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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Protection Committee 04-08-05 ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING AND AGENDA TO: Clarence Malick St. Croix County Board FROM: Julie Speer, Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: Public Protection Committee DATE: April 8, 2005 TIME: 8:30 a.m. LOCATION: St Croix County Government Center, Hudson, WI ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: Regular Meeting May 13, 2005 at 8:30 a.m. ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES March 11', 2005 UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Web Browser 2. Debt Service /Traffic Tickets 3. Storage Building NEW BUSINESS: 1. Bills and Vouchers* 2. Medical Examiner Cindy Litzell 3. 9 A.M. TELEPHONE CONFERENCE, RAY POLLEN, POLICIES 4. Sheriff Dennis Hillstead, Chief Deputy Bob Klanderman, Patrol Captain John Shilts, Jail Captain Karen Humphrey, Office Manager Mary Martell a. Expenditures: Drug Fund/Confiscated Acct /Jail Assessment b. Inmate Debts c. Medical /Omni Care d. Washer /dryer 5. Child Support Katy Kapaun 6. District Attorney Eric Johnson, Victim Witness Ann Gustafson a. Drug Task Force/Meth b. Resolution 7. Per Diem ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order.) SUBMITTED BY: Julie Speer, Chair Date: March 22, 2005 COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk Committee Members Respective Dept. Heads * To be presented by each Department * *Additions /Changes /Corrections 3/22/2005 PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE MEETING April 8, 2005 MEMBERS PRESENT: Julie Speer, Lori Bernard, Mark Erickson, Denise Gunderson and Chuck Mehls. STAFF PRESENT: Sheriff Dennis Hillstead, Patrol Captain John Shilts, Jail Captain Karen Humphrey, Sergeant Scott Knutson, Medical Examiner Cindy Litzell, District Attorney Eric Johnson, Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman and Renee Carufel. Meeting called to order at 8:30 a.m. by Chairperson Speer. Motion by Mehls /Gunderson to approve the agenda. Carried. Next regular meeting will be May 13th at 8:30 a.m. The meeting in June will be on the 10 Motion by Erickson/Gunderson to approve the minutes of March 11 with additions by Bernard by Mehls /Gunderson. Carried. MEDICAL EXAMINER'S REPORT Expenditures of $ 803.42 were presented to the committee. Discussion was held. Casey Swetlik has resigned as of May 31 2005. Litzell will check with Personnel on how to hire his replacement. Motion by Bernard/Gunderson to approve the bills as presented. Carried. SHERIFF'S REPORT Hillstead introduced Scott Knutson, K -9 officer. He became a new sergeant as of January 1, 2005. This new position has taken some responsibilities from the Sheriff. He has volunteered for the neighbor watch program, along with Cathy Borgschatz. A telephone conference call with Ray Pollen was held. He reported to the committee he researched available case law on each situation and provided recommendations. He did put in additional language for the sexual harassment policy for this county. He informed the committee the attorneys from his firm cannot sign off on the policies, that is up to the Sheriff. They have expertise in legal basics and can show what other communities have done to try and avoid those situations in the future. What works for others might not work for our county policies. Bernard asked who ultimately has the final say on policies. He answered there are several responsible parties. The sheriff has the authority to approve policies to run the jail. The County Board has the authority to control the budget of the Jail. Pollen said it is a good idea to have the sheriff approve and have Corporation Counsel review each policy. Pollen also stressed that policies are always a work in progress and need to be reviewed regularly and modified as needed. Hillstead explained how they arrive at each policy. Hillstead said the Jail is in the process of rewriting the ten most critical policies. When this is finished, they will be sent to Corporation Counsel for Timmerman's review. Motion by Mehls/Erickson to have Speer attend the Finance meeting on April 14 as there is an item on the agenda regarding Pollen's review of policies. Motion also included that she collect per diem for that meeting. Carried. WEB BROWSER Hillstead reported the Department will be switching to the State system. Visions will have a new system that will do a lot of things the State system does but will not be in place until November of 2005. We will have the old system and the new state system in place t for 3 months and will have to enter on both systems. Visions has guaranteed the new system will work the way we want it. This agreement is written into the new contract. TRAFFIC TICKETS Discussion on the direction to go with collecting tickets was held. Mehls mentioned some desirable avenues that we could take to make collections, such as sporting licenses. This avenue is not currently available for traffic tickets, however, it is available to child support for collections. A separate committee has apparently been formed to address the issue of using collection agencies to collect delinquent fines within St. Croix County. Mehls has not been involved in the discussions but would like to be kept apprised of their activities. Hillstead reported there have been seven small claims filed with no monetary results to date. STORAGE BUILDING Speer reported Maintenance, Communications and the Sheriff s Department should put this in their capital outlay plan for 2006. Mehls may go up to Polk County in the near future to look at the new storage facility that was recently built there by Hank Paulson's company. Needs and options for the building were discussed. PATROL CAPTAIN'S: Captain Shilts reported the need for a digital video camera in squad cars. He suggested we buy one, get it installed to see how it works before we buy one for each car. The purchase cost is $3950. This cost is significantly lower than other comparable cameras. Shilts explained how this camera would work. It is a versatile digital system that would sufficiently meet the needs of the department while not requiring storage of film. Data from the cameras could only be downloaded by designated personnel. Motion by Mehls/Bernard to approve this from the Confiscated Asset Fund. Carried. Hillstead reported on buying 5 new squad radios this year with the total exceeding allocated funds by $1980t. Motion by Erickson/Mehls to approve this shortage be covered from the Confiscated Asset fund. Carried. Corporation Counsel Gregg Timmerman came before the committee. Speer informed him Ray Pollen informed us that Corporation Counsel should review each policy. Hillstead recommends Ray Pollen review the most critical ones and that the Department then decide if other policies warrant outside investigation. Hillstead reported the Sheriff Department has a contract with St Joseph Township for services. Now the Bass Lake Rehab District is recognized as a town and would like to have police patrol around the lake with a contract with the Sheriff department. The Sheriff's department would be reimbursed for this service. This will be put on next month's agenda. Capital outlay plans should be submitted to this committee in May. BILLS & VOUCHERS Review was made. Motion by Erickson/Speer to approve the bills of $54,037.87 for the Jail. Carried. Motion by Mehls/Erickson to approve the bills of $38,590.23 for the Sheriff's Department. Carried. Average daily population for the Jail: Huber -46, county inmates -73 and paying inmates -8 for the month of March. S • Hillstead explained the details of the threat that was made by an individual to a judge in St. Croix County. The incident involved personnel at the Health and Human Services center, as the individual had contact with personnel there the day before he was taken into custody at the Government Center. This committee is concerned about the role of the security committee on the issues regarding public safety at the government center. It is understood that the security committee reports to finance. Motion by Gunderson/Mehls that the Finance Committee define the role of the security committee as it relates to this matter and that Public Protection Committee be notified of any upcoming meetings. Carried. Public Protection committee requests a review of what happened with this incident. Motion by Bernard/Gunderson that a memo be sent to the Health and Human Services Committee requesting that they have personnel look at the existing policies that pertain to a situation such as this one. This committee will send a memo to the Chair of Human Services, Tom Dorsey, to make them aware of the incident and suggest this action. Motion carried. Hillstead reported on the property north of Somerset on which a meth arrest was made. Ed Thurman, Evironmental Health Specialist, made the determination that the property was cleaned properly. The Federal Government needs assurance the property is saleable. Motion by Mehls/Bernard to have Thurman make a presentation to the County Board. The county board will need to agree to indemnification of the property before any further action can be taken. Carried. JAIL REPORT Hillstead reported meeting with Hudson Hospital & Clinic. The hospital will probably get more involved with medical treatments in the Jail. We currently contract with Hudson Hospital for doctoral services and the contract may be expanded to address nursing needs in the Jail. Financial implications of such a potential change were not detailed. DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S REPORT Johnson presented the bills of March for $4146.36 Motion by Erickson/Bernard to approve the bills as presented. Carried. Johnson presented resolution on creating an ad hoc committee on methamphethamine. Purpose of this committee would be to organize programs of information, education and awareness for use by County Departments and residents of St Croix County. Committee would be reviewed after two years by the full county board. Motion by Mehls/Erickson to accept this resolution as presented. Carried. Johnson reported Liz Stayberg has been hired as coordinator for the Diversion program. Dave McQuillan testified on the legislative bill in Madison to control the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine containing products by having it only available in pharamacies, in limited quantities and to require it be signed for as it is purchased. This bill was received very well by the Senate committee. It passed the committee and now goes to the full Senate. A separate bill is currently going through the Assembly. It is unclear at this time what the final version will look like. This bill will not address the issue of highly purified methamphetamine coming in through other routes, but it is hoped to slow the production of meth in home labs. Different ways of educating county residents were discussed. Gunderson is planning a meth forum in Somerset later this spring. Bernard mentioned that a similar forum will be held this summer in Hudson. Formation of the meth task force should help the word to get out in a more organized and timely fashion. CHILD SUPPORT REPORT Motion by Bernard/Mehls to approve the bills of $3855.87. Carried. The budget status report was reviewed. Speer read a letter from Wisconsin Department of Corrections. It was an invitation from them to have a Public Protection member serve on their advisory board. Speer will send a reply that the committee would be interested. Meeting adjourned at 12:40 p.m. Lori Bernard, Secretary Renee Carufel, Recording Secretary