Executive Reports

Private Sector Initiatives Task Force

GOV. James R. Thompson attended the first meeting of his Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives February 14. The task force, which was planned last May but actually established this January, will explore ways private sources can be used to help meet state and community needs. It will be working with the Illinois Office of Voluntary Citizens' Participation and its advisory council. Illinois is one of 42 states to establish such a task force based on President Reagan's Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives. Reagan invisioned a "spirit of volunteerism" that would help fill the void created by federal budget cuts.

Gov. Thompson said, "Today's meeting marks the beginning of a drive to gather the resources of the private sector, including corporate, charitable, religious, educational, civic and community organizations, and use them to better serve the public that relies on them." In setting its goals, the task force will work to identify roadblocks to private sector actions, make recommendations regarding incentives to increase private sector involvement, recognize and publicize outstanding examples and implement innovative approaches to specific community problems.

The governor's task force, working within an 18-month time frame, is made up of nearly 40 members, chosen from the areas of business/corporations, foundations, community services, labor, religious organizations, education and government. Co-chairing the task force are Robert Stuart, chairman of the National Can Corporation, Chicago, and Alberta Wuerfele, vice president and comptroller of American National Bank and Trust, Chicago. Stuart is also co-chairman of the advisory council to the Illinois Office of Voluntary Citizen's Participation.

Three subcommittees were etablished at the February meeting. One deals with basic human need and is at present concentrating on food distribution. It is chaired by Mary Jean Houde, Lisle, of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. The second committee deals with the relationship between employment and education and is chaired by John Corbally, president of the MacArthur Foundation, Chicago. The last deals with housing and community development, in a broad sense. Its chairman is Ormand J. Wade, president of Illinois Bell, Chicago.

In his address to the task force, Gov. Thompson pointed out that this country has depended on voluntary action to relieve community needs throughout its history, but that the past 20 years have seen more and more of the activities earlier reserved for the private sector taken over by government. Thompson pointed out that there are many areas where neither sector can achieve the needed results alone and charged the task force with identifying the proper balance between private sector and government activities.        — Kristal Brazaitis

Eight community correctional centers to close

MICHAEL P. Lane, director of the Department of Corrections, announced March 15 that eight community correctional centers (CCC) will close July 1 to enable the department to remain within the proposed budget for the new fiscal year.

Prisoners housed in the centers take part in work-release programs designed to help them reenter society. Centers accept inmates who were convicted of nonviolent crimes, for the most part, and who are serving the final months of their sentences. Inmates apply for space in these facilities. Once accepted, if it is possible, they are sent to their hometown communities where they can be close to family and friends. They are encouraged to work in the community or to attend school.

The centers to be closed are: the River Bend CCC in East Moline (which will become a work camp administered by the adjacent East Moline Correctional Center); the Winnebago CCC in Rockford; the Jessie "Ma" Houston CCC for women in Chicago; the Joliet CCC; the Fox Valley CCC in Aurora; the Urbana CCC; the Decatur CCC; and the Southern Illinois CCC in Carbondale. Seven other centers were closed during the past year. With the new closings, the space in community centers will drop from 802 in 21 centers last year to 282 in six programs as of July 1. Lane said, "Since inmates in work release programs are completing their prison terms, reductions in community centers will decrease the overall capacity for imprisoned adults in the corrections system."       — Kristal Brazaitis

May 1983 | Illinois Issues | 31

Criminal Justice Information Authority

J. David Coldren, Chicago, was named executive director of the 15-member Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority by the governor, effective in January. The appointment is for an unspecified term and requires Senate confirmation; the salary is $47,500 a year. Coldren had been assistant executive director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Commission, the agency the authority replaces.

The six members of the authority appointed by the governor for terms not to exceed four years are: William Gould, president of Multiprint Company Inc., Chicago, as chairman; Allen H. Andrews Jr., Peoria's director of public safety; Fred L. Foreman, Lake County state's attorney; Donald Hubert, attorney, Chicago; William Scroggins, sheriff of Kankakee County; and James A. Sprowl, American Bar Foundation, Chicago. The appointments do not require Senate confirmation. Members are paid expenses only; the chairman may receive a salary but does not at this time.

Statutory members are: Richard J. Brzeczek, superintendent of the Chicago Police Department; Harry G. Comerford, chief judge of the Cook County Circuit Court; Richard M. Daley, Cook County state's attorney; Richard E. Eagleton, circuit judge, 10th Judicial Circuit; Richard J. Elrod, sheriff of Cook County; Atty. Gen. Neil F. Hartigan; Michael P. Lane, director of the Department of Corrections; Thomas J. Moran, justice of the Illinois Supreme Court; and James B. Zagel, director of the Department of Law Enforcement. These members will serve from January 1983 until January 1987.

Created by Executive Order No. 2 issued in April 1982 and P.A. 82-1039 signed into law December 1982, the Criminal Justice Information Authority is the state's lead agency for criminal justice policy and research. It also keeps track of all criminal data in the state, monitors criminal history information and hears appeals by individuals concerning their criminal records. The expenses of operating the authority are paid from the Criminal Justice Information Systems Trust Fund which is funded in part by fees collected from local criminal justice agencies using the information systems developed and operated by the authority.         — Kristal Brazaitis

State bond sale and ratings

ILLINOIS' bond rating was reduced from triple-A to double-A + by Standard and Poor's on March 17. On March 22, general obligation bonds totalling $90 million were sold by the state to a syndicate of buyers led by Chase Manhattan Capital Markets Corp. at an interest rate of 8.3575 percent. The interest rate is almost a full point lower than the last bond sale in November 1982 and the lowest rate since September 1980.

Standard and Poor's cited the state's projected $300 million revenue shortfall, high unemployment and its traditionally slower economic recovery compared to the rest of the nation as a basis for the half point reduction in rating. However, the "credit watch" placed on the state has been removed by Standard and Poor's which state officials view as an indication of confidence in the state's ability to stabilize.

Moody's Investors Service, a second New York bond rating house, had renewed the state's triple-A rating two days prior to announcement of Standard and Poor's reduced rating. The diversity and underlying strength of the Illinois economy was cited as Moody's main reason for retaining the state's rating.□

May 1983 | Illinois Issues | 33