legal & law enforcement committee regular meeting

CHIPPEWA COUNTY

LEGAL & LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMITTEE

REGULAR MEETING

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

CHIPPEWA COUNTY COURTHOUSE, RM 302

4:30 PM

Chippewa County Published 9/19/2017 12:00 AM

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. ROLL CALL Attendee Name Organization Title Status Arrived

Jared Zwiefelhofer Chippewa County District 4 (Chair) Present

Florian Skwierczynski Chippewa County District 11 (Vice-Chair) Present

Tom Thornton Chippewa County District 5 Absent

Kari Ives Chippewa County District 12 Present

Leigh Darrow Chippewa County District 15 Present

Others Present: Judge Cray, Jodi Gobrecht, Jim Kowalczyk, Mitch Gibson, Toni Hohlfelder, and Frank Pascarella. Recorder: Lisa Merrell.

3. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WISHING TO BE HEARD

4. CONSENT AGENDA

RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Kari Ives, District 12

SECONDER: Florian Skwierczynski, District 11 (Vice-Chair)

AYES: Zwiefelhofer, Skwierczynski, Ives, Darrow

ABSENT: Thornton

1. Approve the agenda

2. Approve the Minutes

Legal & Law Enforcement Committee - Regular Meeting - Jul 17, 2017 4:30 PM

3. Schedule next meeting date - November 20, 2017

5. REPORTS

1. District Attorney Office Staffing - Wade Newell/Jodi Gobrecht Gobrecht noted that District Attorney Wade Newell had provided a recap of what he discussed with the committee at the last meeting, requesting another legal assistant in their office. The committee has also probably read Pascarella's response. Newell would still like to get the committee's support in moving forward in getting a legal assistant for the District Attorney's office and bringing it to the County Board. Zwiefelhofer asked, with the new Spillman software being installed for the Sheriff's Department, is there going to be an interface between their software and the District Attorney's records management system?

Legal & Law Enforcement Committee

Minutes September 18, 2017 Regular Meeting Chippewa County Courthouse, Rm 302 4:30 PM


Gobrecht's understanding is they aren't going to do anything until October. Zwiefelhofer understood that there is an interface but it wasn't built into the budget. Zwiefelhofer asked, if the interface does happen, does the office still need more help? Gobrecht stated given the fact the caseload continues to increase and she doesn't see it going away anytime soon, one additional legal assistant is probably on the low side, they could probably use 1 1/2 to 2, but one would be good, looking at the interface in the future. Skwierczynski stated as a committee member, he would be in favor of looking at some way to try to create another position. The consensus of the committee was to move forward with exploring a new position. Pascarella will be providing an overview of the 2018 budget for Executive tomorrow, and he will probably provide reasons to them for why he hasn't provided this position. They have done a number of things with this budget to address public safety issues within the county, but that being said, there are a number of other departments that certainly would like to have positions added within the county. Looking at where they are with their levy limits, they have to look at getting the money from the current budget to fund a new position, or raising the property tax rate above what he will be recommending. He understands where the District Attorney is coming from, they have had some good discussions about the issue, it is just that at this point in time the priorities he has provided in the budget don't meet the expectations of the District Attorney's office at this time.

2. Discuss Maintenance Costs to Outside Agencies for Records Management System Zwiefelhofer thought this issue had been resolved. Kowalczyk stated they discussed this at length and have been discussing it for some time. There were issues of how they would charge out the maintenance costs. Jennifer Steinmetz from their office and IT put time and effort into coming up with a proposal that, when they go forward with Spillman, maintenance will be status quo. Outside agencies will be subject to any increases by Spillman thereafter. He thinks everyone was satisfied with that.

3. Division Reports/TAC10 Report/Sheriff's Report Gibson provided an update on the Field Services Division. In March of this year they began talks about contracted service with the Village of New Auburn, because they were without their own police department/Marshal. They did a three month trial over the summer where they provided 20-30 hours of service. The Village was satisfied with our services and at that point, they decided to draw up a proposed contract for two years of service. Our Corporation Counsel has approved the contract and sent it to the representatives for New Auburn. At this point they are just waiting to add something on how they will handle their municipal court versus handling issues through the County Clerk of Courts with county ordinance and State Statutes. The proposal is for 30 hours of service per week dedicated to the village, at $37.17 per hour. The K9 officer started training in Blaine, MN on September 1st. The anticipated completion date is mid-November. The K9 officer's normal shift is 3-11, so that is primarily the shift the dog will be working. Their plan is to look at it after a year to see where they are at with the K9, and what the demand is for having a patrol dog. At the end of the year, they will weigh out what percentage the dog is utilized and for what type of activities. It is more of an investment when you have a patrol dog because you take on more liability. Gibson reported on the recent rec audit they had done. In the Snowmobile patrol, their claim was $20,444, and they usually receive 60-70% of their money back. Their snowmobile patrol had 426 hours, with 269 actual patrol hours, which was one of the highest in the state. Their ATV patrol claim was $32,000, with 661 hours total, and 477 actual patrol hours. They also do patrols of the County Forest, and they had 334 hours in March through June.


Minutes September 18, 2017 Regular Meeting Chippewa County Courthouse, Rm 302 4:30 PM


Kowalczyk reported investigations and patrol are fully staffed. Dispatch is down one position, but they have done background checks on two candidates and are just waiting to hear from their top candidate. The Jail is down five positions total, because of the three new positions approved by the County Board. The Jail average daily population was 105 for August, but was up to 129 this past Saturday. They have a contract for housing Marathon County inmates, which allows for up to 20 inmates on a daily basis. Right now they have four. They plan to implement 12 hour shifts in first or second quarter of 2018. They will then entertain looking at state inmates, which would bump up daily population and also increase revenue. The Jail population also affects their food service costs. The meal rate is based on the number of people in the Jail, and if they go below 100, they pay more for their meals. If they go over 130, they pay less. The camera project in the Jail will be started in a few weeks. There are 74 analog cameras existing in the Jail, and they will be adding 26, so they will have 100 total. The additional cameras will address blind spots that currently exist.

6. BUSINESS ITEMS

7. COMMUNICATION

8. AGENDA ITEMS FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION

9. ADJOURN Meeting adjourned at 5:25 PM.


MOVER: Florian Skwierczynski, Kari Ives

AYES: Zwiefelhofer, Skwierczynski, Ives, Darrow

ABSENT: Thornton

CHIPPEWA COUNTY

LEGAL & LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMITTEE

REGULAR MEETING

JULY 17, 2017

CHIPPEWA COUNTY COURTHOUSE, RM 302

4:30 PM

Chippewa County Page 1 Published 9/12/2017 12:00 AM

1. CALL TO ORDER

2. ROLL CALL Attendee Name Organization Title Status Arrived

Jared Zwiefelhofer Chippewa County District 4 (Chair) Present

Florian Skwierczynski Chippewa County District 11 (Vice-Chair) Present

Tom Thornton Chippewa County District 5 Present

Kari Ives Chippewa County District 12 Present

Leigh Darrow Chippewa County District 15 Present

Others Present: Jim Kowalczyk, Chad Holum, Jennifer Steinmetz, Dena Clark, Curt Dutton, Rick Starck, Frank Pascarella, Jodi Gobrecht, Wade Newell, Denise Shervey, Jessica Hermann, Karen Hepfler, Dennis Brown, and Melissa Roach. Recorder: Lisa Merrell.

3. MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WISHING TO BE HEARD

4. CONSENT AGENDA Chair Zwiefelhofer asked that the items pertaining to the Sheriff's Department be moved to the beginning of the agenda, as they have sergeant interviews to conduct.


MOVER: Tom Thornton, District 5

SECONDER: Florian Skwierczynski, District 11 (Vice-Chair)

AYES: Zwiefelhofer, Skwierczynski, Thornton, Ives, Darrow

1. Approve the agenda

2. Approve the Minutes

Legal & Law Enforcement Committee - Regular Meeting - May 1, 2017 4:30 PM

3. Schedule next meeting date - September 18, 2017

5. REPORTS

1. Sheriff's Department Budgets The budget is pretty much the same as last year except they are budgeting for a K9 unit. Holum stated the difference in levy is about $83,000, and Steinmetz included an explanation of why that is. Thornton asked for clarification on the K9 budget. Steinmetz stated the K9 budget is mostly built on wages, which are funded from the Patrol Division. The Patrol budget is 25114, and you see a reduction in the tax levy for that budget, which funds an increase in budget 25117, the K9 division. They adjusted the property tax

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Minutes July 17, 2017 Regular Meeting Chippewa County Courthouse, Rm 302 4:30 PM


levy from other divisions where there was a history of excess, or by reducing expenses, to help fund it; there is no additional tax levy to fund the K9 unit in 2018.

2. Sheriff's Department 2016 Annual Report Summary The annual report was provided to the committee prior to the meeting. Holum noted that highlights from the year have been outlined, and asked if there were any questions. Zwiefelhofer asked if they foresee any problems with the union in going to 12 hour shifts as one of their goals. Holum stated no, the only stumbling block is it will have to be part of their negotiations for their next contract. Skwierczynski asked what is being done to meet the goal of recruiting and retaining FT and LTE jailers? Holum stated they would like to work toward 12 hour shifts, so that they match what neighboring counties are doing. If they do that along with some other things, they can recruit more people. They have attended several job fairs this year trying to promote their agency, and they will be implementing the use of Facebook for their agency and hope to make themselves attractive by what they post and putting recruitment information on their Facebook page. The County recently completed a market analysis for positions, and it bumped some of their starting Jail staff wages up, which should help as well.

3. Division Reports/TAC10 Report/Sheriff's Report The TAC10 system is working and serving their needs. Holum noted that they are scheduling an update now that the Fests are over. Kowalczyk noted that Dena Clark put together figures on Rock Fest. There were 107 calls for service. Investigations has been very busy, with a lot of burglary cases and property recovery. Kowalczyk stated they are seeing a rise in the sale and use of heroin. Dutton reported the average daily population for May and June was around 109. Dan Modl was recently promoted to Lieutenant, leaving a vacancy in the Huber division. They are currently down eight positions. They have two female jailers in the FTO program, one will be done at the end of the month, and the other in early September. They implemented two new systems, the iPro and Threats programs.

4. Register in Probate Budget - Jessica Hermann Hermann noted she increased her office supplies because their office will be voluntarily doing e-filing, and she anticipates needing to buy a desktop scanner. Postage was also increased because of the notices that their office has to send out. They are paperless now, so their paper costs will go down.

5. Emergency Management Budgets - Dennis Brown Dennis Brown presented the Emergency Management budget. In office supplies he included an additional item for some software. It is $750 and is for a GIS product called Damage Assessment Collector, which will help them when they have storm damage to document. The SARA budget is very similar to last year. The Uniform Address budget expense items are all the same, the only increase is wages and fringes.

6. District Attorney Budgets - Wade Newell/Jodi Gobrecht Newell addressed a request for an additional legal secretary. He sent the request to the Administrator, who said as of now the county has other priorities, but he feels it is important to let them know they are in need of an additional legal secretary. He started in January of 2001 and there were four District Attorneys and four legal secretaries. Due to the loss of a federal grant, one of the secretary positions

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went away. Currently they have five attorneys and only three legal secretaries. The obligation is on the County to reasonably fund the County's portion of the District Attorney's office. The concern he has is if they continue at this current level, it will create more problems over the years. Two of the legal secretaries are currently on extended leaves, so they have five attorneys, one legal secretary, and one LTE. The attorneys are having to do more support staff work instead of legal prosecution, monitoring of cases, and preparing for trials. Thornton stated he would like to make a recommendation that the Administrator consider a new position in the budget. Zwiefelhofer suggested they put this on their next agenda. Skwierczynski asked what the cost of a legal secretary would be. Gobrecht stated about $68,000 if you included wages and fringes, figuring a family health insurance plan. Pascarella stated his recommendation for hiring additional personnel in 2018 will be three jailers so they can transition to 12 hour shifts, and a full time person in the CJCC Department. Gobrecht presented the District Attorney budgets. Most of the decreases in line items are due to past spending. Gobrecht noted that conventions and meetings have been increased in both the District Attorney and Crime Victim Witness budgets in order to make sure everyone is thoroughly trained and has the opportunity to be up to date with everything that is happening.

7. Child Support Budget - Denise Shervey Shervey stated the significant change is in salaries and fringes. She tried to reduce some of the other costs to offset that. They are going paperless, so hopefully they will see a decrease in paper, postage, and supplies. They receive federal reimbursement of 66%, but the state changes their reimbursement formula periodically. It used to be based on performance, and they are a high performing county, but now they are looking at doing it case-based, and we are considered a medium-sized county.

8. Coroner Budget - Ron Patten Roach stated the budget has no changes from 2017.

9. Circuit Court Budgets - Karen Hepfler Hepfler noted that revenues have been down statewide. They had opted to start the SDC program, but haven't been able to free up someone to do the data entry. They do judgments, tax intercepts, and have quadrupled the number of wage assignments they do, but revenue is down statewide. On the expense side, they could only increase their budget by the amount of salary and benefit increases. The money she has is the money she could move around. It is not enough due to what is going on with the drug epidemic countywide. The caseload in the juvenile office for CHIPS and TPR is off the charts, which has a direct reflection in the budget. As of today, attorneys fees for Juvenile are over $25,000 already. These are mandates that you have to have an attorney for the kids, and the parents are allowed an attorney and many are asking to have one. Medical expenses are up because the caseload is up for commitments as well. Skwierczynski asked where the money comes from to cover the overage; they don't just stop paying when they reach the budgeted amount. Pascarella stated some departments may have money left over at the end of the year in their budgets, and they can use that to make this department whole. Roach explained it is part of the year-end closing. The Mediation Fund includes a contract with Try Mediation, which did not increase this year. The fund is funded partially through a portion of marriage license fees, and partially from filing fees for motions.

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The Family Court Commissioner is also by Statute. This contract did not change either.

6. BUSINESS ITEMS

7. COMMUNICATION

8. AGENDA ITEMS FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION New Position for District Attorney Sheriff's Department Maintenance Fees for Records Management System

9. ADJOURN Meeting adjourned at 5:40 PM.


MOVER: Florian Skwierczynski, District 11 (Vice-Chair)

SECONDER: Kari Ives, District 12

AYES: Zwiefelhofer, Skwierczynski, Thornton, Ives, Darrow

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711 N. Bridge Street, Room 106 [email protected] Ph: (715) 726-4597 Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 Fx: (715) 726-4599

Department of Administration Frank Pascarella, County Administrator September 15, 2017 TO: Legal & Law Enforcement Committee FR: Frank Pascarella, County Administrator RE: District Attorney’s Request for an Additional Legal Secretary Please be advised that I have not provided, nor will I reconsider, funding another Legal Secretary as requested by District Attorney Wade Newell. My reasons are as follows: 1. The request for additional staff did not follow the process as defined in my budget instruction

letter sent out to all Department Heads and Elected Officials on May 10, 2017. 2. The District Attorney did request, during his one on one budget meeting, to reclassify the

position of Victim Witness Coordinator in an effort to relieve the current DA Office Manager of performance evaluations within that department. I did support this request, which required a change in the job description for the Victim Witness Coordinator and it resulted in a pay grade change.

I believe the staff in the DA’s office do important work and are very productive and dedicated. However, there are a number of departments where staffing needs within the County are of a higher priority and they also did not receive funding for new positions in FY18. 1. In the FY18 Highway Department budget in order to properly fund winter maintenance I have

recommended a reduction of an FTE to that of an LTE. 2. The Legal & Law Enforcement Committee should be aware that before each position request is

considered departments are required to provide me with justification and/or analysis for additional personnel. Those requests come in the form of a LEAN study or other evidence based analytics. Providing my office or a policy committee with a state statute as a means of justification for adding staff is an opinion and not a justification for adding personnel.

3. I understand that some may feel that an elected official does not have to follow the budget

protocol for adding a position. However, by not following the same protocol as other departments it becomes difficult for myself and the staff within DOA to consider approving new positions within those departments.

4. District Attorney Newell has stated that currently the ADA’s have to do what they perceive to be

non-essential work. However, there are a number of departments within the County that restructure and look for efficiencies and alternatives well in advance of just requesting additional staff.

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711 N. Bridge Street, Room 106 [email protected] Ph: (715) 726-4597 Chippewa Falls, WI 54729 Fx: (715) 726-4599

Page 2 5. In conclusion, if the County Board decides to go against my recommendation and support and

approve funding for this request at the November Public Budget Hearing, that means the budget protocol that has been place for years with regards to adding personnel to a County department will be changed from following an analytical review process to that of a political selection process. Moving in this direction will not promote fiscal stability and will turn personnel needs into a popularity contest.

6. If the DA’s office feels strongly about the need for this position I would recommend that the

department present a report to DOA outlining and justifying the need for the position. The report should also include what efficiencies will be implemented to minimize future staffing additions to the department. As always myself and the DOA staff will be available to assist in this manner. Once the report is completed it will be used and reviewed during the development and recommendation of the FY19 budget.

As always if you do have questions on this subject in advance of Monday’s Legal & Law Enforcement Committee meeting please contact my office. Sincerely,

Frank R. Pascarella County Administrator cc: Melissa Roach, Finance Director Lori Zwiefelhofer, Senior Accounting Manager Toni Hohlfelder, Human Resources Director

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