Executive Report

Executive Report

Pollution control agreement
The Armour-Dial Corporation of Kane County signed an agreement May 8 with the Illinois attorney general's office and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, whereby Armour-Dial pledged to install an $11 million air pollution control program at its Kane County plant by July 1, 1979, and to contribute $100,000 to the Illinois Department of Conservation for acquisiton of open space natural areas. The agreement was made as a result of two suits filed by the attorney general's office in 1975 and 1977 against Armour-Dial, alleging the manufacturing firm was releasing quantities of organic materials into the air in violation of the Illinois Environmental Protection Act. "The agreement signed today gives us the authority to oversee the plant's compliance with the Environmental Protection Act very closely and we intend to do just that," said Atty. Gen. William J. Scott.

Auto theft prevention
The secretary of state's office is formulating plans for a seven-state midwest task force on auto theft prevention. The group's main function will be to coordinate and streamline law enforcement efforts regionally in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. Invitations will be sent to state, federal and local officials concerned with the auto theft problem, and to leaders of private business.

Nursing home reimbursement system wins kudos
The Illinois cost-related system for reimbursing nursing homes has been selected by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) as the subject of major training seminars. Congress has recently required that every state develop a cost-related system for reimbursing private nursing homes. The Illinois system was one of five singled out by HEW as major innovations in health care financing, and it is being used as a prototype in seminars for employees of other state health departments. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the element of the Illinois system that is most attractive

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from an HEW standpoint is the linking of the condition and needs of patients to the cost of care. The Illinois system apparently permits reimbursement to vary as the needs of an individual patient vary.

School desegregation
On April 12 the State Board of Education accepted Galesburg's District 205 school desegregation plan until January 1, 1980, and outlined steps for monitoring Chicago District 299 in terms of its desegregation efforts. In a resolution, the state board recommended that the Chicago School Board submit additional details of plans to desegregate Chicago schools this fall. Nine specific recommendations were: (1) expand full-time desegregation techniques; (2) widen procedures to ensure integrated student enrollment at all vocational and technical schools; (3) prevent segregation of bilingual children; (4) revise boundary lines and feeder patterns for full-time programs; (5) establish pupil assignment, practices to assure desegregation of newly constructed attendance centers; (6) improve backup contingency plans and recruiting techniques in case numbers in any component of the desegregation plan fall below expectations; (7) remove portable classrooms; (8) consider new techniques, such as pairing or clustering of schools; and (9) establish a periodic reporting format.

Prison release plan scrapped
Gov. James R. Thompson announced May 14 that he has directed the Prisoner Review Board to abandon the early release program he had earlier supported as a means of alleviating prison overcrowding in Illinois. The governor made the announcement after he received a letter from Prisoner Review Board Chairman James R. Irving that said only 18 of the 700 nonviolent first offenders in Illinois prisons are suitable for early release. "It is our recommendation that the early release program be abandoned," Irving said.

Mental health center closing in East Moline
Gov. Thompson announced May 3 that the East Moline Mental Health Center will close and most of its 260 patients will be relocated at the Galesburg Mental Health and Developmental Center. The closing was first recommended by the Governor's Cost Control Task Force in 1978 and is expected to be completed by June 1980. According to the governor, the closing will result in yearly savings of $3.1 million for the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. As many as 272 of the 400 persons employed at the East Moline center may eventually be employed by the Galesburg center, the governor said. And at least 200 new jobs may be created at East Moline by conversion of the center's buildings and grounds to other state uses.

The governor suggested using the vacated facility as a 100-bed work release center, a 200-bed minimum security prison, and as an area to house consolidated law enforcement functions. However, public hearings will be held to determine the appropriateness of locating correctional factilities "of any sort at East Moline unless it is clear that there is widespread community acceptance of such facilities."

A state employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), announced May 6 that it is opposed to the closing at East Moline. Larry Marquardt, Illinois director of AFSCME, called the decision to close the mental health facility "a tragic mistake."

Craft union agreement
On March 28 Gov. James R. Thompson signed an extension of the prevailing wage agreement for state employee members of Illinois craft unions, including the Teamsters, Carpenters, Building Trades, Laborers, Electricians and Iron Workers unions. About 1,100 state, craft union employees are affected by the agreement, which calls for the state to continue to pay the craft union members the prevailing contract wage rate in the geographical area in which they work.

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