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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 06-24-2010 PUBLIC SAFETY COORDINATING COUNCIL Minutes of Meeting June 24, 2010 Convened: Adjourned: 3:33 p.m.4:33 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 Ken Mascara, Sheriff of SLC th Judge Philip J. Yacucci, 19 Circuit Janet Collins, Bail Association Pat Tighe, Major Members Absent: Diamond Litty, Public Defender th Chief Judge Steve Levin, 19 Circuit Others Present: Mark Godwin, SLC Criminal Justice Coordinator Roy Hudson, FL Sheriff Association Sarrah Carroll, Florida Association of Counties Gaby Suarez, Rep Adam Fetterman’s Aid Anne Bolduc, Senator Joe Negron’s Aid Kathy Nelson, County Judge William McMahon, SLC SO Mark Harlee, Asst. PD Dennis Schmidt, SLC Bail Assoc. Deryl Loar, IRC SO Mitchell Hilburn, SLC Bail Assoc. Faye Outlaw, County Administator Commissioner Paula Lewis Charles Grande, Chairman Joe Smith, Clerk of Court Ethel Rowland, Taxpayer Broderick Underwood, SLC CJIS Analyst Allison Duffy, SLC Drug Lab Public Safety Coordinating Council June 24, 2010 Page 2 Lisa Savage, SLC Pre-Trial Program APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The minutes from April 29, 2010 were unanimously approved. May meeting was canceled. UPDATE by SLC Sherriff’s Office- Sheriff Mascara/Major Tighe: Major Tighe said that he had nothing to report at this time. Commissioner Craft thanked Major Tighe for the meeting he set up with Mark Godwin, himself, and staff last month. He believes it paid dividends immediately. During the meeting they reviewed some medical cases within the County Jail to submit those cases to the Judges in an effort to put those folks on a different track. These efforts were made so that the Tax Payers of St. Lucie County do not continue to foot that bill. UPDATE by Criminal Justice Coordinator- Mark Godwin: Mark reiterated what Commissioner Craft went over regarding the review of some serious medical cases and thanked the Judges for their quick response. Lisa Savage briefly discussed a handout (Assessments on Inmates by SLC Pretrial (per SLC Jail) due to Medical Reasons). Please see attached. Only initials were used to protect the privacy of the individuals. These costly cases are reviewed and proper programs are determined for the individual case. These efforts save the County tens of thousands of dollars. Mr. Godwin went over the Detention Center Population Report that St. Lucie County Analyst, Broderick Underwood produced. Please see attached. One of the changes made to this report is a graph labeled: Average Weekly Increase/Decrease Jail Inmate Population. Also being tracked is individuals sentenced to jail. Mark announced that Sarrah Carroll from, Florida Association of Counties and Roy Hudson from, Florida Sheriff’s Association were there to talk about Legislation. Mark went on to talk about a Legislative issue that passed last year, FL Statue 775.082. This Statue effects jail population and since it was passed and implemented in July of last year they have seen a static 45 sentenced inmate increase. This is not something you can calculate based on average length of stay. He indicated the Jails around the Circuit maybe experiencing the same thing. A conservative number of $60.00 a day for the 45 inmates times 365 days equates to a $985,000 cost to the jail which affects the budget. He concluded his report so that the Guest speakers can address the group on important Legislative issues that were proposed or passed and how it has affected the Jail populations and County budgets per Commissioner Craft’s Public Safety Coordinating Council June 24, 2010 Page 3 request. Commissioner Craft introduced the following from St. Lucie County: Clerk of Court, Joe Smith, Commissioner/Chairman, Charles Grande, Commissioner Paula Lewis, County Administrator, Faye Outlaw and countless other Special Guests Circuit Wide that were present around the table. Commissioner Craft discussed booking and handling of emergency medical cases. He asked Judge Yacucci if there was a possibility of having a Judge assigned to these cases when they arise. Judge Yacucci’s response was that First Appearance would handle that. Mark Godwin went over the four ways the cases can be reviewed. At the front end it begins with the Deputy that takes the individual into custody because the Deputy is aware of the medical issues. Next, the Judge at First Appearance identifies those types of cases and proceeds with the appropriate arrangements. Other avenues involved are the Assistant Public Defender who works at the jail as well as the Pretrial medical case management review team led by Lisa Savage. Major Tighe gave an example of a recent issue they had which got resolved quickly without having to seek the help of a Judge. Sheriff Loar from Indian River County explained how they handle cases like that. Sheriff Loar presumed that Okeechobee and Martin County operates the same way. Mr. Godwin informed Sheriff Loar that the Sheriff’s of those Counties had been invited to attend the meeting but were unable to. Sheriff Mascara of St. Lucie County added that in regards to Major Tighe’s example of getting a problem inmate’s case handle quickly is the result of having a good working relationship within the system. JUDICIAL UPDATE - Chief Judge Levin: The Chief Judge was out of State and could not attend this meeting. OLD BUSINESS PRESENTERS: Florida Sherriff’s Association (Roy Hudson – Director of Law Enforcement Services) Mr. Hudson provided a handout: The Florida Sheriffs Association Legislative Agenda for 2010 Please see attached. Mr. Hudson gave an over view of priority issues and elaborated on key topics like Legislation: SB 218, Medical Expense Cap. He did not understand why this bill did not pass. This bill would have saved the Counties millions of dollars in medical costs. The reason is the law would require payments made to a medical provider on behalf of an inmate or arrested person to be made at the state’s Medicaid rate. The Federal government also pays the same rate as the state and it seems that the counties are being discriminated against. His thought was that the Florida Association of Hospitals probably fought this from passing. After having contact with the Sheriff’s around the State a poll was taken and the outcome was a small estimate of somewhere between ten and twenty million dollars could have been saved by Counties. Commissioner Craft and others around the table quickly stated that the number is much greater than that and Mr. Hudson agreed. He indicated that maybe a comprehensive study should be conducted with all Public Safety Coordinating Council June 24, 2010 Page 4 the counties around the state and see what the number really is. Commissioner Craft said that Lawnwood Hospital is charging us almost 400% of Medicare. Mr. Hudson suggested that we find out where our local legislators were on this and why they were not behind it because it would help every County. This will legislation will come up again. Commissioner Craft asked if there was anything we can do as a group collectively to help push this through. Mr. Hudson indicated that the group was doing something by having some of the local representatives at this meeting. He went on to advise that the FAC (Florida Association of Counties) as well as the FSA (Florida Sheriffs Association) and any other groups we do business with and have power or influence with gets a hold of their legislators and let them know how important this is. Mr. Hudson reiterated that they would not be asking for anything for the County that the State or Federal Government does not already receive. The FSA opposes any further reductions in the funding of the Juvenile Assessment Center. The JAC is operated around the state by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice. Mr. Hudson stated that somebody somewhere determines what a high volume center is and what a low volume center is. There have been centers closed and if that continues to happen it will create logistical problems for Sheriffs and Police. This would reduce their ability to provide critical law enforcement services to the community. Mr. Hudson informed the group that there were over nine hundred pieces of legislation introduced this year and his association tracked about three hundred of them. Commissioner Craft and Mr. Hudson discussed how to have the general citizen get involved in these very important issues. Mr. Hudson explained that the Sheriff’s department agency started to post a political “hot button” on their website so that the average citizen can dial up and see what is going on politically. It has had a tremendous impact. The Counties website may be an option to get word out to the citizens in addition to the County Commission meetings. Florida Association of Counties (Sarrah Carroll – Public Safety Advocate) Miss Carroll provided a handout on the 2010 Legislative Session Final Report on Public Safety. Please see attached. Miss Carroll went over the handout and elaborated on Legislation that passed and failed. One topic that quickly became a top issue for the 2010 legislative session was SB 782 and HB 445, the Pretrial Detention bills, sponsored by Senator Thrasher and Representative Dorworth. This did not pass but will be brought back next year. Judge Yacucci asked if “we” as a coordinating council taken an official position on this Pretrial legislation? He suggested that we do since Representative Fetterman is the co-sponsor of that Bill. Judge Yacucci said that our Pretrial Program has worked unbelievably well and his assumption was that other jurisdictions have had the same experience. He went on to explain when they first spoke of the idea years ago he was a little skeptical as to how it would be set up. They did not set this Program up to fail and because we have people like Lisa and Mark it has worked unbelievably well. Judge Yacucci said this is not a slap in any way at the Bail bondsmen. Judge Yacucci went on to say that Judge Nelson (who was sitting beside him) spoke about this and they like and Public Safety Coordinating Council June 24, 2010 Page 5 utilize the bail system. This includes the PTI system along with the bail, in certain cases they can eliminate or reduce bail. He spoke of the savings benefit for the County utilizing the Pretrial program. The Judge recognized the great cooperation from the Public defender, State Attorney, Sheriff and all his staff. Judge Yacucci reiterated that we as a council should take the official position of opposing that legislation. He suggested to make a motion and move that we do so that it is clear that we oppose this. He said if Representative Fetterman (who he respects) still takes the position to do away with the Pretrial program, he could not be more opposed to that position. Commissioner Craft said that since we have time on this we can make a motion to get our statement on the record and next month bring it back in the form of a resolution. Judge Yacucci said that would be fine. Commissioner Grande asked if it would be possible since we had someone here from Representative Fetterman’s office to invite him to the courthouse and have him sit with a representative Judge and a member of Law Enforcement. He suggested they walk him through the program and demonstrate to him step by step why the program is so valuable and why the Bill may be counterproductive. This would give Representative Fetterman information he may not have received so far. Commissioner Craft thanked Commissioner Grande for that and said that we can absolutely extend that invitation. Commissioner Craft said that he did have a cup of coffee with Representative Fetterman to discuss that very issue. Commissioner continued that it is Representative Fetterman’s understanding that the Bill that he sponsored and offered amendments to and were accepted would not affect SLC one bit. Commissioner Craft said it would make sense to have Mark sit down with Representative Fetterman and explain how it would affect us and then follow that up with an invitation. Commissioner Grande agreed and said that Representative Fetterman has been incredibly cooperative and receptive since he has been elected and I’m sure if we could provide him with this information, he may reach a different conclusion. Commissioner Craft agreed that he has been great and we are pleased to have him. Major Tighe asked Commissioner Craft if everyone around the table could have the most recent version to look at before they make a motion. Commissioner Craft suggested that Mark take a look at it and explain to the group how it would affect SLC as written today. Commissioner Craft asked if anyone from the Legislation had any questions. Gaby Suarez from Representative Fetterman’s office announced that Representative Fetterman would be happy to answer any questions and she would be more than happy to take them to him. Commissioner thanked her for that. He thought it was important to note that this is not a single issue that we are bringing forward today. The cumulative effects of all these things are significant to SLC. There is a fifty four million dollar gap that the County has and Miss Outlaw has done a fantastic job cutting that down to forty two million, but we still have a gap. Anytime we have the hospitals that are able to charge us 400% of what they charge someone else we have to correct that. He went on to explain that anytime we have Senators or Representatives that do not take into consideration how their decision affects us sitting around this table and our ability to serve the people of SLC, we have to reach out. Commissioner Craft said that it is out of sight out of mind and quite frankly it is our duty to get involved with them and let them know how it will affect us. He thanked them for being there and expressed his thanks for their bosses for allowing them attend. He was disappointment for the others who did not take the time to attend because these issues are extremely important to us. Commissioner Craft asked if there were any comments from the public. A citizen announced that the Sentencing Project recently asked for Senate leadership to support the National Criminal Public Safety Coordinating Council June 24, 2010 Page 6 Justice Commission Act which is Senate Bill 714 and House Bill 5143. She asked the members and organizations in the room if they would consider supporting the Bills if they are not already. She added that the Bills were sponsored by Senator Nelson and co-sponsored by Representative Rooney. NEW BUSINESS ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Craft adjourned the meeting at 4:33 p.m. Submitted by, Carlene Filippini THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE HELD July 29, 2010