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2007-949-Minutes for Meeting May 05,1980 Recorded 6/20/2007DESCHUTES COUNTY OFFICIAL RECORDS CJ 2007.949 NANCY BLANKENSHIP, COUNTY CLERK COMMISSIONERS' JOURNAL 0612012007 09;48;39 AM IIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~III III I 2007-940 Do not remove this page from original document. Deschutes County Clerk Certificate Page If this instrument is being re-recorded, please complete the following statement, in accordance with ORS 205.244: Re-recorded to correct [give reason] previously recorded in Book or as Fee Number and Page BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MAY 5, 1980 - DEPARTMENT HEADS BUDGET MEETING, 6% Proposed Budget Chairman Cleveland called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m. with the budget board present and most of the department heads in the county. Mike Maier was also present. Chairman Cleveland stated that the Board had agreed on a 15 minutes presentation by each of the department heads. Chairman Cleveland asked Bob Paulson, Bud- get Officer to give a brief introduction. Commissioner Paulson stated that the budget board has reviewed the tax base budget and has approved it; this evening the board would go through the proposed staff prepared 6% budget, should the tax base fail on May 20, 1980. Testimony would be taken from the department heads as to why they should receive more money than is allocated to them or to defend why they should keep what they have been allocated. The first department to give testimony was District Court. Judge Ed Perkins suggested.to the Budget Board that they should not have cut his budget as much as they have. Judge Perkins said that basically where the cuts came in were in materials and personnel. He stated that some of his personnel perform jobs that are absolutely necessary in running district court, some positions are required by statute such as the court reporters and the bailiffs etc. Judge Perkins said that his department would have to cut back on services performed for the county and that would probably have to be done in the small claims area. Judge Perkins said that he realized that every department would have to cut back in services performed. Judge Perkins suggested that the one area that could be cut out is the position of "bill collector". This office assistant sends out bills to those people who owe the county in fines for some traffic offense that they have committed and have not yet paid their fines. Judge Perkins said that District Court turns over about $300,000 every year to the County; Judge Perkins stated that approximately 1/3 of their yearly revenues comes as a result of the not too subtle reminder to people who have fines to pay. Therefore, the county would be losing quite a bit of revenue. Commissioner Paulson asked if a different position were cut instead of the "bill collector" what impact that would;have the department. Judge Perkins stated other problems would be posed such as keeping up with the bookkeeping, the dockets etc. Commissioner Paulson stated that he was looking at maybe cutting positions which would not affect revenue but would just cause a back-up in work. Judge Perkins reminded Commissioner Paulson that some of this work cannot back up too far or people who call in or come to the counter cannot be turned away. Small claims cases cannot be turned away, traffic cases cannot be turned away and a lot of other services cannot be turned away. There were no further questions. The next department taken was the District Attorney's Office, Lou Selken, District Attorney. As Mr. Selken was not present because of a trial that he was involved in, the board went on the next de- partment and would return to the District Attorney's Office when Mr. Selken arrived. The next department taken was the Sheriff's office. Sheriff Sholes stated that he would like to give 5 minutes of his time to the sheriff of Marion County, who has had a similar problem occur in his county, but not budget-wise, they just had a loss in revenue and he is present to expound what effect that this has had on the people in that county. Sheriff Jim. Henan stated that his budget was cut considerably; Mr. Henan 1 stated that he had to lose 43 people out of 66 which leaves him 24 people. The only area that was not cut, was the jail and the only reason that was not cut was because that was a mandated service as set out by the statutes. Sheriff Henan stated that the result of these cuts are as follows: Marion County no longer has a patrol after 11:00 p.m. or until 7:00 a.m. the next morning, Marion County has called upon the State Police to assist them which they are doing but only for a short period of time, the net result has been that burglar rates have increased considerably, there are family disagreements in the morning rather than in the'afternoon. Sheriff Henan said his office is taking reports and is "absolutely, positively" not following up on them be- cause they do not have the opportunity, the staff or the time to do so. Sheriff Henan stated that the bottom line was that the people of Marion County are very upset because of the loss of police service. Sheriff Sholes then went over his proposed 6% budget and stated that these cuts would curtail the graveyard shift, rather, it will eliminate that shift. Calls would go unanswered; there will be a swing shift patrol until 9:00 p.m. every night. The sheriff then turned the floor over to Undersheri.ff Darrell Davidson who has done a lot of work on the budget with Mike Maier. Darrell stated that there had been quite a bit of "jockeying" with the figures and the positions. Darrell said that all they could do now is hope for the best. Commissioner Paulson asked if the deputies would still respond to late night emergencies even though there is no graveyard shift. Sheriff Sholes said that he would ask his men but there was little he could do if they said no; however, Sheriff Sholes did say that his department were setting their priorities if the tax base did fail. Sheriff Sholes said that money-wise this budget is just 1975-76. Sheriff Sholes informed the budget committee that he just could not ask his men to work eight hours during the day and then spread them out over a graveyard shift. The next department taken was Family Counseling with Jane Kirkpatrick. Jane stated that her purpose in coming tonight was not to ask to have money given back to her but to leave what money they had given her in the budget. Jane went on to specify just what services would be cut back, psychiatrically and secretarily. Jane said that they would pro- bably only be able to provide emergency services and not the treatment they would like to provide--only mandated services. Jane said that currently they are providing help to the jail and if the tax base .fails, the jail people would have to wait for help until this department could get to them. Jane said that the Redmond clinic would be eliminated, to save on rent, travel and personnel. Jane pointed out to the commission that there is $21,000 in the general fund budget which should go to Mental Health. Jane said that that was the money that she wanted to protect. Jane had a member of her advisory board speak on their behalf-- Pastor Don Beak. The next department taken was the District Attorney's office as Lou Selken was now present. Lou stated that he didn't have too much more to say now-theri he did when he came before the budget board before. Lou stated some statistics that would involve his office and would make some parts of his office unworkable. While Mr. Selken said that circuit court was important so was his office, which had to prepare the cases for trial and if they didn't have the staff they wouldn't have the time to prepare for cases and a lot of them would be dismissed. Lou stated that the board was giving the courts money and staff and they were funding a public defender's office but they were not giving the DA any more money to work and it was. equally as important as those two. Lou said that he did not want to criticize any other department or make threats to the budget board but he did want them to understand the consequences of these cuts. 2 Mr. Selken said that if things get really bad in his office where he can no longer handle the circuit court cases and .the:, district court cases, he will drop the district court cases and go circuit court only. He stated that he hated to do that but with these cuts he could see no alternative. Mr. Selken said that he needed to tell the board his priorities and if the load got too severe for himself and his deputies to handle, he wotkld call the attorney general and get some deputies that way and then the AG would bill the county for its services. Commissioner Young asked what would happen if the county did not pay the bill; Mr. Selken stated that the State would cut back on the county's cigarette tax. Commissioner Paulson asked if there would be less time spent in pre-trial preparation for each case to which Mr. Selken said there would hot be time to become properly prepared for court. Mr. Selken also repeated that if the prosecution was.not prepared, the judge would more than likely dismiss the-case which the law tells him to do if he deems it necessary. Mr. Wick stated that the tax base budget that was given him is $31,000 less than he requested and the proposed 6% budget is $106,000 less than requested. Mr. Wick wanted to know the im act of this cut to his office. Mr. Selken said that if it is 90,000 more than what the 6% would give him, it seemed to the DA that he would be far better off maintaining what he has than being cut. The next department taken was Juvenile Services with Bill Jones. Mr. Jones stated that his counseling staff was cut in half which would be deterrent to Us. office. Mr. Jones also said that if his office is kept within the 6% budget, with personnel cuts and funds cut, it would be operating under the same budget as in 1974 only with a bigger case load. Mr. Jones stated that this would result in sending more kids to McClaren in Klamath Falls because they would not be able to handle these cases when they first came in when the kids were small and they would grow up criminals. Mr. Jones said that one portion of the office that would be cut out entirely would be the investigation of abuse cases. Those cases would only be investi- gated by the police and the children services division. Commissioner Paulson asked what Mr. Jones' department would be doing that would be of higher priority than abuse cases to which Mr. Jones answered counseling of juvenile delinquents. Pat Murray, who hahdles the abuse cases now, had a few comments to make to impress upon the board the importance of this office function. Father Waldron also spoke on behalf of Juvenile Services with regard to counseling and trying to keep the kids out of the institutions and to stop them from committing more serious crimes. The next department taken was the Planning Department with John Andersen. Mr. Andersen had a hand-out for the budget committee and a very brief statement. John's hand-out was a list of the various activities that the planning department takes care of and the possible cuts to that department and would have to eliminate some of those activities to keep up with the staff. John stated that investigations of the zoning ordinance would rarely be investigated, and all other work will be slowed down dramatically. A lot of studies will not be done because of the lack of staff. There were no questions for John. The next department taken was Solid Waste with Roy Wickersham. Mr. Wickersham said that his department would like to be put back on their own levy apart from the County's general fund budget. 3 That way, Mr. Wickersham reasoned, that they would have enough-- cash carryover and they will probably get their levy passed to get through the next fiscal year. While they are in the general fund, they do not feel that they will have enough money to get through the year because if they have one major breakdown, $100,000 will be spent just like that. Mr. Wickersham also stated that they would not be able to work up to DEQ standards and would have to close down most of the pits around the county. Mr. Wickersham said that the secretary out at the road department had figured up their loss for them. There were no questions of Mr. Wickersham. The next department taken was Marybeth Arbuckle of the Deschutes County Library. The librarian from the Redmond Library was also present. Marybeth had some hand-outs for the committee. One was recommended revisions in the 6% budget for the library. The figures were arrived at.after consultation with the Library Board and the Sisters Library and the Redmond Library. Marybeth said that if the tax base fails, the the library would only be open half as long and most library services would be cut. The library staff would be willing to take part-time jobs rather than work full-time to keep the library going. All books by mail services would be cut out completely. Fewer best sellers would be purchased and the quality would be less. There were a few questions for Marybeth regarding the volunteer cut in wages for the library staff, and also her suggestions. The next department taken was Emergency Services with Chris Williams. Chris stated that he would try to keep his presentation short. He told the Board that the department would be asking those people for whom rescues are performed to give a donation to the department in some way. Various bake sales and fund raisers will be held to get funds for the services. Chris gave a list of the services that Emergency Services does and helps other departments with in relation to their duties. He stated that currently there are only two people in that department: himself and a deputy. Chris said that an awful lot of time is donated to the county to keep this program going between him and his deputy. He would ask that the Board keep this deputy at least half time with the other half being picked up by the marine board. Chris went on to specify where other funds would come from to fund this position. There were few questions for Chris. The next department taken was the Assessor's office with Oscar Bratton. Oscar stated that his office had been cut by 12 personnel plus 4 which are CETA workers. Oscar gave a brief summary of the services that would be cut out and how he would not be able to meet deadlines and so forth. Mr. Bratton stated that there are certain obligations he must meet to stay within the ORS and those would be his priority areas to contend with. Commissioner Paulson asked what the impact of the 6% budget would be. Mr. Bratton said that he would always be behind in his work and would have to work extra hours. Mr. Bratton said that whatever he could not assess, the Department of Revenue would come in and do the job and charge the county for its work, Mr. Bratton wanted to assure the Board that he was not saying this as a threat just as a matter of fact. There were quite a few questions regarding the matter to Oscar regarding how the work would be done and when. The next department taken was Hiltje Hubbard of Medical-Nursing. 4 Dr. David Spence was also present regarding this department. Hiltje said that once the board had taken the medical investigator out of the budget and put him in a separate budget and now he was back in the general budget. Dr. Spence said that according to the ORS the medical investigator must have a budget of his own and not be included in the general budget. Dr. Spence then went into an account of the autopsy fees that would be going up shortly and would affect the budget by quite a bit as he does about 24 autopsies a year which would cost the county approximately $150 apiece to do, and the county does get reimbursed for half of their costs for autopsies for felonies, etc. Dr. Spence stated that he does try to keep the autopsy rate down as much as possible. There were various questions of Dr. Spence and Hiltje regarding these fees and various other fees. Dr. Spence stated that he worries about having a trained nurse having to do secretarial work. He would prefer to have a part-time secretary to do the necessary secretarial work. Hiltje would like to have another nurse in her department rather than a secretary. There were various questions of Hiltje, also regarding the services that her department now provides for the jail. The next department taken was County Counsel with Lou Dvorak. Lou stated that this 6% budget is merely the spreading of one person very thin to cover the needs of the county especially with the upcoming LUBA suits. Lou stated that with two counsels for the county, the workload is more realistic to handle although both counsels do put in a lot of overtime to prepare for cases and to give advice to the various departments, mainly the planning department. Lou said that most of the work in his office is not hard, it is just time-consuming requiring preparation, research and litigation. Lou recommended that the the committee give a lot of thought in keeping the assistant county counsel. The next department taken was Bob Main, the Watermaster. Bob reported that right now the Board of Commissioners were trying to contact the other counties to come up with..some sort of agreement as to how the three counties would, in the future, budget funds for the Watermaster. There were no questions for Bob. The next department taken was the Sanitation Department with John Glover. John went over some of the fees that had just been insti- tuted in his office. He stated that all of these fees were as high as the ORS would allow them to be. Mr. Glover stated that he has let one clerk and one sanitarian go without refilling the positions and that has caused some hardship on his office. Mr. Glover stated that the commissioners have asked for a $4,000,000 grant from the EPA for the water study in LaPine but he stated if he did not have the men to do it, he couldn't do it. Mr. Glover felt that on of the sanitarian positions should be reinstated to carry out the study in LaPine. Commissioner Paulson asked if a trainee could do the study. Mr. Glover stated that at present he did not have any trainees but the board would probably spend more educating a trainee than if they reinstated a full-time sanitarian. Commissioner Young wanted to discuss the Board of Commissioners budget. Commissioner Young suggested that for fiscal year 1980-81, the Board of Commissioners salaries be maintained at the present scale and further suggested that the other elected officials ask to do the same. Commissioner Paulson stated that he was reluctant to speak for others but felt himself that it was highly possible to do. There was dis- 5 cussion regarding the merits of this idea. Chairman Cleveland stated that it seemed to him that if this budget board were to give people less, it would help to keep one or two positions in some department. Chairman Cleveland felt that it was worth looking into. Commissioner Young maintained that the elected officials' salaries should be kept at the same level. That would bring the county approximately $16,000 extra. MOTION: JAN WICK moved that the elected officials' salaries remain the same as the past year. COMMISSIONER PAULSON: Second. VOTE COMMISSIONER YOUNG: Aye. COMMISSIONER PAULSON: Aye. COMMISSIONER SHEPARD: Aye. JAN WICK: Aye. JACK OLIVER: Aye. CHAIRMAN CLEVELAND: Aye. The next department taken was the Veterans Department with Russ Chase. Russ stated that he didn't understand how Mr. Maier and Commissioner Paulson expect his department to operate on what they have given him. Russ said that his office has been cut from two secretaries to just half a secretary. Puss stated that under the ORS he must maintain an 8 hour day and if he does that, his part-time secretary would not be able to keep up with the paperwork and dealing with the public and answering the phone. He asked that his secretary be kept full-time and possibly close the office to the public so that his secretary could get the paperwork done. One of the committee members asked what the impact would be in the office was closed completely. Russ said that the people would have to go to Salem or Portland and there would be quite an uproar if the office closed. Commissioner Shepard asked if the office could operate on a half-time basis. Russ said that that may be able to be done, however, he still requires the same amount of time to get the work done. There were no further questions of Russ. There was no action taken this evening regarding the budget. The committee would meet again on May 6, 1980 same time, same place. Commissioner Paulson also informed the other committee members re- garding the Road Department budget meeting on May 29, 1980 at 7:30. BOARD OF COUNTY CO?,1MISSIONERS A OUT , airm CLAY - C. ..XEPARIT issioner /jo 4"~ 6- V~aj_a~ ,I- OBERT C. PAULS N, JR., Co ssioner 6