Present
Charles Wright- Acting Inspector General; Megan Carlson- Assistant Deputy Inspector General; Saul Morse- Chairman; Megan Norlin- Board Member; JaeJin Pak- Board Member; Shirley Perez- Board Member; Nancy Sage; Greg Walkington- Board Member; Demetra Brown- Administrative Assistant
Called to Order - 11:00am
Quorum present to commence the meeting.
Approval of Meeting Minutes
- December 19, 2023, minutes were reviewed.
- Motion to approve the minutes - Greg Walkington
- Motion Seconded -Shirley Perez
- All in favor, No Opposed - December 19, 2023, minutes approved.
Bi-Monthly Update on OIG Operations
- Legislation was passed to perform site review at both facilities and agencies but due to union representation, the agency might reject the bill.
- Meeting with Stephany Hoehner to discuss continued allegations regarding employees of Choate.
- Security/surveillance cameras at Choate have been installed but it's ambiguous as to who is monitoring them- a private company or SODC.
- Difficulty retrieving the footage remains an issue.
- Release of footage- the policy and documentation surrounding its release in a reasonable time frame.
Administrative Matters
- The number of employees was 71 at the end of 2023, number is now 84. OIG has never been staffed over 80 investigators.
- The goal is to hire 25-30 more investigators in the coming months to fill vacant positions.
- Hiring challenges persists/ delays due to various reasons.
- Identifying new office spaces to house new employees for everyone to have a space of their own.
- Met with IDPH (Sheila Baker) to discuss roles of the organization, IDPH has 150 surveyors and are seeking to hire another 400 more at some point.
Other Business
- Per Greg, Equip for Equality recommended delaying the installation of the cameras.
- Jae Jin Pak inquired as to the recording of the cameras, operability, accessibility to editing the footage.
- Saul added the possibility of a negative reflection on the agency, privacy concerns, and footage release.
- Shirley was interested to know who the point person is when footage is requested, the time frame, and the timeline i.e., benchmark on steps.
- Members concerns include- the policy in relation to showers (no cameras allowed), the restraint room, administrative leave- budget, temp hires due to staff being put on leave until the investigations concluded.
- Why are board members only allowed to join meetings via the IL.gov website.
- Send a reminder to board members to sign into their email accounts within 60 days to stay active.
Adjournment
* Meeting was adjourned at 11:54am
Motion to adjourn- Jae Jin Pak
Motion seconded- Shirley Perez
