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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 04-20-1999 i ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Chairman Thomas Dorsey St. Croix County Board FROM: Donald Brown, Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: Finance DATE: April 20, 1999 TIME: 8:00 a.m. LOCATION: Room 1281, Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Funding for Temporary Investigator Position - Sheriff's Department NEW BUSINESS: ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE POSSIBLE AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT MEETING: ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) SUBMITTED BY: DATE : April 9, 1999 COPIES TO: County Clerk News Media/Notice Board Committee Members MINUTES of the ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting of April 20, 1999 The meeting was called to order by Chair Don Brown at 8:00 AM. Roll call was taken with Brown, Bob Boche, Tom O'Connell and Herb Giese in attendance. Also in attendance for all or a portion of the meeting were Julie Speer, Chuck Mehls, Dennis Hillstead, Rick Johnson, Greg Timmerman, John Krizek and Rich Loney. Tom Dorsey was excused. A motion was made by O'Connell, seconded by Boche, to adopt the agenda. Motion carried. Brown noted that the next meeting will be at 8:30 AM on April 27th for the purpose of discussing the Clerk of Court position issue. There were no previous minutes to approve. Brown moved into discussion of the one item on this agenda, that being funding for the temporary investigator position in the Sheriff s Department. Krizek reviewed the discussions to this point, noting that he and Loney had met with Hillstead and Johnson, looking at the request from a financial point of view. Hillstead said he had looked at the amount of money requested as well as all possible funding sources and was able to reduce the request to $52,904 for eight months of work in 1999. Brown updated the Committee on the current status of the Contingency Fund, noting that there are at least three pending demands on the Fund, these being additional expenses for Lake Mallalieu Dam, sprinkler head replacement in the jail and costs associated with Stage One of Perch Lake Park. He suggested following the standard approval process for new position requests and possibly hiring to fill this request at a later point in 1999, after the regular position would be approved for inclusion in the 2000 budget, feeling that, even if a temporary position is approved, it would be quite likely the request would be for this to become a regular position in 2000. Krizek explained how new positions are requested with approval first from the parent committee, then the Personnel Committee, Finance Committee and on to the full County Board. O'Connell said he felt the first step is to determine if the position is really needed and would be for the benefit of all. Brown expressed concern that the Contingency Fund may not have the resources needed to fund the request. Giese also added that we are only approximately one-quarter of the way through 1999 and may well have other requests for Contingency Fund money and that priorities need to be examined. Timmerman said he felt that, even if the position were to begin in late 1999, it would still be necessary for the County Board to consider an exception to the new position freeze resolution in effect. Giese questioned whether or not the Sheriff s Office could authorize existing staff to work on other cases if establishment of this were to be put off until later in the year. Hillstead said his office currently has two officers working almost exclusively on drug related cases. To do this would involve re-prioritizing efforts and workloads. He stated the Department has a number of intricate cases on which much time needs to be spent to properly develop. Speer discussed the caseload of the Department and the flow of some of the investigative work. Hillstead reviewed the tri-county (Pierce, Polk and St. Croix) effort being put forth to combat drug cases locally. He noted the figures for methamphetamine cases that have doubled each year over the past three years. Brown said this boils down to an issue of priorities and emphasized the issue of prior planning. He focused on the need to be flexible with these issues. Giese asked what steps had been taken to secure outside funding for the drug effort in St. Croix County? Hillstead said he has spoken with Sen. Kohl's office and submitted a request for funding there as well as justice department officials in Madison. He said Ron Kind's office is also aware of the problem. Hillstead said he is very much aware of the budget constraints and tries hard to look at priorities of the Department every day. Brown asked how much flexibility existed and Hillstead I explained his thinking on filling positions. The status of the patrol and jail work forces was discussed. Johnson said he felt that the possible availability of outside funding has been a source of frustration for all involved. He noted that there were twenty-two felony methamphetamine cases in St. Croix County in 1998, a high number and said that this is not improving short term. Krizek asked if the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) had been looked at, to which Hillstead responded that the state does help somewhat but that the three people they have are spread very thin in the area. He went on to say that his office is trying to improve educational efforts also. He explained the efforts of the tri-county task force as they relate to other local police departments. Speer said the Public Protection Committee would be working through this, trying to do the best it can. The discussion turned to the potential of receiving grant funds for computer-related equipment that could replenish the Contingency Fund. This was discussed as was money ear marked in that Fund for Perch Lake Park. Giese said he felt strongly that a united effort from all municipalities in St. Croix County is important in the drug effort. Timmerman commented on possibly taking the issue to the County Board. Brown said he felt it might come into better focus in the next couple of months, noting that good progress has been made on the funding issue and saying he felt this would continue. The issue was discussed from many points of view. A motion was made by Boche, seconded by Giese, to postpone the issue until the June Finance Committee meeting. Motion carried with O'Connell voting no. Discussion then turned to whether or not the issue should be removed from the County Board agenda. That is a decision for the Board to make during its meeting. A motion was made by O'Connell, seconded by Boche, to recommend removal of the issue from the agenda to the full County Board. Motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 9:00 AM. i Thomas P. O'Connell Secretary