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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBudget October 30 20011 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Finance and Administrative Services Committee PROPOSED 2002 WHATCOM COUNTY BUDGET October 30, 2001 The meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Committee Chair Robert Imhof in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: Absent: Marlene Dawson None Sam Crawford Also Present: L. Ward Nelson DISCUSSION OF THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE'S 2002 RECOMMENDED BUDGET (ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES; PUBLIC DEFENDER; SUPERIOR COURT /CLERK; DISTRICT COURT; ADULT PROBATION; JUVENILE PROBATION /COURT)(AB2001 -206) ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated the administration is doing a major rewrite of County policies and procedures. Many staff members have been trained. It is a multi -year effort. It is a high priority because the administration wants clear and consistent policies. The administration implemented standardized contract information, so they now have consistency in contract language, which protects the County and clarifies the work. They are making some progress in developing the way they approach grants and attract and account for grant work. In the Facilities Management Division, they are making better use of the Civic Center annex at a low cost. The Public Works Department has moved into the bottom two floors of the building. They are finishing putting the drug court operations, the juvenile community justice center, and the public defenders who are working on the Kinney case into the building. The County made progress in conserving power. The County saved 14 percent in January, 25 percent in February, 31 percent in March, and 33 percent in April. They are far surpassing the Governor's mandate, and will continue to work on that. The Division has started a master planning process. The Council will see recommendations in December on a team of people to look at development of a master plan for all properties. They have started a very deliberate preventative maintenance program, and expect to see a savings of thousands of dollars. The idea is to fix problems before they break and have to replace equipment. Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 They established a building recovery fund. Full implementation will be in 2003. They started the fund in 2001. They expect to see the fund work like the Equipment Rent and Revolve (ER &R) or Technology Rent and Revolve (TR &R) funds. They would properly maintain and replace equipment on a schedule that allows them to even out the expenses and properly manage extensive building and mechanical systems. In the Finance Division, Whatcom County has obtained Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting. Accounting has surpassed certain standards. They are one of three counties in the state to earn the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for the 2001 budget. That budget received statewide attention, and is recommended as a model by the Association of County Officials. Whatcom County received its audit report for 2000, and there were no audit findings. For the first time, they have had no audit findings, which is unusual in a government this size. They have finished the application of a graphical user interface for the financial systems, which allows managers to pull financial information out of the systems. In the Human Resources Division, they have expanded the available training to all staff in the County. They are focusing on regular monthly training for supervisors. They are working on bargaining agreements with ferry workers and the Deputy Sheriff's Guild. They resolved over 100 major labor negotiations this year. They continue to work on recruitment and selection for law and justice employees and key department leaders. There have been improvements in personal management. There is a new employee -paid long -term disability insurance for some employees. There were no findings in the audit for self- insured medical plan from the State Department of Risk Management. They are further applying the strengths in the computer systems and web page to some of the recruiting activities. In the Information Systems Division, they have been implementing over the last ten years one of the most sophisticated systems for people to collect, process, and distribute information in an efficient manner, without being risky. The County has a robust webpage with many reports and a lot of information. There are connections to many information systems through that webpage. The division has done an excellent job with limited staff. Recently, they developed an online registration system for training classes for all County staff. The Facilities Management Division has implemented a facilities work order system. They are replacing all the current wiring infrastructure in County government. Last year, the Council authorized initiation of a three -year project to improve wiring, which will increase access and transfer speeds from 16 mb /sec to 100 mb /sec. They can schedule this for completion for everyone in early 2002. Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Everyone is pleased at the operational capabilities of the system. The downtime experienced is far less than on other computer systems. They are making progress in microfilming and the backlog of records. Imhof stated there is a large increase in the budget for health insurance. Crawford stated the Administrative Services budget, in volume II, page 5, shows a 36 percent increase in two years, from $8 million to $11 million. He asked what that is for. Desler stated health insurance increases have been extensive. The County has not adding staff. The division will have one less staff member next year. Crawford asked how the administrative services fund works, as opposed to the General fund. Desler stated all operations will contribute to certain key issues, such as health insurance, facilities, and buildings. Those costs are distributed to all departments based on a formula. The self- insurance component of the administrative services fund is done by transfer to properly capture expenses to all departments. They have multiple funding sources, and have to justify the expenses to the departments. Crawford asked if some of the benefit is being paid into the administrative services fund, and then expended. Desler stated it is. Adding up the administrative services fund and general fund would double account for the same money. The funds are initially allocated from the general fund, then they transfer the cost based on the cost of serving the department. Crawford asked the total amount expended for all health insurance expenses. Brad Bennett, Finance Division Manager, stated the Teamsters master agreement specifies those employees buying the Teamster's insurance. Everyone else is on the self- insured program. The amount in the administrative services fund includes everything except the Teamster's master agreement. Imhof stated there was a request for web designer. He asked the process for doing the webpage now. Desler stated they have a fulltime employee now. This was a request for an additional person. The County is going to more actively use the efficiencies with the Information Services Division. The County has not had to address the increasing demands from the public by adding additional staff, because it uses more effective information systems. Imhof stated the Council packet information should come electronically from the departments, so it can be put on the webpage without having to scan in. There should be a mechanism that is easier to get the packet on the webpage. Desler stated they could explore that with the Council staff. The information will have to be scanned at some point. Contracts can be done electronically. Imhof suggested that the administration begin to move toward a template for the packet so things come in a form that every department understands. That Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 can be done electronically. They generate too much paper and there is too much time consumption. Desler stated the administration made a lot of progress in transferring material and information. The budget process is built around people going online to fill out the information, which is then transferred to the Executive's Office. Nelson stated one of his goals is to use the computer to get the Council packet and transfer other information. The Council packet takes so long to download that it is impractical to use. Nelson asked if the packet could be done on a zip drive. George Reid, Information Services Manager, stated it could. He is working on virtual private network that would let the Council get the packet off the network. The public will not have access to it. Crawford stated they will not gain a lot from using a zip drive for the packet. Nelson stated last year they talked about boilerplate contracts regarding union negotiations. He asked if that was accomplished. Desler stated they are involved in that now with five unions. Nelson asked if they are still working on the capital facilities planning. He asked if there is a goal or objective for completion. Desler stated the goal for completion is ten months from now. It depends on the speed the Council works on it. There may need to be more public interaction on some issues. The administration wants to feel comfortable with the level of public interaction. Nelson asked about the implementation of organization -wide accounts receivable. Bennett stated the system is running now. They are hoping to have a full set of policies and procedures late this year, but the major accounts receivable activities using the system is in the Health Department. It will be available to everyone soon. Nelson asked what they accomplished in 2001. Desler stated the 2002 budget materials include a report for each 2001 objective. He will submit to Council. Crawford asked how they anticipate the budget for next year since they are in the middle of a labor negotiation. He asked if the administration is giving its best shot. Desler stated they try to follow the Council guidelines from June. Revenues are stable and sagging. When they follow the Council's direction, they ended up with $3,000 left in the budget. It will be a challenge to address any wage or benefit enhancements. He is committed to working with the Council to address all that. Crawford stated most businesses have opted to have employee participation for health benefits. Most businesses cannot absorb large health insurance increases. He asked if the door is closed to the option of having the employee pay Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 4 1 a portion of his or her health insurance. Desler stated that with all the labor 2 agreements, they have agreements that end at the end of 2001 or continue to a 3 multi -year arrangement. In the case of those agreements, the County is obligated 4 under State law to continue for a year the requirements of the existing agreements. 5 They can make no unilateral adjustments for those negotiations. The 6 administration is seeking in the coming weeks and months ways to contain the cost 7 of health insurance. Half of the employees are in the Teamsters fund, and half are 8 in the self- insurance fund. The largest increases have occurred in the self - 9 insurance fund. 10 11 Nelson stated the Human Resources Division objectives haven't changed any. 12 They talked last year about reevaluating positions and strengthening County 13 management and operations through organizational opportunities. He's been 14 hearing about the pay scales, department structures, and morale. He asked what 15 types of things will happen next year to enhance, retain, and maintain employees, 16 given the budget constraints and with the revenue picture. Desler stated they want 17 to maintain morale. One of the key objectives is to show a great deal of respect 18 and care for the employees, including using good communication. Offer to 19 communicate with employees in all the ways that the administration and the 20 employee would like. 21 22 Nelson asked what the goal means to strengthen County management and 23 operations through organizational development opportunities. 24 25 Karen Goens, Human Resources Manager, stated key leader vacancies 26 provide an opportunity to look at the management and organizational structure. As 27 changes occur in the organization, they will work with the department to determine 28 whether they have organized the management structure in the best way possible. 29 Recently the district court probation director left the organization. They took that 30 opportunity to reorganize the leadership to make the department stronger. 31 32 Nelson asked if there are resources to look at the department structure as a 33 whole. Goens stated that as they work toward the operations in terms of 34 outcomes, they are trying to do that. They look at it from the Human Resources 35 standpoint, but it has impacts on the products that people get in the community. 36 37 Crawford questioned where the Administrative Services ASR's come from. 38 Desler stated they come through him. 39 40 Crawford asked how Mr. Desler determines which ASR's are approved. 41 Desler stated he asks his managers to put together their ASR's, and he goes 42 through them. For instance, they need to address the facilities management 43 issues, but can't do it all in one year. 44 45 46 PUBLIC DEFENDER 47 Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 John Ostlund, Public Defender, stated this has not been a sterling year for him. It has been characterized by chaos. Two attorneys went on family medical leave for almost six months total. The Kinney case came along in March. He was able to get temporary help to work on that case by June. A felony attorney is leaving his office, so he is short personnel again. He has not done very well on meeting the objectives for 2001. One objective was to reduce caseloads towards national standards. They added an attorney, which should have helped. It has helped in a way. The criminal caseloads have been down by about 200 cases this year. On the other hand, the juvenile civil caseload has gone crazy, to about double this year. He took an attorney from adult felonies and put that attorney half time on juvenile civil to work on Becca Bill cases. They are still not doing well on the national standards. In adult felonies, they have 220 cases per attorney per year. The standard is 150 cases per year. The juvenile criminal caseload is about 368 cases per attorney, per year. The standard caseload is 225. In District Court, the caseload is 500 cases per year. The standard is 300. These numbers don't include the 1,500 to 1,600 probation cases they have to handle. Statewide, there is an effort to have a different way of looking at work effort, by a case waiting system, which takes a lot of work to establish. King County is doing it now. Rather than make his attorney's keep detailed statistics on their cases, he would see what King County does and get their figures. Drug courts are good and bad. The County received a fairly large grant to fully implement an adult drug court. The thought was to increase the drug court cases to 70 participants. Unfortunately, the grant did not include money for his office or Mr. McEachran's office for support. These cases stay with them for a year and a half, when new cases come in. They take a lot of time, and they weren't allocating anything to it. He met with the drug court people and created a maximum of 50 participants that he or Mr. McEachran can support. That is 25 percent of one full -time equivalent (FTE) attorney position in his office and the Prosecuting Attorney's office. He is planning to implement a juvenile drug court next year. He is worried about the same issue of support. In the juvenile civil area, the State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), the Attorney General's (AG) office, and the court commissioners are trying to start a dependency drug court this year. He supports the idea, but doesn't know how to find the resources for support. He can't sign off on any grant applications unless the grant can support his efforts. Dawson stated a benefit of an adult going through the drug court is that the person does not have a felony record. That wouldn't affect juveniles. Ostlund stated he didn't know what the juvenile drug court would look like. They are still working on the planning grant. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A) Ostlund continued to state that he assumed it would be a pre - adjudicatory drug court. If the person successfully participates, the pending criminal charges would be dismissed. The planning grant is supposed to formulate what it will look like. Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 6 1 2 The first additional services request is regarding the Kinney case. He is 3 going to present a mitigation package to the Prosecuting Attorney's office. He's 4 been working on it for the last six months with the hope that the prosecutor will not 5 seek the death penalty. If that happens, and they do not seek the death penalty, 6 then the Kinney case will resolve rapidly. Hopefully most of the money they are 7 asking for won't be needed. Most of the money requested is for space needs. 8 Whether or not Kinney goes, his staff in the Civic Center can't be brought back into 9 his office. There is still is a space requirement. The Executive approved one - fourth 10 of what he asked for, with the thought that he would come back if the Kinney case 11 goes on to update requests on a continual basis. That is reasonable. If the 12 prosecutor files a death notice, he will spend a lot of money very rapidly because of 13 the demands the court will place on him in trying to get a trial date this spring. He 14 will know the status of the Kinney case in December. They will have to deal with it 15 as they go. 16 17 The other major ASR was for an attorney position that went to law and 18 justice. The number of criminal cases have decreased. However, the attorneys 19 can't be spread around. They have to appear in front of different courts with 20 different time schedules. He did move his adult felony attorneys to other areas. 21 Also, a District Court attorney works on half of an adult felony caseload. The 22 caseloads are well above standards. 23 24 Another ASR includes extra money for professional services for expert 25 witnesses. It is difficult to forecast those costs. He may have to ask for a 26 supplemental budget request for this year. He has no problems with doing that. 27 The other ASR's are minor. 28 29 Crawford asked if the upper floors of the Civic Center are going to be 30 required indefinitely, rather than just for the Kinney Case. Desler stated the major 31 justification to place the Public Defender staff in the Civic Center was for space for 32 the Kinney case. Mr. Ostlund felt he needed space for other staff. The 33 administration simply assigns a certain amount of space, but not where they will 34 go. 35 36 Imhof questioned why the staff can't go back to where they were originally if 37 the Kinney case goes away. Ostlund stated two positions were not there 38 previously, an attorney and a secretary. This isn't a new requirement. Those 39 people are here, and he doesn't have space for them. 40 41 Desler stated staff was added earlier this year in the law and justice 42 departments. They are trying to fit those people into a limited allocation of space. 43 Part of the justification to move the Kinney case staff was because the Public 44 Defender's office didn't have room for the added staff. On the second floor, the 45 Prosecutor's library space has been converted to office space. The administration 46 would like to convert the fifth floor space to three conference rooms, which can be 47 used collectively by the government organization. 48 Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Nelson stated capital crimes are a burden on the current expense fund. He asked if there is another method to reserve money or protect the department from these types of criminal prosecution and defense cases. Ostlund stated the only protection is the statute which allows the County to request reimbursement from the state legislature. He is keeping detailed records of the expenses. If expense reimbursement is granted, it would be for the costs of the public defender, sheriff, jail, prosecutor, and court costs. He expected to get reimbursed. Nelson stated previous objectives are not different from current objectives. He asked if some of the goals and objectives are too extensive. Ostlund stated he previously wrote boilerplate objectives. However, last year he listed things he wanted to accomplish. It was maybe too ambitious given the circumstances this year. Community outreach is very important to look for resources to get help from the community for the clients. He is doing a bit in the health area with triage of mental health. That is an important objective. He is disappointed to have not done anything with it. He wants to carry that objective over to next year. Caseload is important statewide. He is working with the administration to look at grants. The grants are offered with very short timeframe and detailed requirements. SUPERIOR COURT /CLERK N.F. Jackson, Superior Court Clerk, stated a 2001 objective was to maintain the status quo, and continue with managing cases so they can be resolved prior to trial in a non - judicial manner. That remains extremely effective in the domestic relations area. The domestic trial rate is down to 46 percent, through innovative ways of mandating mediation and settlement conferences. He hoped to expand that to the civil arena. The Law and Justice Council recommended a position to implement that beginning in 2002. He had to withdraw that suggestion. They will not be able to go into the civil area. The primary focus has been on the drug court. In 2001, they were awarded a total of $1.273 million for the drug court. There are three different funding streams. There was difficulty in staffing the drug court, so they capped the participant level to look for other ways to meet their needs without seriously reducing the program. The program is effective because of intensive case management, frequent contact, and hundreds of random urinalysis (UA) tests. They wished they had realized the staffing problem. There may be some savings in the budget by capping the treatment at 50 participants. Treatment costs are figured for 65 people. Theoretically, they can save some treatment dollars, and may be able to still look at it. The objectives for 2002 do not include the differentiated case management. That position relates to the executive assistant position that was not approved. It is a significant effort to educate the bar and the bench on management of cases and assessing cases at the time of filing. One applies case event timelines. They can't do that without some administrative assistance in the department. Because he didn't get the administrative assistant, it is unrealistic to implement this program. Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 8 1 A second goal is to seek and identify greater assistance to pro se litigants. 2 Mr. Desler alluded to the fact that in 2001, they doubled the number of family law 3 facilitators from one person to two. They are within days of completing a remodel 4 of existing space on the fifth floor. That office sees 5,000 to 6,000 people per year 5 who do their own divorces and support modifications. They are going to double 6 that service to serve 10,000 to 12,000 people. They are also looking at innovative 7 ways to do that, including installing waiting room computers with a download of 8 statewide domestic relations pleading forms. They would staff that project with 9 work study students from the community college at $2.50 per hour. For the drug 10 court, they hope to add the federal grant that provides for a third case manager. 11 By capping the number of clients, they are not going to obtain what they'd hoped to 12 do. 13 14 They are in the process, through the Law and Justice Council, to evaluate a 15 variety of specialty courts. The dependency court is one that is being set up and 16 supported by the DSHS and AG at little or no cost to the County. The County will 17 only provide a presiding judge. They also participate in a grant to pull together all 18 domestic violence coordinators in the county, and design a coordinated way of 19 dealing with domestic violence, including treatment reporting, compliance 20 monitoring, and batterer's assessment. This collaborative effort will come together 21 under the auspices of the Law and Justice Council and Domestic Violence 22 Commission. The City and County are contributing to a forum scheduled for 23 January. The grant would have a designed plan throughout the year. 24 25 They would like to address a mental health court to get those suffering from 26 mental illness out of the system. 27 28 Dawson asked if there are examples of the mental health court. Jackson 29 stated there are numerous successful mental health courts in the nation. Success 30 for these specialty courts is about case management and frequency of contact, 31 similar to the offender model. 32 33 Dawson asked the costs. Jackson stated they have not quantified the costs 34 yet. They are still looking at it. It is not a part of this budget cycle. It is probable 35 that there is planning and implementation grant money available. He has no 36 administrative assistance to help do that research. They commissioned some of the 37 research with an intern, but it hasn't been completed. 38 39 One of the ASR's is for projected shortfalls in the conflict contract. The 40 Executive's recommended budget is about $15,000 short of what they think they 41 will need. The ASR for pro tem commissioners is about $12,000 short of what they 42 think they will need. It is to cover the full -time commissioners when they are on 43 vacation, sick, at training, or at judicial conferences. The alternative is to cancel 44 court. However, because of the nature of the cases they handle, they can't cancel 45 court. They would have to take a judge away from a trial. He asked the court to 46 provide direction on limiting the training they receive to keep them on the bench 47 more. They are committed to looking at how they are doing on a quarterly basis. 48 Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 9 1 The interpreters cost is $1,500 short of where they think they need to be. 2 The courts have no choice. They have to provide interpreters for non - English 3 speaking people. The rates are not negotiable. They looked at and will look at a 4 County employed interpreter. There are nine courtrooms in this building. Having 5 someone who is flexible to cover half the courtrooms at a given time is difficult. 6 7 The juror fee increase is a at no cost to the County. The State legislature 8 has appropriated money to increase the per diem cost from $10 to $25 for the 9 second and succeeding days. They are going to make sure the legislature has 10 really got the money squirreled away before asking the Council to change the 11 ordinance. 12 13 The conflict contract is for attorneys with a conflict of interest with the public 14 defender. The amount approved is $15,000 short of what they think it will cost. 15 He is talking to the administration about monitoring this closely. They just 16 advertised for bids for conflict services. Seventeen attorneys are now on call to 17 take cases. The last three were hired from Skagit County because there were no 18 more available in Whatcom County. An innovative way to avoid that would be to 19 establish a second, stand -alone public defender or try to get someone at a lesser 20 rate. 21 22 The guardian ad litem contract is almost $25,000 short of what it will take, 23 based on mid -year projections. He doesn't know what to do about that. The 24 change in filing policies was thought to quadruple, but those cases have merely 25 doubled. That is a significant portion of the costs. Two primary alternatives are 26 using the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program, which is a volunteer 27 program, or to use staff guardians ad litem (GAL) at a reduced cost. The cost of 28 the CASA program is not free. It takes coordination and training and support to do 29 those things. They have commissioned a current analysis of the program. He has 30 been doing that about every two years for ten years to get a fresh look at the CASA 31 program. There are no new CASA programs in the State of Washington in the last 32 five years. None of them are adequately serving dependency cases. They are all 33 spending more dollars in conflict guardians ad litem. The benefit does not seem to 34 be there. Only one county in the state has court appointed guardians ad litem. He 35 will analyze the unit cost of that. Right now, they are paying guardians ad litem 36 $50 per hour. Perhaps an employee can do it for less. 37 38 The drug court budget was approved. This would put up a third case 39 manager. They decided to cap the client load for the time being. 40 41 Crawford asked if the grant is part of the intergovernmental revenue. Desler 42 stated it is. 43 44 Crawford asked if the $294,000 is part of the $593,000. Jackson stated that 45 of the $294,000, $100,000 is a reimbursable grant from the High Intensity Drug 46 Traffic Act (HIDTA), $110,000 is from the Byrne grant, and the balance is from the 47 Office of Justice Programs (OJP) grant. 48 Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 10 1 Jackson continued to state that they asked for a few more ASR's, including 2 the courtroom sound system, which was a request for the system he believed would 3 have to be paid from his budget instead of the Facilities Management budget. It 4 will be paid for by the Facilities Management budget. The executive assistant is 5 administrative assistance for superior court. He is the only organization that 6 doesn't have that position. He hopes to use that position to do all the grant 7 accounting. It is considerable. They are paying judges to type envelopes. There is 8 no secretary position. Regarding the case manager, they can't implement that new 9 protocol without some assistance. He pulled that item for that reason. They will 10 make do with the office supplies budget. They are in the fourth week of a four - 11 month jury trial. The trial requires fulltime jurors and bailiffs. The budget is 12 inadequate to pay them. On the class action suit against DSHS to rewrite the 13 State's foster care program, they expected to spend $26,000. The bailiff costs 14 could be associated with the Kinney case. If Kinney doesn't go, then they don't 15 need the money. If Kinney does go, there will be add -on costs to add to the State 16 for reimbursement, including costs for bailiffs, jurors, and the court reporter cost. 17 Last time they did that was on the Elmore case, in which transcript alone cost 18 $10,000. 19 20 Desler stated the administration will wait until the prosecuting attorney 21 makes the decision on the death penalty for the Kinney case, and then lay out a 22 coordinated plan for how to address the Kinney case for all the affected 23 departments, and then come back to the Council. 24 25 Jackson stated he is not incurring expenses on the Kinney case until it comes 26 to court. The court digital recording server request was pulled. The infrastructure 27 is not in place. 28 29 Imhof asked if any unapproved ASR's are necessary. Jackson stated an 30 executive assistant is necessary. It is an expensive item, and there is no money. 31 The ability to research and implement innovative things can't be done using 32 existing staff. They could better interact with the entire Law and Justice Council 33 and system with the assistant position. Now, he has found himself unable to 34 participate. 35 36 Imhof asked if there is some other existing position in the department that is 37 a lower priority. Jackson stated there is not. 38 39 (Clerk's Note: The committee took a five - minute break at 10:35 a.m.) 40 41 42 DISTRICT COURT 43 44 Bruce Van Glubt, District Court Administrator, stated the general goal is a 45 customer service focus. It is an ongoing process. Staff receives the training that 46 the Human Services Division provides. Customer service is at a high level. He 47 rarely gets a customer service complaint. 48 Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 (Clerk's Note End of tape one, side B.) Van Glubt continued to state that significant changes include how they set up time payment agreements with defendants, how bail is applied to court costs, the collections procedures, and their relationship with the collection agency. His measurement for success or failure in those changes was the probation fees collected. The reason he selected that as the most likely source of good information is because probation fees are 100 percent local revenue, there is no split with the state. The other reason is that is the first thing that is applied when a defendant makes a payment to the courts. That is the number one priority that gets paid off. They've seen success. Probation fees increased 11 percent over last year. Last year, they broke $500,000 for the first time. They are on track to bring in $554,000 just in probation fees alone. That is money they keep locally in Whatcom County. That shows that the changes they made impacted the money they collect. They are on track with collections for the court to bring in 99.6 percent of projected revenue. That is a 2.5 percent increase over 2000 revenues. Another success is that the Council approved a new court clerk position. There has been a huge increase in civil filings over the last four to five years. They have made some significant changes in how they serve the public. They are making progress, even with the person only being in the position for seven to eight months. The person is still in a training process. This isn't simply processing of paperwork. The public will see improved service when they file papers in court. There will be positive impacts on the public and how well they are served. Another success is the jury coordinator position, which is housed in District Court. The case involving the foster care system is a huge project. They pulled in 2,000 prospective jurors. They were able to provide the court with an adequate pool of jurors, and they were able to do it without having to add extra help. Another success is the increase in the number of volunteer individuals and hours. They've increased the number of tasks that the volunteers can complete. They are using volunteers more with the jury coordinator position and the calendar clerk. That is another way they can stretch their resources. Under goal two, they continue to look at methods to determine whether efficiencies can be realized without reducing services or affecting other departments. This is something they are looking at in their accounting areas and civil department specifically. It is an ongoing process. He hopes to have more specific information as time goes on. The challenges that he will face include only a 2.5 percent increase in revenues over 2000. In 1999 and 2000, he saw increases over previous years of 7 percent or more. In 1998, when Bellingham took its cases back, they were only down one percent. In 1997, they saw an 11 percent increase in revenue. They have had historically strong increases. In September, they saw a revenue drop of 11 percent. It is not unusual to see one month of revenues that will make an Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 increase or decrease greater than normal. His concern about that is if it is an impact of the local economy and layoffs. He hopes it is a fluke. For them to be well on track, they need two average months and one good month. Another challenge is in the civil arena. Jurisdictional limits for small claims have been raised from $2,500 to $4,000. For civil cases, the jurisdictional limits have been raised from $35,000 to $50,000. This will be an increase in cases filed, and those cases are more complicated. The greater the value of the claim, the more complex. Crawford asked if the revenue is from the state fund revenue. Van Glubt stated it is revenue from fines from defendants. Crawford asked why the revenue is down. Van Glubt stated that if the economy is bad, people will ignore the court. There are systems in place to attempt collection, prior to going to a collection agency. Dawson asked the cost of collection. Van Glubt stated the collection agency adds interest and service fees to the fine. The County gets 100 percent of the fine, plus 50 percent of the interest. Imhof stated all the ASR's were approved. Van Glubt stated they were. He has no issue with what was approved. Imhof complimented Van Glubt on his effective presentation. ADULT PROBATION Van Glubt stated the biggest challenge has been replacing Fred Thompson, and looking at what's been done for 30 years to see if things can be updated. They have had some specific successes. The Law and Justice Council is funding a domestic violence unit for District Court Probation. The clerical staff was hired and is in the process of training. The first of two probation officers has also been hired and is in training. He hopes to have the first phase ready by the middle of February so they can begin to identify the defendants most appropriate for a specialized domestic violence caseload. They have begun training a special domestic violence volunteer. The challenge for this program is to try and come up with what will measure success, in terms of statistics, referrals, and recidivism rates. He has a number of months to work on that. He doesn't want to have a probation officer or two that doesn't do anything differently than with the general population of probationers. Establish a program unique to Whatcom County focused on victim safety issues. He is also looking at restructuring how they supervise clients. Mr. Thompson had a specialized caseload objective in terms of level of risk. The domestic violence officer supervises individuals based on their offense type. They've never done that before. He put into place specialized caseloads based on level of risk. One is a Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 pretrial caseload, and the other is the minimum caseload. The second group is minimum supervision. One officer has 800 of the easiest cases. It monitors paperwork and treatment reports. If they require more intense attention, they would go back to a standard probation officer's caseload. He is taking a look to see if that works for the department. It looks good. They need to see whether the implementation is working as well as they'd hoped it would. Imhof stated most ASR's were approved. Van Glubt stated he hopes to work with the overtime reduction from $6,500 to $1,000 for District Court Probation. In the past, officers worked on contract time, which 37.5 hours of documented work, plus 2.5 flexible hours for meetings and other time. They haven't had to pay any overtime. The contract time is scheduled to end at the end of this year, and probation officers are going to 40 -hour weeks. That means that if a judge orders that something be done immediately at 4:00 p.m. on a Friday, the officer will have to work overtime. He is meeting with Human Resources to develop policies on how to control overtime. JUVENILE PROBATION /COURT Steve Paus, Juvenile Court Administrator, discussed the progress on the 2001 goals. The first goal was to implement efficiencies in the court process. The creation of the intake court services unit is working well. One goal was to not allow probation officers to be idle in court, but be in the schools in the community. That has happened. Two positions are in court all the time. Probation officers are in court when they need to testify. The second goal is better services to clients. Clients are the offenders, schools, families, and the community. They implemented a case management versus community supervision model. They've redefined accountability to be how the offenders are performing in school, how the family functions, and to introduce the defenders to pro - social activities or skills to keep them from the court system. It is a time - consuming model that is working well. The State of Washington implemented a statewide risk needs assessment project. Every juvenile is given the same risk assessment. He hopes that this program will assist in making better case plans, and allow him to measure success at case plans and better design intervention programs. He took the low -risk caseload and case - banked them. Case - banking means that there is a short form risk assessment right out of court. If a youth has a fairly together family, no school problems, and no mental health or drug and alcohol issues, then he or she is considered a low risk. They put all of those youth in one caseload. It reduced the average caseload to about 35 cases. The probation officer that handles the low -risk caseload meets with the family and reintroduces the family into the court plan. One problem with the juvenile court system is that it alienates the parents from the system. The parent has no voice in court. With low risk offenders, they are trying to bring the family in and help monitor the kid's length of probation. This is a good thing to do. They are going to see good results. Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 Another goal was better service to the community. About two years ago, they adopted community justice principles that consider the victim and the community as much the customer as the offender. In doing that, the probation officers spend time in schools and in homes. They collaborate with community members. It makes sense because the old model didn't work well. They cannot expect the court or detention to change behavior if nothing else is done. They are also moving to provide better performance standards in measurement of effectiveness in programs, interventions, and employee productivity. Next year, they will implement a statewide juvenile technological system. The system will monitor the child's performance on the risk assessment and the performance of employee and how they are doing to address principles they've developed in the courts. In 2001, the best thing that came along was the Law and Justice Council proposal. The juvenile subcommittee of the Law and Justice Council recommended funding five proposals that affected juvenile court. Four proposals came from his office, and one from the private sector. Total dollars for those projects were $514,445. At the same time that money came forward, they suffered huge losses in state revenue statewide. They lost $280,500 in revenue. The Community Commitment program, a state funded fee for service for youth to remain in the community, was eliminated. They used to have a contract for six beds for that program. The County used to receive that money for serving the youth to purchase a lot of services in detention and for probation officers. Crawford asked what precipitated the cutback. Paus stated fall in juvenile institution population. Those monies come from the Juvenile Rehabilitation Administration (IRA), which is a part of DSHS. It is also a part of the State institutional system. Their budget is divided between community programs and state institutions. When institution populations go down, they need extra money to fund the state institutions. The money is taken from the community programs. Juvenile court administrators statewide are asking for a study of whether it makes sense for the money to come from IRA or another department. Paus stated the Becca Bill started with great promise for the plight of at -risk youth and street children. The State added truancies as another risk factor they felt the juvenile court should deal with. They put forth a lot of money, but only for the court process, and not to do anything about the problem. Money in the County is divided between Juvenile Services, Superior Court, and the Public Defender. The last biennium, the allocation to they County was $450,000. This biennium, the allocation is $215,000. They started with two probation officers and a fulltime clerk. Now, they are down to just one full -time officer. If they don't do anything about the truancy problem, except order the kids to court and to go to school, and there is no funds available for that, then the kids are back in court on contempt, the kids end up in detention and taking up bed space that should only be available for public safety. Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 In the 2002 budget is the core of the Law and Justice project, which is the juvenile justice center. It is a place outside of the courthouse that can be open in the evenings. He asked the administration to give him a bottom line, and allow him to build a budget around the bottom line. As a result, he turned in a second budget to the administration. The budget does include $227,566 for the juvenile justice center, on the fourth floor of the Civic Center building. That justice center will have a day reporting program, educational component, employment assistance, low risk case monitoring, diversion, and a work crew. They are trying to collaborate with the community to better serve the population. Day reporting is a safety valve on the population inside the detention facility. Youth in the detention facility can serve in a manner other than at the secure facility. They need a place to show up every day. The justice center is a way to postpone or prevent the building of another detention facility. The daily population is down to capacity, so they do not have a lot of overtime. The center should be open in January. The second goal is a victim service unit. He received a grant from the Governor's Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee. That is the other project that was funded. Clerical support for detention is not included. Detention has always been processed by going to the fifth floor for clerical support. They need to develop more efficiencies by providing clerical support. An intensive mental health case management project proposal was written by an outside source, presented to the Law and Justice Council, and approved for funding. There is no funding in the 2002 budget for that project. That project was designed to provide mental health intensive case management for youth that have left the facility that need to have intensive follow up in case management, getting them back on their medication, and getting the families to participate. Mental health services for youth in detention was for emergent mental health services. He asked for enough funds to provide that service throughout the year. There was a service learning instructor position at the juvenile justice center that they did not go forward with hiring. It was approved in the 2001 supplemental, but felt it was unfair to hire a person with the funding being unknown. There is also a half time clerk for juvenile justice center in the same situation. There was a case aid monitor position funded by state funds. With state money disappearing, that person moved to a probation officer position. They did not open that position up. The Governor is looking to reduce the state budget by 15 percent by mid - 2002. State grants will be reduced by $82,833, which equals two positions. He is worried about the budget direction that they are going in. He appreciates the Council for funding the law and justice projects. Dawson asked the percentage of juveniles that have mental health problems that can be regulated to drugs. Paus stated 25 percent. In the institutions, it is 50 to 60 percent. Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 Imhof asked if it is drug and alcohol related. Paus stated it exists. They are seeing co- occurring disorders more and more. The amount of juvenile filings is going down, but the seriousness of offenses is going up. If they want to do something about the adult system, the money should be spent at this end of the system. Paus submitted a bar chart showing the direction the funding amount is going (on file). OTHER ITEMS Dawson asked if the County received money from the Nooksack Tribe. Desler stated the County recently deposited some money into the Sheriff's revenue section of the budget for 2001 in the amount of $176,000. It was a one -time contribution that Executive Kremen negotiated with the Nooksack Tribe. There is an agreement with the State of Washington. The initial agreement was built to cover the impacts of the Nooksack casino. The Nooksack casino fell onto hard times, had no money, and did not follow through with the arrangement. Now, the Nooksack Tribe is in a better position to continue to contribute. They are developing a new arrangement with the State to pay local organizations, based on a new formula. Dawson asked if the County may not get any more money in the future. Desler stated he did not seek to build the money in the budget because many of the discussions took place after the administration delivered the 2002 budget materials to the County Council. Imhof questioned why the money was put into the Sheriff's Office revenue. Desler stated it goes into the general fund and is listed against the Sheriff's revenue section. That is where it originally was to go. It doesn't result in additional expenditures. Imhof stated the agreement was for additional sheriff's deputies in that area. Desler stated the County followed through with its part of the agreement. (Clerk's Note: End of tape two, side A.) Desler stated he was not sure how much money the County will receive in 2002 and 2003. Imhof asked if there is a state contract regarding the impacts of the Lummi casino. Dawson stated there should be a contract, according to the State's gambling office. Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Imhof stated the County needs to pursue that. It will have an impact on the sheriff and potentially other places. Find out why there hasn't been some movement to get a compact in place. Desler stated he is not aware of a compact. Executive Kremen has been involved with the Nooksack leaders. Dave Wareing, Law and Justice Coordinator, stated the Lummi Nation has its own police resources, so they argue they don't have to pay for additional Sheriff's resources. Crawford asked if the Gaming Commission approved the facility. Imhof stated he did not know. Dawson stated the mental health court issue interests her. They could reduce the jail population and the number of calls to the Sheriff. She questioned whether the Superior Court administrative assistant position could oversee something like that. Desler stated there are a lot of good ideas related to various specialty courts. All of the specialty courts involve application of new resources or reorganizing what they are doing to apply additional time and resources to a particular kind of court. It is important to look for new ways of doing these things. During these economic times, they have to choose between priorities given the limited resources. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 11:35 a.m. Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription ATTEST: Dana Brown - Davis, Council Clerk WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Robert Imhof, Committee Chair Finance and Administrative Service Committee - 2002 Budget, 10/30/2001, Page 18