Quincy Reporter

Adams County Board Public Health & Safety Committee met Feb. 13.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Overseeing the Sheriff, Emergency Management, Coroner and Animal Control.

Present were Keith Callaway, Mark Dietrich, Barbara Fletcher, and Mark Sorenson. Also attending were Ambulance and EMS Director John Simon, Sheriff Tony Grootens, Coroner Scott Graham and VAC Director Paul Havermale. Excused was Steve McQueen.

The meeting was called to order at 5:38 PM.

There was no speaker.

The bills were reviewed and appeared to be in order.

A motion to approve the minutes of the January 9, 2024, meeting was made by Mark Sorensen and seconded by Mark Dietrich, motion carried.

Department Reports

Emergency Management/Ambulance-Director John Simon

Director Simon reported that they continue to remain at full staffing.

Also, from now on, the Ambulance Board will approve their bills. The

EMS and Ambulance bills will still come to us for information purposes, but we are no longer the approving authority. This change was made in order to decrease the period between the arrival and the approval of the bills.

Coroner – Coroner Graham reported that in the month of January there were: 88 reported deaths

4 autopsies

3 abandoned remains.

53 cremation permits were issued.

2 suicides

He also reported that there has been an uptick in abandoned remains.

He also has an indigent Veteran requiring burial. Paul Havermale suggested that this was the type of thing that the newly established Veterans Assistance

Commission was created for. Scott will give Paul the information on the Veteran.

The Coroner also provided the Committee with a list of the unclaimed remains buried at the County crypt at Golden and at Woodland Cemetery in Quincy.

Sheriff – Sheriff Tony Grootens reported that for the month of January there were:

6 new hires:

Desarae Garcia- Jail

Jerry Miles- Jail

Matthew Farha- Jail

Zakary Nevins- Jail

Gerald Rose-Court Security

Jacob Pittman-Court Security

2 Departures:

Zakary Nevins- Jail

Timothy O’Dear-Jail

The average jail population was 106.

Sheriff Grootens also would like to request two additional School Resource Officers.

They will cost the County approximately $100,000 each. He also plans to request 2 more in 2025. In the case of an incident, it would currently take Deputies an extremely long time to respond across the County. He will meet with the Finance Committee and hopefully bring it before the entire County Board in March.

The Sheriff reported that he expects to start receiving the Federal inmates soon. They will bring in $85 per day to the County.

Veterans Assistance Commission- Paul Havermale

Director Havermale stated that he will be making periodic appearances at the Public Health and Safety Committee meetings to provide updates on the Commission.

He reported that since they started operations in January, they have been: Meeting and networking with other organizations

Establishing their office and procedures

Obtaining Veteran’s Administration certifications

And have assisted nineteen clients to date.

They are located at 3701 S. 36th Street, Eastlake Center, Suite 3, Behind Mays Real Estate. He invited members of the Committee to stop in and visit any time.

Old Business

None

New Business

None

Appointments

None

Executive Session:

None

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 5:30 PM in the ROE Conference Room.

https://www.adamscountyil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/9433