Law Enforcement & Judiciary Committee

DATE: October 20, 2003

A special meeting of the Sauk County Law Enforcement Committee was held on Monday, October 20, 2003 at 8:30 AM., in room D 102A, at the Law Enforcement Center,
1300 Lange Court, Baraboo, Wisconsin.

The meeting was properly posted and all interested parties were notified.

Members Present:

Members Absent:

Others Present: C. Montgomery, D. Williams, M. Giebel, A Carlson, W. Wenzel R. Stammen, M. Hafemann, O. F. Coller, T. Bychinski, J. Prantner, T. Turnquist, B. Manning, Public, Media

  1. Call To Order and Certification of Open Meeting Law: The meeting was called to order and compliance with the Open Meeting Law was certified by Chair Charles Montgomery at 8:30 AM.
  2. Agenda: Motion by Giebel, seconded by Carlson, to adopt the agenda. Motion carried.
  3. Approve Minutes of Previous Meeting: Motion by Carlson, seconded by Wenzel, to approve the minutes of the Law Enforcement Committee meeting held on October 3, 2003. Motion carried.
  4. Communications: There were no communications.
  5. Appearances: Greenfield Town Chairman Terry Turnquist appeared at the meeting stating he was there in support of the Sheriff and his budget requests. He stated the Sheriff has to run the jail and provide protection for the people and it made no sense to cut the department until the necessary jobs can't be performed. Turnquist said he was also in favor of not cutting the Clerk of Courts position. The committee informed Turnquist that other departments weren't given line item cuts but were given dollar amount reductions to meet with the discretion to determine where the cuts were to be made left to the respective
    department heads.
  6. Discussion and Possible Action on 2004 Sheriffs Buget Request: Chief Deputy Prantner and the committee discussed the County Board's actions regarding the partial funding of needed jail staff for 2003 and their acknowledgment that 2004 would bring the full impact of salary for all the positions for the entire year. However, the actions of the Finance Committee resulted in cuts to the Sheriffs operating budget in an amount that almost reflected the
    proposed increase for funding all the jail staff. Sheriff Stammen told the committee that if the budget as proposed by the Finance Committee goes through, it could result in having one patrol t eputy on the road for a shift, along with supervisors being taken out of the loop for field operations backups due to their having to work on administrative duties and transports. Programs such as Triad. crime prevention and community policing efforts will be gone due to lack of personnel and money.

    The committee discussed the impact of having the $275.000 restored to the budget. That amount would save the transport team but Sheriff Stammen warned the committee that even with the money being restored there will still be huge and extremely detrimental side effects, some of which won't be fully felt until subsequent years.

    The committee was informed that the Sheriff expects to return approximately $120,000 to the county's coffers even after the expenses for out-of-county housing of inmates is figured in. The committee agreed there was no point in pursuing any requests to the Finance Committee and the County Board to be allowed to receive credit for these returned funds. which is primarily due to unspent salary monies. Wenzel said that the Sheriffs Department has an exemplary record for staying within its budget and it was calculated that if the entire $2.4 million were put back into the
    budget it would raise the levy rate about 50 cents per thousand.

    Motion by Carlson, seconded by Williams, to request the County Board at the regular meeting on
    October 21, 2003, to restore to the Sheriffs 2004 budget request the amount of $275,000 and to
    allow the Sheriff and the Law Enforcement Committee the discretion to make any reductions
    needed to meet the overall budget request reduction. Motion carried.

  7. Discussion and Update on Closing the Old Jail: Captain Hafemann informed the committee that the old jail will be closed on Wednesday, October 22. All jailor positions are filled and there are four clerks yet to be hired. The command staff interviews with the clerical
    applicants have been scheduled for Monday, October 27. 2003.

  8. 12. Adjournment: The next regular meeting has been set for Friday, November 7, 2003, at
    8:00 AM. Motion by Giebel, seconded by Wenzel, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried.

Respectfully Submitted: Dorothy Williams, Secretary

Copies: Montgomery, Giebel, Williams, Wenzel. Carlson, Mielke

Minutes taken by: B. Manning