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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 08-27-2009 PUBLIC SAFETY COORDINATING COUNCIL Minutes of Meeting August 27, 2009 Convened: Adjourned: 3:37 p.m.4:08 p.m. CALL TO ORDER Commissioner Craft called the meeting to order at 3:36 p.m. in Conference Room # 3, 2300 Virginia Avenue, Fort Pierce, Florida. ROLL CALL Roll call was taken. Members Present: Bruce Colton, State Attorney Commissioner Chris Craft Suzanne Caudell, CORE Program Thomas Mark, Department of Corrections John Romano, New Horizons Toby Long for Ken Mascara, Sheriff of SLC th Chief Judge Steve Levin, 19 Circuit Trevor Morganti for Major Pat Tighe Diamond Litty, Public Defender Janet Collins, Bail Association Members Absent: th Judge Philip J. Yacucci, 19 Circuit Ken Mascara, Sheriff of SLC Pat Tighe, Major Others Present: Mark Godwin, SLC Criminal Justice Coordinator th Tom Genung, 19 Circuit Administration Ethel Rowland, Taxpayer Broderick Underwood, SLC Analyst Allison Duffy, SLC Drug Lab Lisa Savage, SLC Pre-Trial Program Becky Bleyman, CORE Program Chris Harris, Magellan Health APPROVAL OF MINUTES: This item was not mentioned. AGENDA CHANGE: Joe Smith, Clerk of Court could not attend and Chief Judge Levin had to depart early. The topic was changed to: Differential Case Management System Vs Alpha Numeric System. Public Safety Coordinating Council August 27, 2009 Page 2 UPDATE by SLC Sherriff’s Office- Trevor Morganti on behalf of Sheriff Mascara: Officer Trevor Morganti reported that female jail population continues to be a concern. The normal percentage is 12% and currently we are at 17 to 18%. This population consists mostly of white young females. The problem is becoming an epidemic involving prescription drugs. It really needs to get out there in the media. The crack/cocaine is almost missing now. There are a lot of overdoses. People come from as far as Kentucky and Tennessee to pill shop and are getting prescriptions in large doses. They may sell or use them. This affects young kids also because they can get them from their parents or neighbors. UPDATE by Criminal Justice Coordinator- Mark Godwin: Mark provided a handout from the Florida Association of Counties. See attached “Beware of Unfunded Mandates in Jail” article. This hand out was briefly discussed. Mark also provided statistics from the SLC Detention Center monthly summary hand out (see attached). This report gives a comparison from last year to this year for the month of August. The Pretrial program met with the Citizens Budget Committee last Friday morning. One of the topics discussed was the satellite tracking contract. Lisa Savage, who is the Pretrial Manager, negotiated the cost of GPS reducing it from $8.00 a day to $6.00 a day. This deal saved the county $102,000. Mark thanked Lisa and the committee was pleased. Lisa met with the public safety director of the EOC; we have a bed at the EOC building if needed during hurricane season. Lisa’s Pretrial department is seeing people come through with random drug testing orders. These people have prescriptions for pain killers from Broward and Palm Beach counties. Some have prescriptions for 200 to 400 pills. One judge has Lisa’s office pill counting. The department is checking to see if they are using as directed, misusing, or selling. There is one new hire and the position was funded October of last year. There is seven days per week coverage in the areas of need which is working out well. The Drug Lab is applying for a RFP with the school system for drug testing their employees. This would help offset the cost of the lab testing individuals who are indigent and court ordered not to pay fees and the lab operations. Over the next few months a marketing plan will be put together. Mark asked if anyone knows of any offices that need drug testing, send them to us. We qualify under Florida statue and requirements for a drug free work place. JUDICIAL UPDATE Judge Levin gave an overall view of judicial assignments that went out for January 2010. Our criminal Judges in St. Lucie County are going to be Judge Vaughn, Judge Mirman, and Judge McCann. Judge Shack will still continue to do drug court and Judge Cox will continue with mental health court. Public Safety Coordinating Council August 27, 2009 Page 3 Tom Genung informed the panel that this past month we put in our judicial needs application to the Supreme Court. We qualify according to methodology for two circuit judges and one county judge in St. Lucie County. Assuming the legislature funds the judges; that is what we could be looking at come July or October 2010. Commissioner Craft asked what that would mean as far as the effect on the Clerk and Sheriff’s office with bailiffs. Tom Genung explained that if we got certified for the Judges the Clerk would get additional positions to coordinate with the Judges. The same thing with the State, additional positions coordinating with the Judges and the PD. Trial Court Budget Commission is the group who sets up the budget for the trial level courts. th They did so on the 18 of this month and sent that recommendation to the Chief Justice. It’s a wonderful wish list. We will have to see how it plays out in the legisture. Judge Levin gave an update on first appearance and uniformity in the Clerks and Court calendar. If there are any issues let him know. He met with the Sheriff’s Office, State Attorney, and Public Defender’s Office and worked out a way to get a good paper flow to our first appearances. Everyone will have what they need and the Sheriff’s office has gone out of their way and gone above and beyond to make sure everyone is supplied with the paperwork they need by the time first appearances come. This will make first appearances meaningful and we will see results. Tom Genung touched on an issue he spoke about some months back regarding an overlay system. The overlay system involves law enforcement, the Clerk, and the court systems. This came up as a result of an off duty police officer being killed in Lee County a little over a year ago. This was a result of someone being released from jail in Lee County when there was an open warrant in the county next door. They did not know that because the counties systems did not talk. We currently have the ability to get certain information under a JIS system. It provides information on people who are in jail pending trial and the status of individuals. Additional systems were overlaid so if someone had a warrant outstanding or was in jail and did not show up for a court date somewhere else it would save a lot of money and time. This is in Lee and Charlotte County th and they are going to expand it to other counties in the 20 Circuit. The Governor had put this in his budget last legislative session. It was $5,000 toward each license but it did not make it through the session. It is very important to have it and would save time for the Sheriff’s and Judges. If this body is interested to see what this system can do for St. Lucie County, we can invite the vendor to give a demonstration. Members indicated that they were interested. Mark Godwin and Tom will talk about it. Commissioner Craft and members discussed Differential Case Management vs staying on the Alpha Numeric System all the way through. This is from the National Center of State Courts. The group discussed what matters is the assessment of cases and how they are prioritized. It takes a little more judicial involvement in managing the cases but the outcome is cases can move quicker through the system. Mark Godwin suggested going on a master calendar system to help expedite cases. Members are interested. Public Safety Coordinating Council August 27, 2009 Page 4 OLD BUSINESS Mark Godwin brought the results of a poll to Commissioner Craft regarding twomeetings that The November and December 2009 meetings will be cancelled. would fall on holidays. Commissioner Craft announced that the letter of support for New Horizons was sent to Secretary Sebelius. This letter is to support New Horizons of the Treasure Coast to qualify for AARA funds for the construction of its “shovel ready” desperately needed 20-bed children’s crisis center. Please see attached letter. NEW BUSINESS Becky Bleymanfrom CORE gave an update on the SCRAM program. They have 18 in the Program today and will have one tomorrow. Judge Pegg is using SCRAM in Indian River County on felony drug court clients. We have 4 from him and 1 misdemeanor for alcohol. Suzanne Caudell from CORE thanked Lisa Savage and Victor Costa from Pretrial. Lisa and Victor gave a presentation to CORE’s probation officers about GPS technology and how the program works. Also Suzanne attended the St. Lucie County jail inmate graduation and thought it was fantastic. John Romano from New Horizons appreciated the letter of support but, asked if anyone knows individuals who can push this along, it would be great. Mr. Romano has a meeting set up as well. Commissioner Craft said that he would be in DC in a few weeks and would mention it then. Commissioner Craft commented that we got through our budgeting process and will adopt our millage rate this Friday, there was no increase. There are not many counties that can say they did not have to raise their millage rate or make drastic cuts this coming fiscal year. He personally thanked everyone for their hard work within the judicial system; it helps us do our job. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Craft adjourned the meeting at 4:08 p.m. Submitted by, Carlene Filippini THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD September 24, 2009