HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/03/1989 Adjourned Meeting • 279
OCTOBER 3, 1989
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ADJOURNED MEETING
DEVELOPMENT OF REQUEST FOR JOINT LAW ENFORCEMENT AND MINIMUM SECURITY
JAIL FACILITY FUNDING FOR YAKIMA COUNTY
On October 3, 1989, the City Council and County Commissioners met at 12:00
noon at the County Courthouse to discuss the development of a request
for a Joint Law Enforcement and Minimum Security Jail Facility Funding
for Yakima County. Council members present were Mayor Pat Berndt, Henry
Beauchamp, Lynn Carmichael and Bernard Sims. Council member Lynn
Buchanan present at 1:00 P.M. Council member Clarence Barnett and Jerry
Foy absent and excused. City Staff present included City Manager Zais,
City Attorney Vanek, Assistant City Manager Stouder, Police Chief Green,
Captain Follansbee and Deputy City Clerk Toney.
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County Commissioners present were Chuck Klarich and Graham Tollefson;
Commissioner Alex Deccio absent and excused. Other County officials
and staff members present included County Prosecutor Jeff Sullivan,
Undersheriff Mike Gill, Director of Planning /Special Projects, Richard
Anderwald, and Deputy Clerk Sylvia Hinojosa.
Washington State Legislators present were Senator Jim Matson,
• Representative Shirley Doty and Representative Jay Inslee.
Commissioner Tollefson welcomed the State Legislators, explaining that the
intent of this meeting is to provide' them with background information
about the law enforcement needs and try to determine how those needs can
be met. Mayor Berndt also welcomed the State Legislators, stating the
time has come to get together and find out what areas we have in common so
we can begin working on our program. Mayor Berndt stated Representative
Doty has made a request for $3,000,000 for law enforcement needs and will
be commenting about this during the meeting.
Commissioner Tollefson stated City Manager Zais has been involved in this
issue on behalf of the City, while the Director of Planning /Special
Projects Anderwald has been involved on behalf of the County.
Conuuissioner Tollefson stated the City has provided preliminary
documentation of the need for a capital facility, while the County has
emphasized the need for operational costs and other capital needs.
Couuuissioner Tollefson asked Commissioner Klarich to review the
informational packet from the Washington State Association of Counties
regarding law and justice needs. Commissioner Klarich prefaced his
comments, stating that the Association of County Officials has agreed to
the approach set forth in this package and no other legislation will be
forthcoming other than the consolidated City /County effort. He stated
the reason for that is because around 70% of all County budgets
are comprised of law and justice financing needs. Commissioner Klarich
stated the Association of Washington Counties meets on a monthly basis
with the Association of Washington Cities, however, one of the problems
they have with the Association of Washington Cities is that their program
is more wide spread than just law and justice needs because the City
budgets an average of 20-25% for police protection. He stated for that
reason, there has been a little difficulty in coming together in a
consolidated effort. He said it has been the attempt of the Association
of Washington Counties to put together a package that will provide more
aid for counties because of the percentage of °their budget that must be
spent for operational costs. However, he added that it will also aid
Cities in terms of fighting law and justice issues. Commissioner Klarich
stated the information in the packet indicates an increase in domestic
violence and civil harassment filings since. the law was passed in 1984
regarding these issues. He stated the increase in these filings has
placed a tremendous burden on the prosecutors and the court system. He
also commented that in 1980 all felony filings were tried by a jury trial,
but in 1988 half of the cases were plea bargained and did not go to trial
due to an insufficient number of personnel to process the case load.
CoMnissioner Klarich stated in 1989, records indicate that 1,047 inmates
had to sleep on the floor, while state prisons had bed space available.
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OCTOBER 3, 1989
Commissioner Klarich referred to the chart illustrating the difference in
the revenue growth for state versus the counties and cities, commenting
that the City and County revenues remain level while the State's revenue
continue upward in the neighborhood of one -half to a billion dollars each
year. He stated that the State will have 400 million dollars in surplus
revenue beyond what had been budgeted. Commissioner Klarich explained
that the County is asking the State of Washington and State Legislators to
join in the fight against crime by allocating funds for this need. He
indicated that legislation allowing criminals to be locked up does not
benefit the City or County without the funding to process them through the
judicial system. The State is being asked to pay for the Public Defender
System, the judges' salaries, the prosecution of criminals, and funds are
being requested to build regional facilities to house offenders.
Commissioner Klarich indicated unless financial help is received from the
State, more criminals will be on the streets, more plea bargaining will
take place, and fewer arrests will be made. He stated there will be a
meeting on October 9th at 8:30 A.M. in the Commissioners Hearing Roan and
encouraged those present to invite others to attend that meeting.
County Prosecutor Jeff Sullivan commented that he believes everyone is
aware of the mandates from the State mentioned by Commissioner Klarich,
however, there are no local resources to address these issues. He
indicated that the State pays half of the Superior Court Judges'
salaries, half of his salary, $40,000 is paid directly for one deputy for
drug prosecution, and that is the sum total of the direct payment by the
State to address this problem. Prosecutor Sullivan explained that the
State provided more money for law enforcement through the Omnibus Bill,
however, those funds are basically for State Investigators who in turn
will generate more cases, deliver those cases to the County Prosecutor
to process, deliver the prisoners to an already overcrowded County Jail
and expect the County to handle it. He said from the legislative
standpoint, the time has come to either quit passing the laws and raising
the publics expectations that this is going to result in safer streets and
communities, and say that there is no money for this and we are going to
sacrifice on the side of having unsafe streets because we can't provide
it. He said it is not right to expect the Counties and the Cities to
implement and enforce the laws when there is no capacity to do so. Mr.
Sullivan stated, if we can't get help, we are going to have to figure out
some dramatic solutions. He stated that the hiring of ten more police
officers by the City of Yakima does not do any good when the individuals
arrested cannot be processed through the judicial system. Mr. Sullivan
stressed that it is time to tell the story like it is rather than raising
expectations that something can be done about the situation. He referred
to the Committee for Safer Streets that has proposed a civil
commitment law and placing mutilators in jail for 100 years. Mr.
Sullivan explained that the civil commitment falls to the prosecutor to
enforce, to a secure hospital in which to place the offenders, to the
public defender system to defend them, and to the Superior Court to
adjudicate them. He further explained that there are currently no secure
hospitals in which to place the 200 -300 people in the State of Washington
that have been identified for prosecution and placement. Mr. Sullivan
stated nothing has been done to address those issues, and he believes it
is time to inform the public of this predicament.
City Manager Zais read a portion of an article from the Wall Street
Journal which states "the battle against drugs is the chief issue facing
the nation." The article further indicated that 63% of Americans are now
willing to raise taxes to finance the drug battle. Mr. Zais stated we
are at a point where we no longer have the financial resources to deal
with the problems on a capital /operation basis and the State and Federal
Government need to assist us. He stated it is commonly understood that
Yakima is a pipeline for drug distribution and it is time for the City and
County to aggressively pursue the proposed package of funding options for
a capital facility and operation and maintenance support. Mr. Zais
stated we think. Yakima deserves a much greater share of the State's
resources and that is an advocacy position taken by the Eastern Washington
Cities in voting on a package to submit to the Legislature that would
support the creation of a State targeted fiscal assistance program for
Eastern Washington Cities, especially those that are economically
disadvantaged or distressed, and those that face the extraordinary impact
of drug trafficking as Yakima County does. He stated this package
contemplates advancing this message further with the proposal of a Drug
OCTOBER 3, 1989 . 2 8 1
ADJOURNEDMEETING
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Summit Meeting that would bring together .a group to include
representatives from the Governor's office, our Senator's offices,
Congressman Morrison's office, the leadership of the House and Senate and
other State Senators and Representatives from Yakima County.
Chief Green commented about the specifics of the package, stating,
essentially the Police Department expanded upon the request put together
last year to the State Legislature for funding of a joint law enforcement
facility and a 300 bed minimum /medium security facility. Chief Green
stated he agrees with the comments made by Commissioner Klarich and
Prosecutor Sullivan about the inadequate funding for the entire criminal
justice system, and the frustration of 'the citizens and officers. He
stressed that something has to be done about the critical part of this
criminal justice bottleneck, i.e. the lack of adequate facilities. He
stated, "we do not have an alternative; the system is broken and it needs
to be fixed." Chief Green indicated that law enforcement officers know
approximately 60-70% of the people arrested for drugs and other crimes on
a first name basis because they have been arrested so many times and
released after serving a minimum time in jail due to the lack of space.
He stated offenders with a local address are released unless they have
been involved in a homicide. Crimes are committed repeatedly because
there is no way to incapacitate them and take them off the streets. Chief
Green stated in 1977 when the City operated a jail facility there were
1/3 of the crimes reported that we have today, with an average of 72
inmates per day, just on City misdemeanor offenses. He added that today
we are averaging about 38 -40 people in the County jail and three times the
reported crime rate as that in 1977. Chief Green restated the need for a
joint facility issue and a minimum security issue, as well as the need for
a commitment for funding.
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Commissioner Klarich emphasized the importance'of the need for funding for
the processing of the offenders through the judicial system.
Prosecutor Sullivan stated the judges have taken a bad rap over the past .
ten years due to the sentencing guidelines that were changed in 1977. He
pointed out that the system does nothing to offenders until they are at
least 13 years old, and the adult system does not operate until they are
18 years old. Mr. Sullivan further explained that an offender is not
subject to a _prison term until the sixth felony conviction occurs. He
added that the prison term is twelve to fourteen months with a third off
for good behavior. He stated is it possible that an offender will spend
eight months in prison after having been convicted of six felonies. Mr.
Sullivan said that most cases are plea bargained rather than tried by
jury because of insufficient personnel to process the cases. He stated
we all need to keep in mind that there is a need for fundamental changes
to occur in our society before this problem can be solved.
Commissioner Tollefson reiterated that the two primary goals today are: 1)
seek out the unification of our local agenda so that we might later
approach our own Legislators as well as Federal Legislators, and 2).
prepare the necessary documentation to make sure the Legislature, and
others, understand the nature of the local problem. He said this is going
to involve more work on our part, particularly on the operational side.
Commissioner Klarich asked Senator Matson what needs to be done to meld
the City and County needs into one program so we can, better appeal to
the Legislators?
Senator Matson stated the one thing that must be done is to make sure the
Association is totally aware that the drug problem is not over. He said
a lot of Legislators think the drug problem was taken care of with the
passage of the Omnibus Bill. He stated the 400 million dollars that Mr.
Zais is so covetous of has already been spent on branch campuses.
Senator Matson commented, "someone in the State has a place for every
nickle of that excess, and, unfortunately, it does not include Yakima."
He said "unless the federal government is capable of decreasing the supply
and /or the demand ,of the drugs, there is no way in the world that enough
jails can be built, enough; law enforcement officers, prosecutors and
judges hired to solve the problem." Senator Matson stated, "if we are not
successful as a nation in working .together on this problem, we are
lost." Regarding the criticism of the Omnibus Bill, he commented that
it is his recollection that both, the Prosecutor's Association and the
Law & Justice Association, supported that Bill prior to its passage. He
2 8 2 OCTOBER 3, 1989
ADJOURNED MEETING
agreed that it is not a solution, but it is a step in the right
direction.
Commissioner Tollefson pointed out that it has been over ten years since
indigent defense was mandated, however, no funding was ever allocated for
that service. He stated it is important that State Legislators realize
that Cities and Counties cannot absorb any more State mandates; funding
must accompany them.
City Manager Zais commented that the Cities and Counties rely upon, and
work with the Associations, but every City and County in the State has
its own special interest legislation. Mr. Zais stated he is not sure
that full support will be forthcoming from all of the Cities and Counties
because there are differences of opinions that have existed for many
years, but the City of Yakima is working in that direction. He stated we
are not dependent upon the Associations to carry the message for us; we
can take a strong aggressive stance, push hard and tell a strong story of
what is happening here. Mr. Zais stated we should be at the forefront of
that action. He added that the Representatives and Senators here today
can help to communicate the message that Yakima is a pipeline; we are
appearing in the national news, magazine articles and local and
national television due to the drug problem.
Senator Matson agreed with Mr. Zais, but added that from the practical
standpoint, if Yakima is going to get any kind of assistance, votes are
needed from Snohomish and Clark County. He said, "without that
support, you may as well forget it."
Representative Doty stated she feels very strongly about what Mr. Zais
has said, but at the same time, it is really critical to work very hard to
make the City and County Associations answerable to you. She said that is
where the issue has become bogged down before, adding that other
Legislators are looking at their special interest also. Representative
Doty stated before she knew about this effort she asked for a special
consideration of appropriations for Yakima County in the amount of
$3,000,000 because she knew of the day to day expenses. Representative
Doty stated we are looking at a capital expenditure and that requires
broad base support, and at the same time, we are also looking an immense
need for operational expenses for the processing of offenders. Mrs. Doty
stated she believes there has been an increased awareness of Yakima's
situation lately due the news media coverage within the state as
well as nationally. Referring to the Coalition for the War on Drugs,
the leadership roles of law enforcement and local government officials,
she stated she believes we have in place the mechanism to really make use
of additional funding. Mrs. Doty stated the case has to be represented
daily to everybody we can possibly buttonhole. She indicated that more
team members are needed in this effort, but she believes it can be done.
Representative Doty stated she thinks the Summit Meeting is an excellent
idea and the time is right to proceed with this effort.
Commissioner Tollefson stated one the issues we deal with constantly is a
question of equity and the source of funding. He said this is a national
problem because Yakima is a supplier, not only for the State of
Washington, but the entire northwest, and it is impossible to deal with
this issue without some transfer of funds taking place. He reported that
our per capita inane from sales tax is $19.10, while the State averages
$32 and King County's averages $44. The criminal filings per thousand
population for Yakima is twelve, King County's is five and Spokane's is
three. He said it appears that those with the greatest revenue have the
least case load. Commissioner Tollefson stated he believes the State and
Federal governments have a responsibility in solving this issue.
Council member Beauchamp referred to the inmate capacity, commenting that
many of the cities we need to support us in our effort are suffering from
the same kind of problems. He stated we need to find a way to fund the
processing of offenders and the facility needs as well.
Commissioner Klarich commented that the City of Seattle is proposing
that 100 additional police officers be hired, but °King County Council is
opposing this because the financial resources and jail space is not
available to process the offenders that those additional officers would
generate.
OCTOBER 3,.,1989 2 8 3
ADJOURNEDMEETING
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Commissioner Tollefson stated any assistance the Representatives and
Senators could give regarding the information needed to clarify the •
problem would be appreciated.
Senator Matson asked what timeframe are we talking about and Commissioner
Klarich responded that on October 9th an information and media package
will be presented in three different areas within the state and this
effort will continue until October 20th. He stated a presentation will
be given at every courthouse defining how we are going to approach
putting justice back into the criminal justice system. He said, at that
time, meetings will be held with each County and City to provide local
statistics to assist in this effort. Commissioner Klarich said it is
hoped that there will be a weekly item, state -wide in November and
December, and following through every week of the session illustrating the .
need we have. •
City Manager Zais said he thinks that, basically, we need an
appropriation out of this next session, whether it is on a Federal or
State level, this is now the priority; it has been unaddressed too long.
Referring to the 400,000 million dollar surplus, Representative Jay Inslee
stated there is a temptation to look at this as a "one shot fix" and he
is hopeful that when the plan reaches its fruition, it will be looked at
as a long term issue. He stated he thinks there is a real temptation to
say, "Let's spin off a few dollars out of this year's surplus to Yakima
County and then we won't have to worry about it the rest of next year."
Mr. Inslee stated this is the political time for the local governments to
get well, or as well as possible, and encouraged the City Council
members and County Commissioners' to look at it from a long term basis, not
a simple one time appropriation. .
City Manager Zais stated he agrees that the appropriation is tied to the
capital budget and the capital facilities needs and every year the state
makes distributions of capital appropriations. He stated last year the
focus was on branch campuses and this year law and justice deserves the
capital funding appropriation. He said the longer term issue is the
operation and maintenance support costs, either on the basis of the
County's suggestions for state assumed functions, or in new on -going
legislative authority for on -going operation support grants, targeted
fiscal assistance dedicated to this problem. He stated that is essential
,because local cities and counties cannot continue as they are.-
Representative Doty stated she thinks a pilot program can provide some of
the answers as 'to what works and .does not'work. She stated she thinks a
one year program would be of value.
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Senator Matson said the state capital budget is almost exclusively
provided from the sale '.of bonds from the state capital bonding authority
and has little or no relation to the excess revenue in the general
fund. However, some of those funds were used for school levys for
construction purposes. He stated he used the illustration of branch
campuses because that is a long term commitment for capital and operating
costs. He said there is an opportunity to slow that down, however, •
because the original proposal was almost 80 million dollars and has been
reduced to 45 million dollars. He stated without taking the money from
other programs, or slowing other programs down, it will be almost
impossible to come up with the financial needs being discussed today.
Senator Matson indicated that a pilot project would be helpful.
Commissioner Tollefson stated we are not quite ready to seek specific
solutions today, but certainly that is something we will consider. He
stated the Sheriff has been dealing with the Federal Marshall for some
time regarding the building of a minimum security facility so we can
exchange high security beds for low security beds to generate some •
federal revenue to pay for the facility. Commissioner Tollefson stated
the County's problem has always been that the County can't afford to
operate the current facility, so unless funding is provided for
operations, we will have to devise a sensible method of melding the two.
He pointed out that the County has no local authority to ask the citizens
to pay for a minimum security facility. Commissioner Tollefson said a one
year levy was discussed and it was concluded that such a levy was
2 8 4 OCTOBER 3, 1989
ADJOURNED MEETING
insufficient, therefore, we decided not to pursue it this year. He added
that the situation is becoming so critical that the County may have to
resort to that.
Representative Doty asked if we would be in a better situation if we could
once get a handle on the situation, through an unusually large effort or
consideration, and then be in a better position two to four years later
due to the disposal of some of the repeat offenders?
Prosecutor Sullivan stated that is a reasonable expectation and he thinks
that a change in the legislative arena in terms of sentencing will
provide some relief. For example, if the residential burglary law goes
into effect next year as anticipated, and unless the review turns out that
the beds are not going to be available, he would suggest repealing it.
Mr. Sullivan said the reality is that residential burglary and drug cases
tend to be the major offenses that this group of 10% commits. He said if
they can be given longer sentences we will see an impact in this regard.
Mr. Sullivan agreed with Senator Matson that there are 100 good programs
on which to spend the 400 million dollar surplus and he does not envy the
Legislators the task of making that decision. However, he thinks there
are some crises that need to be addressed and resolved.
Commissioner Tollefson thanked everyone for attending today's meeting,
adding it has become clear in his mind that this needs to be a City /County
request before the Legislature. Commissioner Tollefson stated he realizes
the importance of involving our local Legislators, as well as selling our
story in a wider arena. He said while he is not as familiar with the
City budget as he is with the County budget, the County is at the point of
desperation. Commissioner Tollefson stated the task now is to distill and
draft the City /County elements of a joint package. He said the City and
County Associations will continue with their_corporate plans, and we will
try to remain in concert with those as best we can, however, there are
some emphasis that we will have to make. Commissioner Tollefson said we
look forward to a meeting in early November with a more complete package
to present to the Legislators.
City Manager Zais commented that it is the intent of the City to move
forward with the idea outlined in the report.
There being no other comments on the subject fran any of the legislative
representatives, City or County officials, the meeting adjourned at the
hour of 1:35 P.M.
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OCTOBER 3, 1989
STUDY SESSION
A public hearing on appeal by Jefferey Tamkin, Inc. and Associates
regarding the determination of significance for the development
project at North 40th Avenue /Powerhouse Road and the lead agency
status being the only item on the aganda, and the appeal having
been withdrawn by the applicant, the Council meeting was
cancelled.
cUh e C -VY►c_
CITY CLERK
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