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COMMITTEE REPORTSCMO Committee The next CMO Committee meeting will be at the IPCSA Fall Conference. The CMO Symposium in June inSpringfield was very informative and beneficial and really was a reflection of the cooperation the Association has been trying to foster with AOIC. Tohave AOIC Director Michael Tardy and Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride attend and speak so favorably of Probation, Detention and Court Services issomething our profession has not experienced in a very long time, if ever in the past. We commend both Director Tardy and Chief Justice Kilbride fortheir kind words. Also, as many of you know the reimbursement approved by the legislature was reduced for FY13, however the Chief Justice statedthat he would look for some additional funding in the Supreme Court’s budget to help offset this reduction. Any amount would certainly soften theimpact to the counties and departments throughout the state. Many of the new Directors and CMOs attended the orientation held at AOIC Springfieldprior to the symposium. We again can not stress enough if any of you have questions concerning issues or situations you need help with, do nothesitate to contact a veteran Director or CMO to see if they can help you find an answer or solution. We are all in this together and want to worktoward making our profession the best it can be in protecting our communities, providing service to the courts, changing criminal behavior andreducing recidivism. We encourage all the Directors and CMO’s to continue to support the Association by sending staff to the Conference in the falland to nominate staff for the Association’s recognition and major awards. Staff who are deserving need to be recognized for their achievements andcontributions to their profession, department and community. Once again we must prepare for a lean year, however, we continue to work through theAssociation to keep pressure on the legislature and Governor’s office to adequately fund our profession. We hope to see many of you in the fall atconference.Michael Buettner & Tim ShumackerMEMBER HIGHTLIGHTChuck Otte is the Chief Probation Officer of Adams County. He is retiring later this year. I had theopportunity to interview Chuck to reflect upon his career and the field of probation. Chuck indicated hestarted with the Adams County Probation Department on October 7, 1977 after graduating from SouthernIllinois University Carbondale. Chuck was excited to get a job in his hometown in a field he had studied.Check was promoted to Deputy Chief in the early eighties and later became Chief. I asked Chuck how theprobation field has changed since he started and he indicated his basic believe is that probation helps people make positive changes intheir lives and this has not changed over the years but the methods by which we strive to achieve this goal have definitely evolved overtime. Chuck feels the criminal justice system has become more punitive over the years and he is discouraged to see the great price ofincarceration with such a small portion going towards prevention, community based sanctions and programming. Chuck indicatedhe feels more is expected of us each year yet funding is continually reduced. Chuck indicated his favorite part of being Chief ProbationOfficer has been the relationships he developed with his co-workers. Chuck indicated his life has been enriched, influenced andenhanced by the relationships he has made. Chuck indicated one special person from these relationships was Frank Calkins. Chuckindicated his life was blessed by not only knowing Frankie in life but by witnessing the absolute grace and courage Frank exhibited incrossing over to the next life. When asked what advice he would offer to a new officer, Chuck state, “First off do not get into this fieldfor the money”. Chuck further stated it would be helpful for a new officer to always keep in mind how difficult it is for a person tomake a long lasting change in their behavior and realize that it takes more than a court order or the threat of incarceration. Chuckwould encourage each officer to take one aspect of their own life that they would like to change, be it weight loss, exercising, followinga budget, stop smoking, being kinder or whatever and take a look at how successful you have been. It is difficult to change and most ofus have had many more advantages in life than those we work with on probation.18