OUTLOOK

C O M M I T T E E R E P O R T SCMO CommitteeChief Justice Thomas Kilbride has appointed fifteen Probation Directors and CMO’s to the newly createdIllinois Supreme Court Probation Policy Advisory Board. Chief Justice Kilbride spoke of this at the fallIPCSA conference in Rockford.The Board will advise AOIC on a board range of probation and court services policy matters. The Boardmeetings will create a venue for on-going communication, review, analysis and exchange of informationto advance probation’s mission. The first meeting is scheduled for December 12th in Chicago.We feel very grateful that the Chief Justice has created this Board to gather information from those of uson the front lines. This has been an ongoing goal of the CMO Committee to open the line of communicationwith AOIC. We welcome this opportunity and believe with the Chief Justice as the driving forcebehind this initiative our concerns, ideas and common sense approach to issues will be listened to andhopefully put into practice.As in the past several years the financial crisis Illinois is facing will be a critical issue in the spring as theFY2014 budget is formulated. We ask you to contact your legislators and senators to educate them aboutprobation and court services. We can not continue to receive reductions in funding and be expected toprovide proper supervision to the probationers and quality services to the Court. We can not continue tohave the legislature pass laws which require more from us without the funding to provide basic servicesand supervision. If you need assistance in contacting your elected representatives, do not hesitate tocontact one of us or John McCabe.We would also like to offer our services as a clearinghouse to connect departments which are providinglocal training and are looking for other departments to share the cost. Contact us and we can get a noticeout to the other departments.I was fortunate to be asked to be a member of the Advisory Board and want to let you know that I amwilling to hear from any of you who would like for me to voice your concerns or ideas to the Board andAOIC. Tim and I are always available to listen and/or offer help and advise if you need it.We look forward to seeing many of you at the spring and fall IPCSA conferences.Michael Buettner and Timothy ShumakerJOIN AN IPCSA COMMITTEE!•Share your professional knowledge and experience•Network with professionals from your neighboring counties•Investigate and sponsor training workshops specific to committee interestIPCSA has a committee that fits you! See page 27 for contact names andnumbers. Go to IPCSA’s website at www.ipcsa.org for more committeeinformation, meeting dates and times.19