2015-57-Minutes for Meeting April 21,2009 Recorded 3/2/2015 DESCHUTES COUNTY OFFICIAL. RECORDS CJ 201541 CLERK
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1300 NW Wall St., Bend, OR 97701-1960
un 4 (541) 388-6570 - Fax (541) 385-3202 - www.deschutes.org
MINUTES OF JOINT MEETING
CIRCUIT COURT JUDGES
and
DESCHUTES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009
Commissioners'Hearing Room-Administration Building- 1300 NW Wall St., Bend.
Present were Commissioners Tammy Baney, and Alan Unger; Commissioner
Dennis R. Luke was absent; Circuit Court Judges; Michael Sullivan, Alta Brady,
Steve Tiktin, Michael Adler, and Barb Haslinger; Dave Kanner, County
Administrator; Ernie Mazxorol, Court Administrator; and Sheriff Larry Blanton.
Also present were Hillary Borrud of The Bulletin and approximately four other
citizens.
Chair Baney opened the meeting 5:45. She said the main conversation on the table
is Community Corrections. They will also have an update on the jail
Judge Sullivan said bill 1145 decreased their funding. They are trying to see what
the curve will look like and how it will affect Deschutes County.
Commissioner Baney said the State will more than likely reduce the sentencing; or
are their other options. She said as a Board they have policy questions that they
have to answer. Do they opt out or stay as they are.
Judge Sullivan said each commissioner is independently elected and the judges are
as well. He said other judges may or may not agree with him.
He said when 1145 first came out he was a critic of it. He said his mind has
changed since he has seen what it does at a local level. He said it is local vs. State
control. He said the years the County has had control it has been flexible. It is a
policy issue of what you will and won't do. He said with loss of flexibility there
Minutes of Joint Meeting—Circuit Court and Deschutes County Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Page 1 of 6 Pages
could possibly be more people in jail rather than be supervised in the community.
He said now if a person is on probation, under community corrections, it saves a
lot of money by being supervised by one entity. A number of indirect services
come with community corrections as well. The flexibility is what he likes the
most.
He said this week they had an individual with several medical problems who
needed a special diet, etc. He said it would have been a terrific cost to the County
if the person had been mandated to jail. He was set up with electronic monitoring.
He is convinced it would have been thousands of dollars a day if remanded into
custody. Without that flexibility at County level, they could not have done that.
He said if they don't have community corrections they might not have the
flexibility and innovativeness in Deschutes County that they have had in years. He
said this is his opinion and he thinks it is shared by some of the other judges. He is
not here to fight,just to give some input.
Commissioner Baney said they do not handle the inner workings of community
corrections and that is why this meeting is valuable.
Judge Tiktin said he agrees with Judge Sullivan. It is great in terms of the way it
works with the judges and the County. He said some need different kinds of
supervision. It has been very beneficial to the mentally ill. The people running it
have been real creative, adaptive and responsive.
Commissioner Unger asked if there is a threshold that they say they can't
adequately provide the services they want to. He asked where they draw the line.
Judge Tiktin said he did not know the answer but if given a certain level of
funding, if State or County gets money, who can do the most with the level of
funding provided.
Judge Sullivan said the County has had a good track record over the last decade.
He said it is difficult because they do not know if funding is going up or down.
There are a lot of variables. He said there is court time, DA's office time and a lot
of variables as to what the case load will be.
Commissioner Unger encourages them to meet with LPSCC which brings all the
players to the table to look at solving problems.
Minutes of Joint Meeting—Circuit Court and Deschutes County Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Page 2 of 6 Pages
Judge Sullivan said some of the programs save the County money in other areas.
In domestic violence cases the sheriff will send two to three deputies. If they can
avoid a trial and get them into treatment faster it is better for the family,
community and a savings for police services. It saves money in the long run.
Commissioner Baney said they are doing away with special programs. She asked
if that was still on the table. Judge Sullivan said he did not know what the
flexibility will be. The concern is not whether it was working but is it offering the
same level of service in each judicial district.
Ernie Mazorol said it has been asked if they enjoy the flexibility of the program.
He said they have. He said when the State ran community corrections if the
judges asked for something, if outside of the policy, they were paralyzed. A lot of
what happens here needs to be decided upon right away. They do not have time to
wait or it will cost a lot of money. He said Deschutes is a very innovative county
and that is what keeps people here. He said the money will remain the same no
matter who runs the program. What it comes down to is who can manage it the
best and he thinks that would be the County.
Sheriff Blanton said he agreed with everyone. Local control is better. The
question is how much money will be available. He said it will be up to the
Commissioners to decide if they want to put into it to maintain the same level.
Commissioner Unger said if they look at opting out, would they be able to provide
the same levels of service. He would like to discuss this with Commissioner Luke
and get his input.
Commissioner Baney said it not okay for the State to give something and then back
away. The service component is where she gets lost. What is the best way to
provide the level of service they have now.
Sheriff Blanton said it they do not say anything they will have to deal with the fall
out. Commissioner Baney said they could send a letter stating they will opt out.
So far only Harney County as sent a letter. It concerns her about the county's
saying this is okay to the State.
Mr. Mazorol said send the letter. It does not necessarily mean you have to opt out.
They will have time to do that. Commissioner Baney said they will send a letter to
opt out but could they have time to change that decision.
Minutes of Joint Meeting—Circuit Court and Deschutes County Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Page 3 of 6 Pages
Mr. Mazorol said it seems like if they lost dollars, the State would not be providing
those services. It could be an imposition to be able to define what population
could be managed with the resources. If the State manages it, it could look
different than if the County manages it. He said keep the options open. They do
not know what funding will look like yet. It will be a liability if they continue to
keep it and they keep reducing funding. If underfunded, he would rather it be
underfunded and a County operation rather than a State operation.
Judge Tiktin said if you supplement the State, you do not control how they spend
the money.
Commissioner Baney said if they look at levels of those services in the County the
liability issues are huge.
Mr. Mazorol said indirect costs go toward different County Operations. Mr.
Kanner said any operation is determined by the funds available. If indirect goes
away they will make changes in the departments.
Mr. Kanner said since community corrections have been turned over to the
counties, the State has had a track record of increasing funding. In 2002 all
functions were reduced. In the next biennium they are not targeting corrections all
across the board. If they are gong to be a service partner with the State, there has
to be expectations that one of those functions is going to be held harmless if the
State needs to cut the budget. The County has always had options on where to
reduce functions. That does not change the fact that only a certain amount of
funding is available from the State.
Judge Sullivan said it affects children and families and the quality of life for
everyone. He thinks the County would serve better because of the flexibility and.
innovativeness.
Commissioner Unger said he is not sure what happens if they opt out. He said if
they opt out, how that will help the County. He said they could tell the other
counties they will support them.
Judge Forte said if the State took it back how could you back fill, you can't.
Commissioner Baney said they would have to contract with them for added
services. She said there are other options. Some counties run part of the functions
and the State does others.
Minutes of Joint Meeting—Circuit Court and Deschutes County Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Page 4 of 6 Pages
Judge Haslinger said it is impossible to overestimate how important P&P is. The
County has done a fantastic job. If making a financial decision there has to be an
overwhelming reason to turn it over to the State. It is really working well here.
Commissioner Baney asked for the jail update.
Sheriff Blanton said they have been doing a study for close to four years now.
They hired the Omni Group to do a complete look at the jail operation and
alternatives to incarcerations. They said the County will need almost 700
additional beds at a cost of 80 to 90 million. He and Mr. Kanner got together and
decided to have an interim phase and scaled it back about half.
He said the Commissioners gave the program 4 million and they borrowed out of
Solid Waste Department to get the architect plans done. They need about 45 to 46
million. The will sell some excess County property. They have also applied for
stimulus funding. He has not heard any good news about that.
He said it is difficult. They have always said they want to exhaust all possibilities
before asking the tax payers for any additional money. He said they do not want to
raise the tax rate again this year. He has had to cut some positions. No one can
predict the economy. He said four years ago they could have sold land with no
problem but they were not ready then. The value of the land has gone down as
well as people with available funds.
He said they can't wait much longer and need to figure out what to do in the next
year or two. He said the jail captain and Susan Ross are working on the design
phase.
He has money in the budget for now if he has to rent beds. He is proud of their
programs and they do everything they can to help people make better decisions
when they leave. One of their jobs is trying to plan in advance. The jail population
is a cycle. It varies by 20 to 30 people per day.
He said they are trying to figure things out. It will not be built cheaper today. He
had a 40% increase on how many beds are available and how many are in use.
He said he was putting together a special operations team for high risk transport
and high risk security issues. They will develop a strategic plan. It is a huge
Minutes of Joint Meeting—Circuit Court and Deschutes County Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Page 5 of 6 Pages
liability but if you have people trained to respond appropriately it reduces that. He
said it will take about a year to get it going.
Mr. Mazorol said they may be broke but everyone is dong a good job.
Commissioner Unger thanked everyone for coming.
Being no further items Chair Baney adjourned the meeting at 6:35 p.m.
DATED this 21st Day of April 2009 for the Deschutes County Board of
Commissioners.
Tammy aney, Chai
Dennis R. Luke, Vice Chair
ATTEST: a-JCZA, Vr
Alan Unger, Commissioner
Recording Secretary
Minutes of Joint Meeting—Circuit Court and Deschutes County Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Page 6 of 6 Pages
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