Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Administrative Center – Room 3220
2:30 p.m.
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MEMBERS PRESENT: |
Vicki Burke, Ray Ebert, Maureen Freedland, Joe Veenstra |
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MEMBERS EXCUSED: |
Joe Bilskemper, Bridget Flood, Tara Johnson |
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OTHERS PRESENT: |
Steve O’Malley, Sharon Hampson, Jane Klekamp, Jeff Wolf, Mike Horstman, Steve Helgeson, Jay Loeffler, Al Blencoe, Keith Butler, Gloria Doyle, Dave Lange, Marc Schultz, Larry Kirch, Bill Black, Terri Pavlic |
Chair Vicki Burke called the meeting to order at 2:34 p.m.
APPOINTMENT OF VICE CHAIR
Supervisor Maureen Freedland has accepted the position as Vice Chair of the Judiciary & Law Committee.
DETERMINE FUTURE MEETING DATE & TIME
It was agreed to keep the Judiciary & Law Committee meeting time at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesdays prior to County Board.
APPROVE MINUTES OF APRIL 8, 2008
MOTION by Freedland/Veenstra to approve the minutes of the April 8, 2008 Judiciary and Law Committee. Motion carried unanimously. (Bilskemper, Flood, Johnson excused)
CONSENT AGENDA
Members of the J&L Committee will receive the minutes of the LEC Construction Committee, CJMC, CJMC Exec Committee, and LEPC.
MOTION by Veenstra/Ebert to accept the following Consent Agenda items:
Motion carried unanimously. (Bilskemper, Flood, Johnson excused)
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
PRESENTATION/COMMITTEE ORIENTATION BY FAMILY COURT COMMISSIONER
The Family Court Commissioner, Gloria Doyle was present to give a brief description of her duties. The Family Court Commissioner is appointed by the Chief Judge with input from the 5 local Circuit Court judges and assists them in dealing with family court matters. This includes harassment injunctions, domestic abuse injunctions, temporary and final hearings, post divorce matters, and the child support calendar.
2007 ANNUAL REPORT
Jay Loeffler distributed the La Crosse County Emergency Services Annual Report, which includes Public Safety Communications (911 Dispatch Center). Jay introduced Keith Butler, Emergency Management Coordinator and Al Blencoe, Technology Coordinator.
DISCUSSION RE: HOUSE SEARCH AND OPTIONS FOR WOMEN’S COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAM
Jane Klekamp updated the committee on the housing portion of the Women’s Community Based Program. Approximately 1 year ago, The Carey Report suggested that we reduce the female population and develop a program in the community that would provide more wrap around services for the women. A number of residences have been looked at and we are still reviewing some different options. We were able to get a $50,000 grant from the Community Foundation that will help with the funding of this.
ORDINANCE TO REPEAL & RECREATE S. 30.81(11) OF CHAPTER 30 OF THE GENERAL CODE OF LA CROSSE COUNTY, WISCONSIN REGARDING “NO WAKE ZONES”
Currently we have an ordinance regarding no wake zones that only applies during Riverfest. The Joint Harbor Commission has asked that the ordinance be changed to have a year-round no-wake zone, as opposed to seasonal (The City of La Crosse has already adopted this). MOTION by Freedland/Veenstra to support the changes in the ordinance. Motion carried unanimously. (Bilskemper, Flood, Johnson excused)
BOAT PATROL REPORT
Captain Horstman indicated that the Boat Patrol begins on Memorial Day weekend and runs through Labor Day, which involves 15 weekends, plus the 4th of July. This equates to approximately 533 shifts – 2 people per shift – or 536 hours per year, weather permitting. Approximately 100 of these hours are overtime. Anyone who does work the boat, goes through boat patrol training. The expenses for the boat typically run approximately $3700 on equipment, gas, oil, etc. Wages per year are @ $13,000 which includes the OT – with fringe benefits it would be @ another 28% on top of that. Because we patrol for the City, we receive $4500 from them each year. Also, the DNR performs a yearly audit in which the State has funding available to reimburse entities who have boat patrols. The funding is based upon the number of hours worked, wages, operating expenses, etc. Typically, we receive between $5,000 - $8,000 from the DNR. We average @30 citations per year and 50 warnings per year.
ACCEEPTANCE OF WTC FUNDING FOR ADULT BASIC EDUCATION/JAIL PROGRAM
Sheriff Helgeson indicated that WTC received a grant in the amount of $58,500 for adult basic education to be used for programming in the La Crosse County Jail. Right now we have a part-time WTC instructor and we reimburse WTC $31,000 per year for these services. We would need to put an additional $7,000 towards those services to obtain a full time WTC teacher assigned solely to the La Crosse County jail. WTC feels that there will be stable funding opportunities for this grant in the future so we should receive it as time goes on. Last year, the J&L committee voted to approve a contract with Evercom for the jail telephone system and Evercom gave us a $50,000 sign in bonus. The committee approved the contract with the stipulation that the sign in bonus be used toward inmate programming. The sheriff proposed that the additional $7,000 that wasn’t budgeted, come out of that $50,000 that was designated for inmate programming. An Advisory Board needs to be formed to oversee the grant, and Judge Levine and District Attorney Gruenke have agreed to participate. MOTION by Ebert/Freedland to accept the WTC Funding for Adult Basic Education and use the additional $7,000 from the $50,000 sign in bonus. Motion carried unanimously. (Bilskemper, Flood, Johnson excused)
DARE/GREAT FUNDING IMPACT
Captain Horstman clarified an article that appeared in the La Crosse Tribune regarding a circuit court ruling/supreme court ruling that municipal courts could no longer require defendants, as part of their fine, to give money to the DARE program. This did not impact our program, as we do not deal with municipal courts. La Crosse County has one full time deputy that teaches DARE and GREAT. His salary is paid through the county budget. The DARE/GREAT chili cook off raises approximately $2500-$4000, plus periodically individuals will donate to the program.
REQUEST TO PURCHASE PROJECTOR & EQUIPMENT FROM TELEPHONE FUND
Along with the request for the full time WTC instructor, the Sheriff is requesting funds for a projector (and accessories) to use in the class room, which amounts to @ $5500. He would like to use a part of the $50,000 sign in bonus from the telephone contract to purchase this. MOTION by Veenstra/Ebert to approve the request to purchase projector and equipment from the telephone fund. Motion carried unanimously. (Bilskemper, Flood, Johnson excused)
REQUEST TO PURCHASE SOFTWARE UP TO $15,200 TO ENHANCE THE TRAC’S PROGRAM
The Sheriff’s Department has a TRAC’s Program which squad cars use for doing accident reports and traffic citations. There has always been a problem with this system in that it doesn’t auto populate (which means everything has to be re-entered). There is a new software that has been tested in the State that is available that does auto populate. It allows the computer to “talk” to the deputies by reading it back to them. The Executive Committee will be asked to approve a grant in the amount of $25,000 for laptops for new squad cars. This would save $25,000 out of capital budget and request to redesignate up to $15,200 for this TRAC’s upgrade.
ITEMS FOR FUTURE AGENDAS
1. Information re: 911 procedures/policies for hang up calls
NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING: June 10, 2008
LEC CONSTRUCTION COMMITTEE MEETING – Cancelled for today. The next meeting is May 15th, 2008 at 3:00 p.m.
ADJOURN
There being no further business, MOTION by Freedland/Ebert to adjourn the meeting at 4:05 p.m. carried unanimously. (Bilskemper, Flood, Johnson excused) The above minutes may be approved, amended, or corrected at the next Council meeting.