Public Safety Committee
December 7, 2006
3 p.m.
Scott Heyman Conference Room
Present: R. Booth, L.
McBean-Clairborne (arrived at 3:25 p.m.), M. Koplinka-Loehr; M. Hattery
Excused: M. Robertson
Legislators: T. Joseph
Staff: P. Meskill, Sheriff; S. Whicher, P. Younger, County
Administration; K. Leinthall, Department of Probation and Community Justice; J.
Hughes, Assigned Counsel; J. Wood, County Attorney; M. Pottorff, Legislature
Office
Guests: D. Dietrich, OAR; T. O’Brien, K. Huddleson, NYS
Division of Parole; W. Furniss, local attorney
Mr.
Booth called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m.
The
following items were added to the agenda:
Appointment
(2)
Discussion
– Emergency Radio Communications Protection Law
Update
on Communications System
No
member of the public was present.
It
was MOVED by Mr. Koplinka-Loehr, seconded by Mr. Hattery, and unanimously
adopted by voice vote by members present, to approve the minutes of November 2,
2006. MINUTES APPROVED.
Update on Communications
System
Mr.
Whicher reported the communications system is moving along. All of the towers are up with two
towers needing to be reinforced.
He said six out of the new ten shelters are in place and two landlord
disputes should soon be resolved.
Systems integration and deployment of the entire system will begin early
next week. The Microwave will be
going up as soon as possible; once the microwave is up they will be able to
redeploy the old mobile data system for the Sheriff’s Department.
Mr.
Whicher said it is important for this Committee to know a deadline is
approaching where a decision about payment will need to be made. Mr. Shurtleff has been working with all
of the emergency responders to develop a list of needed equipment and
costs. Mr.Whicher said he
anticipates finding out by the end of this month whether Tompkins County will
be receiving any additional member-item monies.
Mr.
Hattery asked how much the County is going to need to pay towards the cost of
subscriber equipment. Mr. Whicher
said the total cost of the subscriber equipment is approximately $2 million. Of that amount, pagers are paid for by
local governments. All of the
hand-held radios are the County’s responsibility. We have $500,000 in member-item money that is specifically
dedicated to some of the equipment that is being installed over the next few
weeks. The other $500,000 was
attained with the understanding that it was for subscriber equipment. He summarized and stated there is
a cost of $2 million. The County
has $1 million in member-item monies, of which $500,000 has to be dedicated to
subscriber equipment. Mr. Hattery
said he would like to have a description of what is subscriber based. He would like to see something that
lays out the situation and several options. The Committee will continue discussing this at the next
meeting in January.
Mr.
Joseph introduced Tim O’Brien and Kay Huddleson from the New York State
Division of Parole. They just had
a meeting with representatives from the Sheriff’s Office and Assigned Counsel
to talk about what can be done to speed up processing for people who have been
violated on Parole and who are in the Tompkins County Jail. Mr. O’Brien said the meeting went well
and there were a couple of ideas that came out of the meeting. At the present time there is one day
per month to service these cases which result in adjournments. These adjournments that have resulted
because of efforts to tap into local services or program placements, etc. which
usually end up putting case over for an additional month. They will be trying to see if they can
identify individuals who may need Medicaid certification so that they can get
into programs faster if that is an appropriate disposition. They was also discussion of the
possibility, when necessary, of adding an additional calendar days in order to
keep the numbers down.
Across the State they have tried to do this and have had some
success. He said Tompkins County
does not have a large number of cases; however, they would like to do
everything they can to bring cases to closure much faster.
The
following ideas also came out of the meeting:
Focus
in on three defense attorneys to represent these individuals in Parole
hearings. They believe with having
attorneys who specialize in Parole violation cases that may provide additional
efficiency.
Moving
documents through the appropriate channels faster.
Having
a law judge act faster.
Mr.
O’Brien said if there are alternative dispositions that are agreed upon for
someone to enter a program, the Medicaid piece will be crucial. They will be looking into processing
them across the State and ways to place these Medicaid applications on a fast
track. He also said he would
like to bring State program services representatives to Tompkins County to
speak with Mr. Joseph.
Mrs.
McBean-Clairborne arrived at 3:25 p.m.
Sheriff
Meskill said Tompkins County averages approximately eight to nine violators per
month that fall under this category who have been violated on a technical
violation. While this is not a
large number of people, Sheriff Meskill said these people can cause
complications when managing the Jail boardout population. Out of the eight violators,
approximately six of them will end up being sent back to State prison and two
will be released. He stated that
while 90 days may be too long for a process, there needs to be a process
place.
Ms.
Leinthall said the most important issues for these individuals are education,
housing, and employment. She
explained the scope of services for the Day Reporting Program and said if these
people find solutions to these issues they have a better chance of succeeding
in the community. She said there
is a commitment in Tompkins County to fast track this process; however, the
County is limited by the State.
Mr.
O’Brien and Ms. Huddleson said they would return to their office and share the
issues that have been addressed here.
They will also work to speed up the hearing process.
RESOLUTION NO.
– APPROPRIATION FROM
CONTINGENT FUND FOR TERMINAL PAY – TOMPKINS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
WHEREAS, the Tompkins County Sheriff’s Office had
one employee, Road Patrol Deputy, terminate employment effective October 27,
2006, and
WHEREAS,
the Fiscal Policy of Tompkins County allows for terminal pay replacement from
the Contingent Fund, now therefore be it
RESOLVED,
on recommendation of the Public Safety and the Budget and Capital Committees,
That the Director of Finance is hereby authorized and directed to make the
following budget appropriations:
FROM: A1990.5400 Contingent
Fund
$35,794.12
TO: A3114.51000419 Deputy
Sheriff
$25,751.17
A3114.58000 Fringes
$10,042.95
SEQR ACTION: TYPE II-20
* * * * * * * * * *
Sheriff
Revenue Acct Title Amt
Approp
Acct Title(s) ญญญญ___________
3113.42770 Miscellaneous Revenues $14,625 3113.52231 Vehicles
Explanation: Revenue deposited November 13, 2006,
transfer auction proceeds to vehicle line for replacement expenditure.
* * * * * * * * * *
It
was MOVED by Mr. Booth, seconded by Mr. Hattery, and unanimously adopted by
voice vote to approve the following appointments to the Criminal Justice
Advisory/Alternatives-to-Incarceration Board:
Terms
expire December 31, 2009
Deborah
Dietrich – Representative of an agency providing ATI services
Kenneth
W. Lansing – Local Police representative
Patricia
Buechel – Department of Probation and Community Justice representative
Richard
Bennett – Treatment Program representative
John
Rowley – County Court Judge
It
was MOVED by Mr. Hattery, seconded by Mr. Hattery, and unanimously adopted by
voice vote, to approve the following appointments to the Traffic Safety Committee:
Terms
expire December 31, 2009
Lawrence
M. Jackmin – New York State Police representative
Peter
Meskill – Sheriff representative
Mr.
Koplinka-Loehr announced an Open House will be held at Offender Aid and
Restoration on December 14th.
LEADERSHIP:
1)
Maintain & increase safety of the public in Tompkins
County. DONE
2) Oversee
construction, acceptance testing, acceptance, and implementation of the
Communications Capital project. (We should regularly receive updates and
discuss pertinent issues respecting this project.) DONE
3)
Monitor jail population and boarded-out population on on-going
basis; get analysis/trends info. DONE
4)
Work to improve criminal justice system to minimize jail stays
consistent with public safety. WORK STARTED, BUT NOT COMPLETED ON THIS GOAL.
5)
Oversee County's preparations to make the County as ready as
possible to deal with a major emergency, including facilitating communications
and operations with departments that have responsibilities for dealing with
emergencies but do not report to this committee (e.g., Health Department) and
with other committees of the Legislature (e.g. Health and Human Services,
Facilities and Infrastructure) that oversee those other departments. WORK STARTED, BUT NOT COMPLETED ON
THIS GOAL.
6)
Oversee implementation of 2006 budget and examine pertinent
issues/information in preparing for adoption of 2007 budget. DONE
7)
Oversee implementation of County's Dispatch Responsibility at
the 911 Building. DONE
8)
Oversee in broad terms the conduct of employee evaluations in
the several departments. NOT
DONE
ACTION:
9)
Deal with questions with regard to repairs, rehabilitation of,
and potential future for the public safety building. WORK STARTED, BUT NOT COMPLETED ON THIS GOAL.
10) Recommend
direction for the Criminal Justice Data Sharing Project. DONE
11)
Explore enhancements to the ATI programs that will fill gaps
and support “D” above. Self-evaluation by Community Justice Center staff for
purpose of having the Center run as effectively as possible. WORK STARTED, BUT NOT COMPLETED ON
THIS GOAL.
12) Collaborate with
the Sheriff to examine adequate level of road patrol. NOT DONE
13)
Actively communicate with the public and taxpayers as to the
activities of this Committee. WORK STARTED, BUT NOT COMPLETED ON THIS GOAL.
14)
Review the sharing of data across public safety personnel and
the use of data in driving decisions, including usefulness of the data. WORK STARTED, BUT NOT COMPLETED ON
THIS GOAL.