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Geneva, IL 60134

Kane County

KC Human Services Committee

Meeting Minutes

SURGES, Linder, Allan, Garcia, Gripe, Lewis, Tarver, ex-officios Roth (County Vice Chair) &

Pierog (County Chair)

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

9:00 AM

County Board Room

Call To Order

Chairman Surges called the meeting to order at 9:00 AM.

Roll Call

Board Member Clifford Surges

Board Member Michael Linder

Board Member Deborah Allan

Board Member Sonia Garcia

PRESENT

Board Member Jon Gripe

Ex-Officio County Board Vice Chair Bill Roth

Board Member Bill Tarver

REMOTE

ABSENT

Board Member Anita Lewis

Ex-Officio County Board Chair Corinne M. Pierog

Also present: Co. Bd. Members Bates*, Gumz*, Juby, Kious, Molina*; Fin. Exec. Dir.

Hopkinson; HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo & staff Davis; ASA Cermak; ITD CIO Lasky* & staff

Kash; and members of the press and public.

Remote Attendance Requests

Chairman Surges announced the remote attendance requests for today's meeting. He

asked the Committee if there were any objections to Committee Member Tarver

attending today's meeting remotely. There were no objections.

Approval of Minutes: November 13, 2024

RESULT:

MOVER:

APPROVED BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT

Michael Linder

Public Comment

None.

Monthly Financial Reports

Monthly Finance Reports

Chairman Surges stated the monthly financial reports were on file.

Fin. Exec. Dir. Hopkinson presented a summary report for the Kane County

Health Insurance Fund. She explained that the County established a separate

fund and the source of revenue is the employee and employer contributions.

When budgeting, the employer contributions of the health and dental benefits

are calculated and employee payroll deductions are transferred into the Health

Insurance Fund. Since the County is self-insured, the County pays the health

and dental invoices out of the Health Insurance Fund. Hopkinson spoke on the

report. She presented the 2022 Actual, 2023 Actual and 2024 Actual to Date.

The total revenue for 2024 was $22,540,863, and the total expenses were

$20,606,086. Hopkinson noted that the County needs to maintain a 25% to 50%

fund balance in this Health Insurance Fund. The 2024 fund balance in this

special fund is $9,377,499, which is access revenues that have built up over the

years. This amount is in the appropriate range. Surges spoke on the County's

choice to become self-insured and setting the appropriate reserve target.

Discussion ensued. HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo addressed questions and comments

from the Committee. Further discussion ensued. (Committee Member Allan

arrived in-person at 9:18 a.m.)

Department of Human Resource Management

Monthly Blue Cross Blue Shield Invoice

HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo stated the following report was on file. This month, the

Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) invoice is approximately $1.6M, which is within

tolerance. The monthly BCBS invoices are approximately $1.3M to $1.8M.

Lobrillo explained that invoice is paid one full month in the rear. The invoice for

today's meeting is for November 2024 charges.

Monthly BCBS and MERP Totals

HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo stated the following report was on file. She explained

that this report shares enrollment numbers. The County has over 1K employees,

424 spouses, and 718 dependents that participate in the County's health

insurance programs. Currently, there are 77 employees that utilize the Medical

Expense Reimbursement Program (MERP). Lobrillo explained that changes

were made to MERP that are concurrent with the Internal Revenue Service

(IRS) guidance. Even though there were changes, the majority of members

stayed on the plan. One of the main changes to MERP is that the County will no

longer reimburse premiums of their health insurance plan. Chairman Surges

explained that for this enrollment period, the County listened to employees and

have offered a higher deductible plan and a health savings plan. Lobrillo stated

that approximately 40 employees are participating in the Health Savings Account

(HSA). She explained that the main reason to have a HSA was driven by new

employees. New employees utilized a HSA at their previous employer and

wanted to carry it over to their County employment. Lobrillo explained that the

County has tried to streamline the plan offerings since becoming self-insured in

2020. She stated that the County did have a union/non-union health plan. The

difference in the two plans was the emergency room (ER) co-pay. The County

has eliminated the non-union plan and all employees are responsible for the

$250 ER deductible. Since all employees are now on the same health insurance

plan, there has been a large savings in administrative costs. Lobrillo addressed

questions and comments from the Committee. Discussion ensued.

Monthly Assured Partners Report

HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo stated the following report was on file. She explained

that these reports are backlogged from 2020, since the County become

self-insured. The report provides a visual of the County's revenues versus

expenses. The number highlighted in the upper left-hand corner of the report is

the total amount that was put towards the County's reserve amount. In 2022, the

County intentionally drew down the reserve amount, by keeping rates low.

Lobrillo explained that the red number highlighted at the top of the report is the

County's total expenses, and the green numbers are the amounts that were put

into the Health Insurance Fund from County and employee contributions. The

orange numbers represent prescription claims. This is a big driving factor in

health insurance costs. Lobrillo reviewed the 2023 and 2024 Global Financial

Tracker. She noted that the numbers listed on the 2024 Global Financial Tracker

are not final. When the County receives claims that are from the previous six

months, those numbers will be listed on this report in the month that it was

occurred. Lobrillo explained that a lot of the new therapy-type drugs cost

approximately $10K per month, which cause large fluctuating numbers.

Chairman Surges explained that when the County shops for insurance plans,

they often look for the disruption rate. He noted that the majority of County

employees are sensitive to disruption. The County does try to maintain

consistency with disruption, especially for medication purposes. Surges

explained that Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) was not the least expensive

insurance carrier, but employees voiced their opinion that they did not want to

change plans due to the disruption it would have caused. Lobrillo addressed

questions and comments from the Committee. Discussion ensued.

Monthly Applicants and Staff Changes

HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo stated the following report was on file. She explained

that this report is for applicants and employees hired and/or terminated for the

previous month. Depending on the job market, Lobrillo stated that this report

helps see what positions are being applied to throughout the County. She spoke

on the New Hire Report. The New Hire Report is to keep an eye on staff if it is

growing or shrinking. Chairman Surges explained that these reports show the

reality of the election trail. There has been rumors that Kane County has a large

turnover rate, but fail to realize that election workers are temporary and

contribute to that turnover rate. Surges explained that about 18 months ago, the

County started doing exit interviews. These interviews allowed people to be

candid as to why they left the County. Due to these interviews, the County has

an opportunity to find ways to address the complaints, such as educational

training. Without this data, the County cannot be effective. Lobrillo shared a

graph depicting the number of exit interviews and the reason as to why they

terminated their employment. Lobrillo addressed questions and comments from

the Committee. Much discussion ensued.

Monthly Workers Comp and Liability Reports

HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo stated the following report was on file. She explained

that this report reflects only one month of data for 2025. Chairman Surges asked

for the historical trends. He explained that in the past, the County had major

issues in liability terms due to large settlement amounts. He stated that out of

the approximate 50 carriers, 47 of them did not want to insure Kane County.

Additionally, Kane County had issues on the Worker's Compensation side.

Surges explained that the County needed to acquire additional staff to help with

claim assistance. In doing so, the relationship with the Sheriff's Office and Kane

County Jail improved, which is where the bulk of Workers' Compensation claims

come from. Lobrillo explained that claims from the previous years are still

incurring costs until the final payment is made. She stated that last year's

numbers do look low, but it has not concluded with acquiring balances. Lobrillo

addressed questions and comments from the Committee.

Annual Ethics Advisor Report

HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo stated the following report was on file. She reported that

the current Ethics Advisor, former Judge Grant Wegner, is retiring. He provided

a several month notice of his retirement, which will allow the County time to go

through the necessary process of acquiring a new advisor. As per policy, once a

year a report is shared with this Committee that summarizes the ethics calls that

were handled. Lobrillo addressed questions and comments from the Committee.

She noted that the Ethics Advisor position is paid by the hour that is spent

researching an issue. Lobrillo explained that a change was made to the Ethics

Ordinance that established an Ethics Commission. Currently, members have not

been appointed to this commission by the County Board Chairman. An Ethics

Commission is recommended by the State of Illinois and is a common practice

of surrounding counties. Lobrillo stated that the duties of the Ethics Advisor

where partially shared with the State's Attorney's Office (SAO). However, if there

was a complaint made within the SAO, the Ethics Commission would be useful.

Lobrillo stated that is good for the County to have this separate commission in

case a complaint of this nature were to occur. Chairman Surges stated that the

Ethics Report depicts that the County is doing well due to the low amount of

ethic complaints. Lobrillo addressed questions and comments from the

Committee. Discussion ensued.

Compliance

Monthly Training Report

HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo stated that the following report was on file. She

explained that starting in January 2025, emails have been sent out to all County

employees reminding them to complete the annual Sexual Harassment Training.

To date, 248 employees have already completed the training. Discussion

ensued.

Old Business

None.

10.

New Business

Authorizing Number of Procurement Cards Issued to Human Resources

Department and Each of Their Transaction Limits

KC Finance and Budget Committee

RESULT:

TO:

MOVED FORWARD BY ROLL CALL VOTE

KC Finance and Budget Committee

Michael Linder

MOVER:

Deborah Allan

SECONDER:

Clifford Surges, Michael Linder, Deborah Allan, Sonia Garcia,

Jon Gripe, and Bill Tarver

AYE:

Anita Lewis, and Corinne M. Pierog

ABSENT:

Amending the Personnel Policy Handbook Section Regarding Absences and

Tardiness

HRM Exec. Dir. Lobrillo stated the Personnel Policy was attached to today's

agenda packet. She explained that this policy was amended due to several

County departments having issues managing absentees and tardiness. She

stated that County policies that relate to direct management of employees are

vague, due to the diversity of each department and how each functions. This

policy has been written to provide the necessary flexibility for departments to

manage staff. This policy addresses tardiness in an excused/unexcused

manner. This allows departments to excuse any issues that are well

documented and acceptable for staffing. It addresses the absenteeism and

tardiness that is patterned or excessive. The County did not have a policy to

address these issues. Discussion ensued. (Committee Member Tarver left at

10:00 a.m.)

KC Executive Committee

RESULT:

TO:

MOVED FORWARD BY ROLL CALL VOTE

KC Executive Committee

Michael Linder

MOVER:

Sonia Garcia

SECONDER:

Clifford Surges, Michael Linder, Deborah Allan, Sonia Garcia,

and Jon Gripe

AYE:

Anita Lewis, Bill Tarver, and Corinne M. Pierog

ABSENT:

Discussion Regarding Director of Building Management

Chairman Surges introduced the discussion regarding the Director of Building

Management position. He noted that this discussion is not a performance review

of a current individual. This discussion is to simply evaluate the Director of

Building Management position. HRM Asst. Dir. Davis handed out an Executive

Summary for Building Management to the in-person Committee Members.

Surges explained that the County took action a couple years ago to consolidate

two large departments and put one person in charge. He would like to know if

this consolidation is working adequately, or not. Surges reflected on the amount

of responsibility ITD/BLD Exec. Dir. Fahnestock has. Surges stated that he

would like the Human Services Committee to become an active participant in

helping department staff where needed, rather than each department doing this

on their own. He would like the County to utilize resources, such as

knowledgeable staff, in order to staff departments appropriately. Surges would

like to open the discussion up to see how others would have done this

consolidation or if other ways are to be looked into to be proactive. County

Board Member Kious stated that the Administration Committee would welcome

any input or complaints on consolidating the Information Technologies and

Building Management Departments. He noted that at today's Administration

Committee meeting, an update would be provided on the capital projects that

are occurring around the County and staffing issues. Surges stated that he

would like to find ways to acquire adequate employees with the appropriate

education for County positions. County Board Member Juby stated that the

County Board needs to know if this consolidated position is adequately working,

or if the expectation was unrealistic and needs to be redefined. Discussion

ensued. The Committee provided consensus to bring this discussion to the

Administration Committee and a follow-up would be provided to Human Services

Committee when a decision was made.

11.

12.

Reports Placed On File

RESULT:

MOVER:

APPROVED BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT

Jon Gripe

Executive Session

The Human Services Committee entered into Executive Session at 10:20 a.m. to

discuss the release of closed session minutes on a motion made by Garcia, Linder

seconded. Motion carried unanimously by roll call vote.

RESULT:

APPROVED BY ROLL CALL VOTE

Sonia Garcia

MOVER:

Michael Linder

SECONDER: