Carbondale Reporter

Jackson County Legislative and Public Safety Committee met Feb. 11.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

Call to Order (5:03 PM)

Members Present: Calandro, Comparato, Erbes, Morris, Mueller and Snyder

Members Absent: Basden II

Also present: Kenton Schafer, Bart Hagston, Clare Killman, Jane Logie, Beau Henson

Approval of Minutes

I. 20-4760 January 14, 2020 Minutes

A motion was made by Erbes, seconded by Comparato, to approve the January 14, 2020 minutes as presented. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

Communication

II. 20-4769 Soil & Water Annual Meeting Notice

The County Administrator reported that the Soil & Water Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 20, 2020

Animal Control

III. 20-4761 Animal Control part time job description

A motion was made by Mueller, seconded by Comparato, to amend the FT job description to a PT job description to have ready at the March meeting.

Health Department & Solid Waste

IV. 20-4762 Jackson County Health Department

Hagston reported that the health department has been working to develop plans & procedures to deal with any travelers who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus. He also shared that the health department has been sharing guidance with medical providers and the Ambulance Service as it is released.

Hagston stated that the health department received a grant through the Illinois Public Health Association to promote Census participation to hard-to-count populations.

Hagston concluded by informing the committee that last week health department management presented a plan to the Board of Health to discontinue three programs in March: Family Case Management, HealthWorks and High Risk Infant Follow-Up. The Board of Health voted to accept the proposal and are implementing these changes. The health department is working to mitigate the impact of this action.

Comparato suggested that there would be concerns from the board members due to this loss of services to vulnerable populations. Mueller questioned how many people this cut would affect. Hagston confirmed that there would be continuance of some parts of the work within the WIC program.

V. 20-4763 Solid Waste Enforcement

Hagston reported that there were 9 open dumping/open burning inspections or field visits, 7 of which were re-visits to existing sites and 2 were visits to new sites; there were 3 citizen complaints and one landfill inspection.

VI. 20-4764 Solid Waste Fund Update

Hagston reviewed the fund update.

VII. 20-4765 Recycling Program

Hagston reported that Ms. Gale had completed the following actions:

• Submitted the annual IEPA Electronics Collection report.Jan. 1, 2019 – Dec. 31, 2019, 515,943 pounds of electronics were collected and recycled.

• Staff participated in a Webinar on the Consumer Electronics Recycling Act provided by ILCSWMA.

· Hired a recycling coordinator who will start 2/24/20.

Erbes questioned about recycling dropoffs and if the county had a contract with Southern, which it does.

Emergency Management

Ambulance Service

VIII. 20-4766 Ambulance Monthly Claims

A motion was made by Erbes, seconded by Mueller, to authorize payment of the Ambulance monthly claims in the amount of $124,813.84. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

IX. 20-4767 Director's Report

Schafer reported that there were 859 patient care reports for 823 incidents for EMS and 25 Livery transports. He also stated that there was a positive worker's compensation update due to a direct result of the power load systems which were installed in late 2018.

Schafer also mentioned that on behalf of the ambulance service employees, there was a big Thank You to the County Board to for approving the initial purchase of power load systems and making their job safer for everyone.

Legislative

X. 20-4768 Board by-law changes

This item will be moved to the March meeting to give the committee time to review and offer changes.

XI. 20-4770 Resolution in Support of Solarize Southern Illinois

This item was moved to the top of the agenda.

A presentation was made concerning the Solarize Southern Illinois program. Comparato questioned about consumer savings for the program and who they would employ to complete the work. Mueller commented on the pricing aspect for consumers. Morris questioned how the program works on the consumer level.

A motion was made by Comparato, seconded by Snyder, to approve to send the resolution to the full board with the elimination of the building information. The motion carried by unanimous vote.

Citizen Comments

Old Business

New Business

Comparato questioned the cannabis statute and where the committee wanted to allow the public to consume it. He proposed that the current statute allows for local control about onsite consumption. Mueller inquired whether or not this topic discussed with the Liquor Advisory Board and if it should be discussed with the State's Attorney Office.

Executive Session

Adjourn

Erbes moved and Mueller 2nd to adjourn, motion carried.

https://www.jacksoncounty-il.gov/Home/Components/MeetingsManager/MeetingMinutes/ShowPrimaryDocument/?minutesID=5129&isPub=True&includeTrash=False