MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
JANUARY 11, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Director Elaine Sweet: Provider Agency Contracts for Fiscal Year 2007 Services and Rates with TTC Housing -Theresa Kopatich (6-Month Contract).................................. 1
Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Director Elaine Sweet and Mobile Crisis Coordinator Dr. Mindy Lamb: Jail Alternatives/Mobile Crisis Team Member(s)...................................................................... 2
County Treasurer Tom Kriz: Marilyn Irvin Request for Tax Suspension at 2254 South Riverside Drive Trailer 52, Iowa City, Iowa........................................................................................................................ 3
Report from Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan......................................................................... 3
Discussion: Sending Two Supervisors to Attend a Meeting at Kirkwood Community College on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 at 11:30 A.M. – 1:30 P.M. on How Kirkwood Is Meeting the Needs of Our Communities..... 3
Scheduling the Following Board of Supervisors Meeting Days: Spring Break – (The Week Of March 11th) – Thursday, March 15th At 9:00 A.M.; County Fair – (The Week Of July 22nd) – Thursday, July 26th At 9:00 A.M.; NACo – (The Week Of July 15th) – Thursday, July 19th At 9:00 A.M.; Thanksgiving – (The Week Of November 18th) – Tuesday, November 20th at 9:00 A.M.; Fall School of Instruction – (The Week Of November 25th) –Tuesday, November 27th at 9:00 A.M.; Designation of Floating Christmas Holiday for Board Of Supervisors Office; and Christmas – (The Week Of December 23rd) – Thursday, December 27th At 9:00 A.M............................................ 3
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, National Institute of Corrections Jails Division Technical Assistance Providers Dan Russell and Tom Weber: Preliminary Report from the National Institute of Corrections......... 4
Executive Session: Collective Bargaining Tentative Agreement with Public Professional and Maintenance Employees (PPME) Unit of Secondary Roads Department and the Administrative Unit....................... 19
Chairperson Harney called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 6:17 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Director (MH/DD) Elaine Sweet said that the contract with TTC Housing is a six-month contract from January 1, 2007 to June 30, 2007. TTC contracts with MH/DD to provide supported community living for persons with mental illness. TTC is currently providing such living to a number of Johnson County in-state cases who are very difficult to place. County Attorney Janet Lyness has reviewed this contract and recommends that the Board discuss it at this meeting and then take action at the formal meeting this evening. The rate for TTC housing is $25.09 per hour, and that is consistent with the other Johnson County provider agencies for this service. All of the conditions of the Services Management Plan are applicable as are the ones in the Johnson County contract. This is the third six-month contract with TTC housing. When this contract expires, TTC will be requesting to become a CRIS provider, as their other agencies are. Stutsman asked how many clients use this service. Sweet said it is not a large number. She said that Mobile Crisis Coordinator Mindy Lamb’s Jail Alternatives Program includes a number of people who use this provider. It serves a number of clients who other agencies will not serve.
Recessed at 6:20 p.m.; reconvened at 6:30 p.m.
Sweet said that MH/DD is requesting to hire a Jail Alternatives/Mobile Crisis team member. The current program is at maximum capacity with the current staffing levels. This additional position will provide the minimum core to develop a mobile crisis program. Lamb said that this would allow them to facilitate the mobile crisis component which includes working with law enforcement prior to arrests being made in the hope that they can prevent unnecessary arrests and increase appropriate diversion. Lamb said there is money in their current budget to hire this person. Stutsman asked if they had already approved one slot. Lamb responded that search is to replace a staff member who left. Sweet said that the full department would be three people including Lamb and two others. Together they would be able to continue the Jail Alternative Programs and the development of the mobile crisis portion of this position, which would be staffed during the day with a member on-call during the evening. R. Sullivan said that if they have two people they want to hire, they could do that. Sweet said that would reduce the cost of interviewing and training.
Neuzil asked if they anticipate seeing even higher numbers of people taken out of the jail and diverted to other programs. Lamb said that the emphasis would be on the mobile crisis component that would hopefully alleviate people from going into jail at all. They want to keep people in the community instead of in the jail. Neuzil asked how they would track that. Lamb said that they would track that. Staff that responded to incidents would document what happened after they intervened with the client. Harney asked how many they have out now with the alternatives. Lamb said that they have worked intensively with 75 and have had contact with close to 150 people. This is right on track and a little above last year’s numbers. Sweet noted that another important consideration is back-up. They recently had the only other team member accept another position, so right now, Lamb is staffing this program by herself. Harney said that this is a successful program so far that has been recognized nationally. He thanked them for their work. The Board agreed to put this item on the formal agenda.
County Treasurer Tom Kriz explained that he has a request for a tax suspension from Marilyn Irvin. He said that she is qualified through DHS, has the paperwork in place, and meets all of the requirements in the Code of Iowa for a tax suspension. He said that one unique thing about this situation is that with mobile homes they never really have a value. This is a 1971 mobile home, and the taxes are approximately $216 a year. If this suspension stays on for five years, they would accrue $1,080 on a mobile home that is now 41 years hold. There is a definite risk that taxes may not ever be covered by the sale of the mobile home at that time. He said that a house has a value, but mobile homes are taxed by square footage. This mobile home could very well be worth considerably more or less than that. It is possible that if the taxes stay suspended long enough that there would not be enough money to repay the taxes at the time of sale. Neuzil said that this is a bit of a wrench in the system. Kriz said that it would be unrealized tax dollars across the board to all entities including the schools, the City, etc. The County would not be liable for the payment of those taxes. The situation is not that different than some of the older mobile homes that are being torn down without having taxes collected on them. Kriz recommended that the Board approve this suspension. The Board agreed to put this on the formal agenda.
Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan reported that the interviews of the three firms for the proposed justice center sight suitability and comparison study will take place on Friday, February 2, 2007.
The Board agreed to send Harney and Meyers to attend a meeting at Kirkwood Community College on January 30, 2007 at 11:30 a.m. regarding community land use issues.
The Board rescheduled meetings on the following dates:
Spring Break – (The Week of March 11th) – Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 9:00 a.m.
County Fair – (The Week of July 22nd) – Thursday, July 26, 2007 at 9:00 a.m.
Thanksgiving – (The Week of November 18th) – Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at 9:00 a.m.
ISAC Fall School of Instruction – (The Week of November 25th) –Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 9:00 a.m.
The Board designated December 24, 2006 as the Floating Christmas Holiday for the Board of Supervisors Office.
Christmas – (The Week of December 23rd) – Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 9:00 a.m.
Recessed at 6:47 p.m.; reconvened at 7:01 p.m.
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said that last year, he had the opportunity to attend and graduate from the National Sheriffs’ Institute. While there, he learned that the National Institute of Corrections would dispatch people upon request to do an assessment or analysis of the County’s justice system. Pulkrabek introduced National Institute of Corrections (NIC) Jails Division Technical Assistance Providers Dan Russell and Tom Weber.
Weber said that they want to start by giving an overview of what they want to accomplish in the session. They will be going through introductions and acknowledgements to the contributors of their work. They will describe the role of the National Institute of Corrections and the history of the Johnson County jail and then provide preliminary findings and observations. He encouraged dialogue on these issues. They are going to talk about Criminal Justice Coordinating Committees, which is in existence in Johnson County. He and Russell think these are a good mechanism for bringing about sound management to the entire justice system. They are going to offer recommendations and then open up for questions and discussion. They thanked Pulkrabek for all of his help with hosting and scheduling, the Board for supporting this project and taking the time to meet, and the justice system leaders. He said that normally, they interview about 12 or 15 people, and at last count, they were up to 35 or 36 in Johnson County. All of these people were great about making information available and their staff available.
Weber read the following statement about the National Institute of Corrections. NIC falls under the Federal government’s Attorney General’s Office and is funded through the Bureau of Prisons. NIC has several divisions, with the jails division being the assigned agency providing for the assistance in this project. The technical assistance activity was funded by the jails division of the NIC. The Institute is a Federal agency established to provide assistance to strengthen State and local correctional agencies by creating more effective, humane, safe, and just correctional services. The resource people who provided the onsite technical assistance did so through a cooperative agreement at the request of Johnson County, Iowa and through the coordination of the NIC. The direct onsite assistance and the subsequent report are intended to assist the agency in addressing the issues outlined in the original request and in efforts to enhance the effectiveness of the agency. The content of this body of work reflect the views of Dan Russell and Tom Weber and do not necessarily reflect official views or policies of the National Institute of Corrections.
Weber said that the history of the Johnson County jail studies was something they were unaware of until they got on-site. He said that there has been a lot of work done. Starting in 1998, former County Sheriff Bob Carpenter hired a space needs consultant. As a result, in the year 2000 there was a bonding attempt that failed by a pretty significant vote. Consequently, the County was stuck with what they had. At this point the County began a process to address some of the concerns that the justice system had presented as a result of the bonding issue. In 2001, NIC was on site with Assistant Dave Boucher, who offered eight recommendations. Many of the recommendations that Weber and Russell are offering are probably ones the Board has seen previously.
Weber said that in 2002 the County created the Jail Space and Services Task Force. The Jail Space and Services Task Force, chaired by Dick Gibson, did a great deal of work in a short amount of time. They provided seven recommendations, many of which were similar to the ones made in the 2001 study. In 2003 the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee (CJCC) was formed. That committee was established so that different things could start to be evaluated and created in response to the jail and justice systems. Weber said that he and Dan Russell are very supportive of CJCCs. In 2006, the Sheriff put in a new request to have someone come back and study the system, and this is why NIC is here today. He said that they want to recognize that there has been a lot of work done prior to their arrival, and they have made use of that valuable information.
Weber said that even though the bond issue failed in 2000, there have been some significant positive responses to the jail overcrowding problem. The Mental Health Diversion Program is something that everyone in Johnson County has pride in developing, and it has been a very effective program, according to the preliminary information. Substance Abuse Assessments is an effort that was put forward by the County Attorney and the Public Defender’s Office in response to defendants who were not getting the legally required assessments done and then returning to the jail system for non-compliance. Weber said that this is an excellent example of cooperation. The jail also expanded their work release program. In 2001, some inmates began to be housed out-of-County to relieve population levels. While this has been expensive for Johnson County, it has also had a significant impact on managing the jail population. Prior to 2001, there was a relatively high rate of inmate-to-inmate assaults and inmate-to-staff problems. Overcrowded jail conditions often result in those types of behaviors. There was also a lot of work that still goes on today between the Sheriff and the Department of Correctional Services on community-based placements of offenders from the jail. Also, a number of responses were created by DCS and their contracted agencies. MECCA is another agency that has had a significant impact on some these positive responses that have occurred since 2000.
Weber said he would offer some general observations based on the review. One thing they were struck by is that Johnson County has a tremendous amount of resources that are available and used throughout the County. They are very much impressed by the highly skilled and qualified people that were not only in leadership positions in the justice system, but in leadership positions in the County. Community members and lay people have been very impressive in their ability to effectively communicate thoughts and ideas. He said that when he walks away from his week in Iowa City, he is going to think first about the high-level of quality people that he encountered. Cooperation and helpful attitudes are in place in many of the areas of the justice system’s daily operation already. This has been effective to a point, but it is also a complex and comprehensive system. He said that unilateral relationships are not typically an effective tool for whole system management.
Weber said that the County has faced a number of financial challenges in the past with the failed bonding attempt. He said that there wasn't anyone he interviewed who did not recognize that the jail is overcrowded and something needs to be done. Everyone acknowledged this need. The local community takes a very active roll in participation and oversight of the justice system. There are a lot of people in this community who want to get involved with this issue. He said that in general, sometimes the same people are asked to serve on various taskforces. He said that one person described that they have the same group at one meeting a week prior that were at different one with a different title. It creates a dilemma for these for their time and priorities.
Weber said that all leaders that they have interviewed have the same goal which is to provide public safety in the most cost effective and efficient manner while allowing offenders an opportunity for rehabilitation. Not once did he hear anyone say that all they want to do is lock offenders up in the jail and forget about them for the sake of convenience. Weber said another theme is that the community needs to have their confidence restored in the system through community education and input.
Weber said that the physical plant of the justice system is spread out through several buildings and several layers. There are built in inefficiencies when they aren't all in one building. There are increased costs for security, transportation, and networking issues. Johnson County has tried to work hard to minimize the impact of those challenges. All the individual offices that they interviewed collect a great deal of data for their own operation. Many of these offices have to provide information to other agencies, so they collect it. But that information might not ever come back to them in a meaningful form that helps them understand why they are even collecting the data. Weber said this is a common occurrence. Also, individual office data does not correlate or coordinate well to a system-wide analysis process.
Weber said that the jail is usually a pretty good indication of what is going on in the community and in the justice system. The population that resides in the jail is a good identifier of what kinds of social issues are present in the community and also what kind of philosophy the criminal justice office and representatives have in their response to crime. Policies and procedures that come about from that justice system typically have an impact of either putting people in jail or of letting them out. Depending on the philosophy in communities, they can find out what the underlying thoughts of the authorities and of the community are.
Weber noted that the Johnson County jail is well maintained given its age and design. It is clean and well-operated but it has serious space shortages, not just for housing inmates. There are space needs for recreation and exercise and no room for programming that helps reduce recidivism. The Johnson County jail has no ability to provide programming in its current condition. There is no space for office support or for staff. Weber said that booking procedures are a nightmare in Johnson County. The arrangement is not efficient and is a serious security and safety risk for the staff, and it is a significant part of the jail operation.
Weber said that there are strategies and procedures for inmate management in place. Some things that are time consuming for the staff include trying to locate beds for housing inmates out-of-county. The staff has been fairly successful in securing beds around the area to house inmates but at some point in time the surrounding counties will have to reject Johnson County inmates. This happens everywhere, Weber stated. When they are housing inmates out-of-county, they are at the liberty of those other jurisdictions to take inmates. The current staff is doing a very good job to date, but they are having a hard time finding enough beds to meet the need.
Last, Weber and Russell were very impressed at how well the staff is led and supervised at the various levels. They thought that the problems with the jail are minimized a great deal by the quality of the staff and the amount of supervision that the staff offers the inmates. Operating in the space that they have with the number of inmates that they have, it is extremely common to have elevated levels of inmate assaults and suicide attempts. Yet, the County has a remarkably low level of these behaviors, and the only thing they can attribute it to is staff behavior and supervision, and inmate behavior. He added that the inmates are probably pretty well behaved. Some of the comments that they have heard is that there has been an influx of people from larger metro areas, and they have brought with them more serious crime. Weber said if that pattern is true and if it continues, then the jail population is likely going to become more violent. Then, the levels of assaults and suicides will increase.
Weber said that as they all know, the jail operates at or near maximum capacity every day. Inmates are held out-of-county and thus incur daily costs for that. The jail collects a great deal of data, though this is somewhat difficult due to lack of information system integration. Jail staff is trying to identify who they have in the jail and focusing on getting good data so that they can have good information on describing their jail population and what time or responses are appropriate for the population they house in the jail. He said that the County has very few major problems at present. There are serious safety and security issues with the design of the current jail. The intake and reception occurs in a confined space not designed for the management of offenders. The main control area lacks a capacity for direct inmate supervision or observation. That is because they are not a pod-style jail; they are instead a somewhat outdated model that has inefficiencies. Weber said that the housing units all have solid cell fronts that prevent observation by the staff. Moreover, the cell blocks are monitored by fixed CCTV’s with no ability to track inmate movement through them. Inmate activity and movement cannot effectively be monitored due to the line of sight. Blind spots exist and are prevailing issues throughout the jail. Weber went on to say that those spots are always hazard areas for inmates and other staff.
Weber explained that the physical capacity of the jail was built for about 46, but it typically houses 92 inmates. This is allowed through double-bunking. There are frequent spikes in population that far exceed 92 inmates. The example, of course, is football games. There is little ability to segregate by classification. It is not necessarily done through an objective measurement in Johnson County, but objective classification will allow for certain things to occur like targeting inmates for appropriate placement in the community. Typically, minimum classification inmates are those who may be appropriate for community sanction and monitoring. One of the things they encourage is that objective classification standards be put in place so that those kinds of things can occur.
Capacity for female inmates is severely limited in the jail, Weber noted. Again, that includes everything such as housing, programming, and recreation. There is no space for inmate correctional programs. The inmate population in Johnson County is not well analyzed or accurately portrayed. Types and classification of inmates by offenses is not routinely collected. There is a lot of information collected, but it is not drilled down into very specific details. Types of offenders who have different levels of risk and different needs have different responses to those behaviors that ended up putting them in an incarcerated setting. The current jail database does not collect some information that can help identify risk and needs. There is a common belief that the transient population from large metro areas is driving the jail population, but they could not substantiate that with the current information collected in the jail. This is not to criticize the information that is collected. What often happens is that when NIC comes and points this out, the criminal justice system will begin to collect that data. This is the value of the NIC coming in; people start to realize some of the pieces of information that they need to collect in order to analyze the situation more effectively. Spikes in the population due to the University of Iowa events might be a major factor in the spike for that day but is not a major factor in the overall crowed jail conditions. The jail is crowded regardless of what happens at the University of Iowa.
Weber said that they interviewed Nick Meeks from Corrections. They discovered that in this community they have a wide variety of services offered not only from their agencies but from other State and County agencies and the private sector. All of those groups have come together to provide what they call community corrections programs. Examples include the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, the Mental Health Diversion program, substance abuse programs, and residential programs for the needs of correctional clients that live in this community. All of those are combinations of State, County, and private agencies coming together to provide those services. There is willingness on the part of leaders to provide more programs and expand pre-trial release.
Weber said that he has done some analysis of a couple of snapshots. There is not data collected routinely on the data of the status of the inmate based on classifications based on pre-trial, sentenced or unsentenced, violators of probation or parole. That information is there but it is not automated and easy to extract. It appeared by comparing information in the snapshot of one day in time to the one in 2002 that there was a significantly high population of unsentenced offenders in the jail. That tells them that the jail is being used as a holding center. Sentenced inmates accounted for anywhere from 28% to 34% of the population on those two snap shots. Sentenced inmates are the ones who have a determined amount of time to serve in jail. They become an easier population to manage because they may be eligible for work release, and they can be confined in a particular cellblock that the jail actually schedules inmates into. This allows them to plan the arrival of a new inmate with the departure of another, so that a bed is free.
R. Sullivan asked if the snapshot day included people who were housed out-of-county. Weber said that it did. The snapshot included 128 inmates this week and 104 in August. They will compile that information and put it in their written report. They weren’t prepared to present that tonight. The snapshots, if anything, are a good illustration of some good data for getting a sense of the kind of information they might want to collect. They do, however, need an automated system that makes information retrieval more convenient and faster. Such a system does not yet exist in Johnson County. The local system assessment was not designed to address issues related to the juvenile justice system, but this should get some attention at some point. The juveniles involved in the system are sometimes very quickly coming up to that adult system. In a perfect world, they would have coordination from the juvenile system up to the adult system. If intervention and prevention occurs early enough, then it could have some impact on the adult outcome. They are going to see some bad outcomes with adults who did not have effective responses when they were juveniles. He said that they are not addressing juveniles in this study but that he encourages the County to do so.
Weber said that he heard that everyone tries to use best practices or evidence-based practices. What they really mean is that there is a science to the programs and to the things that they are doing with offenders that have been determined through analysis and evaluation that these are effective if they concern the right target population. He said that the staff should be commended for that. He said that evidence-based practices should include objective classifications at every level, not just in the jail. A lot of jail alternative programs around the country fail because they have the wrong population in them. Their best bet for their buck is assuring that the people that they want to have targeted for those programs are the right ones. These kinds of comprehensive, objective assessments are not done in all of the programs that are operating here, although they are striving for that. Community corrections offers a range of residential programming for the correctional offenders here. There is in-patient substance abuse treatment, out-patient substance abuse, mental health, halfway house, transitional living, work release, and work replacement. All of these are terrific examples of community based responses to offending behavior. Many of the places they go don’t even have one of those resources. Community treatment support going beyond some of the systems that are established through State and County government include faith based communities and volunteers.
Weber said they met with representatives of the Sexual Abuse Taskforce. There is a terrific response to that type of offense and terrific programming set up to address the victimization issues associated with that offense. Weber said that the Mental Health Crisis Team is something that is also worth trumpeting their horn over. Victim representatives of Domestic Violence, the Mid-East Council on Chemical Abuse (MECCA), and community volunteers including John Neff, Richard Gibson, and John Stratton have shown tremendous amount of interest in these topics and need to be commended for the efforts they put forward.
Weber said that they want to cite an example of successful collaboration as a lead-in to talking about coordinating councils. The Mental Health Diversion Program administered by Dr. Lamb is an example of a successful collaboration that has occurred in Johnson County. The jail had experienced problems housing mentally ill inmates because they are a liability risk. It causes staff stress and stress to other inmates. The justice system came together to create the diversion program that seems to be successful in getting these people out of jail and getting them connected to community support. They observed the different levels of courts, the associate district, district, and magistrate. They saw that administration for the court operations rely heavily on the Clerk of Court and the Chief District Judge. There are certain challenges that exist due to the judges' rotation through the area. Johnson County is a little unique in that Johnson County does not have district judges who are assigned solely to Johnson County. This causes some issues because there is not one judge who sits here regularly and can participate in that process. There is also the perception that the court staff and resources are not evenly divided across the six districts.
Weber said that they heard that Johnson County needs some additional help at the judge-level, but that the work load is not distributed evenly through out the district to provide that assistant. As a result, the work load is higher for this County. Despite the limited judge time in the area, it appears that the standard of both the local and American Bar Association for time to disposition for the average case is being met. Some areas that have a high percentage of unsentenced offenders will probably have a lot of problems with court case flow. The longer a person takes to get their court case disposed of, the longer their average length of stay in jail. If they can engage in some new policies to expedite the court case flow, they can sometimes have an impact on the pretrial and unsentenced population in the jail. When the jail has greater than 50% of its population in that category, this is something worth looking at. The group that works here including the County Attorney, Public Defender, and Judges, seem to meet the standard that is put out there for time to disposition. The people that Weber met are open to considering changing policies that would help. Johnson County does not have any specialized or differentiated case loads such as drug treatment or problem solving courts. There has been a lot of talk about these kinds of courts. There have been some planning meetings in Cedar Rapids that are related to the activities that could go on in Johnson County. The District Court is very supportive of additional halfway house capacity to house non-violent offenders. Weber noted that such houses are typically much less expensive than jail cells.
Weber said that the Courthouse is a beautiful historic building, but has very limited space just like the jail. Moreover, the configuration of the courtrooms and the offices present safety concerns on a daily basis. The security of the staff, visitors, and jurors is compromised by the age and design of that structure. The structure is not conducive to being easily remodeled to improve safety and security. Space is limited and the use of the space can be disruptive to court business. In some cases, people have to go through a court room to get to offices. If there are juvenile proceedings or mental health commitments or other confidential things, this can cause a pretty significant distraction. Public access to inmate traffic is common and difficult to control. In a perfect world, they would not mix their inmates with the public in the Courthouse. This is a tremendous security problem to the public but also for issues of exchanging contraband or of escape. The hiring of the two security officers has helped given the sense of more security in the Courthouse. All of the judges indicated a willingness to consider alternatives to confinement sanctions when appropriate. They are already utilizing these alternative services and were willing to be partners in the development of more alternatives or more diversion. This is a pretty significant thing when they are hearing it from the judges. The courts try to resolve cases as quickly as they can. The County Attorney has the same feeling. The judges and the public defenders all have a great appreciation for the role they play and the impact they have on the jail population and on the flow of cases.
Weber said that the campus is widespread, and the judges are sensitive to that. He said that he has been in jurisdictions where judges are ordering the Sheriff's Department to do certain things. When it gets to that point, there are real breakdowns in relationships and in efficiencies. That does not exist in Johnson County because the judges are sensitive to those issues that exist. The County Attorney's Office is unique in that the office acts as prosecutor, corporation councilors, and Board Council, when other Counties do not necessarily include all of these functions in the Attorney's Office. The importance of this is to recognize that the County Attorney has more to do than addressing the criminal justice system. The Attorney is a huge player in that system, but it is not that office's only responsibility. They have other important duties.
Weber said that the County Attorney's Office focuses on public safety, so there is a strong commitment to prosecuting drunk drivers. There has been a progressive prosecution with the potentially related result of very few OWI traffic fatalities in the area. The County Attorney likes to send the consistent message that alternative programs are available. The past County Attorney was very active in creating the assessment process for indigent members in the jail to get the needed substance abuse assessments done. The new County Attorney shares that philosophy. They need to be commended for that, said Weber. While they are concerned with expedient disposition of cases, they do indicate that the limited amount of available court and jail space does hamper their operation and the use of alternative resources.
Weber explained that after a long term in office, former County Attorney J. Patrick White is enjoying retirement. After serving in that capacity for so many years, there is obviously transition in leadership and policies and procedures. By all reports, primarily because there is strong confidence in the new County Attorney, the transition is expected to be very smooth. The new County Attorney, Janet Lyness, has been involved in many community task forces and work groups. None of these will be a surprise to her because she has been here long enough and involved in enough of these things that she is up to speed. As indicated, she is very willing to be involved with the policy and procedure adjustments when appropriate.
Weber said that his interview with the Public Defenders Office was delightful. The Chief is experienced and well-respected all around. He likes to be considered a team player. He is an active participant on all past and present County Task Forces and Work Committees. He is a strong advocate for additional judicial staff and resources. He has assisted in past attempts to improve court case flow measures.
Weber said that law enforcement in the Johnson County community is considered a key member of the County justice system. Mutual aid is common across municipalities. There are very good relationships in law enforcement here. The Sheriff's Department has an excellent understanding of the needs of other local police departments including patrol, booking, and warrant processing. One thing that they have not analyzed Johnson County but is a significant issue in areas that have overcrowded jails is pressure on municipal police forces to do something about the overcrowding and efficient booking processes. Taking a patrol officer out of their community while they sit at the jail and do booking slows things down. In Johnson County it is like Motel 6 in that they have to leave the light on to say that they can come in or not come in. In those cases, the municipal police departments are often backed up and waiting to bring inmates into the jail for booking and processing. While they are doing that, those officers are not available to respond to emergencies; they are not able to provide patrol and security to their home jurisdiction. This is something that is difficult to measure. Weber mentioned that the Sheriff recognizes this difficulty and has discussion with the Chiefs of police about that.
Weber noted that another great example of collaboration is the consolidated effort on dispatch going on right now. That may result in improved efficiencies in public safety and emergency response and more. Weber said the Chiefs of Police and the Sheriff meet every month to discuss issues of mutual concern. The City Officials Weber and Russell met with are concerned about staffing patterns with law enforcement. It was cited that staff ratios for police officers in some communities in the County is low as it relates to the population. There are about 1.1 officers per 1,000 residents, with the average being 1.8 officers per 1,000 residents. City officials are also willing to admit that they seem to have a feeling that they are living in a pretty safe community and that the officers that are here do a pretty good job. They did say they would like to see more officers.
Weber said that one thing they heard loud and clear is that there is a public perception that City police are too tough on some alcohol and minor substance abuse possession offenses. They did not collect any information that would substantiate or dispute that perception. He said they heard it from many, many sources and therefore wanted to emphasize that. The City Police Chief with whom they spoke is willing to be involved with the justice system officials on all areas of concern. The Chief considered himself to be a part of that system, according to Weber. He said that the us/them mentality does not exist in the Johnson County community.
Weber explained that the Board of Supervisors has been involved in the issue with the jail and justice system since 1998. Supervisors have all assumed different positions and roles to try to get the issue of overcrowding resolved. All members recognize that overcrowding is an issue and that it is a potential liability risk. To the Board's credit, they authorized the request for qualifications to look for a site for a jail and justice center. Ultimately, their role cannot be appreciated enough because they will ultimately be the decision-making body in response to the issues.
Regarding the CJCC, this group has existed for a couple of years, Weber noted. Some good things have come from those meetings. Weber said that group came together in a response to the task force recommendations, but the group lacked a clear mission. A successful CJCC has the following elements: they are authorized by local government or by a judicial body; leadership is by a highly respected and effective Chairperson; and broad-based membership includes members from the justice system and the community. The first two qualities were there, but the broad-based membership was not. A successful CJCC also usually has a paid professional staff person to provide support for the Council. He said that the current CJCC does not have that. The CJCC did have some tasks and goals although Weber thought they might not have had the big picture in mind. They had objectives, but the mission was never really secured. The strategic plan was not developed for the group, when this is something that will lead into establishing the vision, goals, and objectives of the group. The CJCC did not have the best information available to them. Weber thought the group did have community and justice system agency support. Out of the eight elements, the group has four or five but not all of them. If they had had them all, Weber speculated that the group would have gotten much more accomplished.
Weber said it is important to measure the effectiveness and procedures often. They need to be brought into a single picture for the system. To make the information system work as a system, all of the different offices need to come together as one. When comparing their activities in the justice system with private industry, they find that they don't typically do a very good job of keeping information on what is going on in the justice system. If they compared themselves to Wal-Mart, for instance, Wal-Mart will tell them exactly what color shirt markets best at what time of year in what geographic area and at what cost. In the justice system, they can't tell who is coming in at what time of the year, and who is most likely to come back. They don't typically know how they are doing in responding to those criminal behaviors and the court case flow. Yet they need this meaningful information to have a successful justice system in operation. Evidence will come with good information on a day-to-day basis. Such information can be used to establish staffing patterns, identify budgeting needs, forecast space needs, and so on.
Weber said that evaluation is also important. Data becomes information, and the information is used for daily operations. Information systems here in Johnson County have a typical problem. There are too many systems with limited ability to interface. Each office has their own database of information. It is then almost impossible to extract data from one department and bring it into another. Therefore, they often have people re-entering data from one office to another even though data is in the same justice system. When they have that many systems in place, there can be inconsistency in defining certain events and prime types of data elements. So, sometimes information starts to mean different things from department to department leading to confusion and difficulty in accurately measuring data.
Weber said that for future success, planning is necessary for both individual offices and for the whole justice system. Negotiation must be part of the process. He thought that operations can be managed by a collaborative process, and this is not something that they always conclude. There has been a lot of success and a lot of the right people in the right position with the right attitudes to go with a collaborative process. They have some recommendations for the County, knowing that they might accept the recommendations in whole or in part. He said that he and Russell came as an objective party with no one telling them what they wanted as a result of their work. So, the opinion is not the opinion of NIC or of the Sheriff of the Board or of the community.
Weber recommended that they establish a more effective Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee by establishing the missions and goals. This is just as important as providing staff time to support the CJCC members for their participation. In other words, sometimes these meetings get to be something that is expected and sometimes go over their 40-hour work week. It is important that whoever determines job duties and descriptions factor in that they need to be involved in groups like this because it is time consuming and needs to be supported. Another critical thing is that someone should be providing skilled support to that CJCC effort. If they compared the effort of the County Board to the Justice System operation, they have a wealth of talent at the Board's disposal to support their talent, while the CJCC does not. Yet, they need the same. This type of support position is often called Justice System Administrator or Justice System Coordinator and has the primary responsibility of supporting the CJCC so that it can be effective.
Weber said that the CJCC should prepare a strategic plan and a total criminal justice system management plan. The strategic plan should include an information collection process that defines the data needed to serve the needs of the CJCC and the staff of the various agencies. More specifically, there should be collection and regular analysis of crimes, arrest, jail, court, and program information. Critical information and data needed have to be identified for the operations. The process needs to be established and formalized. The measurement and need for it must be understood by everyone. Collecting data becomes important when they know what the output is going to mean to the different offices and the system as a whole. It is very critical that all the offices collecting information know why they are collecting information. What might be expected in one office is to collect data that actually measures performance of another office. For example, a County Attorney's Office might track how many cases they get in from police agencies that result in successful prosecution or return to them as a denial of charges. Every instance that a bad charge comes in takes staff time. The municipal officers appreciate that feedback because they can bring about changes to enhance their performance and to increase their output so that they reduce the number of bad cases going to the prosecutor's office.
Weber said that information review must become routine. Establishing regular monthly reports is important as is making those reports presentable so that they are easily usable. Lastly, they have heard many people who are interested in comparing themselves to other counties and entities. Weber emphasized that they can take the information they are getting and compare it to next month or to next year, but they should not compare it to what is going on in other jurisdictions because they have a different set of circumstances and stakes. A great example is recidivism rates. To most people, this means how long it is before person returns to the justice system. That rate could mean felony matters or in the first year or in seven years. It could mean arrest for misdemeanors or convictions for such crimes. When Johnson County establishes what it defines as recidivism, it may be a completely different meaning in the county next door.
Weber recommended that all future planning include a process that examines all elements of the justice system for system-wide efficiencies and cost effectiveness. This needs to go beyond the impact on the jail. They should also consider adding more jail or community corrections programs or modifying the current use of their already existing programs like community services. Some services are already in operation, but there could be much more. Something that they have seen in every prior report and in almost every discussion is that single most important solution identified was to hire an expediter, that is, someone who can evaluate the case after arrest for appropriateness of moving it along through the system. That might mean diverting them into appropriate programs or securing lower cash bonds. One thing they have thought of is that this person could have a dual role as the staff support for the CJCC. The person who would be in this position needs to have good skills and connection with many offices. The expediter is something that was recommended by just about everybody they interviewed.
In addition, Weber suggested that they develop a comprehensive plan to improve the efficiency and safety of the current jail. Regardless of what they do in terms of moving towards a new jail, the current jail has needs that need to be met now. There needs to be security improvements, additional space for critical office function like door control, booking, document management, and staff needs. They believe they are running on borrowed time before the jail either gets shut down or has a serious event like a potential law suit. These changes could mean increased expenses due to an increase in out-of-county shipping of inmates. They will probably just have to deal with that. If they increase the use of current technology, they will improve efficiency throughout the justice system. Video conferencing could be expanded, and courthouse security could be improved via technology. There is also some technology that could be expanded in the area of offender management like GPS or electronic monitoring and iris identification. There are many things out there that will allow for effective community monitoring of offenders. Somewhere along the line, there should be a review of the efficiencies and needs. Remembering that each office plays an integral part in the justice system, each office can probably do specific things to improve efficiency on their end. This might include equipment, training and cross-training. Sometimes certain jobs are the sole responsibility of one person and this can lead to problems if that person has to leave or retires.
Weber said that they should also continue with the long-term planning of the jail or justice center remodeling or replacement. He said they are not a part of that process, but they think it is a good idea. Weber recommended community input and education on the process. It would be important to establish space requirements for all of the justice needs and things that will come about with the survey. Budgeting and planning finances for the future are important, especially if they are interested in decreasing their in-house jail population. They also need to establish time frames for goals to ensure they will meet them and make decisions. Weber also thought they should consider an architectural plan that addresses all facets of the justice center facility needs. This is another expensive endeavor but it might be something they can start saving for. The current facilities need a lot of updating and/or replacement. There definitely needs to be improvement to at least the Courthouse and the jail.
Harney asked what day fines are. Weber said that these are imposed on convicted offenders who may have a lower level of offense. It is connected to their current earning power through employment. Sometimes poorer members of the community might get a $100 fine on something and be unable to satisfy that amount. A day fine formula might say something like two hours of wages paying a fine. It all depends on the seriousness of the offense. Harney said that they need to be careful to not let people buy themselves out of jail. Weber said they need to build in factors for a minimum amount due even for indigent people, and not all types of offenses would be offered the option of day fines.
Harney asked if the expeditor would for the County Attorney or the Public Defender. Weber said that some jurisdictions have created new departments for an expeditor so that person was not influenced by a particular department. They have also been in the offices of the County Planner, County Administrator, Sheriff’s, Human Services, and Corrections and Prosecutors. He said that whatever works best for this community is where the position should go.
R. Sullivan said that they said that surrounding counties will start to reject prisoners, but Washington County is building a new jail, Scott County is adding 200 beds, and Polk is building a huge jail. He said that in the short term there will be a huge influx of additional beds. Russell said that with current capabilities on a daily basis some of the jails are either full or not willing to take anybody. Other counties are likely building for a projection that is only 10 years down the road. He said that he doesn't know how long they can depend on that because there are always intervening factors. Russell said that if Johnson County doesn't begin to take care of their own population, all the money goes out-of-county. In the long run beds won't be available. Russell said that these observations come from experience. He said that in one place where they are increasing to 400 beds, any number of jurisdictions will be at the doorstep before the community gets the shovel in the ground because they are all crowded.
Weber said that evidence based practices suggest that one of the supervision strategies that has proven to be effective in reducing recidivism is community support. The inmates that the County is currently housing out-of-county appear to be individuals who are probably coming back to the community. By shipping them out-of-county, they might be denied access to things like work release programs or other meaningful programs. If the objective is to impact recidivism, they are not accomplishing that by moving inmates out-of-county. He said that Captain David Wagner is having a more difficult time finding enough jail bed spaces. Russell said that one of the biggest issues nationwide is reentry. They heard repeatedly in the interviews that they need to develop a case management system for those people who are leaving the facility. That way, there is some way to track them and provide them assistance.
John Stratton said that there is a tendency to want to delay constructing a new facility because of the expense involved. He said that in talking with Weber and Russell he learned that the cost of construction increases every year. He asked how much the cost might go up over five years. Russell said that the cost of construction is typically determined by a formula that estimates an increase of 5.4% per year. In 2006 it was $215 a square foot for jail construction and that figure can be multiplied by 5.4% to see what the cost would be over time. He said that they are looking at something like $12 million for 178 beds. His numbers for that same number of beds are about $15 million. Russell said that a Nebraska facility was substantially less than a 140-bed facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. Neuzil asked if that is just for the jail. Russell said that it was. The Nebraska numbers, though, included the jail, a sheriff’s office, a communications center, and some court space. He said he would be happy to add this information into the final report.
Richard Twohy said that he has attended many CJCC meetings. He said that he realizes that they can only do so much in one report. He said that with regard to the juvenile justice system it is an afterthought and it might be something that is of substantial impact. Russell said that it is a travesty. He said that he has worked at NIC in Washington DC for a number of years, does this consulting over the country and little to no assistance is provided for juvenile centers. If there, it comes from the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention. Weber said that membership on CJCC should have membership from the juvenile arena. He said that they did talk to the District Associate judges about juvenile justice issues. Twohy said that with regard to the broad-based idea for the CJCC should that include other stakeholders such as those with mental illness that have been a part of the system. Weber said that some of the work they do is to help figure out who is going to be on a CJCC. He said that sometimes there are as few as four or five members and as many as 35, and those big ones include all of these people Twohy referenced. They do have to have a certain number of policy makers for the justice system sitting at the table, but the real work comes down to who is giving them the information. In a perfect world, the justice officials are using all these other elements to help make and shape policy.
Frantz Etienne with Alliance Bail Bonds said that he noticed that they did not address the ability to post bond when arrested. He noticed that in Johnson County, there are mostly cash bonds, which makes it harder for people to post bond and get out. Last year at this time, they were posting 10 to 12 bonds a week in Johnson County, but now it is less than one a week because it is harder for them to post bond. Weber said they did not address that issue and didn’t analyze the jail population by level of bond. They often find in areas that have a well-developed pre-trial monitoring program that they use a bond level as their threshold to determine entry into pre-trial programs. If someone has a $5,000 bond or less, they may instead have that reduced to a signature bond or personal recognizance and be allowed out but then also be enrolled in the pre-trial supervision program. Etienne added that there is a difference between a cash only bond versus one where they only have to pay 10% of the bond. Weber replied that those are policy decisions that the groups would need to decide upon.
Recessed at 8:45 p.m.; reconvened at 8:55 p.m.
Motion by Stutsman, second by Neuzil, to enter Executive Session at 8:55 p.m. to discuss collective bargaining strategy for the Secondary Roads Department and Administrative Unit under section 20.17(3), Code of Iowa: “negotiating sessions, strategy meetings of public employees… shall be exempt from the provisions of chapter 21 (Official Meetings Open to the Public).” Roll call: aye: Sullivan, Stutsman, Harney, Neuzil, Meyers.
Motion by Stutsman, second by Sullivan, to leave Executive Session at 9:05 p.m. Roll call: aye: Sullivan, Stutsman, Harney, Neuzil, Meyers.
Adjourned at 9:05 p.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary