Meeting Events

Meeting: z7e7ydgvgv0.stephenson_county_il_administration_committee_meeting_02_11_26

Meeting date: 2026-02-11

Meeting type: administration_committee

This is a deterministic derived artifact, not official meeting minutes. Related records may be grouped for review while complete machine provenance remains in the JSON artifact.

Decisions and Votes

• Approval of Agenda — Passed

  • Summary: The motion to approve the agenda passed.
  • Evidence: “All those in favor say aye. Aye.”

• Approval Meeting Minutes from January 7, 2026 — Passed

  • Summary: Motion made and seconded to approve meeting minutes from January 7, 2026.
  • Evidence: “So moved and 4.0 approval meeting minutes from January 7, 2026. Move approval. Second.”
  • Evidence: “All those in favor say aye. Aye.”
  • Source timestamp: 01:09

• Approval of Claims — Passed

  • Summary: Motion made and seconded to approve claims totaling $73,823.17.
  • Evidence: “Before me I have a total of $73,823.17 and I’ll make a motion to approve. I’ll second.”
  • Evidence: “All those in favor say aye. Aye.”
  • Source timestamp: 01:23

• Approval of Agreement with Demnet and CAMA, with Edge License Maintenance and Support — Passed

  • Summary: Motion made to accept the contract for Demnet and CAMA.
  • Evidence: “I’ll make a motion that we accept the contract.”
  • Evidence: “All in favor say aye. Aye.”
  • Source timestamp: 23:09

• Approval of agreement with St. Power Health Services, employee wellness procedures — Approved

  • Summary: Motion to approve the contract as presented.
  • Evidence: “I guess I’ll make a motion to approve it as presented.”
  • Evidence: “All those in favor say aye. Aye.”
  • Source timestamp: 25:00

• Approval Agreement with Empower Health Services for a walking program — Approved

  • Summary: Motion to approve the agreement for the walking program.
  • Evidence: “I’ll make a motion for you.”
  • Evidence: “All those in favor, say hi. Hi.”
  • Source timestamp: 30:42

Procedural Actions

• Meeting Commencement

  • Summary: The meeting was set to begin with the Administration Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday, February 11th, 2026 at 5 PM.
  • Evidence: “Alright, we’re going to get started with the Administration Legal Affairs Committee, Wednesday, February 11th, 2026 at 5 PM”
  • Source timestamp: 00:16

• Approval of Agenda

  • Summary: Motion made and seconded to approve the agenda.
  • Evidence: “All right, how about 3.0 approval of agenda? So I move. I will second.”
  • Source timestamp: 01:01

Projects

• Grant projects and equipment upgrades
  • Summary: The grant funding received was smaller than previous periods, leading the speaker to work on laptop projects and new workstations for several people.
  • Evidence: “Working on some grant projects, Chanel got, the grant wasn’t as much as what it’s been in the past, it’s kind of a lot smaller, so I’m doing some laptop projects and new workstations for a few people.”
  • Source timestamp: 18:31

Presentations and Reports

• Statement of Economic Interest and Levy Confirmations

  • Summary: Discussion covered the mailing of medical listings for statements of economic interest, which requires districts to certify adequacy or list new board members; this process involves about 650 forms due by May 1st. Levy confirmations have been sent to all taxing districts, allowing them to review amounts levied and any bonds filed.
  • Evidence: “Last month I discussed we had sent out the medical listing for the statement of economic interest where all of the districts have to certify the list we have as adequate or if there’s new people on their board. That was due February 1st and now it’s the part where we give out the yellow forms with all those individuals and there’s about 650 statement of economic interest forms that go out throughout the county. So there’s a lot more than you can imagine. We have to thank all of the taxing districts, all of the commissions and boards. Those are not due until May 1st, but they should all be out and disbursed by the end of this week. The levy confirmations have gone out to all the taxing districts and last week.”
  • Source timestamp: 02:25

• Election Processes and Voting Equipment

  • Summary: The office sent over 140 confirmation letters to election judges, receiving 15 ’no’ responses. There are 40 new voting booths available; these were paid for with grand dollars.
  • Evidence: “And then election, election judges, we sent out over 140 confirmation letters to our judges. We’ve received 15 no’s back. The good thing about a lot of those no’s is they are, they want to stay on and they want to be”
  • Source timestamp: 03:13

• Election Timeline Updates

  • Summary: The office received state certification for the election process with specimen ballots; an updated certification was required by court order on January 27th, necessitating changes to the specimen ballot. Early voting began on February 5th, following the most up-to-date certification available.
  • Evidence: “Last month I talked that I was looking forward to getting the certification from the state that way I could start the election process with the specimen ballots and all that proofing. The good news was I did get the certification on time, but there was objections pending… On January 27th, one day later, the court ordered an updated certification to our office to everyone in the state of Illinois. So we had to reset the early vote. My specimen ballot was planning to be posted on that day, so I had to update my specimen ballot to remove a candidate for governor. So we had that pending that had come from the circuit court… And then on February 6th, the order was granted that that candidate was to be off the ballot. We proceeded on February 5th because that was the most up-to-date certification that we had from the State Board of Elections.”
  • Source timestamp: 05:50

• Supervisor of Assessments Board Review Status

  • Summary: The Supervisor reported that 25 cases are in or into the board review stage, noting four commercial complaints require a 30-day period for a hearing.
  • Evidence: “So in my office it is, I’m done with 25 or into the board review stage. We did have four complaints. We had a few commercial complaints and with commercial complaints, when you send out the tentative notices, you have to give them 30 days in order to meet.”
  • Source timestamp: 09:35

• GFP Meeting and Board Appointments

  • Summary: The last GFP meeting was on the 28th, where a new board president was appointed due to Josh Elliott’s term completion, along with two new board members.
  • Evidence: “Last GFP meeting was on the 28th. There was a new board president appointed because Josh Elliott’s term was completed. And two new board members were appointed at that meeting as well.”
  • Source timestamp: 12:01

• Colblena Ribbon Cutting Event

  • Summary: The speaker attended the ribbon cutting at Colblena Presidencia where the governor was present; the facility will manufacture Brie Bites, which will be unique in North America.
  • Evidence: “January 30th, I attended the ribbon cutting out at Colblena, Presidencia that the governor was at. Very nice event put on, they’re pretty excited about the new line starting up and they’re They’re going to be manufacturing Brie Bites, so picture individual like the baby doe picks up their little individual breeds. They will be the only one in North America making those and distributing it.”
  • Source timestamp: 13:24

• Empower Health Wellness Screenings and Program

  • Summary: The annual wellness screenings are scheduled for April 2nd and April 9th, and a walking program will run starting in April.
  • Evidence: “The two wellness screening dates are April 2nd and 9th for the employees and we’re going to do the walking program from the month of April as well.”
  • Source timestamp: 14:00

• Reappraisals of County Buildings

  • Summary: Caitlin was on site, contacted through IPMG, to conduct reappraisals on all county-owned buildings and monuments.
  • Evidence: “Yesterday we had Caitlin on site. She was contacted through IPMG to do reappraisals on all the county owned buildings and the monument and different things.”
  • Source timestamp: 15:32

• Phone installations across the county

  • Summary: The next day, phone installations will proceed with the probation department while the courthouse is closed to minimize disruption. The health department will be the last site for full installation within the next one or two weeks.
  • Evidence: “Continuing with the phone installations across the county, tomorrow we’re going to be doing the probation department with the courthouse being closed. It was just the easiest way to swap out a lot of phones or not cause disruption. That will have us with everything done, except for the health department, they will be our last site to get fully installed, which will probably happen in the next week or two.”
  • Source timestamp: 17:11

Metrics

• Voter Participation Metrics
  • Summary: As of the date of discussion, there were 191 early voters and over 1,400 vote-by-mail ballots sent out.
  • Evidence: “As of today, we have 191 early voters, and we have over 1,400 vote-by-mail ballots out of the mail.”
  • Source timestamp: 07:33

Discussion

• Voting Booths Status

  • Summary: The 40 new voting booths are in addition to existing ones; they are described as more sturdy than old booths.
  • Evidence: “So those 40 new booths, are those replacements or in addition to what we already have? In addition to what we have, the ones that we currently have, every election, some break a little movement. We have 40 voting booths, but one booth is four stations, and one of those stations is handicap accessible.”
  • Source timestamp: 08:18

• Decommissioning of Voting Booths

  • Summary: The speaker stated that if voting booths must be decommissioned, they are not safe for any year and cannot be lent out.
  • Evidence: “Yeah, usually if they have to be decommissioned, they’re not safe for any one of the years and we don’t lend out the account.”
  • Source timestamp: 09:12

• Shredding Service Company Update

  • Summary: A conference call was held with a new shredding service company; they expect to be on site within two months and procedures for pickup sites and departmental billing were discussed.
  • Evidence: “I had a conference call last week with the new shredding service company that will be servicing the county. They have they said they probably will be on site within two months they have some procedures take care of on their end we discussed the pickup sites the individual departmental billing”
  • Source timestamp: 11:20

• Court Appearance for Nursing Center

  • Summary: The court date for the nursing center was continued to March 4th, when summary judgment will be entered.
  • Evidence: “Court was today at 1.30 for the nursing center. Got another continuance to March 4th, but they will be entering the summary judgment on that day, so more court coming up on that.”
  • Source timestamp: 12:22

• FOIA Requests and Fraud Attempts

  • Summary: There has been an influx of FOIAs from multiple counties, and three emails attempting to fake direct deposit changes were received.
  • Evidence: “Seems like we have had an influx of FOIAs lately. I know Jasmine has spoken to some of her counterparts and there was an influx from the same person in many different counties. So I had nine last week in my office and farmed out many of those two other departments as well. So we also had part of you, and I don’t want to take away from Nate’s report, but i’ve I’ve had three emails trying to, you know, fake emails trying to change direct deposits last week.”
  • Source timestamp: 12:51

• IPMG Portal Update

  • Summary: Mark Bell met to discuss IPMG’s new portal for submitting claims, and a refresher training is scheduled for department heads in April.
  • Evidence: “February 4th, Mark Bell from IPMG came and met with me. He wanted to discuss, there’s a new portal that their company is moving to. It’s just how we’ll be submitting claims and different things through that. We went over counties’ open claims and discussed the NeoGov portal where there’s online trainings and he’ll be coming to the department head meeting in April to kind of do a refresher for department heads on that.”
  • Source timestamp: 15:02

• NeoGov portal training and department head meeting

  • Summary: A refresher on the NeoGov portal will be provided to department heads at a meeting in April.
  • Evidence: “he’ll be coming to the department head meeting in April to kind of do a refresher for department heads on that.”
  • Source timestamp: 15:12

• Reappraisals of county owned buildings

  • Summary: Caitlin was contacted through IPMG to perform reappraisals on all county-owned buildings and monuments.
  • Evidence: “Yesterday we had Caitlin on site. She was contacted through IPMG to do reappraisals on all of the county owned buildings and the monument and different things.”
  • Source timestamp: 15:32

• County Board participation in logging program

  • Summary: Discussion occurred regarding whether the County Board could participate as one of the teams for the logging program.
  • Evidence: “Can the County Board do the logging program? To be one of the teams.”
  • Source timestamp: 15:47

• Motivation for engagement and brainstorming

  • Summary: The speaker discussed efforts to gather ideas from department heads regarding motivation for engagement, mentioning a half marathon idea.
  • Evidence: “I tried to get you all off to the half marathon. And we did talk, you know, with the department heads to try and get some ideas and brainstorming around motivation for engagement”
  • Source timestamp: 15:47

• Cold cheese technology process details

  • Summary: The reason for a change in the cold cheese process was attributed by one source to older technology catching up with equipment, while another mentioned a short shop life of 90 days.
  • Evidence: “Question on that cold cheese thing. Did they say that was due to the tear thing at all or just a new business? I think they just they they said the technology behind the process is an older technology that they finally caught up with the equipment and um there’s been kind of the demand and you know I meet now um and the stability the shop life forum I believe is a year where most free is like 90 days so it’s it’s a good alternative”
  • Source timestamp: 17:02

• EMA projects status

  • Summary: The speaker noted that EMA has some pending projects awaiting cleanup of their slate.
  • Evidence: “I know EMA has some projects for me. They’re waiting for my slate to clean up a little bit.”
  • Source timestamp: 20:27

• AI policy for 8.1 status

  • Summary: The AI policy for 8.1 is not ready, and efforts to get an opinion were blocked in multiple avenues.
  • Evidence: “I was told the AI policy for 8.1 is not quite ready, so we’ll just get it. Well, Mark Bell, we referred it to him for an opinion and he referred us to someone else that we supposedly have an account for. We’ve been blocked in every avenue of trying to get that opinion.”
  • Source timestamp: 20:40

• Approval of Agreement with Demnet and CAMA (Edge License Maintenance and Support)

  • Summary: The contract is a continuation of service previously set up between 2011 and 2012, used for drawing programs and text inquiry. The service remains good until 2030.
  • Evidence: “George just gave you guys a copy of the contract, it’s just a continuation of that we’ve had for the last, I think Ron set it up in 2011 to 2012. My office uses it for the drawing program and DevNet, and then Stephanie’s office and Jasmine’s office uses it for text inquiry. So it needed to be approved in January. It came into my email a little later than that. So it didn’t get on the the agenda for um in January but I talked to her and they continued the service and stuff like that um it’s good until 2030”
  • Source timestamp: 21:32

• Approval of agreement with St. Power Health Services (employee wellness procedures)

  • Summary: This is the fourth year for annual wellness screenings, involving a minimal increase per participant that the county would cover due to Blue Shield plan changes. The scope was narrowed down to two locations from three.
  • Evidence: “So this is, I think, year four now with the wellness screenings. We do an annual agreement with them. There’s a slight change in what the Blue Shield plans cover. So there’s a minimal increase per participant that the county would be covering. We planned a cushion in the budget for an increase. We also narrowed it down to two locations as opposed to the three that we did last year.”
  • Source timestamp: 23:34

• St. Power Health Services contract details

  • Summary: The annual agreement involves a minimal increase per participant that the county would be covering due to changes in Blue Shield plans, but this was budgeted for; the number of locations is narrowed down to two.
  • Evidence: “There’s a slight change in what the Blue Shield plans cover. So there’s a minimal increase per participant that the county would be covering. We planned a cushion in the budget for an increase. We also narrowed it down to two locations as opposed to the three that we did last year.”
  • Source timestamp: 23:44

• Employee incentives for wellness screenings

  • Summary: The intent was to proceed with cash or gift cards as motivation, unless the board felt differently.
  • Evidence: “At the department head meeting, I think pretty much everyone said that cash in hand is what will motivate their people to take place. So unless the board feels differently, that was our intent was to proceed as we had planned.”
  • Source timestamp: 25:21

• Participation of non-insured individuals for wellness screenings

  • Summary: Non-insured individuals such as County Board members can participate if they pay the full cost.
  • Evidence: “My other question is non-insured individuals such as County Board members, can they participate as long as they pay the full cost? Yes they can”
  • Source timestamp: 25:42

• RX mapper screening rollout status

  • Summary: The RX mapper for chronic diseases has been rolled out.
  • Evidence: “Has that been rolled out yet? Yes, yes. And I know Carrie will be presenting information on that Friday.”
  • Source timestamp: 25:51

• DNA kit submission for screenings

  • Summary: One individual stated they have the DNA kit to submit but have not sent it yet.
  • Evidence: “I got the DNA, the kit to submit my DNA. So I have not sent it yet,”
  • Source timestamp: 25:51

Follow-ups

• Data Entry for Board Review Hearings

  • Summary: The goal is to have all data entered into Jasmine’s hand by March 2nd.
  • Evidence: “So my goal is to have everything over in Jasmine’s hand by the first part, March versus Sunday, Saturday, Sunday, so March 2nd.”
  • Source timestamp: 10:28

• VPN reconfiguration due to firewall upgrade vulnerability

  • Summary: Due to a notification about a vulnerability requiring an upgrade to the new firewalls, the current VPN configuration was broken, necessitating reconfiguration across four offices.
  • Evidence: “got a notification last night that there was a vulnerability. The new firewalls we have in place, lets everybody know when they have an issue somewhere else required an upgrade and in that upgrade, it broke our current VPN configuration. So I’ve got four offices to reconfigure VPNs on.”
  • Source timestamp: 18:43

• Old phone disposal scheduling

  • Summary: A recycle day will be scheduled because the volume of old phones (approximately 300) is causing storage issues.
  • Evidence: “I will be scheduling a recycle day as well because all the old phones are creating havoc everywhere that they are. So I really don’t have a place for 300 phones.”
  • Source timestamp: 19:47