The first hour was taken up by three concerns of the Sheriff. First, one of his deputies would like to become an canine officer. The Department currently has two canine units in service, one a young dog and an older dog that can serve for two or three more years. The initial cost of adding a dog is about $20,000 and the annual maintenance cost is about $8,000. The deputy who presented the case has a dog that he thinks will make a good police dog, but if it does not work out, he would use another. Most police canines are trained to deal with narcotics and a dog that does drug work is not useful for finding explosives. There was a brief discussion of whether a new dog should be imprinted on marijuana given the uncertainties of whether it will remain illegal. The Council took no action but will think about whether it wants to fund the $8000 a year cost of maintaining another dog.
The second issue involved a discussion of a retirement plan for the chief deputy. He had previously been a merit deputy but had quit and had begun to take his retirement benefits. Then he rejoined as a Court security officer before becoming Chief Deputy. There was a long discussion of what the rules allowed and the Council voted to have its attorney draft a resolution for the next meeting (or perhaps the next session).
The final discussion was of Spillman software that the Sheriff would like to purchase. There are lots of parts that have to come together for the purchase to happen and nothing official was done at the meeting.
The next item, which took almost as long as the Sheriff's business, was a discussion of the Kankakee River Project. The County has received a $3.8 million dollar grant from FEMA to address issues with River flooding and must match 25% of it. The grant works by reimbursing expenses, so the County does not get grant money until after it spends money on the project and submits records of its payments. The Drainage Board had been managing this project and had voted an assessment to more than cover the County's share of the project. That assessment applies to all property in Jasper County within the Kankakee River watershed. However, State law has changed and now assessments of this kind must be passed by county councils, not drainage boards. (It is amazing how many hoops county and local governments must jump through to meet all the state regulations that they are subject to.) Eight counties are involved in the Kankakee River project but only Jasper has secured FEMA funding. The Council approved the assessment of the Drainage Board, though it will not take the final vote until December 27. (The Council meeting was not adjourned but continued so that it could act on the 27th.) The Council also approved a line of credit to finance operations. The line of credit is needed because FEMA does not reimburse until after the bills are paid.
The Council approved a salary ordinance for 2020 with no discussion. I believe this just ratifies what Council had previously approved in the budget.
The final item for the night was approval of the meeting schedule for 2020. Council meetings will continue to be on the third Tuesdays of the month with the exceptions of February and April. The February meeting will be on the 25th and the April meeting on the 14th. Joint Commissioner-Council meetings will be held in July and November.
The Prosecutor's office will be moving into the former PNC Bank building on December 27 and the Probation Office in mid January (after the elevator is working).
There was no BZA or Plan Commission meeting in December.
Construction continues on the concession stand building for the Blacker Fields. The picture below is from Tuesday.
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