Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSheriff’s Emergency & Veterans’ Services Committee - Minutes - 8/21/2023 Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors Minutes of the: Bayfield County Sheriff’s Committee Meeting August 21, 2023, 4:00 p.m. Meeting Held in the Bayfield County EOC, Washburn, WI The meeting of the Bayfield County Sheriff’s Committee was called to order at 4:00 p.m. by Bayfield County Chair Jeremey Oswald. A roll call was taken by Chair Jeremy Oswald, as follows: Dennis M. Pocernich - present; John Rautio - present; Jeff Silbert - present; Vice Chair Larry Fickbohm - present. Total: 5 present. A quorum was present to conduct business. The following were also present for today’s meeting: Emergency Management Assistant- Maria Renz; Child Support Director- Jennifer Jones; Sheriff- Tony Williams; Chief Deputy- Andy Runice; Jail Administrator- Luke Kleczka. Virtual - Emergency Management Director- Meagan Quaderer; Jail Sergeant – Gwen Daoust. 2. Approval of Minutes of July 17, 2023 Motion by Fickbohm, seconded by Silbert to approve the Minutes of the Monthly Bayfield County Sheriff’s Committee Meeting held on July 17, 2023. Motion carried. 3. Public Comment: None. 4. Child Support Office a. The Budget Summary was presented by Jennifer Jones, Bayfield County’s Director of the Child Support Agency. b. Department Overview: Jones reported that the agency is currently .47% away from meeting their arrears collection rate and if met, it’ll be the first time Bayfield County has met all four performance measures. There will be an open house in September or October. The new office is nice and more secured, with a separate room for genetic testing. It has three cameras and panic alarms that are connected to dispatch. Child Support collections for July was $107,000. c. Proclamation August Child Support Awareness Month: Jones shares the proclamation that Governor Evers made for August to be Child Support Awareness Month. d. Latest Statistics on cost-effectiveness of state child support program. Jones shares an attachment on the cost effectiveness of Wisconsin and child support, stating that it is important to take a look at. The attachment shows that for every dollar that is Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors spent, the agency collects $5.96. 98% of the money that's collected goes to the families. 72% of child support is collected through income withholding, which is a federal law. e. Presentation of the 2024 budget: Not in the budget, proposing child support to help pay for Bart transportation for clients who cannot travel. Suggestion to coordinate with Carrie Linder. Jones is asking for the budget to be passed on as it is for approval with contingency on the Bart program. Reimbursement is 66% from the state for allowable reimbursements. The rest is non-reimbursable. $99,500 is the projected County’s contribution. Motion by Silbert, seconded by Rautio to accept the child support 2024 budget as a draft to be sent to the personnel committee. Motion carried. Oswald would like to give a report on the Bart program in a future meeting. 5. Emergency Management a. The Budget Summary was presented by Maria Renz, Bayfield County Emergency Management Assistant. b. Department Overview: Renz shared that EM hosted a booth at the Bayfield County Fair. Our booth handed out 300 home safety grab bags that included work gloves, ear protection, eye protection and flashlights. They had an interactive microwave activity with kids at our booth as well. They partnered with Como and had about 500 people go through a fire extinguisher demonstration. They ran out of bags and propane. For upcoming events, they are participating in a back-to-school event in Grand View on Sunday. EM will be handing out school supplies and Pete from the health department will be handing out health related supplies. The focus is on preparedness, and they will hand information for kids on what they should know entering the new school year. EM Director Quaderer wants the board to be aware about EMS not responding to calls. In 2023, the county allocated 20 thousand dollars to each agency. Now we need to consider whether we continue to give each agency that money or use the money to become a transporting agency. Everyone needs to look at it as a realistic situation. She states for everyone to plan on this being an ongoing issue that we will continue to work on. Fickbohm thinks suggests the possibility of redistricting and making it six agencies instead of nine and look at response times as well. Silbert states we need to increase the number of EMTs available, in which Quaderer is suggesting accomplishing this with paid EMTs. Sheriff Williams suggests a possible solution could be to petition the state to allow EMRs to run on the ambulance allowing them to make up a crew. Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors 6. Sheriff’s Office a. Budget Summary: Budget Report included. Sheriff Williams reported that the Sheriff’s Office and kail are waiting for revenues to come in. Revenues come in near the end of year. The Sheriff’s Office put in for the next year for a flex patrol deputy to reduce overtime. b. Department Overview: Sheriff Williams reported they had a busy month which included events like the Firehouse 50, Ruckus in the Woods, Blueberry festival, and the Bayfield County Fair. They brought equipment, the Humvee, the ATV, the UTV, the boat, and handed out bags with bracelets and coloring books. They had a lot of interactions and fun. BIA drug enforcement worked with deputies for a week, they got some drug arrests and drugs off the streets. High profile drug dealers were also arrested. There was a fatal Bayfield police department and pedestrian accident that Ashland County Sheriff’s Office and State Patrol are investigating. The new dash cams and body cams are here. One new squad car is up and running and on patrol. Anticipating all of the new squads running around mid-September. At the end of next week, trainers are coming, then body cams will be up and running. Patrol officers have been doing more traffic enforcement. In October, they can order the lidars and radars. One part of enforcement is to get impaired drivers off the road. c. Discussion and Possible Action on supporting fine increase for county ordinances. John Carlson’s recommendations on the fine increase for county ordinances is to go up from $25 to $50 and $1000 to $10,000 for first offense. Then for the second offense it doubles, from $50 to $100 and $1000 to $10,000. This recommendation was ran by the District Attorney as well. Motion by Fickbohm, seconded by Silbert to recommend this gets moved on to full county board. Motion Carried. d. Discussion and Possible Action on fee increase for paper services. John Carlson recommends for this resolution to go to the full board. The last update was done in 2005. Sheriff Williams shares that the fee would be $75 for three attempts with additional attempts at $25 in addition per attempt. They would also like to start charging 25 cents per page. It would be $30 for another person at the same facility. There will be another fee for having a deputy standby for property removal. This update would bring our numbers to be the same as the surrounding agencies. Motion by Fickbohm, seconded by Rautio to recommend going to full board for approval. Motion Carried Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors e. Jail Overview: Captain Kleczka shared that they are boarding inmates for Burnett County, since they are in the middle of renovations that will likely go into next spring. Inmate numbers are in the 40s, which has gone up slightly. The jail is seeing more people serving their sentence after conviction. Huber numbers were up to 6 but are currently back down to 2. They have been utilizing the little courtyard. DOC inspection will take place in September. They will check through the jail’s records and paperwork. f. Discussion and Possible Action regarding jailer protected retirement status and possible recommendation to the Personnel or Executive Committees: Captain Kleczka shared that jailers were removed from protected with ACT 10. Now jailers can opt-in but have to pay 7% out of their own pocket. Once they opt-out they cannot opt-in unless they go to another jail. He suggests that current jailers that opt- in are moved up three steps for a 7.5% raise to cover the 7% the retirement will take out. Oswald and Silbert suggest making a recommendation to the personnel committee to work with the Sheriff and Jail Administrator to come up with a solution to these discrepancies. Oswald wants to encourage personnel to work with them so to avoid losing employees. Pocernich says it will come through the personnel committee then to full board. Motion by Silbert, seconded by Rautio, recommending for the personnel committee to continue discussion to make as equitable solutions for the jailers as possible. Motion Carried. g. Discussion and Possible Action regarding the review of Jail Staffing Agreement. The agreement lays out the jail staffing pattern. The staffing is what is approved for budgetarily. The agreement is between the county and the jail and needs to be updated with the new Sheriff for the DOC inspection. Motion by Oswald, seconded by Silbert to recommend passing on to the full board for approval and signature. Motion Carried. h. Discussion on jail policies. Captain Kleczka shares the jail policies and prea definitions. Kleczka states that the goal is to put the inmate in a place where they feel comfortable. Everyone starts off in an observation cell. Then placed depending on health and safety. Each person is on a case-by-case basis. Policies and procedures are developed by Lexipol, all according to state statute. 7. Other – None 8. September Meeting is canceled, next meeting October 16th at 4pm in the EOC Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors 9. Adjournment: There being no further business to come before the Sheriff’s, Emergency Management, Veterans, Child Support Committee of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors, Chairman Oswald adjourned the meeting at 6:04 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Maria Renz Bayfield County Emergency Management