at budget time last year, they have to go off of a projected rate. That was a little under what it actually is. It’s running a little short. With the increase in property tax fees to supplement this fund that Rock Island County instituted over a year ago, it’s fine. It’s not going to be wiped out or anything. It’s a very small amount. That fund is at 47.99% instead of 50% or higher. Those are the only ones that are actually over budget. The others are due to huge spending or annual spending all at one time instead of month by month, or those types of things which are explainable.

Ms. Palmer moved on to her fund balance report. The numbers in the first column are audited, completely finished, tied out, and verified with the audit of the 2016 fiscal year that ended November 30. Starting with those, the report moves into FY17. In the center column titled “Current Fund Balances,” that’s where if operations were shut down on May 31 halfway through the fiscal year, those would be the fund balances the county would be looking at. That is with no property taxes in because those do not start flowing in until next week. Ms. Palmer thanked the Treasurer’s Office for doing such a wonderful job of speeding collections up and getting things turned around in a timely fashion. The reports also show the expenses that will be paid out next Friday upon approval at County Board next week. The reports do not show the revenues that will hit cash before those expenses are made for the month end of May.

In looking at the funds that are General Fund supported, #113 Animal Control has budgeted $40,000 of General Fund support. They’re in the hole much further than that. That is from outstanding loans that were done years and years ago. That is what is supplying the funds to keep operations going there without additional funds. Ms. Palmer asked the committee to keep in mind that in 2016, the General Fund did not have to donate any budgeted funds to Animal Control.

Ms. Palmer explained that Child Welfare, the #117 Fund, is another that has General Fund support of $1,075,750. The month of May was at $92,500. Compared to last May it’s up a little bit. The report from the budget page shows that that is actually 10% higher than where it should be at this time, so they have 60% of their budget left. The Child Welfare Fund is using budgeted funds from the General Fund to continue its operations; however it is under budget at this point in the fiscal year. That’s a good thing.

The Court Security Fund, #128, had budgeted support of $193,225. At this time it would need $106,680.48 of General Fund budgeted support if they were to end that particular fund as of May 31.

Ms. Palmer reported that the Health Department had a successful 2016 year. Their fund balance increased over the course of the year per the audit by $111,000. That is wonderful and partially what has gotten them through to the first property tax distribution next week. They’ll be fine. As of May 31, they had $45,000 in fund balance still. Their revenue has been down and most of that is due to state grants and reimbursements that are budgeted that they were expecting that have not yet come in. Some other state revenue areas are suffering as well. Their revenue actually is anticipated to be $641,000 more at this time. If they had that in the bank, they would be smooth sailing. That’s what’s due from the state except about $100,000 that is due from federal grants as well.

Ms. Palmer noted that as Ms. Ewert will report, Liability Insurance will be fine and will be paying back their $500,000 loan once property taxes come in next week. That will be fine even though it looks severely in the hole now.

The Mental Health Fund, #150, made it through and will get their property taxes. That fund is almost entirely property tax funded. They will be fine as of next week.

Ms. Palmer noted that Employee Health Benefits looks down from last year at this same time, but actually it would be up slightly right now. The General Fund, because of its cash flow suffering, is not borrowing from a bank to pay the EHB Fund when EHB has over $1 million in the bank. The General Fund and Hope Creek owe EHB over $410,000 collectively between the two. This fund would actually be up a little bit, the fund balance would be up, if those funds had been received.

Mr. Terry asked if the Child Support Fund’s position is due to the state and asked Ms. Palmer to talk a bit about that situation. Ms. Palmer explained that compared to the fund balance at the beginning of the year, it’s only a few thousand dollars lower right now. She thinks some of those revenues that were supposed to come in from withholding income tax refunds are starting to kind of turn it around a little bit. Comparing the actual revenues and actual expenses from one year to the next, it’s not as huge and alarming a concern anymore. She does keep watching that fund as well.

Ms. Palmer moved on to the cash report. Today’s General Fund cash balance moments before she came upstairs, as of 5:10ish in the financial software system, is $163,600.

Ms. Palmer noted that she also did some research for Mr. Johnston. He had asked her to find out how much money was received from law offices to fund a law library in the new annex building. To date, because the county has received some income in that as of June 1, the county has received $7,700 from a multitude of various attorneys and law offices in the Rock Island County area. Mr. Johnston asked if that’s being called “the law library” now. Ms. Palmer said it has always been the law library. Mr. Johnston said he asked about the attorney’s lounge. Ms. Mayberry said that’s something different. The new annex is set to have an attorney’s lounge, which different firms are being asked by the Bar Association if they want to donate to so that doesn’t come out of taxpayer money. It has always had a law library accessible to the public, judges, and attorneys. Mr. Johnston asked if those are two different things. Ms. Mayberry explained that at this point there is no attorney lounge. They do have a law library. They are two separate things. The way she understands it is they will be two separate things. She knows they are trying to have an attorney’s lounge. Mr. Johnston said he didn’t ask about the law library; he asked about the attorney lounge. He noted that two months ago Ms. Palmer said $1,200. Ms. Palmer explained that was what was received back in May was $1,200. As of tonight they have received $7,700 for the furniture in that particular part. Mr. Johnston asked if she would supply a list of who donated that money. Ms. Palmer said she can.

Ms. Palmer moved on to the cash report for the funds. She pointed out that Fund #108, Hope Creek, is outstanding to vendors. That is before next Fridays’ payments. They plan to pay out $350,000 next Friday with some receipts that have come in and their property tax dollars, less the payment that Hope Creek is going to make to the bank to pay off a portion of that Tax Anticipation Warrant. They owe other vendors $1,174,000 rounded. That is including the $119,800 owed to EHB and does include some money owed to the General Fund.

Fund #115, the Health Department, because the state paying so far behind and not receiving those payments she mentioned, that amounts to about $600,000 they owe to their vendors after next Friday’s payment. It will be $62,000 more. Ms. Palmer explained that the county doesn’t forward the money to vendors when they’re state or federal grant paid until the county receives the money first. Rock Island County is not the bank. It does not put its money out ahead of time. Those vendors understand that and have agreed to that and know what’s going on there. As soon as the county receives those state funds, they will forward them on and pay those bills.

Ms. Palmer noted that Fund #102, the Floodplain Fund, is completely grant funded. Her understanding from Mr. Thorpe is that this demolition will be paid off soon. The cash balance as of May 31 was $340,900. That will be owed back to the federal government for unspent grant funds. Right now, Rock Island County collectively has a bank account that has multiple funds in it as it is allowed to by law so it doesn’t have to have a separate account and do all this banking separately for every single fund. Rock Island County is allowed to put the cash itself in the bank in an account together, but she reports it and keeps track of it very separately of course. This was one of the funds that was allowed to be rolled into the General Fund’s bank account. Once that goes out the window, it will hit the General Fund cash-wise. She just wanted to make the County Board aware that is going to be coming soon. They’ll want the money back that Rock Island County did not spend for the project that was funded. It was a prepayment grant that was just spent from there. It will be a little lower than that. Mr. Thorpe did say there are some additional bills to come in. The bulk of them have been paid out already.

Ms. Palmer noted that some funds have been helping the General Fund. That would be why there are some negative cash balances. The IDOT Grant Fund is, of course, a grant. Those funds come in before they are spent out. They have money in there that the state doesn’t want to claim.

Ms. Palmer noted that there are some new numbers in the second to last column. She changed that to be titled, “Balance of Intercounty Loans to the General Fund” right now. The reason she did that is, it used to say, “From Working Cash” only, but she wanted the County Board to see where the courts had agreed to give the funds to the General Fund interest free. Now they can see them on there and can keep track of that. The General Fund took those loans in May after the County Board approved that with the Chief Judge, Mr. Vandersnick, and Ms. Weikert. She wanted to show that on the report. That’s saving the county from going to the bank to take any more interest loans.

Mr. Swanson noted that Ms. Palmer referenced the EHB and asked why she did not put that in the intergovernmental column. Ms. Palmer said she guesses she could. It keeps growing. It’s basically not a loan that’s been approved. Mr. Swanson said it’s just diverted payments. Ms. Palmer confirmed. The General Fund hasn’t made those payments yet. That’s why she reported it separately. The other ones are actually loans to be paid back by a certain date. There is a bit of a difference there. If the County Board would like to see them reported on here, she can. Mr. Swanson said that Ms. Palmer’s response explained it and thanked her.

Ms. Palmer referred the County Board to her standard State of Illinois Payment Report. She noted that the bottom section is the Probation Officer salary reimbursement. As of May 31, the state is back behind and only has paid through July. Ms. Palmer thinks that maybe the August one came in recently, but she hasn’t seen copies of that check yet. If it came in June, maybe they have received for August as well. As of May 31 only July had come in. That came in April.

Ms. Mayberry asked if this is nothing new because of the budget situation. She noted that the state was always behind. Ms. Palmer confirmed that they were always behind, but it’s getting worse. They’re approaching a year now. Usually it had been like six to eight months and in a lot of cases only two or three months. Now they’re getting really, really behind. This is approaching $1 million at around $90,000 a month.

7) Staff reports

Ms. Ewert noted as Ms. Palmer already mentioned, the county is on the homestretch for getting some property tax relief as far as property tax payments. The due date was last Thursday and her office is getting those payments posted. Everybody procrastinates and they get crazy mail that they’re still processing. The county is going to have the first distribution next Thursday. That is one day prior to the next payroll and voucher run. That was actually moved up a couple of days. Her office is really working to get those payments posted. Normally they have a little bit more time, but she thinks they’ll get it.

Ms. Ewert asked the committee to look at the monthly report cover letter. That pretty much details exactly what is owed for the General Fund, Hope Creek, and Liability. Rock Island County will start repayment on the Tax Anticipation Warrants and to all the other outstanding debts it has. She actually scheduled every distribution to pay a little bit of that back. That is based on the percentage of the tax distribution the county is getting compared to the same percentage of the outstanding loan. By the time the county gets the final distribution, it should be ready to pay those off in January. She thinks most of the TAWs expire January 28, 2018.

Ms. Ewert reported that supplemental sales tax should also be in her report. The money received last week for March was $374,000. Compared to the past two years, that is a little inflated. She’s not sure why at this point, but she’ll take it. However, at the same time last week, she emailed Mr. Ross, Mr. Maranda, and Ms. Palmer and told them she got two letters from the Illinois Department of Revenue saying there was a miscalculation of a retailer that overpaid some sales tax, so they need to get some money back from the county. One of them, local sales tax, was $31,579.36. They are going to take it back in nine monthly installments starting July 1. The other amount they’ve determined was overpaid is $126,970.34 and they are going to take that back in six monthly installments beginning July 1. Ms. Ewert noted that her office contacted them by phone. There was not a lot of information they could give her due to confidentiality restrictions. She could write a letter and get more information. They did say it was a major retailer. There were other cities and municipalities in the state, it wasn’t every single one, just a handful. The City of Moline also got a letter. She’s thinking it may be a retailer at South Park. She will try to get more information out of them and will tell the County Board what she finds out. It probably will not be any time soon. That usually takes about three months.

Ms. O’Brien noted that she asked for a copy of letter so she could try to understand this. She asked if it’s because there’s an act out there that protects privacy of retailer that the county can’t know how this mistake occurred or if the law protects the Illinois Department of Revenue from saying they made a mistake or if it’s both. Ms. Ewert said it was described to her that it was not to protect themselves. They protect all of their reporting entities whether it be you, her, or a business. They are not going to give your information out to anybody unless they have the authority to ask. Ms. O’Brien noted that if the Illinois Department of Revenue made a big huge mistake, they are never going to know. Ms. Ewert said they say it wasn’t the Illinois Department of Revenue. Ms. O’Brien noted that they can say that but don’t have any...Ms. Ewert explained that the replacement tax fiasco was the Illinois Department of Revenue. It was something in their software system. Ms. O’Brien said then they will admit it when they make a mistake, so this is just an honest business person made a mistake. Ms. Ewert confirmed. Ms. O’Brien said that was her main concern.

Mr. Simmer asked if the county can’t negotiate with what the state already owes the county. They’ve done that to the county before. Mr. Maranda said they thought about it with the sales tax.

Ms. Ewert continued that the last thing is on the cover letter. The interest received for May was $16,251 compared to May 2016 which was only $7,548. That has more than doubled. The reason for that is there was a rate hike in March. It was 0.35, then it went to 0.90. The Federal Reserve met today and they have hiked interest rates again, so Ms. Ewert is thinking in the next month or so the county should get higher interest rates on its investments. That will help a little bit.

8) Hope Creek Care Center Board of Directors Report

Mr. Hullon noted that this is the third time he has come to present to the Board on the financial situation and happenings at Hope Creek. He will start today with talking a little bit about the financial picture. On a monthly basis, the Board of Directors anticipates to collect $1.1 million a month at Hope Creek. For the month of May, Hope Creek did collect $1.4 million. It has a positive fund balance of $355,000 for the first five months and currently does not anticipate borrowing money for operations. Operating expenses are trending lower year to date. Payroll numbers are down 6%.

Mr. Hullon noted that last time he was here, he talked about agency usage. He is glad to report that agency usage is down 37% from January. Hope Creek paid approximately $56,000 for agency usage in May. That is one of the lowest amounts since he has been on the Board at Hope Creek, but he still feels that’s a number that’s high and he believes Mr. Ross is addressing that issue.

Mr. Hullon reported that last time he was here, he also talked about not collecting some revenues for some services that are provided at Hope Creek. They have corrected all those deficiencies. For example, Hope Creek plans to collect $41,000 this year just for the laundry department. Last year they collected only $5,000.

Hope Creek has paid off the General Fund loan to the tune of $397,000. A topic of some discussion last time was possibly closing Unit 302. They are in discussions with different entities to occupy that space. The areas they are looking at are hospice, respite, the VA, and also daycare. He believes there was someone from the daycare who made a presentation last time he was here. Hope Creek also has a $10,000 grant from the Doris and Victor Day Foundation to start up Unit 302 if it’s hospice or VA.

Mr. Hullon noted that there are challenges they face at Hope Creek even though he has painted some good financial pictures. As the Board just heard from Ms. Palmer, make no mistake, they have some serious financial challenges that continue to haunt them at Hope Creek. The facility is currently at a 77% occupancy rate. Last time he was here, it was at 88%. As a result of this drastic drop, they had to close Unit 302. Hope Creek continues to face a nursing shortage. He believes Mr. Ross is also addressing that issue. Getting paid for services continues to be a challenge. They can only hope the state will start paying its bill on time. The Board of Directors wanted to maintain a 51% Medicaid population at Hope Creek. They currently have 57% Medicaid. The last report he saw two days ago showed an aging report of $4,400,000. That sounds pretty good; unfortunately only $759,000 of that is current. There is $1.7 million sitting in over 200 days. If the accountants were here today, they’d probably say that’s dead money. Medicaid was $314,000 of that money. However, Ms. Luecke has been pretty successful in collecting some of that dead money. Hope Creek has also brought on board a collection agency to help with some of the money owed to the fine citizens of Rock Island County. Mr. Hullon believes Hope Creek has turned over to them $700,000 in bad debt that they’ll try to collect.

In conclusion, Mr. Hullon said he would like to thank the staff at Hope Creek for the outstanding job they continue to do and also thank some of the County Board members who make it and attend some of the meetings at Hope Creek. For those who are interested, the next meeting is going to be Monday at 5:30.

Mr. Cremeens asked how far back some of those debts go that Mr. Hullon was talking about. Mr. Hullon said the aging report only goes up to 210 days and then it’s “beyond.”

Mr. Steffen asked if Mr. Hullon could talk a little bit about the staff preparation for the next inspection from the state. Mr. Hullon said they were trying to get a mock survey going. He believes the state is at Hope Creek, or they were there two days ago. He’s not sure if they have left. Mr. Ross said they’re done. They were there all last week and Monday and are done with the survey. They are just waiting on the results. Mr. Hullon noted that last time he was here, he also talked about trying to move up from a one star to a two star rating. That is the hope. Hope Creek’s fine employees continue to work as diligently as they can to try and achieve that result.

Mr. L. Moreno asked what percentage the debt collection agency gets and what the county gets. Of that $700,000 he asked how much comes back to the county. Mr. Hullon said half. Mr. Ross said the county’s rate is better. Mr. Hullon corrected himself and said he thinks Mr. Ross negotiated and got it to 60%.

Ms. Callaway-Thompson asked who is currently serving as Administrator. Mr. Ross said Ms. Vogt technically. It’s Cassie Baker. She was the A.D.O.N. As far as the state is concerned, it is still Ms. Vogt. Ms. Baker is in training under her. Ms. Callaway-Thompson asked if Katie is still there. Mr. Ross said she’s still the D.O.N.

9) Finance & Personnel Committee report

Mr. Brunk reported that the Finance and Personnel committee met on Tuesday June 13. They considered appropriation resolutions for funds, primarily grant and seizure funds related to the Sheriff’s Department, EMA, Floodplain, IDOT, and the Health Department. There was one new money resolution related to a position in Building and Zoning that was initially slated for layoff this year. The committee considered transfers of appropriations; claims totaling $1,533,265.56; and TDs totaling $2,460,914.01. The committee considered the 2017 Equal Employment Opportunity Plan as required by the federal government for various grants the county receives, as the committee heard about earlier from Mr. Clyde. The committee considered an agreement between the University of Illinois Extension and Rock Island County. It’s an annual agreement that the county will continue to levy $225,000 on the Extension’s behalf and make quarterly payments to them of $56,250. They considered the Board member per diem and mileage report.

10) Governance, Health, and Administration Committee report

Ms. Mayberry reported that the Governance, Health, and Administration Committee met on Monday June 12. They heard reports from Mr. Ross and Ms. Kinney. They approved hosting a public hearing for Community Health Care, a nonprofit organization. CHC is renewing their bonds and requires the public body to host a public hearing and pass a resolution certifying that a public hearing was held. Rock Island County has no liability and no money passes through the county. CHC is responsible for all publication notices for the hearing. That public hearing will be held next Tuesday at full board. The committee considered the approval of a resolution certifying the Sheriff’s participation in IMRF. Last month the Sheriff was excluded from the IMRF resolution because he does not participate in the program, but IMRF requires his position be certified. The committee considered the revised Liquor Control Resolution, which it has been discussing and revising for the past couple of months. The committee heard from the Sheriff’s Department regarding updates to the resolution.

11) Public Works & Facilities Committee report

Mr. Burns reported that Public Works met on Monday June 12. They considered the Prevailing Wage Resolution from the Highway Department and recommended approval. The committee considered closing a portion of County Highway 15, Loud Thunder Road, for the annual Illinois City Volunteer Fire Department Fundraiser from Saturday August 12 at 9:00 a.m. until Sunday August 13 at 1:00 a.m. The fire department will provide detour signs. The committee recommended approval. The committee considered ZBA cases as follows and recommended approval of all: RZ-17-109, George Hull, Ag-2 to B-4, Hampton Township; SU-17-202, Top of the World Ranch, residential home care, Rural Township; and SU-17-205, density increase, Rural Township.

12) Review transfers of appropriations, appropriation resolutions for funds, claims, and TDs

Mr. Maranda noted that Mr. Brunk covered Item 12 in his report.

13) Approval of County Board agenda

Mr. Reagan asked for some background into Edna Sowards who is being appointed. Mr. Ross said she is sitting behind Mr. Reagan. Mr. Maranda asked Ms. Sowards to stand up. Mr. Maranda asked if Mr. Reagan had a question for her. Mr. Reagan asked for some background. Ms. Sowards introduced herself. She is a retired operating room nurse. She has lived in Rock Island for 65 years. She just wanted to represent the county and the citizens and make it a better place. Mr. Maranda noted that it was all in the press release if they read that.

Mr. Johnston noted that he missed the litigation meeting and asked if there weren’t settlements that need to go on the agenda. Mr. Ross said no. Everything was to set limits to authorize negotiations for comp. Nothing was finalized.

Mr. L. Moreno asked for a heads up on number four. He asked what that item is. Ms. Mayberry said it’s the public hearing from her report. Mr. L. Moreno thanked her. Mr. Maranda explained that the county is the signatory on a lot of things that don’t make too much sense. It’s just a formality that they have to be the signatory for the money to pass. It’s kind of wild. The county has a few of them that it signs off on. The hearing is next Tuesday.

Ms. Callaway-Thompson said she noticed there is not an item for brief comments, but she wanted to quickly report that last Tuesday with the help of the Sheriff’s Department, there was a tour arranged at the courthouse primarily for constituents of District 19, her district. A number of other people from other districts wound up touring joining the tour. There were 16 people that walked through the courthouse. They were primarily from one of three entities: the Rock Island County Historical Society, Moline Preservation Society, and the Rock Island Preservation society. The Director of Landmarks Illinois joined them. He drove up from Springfield and snapped a number of pictures. There wasn’t a lot of discussion afterwards. Ms. Callaway-Thompson informed them that many of their Rock Island County Board members have day jobs, as does she, so she had to get back to work, but they did arrange for a meeting on Thursday June 29 at 6:00 p.m. All are welcome to come. Broadway Presbyterian Church graciously opened its doors for the meeting. Mr. Ross has it on his calendar. They will be listening to some concerns and suggestions and ideas concerning the courthouse. Her understanding is that, and she’s not sure which one of these groups it is, but there is a plan to file for a landmark status application. They are looking to seek funding for an independent study as to the viability of keeping the courthouse open rather than demolishing it.

Ms. Mayberry asked if it’s a Historic Preservation meeting on Thursday. Ms. Callaway- Thompson said no. It’s a meeting for constituents of District 19 who are concerned about the Rock Island County courthouse.

Motion to approve County Board agenda: Kai Swanson

2nd: Ed Langdon, Mia Mayberry, Luis Moreno

Voice vote

Motion carried

14) The Committee of the Whole may vote to enter into Closed Session for the following:

• 5 ILCS 120/2(c) (1) – The appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel for the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employee of the public body or against legal counsel for the public body to determine its validity.

• 5 ILCS 120/2(c) (2) – Collective negotiating matters between the public body and its employees or their representatives, or deliberations concerning salary schedules for one or more classes of employees.

• 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 probably or imminent, in which case the basis for the finding shall be recorded and entered into the minutes of the closed meeting.

There was no closed session.

15) Adjourn

Meeting adjourned at 6:32 p.m. by Kenneth Maranda.

Future scheduled meetings on July 12, August 9, September 13, and October 11

http://www.rockislandcounty.org/CountyBoard.aspx?id=40517