Chambana Sun

Champaign County Committee of the Whole met May 15.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee

Members Present: Jack Anderson, Brad Clemmons, John Clifford, Shana Crews, Lorraine Cowart, Aaron Esry, Stephanie Fortado, Jim Goss, Stan Harper, Brooks Marsh, Jim McGuire, Kyle Patterson, Pattsi Petrie, Jon Rector, Giraldo Rosales, Chris Stohr, Stephen Summers, James Tinsley, C. Pius Weibel

Members Absent: Robert King, Max Mitchell

Others Present: Dana Brenner (Facilities Director), Deb Busey (Interim County Administrator), John Farney (Treasurer), Gordy Hulten (County Clerk), Diane Michaels (Auditor), Tami Ogden (Deputy County Administrator/Finance), Julia Reitz (State’s Attorney), Andy Rhodes (Information Technology Director), Kay Rhodes (Administrative Assistant), Mark Shelden (Recorder of Deeds)

Call To Order:

Weibel called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.

Roll Call:

Rhodes called the roll. Anderson, Clemmons, Clifford, Crews, Cowart, Esry, Fortado, Goss, Harper, Marsh, McGuire, Patterson, Petrie, Rector, Rosales, Stohr, Summers, Tinsley, and Weibel were present at the time of roll call, establishing the presence of a quorum.

Approval Of Agenda/Addenda:

Motion by Rosales to approve the Agenda/Addenda; seconded by Esry. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Approval Of Minutes:

Motion by Petrie to approve the minutes of the April 10, 2018 Committee of the Whole meeting; seconded by Goss. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Public Participation:

Brent Frye, a County employee, supported the sale of the nursing home and encouraged County Board members to do the same because continued financial support of the nursing home would negatively affect County employees and mandated services.

Jennifer Putman spoke in favor of the reappointment of Jerry Lyke to the Urbana- Champaign Sanitary District Board of Trustees. Putman, also a member of the Urbana & Champaign Sanitary District Board of Trustees, was concerned about the amount of compensation ($6,000 per year) for each member. It is at the highest allowable amount for this board. She felt that the compensation was out-of-line with that of other similar boards. Putman informed the committee that in the past, she had proposed a reduction to the compensation for trustees, but the motion failed for lack of a second. Putman was also concerned about the public’s access to direct contact information for the trustees.

Steph Corum, an employee of the Champaign County Public Defender’s office, encouraged the County Board to sell the nursing home. She pointed out that there were nine (9) employees of the Public Defender’s office seated behind her and they were concerned about the future survival of their department as well as other County departments if the nursing home is not sold. Corum explained that the Public Defender attorneys already have full caseloads and she estimated that if the Youth Assessment Center (YAC) were to close, there would be 50-75 more youth per year moving through the court system who would normally be deferred. This, coupled with the loss of 1-2 attorneys would have a direct effect on the time allotted to those in need of Public Defender services.

Lisa Benson, RPC Community Services Director discussed the positive outcomes that the YAC provides for the youth of Champaign County and the community. Since 2014, the YAC has received over 500 referrals annually, completed over 300 individual intakes annually, and supported over 300 youth and families annually to address behavioral issues, including acts of delinquency. At least 90% of youth served from 2015 to 2017 did not have a juvenile court adjudication following the YAC intervention. The YAC offers an opportunity to achieve increased balance in our community with the use of restorative justice practices, connecting youth with the tools they need. She urged the committee to consider the full impact of the decisions they will make soon.

Kip Pope encouraged the committee to sell the nursing home because it would allow the nursing home to move forward under new ownership, giving the nursing home a chance to recover and realize its potential. The nursing home has struggled for the last ten (10) years and keeping the nursing home would not alleviate its operational issues.

Lindsey Yanchus, Assistant Public Defender said that if the County did not sell the nursing home it was her understanding that her office would lose either two (2) attorney positions or one (1) attorney and one (1) investigator position. If an attorney must perform his/her own investigation work, then they have to take another attorney with them for safety reasons and for court testimony. This results in two attorneys who are unable to meet with clients because they are out of the office performing investigative work on another case. Additionally, the loss of attorneys would increase individual caseloads that are already close to the maximum considered acceptable by the American Bar Association. Increased caseloads have a direct effect on the amount of time attorneys can allot to clients, which may cause clients to spend more time in the County Jail.

Belden Fields was concerned about the practices of the corporation that has placed an offer for purchase of the nursing home. He was also concerned that this corporation may sell the nursing home.

Scott Tapley, a former member of the County Board supported the sale of the nursing home stating that while almost everyone would probably like to see the County keep the nursing home, it is just not financially feasible.

Cathy Emanuel, member of the Nursing Home Board of Directors, said that there were questions raised about the bidder. She urged the committee to pause the sale process for 90-days.

Edra Scofield was concerned about the bidder’s business practices and requested that the nursing home sale process be placed on pause to make sure this bidder is right for the community.

Claudia Lennhoff, Executive Director of the Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) eluded to concerns about the bidder. She explained that these concerns had not been brought forth during the committee bid evaluation process. She said their research on the current bidder was on the CCHCC website. She asked that the committee pause the sale process because there were concerns about the current bidder. She stated that there were other promising developments for the nursing home, but time was needed to see what they could produce.

Additionally, Lennhoff stated that CCHCC had concerns about the pricing of the nursing home as listed by the brokerage firm Marcus & Millichap. She said that the $11 million price would not be enough to cover the debt of the nursing home. She said that the County Board did not perform its due diligence. She urged the County Board to pause the process and hire an independent specialist to conduct a valuation and situational assessment of the Champaign County Nursing Home. It should be someone who specializes in long-term care valuations.

Mary Hodson, a former employee of the Champaign County Nursing Home and a member of the Nursing Home Board of Directors said she had concerns about the current bidder’s business practices and she was concerned that the direct care staff at the nursing home would be reduced affecting residents care.

Dottie Vura-Weis, a retired family physician, said she was very familiar with the County’s finances. Vura-Weis discussed her concerns about the current bidder for the nursing home and asked that the committee delay the sale process.

Communications:

Rector thanked the Illinois Marathon group, including Jayne DeLuce of Visit Champaign County for their efforts in this year’s event. Fortado congratulated Tinsley on his graduation earning a degree in Political Science.

Justice & Social Services:

Stepping-Up Initiative

McGuire noted that Champaign County had been recognized by the Stepping-Up Initiative for the creation of a task force made up of behavioral health treatment providers, representatives of the Sheriff’s office and community stakeholders who prepared recommendations to the County Board on better responding to the needs of individuals with mental illnesses to reduce jail bookings, length of stay and recidivism.

Justice & Mental Health Collaboration Program Grant Application-

MOTION by Esry to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing the application, and if awarded, acceptance of Category 3 Justice & Mental Health Collaboration Program Grant; seconded by Petrie. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Monthly Reports-

The monthly reports were received and placed on file.

Other Business-

There was no other business.

Chair’s Report-

There was no Chair’s report.

Designation of Items for Consent Agenda-

Item B1 was designated for the Consent Agenda.

Policy, Personnel, & Appointments:

Appointments/Reappointments

Motion by Weibel to appoint Elizabeth Burgenor-Patton and Robert Zebe to the Board of Review, Terms 6/1/2018-5/31/2020; seconded by Petrie. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Weibel to appoint Robert Kettner and Randall Zindars to the Penfield Water District Board, Terms 6/1/2018-5/31/2023; seconded by Harper. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Weibel to appoint Robert Buchanan and Michael Melton to the Sangamon Valley Public Water District Board, Terms 6/1/2018-5/31/2023;seconded by Goss. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Weibel to appoint Karen Hughey and William Roller Jr. to the Dewey Community Public Water District Board, Terms 6/1/2018-5/31/2023; seconded by Esry. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Weibel to appoint Jerry Lyke to the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District Board, Term 6/1/2018-5/31/2021; seconded by Patterson. Fortado voiced concerns over the amount of compensation that the trustees receive as noted in public participation by Ms. Putman. Petrie discussed concerns about the transparency of the sanitary district meetings because the meetings take place at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday mornings and are not recorded or aired for the public. Additionally, Petrie stated that all communications from the public are filtered through the sanitary district office to the trustees. Petrie had also discussed the compensation level with Mr. Lyke and he had no plans to place it on their agenda for discussion. Petrie would also like to see the number of appointed trustees expanded. Discussion followed. Motion carried with unanimous support. Petrie requested that the item be withheld from the consent agenda.

County Clerk-

Report

The April 2018 report was received and placed on file.

County Administrator-

Report

The April 2018 HR Report was received and placed on file.

Other Business-

County Facilities Committee Chairs

Omnibus Motion by Weibel to appoint Stan Harper as the Chair of the County Facilities Committee and Shana Crews as the Vice Chair of the County Facilities Committee; seconded by Petrie. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Chair’s Report-

Rosales noted that appointments expiring June 30, 2018 included various cemetery boards/associations; Forest Preserve District Board; County Board of Health; and the Developmental Disabilities Board.

Designation of Items to be Placed on the Consent Agenda-

Items A1-4; and D1-2 were designated for the Consent Agenda.

Finance:

Budget Amendments/Transfers

Omnibus Motion by McGuire to recommend County Board approval of resolutions authorizing Budget Amendments 18-00013, 18-00014, 18-00015, 18-00016, 18-00017, 18- 00022, 18-00023 and 18-00024 for Tort Immunity, General Corporate, County Public Health, County Highway, County Bridge, Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Nursing Home Funds to remove revenue and appropriation from FY2018 budget related to hospital property tax exemption case; seconded by Summers. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Anderson to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing Budget Amendment 18-00021 for Fund 614 Recorder’s Automation – Dept. 023 Recorder with increased appropriations of $6,700 and no matching revenue to pay for temporary workers for a special digitization project; seconded by Stohr.

Shelden explained that this project involves a Rantoul vendor to convert microfilm to TIF (Tagged Image File) files and then to use a temporary worker to go through the volume and group the images. Shelden would run some programs within SQL Server to make the images available to any user. The cost would be $60-$70 per volume. The Recorder’s office would also work with Community Choices, a local organization, which receives some funding from the Developmental Disabilities Board, to identify temporary workers. The books and microfilm would be archived. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Goss to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing Budget Amendment 18-00025 for Fund 080 General Corporate – Dept. 028 Information Technology with increased appropriations of $19,893 and no matching revenue for an unexpected purchase of Sophos Antivirus Software to clean-up the virus outbreak at the Courthouse, Sheriff’s office, and Adult Detention Center; seconded by Rector.

Andy Rhodes, IT Director explained that in March 2018, the County experienced a widespread outbreak of the Emotet virus on several network segments at the Courthouse, Sheriff's Office and Adult Detention Facilities. Generally, this type of virus comes in through an email attachment and County IT identified the first infected computer at the Courthouse. Once the virus is on a corporate network it spreads through a network protocol called SMB. It is believed that an infected wireless device was then carried over to the “new” section of the Courthouse, infecting another segment of the network, which included the Sheriff’s Office. The following weekend the Public Defender’s office utilized an infected laptop at the Adult Detention Center to show video evidence to an incarcerated inmate. County IT was able to contain it to these three segments of the network. The County's existing antivirus solution, Microsoft System Center Endpoint Protection, was overwhelmed and proved incapable of completely remediating the virus.

County IT consulted with the Illinois State Police, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and consultants from one of the County’s current software vendors to determine the most efficacious course of action. The FBI and Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a Division of Homeland Security, both advised that County IT should reload all the infected computers and create a separate network for them. Rhodes stated that he did not have the staff for this type of remediation.

Instead, on Friday, March 30, 2018, County IT deployed a trial version of Sophos Intercept on a small, isolated network segment. By the end of the day on Saturday, April 1, 2018, that network segment was completely virus free and remained so for the next week. Rhodes said that based on the success of the trial, he arranged for the acquisition of Sophos Intercept for the entire County and it was deployed it in mid-April. By the end of April, the virus had been remediated and normal business operations resumed. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Esry to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing Budget Amendment 18-00026 for Fund 080 General Corporate – Dept. 040 Sheriff with increased appropriations of $11,025 reflecting funds received for totaled squad car replacement; seconded by Goss. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Anderson to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing Budget Amendment 18-00027 for Fund 630 Circuit Clerk Operation & Administration – Dept. 030 Circuit Clerk with increased appropriations of $115, 424 and no matching revenue to cover the 2018 salary of the Court Technology Specialist; seconded by Clifford. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Rector to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing Budget Amendment 18-00028 for Fund 633 St. Attorney Records Automation – Dept. 041 State’s Attorney with increased appropriations of $5,000 and no matching revenue to pay for data importation and document management subscriptions; seconded by Summers. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Motion by Anderson to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing Budget Transfer 18-00004 for Fund 080 General Corporate – Dept. 075 General County for $101,000 to pay the Champaign County Nursing Home’s MSN settlement obligation; seconded by Cowart. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Treasurer-

Monthly Report

The Treasurer’s April 2018 monthly report was received and placed on file.

General Corporate Fund Cash Flow Projection Presentation

Farney said that the General Corporate Fund would not be in a good position for May 2018 without the influx of the first the real estate tax distributions. He reminded the committee that the General Corporate Fund had already borrowed $1 million from the Public Safety Sales Tax Fund and he could not predict if the remaining authorized loan funds ($500,000) would be necessary. It did not appear that the nursing home would need a loan from the General Corporate Fund to subsidize payroll in May. The projected end of year balance for the General Corporate Fund is $4.8 million.

Tax Sale Resolution

Motion by Goss to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing the execution of a Deed of Conveyance of the County’s interest or cancellation of the appropriate Certificate of Purchase on real estate, permanent parcel 14-03-36-305-013; seconded by Anderson. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Auditor-

Monthly Report

The Auditor’s April 2018 report was received and placed on file.

Inter-fund Loan Resolution

Motion by Esry to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing inter-fund loans from fund reserves to other funds; seconded by Marsh. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Nursing Home & County Administration-

April Cash Flow Report

Busey pointed out that the total expenditure outstanding as of April 30, 2018 was over $4.1 million and stated that the outstanding obligations increase each month.

Cash Flow Recommendation

Busey explained that the resolution previously adopted did not allow Accounts Payable payments to be made in non-payroll weeks. This created a lack of flexibility in operations management for the Nursing Home. In order to correct this lack of flexibility, Busey recommended that the County Board adopt the recommended changes to the previously adopted language.

Motion by Anderson to recommend County Board approval of a resolution authorizing the nursing home cash flow recommendation; seconded by Stohr. Motion carried with unanimous support.

County Administrator-

FY2018 General Corporate Fund Projection and Budget Change Reports

Ogden stated that this was the first report for the FY2018 budget and it only reflects the actuals for the first quarter. The budget variance for property taxes is -$545,269 and a significant portion of this is due to the decrease in projected revenue based on the on-going Carle Property Tax Case.

Ogden said there is a budget variance of $75,727 under State Shared Revenue - 1% Sales Tax. In 2017, this revenue showed an 18% growth and in FY2018 a 7% growth in the first quarter. Ogden said State Shared Revenue - Income Tax was overstated at -$148,836. Fees and Fines revenues continue to decline.

Ogden said that the expenditure report shows a budget variance of -$283,520 under Fringe Benefits, which reflects an increase in the number of waivers for health insurance in FY2018. The Fund Balance projection as of December 31, 2018 is $4,887,834 or 13.6%. Outstanding Nursing Home loans due in FY2018 total $726,802. If the loans are not repaid, the Fund Balance will drop to $4,161,032 or 11.4%.

Financial Policies

Motion by Anderson to recommend County Board adoption of the Champaign County Financial Policies; seconded by Clifford. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Resolution Authorizing FY2019 Budget Process

Option A & Option B

Fortado explained that the committee would vote on Option A and Option B to move forward to the County Board without recommendation pending the outcome of the vote to sell the Champaign County Nursing Home.

Motion by Goss to forward FY2019 Budget Process Resolution Options A & B without recommendation to the County Board meeting; seconded by Esry.

Motion by Patterson to amend Option A, under the heading General Corporate Fund Budget Requests, additional language: at least $50,000 in new allocations for recommendations outlined by the Racial Justice Task Force; seconded by Stohr. Discussion followed.

Motion by Petrie to amend Patterson’s amendment to Option A with language stating that: there is an amount set in the FY2019 Budget to implement recommendations made in the Racial Justice Task Force final report; seconded by Marsh. Anderson and Stohr did not support the amendment because there should be a designated amount. Petrie withdrew her amendment.

Busey clarified that if the proposed new allocation of funds were approved by the County Board for the FY2019 Budget, it was expected that department heads could then present ideas as to how this funding could be utilized to implement the Racial Justice Task Force final report recommendations. Motion to Amend Option A carried with a roll call vote of 15-4. Anderson, Clemmons, Clifford, Cowart, Crews, Fortado, Marsh, McGuire, Patterson, Petrie, Rosales, Stohr, Summers, Tinsley, and Weibel voted in favor of the amended motion. Esry, Goss, Harper, and Rector voted against it.

Motion by Patterson to amend Option B, removing items 3 and 4 under the heading General Corporate Fund Requests, and replacing with new language under number 3: cuts to the budget equaling the payment of debt obligation for outstanding Nursing Home Accounts Payable and the operating subsidy from the General Fund to the Nursing Home, to be determined through the budgeting process; seconded by Stohr. Discussion followed.

Motion to Amend Option B failed with a roll call vote of 8-11. Cowart, Crews, Fortado, Patterson, Rosales, Stohr, Summers, and Tinsley voted in favor of the motion. Anderson, Clemmons, Clifford, Esry, Goss, Harper, Marsh, McGuire, Petrie, Rector, and Weibel voted against it.

Main Motion by Goss with Amendment to Option A approved by a unanimous voice vote.

Other Business-

There was no other business.

Chair’s Report-

Fortado thanked the committee members for working with her as the new Deputy Chair of the Finance Committee. She added that as the County Board moves forward with the FY2019 budget process she welcomed discussions with everyone.

Designation of Items for the Consent Agenda-

Items A1-14; B3; C2; D3 & E2; were designated for the Consent Agenda.

Other Business:

Closed Session Minutes

Motion by Esry to approve the Closed Session minutes of April 10, 2018; seconded by Goss. Motion carried with unanimous support.

Demonstration of GIS Application for Parcel Sliver Detection

Weibel demonstrated the new Parcel Sliver Detector GIS on-line application.

Adjournment:

Chair Weibel adjourned the meeting at 9:20 p.m.

http://www.co.champaign.il.us/CountyBoard/Committee_Of_The_Whole/2018/180515_Meeting/180515minutes.pdf