The Administrative Services division provides leadership and support in the areas of human and financial management to promote the responsible use of resources. The division often serves as a liaison with other Lake County offices and state agencies. Division responsibilities include budgeting, purchasing, human resources, grant administration, training coordination and risk management. More about the individual functions of the division may be found here.
Budget and Finance
The total Lake County budget for 2012 was just over $487 million. About 28% of the county’s budget supported law and judicial activities in several county departments and agencies. The court’s portion of the county budget was spread across seven funds and totaled $23,608,930.
The largest expenditure category for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, as for most other agencies in the public and private sector, was personnel. Personal services, including salaries and wages, comprised 58% of the budget, while contractual benefits including health/life/dental insurance and retirement made up 23% of the court’s overall budget.
The 2012 budget reflected the strengthening economy in that staff received a wage increase for the first time in three years. The court was also able to secure three new positions: two specialty court positions offset by fee revenue and one technology position, also funded through a special fee. Despite this positive news, the court continued to hold thirteen positions vacant due to an ongoing shortfall in state funding. This resulted in a savings of over $600,000.
The FY12 Corporate Capital Improvement Program (CCIP), which is in a different county budget, included $100,000 to purchase four new courtroom presentation systems. These systems enable the projecting of evidence such as photographs, negatives, and 3-D objects as well as the blending of video via DVD or CD and the like, thus enhancing or more effectively communicating case information.
Grant Administration
In 2012, the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit was awarded $226,173 in continuation funding from the Office of Violence Against Women to work with A Safe Place to strengthen and enhance services at the Family Visitation Center of Lake County. This grant will provide additional bilingual services and allow for the expansion of facility hours to reduce the waiting list for supervised visitations.
The court also received a new $189,693 grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance to hire a clinical psychologist to complete the psychological evaluations for the Therapeutic and Intensive Monitoring (TIM) Court clients. This will reduce the time it takes for clients to move out of the jail and into the TIM Court program. The psychologist will also provide psychotherapy to TIM Court participants and collaborate with other community-based services.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant was renewed for a third and final year. This grant provides $208,333 in funding to support the recovery services provided by the TIM Court.
The juvenile pre-employment program received another year of funding from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority through an $85,000 Juvenile Accountability Block Grant. The funding supports a part-time coordinator and internships for youth at various government offices, businesses, and social service agencies.
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services awarded the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit a $45,000 grant to continue to contract with mediators for five hours a week to aid in the resolution of visitation and custody-related disputes in an effort to increase the collection of child support payments from non-custodial parents.
Human Resources
The Annual Employee Awards Ceremony was held in early 2012 to honor employees for their contributions during 2011. The following staff members were recognized.
Environmental Sustainability Award: Brian Burns, Judicial Information Services
Bonds Officer of the Year: Robert Brothers, Juvenile Detention and Probation Services
Finn/Anderson Exceptional Employee of the Year: Shawn Brennan, Adult Probation
Leadership and Excellence Award: Marci Jumisko, Administrative Services
Employee of the Year: Terry Barrett, Adult Probation
The Reshaping Our Organization plan was implemented as 18 employees from the Adult, Juvenile, and Judicial Operations divisions were promoted to the position of unit manager. Unit managers supervise fewer employees than the Assistant Directors did under the old structure, allowing for increased communication within the various units and improved employee engagement and satisfaction.
Hiring activity continued at a fairly steady pace in 2012 as the court welcomed 18 new employees to fill funded vacancies. Staff improved the hiring process by developing a PowerPoint presentation of the material that is covered during the first day orientation. All new employees now see the same material in a clear and consistent manner.
In other employee news, ten employees received promotions through the court’s career path program in 2012, and three employees retired.
Training Administration
The Nineteenth Judicial Circuit’s staff recorded over 7,000 hours of training in 2011 and over 5,200 additional hours through the third quarter of 2012.
Administrative Services organized a 6-month supervisory training program called Leadership Academy to provide the new unit managers with the skills they will need to succeed in their new positions. The training program consisted of 47.5 hours of training in a classroom setting, online training courses, critical review essays, a staff position paper, and assessments on computer skills emphasizing proficiency with case management databases.