MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
JULY 1, 2009
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Executive Session: Evaluation and Goal Setting of Facilities Manager David Kempf........... 1
Executive Session: Pre-Evaluation and Goal Setting of Mental Health/Disability Services Director Kris Artley....................................................................................................................................... 1
Site Visit: Discussion with County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek, 511 South Capitol Street, Iowa City, Iowa 2
Chairperson Neuzil called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:00 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Motion by Sullivan, second by Stutsman, to leave Executive Session at 9:15 a.m.
Motion by Sullivan, second by Stutsman, to enter into Executive Session at 9:17 a.m. for an annual evaluation of Mental Health/Disability Services Director Kris Artley under section 21.5(1.i), Code of Iowa, “to evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation and that individual requests a closed session.” Roll call: aye: Harney, Stutsman, Sullivan, Neuzil, Meyers.
Motion by Sullivan, second by Meyers, to leave Executive Session at 9:39 a.m.
Recessed at 9:40 a.m.; reconvened at 10:00 a.m. at the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, 511 South Capitol Street, Iowa City, Iowa.
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said he tries to keep the Board informed. Most of the time the biggest problem is the Jail, however, the other divisions seem to be fairly busy. In the Civil Division there has been a small decline in miscellaneous papers that he believes is due to the recession. He said Stutsman asked earlier about the Sheriff’s sales and he said those sales are still up and continue to climb. The Records Division is extremely busy due to the information that comes from the Jail. The Investigations Division is steady and busy as well. Luckily there has not been a huge case since the Lone Tree case. With the budget ending, salary money was returned. It is good that salary money is returned because they are always one huge incident away from using that up, so luckily they have not had any major investigations. The incident in Lone Tree was wrapped up fairly quickly.
Sullivan asked Pulkrabek to run through the number of employees in each division. Pulkrabek replied the Civil Division is made up of a secretary position, a clerk position, three deputies, and one lieutenant who is the ranking officer. Stutsman asked if they are on patrol part of the time. Pulkrabek said no, sometimes they use them when they are desperate for committals to sit at the hospital or for the County fair and other big events. The Records Division has one lieutenant and four non-sworn individuals who take care of the records. There is quite a bit of work going on in this division due to the changes in the sex offender law. There has also been a huge surge in weapons permits to acquire and carry.
Stutsman asked why the request for permits has increased. Pulkrabek replied the people who are pro-firearms believe the election of Barack Obama could lead to changes in individual rights to have firearms. He said he has no idea where that comes from because he never heard any of that going on. Stutsman said she thinks it is a wedge issue the party uses that has no validity but gets the troops rallied.
Pulkrabek said the Records Division has started DNA collection on inmates and is one of the only counties in Iowa currently doing this. A couple of years ago the State of Iowa started building a DNA database. Iowa City has a very high-profile case that came out of the DNA collection. Basically anyone who has been convicted of a felony has to have their DNA collected and sent to the State Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) lab for categorization and logging. Due to the way the code is written there were a lot of people falling through the cracks. The Sheriff’s Department has implemented a policy that for everybody who comes to Jail their criminal history is searched and if they have a felony on their record it is cross-referenced with the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) and the DCI lab to see if their DNA has been obtained. If it has not, the Sheriff’s Department obtains their DNA and submits it.
Pulkrabek said last year he legislatively pushed to have this program expanded to include aggravated misdemeanors. He said he worked with an Iowa City Attorney on the language to be included with legislation submitted through the Attorney General’s Office. It did not pass because there was no money to give to the DCI lab to take on additional responsibilities. Recently there was a home invasion where a woman was beaten, taken from her home, and taken to an ATM. That case was brought directly because the perpetrator continued to commit burglaries, DNA was submitted, and the connection was made between this criminal and the home invasion case.
Sullivan asked what the process is for collecting DNA. Pulkrabek replied it is a very simple process. The kits are called Buccal Swabs and come from DCS. When a person is identified, Records Division Lieutenant Raquel Wray will use the swab to scrape inside the cheek, put it in the kit, and mail it off. There is no additional expense to the County other than providing the officer and the time to do it. The DCI lab promotes the use of the kits and uses Johnson County as an example to encourage other sheriff departments to participate in the DNA collection process. Stutsman asked if Pulkrabek will pursue that legislation again. Pulkrabek responded, absolutely but the money probably will not be there again. He said they felt comfortable that Johnson County could afford to participate but a lot of smaller counties and sheriff offices want the State to pay for it.
Pulkrabek said the Investigations Division has four General Criminal Investigators and one Narcotics Investigator. A change was made recently that pulled Lieutenant Ockenfels from patrol and he is now overseeing Investigations but he is not conducting any investigations. He is also taking care of the majority of training needs. The department is still not quite in a position where they can have one person oversee all of the training. He said Ockenfels oversees the training, all of the evidence, and also helps on the record keeping. He added that Wray is the central point of contact for all the training records in the files. Pulkrabek said they took an officer off of nights at the Jail to replace Ockenfels’ position. The patrol numbers are at 25 full-time. This includes a captain, a lieutenant, and four sergeants. The goal is to still have one patrol deputy for every 1,000 people which would be 30 deputies. Pulkrabek said due to the structure of the Sheriff’s Office, he uses the one per 1,000 as a goal, which would mean an additional five deputies. It still happens fairly often where there are only two patrol deputies covering the whole County. He said he views this as a problem and they still can not reach 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year supervision. They have this in the Jail for the most part, but even in the Jail if a supervisor leaves on vacation then they struggle for supervision. Sullivan asked if the 25 figure includes the two who work full-time at the Court House. Pulkrabek replied no, that is a different Division.
Neuzil said Pulkrabek used to have a schedule of goals and asked if he could update the Board on those as well as where they are regarding the potential for receiving stimulus dollars. Pulkrabek said the Cops Grant they are hoping for would add two deputies. One would go back to the Jail to back-fill the one they borrowed and the other one would go to patrol. They have several grants in process of which one is for $55,000. This grant would be used to pay for a new transport vehicle. They have been shipping inmates to Marshall County and trying to be disciplined in making only one trip per day so the mileage does not get too out of line. There are certain days when they have to make more than one trip because the van could only haul 12 and they may need to move 15 or 20 at a time. The van they are looking at is greater than $55,000, it is on clearance, and they hope to get a special deal. He does not know if it is still available but the money has not been awarded yet. The van is closer to $65,000 so they would use the grant money and in working with Claiborne have identified money in their budget to cover the difference. If this particular van is no longer available, a new van would cost approximately $30,000 more.
Pulkrabek said they have obtained funding, in cooperation with Representative Dave Lobesack’s office, for about $25,000 to purchase specialized tactical vests for the S.W.A.T. team. He said Neuzil will be signing a grant proposal in conjunction with the City of Iowa City which is a grant they have received in past years. It has been a set amount of money for Johnson County and Iowa City to split and they have determined a formula for splitting those funds. Because Iowa City handles the paperwork they have received 52% and the County received 48%. This year the Federal Government has figured out the formula split which would give Iowa City 38% and the County the rest, therefore, the County has agreed to put that money toward a firearms range in order to split the money back in half. There has been trouble finding range property, however, Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expressing an interest in leasing Corps of Engineers property.
Pulkrabek said the Jail Division has 24 deputies including one captain, one lieutenant, and five sergeants. The captain, lieutenant, and one sergeant work Monday through Friday day shift and the lieutenant and sergeant handle the majority of the paperwork that comes in from the Courthouse as well as managing inmate transfers. Two other sergeants are on a rotating day shift and there are two night sergeants, one on each rotation as well. The Jail Division continues to be busy. There are still a lot of demands, especially during the day, managing the large population of inmates.
Stutsman asked if the new Jail would require less staff and could some be moved to patrol. Pulkrabek said no, that is not likely. Even with a new larger Jail, there will be increased operational expenses because of the increased number of inmates. The advantage of having a larger Jail is that it will be built in a way where they are watching more inmates with fewer staff. They will have to increase Jail staff and eventually he believes they will have to have medical staff on hand. Once the number of inmates increases to 150 to 200, they will not be able to get by using the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) contract and physician assistants. He said the contract has saved Johnson County a lot of money compared to what other counties pay out.
Sullivan asked how Marshall County handles their medical needs. Pulkrabek said they have two full-time nurses with one available Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or maybe even seven days a week. He said Blackhawk County’s medical budget costs are somewhere around half a million dollars per year. Harney asked if there are requirements, such as Registered Nurse (RN) credentials. Pulkrabek said he does not know what the requirement is but as he considers it, it would make sense to have a couple of RNs on staff and continue the contract with UIHC.
Pulkrabek said the Reserve Division is a volunteer organization. They are paid $1 per year and do a lot of work with the town’s celebrations, 4-H fair, and they also do a majority of the work with the contract and working with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. This Division continues to bring headaches because of changes in the laws dealing with the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. They are still going strong and he is working to keep them going. He said there are currently about 25 reserves. Approximately 60% to 70% are in the reserves because they want to get into law enforcement and this is a great way to get a foot in the door. The other 30% have full-time demanding jobs and families but dedicate their time to Johnson County.
Pulkrabek provided the Board with two potential plans for the remodel that the Board authorized in the amount of $250,000 in the current fiscal year. He said the plan is to remodel parts of the first floor of the Sheriff’s Office which includes having the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) and the dispatchers leave the area. They have not finalized the plans and with the Joint Emergency Communications Center (JECC) not opening until August 2010, they are actually meeting with the Jail supervisors to try and get these plans solidified so they can move ahead. Pulkrabek said he has worked with Facilities Manager Dave Kempf and Neumann Monson Architects because they had the original plans for the building. He said they are considering taking some of the lobby space to secure the records area with Plexiglas so they no longer have an open counter. It is rare to enter a sheriff’s department that does not have Plexiglas or secure barriers to keep people from entering the secure areas. They are also looking at adding three holding cells, two that are smaller and one that is larger. They are hoping to try and hold as many, if not all, of the overnighters that they can down there, unless they are charged with a pretty serious crime then they will be moved upstairs. During football season they clean out an entire block to make room for the influx of people coming in. They also want to have the ability to book three inmates at a time which would be more efficient for the jail staff as well as the arresting agencies. The primary concern of the remodel is for efficiency and safety of the Jail staff to be able to manage more people at one time.
Stutsman asked if the officer handles the finger printing and paperwork. Pulkrabek replied yes and said the inmate will come in through the same entrance, officers will secure their guns, bring the inmate inside the secure door where the inmate will be received, patted down, and then brought to the booking area. Harney said he does not see a window in the plan where someone will be doing bookwork during the off hours. Pulkrabek said through the door there will be Plexiglas so staff will see people coming and going. In addition, they will modify the cameras so staff will have monitors to indicate when someone enters the lobby. Neuzil asked if the doors will remain unlocked at night. Pulkrabek replied yes. Neuzil asked about the safety of the employees. Pulkrabek said the biggest concern he has is if someone is trying to get away from someone else, they need to be able to get in the door.
Neuzil asked if there has been any talk with JECC about moving dispatch into the new facility. Pulkrabek said dispatch will go to the new facility as soon the system is ready and operational. What they have not discussed is which system goes first, whether it is Iowa City’s system or the County’s. Neuzil said this could be a negotiating chip. Sullivan said at the time the switch occurs, for a week or two Iowa City would have a tremendous amount of overtime because they are covering for the County and then the same would be true for the County. Pulkrabek said that could be the case but the details are still being ironed out. Meyers asked if the move is still months away. Pulkrabek said yes, next summer sometime. Neuzil asked if this is a three-prong process. Pulkrabek said yes. When they were planning all of this, even though they budgeted for the dispatchers for the full year they really thought they would be moving out in March or April 2010 and then they could start the remodel this fiscal year but that has changed. Sullivan asked when Emergency Management Coordinator Dave Wilson is moving. Pulkrabek said he has not heard a date. Neuzil said they are getting ready.
Neuzil asked if Pulkrabek wants to talk about the Justice Center. Pulkrabek replied it is up to the Board. He said he has some arguments and understands they are not all in agreement. Neuzil asked Pulkrabek to discuss how they are managing the Marshall County process. He said sometimes the Sheriff’s Department is doing too good a job of managing the money side of the inmate issue. As they start to build the argument for a Justice Center and the costs associated with transporting prisoners to Marshall County versus what it would cost to have the County house them here, plus the staff and medical side of the issue, it is a tough argument to make to the community that this is going to save any money.
Pulkrabek agreed that it is a very difficult argument other than the renting versus owning, eventually most people stop renting. The County cannot currently do any programming. There were several programs that he had lined up with volunteers willing to come in and teach some different programs, but it cannot be done because the inmates are not here long enough to get started in programming. When transporting inmates, they have to include planning to get people back to see specific doctors that their attorneys have requested. The attorneys are not going to Marshall County to see their clients, so by transporting inmates they are somewhat limiting the inmate’s face-to-face time with their attorney. This can in fact slow down the whole justice process and how long they are in jail.
Stutsman thinks the community would not care if the inmates cannot be near their family, or have access to their attorney and would not care if they do not get any programming. There are people who will say they would rather pay for transporting than pay a debt to house the inmates. Neuzil said if they are in a situation where it is cheaper to transport them rather than house them why would they want to house them. Stutsman said she does not agree with that stance but believes there are people who feel that way. Neuzil said he understands the programming side of things but asked Pulkrabek about the safety and liability concerns. He said he thinks the biggest argument against the facility is going to be money. Pulkrabek said the contract with Marshall County is short term and eventually they will not be able to house the County’s inmates. A couple of the offices the County no longer uses to house inmates have said they understand that the County answers to the taxpayer, and they will agree to house inmates in the future. There is one county, nearby, who probably would not house inmates for the County because they feel they should receive more advanced notice, which is very difficult to do.
Harney said they also need to address space and equity. Pulkrabek said they are getting back to the same concern that they do not have exercise space for the inmates. He said there will be a group, as Stutsman pointed out, who will say they do not care. Sullivan said they need to recognize that to build a new Jail it will take two full years and at least one and a half years to get money from the public. Stutsman asked if they should hire a professional consultant to help get this going. She said that even if it passed today it would probably be three years before they would see any money and they are wasting precious time. Neuzil said the Justice Center Coordinating Committee Coordinator position was supposed to be that kind of individual. At this point they should evaluate that position, maybe at the next meeting, to see where they were six to eight months ago and where they are today. What happens today could completely change the whole makeup of where they are.
Pulkrabek said there are issues that will cost the County some money to try and figure out. The Durrant Report, in his opinion, is fairly accurate on the Jail size and operation expenses, however, they missed the boat on the Courthouse. They need to hire someone to help them figure out what space they really need for an addition to the Courthouse, not what they would like to have but what they have to have. Meyers said if no additional judges are being assigned to Johnson County there is not a lot of logic in adding additional court rooms. Pulkrabek said they want to secure the Courthouse. He agrees with the push to try and get it so everyone enters and exits through the same location and they are properly screened for weapons and contraband.
Sullivan asked if that would involve more staff. He assumed the two uniformed deputies who work in the Courthouse will be involved in that but will there be additional staff needed. Pulkrabek said that will be an increased operational expense. The Court House cannot be secured with two deputies. Harney said that could be handled by utilizing retired law enforcement. Pulkrabek said they will show that hiring a retired law enforcement individual will not have significant cost savings over having a uniformed deputy there. Harney said the savings will be in not providing benefits. Neuzil said it would depend on whether they were County employees or on contract.
Meyers asked if the attorneys who came to Johnson County, before the inmates were housed in Marshall County, were the same attorneys or was there a wide variety. Pulkrabek said the majority of clients are handled by public defenders but there are other attorneys in town who are in the defense bar who are appointed or hired. Most of them would not make the trip to one of the bordering counties either. They would work with the Sheriff’s Office to bring their client back. An unintended outcome of the move to Marshall County is that a few attorneys have tried to get court orders ordering the County to hold their client in Johnson County. He is working with County Attorney Janet Lyness to continue to get those requests denied because the law is fairly clear that the inmate is the property of the Sheriff and the Sheriff will determine where that inmate is housed not the attorney. Sullivan asked if a judge has ever granted this request. Pulkrabek said no, not to his knowledge.
Adjourned at 10:55 a.m.
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary