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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCriminal Justice May 22 20181 2 3 4 5 6 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 49 50 51 52 WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee May 22, 2018 CALL TO ORDER Committee Chair Barry Buchanan called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. ROLL CALL Present: Barry Buchanan, Tyler Byrd, and Satpal Sidhu Absent: None Also Present: Barbara Brenner, Rud Browne, and Todd Donovan COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 1. UPDATE ON JAIL ALTERNATIVES FROM CITY OF BELLINGHAM COURT ADMINISTRATOR DARLENE PETERSON (AB2018 -161) Darlene Peterson, City of Bellingham Municipal Court Administrator, submitted and read from a handout (on file) and described the toolkit of electronic home monitoring programs that the City is using with its misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors. She answered questions and the councilmembers discussed the types of alcohol - related crimes that are misdemeanors; using probation for pretrial defendants; the reason for sending inmates to Yakima instead of the county jail; and the screening process for electronic home monitoring. 2. DISCUSSION OF OPTIONS FOR CONDUCTING A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT COMMUNITY SURVEY (AB2018 -087) Byrd gave a staff report on creating a community survey regarding jail issues. The cost proposal is just for the software. Councilmembers discussed the cost of designing survey questions and analyzing the results, expert versus councilmember design of the questions and analysis of the results, removing councilmember bias from the survey, finding a good representative sample, and choosing respondents. Jack Louws, County Executive, stated he encourages the Council to follow the County's purchasing policy. Councilmembers discussed creating a survey with a clear objective, that is an accurate sample size, verifies the respondents are Whatcom County residents, follows the County purchasing policy, and is not biased. Councilmembers also discussed how to write a request for proposals or qualifications for the service, if necessary. Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, 5/22/2018, Page 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 OTHER BUSINESS Buchanan reported on the MacArthur grant opportunity. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 2:05 p.m, ATT1= C Dana�BrOwn- Davis, Cdunc(;�Qerk .i Jill Nixon, Minutes Transcription WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON ti Bar uchanan, Committee Chair Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, 5/22/2018, Page 2