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During last week's board-of-whole meeting, board member John Stewart
questioned: "Are we doing background checks on everyone that gets
appointed, whether it is a volunteer or board member that gets
appointed?"
To which policy and procedures committee chairman Rick Aylesworth
responded, saying that board chairman Terry Carlton wanted to make
sure that anything that has to do with the county, we're protected.
Carlton was not present at that meeting.
On Tuesday, Stewart was absent. Also absent was board member
Terry Werth, who serves as liaison to the tourism board. Werth was
said to be under the weather.
The issue was first raised during Tuesday's meeting when the
annual request for appointments of animal control officers was
brought forward.
Carlton said that the animal control appointments would be
skipped for this month. He said that the background checks for these
were requested, in process, but not back yet.
Speaking in the broader context of appointments, Carlton said
that the appointments in question are those that by Illinois statute
the county board chairman is to appoint. The only governing entity
that the state of Illinois recognizes with making these appointments
is the chairman of the county board with the consent of the county
board. "It has been a concern to me, the responsibility that this
board has around those appointments," Carlton said.
Finance chairman Chuck Ruben said that putting off the
appointments until next month would run past the animal control
contract times.
For clarification, he also felt that the verbiage when these
appointments are brought to the board for approval is misleading. He
explained that the Department of Agriculture set up animal control
for governance by the county as a whole. The committee interviews
and decides whether to hire or not to hire. It's not an appointment
by the chairman.
Ruben did not dispute if something more may need to be done
(alluding to background checks) by that committee.
With a deadline looming, animal control chair Kevin Bateman
suggested: "Since there is money-handling involved, I would
recommend appointing (these positions) pending verification of the
LEADS."
LEADS is a database that provides a variety of background
information and is used by law enforcement agencies.
The board gave unanimous approval to the renewal of each
contract, with Dr. Michael Sanborn as administrator, Julie Parker as
warden and Maurice Tierney as deputy warden.
Last month the health department and tourism, both governed by
volunteer boards, were asked to participate. The health department's
background checks were completed and returned in a couple of days.
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Carlton said outside the meeting: "The health department said that they
understood, and most organizations say that they have background checks done on
those who serve in areas of children, elderly and money." Last year when the
county board was setting up for the next two-year administrative
term, the board determined that it was time to do a full review and
modifications of the board's policy and procedures. The last review
of the resolution that defines board proceedings was performed under
Darrell Deverman when he was county board chairman and was approved
in December 1998.
The policies and procedures committee began work and at their
November meeting discussed the areas of appointments and public
comments. Present were chair Rick Aylesworth, Jan Schumacher, Pat
O'Neill, Terry Werth, Terry Carlton, guest and future committee
member Dave Hepler, and guest Michael McIntosh, state's attorney.
Under the advisement of the state's attorney, the committee
proposed to modify Section VI of the county board's policies and
procedures, which details the procedure for appointments. The
state's attorney said that paid and unpaid offices and positions
would all be treated the same for appointments and reappointments.
The following additions were proposed
with consideration for situations when time might be an issue:
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Allowable to forgo
procedure for appointments; may be overwritten by unanimous
consent.
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Includes
conducting a LEADS background check.
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At an adjourned meeting with consent
and advice of the board.
The committee expects to take a couple of more months before
completing the amendments to its policies.
At the conclusion of Tuesday meeting, Carlton said that he would
be meeting with the tourism board on Thursday evening and discussing
this as well.
"I appreciate people who do public service and who volunteer with
the volunteer agencies," he said. "But, we have a due diligence to
do on our part too. I don't have the answers at this point in time,
but we'll figure this out."
[By
JAN YOUNGQUIST]
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