HomeMy WebLinkAboutPublic Works May 16 20171 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
2 Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee
3
4 May 16, 2017
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6 CALL TO ORDER
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8 Committee Chair Barbara Brenner called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. in the
9 Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington.
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12 ROLL CALL
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14 Present: Barbara Brenner, Todd Donovan, and Ken Mann
15 Absent: None
16 Also Present: Barry Buchanan, Rud Browne, Satpal Sidhu, and Carl Weimer
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19 SPECIAL PRESENTATION
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21 1. UPDATE ON THE CITY OF BELLINGHAM'S ELECTRONIC HOME MONITORING
22 PROGRAM AND OTHER ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION (AB2017 -159)
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24 Darlene Peterson, City of Bellingham, described her background and submitted a
25 handout (on file). She reported on the efforts of the City to reduce the City of Bellingham
26 inmate population through sending defendants to the Yakima jail and electronic home
27 monitoring. Having pretrial inmates in Yakima is hard on the defendants and their families
28 when they have not yet been convicted. She answered questions on the reduced number of
29 warrants for people who haven't followed through for jail alternatives at Division Street and
30 the number of people who are arrested in the city of Bellingham. About 13 percent of those
31 arrested are screened for eligibility for Bellingham alternative sentences. Of that 13
32 percent, about 40 percent of in- custody and about 60 percent of out -of- custody defendants
33 are eligible for bracelets. She answered questions on rates for failure to appear. People
34 tend to comply better due to several factors, including the process for immediate screening,
35 supplementing the cost for those who are indigent, and the importance of swift and certain
36 sentences. There are fewer costs due to fewer warrants for failure to appear (FTA). She
37 continued to answer questions on the rate of violations by people who are monitored,
38 medical costs for those on electronic home monitoring (EHM), potential transportation to
39 and from Yakima, and the future of jail technology.
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41 Bill Elfo, County Sheriff, spoke about the City decriminalizing certain offenses that
42 weren't any threat to public safety, such as failing to sign up for garbage service. Pretrial
43 sentencing is done through the courts, not the Sheriff's Office, and for misdemeanors, the
44 judges use alternatives to jail unless they've exhausted all less restrictive alternatives. If
45 someone is in the facility, they are sentenced on a commitment. They find alternatives to
46 jail, but the defendants are still in full custody. If defendants are in violation of any of the
47 terms of their conditions, they are immediately put into full custody.
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49 They have removed financial barriers to alternatives, such as supplementing the cost
50 for the indigent. There are future plans to create a jail alternatives kiosk in the courthouse,
51 so people don't have to go to Division Street, and to increase the work crew credit to
52 prevailing wage.
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Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 5/16/2017, Page 1
1 There are liability concerns with sending people to the Yakima jail. He answered
2 questions on the number of County misdemeanants and gross misdemeanants, the County's
3 use of electronic home monitoring, whether District Court judges are approving alternatives
4 to jail, the lack of electronic connectivity to outlying areas of the county, and whether the
5 County could replicate the electronic home monitoring success of the City.
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2. REPORT FROM DISTRICT COURT PROBATION (AB2017 -068)
Bruce Van Glubt, District Court Probation, spoke about probation services and efforts
to improve customer service, which involve assigning people to the proper caseload as soon
as possible, improving how staff respond to phone calls and messages, and improving other
types of communication. Defendants still have all the same sentencing requirements.
They are making the department more efficient. He described improvements to the intake
unit, efforts to minimize wait times, developing swift and certain consequences to probation
violations, and the possibility of graduated sanctions for probation violations that might
involve electronic home monitoring or other jail alternatives. They are trying to find
different ways to hold defendants accountable and change behavior in judicially- approved
ways. He described department statistics; specialized units, which include the domestic
violence (DV) unit, behavioral health unit, and a possible new pretrial unit; staffing levels;
and the services they provide.
He answered questions on and councilmembers discussed the next steps for the
County to benefit from more electronic home monitoring similar to the City of Bellingham
and the barriers to electronic home monitoring.
Caleb Erickson, Sheriff's Office, answered questions and stated there are no barriers
to sentenced defendants who are eligible for jail alternatives.
OTHER BUSINESS
There was no other business.
ADJOURN
The meetin adjourned at 3:00 p.m.
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Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription
WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL
WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON
Barbara Brenner, Committee Chair
Public Works, Health, and Safety Committee, 5/16/2017, Page 2