Law Enforcement Committee Meeting Minutes

DATE: June 4, 2004

The regular meeting of the Sauk County Law Enforcement Committee was held on Friday, June 4, 2004, at 8:00 A.M., in the Community Room, D102A, 1300 Lange Court, Baraboo, Wisconsin.

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

Members Present: Montgomery, Carlson, Fordham, Tollaksen
Members Absent: Sinklair
Others Present: R. Stammen, B. Hinze, M. Hafemann, K. Fults, J. Prantner, R. Meister. K. Fults, D. Marshall, L. Hanson, J. Spencer, S. Steinhorst, S. Backeberg, A. Kirby, S. Steinhorst, Judy Johnson, Director of Sauk County Animal Shelter, B. Manning, Public

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 8:00 A.M.
2. Agenda: Motion by Carlson, seconded by Tollaksen, to adopt the agenda. Carried.
3. pprove Minutes of Previous Meeting(s): Motion by Tollaksen, seconded by Carlson, to approve the minutes of the regular Law Enforcement Committee meeting held on Friday, May 7, 2004. Motion carried.
4. Communications: Sheriff Stammen informed the committee that several employees will be on Family Medical Leave (FMLA) in the coming weeks. Patrol Deputy Trevor Lohr will be gone from July 17th through August 17th, and Patrol Deputy Joshua Kowalke will be off for approximately one month. His starting date for leave isn't specific but it will be coming up soon. Patrol Deputy/Canine Officer Scott Dadam has been ordered to 18 months of overseas military duty beginning in mid-June and Security Deputy Trina Schulte will also be off from June 9 through June 30, 2004.

   Sheriff Stammen read a letter from John Van Ert of rural Reedsburg who commended Deputy Vodak for his professional and thorough handling of a complaint regarding at large dogs repeatedly coming on his property.

   Dan Doyle of Beaver Dam wrote to express his concern about unsafe conditions on Highway 12 and asking if a lower speed limit could be imposed, especially in the area near the Casino. Mr. Doyle also reported that Deputy Scott Dadam had handled an accident on Highway 12 in which Doyle was in involved and Dadam made a very good impression.

   Vernon County Sheriff Gene Cary sent a letter to Sheriff Stammen thanking him for the help provided by Sauk County deputies during a drive through of Vernon County by President Bush on May 23, 2004. The Sauk County deputies were part of the security force during Bush's trip through Vernon County.

   The Sauk City Fire Department will be celebrating their 150th anniversary in the near future.
5. Appearances:
   1. Security Deputy Derek Marshall was given the Employee of the Month Award. Deputy Marshall was nominated and selected for his excellent training skills and encouragement of new employees. He was also commended for his leadership abilities and willingness to undertake any task at any time. Marshall had recently volunteered to assist the Critical Incident Negotiating Team (CIN) in scenario training.
   2. Clerk Shelly Backeberg showed the committee the two awards given to Sauk County during a recent TRIAD conference in Fond du Lac. Four awards were presented statewide to TRIAD groups and Sauk County won two of the four, including the best program of the year for the "Grab A Phone" project. The awards will be permanently displayed in the Community Room and Sheriff Stammen said that Backeberg's participation in the Sauk County TRIAD Chapter has been a driving force in the success it's had here. She volunteers many hours to make it work.
6. Review and Approval of May, 2004, Bills for Coroner and Sheriff's Department: Coroner Hinze said she's used about 37.7% of her annual budget allocation. The major expenses for the past month were vehicle repair and one autopsy.

   Motion by Carlson, seconded by Tollaksen, to approve payment of the May, 2004, bills for the Coroner in the amount of $2,598.67. Motion carried.

   The Sheriff's budget expenditures are currently at 37.11% which is below 41.65%, the year to date percent as of May 30. The expenditures in the Vehicle Maintenance accounts were high, largely due to the costs of the squad changeovers from the four old squads to the four new ones. The changeovers include removal and reinstallation of equipment including cell phones, prisoner cages, mobile radios, deer guards, dash and top lights.

   Sheriff Stammen said he'd be contacting the Sauk County District Attorney's Office to see about getting restitution from convicted drunk drivers for the costs of the blood draws for arrested persons. Reedsburg Hospital is charging in excess of $75 for a single blood draw, as opposed to the $15 to $20 for St. Clare and Sauk-Prairie Memorial.

   Motion by Tollaksen, seconded by Fordham, to approve payment of the Sheriff's Department's expenditure in the amount of $91,691.31. Motion carried.
7. Presentation of First Quater Report for Sauk County Animal Shelter: Shelter Director Judy Johnson said the Shelter has had a busy year so far in 2004. Bite cases are way up this year and she had no explanation why. Johnson said that they're doing educational programs in the schools to try to prevent children from being bitten.
   Shelter personnel are also handling duties that should not necessarily be done by the control officers including decapitating animals so the heads can be send to Madison for rabies inspections. Shelter personnel have also been working on trapping and disposing of feral cats. Thirty feral cats were removed from the Blackhawk Trailer Park in Baraboo. The cats are extremely wild and vicious. Animal Control will be working in the Sauk-Prairie area next and anticipate an additional 30 to 40 more feral cats will be taken from there.

   Johnson said that the Humane Society's van recently had to be replaced. They were fortunate enough to have $15,000 donated to cover the cost and Kayser Ford sold them a van for that amount.

   Chair Montgomery commended Johnson for the fine way the Sauk County Animal Shelter is being run.
8. Sheriff's Report: There were 73.5 hours of supervisory overtime paid in May; 42.5 for holiday worked, 15.5 for teams, ERT and Dive, 10.5 hours for highway safety grant patrol and 5 for supervision on an attempted homicide investigation.

   There were 357 boarding days in April for electronic monitoring and 19 inmates on electronic monitoring during the month. The breakdown of expenditures and income are:

   $5,740.25 collected from inmates for the use of the electronic equipment
   $1,936.00 paid out for the lease of the electronic equipment
   $3,804.25 net gain

   There were 96 prisoner transports in May, bringing the year-to-date total to 552.

   There have been some injuries to department employees and damage to county equipment. There was one backing accident involving minor squad damage, one exposure to hepatitis C, one fall on wet steps with injury to an employee's back and several injuries to jail personnel during cell entry training. One of Sauk County's marked squads was damaged during a hit and run in Spring Green. One employee hit a deer but there was no damage to the squad. The deer guard kept the squad from being damaged and the guard itself received only minor damage.

   The highway safety grants continue to pay for extra patrol. Stammen said he credited the concentrated enforcement with the fact that there have been only two fatal traffic crashes in 2004. There were 6 in 2003 and 16 in 2002.

   Fordham asked about the enforcement of seat belt usage and Lt. Jeff Spencer said they've been working a grant for that. He didn't have the final figures for it but citations and warning regarding seat belt usage are way up.

   In regard to a question concerning Family Medical Leave, the committee was informed that employees on FMLA must use up their vacation and sick leave first and after that the county will pay the employee's portion of benefits but they don't receive any pay.

   There was a discussion concerning the canine program in the Sheriff's Department. With Deputy Dadam being deployed to Iraq for 18 months the handling of the canine needs to be addressed. The options are to sell the dog, who's estimated to have approximately two working years left, or to reassign the canine to another handler. The dog is well trained and Sheriff Stammen said he believed the program was of benefit to the county. He said he actually believed there was a need for a second dog but he's reluctant to even mention that in light of budget considerations. A new dog, plus training for the handler and the dog together, is approximately $15,000. Deputy Rupert was the dog handler before Dadam and Rupert's immediate supervisor, Sergeant Stoddard, said he recommended that the dog be given back to Rupert. The Sheriff asked the committee for their input on the issue.

   Fordham stated that the recommendations of the immediate supervisor should carry weight and the general consensus was that the dog should be kept and reassigned to Deputy Rupert. The committee further said that if there was a need for a second dog ways to fund that purchase should be explored.

   Inmate meals for April, 2004, were 17,023. For the same period in 2003 there were 13,353 and in April 2002 there were 11,984. As of 7:30 AM this date there were 220 inmates in the jail and Huber Center combined; 79 on work release (67 in Huber and 12 on electronic monitoring). In the secure area there are 63 inmates from Dane County, 3 of Iowa County and 75 Sauk County detainees.

   Montgomery asked Sheriff Stammen if he had met with County Coordinator Wiegand yet to discuss the possibility of opening A Pod and renting out the beds for revenue. Stammen said he had not yet done so. Montgomery told the committee his thoughts on raising some revenue by renting out the bed space in A Pod until such time as it was needed, either in whole or in part, for the housing of Sauk County inmates. Nine additional staff members will have to be hired to open up an area that would house 80 or more inmates. Montgomery again told Stammen that he believed such a discussion should take place and the committee had some questions and observations there were pertinent to the issue.

   Revenues for housing of out-of-county inmates for May were $9,516 from Iowa County and $80,080 from Dane County. The year-to-date revenues for housing total $268,455.83.

   Captain Hafemann reported that there are two inmates who've earned their GED while in jail and there are also five more who are working on various modules toward their GED.

   Sheriff Stammen told the committee that some family members of the late Sergeant Stuart Searles intend to be here on June 10th, 2004, to place a wreath in front of his memorial box in the lobby of the Law Enforcement Center. This will mark the 20th anniversary of Searles' death in a helicopter crash on June 10th, 1984. The committee was invited to attend.

   The annual golf outing to benefit the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Memorial and the Wisconsin Chapter of COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) will be held on September 1, 2004, at Devils Head.

   Clerk Jessica Fry reported to the committee on a new service that will be offered to the public. The public will be able to renew their vehicle registration, apply for registration, get plates and do other Department of Transportation functions here at the Law Enforcement Center. There are no start up costs and the Spring Green Police Department and the Sauk-Prairie Police Department are already offering the program.

   The committee was invited to a pot luck lunch on Wednesday, June 30, at the Law Enforcement Center for the four employees who are retiring.

   Committee person Art Carlson said he thought the Huber inmates who've been working on the landscaping and doing yard work should be complimented on how nice the grounds look and on the flower bed around the flag pole.
9. Statutory Inspection of County Jail Facility and Inmate Meals: The committee was going to do a tour of the jail and Huber Center and then eat lunch from the jail. They were also planning to meet for the Judiciary portion of the meeting. Ruth Steinhorst, Office Manager for the District Attorney's Office, was coming out to meet with the committee persons.

   The committee decided to schedule the meeting for July and then begin the tour. When Ruth Steinhorst arrived they would continue with the meeting and she would take the notes for that part of the meeting.

10. Adjourn To Date Specified: The next regular meeting will be held on Thursday, July 8, 2004, at 8 AM.

The committee began the tour.

Respectfully Submitted: Joan Fordham, Secretary