PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNTY BOARD OF WOODFORD COUNTY, IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, at a Special Meeting thereof begun and held in the Woodford County Board Room in the City of Eureka, in said County, on the fourth Tuesday in May, AD 2006, same being the 23rd day of said month.

             Tuesday                                  May 23, AD 2006                                 6:00 PM

            Board met and was called to order by Chairman Whitaker.

             Chairman Whitaker began the meeting by leading all present in the Pledge of Allegiance.

             Roll call by the Clerk.  Present:  Marcus Adams, James Booth, Thomas Evans, David Griepentrog, Robert Hunsaker, Gary A. Joseph, Thomas Karr, John Krug, Peter Lambie, R. Joel Lemkemann, Fred Luedtke, Caroline Schertz, Doug Simpson, Kenneth Uphoff, and Larry Whitaker.  Absent: None.   Also present was County Clerk Debbie Harms.

            Board announced in session by the Chairman.

             Chairman Whitaker stated this was normally the time for the Clerk to present the Certificate of Giving Notice but since this was a special meeting, there was no official notification.  The Board Members were notified as well as the news media and they were in attendance.

             Chairman Whitaker called for public input and asked for a show of hands on how many wished to address the Board.  The public input session was limited to 20 minutes and as four wished to speak, there would be a time limit of no more than five minutes per person.

            Mr. Stan Deatherage of Metamora expressed his concern on the Ron Fandel/April Adams situation in Metamora.  He was friends with both, but felt taxpayers dollars were being wasted on this situation.  Mr. Fandel had done everything he could do to comply with the zoning issues and now the matter had gone to the State’s Attorney.  Ms. Adams knew the nature of Mr. Fandel’s business prior to her building a house and asking him to alter his route with his trucks puts an undue burden on him.  The politics should be taken out of this matter and should be worked out by the parties involved. 

             Mr. Gary Jones of East Peoria asked the Board to consider Paragraph H of the Illinois County Code that deals with the State Subsidizing the hiring of an Assistant State’s Attorney to prosecute traffic and other misdemeanor cases.  Due to the County’s size, it could hire one Assistant and the State could subsidize the salary up to $45,000.  Two or more counties could combine their subsidy to hire an Assistant.  He also gave the mean salaries of the State’s Attorney, legal assistants, paralegals, and law clerks that he had researched from data by the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics for the metropolitan area of Peoria/Pekin.  He concluded by reminding the Board that by State Statute, members of the public shall be given the opportunity  to speak at special meetings.

             Mr. John Welch of Minonk thought the matter regarding salary increases was discussed in November.  The Woodford County State’s Attorney was already getting $4,000 more a year than Peoria County’s.  He felt the Board should hold the budget where it was and asked they do the right thing for the voters.

             Ms. Bridget Marquez of Washburn addressed the Board as Mayor of the Village of Washburn and as Truancy Office for the Woodford County schools system.   She felt that funding for an additional prosecutor’s position in the State’s Attorney’s Office was needed and discussed the truancy level.  It was imperative to reach kids before they dropped out of school in order to make communities and neighborhoods safer.  The State’s Attorney’s Office must have the manpower to be able to prosecute truancy cases in a timely manner and asked that additional funding be approved for this Office.  She would be happy to provide any additional information required by the Board.

             Chairman Whitaker announced the Public Input Session would now be closed.

             Mr. Simpson stated the State’s Attorney was looking for a new Assistant and if this issue needed to be addressed, now was the time.  He requested the State’s Attorney make his presentation again in regard to Resolutions #095, #096, and #097.  Resolution #090 failed at the May regular County Board meeting and had now been divided into three separate resolutions that were being presented for the Board’s consideration.

             Mr. Simpson moved to approve Resolution #095 (Authorizing a Wage Adjustment for the Office Manager/Legal Secretary in the State’s Attorney’s Office), which motion was seconded by Mr. Luedtke.

             Mr. Krug stated according to Robert’s Rules of Order, this needed to be brought up by a member who voted against it to make a motion for reconsideration since it did not receive the two-thirds (2/3) majority vote.  Changing the style, did not change the substance and the Board needed to abide by the Rules.  This issue needed to be brought back in the form the Board follows.

             Chairman Whitaker stated the above applied if a matter was reconsidered at the same meeting.

             Mr. Krug read from Robert’s Rules of Order and stated the Rules do not set a time limit to be within the meeting. 

             There was further discussion on whether this Rule applied only during the same meeting, how in the past the Rule was always used during the same meeting, and the County Board meeting from December or January a year ago was referenced.  County Administrator Jackson read from Section 60 and stated a motion can be considered a second time at the same session or the next succeeding day.  Mr. Krug stated that since this was the next meeting, it would be the next succeeding day.

             Chairman Whitaker called for a brief recess so the State’s Attorney could review the issue.  The time was approximately 6:18 P.M.

            Chairman Whitaker called the meeting back to order at approximately 6:25 P.M.

          Chairman Whitaker read from Section 60 of Robert’s Rules of Order regarding a motion to reconsider the vote.  The State’s Attorney, Mr. Krug and he concurred this was an eligible item to be considered at this meeting.

             Mr. Luedtke stated the Assistant State’s Attorney was leaving Friday (5/26/06) and the Board would not be meeting again until June 20, 2006.  The State’s Attorney needs to fill this position and he would have to advertise based on what the budget was today, which would lead to the situation we now have.  This was the reason the Special Meeting was called.  As suggested by Mr. Adams at the May 16, 2006 County Board Meeting, Resolution #090 had been divided into three separate resolutions so the Board could have an opportunity to tell the State’s Attorney how to operate.

             Mr. Adams stated this was not an emergency situation and the reason the meeting was called was that County Board Member Hunsaker’ s vote would be “lost” upon his resignation at the end of the month.  This Resolution for a wage adjustment for the office manager/legal secretary should be addressed at the budget meetings in the fall and there could be problems approving such at other times.

 Mrs. Schertz pointed out at the May 16, 2006, County Board meeting, it was Mr. Adams who requested that Resolution #090 be separated and that he could vote for increasing the salary of the office manager/legal secretary.

 There was discussion on the need to wait for the classification study before taking any action as other employees could fall into this category and whether this meeting was an emergency situation.

Mr. Adams moved to table this until the budget meetings this fall and Mrs. Schertz called for “point of order”.  Mr. Adams then made a motion to table and would put no time on it, which was seconded by Mr. Lambie.  Chairman Whitaker called for a roll call vote.  County Board Members voting Aye: Marcus Adams, Thomas Evans, Thomas Karr, John Krug, and Peter Lambie.  County Board Members voting Nay: James Booth, David Griepentrog, Robert Hunsaker, Gary A. Joseph, R. Joel Lemkemann, Fred Luedtke, Caroline Schertz, Doug Simpson, Kenneth Uphoff, and Larry Whitaker.  County Board Members absent: None.  Motion failed.

Mr. Simpson stated this was not the emergency, it was with a following resolution.  All three issues were lumped into Resolution #090 and an attempt was made to separate them.  The special meeting was called for the resolution that was pressing and the other two issues could be handled at the same time.  The State’s Attorney was asking for tools to do his job and all the issues needed to be reviewed, not just one.

Mr. Uphoff stated the County was having a classification study done and it should have been finished at budget time.  It wasn’t done then and he felt this was a way to make a correction.

 Chairman Whitaker called for a vote on Resolution #095.  County Board Members voting Aye: Larry Whitaker, Kenneth Uphoff, Doug Simpson, Caroline Schertz, Fred Luedtke, R. Joel Lemkemann, Gary A. Joseph, Robert Hunsaker, David Griepentrog, and James Booth.  County Board Members voting Nay: Peter Lambie, John Krug, Thomas Karr, and Thomas Evans.  County Board Member Marcus Adams stated he would abstain until the outcome of the equity study.  County Board Members absent: None.  Motion carried.

 Mr. Simpson moved to approve Resolution #096 (authorizing Wage Adjustments for Senior Assistant State’s Attorney), which motion was seconded by Mr. Hunsaker.

 State’s Attorney Stroh stated Resolution #096 was the most pressing issue as he was now in the process of hiring a Senior Assistant State’s Attorney.  The leaving of an Assistant is something that cannot be anticipated.  If the Board waits on this issue until the next budget cycle and he has already hired a new Assistant at the current salary, it becomes a mute point to address in November.  It would not be right to increase the Assistant’s salary if he was already hired and did not have that skill level commensurate with that salary increase.  He was taking advantage of the opportunity now to seek out an attorney that had similar skill sets as his.  Attorney Stroh then referred to the Woodford County State’s Attorney Salary Analysis as presented and explained by County Administrator Jackson at the previous County Board Meeting.  There was a need to have an attorney that could prosecute and handle civil issues in a timely manner, and he was asking for a salary for an Assistant with increased skill levels.

In response to questions, State’s Attorney Stroh stated he does not handle traffic court, that he is in court everyday, and that he probably spends 10-20% of his time on the County Board’s civil work.

Circuit Judge Charles Feeney, III, stated there were no Assistant State’s Attorneys in the State of Illinois paid by the State.  The Statute was created but never funded, unless it had changed this year.  Judge Feeney described the cases his courtroom handled and stated justice was slowed down in the County when there were inexperienced attorneys.  The current Assistant was being hired away by more money.  The County would continue to see turnover and instability in this position unless there was a wage adjustment.  The Assistant needed to be in his courtroom Monday through Thursday, and could be in another county on Friday; however, he doubted if any county would be willing to accept this arrangement.

Mr. Adams moved to amend Resolution #096 to $65,000 instead of $70,000, which was seconded by Mr. Lambie.

It was pointed out the Resolution has a maximum pay level of $70,000 per year and State’s Attorney Stroh was considering the wage range between $60,000 and $70,000.  Mr. Adams questioned how one knew that someone would be conservative in not giving the maximum permitted.  Discussion followed on being conservative, liberal and on truthfulness.   Mrs. Schertz questioned if it would be appropriate for the Chairman to tell members of the Board that when you accuse someone of not being truthful, it is liable and therefore prosecutable.

Mr. Adams withdrew the above motion and Mr. Lambie withdrew the second.

Chairman Whitaker called for a roll call vote on Resolution #096.  County Board Members voting Aye: James Booth, David Griepentrog, Robert Hunsaker, Gary A. Joseph, John Krug, R. Joel Lemkemann, Fred Luedtke, Caroline Schertz, Doug Simpson, Kenneth Uphoff, and Larry Whitaker.  County Board Members voting Nay: Marcus Adams, Thomas Evans, Thomas Karr, and Peter Lambie.  County Board Members absent: None.  Motion carried.

Mr. Simpson moved to approve Resolution #097, which motion was seconded by Mr. Griepentrog. 

State’s Attorney Stroh stated he did not want this Resolution to be rushed through and if the Board wanted to examine the issue of hiring a Junior Assistant State’s Attorney more closely, he would not have a problem with it.  The County Offices Committee discussed a Junior Assistant as a means to relieve the work load of the Assistant State’s Attorney.

Discussion followed on how a Junior Assistant State’s Attorney would not serve as an adjudicator, the need for more time to review this issue to determine if there was enough work, and the duties to be included with the position.  Training a Junior Assistant to become a prosecutor was discussed as well as space issues in the office.  It was felt by some that the issue needed to be reviewed at budget time.

Mr. Luedtke stated the County Offices Committee was concerned Woodford County would always be a training ground for a Junior Assistant State’s Attorneys and this position would hopefully stop this.

Mr. Krug stated he voted for the wage adjustment to maintain the quality, but was not sure if this was an emergency situation.  Attempts to hire more staff or an adjucator would not be emergency situations and he would lead the suit to take care of the tax payers money.  These would not be emergency cases and he wanted all to know his course of action.

Mr. Simpson withdrew his motion to approve Resolution #097 and Mr. Griepentrog withdrew his second to such motion.

Mr. Evans stated he was concerned about a possible violation of the Open Meetings Act with five people getting together to set up this meeting.  This concerned the notice sent to each of the Board Members in regard to convening this special Board meeting.

Mr. Simpson responded the five people did not meet.  It was pointed out phone calls were made to Mr. Hunsaker, Mr. Booth, Mr. Luedtke, and Mr. Griepentrog by Mr. Simpson in this regard.

Mr. Krug read from Counties Code 55 ILCS 5/2-1002 that discussed special County Board meetings.

In response to a question from Mr. Krug, Ms. Cheryl Wolfe of the Woodford County Journal stated the paper received a post card telling them of this meeting but was unsure if the newspaper received notice for publication.

Mr. Uphoff moved to adjourn, which motion was seconded by Mr. Simpson and was unanimously carried.

Chairman Whitaker announced the Board adjourned.