Meeting Information
Amended Agenda
WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017
4:00 p.m.
-Consider approval of the minutes for June 14 and July 5, 2017
CONSENT AGENDA
(1) (a) Consider approval of Commission Orders; and
(b) FY2017 Quarterly Budget Adjustment Report (4th Qtr); FY2018 Revised Behavioral Health Budget andFY2018 Carryover Budget (Deborah Wright)
REGULAR AGENDA
(2) Presentation on financial statements (Michael Lowry AGH)
(3) Presentation on Jail Forecast report (Dr. Allen Beck)-No backup
(4) (a) Consider approval of Accounts Payable (if necessary)
(b) Appointments
-Board of Zoning Appeals (1) position 10/16
-Building Code of Appeals Board (2) positions 12/16
-Community Corrections Advisory Board
-Heritage Conservation Council (3) positions
(c) Public Comment
(d) Miscellaneous
(5) Adjourn
July 26, 2017
Commissioner Gaughan called the regular meeting to order at 4:00p.m. on Wednesday, July 26, 2017 with all members present.
MINUTES 07-26-17
Gaughan moved approval of the minutes for June 14th and July 5th, 2017. Motion was seconded by Derusseau and carried 3-0.
CONSENT AGENDA 07-26-17
Gaughan moved approval of the following Consent Agenda:
► Kansas Community Corrections Act FY 2017 Quarterly Budget Adjustment Report; FY 2018 Carryover Reimbursement Plan Budget Summary and Budget Narrative; and Community Corrections Behavioral Health Budget Summary and Budget Narrative.
Motion was seconded by Thellman and carried 3-0.
2016 FINANCIAL AUDIT 07-26-17
Michael Lowry, AGH, made a presentation to the Board on the 2016 Financial Statement. Highlights included:
• The county did not adopt any new accounting policies;
• All accounting estimates related to compensate absences,
• Accrued but not reported healthcare claims and net pension reliability related to KPERS.
• There were three audited adjustments that were normal yearend audit adjustments.
• There are three goals to every audit: Did the County comply with all laws and regulations? Were internal controls in place and did they work? Do the financial statements accurately reflect the books and records? The answer to all three questions was “yes.”
• The County does not follow GAP accounting principles, but instead follows the Kansas Municipal Audit and Accounting Guide which is allowed under Kansas Statute. Douglas County received a clean opinion based on these guidelines.
No action was taken.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE COORDINATING COUNCIL 07-26-17
Allen Beck Ph.D. with Justice Concepts, Inc. made a presentation to the County Commissioners on the results of his independent review of Douglas County’s current and future jail needs. His report was entitled Forecast of Douglas County Jail Housing Capacity Requirements.
Highlights of the report include:
• Douglas County is tied as the fastest growing county in Kansas.
• The jail population will continue to grow as a result of the increasing county population.
• Jail overcrowding has required the transport and housing of 60 to 80 inmates, which includes up to 40% of the female inmate population, to other county jails. Those jails are becoming scarce resources as their own inmate populations are increasing.
• Approximately 75% of the individuals eligible for reentry case management are housed out of county. As a result, they cannot receive the level of services needed to reduce their likelihood of recidivating.
• Douglas County’s rate of booking people into jail (incarceration rate per 100,000 residents, ages 18-64) is the lowest in comparison to counties in this general region.
• Forecasted jail housing capacity requirements for the following years are:
-Year 2020 - 241 beds
-Year 2030 - 271 beds
-Year 2040 - 301 beds
• The forecast took into account the estimated reduction in bed space demand that will result from full implementation of the new pretrial release program. Full implementation is expected to occur within the next two months.
Beck stated Douglas County is a leader among the other counties in jail alternatives. The closest county with an incarceration rate as low as Douglas County is Johnson County because we share some of the same programming emphasis.
What was not included in the forecast was the House Arrest Program, Behavioral Health Court, the Crisis Center and ideas that have not been studied for local application. The House Arrest Program was not studied because it is in early start-up and it is unknown how many clients the attorneys will recommend, nor how many would be accepted by the prosecutor, or accepted by the judges. Many have already been placed in supervised programs; meaning, we might be shuffling candidates from one program to another without effecting the jail population. The Behavior Health
Court currently has eight people in the program. This court was not expected to have a significant impact on jail population but instead to provide extra
treatment. The Crisis Center is an idea at this point and is not expected to have a great impact on the jail population. As a comparison, Beck said that Johnson County (Kansas) has four people a month in their program.
Thellman asked for clarification that Johnson County has four people in their Crisis Program per month. Beck responded that is correct. Robert Bieniecki, CJCC Coordinator, responded Johnson County found the crisis center was utilized less often by law enforcement than what was anticipated. The numbers fluctuate but it is a voluntary program. The four persons are not the number of people walking through the door of the crisis center, but those diverted by law enforcement into programming at the crisis center.
Gaughan asked Beck how he handled the pre-classification of inmates. Beck responded he went through and classified people for the forecast. The report shows an odd number of beds. When building jails, you don’t build an odd number of cells; the forecast is an estimate. The exact build number would need to be determined by the architects during building design.
Gaughan asked for staff’s opinion on the report.
Gary Bunting, Undersheriff, stated staff spent a considerable amount of time to obtain the most accurate results. They looked at peak days. The peak days were generally within 10 inmates of the average daily population. Bunting clarified they were not looking at extremely large spikes. Once the list was obtained, the classification officer broke down the classification for each inmate and determined where they would belong if they had the space. What they used to determine the pre-classification on the dates they pulled was anyone in custody for three days or less was placed in pre-class. He feels the information Dr. Beck compiled was the most accurate analysis that they have. The last time staff addressed the Commission they expressed sincere concern about lack of space in other county jail facilities causing potential problems in the jail. Since then, the jail has developed a new crisis. There have been several instances where there were no inmates that could be housed in other counties due to extremely close court dates. He gave an example from a couple of weeks prior where 23 inmates were approved medically to be farmed out but due to close court dates only three could be moved. There were instances where there were no available beds and inmates had to share cells and sleep on mattresses on the floor. Bunting stated staff feels confident in the results of Dr. Beck’s report.
Gaughan opened the item for public comment.
Edith Guffey, 2617 Knollbrook Court, stated she didn’t read the report thoroughly, but asked if the only option is to build bigger and bigger jails in Douglas County. Beck responded he would like to see us not incarcerate people for use of drugs, but that would require a state initiative. He stated we are pushed into a continued process of escalation. We need to make major changes because it effects different sectors of the population differently. There are states that have reduced emphasis on drugs. There are still things we can do that will impact the jail’s population, but we have already implemented the programs that would have significant impacts on the jail population. The remaining programs that we could implement will likely only have small impacts on the jail population. Beck said, “We have gotten the big chunks out, we’re working on the small stuff.”
Guffey asked if it is accurate to say even with the things we’ve done, if we don’t do some other things, we will continue to build bigger and bigger jails. Beck said if you are living in an environment where your population is growing, and you’ve got things going on, things are likely to continue unless you make major changes. We don’t know what the legislature is going to do in two years. Beck said he has already experienced the legislature backing inmates out of prisons into local jails because the prisons are overcrowded. What we are doing is providing the best information about what is happening. He is happiest when we don’t have to build jails. Beck said he is probably one of a few consultants in the country that is against building jails and has worked with other jurisdictions to make major reductions in jail sizes.
Gaughan said it is his interpretation that we have to do both, address the facility needs and continue to be responsive to the opportunities we have in the community to develop new alternatives.
Barbara Palmer, 4019 Parkway Court, said she does not feel the report addresses the things Justice Matters has been talking about. Justice Matters had expected that the pre-trial release program would have a more significant impact on the jail population. Palmer said we still don’t know why there was a large growth in population since 2014.
Gaughan replied what we’ve seen from the police department’s data and our own crime data the increase in jail population is due to the severity of the offenses. We are seeing more serious offenses and longer stays in jail. Palmer responded that she “understands all of that.” She added it sounds like Dr. Beck is saying we need to address drug addiction. She asked if the serious crimes are connected to drugs and alcohol addiction.
Beck responded all the studies have shown that a lot of the people in jail are abusers of substances. It is hard to tell if their need for the drugs led to the crime. Beck said we know in cases of spousal abuse, alcohol is often involved.
We know in assaults, alcohol is often involved. We know that in property theft sometimes the offender steals things for money to buy drugs. In the1980’s one of the best indicators to look at the increase in crimes for drugs was to look at
the number of auto thefts. Cars would be sold for a chunk of change to purchase drugs. Person to person crimes are many times driven by alcohol. He believes substance abuse is a problem for law enforcement but Beck said he has no answer for that.
Gaughan said the pursuit of the Crisis Center will fill a gap in the community. Based on other counties, it may not have a drastic effect on jail population each individual day. But having the Crisis Center available to people in crisis before they have contact with law enforcement may keep them from becoming one of the 229 inmates. Gaughan said his personal goal was to have an incarceration rate of 150 inmates per 100,000 population in Douglas County, which is lower than we were in 2014. The way we get back there is continuing to push for alternatives and seeing some benefits from the expansion of crisis services.
Beck said he would also push for more community engagement with organizations. In some communities, a correlation of churches have come together to provide support programs and peer mentoring. Wichita has a program through its major churches that help ex-offenders find jobs and offer job fairs.
Gaughan said he would like to see that happen. He saw at the state level over the last several years an effort to push programming on to the Lion’s Clubs and the Knights of Columbus and other community groups, and in return eliminated professionals doing that work. He does not want to see us follow that model. However, if there are gaps community partners can fill he would like to explore that. Gaughan added in the last decade the state of Kansas had great reentry programs in our Department of Corrections. Today we have nothing. We have one individual at each KDOC facility dealing with thousands of people.
Brent Hoffman, 3412 Chance Lane, thanked the Commission for what they’ve done in the 2018 budget towards mental health and behavior health. He is disappointed we will not see a forecast beyond pretrial release and population growth. He would like to see the effects from $2M and services connected with that, what the LMH Crisis Center and substance abuse services, faster case processing and addition of a ProTem judge has on the jail population before expanding the jail. He feels there will be an impact but to what extend we don’t know. He feels a significant reduction in number in failures to appear could have an impact on inmate numbers, but that is not forecasted in Dr. Beck’s report. Hoffman said he believes the scope of the report was limited.
Thellman asked Bunting for more information regarding the overpopulation jail crisis mentioned earlier. She asked what staff is doing when they have that many inmates that can’t be farmed out. She asked if we are double bunking. Bunting responded during the times this has happened they have looked for ways to address the situation, such as multiple people in one cell, and multiple individuals that would have gone to a housing unit are held in booking. He expects this to happen more often.
Thellman asked where staff puts inmates when the 186 beds are maxed. Bunting said we have some open beds in work release, but you cannot put everyone in that environment. When there were no beds available anywhere in the building they had no choice but to put more than one person in a cell with mattresses on the floor. The fact that other counties will not take inmates with problems or on certain types of medications only adds to the overcrowding.
Thellman said this is the first she has heard of this situation.
Gaughan said the next step was to provide this report to Treanor Architects to incorporate the data into the design plan. Gaughan added he would like staff to keep the forecast classification model fresh and provide some kind of a regular update. He also stated if other Commissioners have an opportunity to speak with members of the community regarding this issue he asked that the information be shared amongst the Board.
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE 07-26-17
Gaughan moved to approve accounts payable in the amounts of $665.17 paid on 07/22/17 and $742,686.49 to be paid on 07/27/17. Motion was seconded by Thellman and carried 3-0.
APPOINTMENT 07-26-17
Gaughan moved to approve the following appointments to the Local Emergency Management Advisory Board:
Functional Groups
Member
GOVERNING BODIES
Appointed by Governing Bodies
Bob Newton, appointee of Douglas County Commission
Kenny Oschel, appointee of Baldwin City Council
Truman Waugh, appointee of Lawrence City Commission
Ken Keiter, appointee of Eudora City Council
Wayne Riley, appointee of Lecompton City Council
EMERGENCY SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
Agency Head and/or Appointee
Transportation ESF#1
Richard Haig, Lawrence Municipal Airport Advisory Board
Lane Sekavec, Union Pacific Railroad
Emergency Communications ESF#2
Richard Barr, Emergency Communications Center
Public Works & Engineering ESF#3
Keith Browning, Douglas County Public Works
Tammy Bennett, City of Lawrence Public Works
Jeanette Klamm, City of Lawrence Utilities
Sean Reid, Douglas County Zoning and Codes
Fire ESF#4
Mike Baxter, Fire Chief’s Association
Emergency Management ESF#5
Andrew Foster, University of Kansas Public Safety
Human Services/Mass Care ESF#6
Matthew Golubski, Douglas County Red Cross
Resource Management ESF#7
Shelly Hornbaker, Roger Hill Volunteer Center
Health & Medical ESF#8
Sonia Jordan, Lawrence/Douglas County Health Department
Tom Damewood, Lawrence Memorial Hospital
Roy Morehead, United States Public Health Service
Melanie Coen, Heartland Community Health Center
Kim Scarbrough Polson, Health Care Access
Search & Rescue ESF#9
Shaun Coffey, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical
HazMat ESF#10
Shaun Coffey, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical
Agriculture/Natural Resources ESF#11
Midge Grinstead, State Animal Response Team
Paul Marksbury, Lawrence Humane Society
Utility/Energy ESF#12
Tesa Green, Black Hills Energy
Stone Junod, Westar Energy
Jeanette Klamm, City of Lawrence Utilities
Law Enforcement ESF#13
Jim Martin, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office
Trent McKinley, Lawrence Kansas Police Department
Greg Neis, Baldwin City Police Department
Bill Edwards / Wes Lovett, Eudora Police
Chris Keary, KU Public Safety Office
Public Information ESF#15
Porter Arneill, Lawrence Communications Manager
Bob Newton, Emergency Management
Kristin Magette, Eudora Public Schools
Chemical Preparedness
Joseph Baranski, Hallmark Cards
Khalil Byrd, ChemTrade
Kay Johnson, PROSCO
Jamison Honeycutt, United States Public Health Service
Community Group
Kristin Vernon, Headquarters Counseling Center
Nicole Rials, Bert Nash Mental Health
Kim Murphree, LDS Church
Education
Ron May, Lawrence Public Schools
Kristin Magette, Eudora Public Schools
Mike Russell, University of Kansas
Gary Goombi, Haskell Indian Nations University
Environment
Chris Lesser, PROSCO
Larry Gray, ICL
Jason Schuler, United State Public Health Service
Facility Industry
Russell Epperson, API Foils
Social Service Agency
Shannon Oury, Lawrence Housing Authority
Mathew Faulk, Bert Nash Mental Health
2017-2018 Officers & Executive Committee Members
Trent McKinley, Chair
Mike Russell, Vice Chair
Shaun Coffey
Jeanette Klamm
Tom Damewood
Motion was seconded by Thellman and carried 3-0.
Gaughan moved to adjourn the meeting. Motion was seconded by Thellman and carried 3-0.
____________________________ ____________________________
Mike Gaughan, Chair Nancy Thellman, Vice-Chair
ATTEST:
____________________________ _____________________________
Jamie Shew, County Clerk Michelle Derusseau, Member
Time and Date