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Home My WebLink About05/04/2010 04B-6 Minutes 04-21-2010 Council Public Safety Committee • Council Public Safety Committee CED Conference Room City Hall April 21, 2010 MINUTES Council Committee Members Present: Maureen Adkison, Kathy Coffey and Bill Lover Staff present: Dick Zais, Dave Zabell, Sam Granato, Kelly Rosenow, Greg Copeland, Mike Merryman, Charlie Hines, Judge Kelly Olwell, Linda Hagert, Cynthia Martinez, Cesar Abreu, Terri Croft, Bronson Faul, Randy Beehler. Others: Yakima County Commissioner Kevin Bouchey, Yakima County Court Administrator Harold Delia, Yakima County Senior Probation Officer Ron Krebs. Coffey called the meeting to order at 3:00. The agenda order was revised to accommodate the reports of attendees that had to leave the meeting early. I. Status report on the Comprehensive Mental Health Diversion Program Ron Krebs from Yakima County Probation provided a statistical . report of the impact the CWCMH diversion program has had in decreasing repeat arrests of participants in the • program. Krebs realizes that law enforcement has greater restrictions that do not always allow for referral to the program that do not apply to probation, so the benefit may not be immediately noticeable. Krebs stated that arrests are reduced by approximately 6% by participation in the program and he requested that the City of Yakima continue to fund the diversion program. Zais advised that the City had provided funding for a six month pilot program that had been paid for out of reserve, and Granato advised prior to that it had been funded by a grant that has expired. Given the current economic condition of the City, the committee cannot recommend to the full council to continue to fund the program, despite the program's benefits. The committee will forward the report to the full . council with a recommendation to not continue funding. II. Status of federal earmark grant funds for county -wide gang suppression efforts Harold Delia and Commissioner Bouchey provided an updated report of the budget for the federal grant application and reviewed the programs the grant would support. Delia advised they had also applied for a $200,000 state grant, which would also give them a basis and support to apply for an additional $500,000 federal earmark. The County would like to conduct a community assessment to address gang problems to use in future grant/funding applications. During her recent visit, Senator Murray commented that the county -wide approach would be important in obtaining future funding. III. Update report on Block Watch program and contract with OIC We are currently 8 months into the 2 year contract with OIC to provide a block watch i coordinator. The block watch program is being updated to fit in with current needs, and unnecessary practices are being eliminated, such as requiring 50% block participation for form a block watch and running a records check on all members of participating households. This report will be forwarded to the full council as information item. IV. Red Light Camera Judge Olwell advised that she had contacted municipal courts in cities in Washington that are currently using the red light camera technology, and estimates there would be an increase of over 21,000 filings with the court if red light cameras are implemented in Yakima. This would double the workload of court staff. There would be an increase in phone calls, court time, and longer lines at the payment window. Additionally, there would be increased prosecutor time as the prosecutor needs to be involved in contested hearings. Although there would be revenue generated from the program, it is not know if it would be enough to cover the necessary human resource expense to manage the program. Although the committee supports the traffic safety aspect of the program, it is not the desire of the committee to have this as a revenue source, nor should it be a financial liability. Coffey is unsure if enough of the council members would support it to even justify having vendor demonstrations. The committee will forward the report to the full council for discussion and public comment before scheduling vendor demonstrations. V. Updated report on jail costs reductions The department is working to expand the electronic home monitoring program (EHM) to utilize GPS equipment for those that do not have land line telephones. After this project • is initiated, they will look into expanding to EHM with alcohol monitoring capabilities. The department expects to continue reducing jail costs by utilization of these programs. There are emphasis patrols scheduled, and the jail cost figures are expected to increase once the patrols are started. VI. Status report on proposed study for PAL Center Staff provided a bid from Wardell Architects to conduct a study for expansion and updating of the PAL Center. The major drawback of the current facility (formerly the senior citizen center) is that it does not have a gymnasium. The cost for the study is $9000 and would be funded out of the Law and Justice Capital budget. Staff would like to have the plan ready for when future funding may become available. Lover asked if this needed to go out for a bid. Zais advised that it did not as Wardell is on a list professional service providers that could be selected for such projects. Zais also reiterated that this was to be paid out of the capital fund and not the general fund. This request will be forwarded to the full council with a recommendation from the committee for approval. VII. Updated report on Part II Crimes in vicinity of N. 23 Ave. and Lincoln Ave. (pathway area) Abreu presented an updated analysis with the requested parameter changes. Part II crimes are relatively low in this area. The key issue is the request to close the pathway from 23 Ave to Lincoln Ave. The pathway could be gated off with lockboxes installed for emergency personnel access. The committee requested this be forwarded to the full • council to set a date for public hearing regarding closure of the pathway. The committee additionally requested that the Fire Department and Code Divisions provide input prior to the public hearing. . VIII. Status of gang database Granato recommended the committee forego discussion of the gang database since briefings have been held /scheduled with the council members. The committee agreed to skip discussion of the gang database report. IX. Update on gang free initiative The committee reviewed the information provided by Yakima County regarding their Comprehensive Gang Initiative. As the updated report indicated there would not be any significant "hard dollar" funding for the City of Yakima's Gang Free Initiative, the City will need to go out to obtain its own funding. The committee envisions eventually applying for a joint grant of which the City of Yakima would receive the largest share, however assistance is still needed in the area of grant writing. Once selected, the project director should be able to assist with grant applications. The committee would also like to see if cost sharing and cost matching with non profit partners would be a possibility. Merryman updated the committee on the Gang Free Initiative draft plan and advised the committee needed to provide direction on their vision for the project director /coordinator . position. Currently the initiative is focused on suppression. The City has not focused any efforts on prevention or intervention at this point. The long term strategies need to be on prevention and intervention. The goal for the draft plan is for the City to initially be the driving entity in the initiative, but eventually be able to step back and let the community partners handle the implementation of the plan. Zais advised that for the short term, the general fund contingency could cover a professional services contract to hire the director /coordinator position. The committee would like to see all the of the gang initiatives and their elements brought together and to add to what is already being done. Coffey would like to start marketing the initiative and do a promotional piece and does not think this should wait until the steering committee is selected. There is a marketing tool kit for Weed and Seed sites that could be formulated to the Gang Free Initiative. The promo piece cannot be done before the official announcement of the Gang Free Initiative. Coffey recommended to adopt the Gang Free Initiative as presented, hire the coordinator, to be financed by the general fund contingency, move ahead with the campaign.and promotion, and develop the steering committee. This will all be presented at a study session on May 11. The meet was adjourne. at 5:03 p.m. ' • lik '1 A Or tom Kath offey Public Safety ommittee 41) Minutes prepared by Terri Croft