The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutPSC minutes 12-7-17Council Public Safety Committee December 7, 2017 MINUTES Members present: Councilmember Carmen Mendez (chair) Councilmember Kathy Coffey Councilmember Dulce Gutierrez The meeting was called to order at 3:05 p.m. 1. Approval of minutes of October 26, 2017 Staff: C ty Manager Cliff Moore Asst. City Mgr. Ana Cortez Chief Dominic Rizzi, Police Chief Bob Stewart, Fire City Attorney Jeff Cutter, Legal Prosecutor Cynthia Martinez, Legal Brad Coughenour, SunComm Sgt Jim Moore, Police Terri Croft, Police It was MOVED by Coffey and SECONDED by Gutierrez to approve the minutes as presented. Motion PASSED unanimously. 2. New Business 2 a Bail Reform Jaime Hawk of the ACLU had sent Mayor Coffey a position paper on bail reform. The paper did not make it into the packet for review prior to the meeting, but was provided to the members at the meeting. Cutter suggested using this meeting as an introduction to a later discussion. He summarized the report, stating that the ACLU s position is that the current bail system unfairly incarcerates people of lower economic classes and minorities. Cutter stated from a legal department perspective, relaxed bail results in recidivism. Yakima County currently has a pre -hearing release program with subjects charged with felonies out on their own recognizance. The police are seeing crimes committed by these subjects while they are on pre -hearing release. Cutter believes any further discussion needs to include the judges as they have a more balanced perspective on the issue. Cutter further stated that the report solely considers the perspective of the offender, and there is a responsibility to the community to consider as well. The ACLU is proposing legislative changes, which is broader than the scope of city government Gutierrez inquired as to why this was being sent to our city leaders or if it was being sent to all cities in Washington. She asked where our city's policy falls on this issue. Coffey stated that when the information was sent to her, she thought is merited review to determine if the city should take action on it. If the city moves forward o n the issue, more time would be needed to educate ourselves on the issue. Cutter advised he thought the ACLU was looking to form a coalition on bail reform. Moore added that the cost of indigent defense was also a driving factor in this initiative. He discussed people who are jailed for failure to pay fines and the impact that has. He believes the point would be to effect legislation to give judges more latitude in dealing with these types of cases. Martinez noted that the City of Yakima does not jail subjects for failure to pay fines. She noted that subjects are jailed for Driving While License Suspended 3ffi degree, which is a suspension for failure to pay fines. She added that the attorney general's office is addressing changing in that area. Cutter advised that judges take multiple factors into consideration when imposing or determining bail. The committee asked Rizzi for his opinion on the matter. Rizzi stated he believes the Washington state bail system creates disparity. The current bonding system perpetuates the cycle of inability to pay. Mendez requested that discussion be continued. Moore advised he would inquire of other jurisdictions of their take on the subject at the AWC board meeting. Gutierrez asked if it should be added to the legislative priorities. Mendez felt it could be looked at for 2019 to take a position. Coffey asked staff could follow up with Jamie Hawk to determine the intent of the paper. 3. Old Business 3.a. Governor's forum Moore reported that he heard from Sonja Hallum, who asked what Yakima would do with $200,000 in funding for gang initiatives. She will be looking into funding, which will n ot necessarily be earmarked for Yakima but we could be competitive for funding. Coffey stated that we need to regroup to firm up a strategic plan with our partners. She would like to see action taken on implementation. Gutierrez discussed the benefits the State Council on Juvenile Justice and our community forums have in formulating a strong plan and demonstrate our leadership. She felt the need to have a report ready to go when requested. Coffey stated the need to make this a priority. Moore advised he has spoken with the Yakima School District and several non-profit o rganizations, and has a meeting scheduled with United Way. He suggested a forum of these stakeholders could be pulled together to discuss what everyone is doing. Gutierrez stated that forums shouldn't be necessary, what the committee wants to see is a document that addresses who the stakeholders are, what actions are being currently taken, what actions have previously been taken, and what our projections are. Mendez felt a two pronged approach would be beneficial moving forward. The first would be what we are doing as a city, and the second would be to identify stakeholders and determine their participation in our plan. It was decided that the three committee members would meet with the city manager to hammer out the document. Gutierrez requested reports from the city manager's meetings with the stakeholders. Moore reported on the Yakima School District's three -prong plan to address youth violence. Coffey suggested creating a plan and then asking the school district to come on board. Gutierrez would like to share an update at the Juvenile Justice Council meeting on January 25. She shared that there is still unallocated grant money for racial disparity and reentry/rehabilitation programs. 3.b. Neighborhood Forum Planning Gutierrez reported two more forums have been held for a total of 5 forums. Approximately 35 people attended the forum at the HBCC. A representative from S enator Murray's office was present There was good feedback on this forum. The Robertson Elementary forum was attended by approximately 15 people, all were from that neighborhood This forum was attended by Representative McCabe. Our legislators are taking notice of the forums. We need to improve outreach and notification for future forums. The forums have been shortened per recommendations. There is one outstanding request from Dave Purcell to hold a forum at McClure E lementary. We need to select dates and set attendance goals. Mendez suggested utilizing the schools' robo-caller systems and reader boards. Also recommended partnering with PTAs or school clubs to provide childcare for attendees. Gutierrez discussed documenting the forum process for any future committee members. D iscussed attempting to schedule another district 3 before the end of the year. D iscussion was that it wasn t realistic to get another scheduled by the end of the year. There should not be an issue with extending a few months into the next year to get a few more forums scheduled. She thought it would be beneficial to have Gutierrez continue as the facilitator of the forums. She also suggested filming a forum to air on YPAC if there is a large group. 4. Other Business 4.a. Traffic signals Coffey reported she had been asked by several members of the public to address the topic of people running red/yellow lights. Sgt. James Moore advised that it is not illegal to enter an intersection on a yellow light. Enforcement of red light violations is difficult because it can create a more hazardous situation for officers to 'turn on' a violator. Utilizing an officer to monitor an intersection and a second to pull over violators is less hazardous but more labor intensive, and they can only focus on one intersection. Coffey discussed a red light camera study that was conducted several years ago, with the intent to increase intersection safety, however there was not support for it. 4.b. Domestic Violence Gutierrez, Coffey, and Rizzi reported on a discussion with Representative McCabe regarding domestic violence policy. Gutierrez proposed a discussion with legal team to determine what should be included in a policy. Coffey discussed suggestions that the City of Yakima could pursue independently. Martinez had no updates to report. Coffey suggested making legislative recommendations that could impact not just our community but be beneficial statewide. She suggested sending the suggestions from legal and the police department to our lobbyist to write up for our legislators. The issue will be brought forward under committee reports. 5. Information items 5.a. Text to 911 Coughenour reported that Text to 911 has been operational for a year. SunComm is receiving more legitimate calls than accidental calls. The software does not support bilingual services, however, SunComm has 6 bilingual employees and also maintains 2 contracts for translation services. Call takers still try to get the subjects to call, but the text service is still beneficial. 6. Recap of Future Agenda Items • The three current members will create a recap of this committee's work for any new members. No new agenda items are proposed at this time. 7. Audience Participation There was no audience participation 8. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 4:23 p.m. Approved: