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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Protection Committee 12-14-06 NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE JOINT MEETING WITH FINANCE COMMITTEE DECEMBER 14, 2006 — 9:00 AM ST. CROIX COUNTY GOVERNMENT CENTER ROOM 1281 1101 CARMICHAEL ROAD HUDSON, WISCONSIN CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA OLD AND NEW BUSINESS 1. Building Storage Issues - Review of BDRS project- 9:00am 2. Clerk of Court Report - Review of Collections- 9:45am 3. Finance Director Report - Review of Jail Assessment Fund ADJOURN (Items may be taken in different order) * * Additions /Changes /Corrections Submitted by: Julie Speer Date: December 11, 2006 Copies to: County Board office News Media County Clerk Committee Members Respective Department Heads Items for County Board approval must be submitted to the County Clerk's office by Wednesday morning preceding a County Board meeting. 12/11/2006 8:02 AM Official PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE MEETING Special Meeting - December 14, 2006 Joint Meeting with Finance Committee MEMBERS PRESENT: Julie Speer, John Borup, Chuck Mehls and Tom Dowd (arrived at 10:25 a.m.). Absent: Denise Gunderson. OTHERS PRESENT: Patrol Captain John Shilts, Building Services Technician David Best, Management Systems Specialist Dana Baker, County Treasurer Cheryl Slind, Bill Cranmer and County Clerk Cindy Campbell. Meeting called to order at 9:00am by Chair Speer. Motion by Borup, 2 nd by Mehls to adopt the agenda. Carried unanimously. OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: 1. Building Storage Issues — Review of BDRS project 9:00 a.m. Whiting explained he asked Dana Baker to put together a history of this process to get at paper storage issues. Whiting suggested committee members review the storage area on the basement of the Government Center. Baker presented project goals relating to digital imaging, reducing hardcopy storage and storage solutions for hardcopy that needed to be retained and document destruction. Procedures and a timeline were detailed by Baker. Baker reported St. Croix County contracted with Business Data Record Storage (BDRS) for hard copy storage. Baker provided costs and expenditures to date relating to hard copy storage. In 2006 Information Technology budgeted $25,000 for optical imaging. There being no optical imaging purchases in 2006 the funds were used toward hard copy storage. To date $8,827 has been spent from this account on hard copy storage; $7,100 on temporary and overtime pay, $600 in supplies, $193 for transportation, $250 for shredding and $600 spent on storage. Baker reported departments estimated 445 boxes needed to be stored. After further review by departments, some departments realized stored documents could be shredded. Actual onsite storage to date is 267 boxes. It was estimated that 25 to 30 boxes would be moved monthly to BDRS and to date zero have been moved. Key lessons reviewed. Whiting summarized departments need to spend time to get rid of what they don't need. Discussion regarding on going costs with BDRS. Whiting stated the annual cost for storage at BDRS is approximately $600. There are fees associated with retrieving documents from BDRS including a flat fee for transporting documents of $35. The 2007 budget contains each department's estimates on storage and retrieval. Departments currently using BDRS: District Attorney, Finance Department, and Sheriff's Department. Speer asked about the potential of a storage building on the Government Center property. Mehls listed six needs for onsite secure storage: Sheriff's Department evidence, Communications Van, boat, trailers, clean up of the impound area, and equipment for Building Services. Mehls asked if an onsite building is considered could it contain humidified storage area for document storage? Whiting stated a cost comparison could be done. Caflisch stated constructing a building is a budgetary process. Borup asked if is it cost effective to continue on this route or look at building since we have the land and space available. Baker confirmed the BDRS contract has a 3 year term and when up it would automatically renew for a one -year term unless the county gives a 60 day notice to end the contract. Mehls stated the paper storage issue has been addressed but there are other issues. The committees thanked Baker and Krueger suggested an abbreviated presentation to the County Board at its next meeting. 2. Clerk of Court Report - Review of Collections — 9:45 a.m. Tom McCarty, County Administrator for Eau Claire County presented and highlighted Eau Claire's procedures for debt collection. Lori Meyer, Kristi Severson and Katy Kapaun were also present as well as Eric Summers from the HE Stark Collection Agency. McCarty provided debt collection alternatives used in Eau Claire County. McCarty stated the approximate total outstanding debt owed to Eau Claire County is $4.5 million, with the Eau Claire County Clerk of Court having $3.4 million. Debt collection methods were reviewed which include payment plans, Department of Revenue tax intercept, small claims actions, Commitment (warrants) orders, contracted collections vendor and the creation of an internal collection agency. McCarty noted collection actions are staff and time intensive. McCarty stated payment plans are allowed on amounts due over $1,000. Eau Claire County Judiciary allows credit of $50 per day for time served in jail. McCarty reported for 2007 the County Board approved collections staff in Clerk of Court office working on payment plans and no longer issuing warrants for traffic fines and forfeitures. Contracted collection vendors are used as a last resort. McCarty stated Waukesha County has an internal collection agency and has contracted with other local municipalities. Discussion regarding the effectiveness of publishing names and last known addresses of delinquencies. McCarty stated for a while there were payments received but in the last four years there has not been as much return on the investment which includes publication charges. Eau Claire County no longer does this. Krueger asked McCarty if the State of Wisconsin would do anything to assist. McCarty stated the Eau Claire County Board has asked the state to change its parameters. Discussion regarding retaining a percentage if fees are collected in the first 60 days, etc. Meyer distributed a collections proposal which collaborates with the Child Support Agency on collection of delinquent fines. Meyer described the proposed plan in which two child support employees will work a total of ten hour per week for six months in the Clerk of Court office. The objective is to determine if additional revenue collected can support this portion of a new Collection Clerk position in the future. Duties include: locate social security numbers, issue wage assignments and follow up with employers, track payments via wage assignment, maintain a master list of cases being worked by the Child Support Agency, assist with turning debts over to the Collection Agency, assist with marking accounts "inactive" in the CCAP system. The proposal estimated $30.00 per hour or $7,800 for six months. Kapaun stated the Child Support Agency would lose 66 percent of $7,800 in Federal funding. The second step in the proposal was to turn debts over to a collection agency. This would include cases without social security numbers, out -of -state cases, cases that we cannot locate an employer to implement a wage assignment and cases more than six months delinquent. The third proposal was to place a portion of the new position request on hold for six months and review status of these efforts after six months to determine how to proceed on payment plan issues. Meyer stated she discussed this with the Judges and the Judges stated they would not discontinue issuing warrants. Judges believe it's a tool they want to continue to use as a consequence. Meyer added St. Croix County does not hold people in jail, as Eau Claire does, for unpaid fines. Kapaun stated this plan is feasible and she has collection experts staffed in the Child Support office. Kapaun stated Child Support tools for collection cannot be used in the Clerk of Court office. Malick asked about tracking the revenue. Meyer stated wage assignment tracking is easy. Other methods to track revenue will need to be developed. Malick suggested developing rules in advance. Question regarding staff in Child Support who are non -union vs. union employees in the Clerk of Court. Borup stated this is a low risk pilot and a good thing to attempt. Krueger asked about the financial staff person added in 2002 and asked for results. Meyer stated the Finance Committee approved this position by the County Board denied it. Meyer stated she does not have a new collection person in her department. Krueger asked Campbell to review previous minutes. Pietrick stated there are no additional costs from Clerk of Court and there is no need to transfer budget expenses between departments. Both are part of the General Fund budget. Finance Committee: Motion by Caflisch, 2nd by Malick to move forward with this proposal. Carried unanimously. Public Protection Committee: Motion by Mehls, 2 by Borup to accept this proposal. Carried unanimously. Borup requested a status report back by Child Support to the Public Protection Committee and by the Clerk of Court to the Finance Committee. 3. Finance Director Report — Review of Jail Assessment Fund. Pietrick provided revenue and expenses information as of November 30, 2006 regarding the Jail Assessment Fund. Pietrick stated the Sheriff's Department is allowed to spend $50,000 out of this fund. Pietrick estimates a negative balance of $36,954.44. Pietrick reported she discuss this matter with Sheriff Hillstead who stated State Patrol is down by four officers in St. Croix County and St. Croix County gets a portion of every ticket issued by the State Patrol. In addition, his department has not been issuing as many tickets because deputies have been going out on increased calls for service and less time for traffic enforcement. Pietrick's report listed revenue sources. Pietrick stated this is a "heads -up" to the committees. Joint meeting adjourned at 11:25am John Borup, Secretary Cindy Campbell, Recording Secretary .4pprowd 01!09:'?007