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Kane County

KC Judicial/Public Safety

Committee

Meeting Minutes

MOLINA, Lenert, Gripe, Gumz, Linder, Tepe, Williams, ex-officios Roth (County Vice Chair)

and Pierog (County Chair)

Thursday, December 12, 2024

9:00 AM

County Board Room

Call To Order

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

Roll Call

Board Member Myrna Molina

Board Member Bill Lenert

PRESENT

ABSENT

Board Member Michael Linder

Ex-Officio County Board Vice Chair Bill Roth

Board Member Michelle Gumz

Board Member Vern Tepe

Board Member Rick Williams

Ex-Officio County Board Chair Corinne M. Pierog

Also present: Co. Bd. Members Juby*, Kious*, Sanchez*; KaneComm Dir. Guthrie;

OEM Chief Deputy Dir. Mensching; Undersheriff Johnson; Coroner Silva & staff

Richardson-Carrera, Nielsen; Court Admin. O'Brien & staff Mathis; SAO Mosser & staff

Hunt*; Public Defender Conant; Court Srvs. Exec. Dir. Aust; KCDC Dir. Tsang; Circuit

Clk. Barreiro; ITD CIO Lasky* & staff Peters; and members of the press and public.

Remote Attendance Requests

There were no remote attendance requests for today's meeting.

Approval of Minutes: November 14, 2024

RESULT:

MOVER:

APPROVED BY UNANIMOUS CONSENT

Bill Roth

Public Comment

None.

Monthly Financial Reports

Monthly Finance Reports

Chairman Molina stated the monthly financial reports were on file. No additional

report was made.

Merit Commission

Chairman Molina stated that the County's Code lists the Merit Commission reporting to

the Executive Committee. She would like to look into this to see if the Merit

Commission should be listed on the Judicial Public Safety Committee agenda.

KaneComm (M. Guthrie)

Monthly Report

KaneComm Dir. Guthrie stated the monthly report was on file. She announced

that Telecommunicator Katie Kurzrock celebrated her two-year anniversary with

KaneComm in November 2024. She stated that hiring is KaneComm's top

priority. KaneComm has received numerous applications through the social

media outreach. The next skills testing is scheduled for January 14, 2025.

Lastly, KaneComm has hired a part-time LEADS Agency Coordinator, Alyssa

Chudzick, in order to complete the daily needed tasks.

Chairman Molina stated that one of the Judicial Public Safety Committee's 2025

Committee Goals is to address the space needs for Judicial Public Safety

partners, such as KaneComm. She requested an update on KaneComm's space

needs. Guthrie stated that with the new addition of the part-time employee, staff

is back to sharing office space. She noted that all space is being utilized and

continues to look into creative ways to expand it.

Emergency Management(S. Buziecki)

Monthly Report

OEM Deputy Dir. Mensching stated the monthly report was on file. He

announced that a new Operations Manager started on Monday, December 9,

2024. He noted that this was a part-time position that was recently changed to

full-time due to the influx of volunteer hours. The full-time position will enhance

the capabilities of the volunteer program. Mensching stated that a volunteer

recognition event will be hosted in April 2025 to honor the volunteers for the 13K

hours they donated to Kane County in 2024.

10.

Sheriff/Adult Corrections (R. Hain)

Monthly Report

Undersheriff Johnson stated the monthly report was on file. No additional report

was made.

Chairman Molina questioned the timeline of those detainees that have been

housed outside of the Kane County jail. Johnson stated that all the detainees

should be reinstated at the Kane County jail by January 2025.

11.

Coroner (M. Silva)

Monthly Report

Coroner Silva stated the monthly report was on file. She reported that there has

been 109 deaths, with 21 cases requiring transport. She introduced Deputy

Coroner Richardson and Assistant Chief Deputy Coroner Nielsen. Silva stated

that the Coroner's Office did experience heating issues, which left night staff

without heat. She spoke on the Coroner's Office committed staff. She addressed

the past weekend's difficult cases, such as an officer involved in a shooting

death. She stated that many of these cases entailed staff to work overtime. She

noted that she will look into how to avoid overtime. Silva addressed questions

and comments from the Committee. Discussion ensued.

12.

Judiciary & Courts (Villa/O'Brien)

Deputy Court Admin. Mathis spoke on the newly implemented jury system, Genesis.

He noted that this system is an upgrade from the old one. This system provides an

Emergency/Weather notification, which will keep all jurors up to date on the status of

court proceedings. Mathis stated that this upgrade was paid for by the Illinois

Modernization Program and was at no cost to the County. He spoke on the smooth

transition of staff utilizing this new program. Mathis addressed questions and

comments from the Committee.

13.

14.

State's Attorney (J. Mosser)

Monthly Report

SAO Mosser stated the monthly report was on file. No additional report was

made.

Public Defender (R. Conant)

Monthly Report

Public Defender Conant stated the monthly report was on file. She provided a

construction update. The project is on schedule. All furniture is expected to

arrive on December 30, 2024 and the office should be open to staff by January

3, 2025.

15.

Court Services Administration (L. Aust)

Monthly Report

Court Srvs. Exec. Dir. Aust stated the following two reports were on file. She

stated that the monthly numbers are stable with no major changes. She

explained that as new Board Members are taking their positions, she would like

to have a presentation each month on the different units within Court Services.

These presentations would consist of job duties and financial aspects.

Referencing the 2025 Committee Goal of the continued review of the financial

impact of the SAFE-T Act, Aust stated that a presentation would be given

addressing this. She noted that this presentation would be given at a future

Committee of the Whole meeting. Additionally, as the holiday season

approaches, many participants in the specialty court programs, such as drug

court, do not get to be home for the holidays and miss out on spending time with

family. That being said, staff has donated their time and financial resources to

adopt families that are unable to celebrate the holidays. Those that have

participated have adopted families with children that cannot buy Christmas gifts,

due to court mandated treatment. Aust requested that all those that would like to

be involved in sponsoring a family to contact her and a link would be sent. Aust

addressed questions and comments from the Committee.

JJC Housing Report

Authorizing Contract Extension for Medical Services for the Juvenile Justice

Center

Court Srvs. Exec. Dir. Aust introduced this resolution. She provided additional

information.

KC Executive Committee

RESULT:

TO:

MOVED FORWARD BY ROLL CALL VOTE

KC Executive Committee

Bill Roth

MOVER:

Bill Lenert

SECONDER:

Myrna Molina, Bill Lenert, Michael Linder, and Bill Roth

AYE:

Michelle Gumz, Vern Tepe, Rick Williams, and Corinne M. Pierog

ABSENT:

16.

Circuit Clerk (T. Barreiro)

Monthly Report

Circuit Clk. Barreiro stated the monthly report was on file. She reported that in

November approximately $69K in collections was recovered. Additionally, there

were about 4,500 new cases filed, 5,500 cases scheduled for court, and 26K

cases filed through eFile in November. Barreiro announced that the Illinois

Supreme Court has developed a task force to collect data regarding the SAFE-T

Act. She stated that Chief Judge Villa and herself will be representing Kane

County. She spoke on the state's difficulties capturing accurate data from all

entities due to different reporting software. Barreiro addressed questions and

comments from the Committee.

17.

Old Business

None.