Advisory Board Meeting
October 4, 2007
Board Members Present: David Cook, Advisory Board Chairman; Judge William Nelson; Judge William Young; Rondle Brewer; Leslie Duvall; Michael Wallman; Mary Moriarty Adams, Dan Young; James Wyatt, Proxy for Sheriff Anderson; David Wyser, Proxy for Prosecutor Brizzi; Steve Garner, Proxy for Dr. Eugene White;
Board Members Absent: Rhonda Allen; Mayor Peterson; Judge Marilyn Moores; Christine Kerl; Pastor Adrienne Holmes; Noel Wyatt; Terry Buford; Jane Hart Ajabu;
Others Present: Brian Barton, MCCC; Tiffany Clark, MCCC; Mark Smith, MCCC; Patty Montgomery, MCCC; Ashley Black, MCCC; Hilary Bercovitz, MCCC; John Deiter, MCCC; Jennifer Deiter, MCCC; Chief William Owens, MCCC; Heather Obergfell, MCCC; James Fouch, MCCC; Fred Coan, MCCC; Christy Smeehuyzen, MCCC; Sylvester Coleman, MCCC; Mike Brown, Tim Campbell, Volunteers of America; Chris Hayden, Salvation Army; William Claton, Salvation Army; Chris Collins, MCCC; Jenna Morrow, MCCC; Beverli Mason, Riverside;
Chairman David Cook introduced the board to new member Dan Young who is representing the NESCO area.
With a quorum present, Advisory Board Chairman David Cook called the meeting to order at 12:09 P.M.
Approval of Board Minutes
Advisory Board Chairman David Cook asked for a motion to approve the board minutes taken on the meeting held on August 2, 2007.
Judge Young asked to be heard concerning the minutes of August 2, 2007 and said that his statements from the August 2, 2007 meeting were not a personal attack on Brian Barton. He said that his comments were to prompt City Legal into completing Marion County Community Corrections Contracts in a timely manner.
Advisory Board Chairman David Cook then asked again for a motion to approve the board minutes for the meeting on August 2, 2007.
The motion was moved and seconded and the August 2nd 2007 Board Meeting minutes were approved.
Discussion of Community Corrections Center Future Option
Advisory Board Chairman David Cook asked for the Discussion of the Future of Community Corrections Center to be tabled until the next meeting in December. He stated two reasons for the delay. The Office of the Controller is still in the process of completing the financial aspects to complete their report. The second reason is that the Office of Corporation Council stated that Marion County Community Correction would not lose any window of opportunity in purchasing the building if a decision was not made until December of 2007. Advisory Board Chairman David Cook then introduced Brian Barton.
Brian stated that he has been in touch with the Office of Controller and they are working hard to get all the financial information needed so a clear decision could be made on the future of Marion County Community Corrections Center.
Brian also stated that the ACLU brought in an expert that spent half of a day at the Center and the results of that visit will be in a report that Community Correction should receive by the December meeting.
Brian stated that no one should be in a hurry to make a decision about the future of the Center because the facility has provided great relief for the community for the past seventeen (17) years.
Discussion of Technical Assistance Report from NIC
Brian stated that the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) in May of 2007 was asked to provide an audit of Marion County Community Corrections. The audit was done at the request of the Criminal Justice Planning Council and the Marion County Community Corrections Advisory Board. A two day on site visit was conducted in early part of July 2007 to discuss all of the agency’s operations. The three experts interviewed justice system stake holders and management staff of Marion County Community Corrections. Brian then discussed some of the issues that the experts thought Marion County Community Corrections needs to address. The issues are not in a certain order of priority. Brian said that he will only speak about seven of the recommendations since we are waiting until next month’s meeting to talk about the future of Community Corrections Center.
Conduct Exit Interviews.
The first issue Brian talked about was exit interviews that are conducted to find out exactly why employees are leaving Marion County Community Corrections. Marion County Community Corrections management staff has been conducting the exit interviews but, starting October 1, 2007 Human Resources of the city and county will conduct the interviews to ascertain if Marion County Community Corrections needs to make any changes in the hiring of employees or changes in the office atmosphere once an employee is hired. Human Resources will have a report on their findings at the end of one year.
Work with Human Resources (HR) on the turnover rate of critical offender supervision positions.
Brain stated that Community Corrections had a 64% turn over rate in employees in a one year periodand the majority of the turn over was in home detention officers. The turn over rate from June 1, 2007 to current is 37% while the County turn over rate is at 26% since the first of June 2007. Brian stated that in the field of Home Detention accountability and high case loads which breeds problems, have contributed to jpeople leaving their jobs.
Brian stated that by working with Human Resources, Community Corrections needs to attract potential employees who are interested in a career with Community Corrections. Brian stated that in the past individuals came to work for Community Corrections until they were hired full time by law enforcement agencies, such as, police officers, court line, and special deputies. Brian also believes that lack of professional space for employees could be a contributing factor for a high turn over rate.
Brian stated that earlier this year a Training Coordinator position was established to train new employees and ongoing training for current employees. Brian then said Jim Fouch is the new Training Coordinator and that Mr. Fouch comes to Community Corrections with many years of experience in the training of police officers for the city. MCCC will adopt American Correctional Association (ACA) standards as it relates to training hours for new employees and continuing training for all employees.
Brian stated that training will also be provided for contractual security staff at Duvall Residential Center and Community Corrections Center. Training will be on going to meet demands of their jobs.
All staff will be trained on “evidence based practices” and will be knowledgeable about the mission of Marion County Community Corrections
Work with Human Resources and Controller’s Office as it relates to Managerial Salaries for MCCC.
Brian said that by working with Human Resources and the City Controller he was able to hire John Deiter for the position of Home Detention Coordinator. Brian then introduced John and said that he comes to Community Corrections with eighteen (18) years of experience as a supervisor in probation.
Brian said that after reviewing the salaries of MCCC management staff and those of Probation management staff, MCCC management staff are paid $10,000.00 to $20,000.00 less than those that supervisor staff or programs at Probation. Brian said that a salary matrix that addresses supervisor salaries should be developed and that would provide the agency the ability to attract and retain quality supervisors.
Utilize the Case Management System to better track and supervise clients.
Brian said that MCCC has a case management system that is not being used to its full potential. He said that steps are being taken to remedy this problem. He said that for years information was collected on notes written by hand and then put in the offenders file. Brian said that now employees are putting all pertinent information on the case management system housed in MCCC’s computer system. Brian said that Mr. Deiter mad the comment if it is not in case management it did not happen.
Supervisors will be able to audit offender's files by reviewing the case management system. This will allow supervisors to check and review that Court ordered treatment is taking place with all offenders. Marion County Community Corrections is going to bar code all home detention equipment. This will track staff while they are out in the filed and it will be a way to verify that officers are in the homes high risk offenders checking to see if everything is okay.
Marion County Community Corrections must implement the COMPAS risk and needs assessment tool during the screening process of potential offenders. An inventory of current caseloads showed that many individuals on one of MCCC’S programs are ineligible and inappropriate.
Case loads of officers must also be addressed. Brian said that he sent out a survey earlier this year to other Community Corrections Agencies across the state to see it they have a number for a case load for an officer and how that number was determined. Brian said those that have a number the size was fifty (50) to one but no one seemed to know where that number came from. Brian said that by utilizing a risk assessment tool depending on where an offender falls on the assessment an officer may have more case if they have low risk offenders.
Brian then introduced Mike Brown who is one of the individuals involved in the audit of Marion County Community Corrections.
Mike began speaking about the problem he saw in the area of home detention. He stated that he is unsure of what exactly a home detention officer is expected to do to perform his or her job well. He said that once it is decided what an officer is to do we should then have a better idea of how many officers Community Corrections needs on staff and number of cases an officer should be able to handle efficiently.
Brain returned to the podium to address the last recommendation.
Hire a Correctional Consultant to assist with the implementation of the Recommendations of The Technical Assistance Report.
Brian stated that in the Techincal Assistance Report the evaluators suggested that a professional should be hired to assist in the recommendations that Marion County Community Corrections is not equipped to handle. Brian said that it should be someone who knows the national landscape and what community corrections in other areas are doing. The consultant would also assist in areas of staff and program assessment, evidence based training. The consultant would do a time study analysis that would enable Community Corrections to determine appropriate caseload size for offender supervision staff. Brian then said that the hiring of a consultant will help Marion County Community Corrections move toward “evidence based practices” and bring accountability back into the program. Equally important to Marion County Community Corrections future success is the developement of professional standards to an agency that has non.
Question and answers ensued concerning the Technical Assistance Report.
Advisory Board Chairman David Cook then asked for a motion to approve the hiring of a Professional Consultant. The motion was moved and seconded and the hiring of a Professional Consultant was approved.
Approval of Hiring Mike Brown as Professional Consultant
Brian began to address the board as to his recommendation to the board on the hiring of Mike Brown as the Professional Consultant. He said that Mike Brown knows the national landscape and what other agencies are doing. Brian stated that Mike Brown is the former head of Community Correction Division for, the Indiana Department of Correction and was a member of the evaluation team. Mr. Brown was also responsible for bringing evidence based practices to the state of Indiana. Mr. Brown also has knowledge about community corrections programs nationwide, Indiana, and Marion County.
Brian stated that the cost of the proposal would be $50,000.00 a year with a one year contract. The proposal would be funded through the Department of Correction’s carryover funds or User Fee funds or a combination of the two.
Questions and answers ensued.
Advisory Board Chairman David Cook then asked for a motion to approve the Hiring of Mike Brown as Professional Consultant. The motion was moved and seconded and the Hiring of Mike Brown as Professional Consultant was approved.
Memo from Brian Barton regarding Drug Testing Procedure
Random Drug Testing
Brian said that Department of Correction ran the random drug testing program but has ceased doing so. We now must develop our own drug testing program. The Department of Correction was testing 5% of offenders and Brian would like that number to be bumped up to 20%. The offenders will be randomly selected each month. The offender will be responsible for a ten dollar payment to cover the cost of the test. Marion County Community Corrections has $22,000.00 from the Department of Correction which will be used to cover the cost of the drug test for indigent offenders. Home Detention offenders will report to the Marion County Superior Court Probation Department Drug Lab. Work Release offenders will have their samples collected and tested by AIT Laboratories. A five panel test will be used as the testing method. Marion County Community Corrections will reserve the right to still test probable cause.
It was decided after questions that offenders may have a ten panel test done and that will also be done at random. If there is an extra cost to test eight or ten panel the cost will be picked up by Marion County Community Corrections.
Board member Les Duvall noticed an error on the board proposal for random drug testing. The error is on the second page in the third line. The work laso should be changed to also.
Advisory Board Chairman David Cook then asked for a motion to approve random drug testing and amend the third line of the last page to read also instead of laso.
The motion was moved and seconded and Marion County Community Corrections Random Drug Testing Procedure was approve.
Advisory Board Chairman David Cook asked if there was any further new or old business before the board.
With no further business before the board the meeting was adjourned at 1:11 P.M.
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