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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Protection Committee 04-09-02x , ST CROIX COUNTY PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE TO: Thomas Dorsey FROM: Julie Speer DATE: April 9,2002 TIME: 8:30 a.m. LOCATION: Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 1. Visions NEW BUSINESS: 1. Bills & Vouchers* 2. Medical Examiner's Report 3. Child Support- Conversion Agreement with Family Court Commissioner 4. District Attorney, Victim Witness 5. Sheriff, Chief Deputy, Patrol Captain, Jail Captain and Officer Manager. A. Expenditure from Drug Fund B. Jail Assessment 6. Traffic Tickets Collection - resolution 7. Closed Session Per WI Stat. 19.85 (1) (b) for discussion of employee 8. Reconvene into open session *These will be presented by each Department at the time of their report ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) SUBMITTED BY: Julie Speer DATE: 03/22/02 COPIES TO: County Clerk Notice Board /News Media Committee Members * *ADDITIONS /CHANGES /CORRECTIONS PUBLIC PROTECTION COMMITTEE MEETING APRIL 9, 2002 MEMBERS PRESENT: Julie Speer, Tom Rose, Esther Wentz. Chuck Mehls was excused. Bob Gunderson absent, (deceased March 20, 2002). STAFF AND OTHERS PRESENT: Sheriff Dennis Hillstead, Patrol Captain Robert Klanderman, Jail Captain Karen Humphrey, Administrative Assistant Mary Martell, Chief Deputy Ron Volkert, Child Support Administrator Katy Kapaun, Clerk of Court Lori Meyer Frascht, District Attorney Eric Johnson, Personnel Director Deb Kathan and Renee Carufel. Meeting called to order at 8:30 a.m. Motion by Rose/ Wentz to adopt the agenda. Carried. Date of the next meeting will be May 9 th at 8:30 a.m. Motion to approve the minutes of March 8, 2002 by Rose /Wentz. Carried. MEDICAL EXAMINER'S REPORT Motion by Wentz /Rose to approve the Medical Examiner bills of $5623.57. Carried. Chair Speer reported on a letter to Treasurer Mary Jean Livermore stating the county received $35,060.65 for reimbursement from the State of Wisconsin for the cost of the Victim /Witness Assistance Program for the period from July 1 through December 31, 2001. This represents a reimbursement rate of 64% for that six month period. TRAFFIC COLLECTIONS Clerk of Court Lori Meyer Frascht said we haven't focused any efforts on delinquent traffic collections. She suggested the patrol officers should be able to take credit cards to collect for tickets. The card swipes are about $35 each and we would need about 20 -25 machines. Hillstead said we would really have to look hard at this as there would be a lot more paper work for the Sheriff's Department or Clerk of Courts office. Mehls contacted Judith Jensen from Eau Claire regarding this and they have found that it has worked well. Discussion was held as to how we would implement this. The credit card company would charge about 3% to 4% for collections. This fee would come from the county's traffic collection fees. No decision was made at this time; this will go back on the agenda for next month. VISIONS: Hillstead reported there is nothing new on Visions. He talked to Tom Boron informing him that we are considering a new software program. This would have to be budgeted in the 2003 budget. If we would switch from Visions, the other municipalities would have to be on their own or pick a software that would be compatible to whatever software program we choose. PATROL CAPTAIN'S REPORT: Klanderman reported on a bad accident yesterday on the corner of Hwy 12 and UU that was not fog related. CLOSED SESSION FOR DISCUSSION OF EMPLOYEES: Motion to go closed session by Wentz /Rose at 8:58 a.m. Carried. Motion to come out of closed session by Wentz /Rose at 9:37 a.m. Closed session results: Settlement for Dan Breymeier has been made. Jeremey Feeland has been put on a leave of absence for 12 months from March 27 Dawn Whitney has been terminated as of March 31, 2002. Personnel Director Deb Kathan informed the committee advertising for the medical examiner will be done in the St. Paul paper this weekend and local papers the following week. This was considered a contract position before and now it is a County employee position. Interviews will be scheduled after the first of May. SHERIFF'S REPORT The new squad cars are here and all but one are on the road already. We have sold six old squads cars for $24,060. Hillstead reported in 1996 we had 682 criminal arrests and 1571 in 2001; citations in 96 were 2061 and 5515 in 2001; accidents in 99 were 531 and 1321 in 2001; civil process in 98 was 1818 and 1935 in 2001. Personnel Director Deb Kathan reported WMMIC, our insurance company, said that unless the medical examiner position was an employee of the county, he was not covered by errors and omissions. This committee has requested a schedule of salary and hourly rate from Finance which will go into the job description. The committee was disappointed they were never informed of the change in status from contract position to employee. SHERIFF'S OFFICE MANAGER'S REPORT: Martell informed the committee the clerical staff is requesting reclassification. They are all cross trained so they should be on the same wage scale. Presently there is one law enforcement secretary and 4 law clerks. This would mean a dollar an hour more in wages. This will be on the agenda for May. Hillstead reported we have had the 4 th fatality in the county as of April. The Canine officer is in school. We had to switch dogs because the one we were assigned had some unusual responses to commands. We want a dog that is socialized and not overly aggressive. County inmate numbers in the Jail have increased drastically in the past few months. Total inmates for last Friday was 129. Average daily population for the month of March was 102. The revenue for the jail is decreasing because the county inmates have increased. Hillstead called Polk County inquiring about renting Huber space. They would charge us $50 per day. If we rented space for ten Huber inmates a month for a year it would cost the County $168,000. Our loan payment, if we built a new Huber dorm, would be $106,000 per year. Hillstead also reported the District Attorney has asked to take money from the Confiscated Drug Fund to use for a power -point projector. He agreed to this as the District Attorney's office is entitled to some of the Confiscated Drug Fund money. Hillstead reported on some big drug arrests in the Hudson and Houlton area. JAIL CAPTAIN'S REPORT Humphrey reported she and two other Jailers will be attending the American Jail Association conference in Milwaukee. The hotel rooms are $117 which exceeds the county rate of $62. Motion by Wentz /Rose to approve this increase. Carried. Humphrey informed the committee she cannot tell if her expenses are within budget as Finance has not entered the budget figures to the proper reporting process. Discussion if each department is according to budget. The Sheriff is sure he is over in the overtime budget line as he averages about 22 hours of overtime per day. BILLS & VOUCHERS: Motion by Wentz /Speer to approve the bills of $57,849.63 for the Jail. Carried. Motion by Rose /Wentz to approve the bills for the Sheriff's department of $52,074.97. Carried. DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S REPORT: Johnson explained the power point projector which is coming out of the Confiscated Drug Fund would be used in court especially for jury trials. Motion by Wentz /Speer to approve not more than $4000 for the power point projector. Carried. Johnson said in the last five days we have had 9 felony drug arrests. We also have more child abuse cases going to jury trial. Last year we had 42 search warrants with 26 already this year. Motion by Rose /Wentz to approve the bills of $5085.26 for the District Attorney's office. Carried. Chair Speer thanked Tom Rose for all the work he put into this committee and told him he will be missed. CHILD SUPPORT REPORT Kapaun reported the case numbers are staying pretty constant. St. Croix County has implemented the tax intercept process for child support and collected over $45,000 from income tax refunds for the month of March. She reported on the changes in the Child Support department from a convention she attended. She suggested revisions on how child support should be paid. We did another 62 cases of conversion of percentage- expressed orders (PEO)last month. We are on target for the numbers of cases to be converted. She said she wants to send some specialists to the fall conference but the hotel room rate exceeds the $62 allowed by the County. Motion Wentz /Rose to allow an additional expense of $80.to cover the hotel room rate. Carried. Motion to adjourn by Speer /Wentz at 11:25. Tom Rose Secretary Renee Carufel, Recording Secretary