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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-14-2021 Community Justice Collaborating Council Minutes MEETING MINUTES COMMUNITY JUSTICE COLLABORATING COUNCIL January 14, 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 Organization Title Status Arrived Name David Peterson St. Croix Chair, County Board Present County Dave Ostness St. Croix Chair - HHS Board Excused County Scott Knudson St. Croix Sheriff Present County Scott Needham St. Croix Hon. Scott R. Needham, Br. 3, Present County CJCC Chair Scott L. Cox St. Croix Corporation Counsel Remote County Kristi Severson St. Croix Clerk of Circuit Court Remote County Kathleen St. Croix Bar Association Representative Excused Avoles County Mark Lemke St. Croix Supervisor, Division of Present County Community Corrections Curt St. Croix Faith Based Representative Remote Thomassen County Alison Page St. Croix Medical Community Remote CountyRepresentative Randy St. Croix Citizen Member Remote Morrisette II County Mark Richert St. Croix Police Chiefs' Representative Remote County Ken Witt St. Croix County Administrator Present County Bob Feidler St. Croix Chair - PP&J Committee Remote County Agnes A. Ring St. Croix Citizen Member Excused County Susan Gherty St. Croix Municipal Court Representative Remote County Bob Rohret St. Croix Director, Health & Human Remote County Services Laurie Osberg St. Croix Public Defender Remote County APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Community Justice Collaborating Council Regular Meeting November 12, 2020 8:00 AM Minutes of Thursday, November 12, 2020 meeting stand as presented. Motion by Dave Peterson. Seconded by Mark Lemke. Approved unanimously. RESULT: APPROVED \[UNANIMOUS\] MOVER: David Peterson, Chair, County Board SECONDER: Mark Lemke, Supervisor, Division of Community Corrections AYES: David Peterson, Scott Knudson, Scott Needham, Scott L. Cox, Kristi Severson, Mark Lemke, Curt Thomassen, Alison Page, Randy Morrisette II, Mark Richert, Ken Witt, Bob Feidler, Susan Gherty, Bob Rohret, Laurie Osberg EXCUSED: Dave Ostness, Kathleen Avoles, Agnes A. Ring PUBLIC COMMENT Judge Appoint Elizabeth Rohl for Pierce County welcomed by Judge Needham. Sunday 1/17 will be the start date and mentoring around the District begins next week. Pierce County is District 7. Karl Anderson was sworn in on January 5, 2021 as District Attorney. Susan Capparelli left her position in restorative services and is now the CJCC Coordinator in Polk County. Bridget Warren replaces her and is welcomed. BUSINESS ITEMS 1. CJCC and Treatment Alternatives & Diversion (TAD) Financial Review black. There were TAD grant excess funds due to COVID-19 issues during the year. A request for modification to use excess funds was made to purchase other TAD related items. Kim Kitzberger, Treatment Court Coordinator purchased Hazelden materials for participants. They also equipped every Treatment Court Team member with an Ipad in an effort to reduce paperwork and ensure records privacy. The 2021 TAD budget includes a civilian worker at the Day Report Center (DRC). This is a contracted position with JusticePoint, Inc. and the start date for this position is March 11, 2021. RESULT: DISCUSSED 2. Introduction of District Attorney Karl Anderson Judge Needhams states that the Judges met with District Attorney Anderson and had a discussion about intersection in terms of justice partners. He welcomes his leadership. Outgoing District Attorney Michael Nieskes is experiencing some health issues and we wish him well in his recovery. Judge Needham welcomes Karl Anderson now that he is on Zoom. Karl Anderson states he is excited to be part of the group. Judge Needham congratulates Ken Witt on his appointment as County Administrator. RESULT: DISCUSSED 3. Elect CJCC Vice Chair for term 1/21 - 1/23 Kate Avoles's term as CJCC Vice Chair has ended. Judge Needham asks for nominations. Sheriff Knudson nominates Kate Avoles. The chair closes nominations and casts a unanimous ballot for Ms. Avoles as CJCC Vice Chair. RESULT: DISCUSSED 4. Treatment Alternatives & Diversion (TAD) Grant Update soon. They will be acting as a triage person to help take UAs for the Diversion and Treatment Court Programs. He states we need to start looking at the 2022-2027 grant cycle because there will be a lot of statewide competition. O'Keefe states we currently receive $146,000 in TAD grant dollars - $195,000 is grand total with matching funds. Judge Needham states the legislature will continue to fund TAD grants, but it will be a highly competitive process. Hopefully they will not cut funding, but increase it and we have to be creative. Judge Needham believes a small work group would be a good idea to start looking at the process and come up with an application that catches the eye. Get it started sooner than later to be ahead of the curve. RESULT: DISCUSSED 5. St. Croix County Circuit Court Updates Judge Needham states the Judges modified an operational plan to go primarily Zoom appearances and to suspend all jury trials other than speedy trials, etc. The modification has resulted in a dip in terms of case processing. We get a lot more done when done in the building and because of the suspension of jury trials starting in March, the calendars are stacked up. It will have an impact. He states we are still restricted to jury trials to one courtroom and we do not have an end date at this point. The Judges met last week to talk about extending the suspension and will review again in the near future. Technology was implemented which resulted in significant changes in all of the courtrooms. This for two days. The are putting DAR recording equipment in every courtroom. This will serve as a back up, if needed and is not replacing the Court Reporters. The Judges met with District Attorney Karl Anderson and HHS Director Bob Rohret to discuss mutual issues and concerns. The St. Croix Bar Association has been promoting a free legal clinic one time a month. With COVID, it had to be suspended for a period of time. Starting in January, they are offering a free legal clinic by Zoom. Judge Needham states we are going to look at our justice system services. Treatment courts, Day Report Center (DRC), Diversion Program, as well as other justice systems programs and services that are offered. He is proposing the formation of a task force to look at all services, their coordination, programming and figure out how to collectively look at an organizational model that might work for us. Judge Needham will formally propose this in March, 2021. Judge Waterman states there is a crisis in the public defender system statewide. When we are unable to appoint counsel or find attorneys to take cases and individuals suffer. It is something all four Judges are concerned about. Laurie Osberg has been filling in for St. Croix County along with her Eau Claire full-time job. In the past 12 months there have been 733 new criminal files The backbone of the system are public defenders. We need to pay close attention to this issue. RESULT: DISCUSSED 6. Health & Human Services Updates Bob Rohret gave updates on COVID-19 issues and efforts to vaccinate. He states there was a public health operation vaccination at services center yesterday, 150 doses were administered. They are making efforts to coordinate a rollout with area hospitals, and we have a vaccine page on the St. Croix County website. Mr. Rohret states they are still doing contact tracings and hospitalizations for COVID-19 cases continue to go down. He discussed the topic of emergency beds and the fact there are not enough beds to meet the need. Mr. Rohret states efforts around homelessness are for the immediate needs of those that are homeless. The eviction moratorium ends this month and this is a big problem in the middle of winter. He states there was a group that formed recently, and they have obtained hotel vouchers to at least increase capacity of people in need of immediate housing. Longer term solutions are what they want to get to. Mr. Rohret states substance abuse remains a major concern. Alison Page states they are focusing on vaccinations and Wisconsin has been allocated over 600,000 doses, but the bigger problem is vaccine hesitation. This issue seems to be worse in rural areas than in metro areas. Ms. Page states they will be starting an Intensive out-patient program for substance abuse disorder. Julie Krings, Children Services Administrator states the Child Welfare crisis is primarily due to alcohol and methamphetamine use of caregivers. They currently have 82 kids in out-of-home care. The majority of the kids are with relatives or people close to the family. She states The Foster Care Recruitment team are working on recruiting more foster families. Ms. Krings states they have several youths in the system with mental health and behavioral issues. Bob Fiedler inquiries about the individuals that will not accept the vaccine; he asks if there is an education program to try to persuade those people. Per Bob Rohret, they are working on a campaign. RESULT: DISCUSSED 7. Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Project Update Judge Waterman states there is a lot of the same news. The model the National CASA Organization insisted on does not exist in written form. They do not have a template for us to use to incorporate into a regional model. The Judges met with Sue Schwartz, State Representative for CASA to develop a model and none have come to fruition. St. Croix County has a limited amount of government funds to use for this partnership and Barron County has a steady stream of funds. The Regional CASA model is based out of Barron. Judge Waterman states we are now looking at the possibility of going on our own and have a meeting next week with the National CASA representatives to present our case. RESULT: DISCUSSED 8. CJCC Subcommittees Review A summary of activities by each subcommittee was included in the packet and each chair person gave an update. RESULT: DISCUSSED 9. Public Safety Assessment (PSA) Implementation Discussion and Possible Action technical assistance monies are available for implementation of the Public Safety Assessment (PSA). He currently uses the County Pretrial II risk assessment, but this requires him to meet with defendants before they meet with a public defender. Laurie Osberg states in Eau Claire County, they get a document with what level of pretrial Justice Subcommittee that meets on February 2nd. Judge Needham states he will refer to the Criminal Justice Subcommittee to look at and gives authorization to make a grant application if appropriate. RESULT: DISCUSSED 10. St. Croix County Sheriff's Office Updates Sheriff Scott Knudson states with respect to the civilian program coordinator, they have received 12 applicants. In the month of December, the number of inmates in the jail was 74. There was an average of 79.5 for the year, so this is down from last year. In April, they will have a new records management system. Charles Coleman was promoted to lieutenant position and Jason Sykora has moved to Court Services. Mike Khaler has been states this month they added a 2020 year-end review. The COVID section is worked on by Chief Deputy Cathy Borgschatz. RESULT: DISCUSSED REQUEST FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE There is a Treatment Court Oversight Subcommittee meeting immediately after we adjourn. ADJOURN Meeting was adjourned at 9:25 AM. DATE OF NEXT MEETING Thursday, March 18, 2021, 8:00 a.m., Government Center - County Board room & via Zoom.