McHenry Times

McHenry County Law & Government/Liquor Committee met Feb. 22.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

1. CALL TO ORDER

Meeting called to order at: 8:30 AM by Jeffrey T Thorsen.

PRESENT: Campbell, Thorsen, Nowak (Remote), Althoff (Remote 8:32 AM), Jung Jr., Von Bergen, Wegener, Wilbeck

ABSENT:

Also present: Peter Austin, County Administrator; Kevin Bueso, Chief Financial Officer; Alicia Schueller, Communications and Projects Coordinator; Sandra Salgado, Sheriff's Office Business Manager; Cheryl Chukwu, Director of Human Resources; Kathy Keefe, Clerk of the Circuit Court.

2. MINUTES APPROVAL

1. Law & Government/Liquor - Public Meeting - Jan 25, 2022 8:30 AM

RESULT: ACCEPTED [4 TO 0]

MOVER: John Jung Jr.

SECONDER: Tracie Von Bergen

AYES: Thorsen, Nowak, Jung Jr., Von Bergen

ABSTAIN: Campbell

ABSENT: Althoff, Wegener, Wilbeck

3. PUBLIC COMMENT

None.

4. MEMBERS' COMMENTS

Jeffrey Thorsen: Welcomed Carolyn Campbell to the committee and hopes she enjoys herself, as he believes it is a good committee to be on.

He wanted to mention the State of Illinois has a bill that redefines the capacity as elected officials and assumes they are part time employees which is not how it works. He wanted the committee to be aware of that bill going through, as well he wanted the record to reflect Mr. Wilbeck joined the meeting. In addition he wanted to stated the premise of that bill that they are part time employees is entirely incorrect and he does not understand why the State is pursuing that to such an extent.

After the comment from Chair Thorsen, he wanted the record to reflect Ms. Althoff joined the committee virtually.

5. PRESENTATION

None.

6. NEW BUSINESS

A. New Liquor License, Manager and/or Amusement License Requests None.

B. Resolutions

1. Resolution Authorizing FY 2021-22 Annual Enhancements and Modifications to iJustice Case Management Software

Katherine Keefe, Circuit Clerk, joined the committee to discuss the resolution.

Ms. Keefe stated this resolution is brought every year and covers the annual enhancements that they make to the Case Management Software. She stated iJustice is the case management software used in the Circuit Clerk, but Court Services and the Specialty Courts utilize the software as well. As part of the licensing agreement they have with iJustice who wrote their software, they pay $130 per hour for their consulting services to do the annual enhancements and generally it covers different things as statute changes on how they operate business. She stated over the last three years they have had a lot of changes and it is to generally cover the eFiling mandates they have been under, including fees that changed by statute. This year it was mainly Supreme Court mandates that they were modifying to meet, and going forward next year was still trying to meet some of the Supreme Court mandates that went into effect on January 1, 2022. The biggest one is the change in how the case numbers are generated and that addresses the entire makeup of the software, the Supreme Court is trying to make everyone's case numbers consistent statewide because of the eFiling system and them looking to put together a new statewide case searching system. She stated it seems simple that the change of how the case numbers are formatted but it is going to take more hours then they anticipated and they are going to do that in the first quarter of the year, they are also looking at a new eCitation vendor this year so the interface between the Case Management Software and the eCitation software is going to be another project this year and they hope that will save staff time because part of the change is they are looking to take more of the employee time they are currently using to handle the eCitations out of the mixture and make it more of a streamlined interface which will save staff time. She stated those are the projects they want to complete this year with the annual enhancements and modifications package that they do with the Case Management Software.

Chair Thorsen wanted the record to reflect that Ms. Wegener joined the meeting.

Mr. Austin stated that Ms. Keefe had another item she wanted to bring an item forward, it doesn't require action but she wanted to bring the item to the committee. Ms. Keefe stated they have been working on a Memorandum of Understanding with the union to do a midyear increase of wages with the staff, they have about 55 positions in the office and they have been running 5 positions short a lot of last year and definitely into this year. She stated the starting wage per the contract is $15.50 per hour and they are not having a lot of luck hiring people at $15.50 per hour as well they are not having luck keeping people at $15.50 per hour, they have reached a level they have not seen before and in years past when they would post a position they would receive 50-100 applications easily but now they are lucky to get around 4-5 applications. As far as other County Circuit Clerk offices that have midyear increases because of being in the same boat as McHenry County and not being able to hire people at the correct rate. She stated they are negotiating a new contract with ASME the union, the current contract is up November 30, 2022 and they will be negotiating in the summer but they know it will include wage increases for sure and this is the way of using the excess budget dollars because they are appearing so many vacant positions they cannot fill and maintain the staff they do have and hopefully be able to hire more people. Ms. Chukwu stated when they were in negotiations the last time there were two positions within the unit they try to compare to certain nonunion positions and if there is room to move the grades they did keep them pretty in line with where the nonunion positions that are internal comparables. She stated they did not exceed those limits, but they did try to tie the increase in so when they get into negotiations, the most they are going to get is what the nonunion gets in the compensation study. They did not agree to that because they were not in negotiations but they understand and appreciate that they are kept in line with the nonunion internal comparables. Ms. Keefe stated with the dollars they have had available with the vacancies they are aiming for a May 1, 2022 implementation. Chair Thorsen inquired if that would be coming to the committee in March, Mr. Austin stated he doesn't think it needs to be approved by the County Board because they are not changing the budget but they will be updating the union contract, which is what they will be voting on in December. Ms. Chukwu stated the Circuit Clerk has enough in the budget to cover the cost, Ms. Keefe confirmed that is correct and that is because of the vacancies they have had in the roster.

RESULT: RECOMMENDED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: John Jung Jr.

SECONDER: Tracie Von Bergen

AYES: Campbell, Thorsen, Nowak, Althoff, Jung Jr., Von Bergen, Wegener, Wilbeck

2. Resolution authorizing McHenry County to enter into a five year contract with Axon Enterprise, Inc., for the core +plan and fleet advanced program for body worn cameras, in car cameras, tasers and alprs with funding through the American Recovery Plan for a five year total project cost of $2,090,000

Sandra Salgado, Business Manager/Sheriff, joined the committee to discuss the resolution.

Ms. Salgado stated this is something she knows the Board has been waiting for her to bring forward, as she was putting together the resolution it was interesting to see the conversation began around 2 years ago and it has taken that much time to get to where they are now. Over the last year the patrol division has been demoing different cameras that are out in the market, since the passing of the safety act the Sheriff decided instead of buying a camera and putting it on the sworn officers, he preferred to go for a program to do it adequately and not just meet the minimum, she stated what they are bringing forward far exceeds what the minimum expectations are. Currently they have in car cameras in the squad cars and in the jail one of the C.E.R.T teams have body cameras, and they are looking on how to expand on the current system they have and the best product which they are bringing forward Axon Enterprise does that. She stated it uses the current tasers they have, it does not use the same in car cameras because they will be switching them to be compatible with the new system, it uses Evidence.com for digital storage which is the most important part of the program, as well it has the license plate readers. She stated how it all interacts is the body warn and in car cameras have triggers, right now when the taser is pulled it automatically triggers the body camera of the officer who pulled the taser but because it's an Axon product anyone in the vicinity who has Axon cameras will automatically turn on. The license plate reader is just a scanner that scans for license plates that are put into the system for stolen vehicles, but anytime there is a triggering event the camera also starts recording, it is all uploaded into Evidence.com which is used along with the State's Attorney for digital storage but it is a great storage system that can provide with retraced software. She stated it is a Five-year program to lease the equipment for five years, annually it will cost $418,000.08 and after working with the Chief Financial Officer he confirmed it would be taken from the American Rescue Plan.

Mr. Bueso stated as part of the ARPA dollars the County is using the revenue loss calculation where it does allow the County to use the funds for general government purpose expenses, which in this case it would qualify under that. He stated this project would be funded under this category and it is over the five year period and if approved all of the funding would be transferred from the ARPA fund into the general fund. Chair Thorsen stated he thought the spend out had to end four years from now, not five. Mr. Bueso stated it has to be obligated within four years but there is one year through December 31, 2026 that it would have to be paid out, so as long as it's obligated then paid out. He stated revenue losses don't necessarily have to follow that timeline because they use the term de-federalize, so it removes the requirements under the ARPA which is allowed then it becomes a County expense that would follow the contract timeline's.

Ms. Wegener thanked them for doing this, stating she was very excited to see it and appreciates all the diligent research they have done. She inquired about the second page of the resolution where it lists the impact on budget it does not mention in there that it would be covered under the ARPA fund, so she requested that be included into the resolution. Ms. Wegener wanted to be sure of the process, and inquired if the body cameras are activated when the taser is pulled out. Ms. Salgado stated that is just one triggering event which is why they went with this program because of the integration, body cameras can be turned on but if the taser or weapon is pulled it automatically turns on. Ms. Wegener stated she is aware of another location where as soon as they step out of their vehicle the cameras activate, and inquired if there is something like that with this system as well. Ms. Salgado confirmed there is and body camera will come on.

Ms. Campbell inquired about the triggering event and if there is a pre recording going on, so it captures the events leading up. Ms. Salgado confirmed it is about 30-60 seconds that it will go back in capture in both the car and body camera.

Ms. Wegener inquired with all the data that needs to be stored, if they anticipate hiring someone. Ms. Salgado confirmed they do, she stated in the last budget she brought it forward as a supplemental request which did include personnel, currently they do not know what that looks like so she put in there something similar to a clerk, but she imagines they will be coming back to the Board. She stated the body cameras are 6-8 weeks out before they come in, the in car cameras are on a bit of a back log and they are hoping by the end of the year they can roll those in by the timeline needs.

Mr. Nowak inquired about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and because the project is costing over $2 million, he wanted to know if they could charge for the FOIA request. Ms. Salgado stated FOIA is typically free, they can charge if the response if 50 pages or more, which they inform people right away. With the digital side and once the public knows they are putting body cameras on the officers, there will be a higher request for the videos in the beginning. Right now they keep the car camera footage on Evidence.com and it is sent out on a DVD once it has been retracted when necessary, in the current legislation there is not a fee for DVD's but they don't imagine the FOIA's for DVD's will be that extensive. Mr. Nowak stated that would be his follow up question to legislation, to see if they can charge for DVD's because this is a mandate that came down from the state. Chair Thorsen stated he believes the 50 pages is to protect the County from people who are excessively requesting, but the spirit of the Act is to provide it for free because the public is entitled to the information.

RESULT: RECOMMENDED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Kelli Wegener

SECONDER: John Jung Jr.

AYES: Campbell, Thorsen, Nowak, Althoff, Jung Jr., Von Bergen, Wegener, Wilbeck

C. Other

7. OLD BUSINESS

Ms. Wegener requested a brief discussion on the Liquor Ordinance during old business. Chair Thorsen stated they will not be making any decisions and since they did discuss the subject at the last committee meeting he entertained the discussion. Ms. Wegener stated she had a suggestion, she was contacted by a resident last week who was trying to get a liquor license for their non profit booster club for one of the High Schools and they were having a very tough time getting the license through the County. She stated in the past they had gotten their liquor license through the City of Crystal Lake and it seemed to be an easy process, she wanted it to be clear that she was repeating what she was told, but she would like to look into it. The resident stated when she looked into the County there were a lot of hoops she had to go through and a lot of fees, the reason they chose the venue they did in unincorporated McHenry County is because it was originally cheaper but not she claims it would be more expensive because of the County's liquor license. She stated she does not know the difference between the County and the City's liquor license ordinances but she would like to know the difference and to be sure the County is not presenting a hardship on the unincorporated venues because the resident claims she will now go back to the City of Crystal Lake anytime they have an event. Mr. Austin stated he appreciates Ms. Wegener bringing that up, and stated he was made aware of the situation as well, he is not sure what Crystal Lake does but he did attend an event for Crystal Lake South at a Church across the street but they did serve liquor. He stated he asked how they provide their licenses because of the question, and they said for the City's one day license with no catering that serves liquor, they were relying on the state and the city had very nominal administrative view. He stated it's timely and next month Ms. Blake is going to bring back some updates to the County's Liquor Ordinance so they will look at what the City does and how they are partnering and leaning on the state licensing rather than the city.

8. REPORTS

1. Legislative Update

Alicia Schueller, Communications and Project Manager joined the committee to discuss the report.

She stated there was a lot of activity last week in both chambers of the General Assembly, particularly in the House of Representatives where on Friday they had the deadline to get all Bills out of committee, as a result all of the committees were trying to do so at the same time. She stated there is another big deadline they must keep track of in the Senate, which is this upcoming Friday, which is the deadline for third reading. It doesn’t appear that either Chamber is going to be formally extending any deadlines. Looking at the Legislative tracking sheet some bills are in yellow and some are in green, the reason is because they are not sure of the bills in yellow but there are chances for the green bills. She went through each of the following bills for discussion.

1. HB 448 – PTELL SCHOOL DISTRICTS: This bill makes it so that the School Districts at least can take their aggregate extension limit for the past five years of what they could have charged even though they did not and take it into consideration when they are looking at what they are going to extend. For McHenry County’s purposes, if the bill can go forward could it be extended to Counties so that they would not feel pressure like they do on the legislative priorities of having to tax high. That is something she wanted to keep an eye on to see if that progresses and if there are any opportunities for the County going forward.

2. HB 4169 - INC TX-LGDF: She stated this did not make the deadline, however, she wanted to note that this bill had 52 sponsors on it out of 118 representatives in the general assembly, which is a ton of support. This week both chambers are going to be looking at the budget and if they remember from the capital fax that she sent out Governor Pritzker did not include any increases to the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) in his proposed budget, and now the chamber is going to be looking at it and deciding what they want the budget to include. She stated 52 representatives are interested in giving assistance with Local Government Distributive Fund, so she thinks it is something to keep an eye on going forward.

3. SB 3187 - COUNTIES CD-RECORDER STAMP: She stated it is a clean up bill which would be very helpful to County Clerk/Recorder.

4. SB 3640 - LOCAL OFFICIALS-ADMIN LEAVE: She stated this one is on track for moving on in the Senate, this bill makes it so that local officials in Counties can be placed on Administrative Leave if they are charged with an infamous crime or any other offense that includes a violation of his or her official oath. She thought it would be an interesting piece of legislation that affects Counties.

5. SB 3848 - RTA-TRANSIT FUNDING REPORT: She stated it is a complete re-visitation of the RTA funding, developing a report on best practices for funding all the transit. She stated it is going to be very interesting to see what happens with the bill, and if there is going to be a huge shift in how the transportation is funded.

6. HB 4828 - MCHENRY CNTY-TWP DISSOLUTION: She stated it is the removal of the McHenry County Township Dissolution Act, that was assigned to the Counties and Township Committees, but it did not make it out. She stated she did file a witness slip for the committee and she included the actual resolution as the written testimony for it, so the members of the committee can be aware of what the Board approved in regards to legislation.

9. EXECUTIVE SESSION (AS NECESSARY)

None.

10. ADJOURNMENT

Ms. Vonbergen made a motion, seconded by Ms. Wegener, to adjourn the meeting at 9:16 a.m. on a roll call vote of all members voting aye. - TCMcKinnon

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