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Home My WebLink About05-13-2021 Community Justice Collaborating Council Minutes MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY JUSTICE COLLABORATING COUNCIL May 13, 2021 8:00 AM Room 1284-County Board Room St. Croix County Government Center - Room 1284 - Government Center - 1101 Carmichael Road, Hudson, Wisconsin NOTICE Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CJCC Council and Advisory members are encouraged to attend the meeting via the use of technology utilizing the Zoom platform. CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL Attendee Name Organization Title Status Arrived David Peterson St. Croix County Chair, County Board Absent Dave Ostness St. Croix County Director, Health & Human Services Present Scott Knudson St. Croix County Sheriff Present Scott Needham St. Croix County Hon. Scott R. Needham, Br. 3, Chair Present Scott L. Cox St. Croix County Corporation Counsel - Heather Amos - proxy Present Kristi Severson St. Croix County Clerk of Circuit Court Present Kathleen Avoles St. Croix County Representative, Bar Association Absent Mark Lemke St. Croix County Supervisor, Division of Community Corrections Remote Curt Thomassen St. Croix County Representative, Faith Based Community Absent Alison Page St. Croix Representative, Medical Remote County Community Randy Morrisette II St. Croix County Citizen Member Remote Mark Richert St. Croix County Representative, Police Chiefs Association Present Ken Witt St. Croix County County Administrator Present Bob Feidler St. Croix County Chair, Public Protection & Judiciary Committee Present Agnes A. Ring St. Croix County Citizen Member Absent Susan Gherty St. Croix County Representative, Municipal Courts Present Bob Rohret St. Croix County Director, Health & Human Services Department Remote Travis Satorius St. Croix County Attorney Manager, Office of State Public Defender Present Karl Anderson St. Croix County District Attorney Absent Also present; Hon. R. Michael Waterman, Hon. Edward F. Vlack, Tina Sitz, Mike O'Keefe, Yvonne Larsen, Kimberly Kitzberger, Lisa Plunkett (R), Kris Anderson (R), Darren Kirby (R), Tim Heckmann (R), Cathy Borgschatz (R), Bridget Warren (R), Kristin DePrey (R), Alena Taylor (R), Jenna Miller (R), Phillip Galli (R), Phil Landgraf (R), Shar Lopez (R), Eric Johnson (R), Hon. Ben Wopat, Becky O'Keefe and Denise Anderson. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Community Justice Collaborating Council – Regular Meeting – March 18, 2021 8:00 AM Minutes of the Thursday, March 18, 2021 CJCC meeting stand approved as presented. RESULT: ACCEPTED PUBLIC COMMENT BUSINESS ITEMS 1. CJCC and Treatment Alternatives & Diversion (TAD) Financial Review Mike O’Keefe, CJCC Coordinator, states the budget is on track and there are no outstanding invoices. The invoice for JusticePoint, Inc. has been processed for the Day Report Center (DRC) position. Judge Needham states a civilian worker has been hired at the DRC and the Treatment Alternatives & Diversion (TAD) Grant helps fund the position. RESULT: DISCUSSED 2. Treatment Alternatives & Diversion (TAD) Grant Update Mike O’Keefe states there is a handout in the meeting packet about the proposed staff expansion for the Treatment Alternatives & Diversion (TAD) program at the WI Department of Justice (DOJ). He states they are asking to use a portion of the proposed Governor’s budget recommending expanding TAD funding. The DOJ would like to hire a justice data analyst and support staff to provide more data feedback to counties. Judge Needham states a CJCC work group has been assembled to discuss options for submission of St. Croix County, 2022 TAD Grant request. RESULT: DISCUSSED 3. Approval of CJCC Behavioral Health Subcommittee Discussion was held on the proposal being made by Bob Rohret to combine the CJCC Mental Health and Substance Abuse subcommittees into one group. He states the reason for this change is because many of the issues discussed at these subcommittees are often the same. Mr. Rohret states the proposed name of the new group is the CJCC Behavioral Health subcommittee. Mr. Rohret states that he went over the names with people on both subcommittees with Mike O’Keefe and came up with a list of candidates for the new group. Mike O’Keefe states he overlooked putting the Chair of the Health & Human Services (HHS) Board on the proposed Behavioral Health subcommittee and would like to add him as part of the motion to approve. He also states the bylaws should be changed to include this position on the subcommittee. Judge Needham directed Mike O’Keefe to work with Kate Avoles on this change to the bylaws and bring it back to the CJCC Executive Committee for review and recommendation. A motion was made by Randy Morrisette to approve the formation of the Behavioral Health Subcommittee to include the addition of the HHS Board Chair. Second by Bob Feidler. The motion was carried unanimously. RESULT: DISCUSSED 4. St. Croix County Sheriff's Office Updates Sheriff Knudson gave an update on the April statistics for the Day Report Center (DRC). He states when a defendant has a positive or missed test it is documented and are not always sent to the District Attorney’s Office for bail jump charges. There is a monthly average supervision level of 399 defendants and the compliance rate for April was 88.76%. Sheriff Knudson states the DRC opened in 2015, has a public safety driven mission, and is the only one in the State of WI staffed with law enforcement. He states it takes a certain number of staff to operate the DRC Monday - Saturday and recently there has been several staff submitting their resignations for a variety of reasons. Sheriff Knudson states due to the number of staff vacancies we have to rethink how we are going to staff and safely operate the DRC. He states the Sheriff’s Office has 13 openings and probably more to come so keeping the DRC open for bail/bond monitoring is going to be difficult. Judge Needham states there are a number of immediate steps the Judges can implement to help with this issue in the short term. On behalf of the City of Hudson Randy Morissette would like to thank the Sheriff's Office and municipal police departments for their work. Judge Needham states speaking as a citizen he grew up as a policeman’s kid and commends those who have chosen this profession. Bob Rohret states the Health & Human Services (HHS) Department would be interested in partnering with the Sheriff’s Office and possibly assist with having a staff presence in the DRC. Allison Page asks if there are plans to build the future of policing in our area. Judge Needham tells her it is more of an update at this time. Sheriff Knudsen states that he and Bob Rohret are looking at an HHS mental health crisis and law enforcement response model in an effort to have better outcomes for community members. RESULT: DISCUSSED 5. Justice Services Task Force and CJCC Coordinator's Transition Plan Updates Judge Needham states that Judge Nordstrand is the Chair of this Task Force and they have held four meetings. He states they came to a conclusion this was a worthwhile endeavor and the final recommendation is to place justice services under one umbrella. Judge Needham states that La Crosse and Monroe Counties each gave a presentation at scheduled meetings. Supervisor Feidler and Travis Satorius made the requests for these two counties to join our meetings remotely. Ken Witt states we have created a new Justice Services Department for St. Croix County and are in the process of hiring a Justice Services Director. He states the recruitment for this position has closed and hopes to have a new person on board in June. Judge Needham states there were 9-10 qualified applicants and they plan to interview in the coming weeks. He states they are hoping to identify the new person at the next meeting. RESULT: DISCUSSED 6. St. Croix County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Update Judge Waterman states that we have assembled a steering committee and there is an established 501(c)(3) that will be transferred to St. Croix County for our use. He states we will need to hire an executive director and recruit volunteers as soon as our foundation is established. Judge Waterman states this program will only serve children in St. Croix count and we do expect to start serving children by October 1, 2021. He states there are about 80 new child protection cases each year in St. Croix County. RESULT: DISCUSSED 7. Recognition of the Hon. Ben Wopat, North Hudson Municipal Court Judge Judge Needham recognizes both the Hon. Ben Wopat and Mike O’Keefe. Judge Wopat has served as the North Hudson Municipal Court for the past 36 years. The Hon. Susan S. Gherty recognized the Hon. Ben Wopat and presented him with a plaque. The Hon. Scott R. Needham also presented him with a certificate of appreciation from the St. Croix County CJCC. Judge Wopat gave comments to the CJCC Council. RESULT: DISCUSSED REQUEST FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURN DATE OF NEXT MEETING Thursday, July 8, 2021, 8:00 a.m., Government Center - County Board Room - 1284 (In person only)