Ogle County Finance, Revenue & Insurance Committee met Oct. 13.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
Tentative Minutes
(Remote Attendance due to COVID-19 Crisis)
1. Call Meeting to Order: Chairman Sparrow called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Present: Finfrock, Nordman, Typer and Youman. Present via audio: Smith and Whalen. Others: Treasurer Linda Beck, County Clerk & Recorder Laura J. Cook, Director of Court Services Cindy Bergstrom and Kenney.
2. Approval of Minutes – September 8 & 22, 2020 – Motion by Youman to approve the minutes as presented, 2nd by Nordman. Roll call: Yes – Finfrock, Nordman, Smith, Typer, Whalen, Youman, Sparrow. Motion carried.
3. Public Comment: County Clerk Cook thanked the Maintenance Dept. for their help with preparation for early voting and the ballot drop box. She also thanked her Election Judges that have come in to help.
4. Approval of Bills
• County Clerk: $4,034.50. Motion by Youman, 2nd by Nordman. Roll call: Yes – Finfrock, Nordman, Smith, Typer, Whalen, Youman, Sparrow. Motion carried.
• Treasurer: $3,327.16. Motion by Nordman, 2nd by Youman. Roll call: Yes – Finfrock, Nordman, Smith, Typer, Whalen, Youman, Sparrow. Motion carried.
• Finance: $3,418.66. Motion by Nordman, 2nd by Youman. Roll call: Yes – Finfrock, Nordman, Smith, Typer, Whalen, Youman, Sparrow. Motion carried.
• Department Claims: $240.00. Motion by Nordman that the Department Claims have been reviewed, 2nd by Youman. Roll call: Yes – Finfrock, Nordman, Smith, Typer, Whalen, Youman, Sparrow. Motion carried.
5. Insurance
• Health Insurance and Aggregate report:.67 loss ratio.
• Property Casualty – CIRMA Update: Meeting will be held in 2 weeks; renewals will be coming in.
• Insurance Program Review: None
6. Department Reports: County Clerk Cook stated she has received a grant from Center for Tech and Civil Life for $23,000 which can be used for postage and Election Judge hazardous duty pay. Things remain busy with early voting; 1,737 early voters and 2,596
Vote by Mail ballots that have been processed.
Treasurer Beck stated she submitted $223,463.52 in expenses under the Cure Grant; some payroll items were questioned and everything has been submitted. She has not heard anything else back from them. Finfrock asked when the next group would be submitted.
Beck stated she is waiting on some departments for the July, August and September expenses. Cook asked what the deadline would be for those submissions; Beck stated she would like everything by the end of the month.
7. Budget Review: Kenney addressed the Committee regarding Bergstrom’s request for equality in vacation time for her staff. Kenney stated Bergstrom was only addressing her staff, however the Personnel Committee feels it should be looked at for the 10 individuals that it would affect. Bergstrom stated in her department 4 non-union managers follow the County manual; her proposal is to make it equitable. It was questioned last month at the Personnel Committee of how many it would affect Countywide. Bergstrom stated she researched it more and found 1 in Sheriff, 1 in Health and 1 in Highway along with 3 in Focus House and 4 in Probation. Bergstrom stated there is no incentive to get an employee to move up. Typer asked when everything changed; at one point, everyone was on the same scale. Youman stated we cannot look at just her department; we need to look at the whole thing. Typer would like to see what the other contracts state. Bergstrom stated the only departments that are union are Circuit Clerk, which has no managers, and Sheriff’s Dept. only has 1 non-union manager. Typer stated he is not willing to make a decision today without reviewing it all. Youman stated we need to look at the overall impact it will cause.
Kenney will get the information that is being requested. Youman stated we should know what every contract is doing. Typer would like to see consistency. Discussion was held regarding the carryover of vacation days. Bergstrom will assist Kenney is getting the information. Whalen asked what days are paid out at the end of employment. Sparrow stated only vacation.
Sparrow briefly went through the budget report.
8. Old Business
• C-PACE Contract: Sparrow stated he hasn’t received any direction from State’s Attorney Morrow so he will bring this back next year.
• Coroner Stipend: Sparrow presented the Resolution regarding the proposed stipend; $18,000 over the 4 year term as long as Finch fulfills his term. This is only for Finch; it does not go to his replacement if something caused him to not fulfill his 4-year term.
Sparrow stated this is how Rockford does it; it does not affect his base salary. Motion by Finfrock to approve the Resolution as presented, 2nd by Nordman. Typer stated he
finds this to be inappropriate; he appreciates the Coroner and his work. Typer stated we have other Elected Officials and will they say why not me. We categorically continually make special situations and special considerations; he does not see this as a clean piece of ruling. Typer asked what this is being tied into such as performance or change of duties. Sparrow asked Kenney the reason. Kenney stated it is based on past performance and to recognize the shortcomings of the compensation level. Kenney stated the position is 24/7/365 and asked for an updated job description. Kenney stated they are trying hard to recognize outstanding performance at the County level. Kenney stated it does have a sunset clause for the end of the term. Sparrow stated he does agree with the proposal. Youman asked if this is tied to performance or is it subjectively evaluated. Nordman stated performance evaluation is an on-going task. County Clerk Cook stated there is no job performance evaluation, for an Elected Official, that is done by the electors. Sparrow stated this resolution is only good for the 4-year term. Youman asked what we are doing to fix the issue of being a part-time position. Kenney stated that will be looked at. Whalen asked if the Coroner’s salary is that far different from other Elected Officials. Sparrow stated it is a big difference. Whalen asked if the stipend would bring him close to other Elected Officials; no, he would still be short.
Sparrow stated the stipend has already been included in the proposed FY2021 budget.
Typer stated the contract law portion is that we made an offer. The salary has to be set 180 days before the election. The offer is the salary and the job duties; it is an offer and an acceptance. The individual, no matter which Elected Official we are talking about, accepts to take on that job for that determined amount of time and that salary. We have an offer and an acceptance; we have a fiduciary responsibility to the Electors who we have told them this is what it is and where it is at. Perhaps another individual would have gone for those jobs had we been honest with them and said this is what it pays.
There is a reason this is a law. When we walk out of this room, we owe people a definition of why we are doing it. Typer feels it is a line that they shouldn’t cross.
Youman asked if we are exposing ourselves for more requests from Elected Officials.
Sparrow stated he would pass that onto the Personnel Committee for review. Smith stated the issue is that we need to fix it the next time around when salaries are set. It needs to be a full-time job and there is no running another company. Smith has no
problem supporting this since Finch does deserve it, but we need to fix it right next time. Roll call: Yes – Finfrock, Nordman, Smith, Whalen, Sparrow. No – Typer, Youman. Motion carried. Sparrow stated it will be brought before the Board next week.
9. New Business
• Treasurer’s Stipend: Kenney stated they are asking to reinstate a portion of the stipend that was removed in the Treasurer’s package. The stipend is to maintain the Health Insurance Program. The stipend was $3,500 and it was reduced to $2,000 when Query Insurance held our accounts. They no longer provide the services they were before.
Personnel Committee approved it unanimously. Sparrow stated this approval does not need to go before the full Board. Motion by Finfrock to approve the Treasurer’s stipend in the amount of $3,500.00 for maintaining the Health Insurance Program, 2nd by Smith. Finfrock stated it should have been increased a few years back. Youman does support this request, but we really need to look at how all the different things are compensated. Roll call: Yes – Finfrock, Nordman, Smith, Whalen, Youman, Sparrow.
No – Typer. Motion carried.
• Hiring Freeze Position Review – New Requests: None
10. Other Business: None
11. Closed Session: None
12. Adjournment: Motion by Nordman to adjourn, 2nd by Finfrock. Roll call: Yes – Finfrock, Nordman, Smith, Typer, Whalen, Youman, Sparrow. Motion carried.
Time: 6:14 p.m.
https://www.oglecounty.org/document_center/County%20Board/Committees/Finance%20and%20Insurance/2020/Finance%20and%20Insurance%20Committee%20Minutes%20October.pdf
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