Quincy Reporter

Adams County Board Executive Committee met Jan. 3.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

PRESENT:, R. Kent Snider, Dave Bellis, Barbara Fletcher, Bret Austin, Bob Reich

ABSENT:

OTHER: Gary Farha, Travis Cooley, Anthony Foster, David McCleery, John Simon, Todd Eyler, Pat Frazier, Ryan Hinkamper, David Hochgraber, Stacy Edwards, Brent Fischer, Caitlin Hickerson

05:32 pm meeting was convened.

The committee reviewed the minutes from the previous meeting. Bret Austin moved to approve them as written, seconded by Barbara Fletcher. The minutes were approved.

A.) Speaker

a. N/A

Reports

b. N/A

New Business

A. AMBULANCE WAGE INCREASE PROPOSAL:

a. Currently the Ambulance Department is in year 3 of a 4-year contract. The wages our Paramedics and EMTs are not competitive with neighboring counties. Our wages are approximately 30% lower than other public safety departments. The ambulance department is asking to increase wages through an MOU for the paramedics and EMTs. The proposed increase is $2.00 for EMTs and $0.50 for Paramedics. This has already been passed through the Ambulance Board and this budget can support this request. There are 7-10 critical care paramedics and they have no separate scale. They are also proposing a $0.10 to those paramedic. This would increase their budget by $3400.00. The committee recommends John to start the process of a formal MOU. Why are we so far behind in pay wage? Mr. Simon speaks that a lot has changed since COVID. Marion County MO is also NOT union. The ambulance department is currently down 11. Bret Austin suggests going back and confirming the numbers. Bret also suggests adding in Lateral transfer pay or Paramedics in the MOU. No action was taken.

B. HUMAN RESOURCES

a. Lowell Klassert has moved back West. Need to work on hiring someone new in a couple of months for the County Board Office.

C. RADIO SYSTEM

a. John Simon and Tony Grootens have talked about the Radio System. The scare was the cost in Starcom. There is Financing in place. Chairman Snider mentioned he needed them to get the plan in place to present to the Full County Board. There is leverage to negotiate the price. EMA submitted a $300,000 grant but did not receive it. Motorola has options to finance as well. No Action was taken.

D. DOORS/LOCKS/CAMERAS IN THE JAIL

a. This was passed in the September meeting. Technology Committee approved this from Verkada. Cameras that were originally put in the jail were undersized. Cameras are going completely offline all throughout the day resulting in the system forced reset. Cameras only had a 1 year warranty. Vendors have tried to get the cameras to work with our system. Cameras and door access are currently analog. We are only getting 14 days of retention and legally we need 90 days. Verkada has an 18 week path and 10 years service agreement. Verkada is also cloud based. They have their own door access system. A Committee member asked if there are any value to reselling the cameras we are currently using. There are – John Wood would be interested in purchasing the cameras. The new system would have analytics. This will be brought to Finance on Monday.

E. JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER AIR SYSTEM RENOVATION

a. This is just a recap – $2.4 Million total project cost. $1.2 million from ARPA Funds. $400,000 from Judge Larson special use funds. Leaving us with $500,000 in the hole. We have $1.6 Million in reserves.

F. LIBERTY FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT – ARPA FUNDS REQUEST

a. Liberty Fire wants to purchase more equipment. This will be added to the request list. No action was taken.

G. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING – PBPA CORRECTIONS

a. MOU regarding Shift Leads in the jail. Sheriff Grootens is looking into this tomorrow. No action was taken.

Resolutions

a. N/A

Miscellaneous

a. N/A

Executive Session

a. A motion to go into executive session to discuss Legal/Litigation was made by Dave Bellis. Bob Reich seconded the motion. Motion carried. Executive Session started at 06:58pm.

b. A motion was made to resume regular session at 07:03 by Bob Reich. Dave Bellis seconded the motion. Motion carried and regular session resumed. No action is to be taken from Executive Session.

Adjournment

A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Bret Austin. Barb Dave Bellis seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned at 07:04 p.m.

https://www.co.adams.il.us/home/showpublisheddocument/8020